“We can’t fight it, it’ll just let any weapon we use pass right through it,” Specca said shaking her head.
“Well running isn’t working either, it can follow us anywhere,” Triska mentioned while holding her blade in one hand and glancing to it, questioning if it would be of any use in this situation.
“How can we stop it then?” Daniel asked quickly.
“I have no idea, I never heard about anyone fighting a deathmare and surviving,” Specca replied nervously. The deathmare howled then charged towards the group with its scythe geared back, with Daniel turning and grabbing the girls before lunging through the window, the glass shattering as the girls screamed while holding onto him. The deathmare swung its blade at them, just missing Daniel’s foot as the boy and two girls fell down onto the slanted roof before tumbling off and down onto the road with a thump. They rolled to a stop as glass rained down on the ground behind them, with Triska and Specca lying on their backs next to Daniel as the boy groaned while lying face down between them and spitting out dirt.
“Are you two… ok?” he asked wearily. The girls looked to him then to the deathmare as it howled down at them, its cold glare focused on its prey while it held its weapon in both hands. Daniel and the girls started to hear something rumbling nearby as the light in the street began to brighten before the deathmare wailed again while leaping out of the building with its scythe geared back to strike.
“No!” the girls screamed as they quickly held onto Daniel and shut their eyes, with Specca wrapping her tail around him and Triska holding her blade up to shield him, both of them bracing for death with the boy they loved.
*****
Alyssa ran into a shop along with Squeak and Falla, the three girls passing tables that had wooden toys, dolls, and books set on them while the streetlamps outside cast a faint red glow into the building. They ran to the back of the store near a shelf full of dolls then turned to seeing Jovian and Jacqueline running inside as well, the twins then standing near the tables while giggling with dark smiles on their faces.
“Playtime is over,” Jovian said as she reached out and picked up a stuffed doll, crushing it with her bare hand, the mangled toy and cotton inside of it dropping to the ground and spilling out.
“Now you’re going to scream for us,” Jacqueline taunted before the sisters ran toward the girls. Squeak kicked a table towards them, throwing wooden toy shields and swords at the twins who batted them away with their hands before the ant girl swung over with her pickaxe and spiked it through Jovian’s head, swinging the dark girl over to the side and into a counter where she crashed through the boards and frame before Squeak held the pickaxe and used her foot to stomp Jovian down through the counter. Alyssa waved her hand sharply and threw out several stuffed dolls and teddy bears from the shelf behind her at Jacqueline, the blonde swatting them away before she was then thrown across the room by the witch’s magical power into a glass cabinet that held some decorative clay bowls and cups inside, the girl crashing through the pottery and shelves before Alyssa held her hand down to the wooden swords on the floor, causing three of them to rattle around before the witch swung them over towards Jacqueline. As the wooden swords spiked through Jacqueline’s body and pinned her to the wall Squeak yanked her pickaxe up out of Jovian’s skull and started whacking at the girl’s body again and again with fierce swings and squeaks, tearing apart Jovian’s stomach and face as blood splattered onto the floor and wall.
“Just die already!” Alyssa yelled as she swung her hand out again, causing three more wooden swords to fly through the air and spike through Jacqueline’s body. The blonde girl twitched a bit as she was pinned to the wall before looking to Alyssa with a cold smile.
“Fighting me with mere toys, how typical for a little witch,” she hissed before she swung her hands down and broke all the swords apart, the girl then pushing herself forward away from the wall and off of the wooden stakes before dropping down to her feet. As her wounds healed up again while Falla stared at her with shock.
“What the hell can survive that anyway?” she said shaking her head. Alyssa watched Jacqueline with frustration then looked over to seeing Jovian kicking Squeak over to the side, the ant girl hitting against the counter before dropping to the floor with a squeak while her pickaxe fell next to her. Jovian slowly started to sit up again as her body regenerated, with Alyssa yelling out with frustration before she held her hand out towards Squeak’s pickaxe.
“Dammit, I’m not playing this game!” she yelled out before swinging her hand towards Jacqueline, causing the pickaxe to launch off of the ground in a sharp spin before it struck into the blonde’s head with a crunch, the girl wavering a bit with a stunned smile on her face before Alyssa yelled and swung both her hands towards Jovian, causing the pickaxe and Jacqueline to be thrown across the room and into the raven haired girl, the other side of the digging tool striking through Jovian’s neck as it threw her back into the wall with a thud. Squeak slowly got up while holding a hand to her side, looking over to the twins with frustration as Alyssa and Falla slowly walked over towards her. The sisters twitched a bit before Jacqueline pushed herself off of the digging tool, her head healing up again while she grabbed the pickaxe and yanked it out of Jovian. The raven haired girl spat out blood to the side before they both smiled wickedly at the girls, their wounds healing up completely while they giggled in unison. Jovian took hold of the pickaxe and wiped some blood off of it carelessly while Jacqueline flicked her hair back behind her shoulder.
“Aw, but we’re having fun,” they taunted together before dashing towards the girls again. Jovian leapt up onto the counter then dove towards Squeak with the pickaxe geared back, the ant girl bracing herself before Alyssa used her magic to throw Jovian down to the side onto a table, the girl crashing through piles of books and the wood while Jacqueline raced over towards the witch. Before Alyssa could move Jacqueline grabbed and threw her over with great force towards the back shelf, the girl crashing into it with a painful gasp before dropping down with dolls and boards falling on top of her. Squeak let out loud Squeak as she saw her friend struggling to move before Jacqueline spun around and grabbed Falla, the butterfly girl screaming as the blonde girl swung her over and slammed her into the counter, holding her down onto it while leaning close to her face.
“I’ve been waiting to make you scream, you’d better not disappoint me!” she yelled out with a deranged smile on her face. Falla tried to kick free as the blonde held her hands down by her head on the counter, her wings pinned behind her and unable to move as they tried to flutter on reflex. Squeak ran over to grab Jacqueline before a pickaxe swung out in front of her and hooked her back from the neck, the ant girl squeaking loudly before Jovian threw her down to the ground. Squeak hit the floor and tried to scramble away before Jovian whacked the pickaxe down into the floorboards above her shoulder, halting her from moving forward before the dark girl kicked down on her back hard. Alyssa coughed and slowly looked over to seeing Jacqueline laughing at Falla while holding her down on the counter and Jovian keeping Squeak down on her stomach with one foot on her back. The twins slowly looked over to Alyssa and giggled, with Jacqueline grabbing Falla’s hair and pulling her head back while Jovian kneeled down and gripped Squeak’s antennae with one hand, the ant girl letting out a sharp squeak as she stared ahead with wide eyes.
“Ready to watch them die?” Jacqueline said before licking along Falla’s neck, the butterfly girl glancing to Alyssa with fright as the witch slowly started to get up.
“If you wish to join in with their screaming, please do so, it makes it more fun for us,” Jovian mentioned before sitting down on Squeak’s back and shoving her onto the floor by the shoulder, the ant girl letting out a strained grunt as the dark girl held her antennae back and kept her facing the wall in front of her. Jovian leaned down and licked the ant girl’s cheek before glancing to Alyssa with a cold smile.
“Anything you want to say before we eat them?” Jovian taunted as she sat up and bru
shed Squeak’s hair, the ant girl trembling in fear, while Jacqueline leaned back and smiled wickedly down at Falla, the butterfly girl breathing sharply as she couldn’t budge from her grip.
“Yes, just one thing,” Alyssa whimpered as she slowly stood up while holding her hands up defensively. The girls all looked to her as she closed her eyes and sniffled with a saddened expression. After a pause she then looked at the twins with a deep glare.
“Go to hell!” she yelled before swinging her hands to the side, with Squeak’s pickaxe being thrown from the ground into a sharp spin before striking into Jacqueline’s head with a crunch. She wavered a bit before Alyssa waved her hands to the side, causing the pickaxe and the impaled blonde to yank back and strike into Jovian’s skull, the two girls having stunned expressions as they coughed out blood. Squeak scrambled away from Jovian while Falla quickly darted over the counter to get away from Jacqueline, with Alyssa then walking over towards the butterfly girl and growling at the twins. Jovian and Jacqueline blinked then pushed off from each other, with Jacqueline reaching back for the pickaxe in her head as their wounds again healed up. Before they could speak Squeak rushed over and grabbed Jovian by the hair, swinging her over and throwing the girl into the wall away from them with a crash, then grabbed hold of her pickaxe, giving a stern squeak before she threw Jacqueline over off of the tool’s end and into her sister. The ant girl backed up towards her friends while Alyssa narrowed her eyes at the twins.
“This isn’t working, they’re not staying down,” Falla pointed out while shaking her head, the girls watching as Jovian and Jacqueline got back up again and smiled bitterly at them, with Jacqueline’s wounds healing up again without a scratch.
“You can’t escape us, nobody ever escapes us,” the sisters said together in unison. Alyssa held her hand out towards them while focusing her magic, her focuser and eyes giving off a soft glow while Squeak stepped back behind her. The sisters laughed and watched with amused smiles while Squeak and Falla glanced to each other worriedly as Alyssa just stood there in silence.
“What are you doing now?” Jovian asked dryly.
“Yeah, going to try to kill us with toys again?” Jacqueline laughed. Alyssa kept glaring at them while holding her hand out, with all the girls watching her as she remained silent and motionless.
“What are you doing?” Falla asked frantically. Squeak looked at her little friend carefully then towards the sisters, the two monsters just watching Alyssa with dull smiles now.
“Really now, you can’t kill us, haven’t you learned that yet?” Jovian mocked.
“You’re going into our bellies, there’s no way around it,” Jacqueline giggled.
Alyssa continued to remain quiet, with Falla now backing up nervously while Squeak’s antennae twitched slightly. The ant girl blinked then glanced outside, watching as the red glow from the street started to get brighter. Falla looked over as well along with the sisters, all of them then seeing Daniel, Triska, and Specca crashing out of a second story window across the street from a home and tumbling down onto the ground. Falla gasped while Squeak squeaked loudly, with the twins merely laughing at the sight as Alyssa continued to glare at them.
“Squeak, Falla, get out of here now!” Alyssa suddenly yelled out as a rumbling sound was heard, her eyes still focused on the sisters and not seeing that Daniel had been thrown out of a nearby building. Jovian and Jacqueline looked to her curiously then around as the store started to rattle slightly while Squeak wasted no time in rushing out through the door towards Daniel along with Falla. Before they made it halfway across the road however they quickly stopped as they saw the deathmare leaping out from the building down towards Daniel and the other girls.
“What’s going on?” Jovian and Jacqueline asked before looking behind them, the building shaking more as a red light started to shine through between the boards in the wall.
“I said burn in hell!” Alyssa yelled out as a red circle of light spread out on the floor around her, the light bending to shape into an arrowhead as it pointed behind the witch with strange symbols briefly lighting up around it.
Falla and Squeak watched with horror as the deathmare lunged down towards Daniel with its scythe geared back, only for a streaking flash of blue and green fire to strike down at an angle against the Darker One and knock it to the side with a powerful bang and distorted wave of air. The deathmare landed down on the ground as its scythe struck into the dirt to the side of Daniel and the two girls, the Darker One galloping into the street then quickly looking up at what knocked it aside. Before Squeak and Falla could do the same the toy store behind them exploded into flames, the two girls looking back to seeing it erupting into a firestorm as the flames appeared to be barreling into the store from the neighboring building. They then slowly looked over and saw that four buildings between the toy store and the burning bakery had been set aflame, with the fires spreading wildly and flowing into the toy store in a fiery current. Two smaller shops collapsed with fires and smoke billowing up from them while another burst into flame from its second story.
“What the hell is going on?” Falla shouted out looking around with confusion. She and Squeak then looked up before jumping with surprise while Daniel slowly started to sit up, the boy seeing a line of burning buildings before him that lit up the street brightly along with Squeak and Falla who were both staring up at something with wide eyes. Looking over to the side he saw the deathmare also looking up with a glare at something, the monster grunting as it held its scythe in both hands.
“What just happened?” he asked worriedly.
“Daniel,” Specca squeaked out. He looked to the nixie and saw her staring up at the sky with fright, then over to Triska who was looking at something in the air with a similar fearful expression. Getting a very bad feeling he slowly looked up as well, his eyes widening as he saw two monsters in the air above them.
“Now now, that young kitten down there belongs to me,” Katie playfully scolded the deathmare while slowly shaking a finger at it, the succubus flying in place next to Tora who was seated sideways on her staff.
“It’s her,” Triska breathed out.
“Katie,” Daniel nervously said as they watched the Darker One and witch slowly hover down towards them. The woman touched down on the dirt while Tora dropped down onto her feet while holding her staff, both of them looking down to Daniel and the girls as the three just stared at them with stunned expressions.
“So nice to see you again, Triska,” Katie said with a wink. Triska slowly gripped her blade and stood up, keeping on guard while Daniel and Specca scrambled to their feet and backed up behind her.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Triska hissed out with a glare at the succubus. Katie laughed and looked at her amusedly while Squeak and Falla just stared at the Darker One between them and Daniel with fear.
“Come now, is that any way to treat someone for saving your life?” Katie mused with a smirk on her face. Daniel glanced to the burning buildings nearby then to her carefully.
“Did you do all that?” he asked. Katie raised an eyebrow at him then glanced over to the line of buildings that were burning brightly.
“No, I didn’t,” she said plainly.
From the burning toy store Alyssa leapt out through the doorway, the witch’s clothing and skin appearing perfectly fine as she stumbled along the ground before turning back towards the fiery inferno. She held her hands towards it with a loud growl as everyone looked to her curiously, forming a bright circle of red light in front of her palms and strange glyphs that glowed with an orange hue around the casting ring.
“And stay down this time!” she yelled as she clapped her hands together in front of her, the casting ring shattering with a flash and triggering a violent explosion of fire to blast out from the building and up through the roof, causing the burning remains to collapse down with a loud crash as the fires swirled around wildly from the witch’s magic. Alyssa slowly backed up while breathing heavily, watching as the flames inc
inerated the store, then wiped her forehead while slowly exhaling.
“So much for saving up my magic tonight for Daniel,” she moped shaking her head. Turning around she started to run towards the others, then stopped in her tracks as she saw Katie and Tora standing among them.
“W-What? What are they doing here?” she cried out, pointing to them with surprise.
“Alyssa, why am I not surprised that you would be responsible for yet another village being burned to ashes?” Tora hissed with malice. Alyssa stared at her with disbelief then looked to Katie, the succubus having an amused smile on her face as she slowly shook her head.
“You really are a troublemaker, aren’t you?” she mused. The group looked to her then to the deathmare is it wailed and charged towards them again, with Katie holding in her grunt of annoyance as she waved her hand sharply towards it, creating a streak of red haze that blasted against the Darker One, the monster using its scythe’s handle to block the attack as it skidded back along the dirt road which sizzled and lit aflame briefly.
“Triska, I thought I told you before to take care of yourself for me, remember?” Katie lectured while glancing to the teen. Triska growled at the monster before looking towards the burning toy store as two figures leapt out from the blaze.
“Alyssa, behind you!” Triska yelled as she pointed to them. The witch turned to see Jovian and Jacqueline standing behind her, the two sisters hunched over as their burnt flesh was slowly regenerating around their skeletons.
“Are you kidding me? Why won’t they die?” Alyssa cried out as she stumbled back onto her rear before scrambling away from the sisters, with everyone watching as the twins slowly reformed again with naked bodies that were clean of any blood or ash.
“Dammit, how did that not kill them either?” Falla cursed out loud.
“Who… or what are those two?” Tora asked dryly.
“We have no idea, but whatever they are they won’t die,” Specca said shaking her head. Alyssa slowly stepped back towards them, paying no mind to Tora and Katie now as the group watched the sisters smiling coldly at them.
Chronicles of Eden - Act 2 Page 58
