“Luna?” Falla asked. “Luna, can you hear me?”
“Falla?” Luna asked softly.
“Yes, I’m here, you’re okay now, you’re saf-” Falla said before Luna suddenly shot up and screamed while looking around quickly. She scrambled around in a panic while screaming for her life before Falla quickly grabbed her and held her close.
“Luna, it’s alright!” Falla pleaded as she held her struggling and freaked out sister. “You’re alright now, everything is okay!”
“Calm down, Luna, you’re safe now,” Triska reassured as the other girls watched the butterfly shaking her head and screaming with fright.
Luna then paused and looked around at them all as she seemed to be in a daze still then turned to Falla with fearful eyes.
“Falla?” she whimpered.
“You’re okay, your sister is here, just calm down,” Falla assured as she held her sister by the shoulders.
Luna whimpered then started crying as she held onto her sister.
“Oh, Falla, it was horrible!” she cried out. “That child wasn’t a child, she was a witch! She was a witch and she did stuff to me, it hurt so much! It hurt so much!”
Falla held the girl close with remorse while the others watched with sympathetic eyes.
“Oh, Luna, I’m so sorry,” Falla said dearly. “I didn’t know she was a witch, I never would have left you alone with her like that if I had known.”
Luna choked back her sobs then looked around quickly.
“Where is she, what happened to Emily?”
“She’s dead,” Falla reassured. “She was killed by those man-eaters that were after her. Those things tore her to pieces, I saw it with my own eyes.”
Luna gasped and looked back to her with surprise.
“What? Oh no, poor Emily,” she whined.
“What, poor Emily?” Falla asked in disbelief. “How could you feel sorry for her? She hurt you, she lied to you, who cares that the bitch died?”
Luna whimpered and leaned back from the embrace while looking down, fidgeting her hands together in her lap.
“She was so nice to me before,” she reasoned unsurely. “She even kept saying she loved me like no other. I don’t think she understood what she was doing to me.”
“She was going to kill all of us with her pet Darker One earlier,” Falla reminded. “She killed every human in that village nearby, and she kidnapped you in her insanity. There was nothing good about her.”
Luna sighed and closed her eyes.
“I liked her better when she was just a human child,” she said sadly. “Before she raped me like a horrible monster.”
“She really did rape you?” Specca asked worriedly.
Luna cringed and nodded before rubbing her rear.
“She used some magic tree thing to do stuff to me,” she whined. “It was horrible. It touched me all over and went inside me and ungh! And it really hurt. I hate it in the butt, I don’t like doing stuff there.”
“Oh dear, I’m so sorry,” Specca said softly as the other girls watched Luna with remorse.
Luna cried and shook her head before looking at them with sorrow.
“Why didn’t anyone ever tell me raping others was so horrible?” she sobbed. “I hated it. I kept begging her to stop but she wouldn’t, she wanted to do stuff to me and I didn’t want her to, but she never listened!”
“What do you mean why did nobody ever tell you?” Triska asked with a raised eyebrow. “Raping others is always horrible, how could you not know that?”
“Hold on,” Falla insisted, raising a hand towards Triska to silence her. “Don’t confuse her any more than she is, which really wouldn’t be that difficult to be honest. We’re monsters, we’re supposed to rape humans. It’s how we survive in this world. Tricking them, lying to them, taking them by force, there’s nothing wrong with us doing that. It’s a natural part of life.”
“No it isn’t,” Alyssa snapped at her. “Rape is evil no matter how you look at it, and lying to humans just to get their seed doesn’t make that any better.”
“Like you can talk about such things,” Falla scoffed. “How many men did you hex in your lifetime, hm? How many of them did you lie to or use your magic to cloud their thoughts? We’re monsters, you hypocrite, this is how we live!”
Alyssa held in her grunt of annoyance as she knew she was being a hypocrite based on her past.
“No, I don’t want to live like this!” Luna cried out as she scrambled away from her sister. The group watched as the butterfly girl curled up in a ball on the ground while holding her legs close, her body shaking slightly as she whimpered and shut her eyes tight.
“I don’t want to do that to anyone,” she whined. “I don’t want to rape anyone, I don’t want to do something so horrible to them, I couldn’t live with myself if I did.”
Falla looked at her with disbelief then to the others with frustration.
“Great, see what you did? Now she’s really screwed up in the head thanks to you and your stupid ideas.”
“She’s not screwed up in the head-” Triska started before Luna began laughing manically while shaking her head, the butterfly girl having a very twisted smile on her face while tears were still dropping from her cheeks.
“I’M SO SAD RIGHT NOW, I JUST WANT TO CRY! HAHAHAHAHA!” she yelled out before suddenly switching back to sobbing in sorrow. Triska just stared at her with a raised eyebrow for a moment then looked back to Falla.
“She’s not any more screwed up in the head than she already was,” she reasoned. “She just sees now that raping others is wrong. That’s good, that’s what we’re trying to show monsters in this world.”
“No, that’s not good,” Falla argued. “That’s not good at all! She’s a monster, if she doesn’t use deceit or force to get a man’s seed then she’ll never get pregnant!” She yelled out with frustration then stumbled to her feet and marched over towards the other girls.
“Look at us! We’re monsters, we’re not human at all, we’re giant freaking butterflies. Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter if we don’t have any dangerous magic, or that we look damn sexy compared to other women, no man in the world will ever willingly fuck us like this!”
“Humans would be a lot more accepting of you if you weren’t lying and tricking them all the time just to hump them,” Triska shot back.
“Not to mention there are many monsters that kill humans, even the man, to get pregnant,” Specca added. “You can’t blame humans for having a terrible image of monsters.”
“If monsters would just be peaceful with humans then it wouldn’t matter that they looked different,” Alyssa insisted.
“Bullshit!” Falla barked out. “You heard Charlotte, you witches look like little girls, no human is ever going to want to do it with you willingly unless their either hexed by your magic or they’re a pedophile!”
“I’m 72 years old,” Alyssa shot back with frustration. “I’m not a little kid, there’s a difference!”
“Yeah right, keep telling yourself that,” Falla scoffed. “Look, the bottom line is we have to trick them into doing us, we have to tie them down to get their seeds, we have to do whatever it takes to survive in this world and keep our race going. You can’t change that!”
“Yes we can,” Specca argued. “Daniel’s out here along with all of us to do just that.”
“He’s not going to change a damn thing!” Falla shouted out. “You heard that witch in Eston. Monsters and humans are never going to live together like you want, it can’t happen!”
“Yes it can,” Triska sternly defended. “Charlotte just didn’t want to listen to reason. That doesn’t mean monsters can’t live peacefully with humans. We’re going to get things to change in this world, we’re not going to let the senseless killing and raping continue.”
“You’re all insane!” Falla scorned while backing up from them. “We’re monsters, don’t you understand that? Humans will never just want to live with us peacefully, and I’m pretty damned sure mons
ters don’t want to live with them either!”
“Daniel wants us to live together peacefully,” Alyssa retorted. “He’s even considering three monsters as a possible mate for himself. If he can love a monster than other humans can too!”
“Daniel is a moron!” Falla yelled out. The other girls glared at her with anger from those words as the giant butterfly grabbed her hair and shook her head with frustration. “You’re out of your minds, how can you all be so stupid? If my sister and I don’t lie and use force with a human they’ll never have sex with us, the same goes for any monster in this world. No human will ever want to willingly mate with a monster, no human will ever love us for how we are, how can you all think otherwise?”
“Because Daniel said-” Specca started before Falla shouted and pointed to her.
“Daniel doesn’t know anything about monsters! We need men to breed with, that’s it! Humans don’t want us around, but we’re not going anywhere, so this is the only outcome. Either we do whatever it takes, whatever it takes, to get a man’s seed to get pregnant with, or else it’s all over for us. There is no other way for us to live!”
Falla growled with frustration then looked to Luna with worried eyes as the girl kept whimpering while curled up into a ball on the ground.
“You people are only causing more problems wherever you go,” she derided. “Your stupid plan won’t work and you’re going to get yourselves killed following that boy. Do me a favor and keep your asinine ideas to yourself, don’t you dare corrupt my sister with your dreams that won’t come true.”
She walked over to her sister, kneeling down and gently holding the girl as Luna continued to cry in her ball. The other girls looked to each other with concern as the sounds of Luna’s sobbing were all that was heard in the silence.
“I don’t want to do it,” Luna whimpered. “I don’t want to, I don’t want to be like that.”
“Luna,” Falla said softly. “Yes you will, you have to if you want a daughter. It’s what we do.”
“No,” Luna whined before crying again, with the other girls looking to her with growing concern as they all started to wonder if their dream of peace between humans and monsters really was just that, a dream.
Triska then shook her head slightly before looking over towards Eston, watching as a large portion of the village was now on fire.
“Daniel, what are you doing over there?”
“Should we go after him?” Specca questioned. “I mean the town is on fire, we shouldn’t leave him alone like this, should we?”
Squeak shook her head and pointed down at the ground below them with a firm expression, with the girls looking to her before Alyssa slowly nodded.
“Daniel told us to stay here and wait for him to come back,” Alyssa reminded them. “So that’s what we should do.”
“You’re right,” Triska reluctantly agreed. “We need to trust in what he’s up to. He’ll be back in no time. He knew what he was doing when he left, and Kroanette is with him, I trust she won’t do anything lecherous with Daniel, so let’s just try to get done what he asked of us in the meantime.”
“He doesn’t know what he’s doing at all, he’s an idiot,” Falla scoffed, with the other girls looking to her with discontent again.
“He is not!” Alyssa yelled out. “He’s just what the world needs, somebody who can bring an end to the fighting once and for all!”
“He knows what he’s doing out here,” Specca snapped with a flustered huff. “We all know and believe that with all our hearts. He’s going to change Eden for the better, mark our words.”
Squeak merely squeaked something at the butterfly girl with a stern expression as she waved her hands around in indecipherable signals.
Triska nodded and looked over towards Eston, watching the burning village with hopeful eyes as the other girls turned their attention towards it as well.
“If anyone can put an end to the fighting in this world, if anyone can really get humans and monsters to live in peace with each other, it’s Daniel.”
*****
The night sky above was barely seen through the branches of old trees as Kroanette raced along a darkened path through the forest, with Daniel holding onto her waist as he rode atop the centaur towards the village of Rystone that lay further ahead. Small beams of moonlight shined down from above here and there, revealing the dirt road in small patches while all around them the darkened forest remained shrouded in shadows.
“Seriously,” Kroanette spoke up with a glance back to Daniel. “Are you sure you want to do this? It’s not too late to turn around.”
“I can’t go back without getting Charlotte’s approval,” he stated firmly. “We need their help with making our case known.”
“Why are you so intent on talking to monsters about peace anyway?” Kroanette questioned. “You do realize that such an idea is utterly preposterous, yes?”
“No, it isn’t,” Daniel argued. “Monsters and humans can live together it they try, they don’t have to fight and kill one another. I know they can, so somebody has to try and make it a reality.”
“But why you, why are you doing all this?” Kroanette asked as she looked back ahead.
“Because if I don’t then nobody will.”
“I’m sorry, but I just don’t see such a thing happening,” Kroanette said shaking her head. “Humans and monsters can’t coexist peacefully, you’re going to get yourself killed with this quest of yours.”
“Kroanette,” he replied with a smirk at her. “You’re helping right now and being friendly with me, you realize that, yes?”
“Don’t mistake my offering you a ride to your death like this as anything more than a fair gesture for you helping me with my delivery,” Kroanette retorted snootily. “Like I said before, centaurs don’t try to rape humans out in the wild, we don’t have to since we’re given men without any resistance or trouble for our services in the monster community. I have no problem with you, Daniel. You do have some mental issues as far as I’m concerned, but I bear no ill feelings towards you. Still, I can’t see you living much longer with such radical ideas in your head.” She then glanced back to him with a sympathetic smile and a small shrug.
“I don’t want to see you die, but if this is what you wish to do with your life then so be it.”
“You really don’t think humans and monsters can live together in peace, do you?” Daniel asked.
“Not at all,” Kroanette replied looking back ahead.
Daniel nodded and looked up with a distant gaze as they traveled through the darkened forest.
“Well, I guess we’re about to find out if what I dream of really can come true or not,” he reasoned, with Kroanette glancing back to him for a moment before looking ahead again.
The two made their way through the old forest along the dirt road, both of them remaining silent as Daniel contemplated how this would end for him and Kroanette just waiting until she could bolt back towards her home to get knocked up.
Kroanette raced along the dirt road for a long while before coming to a stop, with Daniel and herself looking ahead at seeing that they had exited the forest and were now in front of the witch village Rystone. The place certainly fit the profile for where witches lived, with the tall, slender buildings having oddly steep roofs while the dwellings were made of dark colored bricks and red painted wood. A few windows of the homes were lit with warm green and blue glows, the place having a very unnatural and creepy vibe to it just by looking at it. There were lampposts throughout the town along the roads that had fires lit to show no witches walking about or seen within the village, with only an unsettling silence being heard as not even the wind was blowing nearby. A black steel fence surrounded the town which seemed to be about half the size of Eston from where Daniel and Kroanette were standing, while surrounding the village were old trees and small banks of fog that drifted around slowly. The dirt road below them slowly shifted to a cobblestone street that led into the village, with Kroanette taking a deep breat
h before she began walking towards the town along it.
“Last chance to turn around,” she offered somewhat nervously. “I don’t see any witches yet, we can probably still get you out of here if we go now.”
“I’m not backing down from this,” Daniel stated decisively.
“What’s your plan here, if I may ask?” Kroanette asked more nervously. “Just knock on some doors and see if they want to talk?”
“I need to find Charlotte and speak to her. Where do you think the alpha would live?” Daniel asked looking around as they slowly trotted into the village.
“She probably lives in the biggest house here, that’s how I was planning on finding her to deliver that artifact to her,” Kroanette reasoned while keeping on guard.
A black cat suddenly meowed sharply as it ran past them, with Kroanette hopping back with a yelp while trying to force a brave expression. The cat raced over into an alleyway where a rustling sound was heard, with Kroanette and Daniel then looking around carefully as it was still silent in the village.
“Okay, seriously,” Kroanette whined. “I don’t want to be here anymore, let’s go.”
“You would have had to come here anyway to make your delivery,” Daniel pointed out. “What’s so bad about being here now?”
“Because,” she replied shakily. “Now I’m here with somebody who is not liked by the witches and wants to speak to them about a crazy idea that none of them want to hear. And I’d rather not get caught up in all this and be killed all because I’m seen with you.”
“You have your bracelets to protect you from magic, you’re the safest one of us here.”
“Yeah,” Kroanette snapped back at him. “Blunt force and magical spells won’t work on me, but I’m pretty sure a village full of witches along with an alpha could conjure up something to kill me with rather easily, and I’d rather not wait and find out what that something is.”
Daniel sighed then climbed off of her back, the centaur watching with concern as he smiled and shook his head at her.
“Alright, then you can go,” he kindly offered. “You don’t have to be here like this with me. I’m sorry to have you do so much for me; I don’t want you to get hurt with what I’m here to do. I’ll go on ahead, you can return to your home.”
Chronicles of Eden - Act IV Page 27
