Chronicles of Eden - Act XI

by Alexander Gordon

Grace shouted at the centaur and pointed to her accusingly before quickly looking over to the curtain to the backroom. She ran over and peeked through it while Lelu was shaking her head and yelling something back at the elf.

  “She may have dispatched those other monsters,” Bermuda speculated. “But still, why is that centaur and elf in there in the first place? Why are they in a human’s home?”

  “I would suggest they’re there to rape him,” Vale unsurely reasoned. “But it seems to me they’re more interested in killing him than anything else.”

  Bermuda watched Lelu and Max closely, seeing the centaur tenderly holding the boy close while weeping in remorse, then noticed Grace was now missing.

  “Where did the elf go?”

  “Who cares?” Vale said with a smile forming. “This is perfect. We have a human, centaur, and elf to take with us. And they’re young too, they won’t be too hard to get. One’s even unconscious. This is perfect.”

  Bermuda searched for any sign of the missing elf in the room before she was quickly yanked back by the arm with a yelp. She and Vale turned to see a troll holding the arachne in hand while having a large axe in the other.

  “What the hell?” the troll scoffed before looking up. “You brought your kid with you for this? What is wrong with you?”

  “Huh?” Bermuda asked. She and Vale noticed gremlins and goblins standing around them, all armed with alchemic pouches, daggers, and rusty shortswords, and then looked up to see an arachne poised on the side of the building watching them from above.

  “That’s not my kid,” the monster said scratching her head. “My daughter is back with the others. Why would I have brought her out here where monster hunters live? She’s next to useless for anything.”

  “What is that?” a gremlin asked pointing to Vale.

  “Stupid lookin’ bug,” a goblin sneered. “So stupid ‘n pointy.”

  “Can I eat?” another asked with a drooling smile. “Still hungry.”

  “Get out of here, brat,” the troll ordered while shoving Bermuda aside, the arachne tumbling over the grass with flailing legs before scrambling up onto her feet. “Go back to your mommy, we’re busy here.”

  “What is this thing?” a gremlin asked while trying to grab Vale. The pixie flew around the monster in rigid angles before zipping over to Bermuda.

  “Who are all of you?” Bermuda demanded.

  “And I’m not a thing,” Vale scowled.

  “We’re here to get rid of some pesky monster hunters,” the troll snapped. “You shouldn’t be here, little bug. It’s very dangerous for kids like you.”

  “Monster hunters do live here?” Bermuda wondered.

  “Not for long,” a gremlin chuckled.

  “We’re gonna make em’ screem,” a goblin cackled.

  “Run along, child,” the arachne overhead ordered waving them away. “You might get hurt otherwise. I’m sure it was a pain for your mother to brood you, don’t let her efforts go to waste so easily. Not like mine were with my useless drunken daughter.”

  Bermuda and Vale exchanged glances then heard a girl’s scream from inside the cottage, right before a thunderous crash echoed out along with the building shaking a little.

  “Looks like Fat Cassie’s in,” a gremlin laughed as they saw Grace rushing back through the curtain screaming something. She quickly grabbed her bow and a handful of arrows near the counter and fired them back through the doorway, tearing apart the drape while a loud groan was heard in the back of the building. The elf reached for more arrows before she dropped with her legs being pulled out from under her and was yanked back into the backroom.

  “You’re going to kill those kids, aren’t you?” Vale questioned.

  “We’ll kill anyone we find here,” the troll scoffed. “Stay too long and that may include you. Now for the last time, beat it.”

  “Is that the same centaur from before?” another gremlin asked pointing to Lelu who was fearfully watching where Grace had vanished and calling out her name. “She’s still alive? And there’s a human kid in there too.”

  “Let’s fix that,” the troll growled before charging forward and bursting through the door. The goblins scrambled over and jumped through the windows with loud crashes while the gremlins quickly followed after, with Lelu shrieking at seeing them bursting in while she frantically tried dragging Max back towards the counter.

  “We need them alive, right?” Vale asked.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Bermuda spoke narrowing her eyes. “We’re not letting those wretches harm children.”

  “You think Silly is going to harm them?”

  “Don’t think about that,” Bermuda sternly replied. “Just go make sure that elf isn’t dead. I’ll deal with these rogues in the front.”

  “What are you talking about?” the arachne above scowled. Bermuda slowly looked up to her while Vale zipped over and up along the ceiling of the building in a blur, with everyone inside trying to see what passed overhead before turning their sights back onto Lelu who was slumped down against the front counter with Max held in her arms. The centaur started breathing fearfully with tears forming in her eyes before looking past the monsters. Slowly they all glanced back to see Bermuda staring up at the other arachne while she slowly waved her hands up at her sides. The air above her wavered and crackled quietly while her fingers trailed violet wisps of the ether behind them, the young arachne glaring at her kin as three glowing orbs of purple light formed above her. The magical balls of energy swirled around in the air while drawing in currents of wind that seemed to grow stronger as the magic grew above her.

  “Who the hell are you?” the wicked arachne carefully asked while slowly backing up along the building.

  Vale raced along the ceiling of the backroom, straight down to the floor, then straight forward through to the kitchen where Grace was shrieking as an ogre’s hand was holding her. The giant monster had a few of her arrows stuck in its belly yet didn’t appear to notice, its bloodshot eyes watching Grace screaming in her hand as it slowly started to stand up where it had crashed through the side of the building. The monster opened its mouth and leaned forward to chomp down on Grace’s head with a hungry growl, the elf screaming with wide eyes as her life flashed before her and the smell of rotten meat blew past.

  “CLOVER!”

  A streak of blue light zipped across the floor then straight up before a wide arc sliced around through the air and the ogre’s throat. The brute gurgled with its eyes rolling back into its head before slowly dropping forward against the cottage with its hand letting go of Grace. The elf landed down on the ground with a yelp then stared in shock at seeing the ogre leaning against the building with blood gushing out of its neck. With a flash of blue light Vale shot back down next to Grace and struck her knife into the ground with a whack, causing the elf to scream and hop back while staring in surprise at the pixie who remained knelt down with her hand holding onto her lodged blade.

  “Are you okay?” Vale asked glancing to her.

  “WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?” Grace shouted shaking her head. “Who are you diseased freaks? What the shit is that thing? What the fuck are you? You assheads think you can just push me around like this? Do you know who the fuck I am? Do you? Goddammit, you can’t treat me like this you horsefucking, ass-eating piles of-”

  Vale showed an uneasy frown as the elf continued to cuss and yell at her while waving her arms around, the tiny monster slowly pulling up her knife from the floor and shaking her head as she took a step back from the child.

  “I smell evil on you.”

  Grace stared at her with disbelief and rage before they turned towards the front of the building as a blast of wind raced through the home. Outside Bermuda swung her hand towards the arachne on the side of the cottage, hurling one of her violet orbs of swirling energy and wind at the monster with a screaming howl.

  “What the hell?” the arachne cried as she leapt to the side. The blast of magic struck through a window before blowing apart half of th
e room it crashed into along with the roof with the force of a tornado. Those inside the sales floor braced themselves from the mighty gust of wind that struck by while small armor plates and piles of clothing from the tables were thrown around in the air.

  “She’s using magic!” a gremlin yelled pointing to Bermuda.

  “That can’t be,” the troll said slowly shaking her head. “Arachne… can’t use magic.”

  Bermuda glared at the terrified arachne above her then quickly flung another orb at the monster, the powerful blast striking through the wall beside the screaming foe and blowing planks and debris out from behind her. A mere second later the side of the cottage exploded and blasted out far into the fields nearby from the orb detonating with a violent burst of uncontrolled gales. Without pause Bermuda yelled out while waving her hands around, trailing crackling arcs of electricity in the air while some shot up erratically into the third whistling sphere of violet light hovering above her. She then threw the last orb of magic towards the roof, sending it through the smoke and haze before racing right into the screaming arachne’s face. A powerful blast of light erupted along with a thunderous crackle as lightning bolts scattered out in a wide explosion from the roof, sending spikes of energy all around the cottage which blasted into scorching bursts of sparks while several detonated right away atop the building and threw more charred and flaming debris into the air.

  “What’s happening?” Lelu cried out as she ducked down with Max held close.

  “What the fuck?” Grace yelled as she was thrown back from the force of the wind into the kitchen table, crashing through it and tumbling over to slam into then through the water urn in the room.

  “Geez, Bermuda,” Vale sighed as she hovered up into the air while water rushed past below her on the floor. “Would it kill you to use a little self-control with your magic?”

  The monsters in the sales floor ducked down as debris rained from above all while Lelu screamed with her eyes shut tight.

  “How the hell is that kid doing that?” a gremlin demanded. Looking up the fiends saw half the house having been blown away while their arachne companion was dangling by one of her legs from the destroyed roof. The monster’s neck was broken along with her ribs and arm, blood dripping from her mouth as she hung upside down with a leg caught between two beams while having burns and blisters all over her face and chest.

  “Um… you okay?” a goblin slowly asked.

  “That damned brat,” the troll growled as she glared at Bermuda, the young arachne looking down from the mangled roof towards the other wicked monsters with a cold stare of her own. “Kill her. Kill all these goddamned kids right now!”

  She lifted her axe up to strike Lelu down, the centaur looking up to her with a gasp as the gremlins and goblins turned towards Bermuda while brandishing their weapons. In a flash a zigzagging blue light streaked into the room, whizzed past the troll, then stopped instantly as the axe was yanked out of the monster’s grip. The troll spun around to see Vale hovering in place with her back turned to her, the pixie’s wings humming as they shook a little behind her body. In one hand she held her large knife down at her side. The other was outstretched with square casting bases formed into a cube around her hand, the magical diagrams having rigid blocky edgings that glowed with a blue light while faint tiny yellow cubes seemed to bounce around inside the box. And floating in the air before her was the troll’s axe, the handle having two square blue casting rings set around it and holding the weapon steady.

  “What… in… Eden?” the troll breathed out.

  Vale slowly glanced back to the troll, shook her head, and then flung her hand back, hurling the axe through the air at high speed right into the monster’s skull with a swift crack. The troll flew back and slammed into the wall, the monster’s stunned expression frozen on its face with blood flowing down from the clean cut it had in its head while slowly slumping onto the floor.

  “Kill that thing!” a gremlin yelled while winding back with a chemical pouch. In a flash Vale zipped around everyone in a blurred trail of light that didn’t bend or curve once but instead traveled in straight lines while turning at sharp angles. The pixie circled the gremlin then raced forward in front of her while throwing her hand ahead, the tiny monster yanking a centaur’s spear off the ground with two blue square casting bases forming around it. Vale quickly came to a stop, flung her hand back, and launched the spear behind right into the gremlin that was thrown back with a painful howl into the wall with a swift whack. The gremlin screamed in agony while clutching the spear, kicking a few times as she strained to draw a breath before slowly falling limp and letting go of the lance. The remaining goblins and gremlins quickly backed away from Vale into the sales floor as the pixie eyed each one with discontent.

  “Don’t call me a thing,” she warned while clutching her knife with both hands.

  Lelu looked around from the dead troll to the newcomers then to the speared gremlin before up at Vale while quietly uttering something under her breath. Grace carefully crept into the room and peeked over the counter to see the dead monsters and destroyed wall where Bermuda skittered in from. The arachne came up behind Vale while scowling at the wicked monsters, her eyes glancing down to Lelu and Max before noticing Grace watching her from behind the counter.

  “Who… are you?” Lelu managed to get out.

  Bermuda watched the centaur cowering on the floor with Max held close in her arms then turned her eyes onto the intruding monsters with a stern glare.

  “What is the meaning of this?” a gremlin demanded. “How dare you get in our way! You think you can protect your little friends from us?”

  She jumped a bit as Bermuda held out a hand towards her and formed a swirling ball of purple energy before it. The air began flowing into it with twirling currents as the arachne slowly shook her head.

  “They’re not our friends,” she corrected. “They’re our targets.”

  “Tar… gets?” Lelu worriedly asked. “Wait, just who are you? What do you want with us?”

  “You’re coming with us,” Bermuda said glancing back to her. “All three of you.”

  “Why? What do you want us for?”

  “They were our targets first,” a gremlin scorned.

  “And now you all are,” the other added before the monsters dashed towards the children. Lelu watched them charge forward in fright before Bermuda fired out her magical orb, the howling attack wailing through the air while lifting upward with a fierce current flowing around it. As it raced past a gremlin and two goblins it instantly yanked all the bloodthirsty fiends into the air after it into the screaming torrent of wind along with tables and merchandise in the shop. Vale dashed forward and slashed outward towards the monsters with her knife, sending out a bright blue arc of energy that sliced through the spinning funnel of wind, a few chests and heads of the monsters, and finally against the entire wall of the cottage that it seared through for a moment before exploding outward. The orb of violet light blasted by after with a fierce howl, throwing the wicked monsters out into the air along with debris, blood, and various items from the tables that were now knocked all around the room. All the monsters crashed down into the ground further away from the home, bones broken and skin torn from both the arachne’s powerful wind magic and the pixie’s searing blade attack.

  Lelu and Grace stared at the sight with wide eyes, seeing a few broken boards dropping down from the newest hole made in the cottage while none of the monsters outside moved an inch. Slowly they turned their eyes to Bermuda and Vale, the arachne breathing out and lowering her hand while the pixie spun her blade around before sheathing it at her hip. The two looked to one another with a nod of approval before turning to see Lelu shaking a little while holding Max closer to her chest.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Vale gently said reaching out for her. “We’re not going to hurt you. We’re just taking you far away somewhere whether you want to come with us or not for reasons that both concern and slightly scare us regarding your f
uture wellbeing.”

  “You’re what?” Lelu cried out. “Get away! Get away from us, you damn arachne and… and… wha… what are you anyway? Some kind of… weird… box… thing?”

  “Don’t call me a thing,” Vale growled.

  “I don’t know who, or what, you are, but you’re not taking Max anywhere!” Lelu yelled out as she frantically kicked along the ground to get away from the newcomers. She scrambled to her feet and dashed around the counter before Grace suddenly grabbed ahold of Max and struggled to wrestle him away from her.

  “You’re not taking my servant with you!” Grace yelled out. “Let go of him, he belongs to me!”

  “Knock it off!” Lelu shouted while the two stumbled about, with Bermuda and Vale watching with confusion now. “Those monsters are going to kidnap us! They’re probably going to eat Max! Get out of the way, you accursed elf!”

  “Let go of my human, you fucking bovine!” Grace roared as she and Lelu started slapping each other around the unconscious boy. “Hey, spider bitch and stupid bug, just take this fucking cow with you! She’s more than fat enough for you to eat, you don’t need me or my human!”

  “Fat? Fat?” Lelu screamed. She tackled Grace to the floor with a furious yell, the two slapping and bickering with each other while Bermuda and Vale turned to each other questionably.

  “You insufferable little forest sprite!”

  “Fucking gluttonous grass-muncher!”

  “Soulless demon!”

  “Bulbous butt-eater!”

  “Infernal mud flopper!”

  “Hey,” Bermuda called out.

  “Did they forget about us?” Vale asked shaking her head.

  Lelu and Grace continued slapping each other while on the floor next to Max, the girls screaming every degrading name they could think for one another before a broken beam snapped off the ceiling and dropped down onto them with a loud thud. Bermuda and Vale cringed from the impact then heard silence filling the room. Slowly they peeked over the counter to see the girls out cold with the broken beam cracked in two places resting above them on the floor.