“Stand aside,” Mika ordered, the ant girls shaking their heads at her while more were gathering nearby. “I’m not your enemy, you’d do well to keep it that way.”
One of the ant girls stepped forward and grabbed Mika by her chest armor, the hunter then immediately holding up her hand towards the monster’s face while summoning her magic. A crimson and black casting ring formed before her palm while crackling with magical energy, the bright glow illuminating the stunned monster’s face as Mika slowly shook her head.
“If you want to fight me then you should know I will not hold back,” Mika scorned. “My enemy is The Sisterhood, they are the ones I wish to slay with my power, however if you’re so insistent on getting in my way then I’ll use you as target practice! Do you hear me?”
The ant girl let go of the human and backed away with hands held up, herself and all the underground monsters staring in surprise at the human as she glanced around at them while keeping her magic up.
“I’m in no mood to play with any of you. You want my help in getting rid of The Sisterhood? You want me to aim my magic at them and not you? Then get out of my way or else I’ll make you get out of my way. Move it!”
The ant girls quickly scrambled away in a hurry while squeaking, leaving Mika behind as she slowly lowered her hand and recalled her magic. She started walking forward again down the empty tunnel, venturing further into the darkened nest where only a few torches were set up on the walls here and there along the way.
After making her way deeper into the nest through the winding tunnels she finally came up to the cavern she had been searching for. Entering the cave she looked around at seeing the ancient cenotaph from earlier resting in the middle of the chamber while ant girls were patrolling in groups of three all around it. Some had pickaxes and shovels, others had satchels filled with bombs, and a few were holding large sledgehammers over their shoulders as they marched about with focused expressions. Mika began walking towards the centerpiece, her eye set forward while noticing all the ant girls stopping and taking immediate notice of her. She stopped at the edge of the cenotaph’s steel base and looked down at the glowing writing lining the platform’s edge, silence filling the cavern while she glanced around to see all the ant girls watching her carefully. Taking one step onto the base all the ant girls squeaked and tensed up. Another step was met with them drawing their tools in a threatening manner. And one more step had Mika bumping into something that wasn’t seen.
“Mika?” a girl’s voice exclaimed. After a quick squeal of excitement Mika was lifted up into the air and shook around, something all the ant girls watched in bewilderment while the human had a blank expression on her face.
“It’s so good to see you again!”
“Is that Mika?”
“Yay, she came to see us again!”
“She came to see me! Not you two!”
“Nuh uh, she wanted to see me! Nobody wants to see you!”
“She wanted to see me, she just couldn’t tell you weren’t me since you’re invisible!”
“No way, she wanted to see me the most! I’m her best friend!”
“No, I’m her best friend! Let me hug her!”
“I want to hug her, she came to see me after all!”
Three girls argued in circles as Mika was shook around in the air, the human sighing quietly while being hugged by one of the invisible girls before being taken into another’s arms as each of the three hidden monsters fought to take turns hugging her. After floating about in the air for a while Mika cleared her throat and spoke up.
“Hey! Mind putting me down now?”
After a pause she was then set down while three shimmering veils of light flashed around her, the rippling distortions then fading away as the trio of desuwraiths became visible.
“Hello again, Sara, Lara, Tara,” Mika plainly spoke.
“What are you doing back here, friend?” one of them asked with a curious smile.
“Thanks again for showing us how that lift thingy worked,” another mentioned while looking to two of her hands in amazement.
“We were able to see Nuci again thanks to you,” the third praised with a hop. “Thank you so much.”
“Sure,” Mika replied as she started walking past them towards the central alter. Before she could get closer two hands quickly grabbed her shoulders, the human glancing back to see one of the desuwraiths holding her with a worried smile.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“Um, you’re not supposed to get near that thingy,” another added shaking her head.
“Nobody is supposed to go near it,” the third agreed with a nod. “Why are you going near it?”
The ant girls around the area watched the human closely as she lowered her head in silence. After a moment she shook her head and looked back to the desuwraiths.
“I need to go down there for something. Stand aside.”
“What? Go down there?” one repeated as the three turned to each other in concern.
“But you can’t go down there,” another insisted shaking her head.
“Nobody is supposed to go down there,” the third agreed as the sisters faced Mika while remaining on guard. “Only we can. Nobody else.”
“Why do you want to go down there?”
“You shouldn’t want to go down there.”
“You’re not allowed to go down there.”
Mika eyed each of the desuwraiths then smiled curiously and shrugged.
“I wanted to meet the guardian of the City of Eden,” she politely said. “Nuci, right? She’s the one guarding the Dark Queen and her city, isn’t she? Would it be alright if I go down there to say hello to her?”
“You want to meet Nuci?”
“Is that all?”
“That’s all you want to do?”
“Yeah, that’s all. Please?” Mika sweetly asked.
The desuwraiths looked to one another in silence then smiled at the human while stepping back.
“If that’s all you want, then I guess that’s alright.”
“Yeah, go ahead and meet her. She’s really nice, you’ll like her a lot.”
“We were afraid you were going to do something bad like steal the key from her and use that to unleash the Dark Queen from her prison and thus ending all life on Eden as we know it. But if you just want to say hi to Nuci then you can go down there.”
“Thank you,” Mika replied with a nod. She walked over to the alter and took off her glove, pausing for a second as she noticed the desuwraiths smiling and waving at her while the ant girls around the chamber were watching her curiously. Mika smiled weakly and waved back then held her hand on the alter, in doing so causing it to glow brightly while green triangular outlines lit up in the air between the three statues surrounding her. The lines shifted to blue then purple before turning yellow and spinning around, the sight keeping the attention of everyone in the cave as the triangles finally stopped while pointing downward and turning back to green. The emblems turned into circles that began to stretch out overhead and overlap one another, the searing light of the rings crossing through each other before lowering down onto the floor in a wide loop around the monuments.
Mika watched the dais with its glowing white emblems lighting up around her fingers along with a downward arrow appearing below her palm, something she questioned if humans really did create somehow. The hunter then paused for a moment as an echoing chuckle sounded off in her ears, her expression turning serious as she knew the Dark Queen was watching her. With a grunt she pushed down on the alter, the top lighting up with a warm glow while the ground shook a little. The circular platform began lowering where the bright rings were set in the floor, a rush of air shooting up around the edges as the cenotaph began dropping down into the shaft below.
“Hey!” Tabitha shouted from the cavern entrance. Everyone turned to see the neko and Scay running into the chamber towards the centerpiece. “What do you think you’re doing? Mika! Stop!”
“It’s oka
y,” one of the desuwraiths said as the sisters held out their hands to stop the girls before them. “She’s just going down there to say hello to the guardian.”
“Yeah, she wants to be friends with her like she is with us.”
“She’s more my friend than she is either of yours,” the third sneered.
“Nuh uh, she’s my friend the most!”
“No way, she likes me way more than either of you!”
“You’re both so stupid, why would she like either of you more than me?”
“We’re not the stupid ones, you are!”
“Yeah, you, not us!”
“I know you are but what am I?”
“Stupid!”
“So stupid!”
“I know you are but what am I?”
“Stupid!”
“So so stupid!”
“You idiots!” Tabitha shouted as she pointed to Mika. “Nobody is supposed to go down there, Daemon even said so!”
“But she just wanted to be friends with Nuci,” one of the desuwraiths curiously said.
“Yeah, that’s all she’s doing.”
“She even said so.”
Tabitha saw Mika glancing to her with a stern expression, the hunter then looking down before the platform lowered out of sight. The steel doors began closing over the shaft as Tabitha growled in anger.
“No, that’s not what she’s doing at all!” she argued before ducking under the desuwraiths’ arms and dashing towards the shaft along with Scay.
“Wait, you can’t go down there!” one of the desuwraiths called out after the girls.
“Nobody is supposed to go down there!”
“Daemon even said so!”
Tabitha and Scay jumped down into the shaft before the steel doors slammed shut behind them. The desuwraiths scrambled over to it along with the ant girls, all of them looking around at the sealed platform before the sisters began hopping about in a panic.
“Oh no, not good! Not good!”
“So not good! This is bad! Very bad!”
“This is so bad it can’t possibly be good!”
The desuwraiths whined and trotted about anxiously before turning to all the ant girls who were watching them.
“This is so not good!” they all cried out together.
Tabitha and Scay dropped down onto the lift as it continued descending down the darkened tunnel. Scay looked around in wonder at all the glowing lines and etchings in the statues and surrounding walls while Tabitha focused her sights solely on Mika who watched them from the center of the platform.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Tabitha sharply asked, hands grabbing hold of her swords as she tensed up. “Nobody is supposed to go down here for any reason, Daemon made that crystal clear to us.”
“He never told me that,” Mika retorted. “Then again I was gone while finding my home ruined and my little brother missing. I guess that bit of news slipped by me.”
“Why are you going down here?” Tabitha demanded.
“To see the guardian, Nuci. Didn’t the desuwraiths explain that to you?”
“I don’t believe that for a second,” Tabitha snapped. “We watched you blow up on those ant girls while threatening to blow them up with your magic, we followed you as you made your way straight to this place after leaving the station, and by the look on your face making friends with the guardian is the last thing on your mind right now. The tense look you’re trying to hide in your eye, I can see it clearly. Something’s gotten you rattled, mind sharing what that is?”
“What’s wrong, Mika?” Scay asked tilting her head. “Are you feeling tense? Do you want a hug? Or to be stabbed?”
“No, thank you,” Mika calmly replied. “The desuwraiths already gave me plenty of hugs, and I’ll pass on the stabbing. I just need to speak with the guardian down below, that’s all.”
“Speak to her about what?” Tabitha carefully said while slowly approaching her.
Mika watched the two monsters carefully getting closer, the naga slithering around a statue before stopping behind the human while the neko kept a sharp eye on her with hands gripping the handles of her swords.
“The Dark Queen needs to die,” Mika replied while narrowing her eye.
“She’s sealed away forever,” Tabitha said shaking her head. “She’s not going to hurt anyone where she is.”
“You’re wrong. She can still harm others even from down here.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because she’s spoken to me,” Mika answered, with Tabitha and Scay jumping with a startle. “And the words she uses can hurt just as badly as any blade.”
“What did you just say?” Tabitha slowly questioned.
“That monster needs to die,” Mika sternly said grabbing her sword. “So I’m going to do my job.”
“You’re going to let her out?” Tabitha gasped.
“No, I’m going to kill her. No matter the cost.”
In a flash Tabitha drew out her swords just as Mika did with hers, the two clashing with a fierce strike of their blades before the hunter spun and cast out a blast of blue light towards the advancing naga. Scay was thrown back into the wall before tumbling up against it into the air then dropping down with a thud, her whine being overpowered by a strong clash of swords between Mika and Tabitha. The neko swiped at the human’s sides with her swords, each strike being blocked by the hunter as she knocked the monster’s attacks aside before following through with a downward slash. Tabitha darted to the side and struck around with her sword, the strike being knocked back by Mika’s sword before she swung with her other katana towards the woman’s head. Mika ducked under the attack, swung back with her blade to parry Scay’s dagger that the naga stabbed at her with, turned to block one of Tabitha’s blades followed by the other, then spun around to avoid Scay’s attack again before punching her in the head. The naga was thrown to the side before she quickly slithered around the platform with a strained grunt, the monster circling the lift rapidly while Tabitha locked swords with Mika in the center. The two pushed against each other with fierce growls before Scay raced over and tackled Mika to the ground. She swiftly wrapped herself around the woman while grabbing her head, wrestling her down in a roll on the floor before Mika shouted with a bright red flash coming from her hand under the naga’s body.
“AHHH!” Scay screamed as streaks of flame and light shot out between her coils, the naga crying out as Mika pulled her hand free and held it to the monster’s chest. A blast of blue energy shot Scay back with a wail, the monster’s tail quickly unraveling as she held her arms around herself with her tail twitching below her.
“That hurt! Waaah! Why are you so mean? I was just going to stab you!”
Mika grabbed her sword and quickly parried a downward slash of Tabitha’s blade, the neko striking again and again with both her swords to keep the hunter pinned down.
“Have you lost your mind?” Tabitha shouted as she kept attacking the hunter. “You’re trying to release a harbinger of death and you don’t even realize how fucking stupid that is?”
“She has to die!” Mika yelled before kicking up with her foot, knocking the neko back into a stumble while scrambling onto her feet again. “She has to die, there’s no other way!”
“She’s sealed away, you fucking bitch!” Tabitha argued. “And that’s the way she needs to stay!”
“That’s not good enough!” Mika shot back. She swung her blade to the side, parrying Scay’s dagger before the naga ducked under her second swing and whipped her tail around into the woman’s gut. Mika grunted hard as she was thrown back into a statue before Scay struck down at her shoulder, her dagger striking against her shoulder plate with a few sparks before Mika grabbed her hand and stopped it from piercing her chest next. The naga kept her body pressed against Mika while trying to drive her dagger into the woman, her other hand holding Mika’s with her sword held against the statue down to the side.
“You can’t let that bad monster out, Mika!” Sca
y pleaded with a twisted smile. “If she gets out we’ll all- nrrghmmm DIE! HAHA! I really want to stab you now, I’m not even kidding! I’m going to do it! I AM!”
Tabitha ran over and held one of her blades towards Mika’s face while having the other poised to slash at the human, both monsters keeping her detained while Mika struggled to hold back Scay’s dagger.
“You’ve lost your mind, Mika,” Tabitha scorned. “How do you even know the Dark Queen was somehow talking to you from way down here underground? How could she? You’re obviously hearing voices in your head, a sure sign you’re going crazy!”
“HAHAHAHA!” Scay laughed while going cross-eyed. “I want to wear your skin! You’ll be my friend then, won’t you? PRETTY PLEASE?”
“Like I was saying,” Tabitha said while keeping her eyes focused on Mika. “A sure sign. See her? That’s you in a week at most.”
“I know she talked to me,” Mika grunted. “I know what she’s capable of. I know what she’s going to do if left alive. I have to kill her, I have to before it’s too late.”
“And just what is she going to do if you don’t kill her?”
“She’s going to take away what I have left to live for,” Mika whimpered shutting her eye. She started breathing heavily before screaming as a golden casting ring lit up below her, a wave of energy rolling away and crashing into the walls as the lift rumbled with its downward decent. Scay and Tabitha braced from the force of power pushing against them before Mika yelled out with furious look on her face.
“I WON’T LOSE MAX, I WON’T!” she roared as a crackling eruption of red and golden light exploded around her. Scay screamed from being thrown back before she slammed into a statue, the girl dropping down with a whimper while Tabitha tumbled away on the floor before stopping herself from slamming into the moving wall. Getting back onto her feet she quickly held up both of her swords to block Mika’s that struck at her with a heavy clang, the two locking into a struggle with Mika slowly pushing Tabitha back. The hunter’s armor and clothing was singed along her hand however she didn’t appear to notice or even care her own attack harmed her.
Chronicles of Eden - Act XI Page 3
