Saffron looked over the chronofly then squeaked with a shrug.
“You look the same as you did before,” Forrus pointed out. “The only difference with you now is-”
Without pause Aeon promptly leaned forward and vomited with a painful heave, causing everyone to step back a bit and watch in stunned silence as the chronofly hacked up a decent amount of bile before holding her head with a shaky hand.
“She’s sick,” Sasha reasoned.
“Really sick,” Scay added with a few nods.
“If those Ancients are causing you such discomfort, why not kill them in the time it takes to blink?” Tabitha asked. “Why are you sitting on your ass in front of us begging for help when you can take care of them by yourself no problem?”
“Because I can’t!” Aeon shouted at her. “Dammit, how stupid are you? I can barely stand now thanks to those monsters spreading their chaos through the timestream! Do I really need to say this? You’re going to make me spell it out for you? My power has been taken from me! For fuck’s sake, my magic is severely crippled now thanks to those monsters!”
The chronofly slowly stumbled onto her feet, struggling to maintain her balance while her wings shakily fluttered behind her.
“My magic has become extremely difficult to maintain thanks to those freaks showing up. My omniscient sight is clouded, my power over time is almost painful to use in the slightest, and I can hardly see straight right now. I can barely move myself five feet through time like this, never mind doing so for miles or more across the world! Not to mention, and I’m really disappointed I even have to remind you idiots of this, but I can’t see where those damn monsters are or where they’re going, they’re practically invisible to me, remember?”
Daemon kept his cold eyes locked on the chronofly while the girls around them looked to each other in question from what they were hearing.
“I need to fix this!” Aeon screamed out, almost desperately. “Dammit, didn’t you hear what I told you? We’re all going to die soon if I don’t! I need those fucking abominations removed from this world so I can see the future and correct things before it’s too late, and I need it done right now!”
“Then tell us what kind of disaster is approaching and let us handle it,” Sasha snapped. “You still haven’t answered that very simple question, just what exactly is coming that has you so freaked out?”
“I dare not tell you that information,” Aeon argued. “There’s already enough disorder with the fates thanks to those freaks running loose, the last thing I need is to further add to that by casting your destiny into the unknown by telling you what you shouldn’t know of now.”
“None of this sits well with us,” Daemon retorted, shaking his head. “You come before us, begging for help, acting weak and helpless, claiming a world ending disaster is about to strike, yet you won’t tell us anything we want to know about it.”
Aeon opened her mouth to speak before the cambion grabbed her throat again, dropping her to her knees as she weakly grasped his arms with a feeble groan.
“I’m still leaning towards experimenting on ways to kill you successfully, despite you being bound to time itself as you so claim. Unless you can give me one good reason to believe any of what you’re saying, I will give these girls free reign to destroy you by any means they can fathom in the most unpredictable of ways, so that at the very least you will constantly be in pain from their ‘uncertain’ methods.”
“I’ve got a few ideas I’d like to try,” Mika growled through bared teeth.
“Same here,” Sasha hissed as the girls drew their weapons.
Aeon coughed and weakly glanced around at all the fighters readying to attack again, her eyes then resting on Daemon as he continued to pierce her gaze with a chilling glare befitting a murderous demon.
“Alright, then how about this instead?” she mused while catching her breath. “I cannot tell you about the calamity in the future, in doing so I may end up making things worse, for all of us. However… if you help me get rid of those Ancients and straighten the timestream once again, I’ll… help you save all of these girls from death.”
“Your kind offer is worthless to me,” Daemon scorned. “You give them too little credit; these women will not be dying anytime soon, I promise you that.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Aeon chuckled. “I suppose with destiny being muddled as it is, there is the possibility they will not die as I had foreseen. Maybe you will all survive this… but, tell me honestly, are you prepared to take that chance? Are you willing to risk their lives on that gambit?”
“You have nothing to prove that they are in any danger like you say,” Daemon retorted. “I see no reason to believe you or your predictions.”
“Don’t I?” Aeon smirked. Slowly she glanced over to Sasha, the reptile girl standing ready to swing her sword at the chronofly at a moment’s notice. “Do you remember how I said you were fated to die on this night?”
“What about it?” Sasha snapped. “As you can see I’m perfectly fine.”
“Yes, you are. That horrible fate was avoided by that monster coming here and changing your path. But, I’m afraid you weren’t the only one destined to fall today. And as unfortunate as it may be, she is still walking that ill-fated path as we speak.”
“Who is walking that path as we speak?” Sasha cautiously asked.
“Who is not present here among us?” Aeon slyly replied, looking back to Daemon with a sharp smile. “Tell me, Daemon Warrick, who’s missing right now?”
Daemon glanced around at the girls before stopping, everyone then slowly turning down to the chronofly as they showed surprise from the realization.
“Hollia,” Mika breathed out.
“Do you really believe they’re not in any danger, Daemon Warrick?” Aeon questioned him. “Are you willing to place that centaur’s life on such a claim? I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Where did Hollia go?” Daemon asked, glancing to Sasha.
“She went off to scavenge some replacement clothes for me,” Sasha answered as the girls quickly looked around the darkened landscape. “She was going to search any remains of the elven village she could find.”
“Hollia? Hollia!” Mika shouted.
“I DON’T SEE LITTLE PONY OUT THERE!” Minos called out, shaking her head.
“Uh oh, is she in trouble?” Scay worried. “She’s going to come back, isn’t she? I don’t want to lose a friend already.”
“There’s nothing dangerous around here,” Tabitha argued, holding her sword towards Aeon. “Cataclysm ran away with her tail tucked between her legs, and there haven’t been any living remnants of The Sisterhood spotted around this place that we’ve come across. Hollia has her spear and she’s one of our fastest runners, just how exactly is she supposed to meet her end tonight?”
“Still don’t believe me?” Aeon quipped.
“What’s going to happen to Hollia?” Daemon demanded, clenching his hands tightly around her neck. “Speak, chronofly. Where is she?”
“See for yourself,” Aeon coughed, her hand weakly pointing off to the side. The group looked towards the darkened wilderness as the chronofly weakly laughed at Daemon.
“But I would hurry if I were you. She has less than ten minutes to live.”
*****
Trotting along the lifeless dirt Hollia made her way around several large clumps of rock and charred trees that littered the landscape. Scorched bodies of trolls and goblins lay sprawled amidst the debris, an elven home rested in pieces on the splintered remains of its tree, and an ogre was seen indented into the ground from where it had careened into after being jettisoned from the volcanic eruption all the way to her new resting place.
“Serves these wretches right,” Hollia scoffed, trotting over the body of a gremlin who was scorched to the bone. “I’m happy to see even Eden itself is trying to be rid of these horrid monsters along with us.”
She scampered along between mounds of volcanic debris and burnt t
rees that had landed amidst the rubble, her keen vision scouring the remains of elven dwellings that had been blasted away from the fallen haven for anything that was still holding together. Among them she spotted a few elves who unfortunately were also caught in the violent eruption, their petite bodies baring no clothing or most of their flesh for that matter.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Hollia mourned before averting her eyes. “We suffered a terrible price in this conflict as well. I hope you find peace just as my people will.”
Making her way through the newly formed graveyard of Green Haven’s remains, Hollia searched for any clothing to clad her companion in, with very few corpses still having anything left on them to take in the first place.
“This might be a little tricky,” Hollia mused. “Sasha has a rather… shapely figure with her muscle mass and wide hips. I doubt any of these elves were dressed in anything she could wear without ripping it apart. Hmm… yes, I do believe she’s closer to a troll’s proportions than most. Oh my, she would be rather incensed to hear me say that, hee hee.”
Giggling to herself the centaur trotted up onto a small mound of dirt and broken branches, her eyes aimed upward where an elven dwelling was just barely hanging onto its tree that lay perched against a pile of boulders. Using her spear she poked and prodded at the floor of the residence, and with a hard jab thrusted through, spearing the floorboards that she then yanked away. Furniture and dust rained down in a cascade, the agile centaur quickly dodging aside and stepping back as the innards of the home spilled out before her.
“I don’t see any bodies among the remains,” Hollia said as she used her spear to sift through it. “Hopefully the old residents won’t be upset if I borrow some of their belongings.”
Rummaging through the elven possessions Hollia spotted a few articles of clothing that looked to be sized about right for her companion, a satisfied grin coming across her face as she collected the items into a light brown carrying bag that she also liberated from the rubbish.
“I don’t mind traveling with you, Sasha,” Hollia spoke in self-amusement. “And I’m happy you got to make love to my beloved knight as you had so long dreamed of doing. But I’d rather you didn’t parade in front of him completely naked for the duration of our journey. Besides, he’s already gotten a taste of you, next he gets to try his devoted centaur. If he loved your large breasts and wide hips, I dare say mine will certainly bring a smile to that stoic face of his.”
“Hollia!” Mika’s voice echoed in the distance, earning a twitch from the centaur’s ear.
“Hollia! Hollia!” Forrus called out, with Hollia now looking around as their voices echoed in the air above her.
“Girls?” she wondered. “Is that them?”
“PONY WOMAN!” Minos shouted into the night sky. “WHERE DID YOU GO, LITTLE PONY?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Hollia groaned. “The minotaur came back again? Really?”
“Hollia!” Sasha yelled, with Hollia showing a puzzled look now. “Where did you go? Get back here, now! Hollia!”
“What’s her rush?” Hollia smirked. “I thought she wanted to draw out the exposure of herself in front of my knight for as long as she could.”
“Hollia!” Daemon called out, getting a startled jump from the centaur. “Hollia, where are you?”
“My knight?” Hollia gasped. “My word, he’s never called out my name like that before. Is he truly worried about me? Heavens, I… I don’t know what to say.”
She trotted to the edge of the hill she stood on and surveyed the area, her eyes soon catching sight of the glowing blue light from Minos’ tattoos and battle-axe. The minotaur stampeded around a pile of debris that soon collapsed behind her from the shaking ground, the rubble kicking up dust which Daemon and his followers quickly ran out from.
“Over here, my knight!” Hollia cheerily called out with a wave. Everyone turned to see the centaur hopping on her hooves atop the rocks, the moonlight shining down upon her as if to present her in perfect condition to the world.
“There she is,” Scay said pointing to her. “She doesn’t look dead yet, that’s good.”
“She appears perfectly fine,” Forrus commented while Mika and Sasha started running towards the centaur.
“Oh no,” Tabitha feigned in annoyance. “Maybe she was just about to die from one of these piles of trash assaulting her.”
“She was?” Scay gasped in shock. She quickly slithered over to a heap of wood and rubble and started hacking her dagger into it. “Stay away from my friend, you mean piles of junk! That’s right, you’re nothing but junk! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!”
“Scay, that’s just a heap of rubbish,” Tabitha tiredly said.
“I know! And I’m going to stab it good! Stab! Stab! HAHAHAHA! STAB! That’s what you get for plotting to hurt Hollia! Stab!”
Saffron slowly shook her head as she watched Scay jabbing her dagger into the lifeless debris while Minos tilted hers with a puzzled look at the naga.
“Master?” Rulo asked, glancing to Daemon. “I think Aeon just played us.”
“This was a trap,” Forrus growled, hastily searching the surroundings for any movement. “She just lured us here with that horsecrap about Hollia being in danger.”
“Yeah, about that,” Tabitha spoke up. “Why is she going to such elaborate lengths with us? Seriously, was all that shit about her now being weak and powerless true? Because I have to say for a Dark Queen of Time and harbinger of death, she sure is taking her sweet time with killing us.”
“MINOS DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT WAS A DARK QUEEN!” Minos mentioned with a firm nod. “SHE WAS SO PUNY AND WEAK! SHE IS A DISGRACE TO ALL MONSTERS!”
“For the last time, stop yelling!” Rulo shouted at her. “We’re right next to you, you stupid bitch! We can hear you just fine without all the goddamned screaming!”
“So loud,” Scay whined, covering her ears just as Saffron was doing. The ant girl started to take out a bombrock to throw at the minotaur, her efforts being halted as Scay quickly grabbed and wrestled her back while Saffron continued to insist upon doing so.
“My lord?” Forrus asked, turning to Daemon as he kept watching Hollia closely. “What does this mean? Was Aeon merely toying with us yet again?”
“Hollia!” Mika called out, herself and Sasha quickly running up to the base of the knoll the centaur stood upon. “Are you okay? Is everything alright?”
“I’m fine, Mika,” Hollia laughed, seeing the anxious looks the two women had. “I just finished collecting some new clothes for Sasha. What’s wrong with you two, you look startled by something.”
“We thought you were in danger,” Sasha explained, quickly surveying the area while clenching her sword with both hands.
“In danger?” Hollia asked with a puzzled smile. “In danger from what? I’m perfectly fin-”
Her words were quickly silenced as the ground suddenly shook violently beneath them. Everyone staggered from the heavy quake while the hills of debris and wreckage slowly crumbled around them.
“What’s happening?” Hollia exclaimed, stumbling back onto her side. Sasha and Mika dropped to the ground as a powerful shockwave ruptured the dirt beneath them, the two quickly scrambling away as a crevice began splitting across the land between them and the centaur.
“What the hell is this?” Rulo shouted, bracing herself the best she could while Tabitha and Forrus were knocked to the ground.
“It sounds like this place is going to erupt again!” Tabitha cried out. “We need to get the hell out of here!”
“Tabitha!” Scay whined, rushing over to help the neko stand up. “I stabbed the bad junk piles, but I think I made them angry!”
“This isn’t because of you, you idiot!” Forrus barked as she got onto all fours and clung to the dirt.
“Hollia!” Daemon called out. Everyone turned to see the centaur slowly getting onto her feet with the help of her lance, the woman struggling to remain standing as the ground she was on rumbled an
d shook wildly beneath her. The crevice that split through the ground started widening as the dirt under Mika and Sasha began caving in, with the sorceress and reptile girl running back towards the others just ahead of it.
“Hollia!” Mika cried out, looking back to see the centaur separated from everyone by a growing chasm. Hollia shouted something back but her words were masked by a powerful roar from below, something that was at first thought to be from Eden itself, however not for very long.
“What in Eden’s name?” Sasha breathed out, herself and Mika coming to a halt near Daemon as the ground finally stopped breaking down into the pit.
Again a howling roar sounded off from the dusty chasm depths, drawing everyone’s attention as something was vaguely seen moving through the hazy veils below.
“Oh… my… god…” Hollia softly spoke, watching in shock as the source of the ungodly roar became visible. Stepping back from the cliff Hollia shakily brought up her spear, eyes staring in terror at the thing that casted a monstrous shadow over her. Further away on either side of her long and thick spindle legs slammed down into the dirt, followed by gigantic hands that gripped the cliffside to pull its owner up over it.
“Holy shit,” Tabitha slowly said, herself and the others moving back as three more of the legs struck into the ground on their side.
“It can’t be,” Mika anxiously contended. “Not here. Those things haven’t been seen in Koskaysil for over a century!”
“Looks like one of them hasn’t left this land yet,” Daemon remarked, eyes narrowing at the gigantic beast that pulled itself up from the shadowy depths of Eden. Saffron slowly brushed aside her bangs to stare at the monster with wide eyes, her stunned look also being shared by the other girls, all except for Minos who had a daring grin on her face.
“FINALLY!” she roared as she brought her axe forward in both hands. “A GREAT BATTLE AWAITS MINOS! IT HAS BEEN FAR TOO LONG!”
“You just fought Cataclysm earlier tonight!” Tabitha yelled at her.
Chronicles of Eden - Season II - Act II Page 6
