Chronicles of Eden - Act X

by Alexander Gordon

“Sword!” she yelled as she tossed over a longsword to Sasha, the reptile girl catching it and staring at it in wonder as the elegant blade had a golden handle, crimson rubies engraved into its hilt, and blue diamonds that were set within the sword’s finely polished steel.

  “Hammer!” Tabitha called out as she tossed over a large mallet to Rulo, the orc catching the weapon with one hand and noticing it was made of gold with silver weaved around its handle and large red gemstones engraved in the sides. The weight of the hammer was pretty decent while the gems in it gave off a soft crimson glow.

  “Spear!” Tabitha yelled as she flung out a long golden lance that was decorated with silver feathers tied to the spearhead with crimson bands, the expensive looking weapon having red jewels encrusted in its sleek golden finish while its tip held a sharpened green runestone that allowed it to pierce an ant-lioness without any trouble. The monster stumbled back with the spear struck through its chest before Hollia grabbed and pulled it out with one hand.

  “Dagger!” Tabitha said as she tossed out a curved short blade that had dark purple runes engraved in its silver handle while the blade appeared to be made of solid gold. Scay grabbed it and laughed with a deranged face while she started wildly thrusting the blade around in a frenzied state.

  Tabitha glanced to Forrus and growled, the lycan now watching her curiously as she had seen the neko literally pulling weapons out of a tear in the air.

  “I don’t have anything like your crappy bolas to give you,” Tabitha scorned before pulling out a long katana, the elegant weapon’s polished steel complimenting the black and golden hilt that the neko held with ease. She yanked her arm down, causing Forrus to stumble to her knee, before lifting her blade up with a glare at the lycan. Forrus stared in surprise at the neko before Tabitha swiftly sliced through their chain with a sharp strike. The lycan looked to her freed hand then around to seeing Sasha using her sword to break the chain holding her to Rulo while Scay was furiously hacking at the links holding her and Hollia with a crazed laugh, eventually cutting through while the centaur was freaking out that she might lose her hand should the naga have been slightly off with her stabbing.

  “And frankly I hate the idea of giving you anything, mutt,” Tabitha scoffed. She spun around and sliced the head off an ant-lioness before turning back to Forrus and swinging her blade inversely behind her to slice through the chest of another beast that was fatally struck down. After a pause Tabitha growled then reached into her rift while stabbing back with her katana, piercing the head of another ant-lioness while she glanced to Forrus with a stern glare.

  “But I’m not going to let you sit there and do nothing while we do all the fighting,” she continued before pulling out a jewel encrusted axe, the hatchet’s golden and silver embroidered handle having blue and green gems set within it while the blade’s polished steel had three serrated crimson diamonds sticking out on either side. Tossing the weapon over to the surprised lycan Tabitha then jingled her silent bells, closing the rift to her storehouse while she glanced around at all her companions who were watching her questionably.

  “And I expect to get all those back in perfect condition, or else you’re paying for them,” Tabitha snapped before turning her eyes onto the surrounding ant-lionesses. The girls glanced to each other then noticed the fiends charging them from all sides.

  “Where did you get these things?” Sasha asked as she sliced an ant-lioness across its chest before swinging back and beheading another.

  “I’ve collected many valuable treasures in this world,” Tabitha replied as she nimbly darted around while swiping her katana through each ant-lioness she passed. “And I plan on living to add even more to my collection.”

  “Thank you, Tabitha!” Scay laughed as she was hacking apart an ant-lioness’ head and chest with her new dagger, the naga also having another bound in her tail that she was crushing to death with a deranged smile on her face.

  “I guess you’re not a complete waste to have around,” Rulo snorted as she bashed in the head of an ant-lioness before swinging back and blasting another’s skull apart with a loud crunch.

  “It’s not as light and well-made as our own spears,” Hollia pointed out as she struck her lance through a fiend’s skull, the centaur then tossing the monster aside before charging forward and skewering two more on the pole. “But it shall do for these unsightly creatures. Thank you, Tabitha.”

  Forrus swung her axe and split open the skull of an ant-lioness then chopped off another’s arm before she swiped her claws across its face. The lycan struck down the monster then swung back and hacked the blade right into another’s head with a heavy crunch, the beast wavering for a moment before dropping dead before her.

  “I don’t know if I can force out any sincere words of thanks to you, neko,” she grunted. Looking over to Tabitha she saw the cat slicing down another two ant-lionesses before turning to the lycan and jabbing her blade back to pierce the chest of another.

  “I don’t need your thanks,” Tabitha scoffed before whipping her katana to the side, slicing through the monster and dropping it with blood splattering across the ground. “Just make yourself useful and kill some of these things.”

  The ant girls above booed and hissed as they watched the six fighters gain their advantage against the wild ant-lionesses. Sasha made quick work of any that approached her, the sword in her hand being wielded easily enough as it was smaller and lighter than her original one. Rulo knocked away all that tried swiping at her, the orc’s heavy hammer and equally damaging fist allowing her to break any and all bones they came into contact with. Hollia charged around with a furious warcry, her words being impossible to understand while she trampled over the vicious monsters and impaled others as she passed by. Scay appeared to have boundless energy as she lunged from one foe to the next, mercilessly hacking apart the monsters with crazed laughter and strangling others in her tail. Forrus darted about with high agility, striking down one ant-lioness after another with her fancy axe that she swung around with ease. And Tabitha slayed all that she rested her cold glare on, the neko darting around ant-lionesses that weren’t facing her and slicing through their backs with her blade before striking down more who failed to see the deadly neko in time.

  The ant girls clanged their tools against the steel beams and squeaked in anger as they saw the fighters striking down the ant-lionesses that came after them. Even those that tried to grab them from underground were swiftly killed as the girls quickly took them out, either by striking down at the monsters with their sharpened weapons or in Rulo’s case merely yanking the ant-lioness up like a carrot before bashing her face in.

  “I thought ant girls were normally prey for these underground predators,” Sasha commented as she sliced her blade through another monster’s head before striking another away with her tail.

  “Looks like they made these bitches their bitches,” Rulo snorted while smashing her hammer into the face of another ant-lioness. Taking a step forward she was then grabbed and dragged downward by another of the underground beasts, the orc quickly bracing herself with one foot before lifting the ant-lioness up with the other. A hard blow to its head with her hammer was all it took to kill the monster with a large splatter of blood and bone.

  “This is fun!” Scay laughed while slashing her dagger into a monster’s face repeatedly. She cackled like a deranged psycho, or like normally for herself, while blood sprayed out from each vicious attack. After decimating her prey into a bloody mess and her tail crushed another with a loud crunch the naga quickly slithered off and repeated the process of stabbing and strangling two more of the screeching predators with extreme merriment.

  “Why are they doing this to us?” Hollia demanded, the centaur stampeding around the area while trampling a few of the vicious monsters and skewering others on her lance. “I thought ant girls were supposed to be friendly and shy creatures of the lower land.”

  “It would appear these ant girls are different,” Forrus commented while striking her
axe into the skull of another foe. Looking up she saw the ant girls clanging their tools and squeaking loudly at them, appearing to be angry that the new girls were killing the predators instead of the other way around.

  “It doesn’t matter how they normally are,” Tabitha argued as she cleaved an ant-lioness across the stomach before spinning her blade and striking it down into the ground between two protruding mandibles of another underground fiend. “They trapped us down here with these things. It’s obvious they’re trying to kill us. That’s enough of a reason to kill them back!”

  The girls hacked, slashed, bashed, stabbed, trampled, and downright murdered all the ant-lionesses that came after them, the screeching predators popping up from the ground and hopping out of burrows in the pit’s walls while racing after the ones who were in their living space. Even with the building pile of corpses of their fallen kin they charged towards the ones who they intended to devour with reckless abandon, each of them failing miserably as now the six newcomers weren’t bound together and were armed with very expensive weaponry. It wasn’t long before they were the only six still standing while all around the area were decimated and decapitated corpses of the beasts along with plenty of blood to coat the dirt.

  “I don’t think they’re enjoying the show,” Hollia mocked as the girls looked up and around at the booing monsters.

  “I’m having fun,” Rulo smirked.

  “A little bored here,” Sasha mentioned with a flick of her blade.

  “Stab,” Scay grunted with a twitching smile.

  “Seems we’ve run out of wretches to slaughter down here,” Forrus mused.

  “Plenty up there though,” Tabitha said while holding her katana inversely behind her. She grunted with a cringe while wavering slightly, the neko taking a deep breath while slowly moving her wounded shoulder around.

  “Tabitha, you’re hurt,” Scay worried with a frown.

  “I’m fine,” Tabitha snapped, shaking her head to clear her vision. “Let’s just kill them and go find Daemon. I’ve had enough of being down here.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Hollia agreed as the girls looked around, seeing steep cliff walls circling the pit on all sides. There were no stairs, ladders, or even doorways of any kind seen, the lowered arena appearing to be completely enclosed with only going up being the way out.

  “Looks like we’re climbing out,” Forrus muttered.

  “Excuse me?” Hollia argued. “Centaurs do not climb. At all. There must be another way out of this infernal coliseum.”

  The ant girls above squeaked and booed at the monsters before a few of them took out explosive rods from their satchels. They ignited the ends and tossed the sticks down around the six girls, all of them looking at the sparkling objects with puzzlement as their fuses slowly burned down.

  “What are those?” Scay wondered with bright eyes. “They’re so pretty.”

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Hollia cautioned.

  “Run!” Sasha ordered. The girls all quickly scattered before the bombs exploded with great force, throwing out dust and charred rubble while letting off loud bangs that echoed in the chamber.

  “What the hell was that?” Rulo exclaimed.

  More of the ant girls started dropping bombs from above, the six fighters then frantically running about while the sticks blew up violently behind them every step of the way.

  “What are those things?” Scay whined while slithering one way then another as the bombs blew up all around her. “I don’t like them anymore!”

  “What manner of magic is this?” Forrus shouted before being knocked forward onto the ground by an explosion behind her.

  “They’re using bombs!” Tabitha cried out. She stopped and blinked then looked to Scay who slithered over next to her. “Wait a moment, they’re using bombs!”

  “You just said that,” Sasha pointed out.

  “What’s a bomb?” Hollia whined while two more exploded behind her.

  “Those are apparently,” Rulo answered with a shrug.

  “Bombs are tools that blow up,” Tabitha clarified.

  “We noticed!” Hollia yelled out.

  “And they’re extremely rare and expensive to make,” Tabitha continued as another stick dropped in front of her. Scay quickly ran over and grabbed the bomb, throwing it aside before it exploded while the naga wrapped herself around Tabitha to protect her.

  “What does that mean, Tabitha?” she desperately asked her friend while bracing from the blast.

  “It means if they have this many of those things these ant girls are filthy rich!” Tabitha cheered with a big smile. “I smell a hefty payout down here!”

  “Are you serious?” Forrus barked out at her while scrambling away from more of the bombs blowing up near her. “They’re trying to murder us with those things and all you can think about is robbing them for more gold?”

  “A huge amount of gold!” Tabitha declared as she grabbed Scay and shook her excitedly. “After we kill those ant girls we’ll be even richer! We’re going to be rich, Scay!”

  “Yay!” Scay cheered waving her hands in the air. “We’re getting more gold now! Best day ever!”

  “Best day ever?” Sasha shouted back at them. “What is wrong with you two? This is not the time to be celebrating!”

  Tabitha and Scay laughed together while jumping up and down before two more bombs dropped near them, the girls looking back and forth between them then to each other before the sticks exploded violently.

  “Tabitha!” Hollia shouted as dust and smoke blew out from the blasts while rocks were thrown everywhere. The ant girls above cheered while the four fighters below watched the haze and falling rubble carefully.

  “Well… they’re dead,” Rulo reasoned with a shrug.

  “Idiots,” Forrus scoffed shaking her head.

  “I don’t believe they deserved such a dire fate,” Hollia mentioned with a hint of concern.

  Sasha peered through the smoke then spotted Scay and Tabitha lying together off to the side, the naga having her tail curled up near them while the neko was holding her friend down with one arm. The two girls were scratched up but still in one piece, with Tabitha slowly standing back up with her katana while her back had more blood on it now.

  “Tabitha?” Scay whimpered looking up to her friend. “Are you okay?”

  “No, I’m not okay,” Tabitha hissed, the girl having her head lowered while she trembled slightly. “They think they can keep me from my gold like this? Nobody… nobody… nobody is going to keep me from my gold.”

  “Tabitha?” Scay wondered as she saw the neko’s furious glare being aimed up at the ant girls.

  “She’s still alive?” Rulo asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Lucky cat,” Forrus muttered.

  “You won’t stop me,” Tabitha growled. “Nothing will stop me from collecting what is rightfully mine.”

  “What is she mumbling about?” Sasha asked.

  “You won’t keep me from my treasure!” Tabitha shouted out, her voice echoing throughout the arena while the ant girls above watched curiously as the neko and naga were still alive. “Nothing in all of Eden will keep me from becoming the richest neko in the world! All your gold will be mine even if I have to kill each and every one of you!”

  With a fierce yowl the neko took off running with swiftly moving feet and tail swaying sharply behind. The ant girls above squeaked and started throwing more bombs at her, the cat dodging side to side while avoiding the blasts as she kept her eyes up at the monsters. She darted to the left as another blew up then to the right, then jumped through another blast of fire and smoke before landing on her feet and running forward still with her katana held inversely behind her.

  “Where is she going?” Hollia asked the others.

  “Isn’t she hurt still?” Scay worried.

  “I don’t think pain matters to a neko as long as there’s gold involved,” Sasha dryly remarked.

  Tabitha sprinted around a large ex
plosion then jumped forward to avoid another, the neko letting out a long yell as she ran up a slanted crag before leaping off with bombs dropping around her. The girl grabbed one that sparkled with its lit fuse then with all her strength threw the stick back up into the air. She landed down on a hard roll before lunging forward as the powerful blasts detonated behind her. The other girls watched the bomb she threw soaring up towards the ant girls, the monsters squeaking in surprise as they saw it flying right up to them before it exploded with a furious bang. This was followed immediately after by dozens of other explosions that rippled outward from the first, all of which being satchels of the volatile minerals carried by ant girls that detonated and trigged others to follow while the monsters were quickly blown apart by their own tools.

  “Wow,” Scay breathed out as the girls saw the steel canopy appearing to explode violently with tremendous force outward in a fiery inferno, the shockwave causing the arena to shake violently while rocks and bent steel dropped from above into the pit. Tabitha yowled furiously before debris rained down around her, crashing into the dirt and kicking up dust while bloody remains of ant girls soon followed after.

  “Tabitha!” Scay screamed. She took off into the haze while the other girls backed up as steel beams and boulders crashed into the ground around them, all watching as the upper level of the arena was swiftly wiped out with multiple explosions echoing loudly through the chamber.

  “I think she got them,” Rulo commented.

  “Seems those bombs really are touchy things,” Hollia added.

  “Why didn’t we think of doing that?” Forrus grunted with annoyance while waving her hand up.

  “Hard to feel pity for them,” Sasha mentioned glancing to a few bloodied bodies of ant girls that hit the ground nearby. “Poor fools brought this upon themselves.”

  The rapid detonations of the bombs igniting rippled out above the lowered arena and throughout the upper level, the blasts sounding off along with frantic squeaks of the ant girls as they quickly scattered in a panic. Sasha and the others watched as the cavern was ravaged by the unstoppable chain reaction of bombs going off before a massive explosion erupted off to the side, destroying a large section of the pit’s wall while throwing burning debris all around with a violent roar. It was more than apparent a large cluster of the bombs were set off all at once, instantly demolishing the area above the pit as well as digging out a crevice that led up to the upper level in the shape of the blast. Slowly the bangs and crashes calmed down, the ceiling to the cave cracking while dropping loose stones and dirt yet somehow still remaining together. Dust billowed throughout the entire chamber as a few clangs of falling steel beams echoed out briefly, silence slowly befalling the arena while the fighters gazed around at seeing debris and charred rubble lying everywhere.