“Goddammit!” Kindra shouted. “Now we have two Dark Queens to deal with? Is this some sort of sick joke?”
“Not at all,” Aeon laughed. “I’m finally free to rule over this world as the one true queen of Eden. My presence here is anything but a joke.”
“I believe the other Dark Queens may disagree with you on that one,” Flarah mentioned. “And myself as well. Sorry, but I don’t see myself ever bowing to you, Aeon. Or frankly giving you the smallest ounce of respect. No offense of course.”
“Still the cocky one,” Aeon scorned. “Tell me, why is it you think you can speak to me like that? Why aren’t you the least bit concerned for your life as you should be? Why are you still smiling that damned smile at me while you’re trapped by my power?”
“That’s odd,” Flarah questioned. “I thought for sure you would be more interested to know why you can’t see my future. Wasn’t that the one thing about me that made you so irritable whenever we spoke before?”
Aeon looked over the kitsune then stepped closer while slowly shaking her head.
“That among many things. You’re completely insufferable and absolutely clueless that you’re no match for the likes of us yet you still bark like an untrained mongrel and have the audacity to look down upon us as if you’re better somehow.”
“Rawr,” Flarah purred with a wink. Without pause Aeon backhanded her with a hard impact, the kitsune reeling from the hit before slowly turning back to merely raise an eyebrow at the woman.
“Moving onto foreplay already, huh?”
“Shut up,” Aeon growled as she gripped the kitsune’s throat. “Just what makes you so goddamned confident in the face of your own impending demise? Why do you continue to mock me when I’m about to peel you apart? Why is it I can’t see your future path with any certainty? Tell me, Flarah, and I just might make your punishment slightly less severe.”
“Do you really want to know my secret?” Flarah cooed. “Would that make you happy, Aeon?”
“Yes, it would be nice to know before I play with you and you inevitably break. Tell me right now what your little secret is so we can get this over with.”
“What secret?” Kindra asked. “Flarah, what’s she talking about?”
“Well, since it means that much to you,” Flarah softly said closing her eyes.
Aeon glared at the woman while Kindra was still struggling to move. She couldn’t budge a muscle, couldn’t summon any fire around her, she could only breathe and blink as she stared at the chronofly who had Flarah by the neck and her sister who didn’t appear to show any fear from it.
“My secret…” Flarah slowly said, then quickly reached up and grabbed Aeon’s arm with both hands. The chronofly gasped in shock as the kitsune smiled sharply at her while her tails slowly rustled behind, her hands firmly gripping the Dark Queen’s arm while cinders began to rise around them in the air.
“Impossible,” Aeon breathed out. “You can’t move. I locked you in place. I stopped your time.”
“Sorry, but you can’t do that,” Flarah sadly said with a shrug. “You see, it’s part of that little secret I have.”
She leaned closer to Aeon while holding the woman’s arm up at her side. The chronofly tried to shove her back with her other hand which was also grabbed and held back by the kitsune who chuckled with a sly grin at the surprised queen’s face.
“You see, I don’t have a timeline,” Flarah quietly confessed.
“What do you mean? Everything has a timeline, everyone has a fate they move towards. Everything in Eden flows in the ether of time. How could you not? Wha… what the hell are you?”
“What am I?” Flarah innocently repeated. “Why, whatever do you mean? Isn’t it obvious what I am?”
She leaned close to Aeon’s face with a sharp smile, the chronofly in her grip staring into her eyes with frustration and disbelief of what was happening. The kitsune tilted her head slightly, her eyes appearing to show soft white rings in them around the irises that glowed for a moment before fading away. Aeon noticed the odd display then slowly came to the realization.
“You’re no kitsune,” she spoke above her breath.
“I’m close enough,” Flarah quipped. She quickly moved to hold Aeon’s arms crossed in front of her chest before blasting a powerful torrent of fire through the woman. The Dark Queen hoarsely screamed as fire barreled through her and into the air in a wide funnel, her wings shaking while one was seared clean off her back. Kindra stared with wide eyes as Flarah glared at the chronofly while shooting a blazing torrent of fire through her chest. With a gust of wind and cinders the flames stopped, leaving Aeon standing on wobbling legs with a searing hole punched through her and stumps above her elbows where her arms were burned off. The Dark Queen wavered with smoke coming from her mouth before dropping to her knees, her glowing eyes slowly looking up to see Flarah watching her with a solemn expression and hair gently flowing in the breeze.
“No way,” Kindra breathed out as she was able to move again.
“You’re… not… a…” Aeon quietly uttered while twitching slightly. Flarah smirked and held her hand to the woman’s face.
“Oh, but I am,” Flarah assured. “I promise you, I am a monster.”
In a flash a barrage of fire exploded out over the chronofly and blasted the ground under her into rubble, a scream sounding off before vanishing in the rumbling torrent of flames and charred rock that erupted out in front of Flarah. Kindra stared in amazement at seeing the firestorm tearing through the ground and shooting off the side of the knoll from her sister’s hand, the elder kitsune’s hair and tails flowing behind her in the wind while her eyes calmly watched the fire she had created erase all sight of the chronofly before her. The powerful inferno raged outward from the woman’s hand before finally ceasing, leaving smoke and cinders billowing away into the air while Flarah slowly lowered her arm.
“Flarah,” Kindra softly said. “Did you… did you just…”
The smoke slowly blew away to reveal a large crevice the fire had dug out across the knoll and nothing more. Flarah looked to her fingers and gently flicked off some ash from her nails before turning to see her sister staring at her in awe.
“Did you just kill her?” Kindra shakily asked. “Did you just kill the Dark Queen?”
“Did I just kill the Dark Queen of time?” Flarah mused with a smirk. “Don’t be silly, of course not.”
“What?” Kindra bewilderedly replied. Flarah glanced over her shoulder then stepped aside, revealing Aeon standing behind her with not a mark on her and a scowl on her face.
“WHAT?” Kindra cried out.
“You can’t kill time with a measly blast of fire,” Flarah laughed before turning to face Aeon. “She’s the queen of time, remember? She’ll just reverse any harm done to her whenever she feels like it.”
“But… she… you… why…” Kindra stuttered. “But wait, you blasted a hole clear through her! You incinerated her into dust!”
“Again, she’s the queen of time. Time, Kindra. Time is her semblance, her strength. She can stop time, slow it down, or even reverse it at will. It would be no trouble at all for her to rewind her own time should she get hurt with a scratch or two.”
“A scratch?” Kindra cried out. “That was a scratch to you? But… but if that’s true then why did you bother doing all that to her in the first place? Why if you knew she would just get back up again? What was the point?”
“You hit me, I hit you back,” Flarah lectured shaking a finger at the chronofly. “Don’t be a bad girl now. Let’s play nice together, okay?”
“Again with treating me like a child,” Aeon growled with clenched fists and glowing eyes. “Mocking me. Patronizing me. Speaking down to me. The nerve you have, Flarah.”
“Oh stop it,” Flarah teased as she walked up to the woman. She gently brushed off some ash from the chronofly’s shoulders then patted her head. “Quit it with the attitude already, it’s not very becoming of a queen now is it? My my, you reall
y are cute when you get upset, you know that?”
Aeon shut her eyes and snarled furiously as the kitsune laughed and pet her head with gentle taps.
“What in Eden is going on here?” Kindra shouted out. “Why are you babying her again? Why are you talking to her like she’s your friend? And how did you break free from her magic like that? What the hell am I missing here?”
“Calm down, sister,” Flarah said as she watched Aeon growling at her through gritted teeth. “Aeon was just saying hello in her own way. You know, making a surprise entrance, talking to others with complete disdain, threatening to kill them, boasting she’s going to be queen of the world, the typical nonsense you’d expect from her. Her social skills are quite deplorable, but just look at how cute she gets when you pet her. Her cheeks puff up and she turns the loveliest shade of red you’ve ever seen.”
“Knock it off!” Aeon shouted swatting Flarah’s hands away. “Goddammit, you are the most excruciating whore in all of Eden! I hate you with every fiber of my being!”
“It’s nice to see you too,” Flarah mused with a smirk.
“I could kill you,” Aeon snarled. “It would take less than a second to you lowly maggots for me to rip you apart and coat this mound with your blood.”
“But you’re not going to,” Flarah told her. Aeon quietly growled at her while Kindra was still staring at the two of them in disbelief. “After all if you wanted us dead you would have done so already. You wouldn’t be standing before me struggling to contain your anger and complexion if you didn’t want us alive still. No, you don’t want to kill us. Not now anyway. And there’s only one reason for that. It would change something in the fates that you don’t want changed, isn’t that right?”
She then leaned closer to the chronofly’s face with a smug grin while her tails slowly rustled behind her.
“That, and you’re curious,” she quietly teased. “I know you are. You’re just itching to figure out what I am and how I do the things I do. I’m a mystery to you. I’m a thorn in your mind. Something you want to unravel before killing me. Am I right? Tell me I’m right. I know I am.”
“I take it you’re not going to answer any question I may ask right now, are you?” Aeon assumed with a flinching scowl.
“Ah, at least you saw that much coming,” Flarah giggled. She then showed a sharp smile towards the chronofly, her eyes again showing white rings within them that Aeon couldn’t help but stare at. “You’ll know when I want you to, not before. You’re not killing us because we play a part in the fates that you don’t wish to change. Same goes for you, Aeon. I don’t want to end your time just yet, I have further use of you. The fact that you’re free from your city now doesn’t change that.”
“You think you’re playing me here?” Aeon demanded.
“I don’t know. Am I?” Flarah challenged. “You’re the one who’s supposed to be able to see the future, right?”
The two stared each other down, one with glowing green eyes and the other with golden eyes with white rings shining within them. Flarah chuckled as the rings slowly faded before she turned to see Kindra still staring at them in stunned silence.
“Something wrong, dear sister?”
“What is happening here?” Kindra cried out. “What are you two talking about with each other? Why aren’t you showing more surprise that she’s free now? Why aren’t you trying to kill her? Why-”
“Calm down, little sister,” Flarah droned with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t get your tails in a twist. Everything’s fine.”
“Fine? Fine? A Dark Queen is standing right in front of you and you’re just talking to her like it’s no big deal! How is that fine?”
“Sorry about her,” Flarah said to Aeon. “She’s always overly dramatic.”
“I’m sure,” Aeon muttered crossing her arms. She glanced between the two with a flinching lip before turning her eyes over to the elven forest. Walking over to the side of the knoll she watched Green Haven while thinking about something in silence, with Flarah watching her with an amused smile and Kindra looking back and forth between them while stuttering some form of nonsensical argument.
“You’re right,” Aeon said glancing back to them. “As much as I would like to skin you foxes right now, and believe me I do, it would benefit me more to have you live a little longer.”
“Called it,” Flarah teased with a wink while tapping her nose.
“Shut up,” Aeon growled looking back ahead again.
“Okay,” Kindra calmly said, lowering her head and closing her eyes while holding her hands together. “Let me try it this way. Could someone please explain to me WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?”
“She is rather dramatic,” Aeon muttered.
“Flarah, what-” Kindra started before Flarah walked over and grabbed her hand.
“Calm yourself,” Flarah ordered. “Aeon’s the one who’s been helping me prepare this little event tonight. She’s the one who told me when and where it would happen and assisted with making sure everything happened the way it needs to.”
“You’ve been collaborating with a Dark Queen?” Kindra demanded with tails shaking behind her. “You’ve been working with her? Why would you do such a thing? What is wrong with you?”
“It’s okay, little sister,” Flarah assured. “I promise you’re going to enjoy seeing this. That’s why we’ve been waiting here all this time, to have the best seats for when the show begins. And it’s almost time for it to start.”
“Show? What show? What the hell are you two up to?”
“Come and see,” Flarah said as she escorted Kindra over to the side of the knoll next to Aeon. Kindra looked between the two in frustration then ahead at Green Haven where everything appeared peaceful from where they were.
“See what? What are we waiting for to happen?”
“Something that’ll turn that frown upside-down,” Flarah giggled. Kindra looked around at the forest and scratched her head then turned to Flarah with a cautious eye.
“Wait, Aeon said you’re waiting for the Archlight’s Blade and Hellfire’s Edge to arrive and slay the gemini. Is that true?”
Flarah glanced to her and again tapped her nose with a smirk on her face.
“The swords are coming here?” Kindra eagerly asked. “Tonight? The gemini will be slain here tonight? That’s what you were plotting with Aeon?”
“That’s correct,” Flarah agreed, with Kindra now showing a faint smile as she looked between the forest and her sister. “The swords are fated to arrive here tonight and the gemini will fall. And afterwards your precious Daniel Sorres will impress you with a unique feat of his own. I told you this would be a show you would enjoy, you should trust your big sister more. Everything is set to happen, it’s all been taken care of, so relax and enjoy the performance.”
“Not exactly, Flarah,” Aeon mentioned shaking her head. The two kitsunes looked to her questionably as the chronofly chuckled in amusement, the woman then glancing to them with a twitch of her eyebrow and a slick grin of her own.
“I told you, fate has changed. I’m afraid the show tonight has been altered to provide more entertainment and spectacle. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Altered?” Flarah asked. “Altered how?”
“You will enjoy tonight’s performance,” Aeon promised Kindra with a wink. “Just not the same way you were thinking. Sit tight and shut up, you won’t want to miss what happens now.”
“Flarah, what’s going on?” Kindra carefully asked while watching Aeon closely. “What does she mean by that? Are the gemini being slain tonight or not?”
“I’m not really sure,” Flarah mused with a curious look at Green Haven. “Looks as though there’s been a change in tonight’s plans. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what fate has in store now, won’t we?”
“You won’t have to wait long,” Aeon assured. “And that’s good because I myself am quite eager to see this unfold.”
Kindra growled while looking between the two befo
re turning her eyes onto Green Haven as she grew more anxious about what the Dark Queen had planned. The three stood atop the hill while surveying the elven forest before them, with only one now knowing what was set to happen that night and what would be set into motion thereafter. Kindra clenched her hands tightly while wondering what Aeon was plotting then glanced to her sister as another concern came to mind.
“Flarah, what were you two talking about earlier with you having a secret?” she carefully asked. Flarah glanced to her and gave no reply, with Kindra quickly peeking over to see Aeon keeping her eyes on Green Haven then back to her sister while leaning closer to her.
“Whatever you said to the Dark Queen it seemed to startle her. Is there something else you’re hiding from me?”
“Nothing that you need to worry about,” Flarah answered shaking her head slightly. Kindra watched her closely before looking ahead again while crossing her arms with a disgruntled sigh.
“Those words mean very little coming from you, Flarah.”
*****
Outside the carriage a group of travelers and co-mates were gathered around a campsite as the sun was slowly lowering behind them against the forest and horizon. Luna and Falla sat atop the carriage above the opened doors while gazing at what remained of the centaur kingdom with uneasy frowns, with Falla gently rubbing her sister’s back and Luna fidgeting her hands together as recent news from Triska brought on a whole new wave of concerns for all of them. Below leaning against the carriage Clover was keeping a sharp eye on their surroundings, the elf having her bow held in hand with three arrows placed between her fingers of the other as she remained ready to quickly fire at anything that so much as sneezed near them. Alyssa was seated on a twisted root she had summoned near Lucky, the witch gazing up at the sky with her staff in hand while the horse walked about behind her with a soft grunt now and again. Sitting atop her hat Pip was also looking up at the evening sky while her wings fluttered a few times before remaining still again. Star and Squeak stood at the edge of the knoll while looking over the scar in Eden that lay before them, the two exchanging troubled glances before looking back at the group as they could easily sense the growing anxieties of their co-mates. All except for Cindy who was giggling while sitting on the ground, her eyes locked onto Snapper as usual while the youngling hopped about in the grass while trying to pounce on an elusive cricket.
Chronicles of Eden - Act XI Page 54
