In the world of Eden, monsters roamed the lands, creatures that resembled females in one way or another, although being far from human themselves. All monsters in the world were female, and were only capable of giving birth to females as well. That being the case, the monsters relied on humans as a means to breed, with the majority of monster classes in the world stealing away men to rape and procreate with. Some used brute strength, others used trickery and deceit, some used magic and poison, and others used the allure of beauty to charm and entice wandering travelers. These creatures were considered evil, vile, and enemies of mankind throughout Eden. However there was a voice in the world saying differently, claiming that not all monsters were truly evil at heart. A voice saying that some of these creatures were merely misunderstood, that they were only following their nature to survive.
That there were evil monsters in the world, but there were also good ones as well.
*****
Up in the sky a few birds flew overhead while the sun was shining down through the clouds. A calm breeze rolled by as a few trees swayed in the wind, the rustling of their leaves heard along with the chirps of the birds that flew away. Near where the rolling plains met with a small forest there was a river that flowed into the woods at a gentle pace, the clear blue water rolling along while some fish swam within. Parked next to the riverbank was a caravan used by a group of travelers, the large wooden wheels of the ride resting on the soft grass. The caravan had no openings on the sides, only a small window in the back along with an entryway in the front leading out onto the front seat. There was a single white horse hooked up to the reins, just casually munching on some tall grass at his feet, the lone mare not appearing to be enough to pull such a large traveling wagon all on its own, at least to those who thought the horse was ordinary.
Sitting on the seat of the ride was Alyssa, the young looking witch watching her horse as it chewed some grass while its tail swished about leisurely behind it. She was dressed in her usual outfit along with her hat that she preferred to wear, holding her wooden staff in one hand while the other gently ran a finger across her focuser crystal adorning her necklace. She carelessly looked up at the sky, humming a gentle tune while bobbing her staff around playfully.
“Hey, Alyssa? Have Triska and Specca come back yet?” Daniel asked from inside the caravan. The witch glanced back to the entryway and shook her head.
“Not yet, Daniel, you know how much Specca likes to stay in the water once she hops in, she’s probably throwing another fit about having to leave again,” she said with a smirk.
“Haha, yeah, she does like being in the water. But that’s just her nature after all, you can’t judge her for that,” Daniel said from within the caravan. Alyssa giggled and looked around at the surrounding landscape with a shrug.
“Maybe not, but still, we need to get going again if we’re going to reach the next town sometime soon. Honestly, I should have gone instead of Triska, I could have gotten Specca out of the water without any trouble at all,” she said with a tap of her staff on the driver’s seat floor, the witch’s eyes giving off a purplish hue briefly. A few short squeaks came from inside the caravan, with Alyssa glancing back into the cabin with a raised eyebrow.
“Hey, I would have been gentle with her, Squeak; I would have lifted her out of the water with my magic, and then dropped her onto the grass. She would have been just fine, I’ve had lots of practice with throwing Triska around with my magic to know how to get them to land just right,” she reasoned with a giddy laugh.
“I’m not sure referencing you tossing Triska around so much speaks highly about your caring nature with our friends, Alyssa,” Daniel said with a hint of exasperation. Alyssa giggled then looked into the cabin with an adorable smile. Inside the spacious traveling wagon Daniel was leaning against a pillow propped up against the wall, the boy looking through his guidebook of monsters he might be seeing up close in the world soon enough. He was dressed in his usual flair of ordinary clothing from his village, his hair a bit messy as always while his expression was as calm as ever considering he was out in the world looking for monsters that could and would possibly rape him to death in a very grisly and unwanted manner. Sitting next to Daniel was Squeak, the ant girl lying on her legs with her abdomen sticking out to the side along the wall while she rested against another pillow. She was dressed in her normal attire of a navy blue tunic with tall dark boots, something she seemed to prefer to wear as the other girls couldn’t really get her to wear anything else. Triska had purchased a few extra sets of clothing when they were all in Ashwood, but Squeak just didn’t seem to want to wear anything other than the clothing she grew up with. She even preferred to wear the same dark blue gloves, refusing any other colored ones that were offered to her with a simple shake of the head.
“Just for future reference, throwing anyone, Triska included, around isn’t exactly a good thing to brag about,” Daniel mentioned with a fleeting look to Alyssa, the witch giggling with a small smile in response. Squeak glanced to Alyssa with a nod before looking back at the monster book with curious eyes as she was seeing monsters that she never knew existed inside the ever-growing guide.
“Aw, but I am a caring witch, Daniel, I’m out here as your protector aren’t I?” Alyssa asked sweetly. Squeak turned to her with a dull expression while pointing to herself, squeaking a few times with a raised eyebrow while Daniel glanced to her with a weak smile. Alyssa showed a dull smile in response and shook her head.
“I was his protector first, Squeak, not to mention that I’m the most qualified here. I’ve given him a comfy ride out here in the outerlands, I’ve agreed to be his trustworthy and dependable witch, and I’m a much better cook than Triska is,” she boasted with a smug smile. Squeak put her hands to her hips and squeaked many more times at the witch with a stern expression, with Alyssa showing annoyance to it while Daniel watched the ant girl curiously.
“Hey, take that back!” Alyssa yelled out.
“You don’t even know what she said, Alyssa, none of us do. We don’t speak ant girl,” Daniel pointed out.
“No, but I don’t like the way she said it,” Alyssa said with discontent.
“You mean the way she squeaked it?” Daniel asked flatly. Squeak pointed to Alyssa and squeaked some more, with the witch growling in anger at the ant girl.
“Seriously, I
know
she’s saying something that’s complete crap, just look at her!” Alyssa accused while pointing to the ant girl. Squeak scoffed and looked away from her before holding onto Daniel’s arm and pulling him closer to her, the boy jumping a bit as Squeak’s bosom enveloped his arm. Alyssa let out a small gasp before glaring at Squeak with bared teeth.
“Hey, let go of him, I’m his protector out here and if anybody is going to cuddle up next to Daniel it’s going to be me!” she shouted before she darted into the cabin. The yelling of the witch and squeaking of the ant girl were heard from inside the caravan along with Daniel’s futile pleas for them to calm down, all of which were lost in the serene surroundings as a few birds took off from a nearby tree.
Meanwhile, further downstream away from the caravan, Triska was seen standing near a river’s edge, showing an annoyed expression as she had her arms crossed before her. She was wearing her usual style of clothing consisting of a yellow shirt that was ripped down the middle and slender pants that didn’t cover the lower legs, even though this shirt was once brand new at Ashwood before the girl had purposely tore it slightly down the middle after she had purchased it. When asked why she wanted a ripped shirt, her only reply was that she liked it that way, with Daniel just nodding in agreement while the other girls had questioned if she had done so just to get Daniel to notice her breasts more. The girl had her trusty sword sheathed behind her, her dagger holstered at her hip, and an increasingly frustrated expression building by the moment.
“Ok, for the last time, Specca, get out of the water!” she yelled out with a stomp of her boot.
In the river next to her was another girl swimming gently in the current, with only her head popping up above the surface of the water while she had a blissful smile on her face. She had short teal colored hair that went down to her shoulders and green reptilian fins sticking out slightly for ears, a clear giveaway that she wasn’t human. Specca glanced to Triska, or at least the blurry image that she knew to be the temperamental teen, before she looked down with a pout.
“There’s no rush, Triska, Daniel said I could take my time and enjoy the water as much as I wished to,” she stated decisively.
“You’ve been in the damned river for over an hour, c’mon! We have places to be and monsters to meet you know!” Triska shouted. Specca shook her head and looked away with a scoff.
“No,” she retorted stubbornly. Triska growled then dropped her sheathed sword to the ground, the weapon clanking against a stone before the teen dropped her dagger down next to it as well. Specca glanced back to her with a raised eyebrow as Triska walked up towards the river’s edge and kicked her boots off to the side.
“If you don’t get out right now then I’m coming in and dragging you out,” Triska threatened. Specca giggled and looked at her amusedly, her eyes squinting slightly at the blurry figure she saw to be Triska.
“You can’t be serious; you can’t honestly expect to overpower a nixie while she’s in water. You may be a skilled swordswoman, Triska Raylight, but you’re not capable of taking me out of my element by force alone,” Specca laughed. Triska narrowed her eyes as Specca swayed around in the water with a cocky smile.
“Fine, we’ll play it your way,” Triska quipped, then jumped into the water with a splash. Specca giggled then darted back into the water, shooting under the surface to see Triska swimming towards her. Although Triska was a good swimmer, Specca was a goddess of the water. Almost literally, since the nixies were natural born water monsters. This was seen very clearly by Specca’s webbed toes, her aqua blue and light greenish scales that went from her knees up past her thighs and also from her elbows down to her hands. Her long slender reptilian tail also had the same colored scales as it swayed about behind her, coming out below the girl’s light blue petal skirt that had green trimmings, the skirt going down to her thighs. She wore her usual white sleeveless shirt and long blue tie, even in the water as she liked the dignified appearance of the human clothing and didn’t mind getting it wet in the slightest. Of course those were the only articles of clothing she wore however, but her private regions under her skirt weren’t able to be seen clearly by Triska while underwater, the human not possessing the perfect clear vision the nixie did while she was submerged.
Specca swam in circles around Triska, the human looking around to seeing the nixie gliding through the water smoothly and gracefully. Her scales even lit up slightly and caused the water around her to become crystal clear, as if the nixie cast out a slight aura while in her element.
“You can’t catch me, Triska, you couldn’t even if your life depended on it,” Specca taunted playfully, her voice sounding clearly through the water. Triska showed a dull expression as the nixie continued to swim in circles around her while giggling to herself. The human tried to reach out and grab the nixie’s foot or tail, however couldn’t move fast enough in the water while Specca had no trouble swimming without any real effort on her part. After a while Triska shot up towards the surface and reemerged, taking a breath of air as Specca popped up nearby while laughing.
“Enjoying the swim as well?” Specca asked playfully. Triska caught her breath and growled heavily, looking over towards Specca with narrowed eyes. After a moment she looked down and breathed out slowly, closing her eyes and appearing to calm down. She then looked down to her clothing and shrugged with a small smile.
“Oh darn, what was I thinking? Now all my clothes are soaking wet,” she said while feigning concern. Specca laughed and shook her head.
“I didn’t believe you thought your brilliant plan through,” she mused in agreement. Triska nodded then crawled out of the river and stood up while looking down at her clothing. Specca laughed for a moment then stopped as she saw Triska’s blurry figure standing there in silence. Although the nixie could see underwater perfectly, her eyesight above land was very poor, the girl needing to wear glasses to see correctly then. She brought out her glasses and wiped the water from them, then put them on to see Triska holding her arms above her head while looking down at her clothing.