Chronicles of Eden - Act 2 (42 page)

“So? They still humped men for their seeds, probably took it in the ass and mouth too just for fun,” Falla spat out. Daniel geared back with his hand to slap her, with Falla gasping and leaning back against the wall more.

“If you call any of them a whore again, Falla, I will not forgive you. I don’t hit women, it’s not the gentlemen thing to do, but a despicable monster would deserve it nonetheless,” Daniel warned.

“I don’t understand, they’re not virgins, how can you possibly see them as such? You know they’ve been defiled, all monsters are like that, why do you insist that they’re pure and innocent?” Falla asked.

“Because in my eyes they are, in my eyes they’ve never truly been with a man before, all they’ve done is follow their nature blindly without thinking. Their hearts are pure, and so are their bodies as far as I’m concerned,” Daniel stated firmly. Falla just stared at him with wonder as silence filled the cabin, until a squeak was heard. Daniel looked back to see Squeak smiling at him with adoring eyes, a few tears welling up as she squeaked softly again.

“Squeak,” Daniel said with a small smile. Squeak wiped her tears away then quickly lunged forward and hugged the boy, with Daniel showing a strained smile as the ant girl held him with a very tight grip. Squeak nuzzled against his cheek while squeaking happily, oblivious to Daniel’s strained grunts and weak chuckles as she had an iron hold around his body.

“Ok, Squeak, really, that’s enough,” Daniel coughed out weakly.

“Squeak, let him go, you’re crushing him,” Specca sternly insisted as she quickly rushed over and tried to pry the ant girl off of the boy. Squeak leaned back and smiled at Daniel before kissing him deeply, with the other girls gasping at the sight while Daniel’s expression went from surprise to a glazed over stare. He felt the girl’s tongue swirling around against his own, as well as an overwhelming euphoric sensation rippling through his head as he felt perfectly at peace suddenly.

“Squeak!” Triska yelled out as she darted back into the cabin and tried to pull free Daniel, with Specca wrapping her tail around Squeak’s waist and struggling to yank the ant girl away with all her strength. Daniel started to go limp in Squeak’s arms as his mind was swimming, being oblivious to the fact that Triska and Specca were desperately trying to free him from the ant girl’s incredible strength. Falla just watched them with a raised eyebrow while remaining silent, not understanding Daniel’s belief that these girls were really so innocent.

Alyssa shook her head with annoyance at the sight then looked back ahead before screaming and snapping the reins.

“Whoa, Lucky! Stop!” she called out. The horse skidded to a halt as the caravan rocked from the sudden decrease in speed, with the group inside rolling towards the front doorway with surprise. Squeak looked up towards Alyssa then down to Daniel as the boy was lying under her with a dazed expression on his face. Triska and Specca looked at her with frustration then towards Alyssa while Falla was rubbing her head after having hit the wall next to the doorway’s frame.

“Oh my god,” Alyssa said in horror.

“Alyssa? What’s wrong?” Triska asked as she got up and headed towards the front seat again. Specca adjusted her glasses then tried pulling on Squeak again, having very little effect budging the sturdy girl at all.

“Squeak, get off him this instant, you can’t-”

“Holy shit,” Triska said in shock. The group then looked to her, with Daniel’s senses slowly coming back, as Triska held a hand over her mouth while looking around at something.

“Triska? Alyssa? What’s wrong?” Specca asked.

“Why did you stop like that? Don’t any of you know how to drive?” Falla barked out with annoyance. Triska and Alyssa just kept looking around at something in front of them with horrified expressions.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Daniel asked as he and Squeak sat up, the group watching as Triska and Alyssa remained silent still. Specca shook her head then moved forward to climb up onto the seat as well.

“What are you both looking at-
EEEK
!” she asked before screaming with her hands over her mouth as she looked around with fright.

“Specca?” Daniel asked worriedly.

Triska and Alyssa slowly hopped off the caravan onto the ground, their feet landing on the grass where blood was soaked into nearby. Alyssa held her staff in hand while looking around with a cautious expression while Triska kept her hand back near her sword to draw it out if needed. Daniel and Squeak climbed out of the cabin then looked around with wide eyes at the sight while Specca looked down and away to avoid seeing such a thing.

“What happened here?” Alyssa asked softly, looking around at what was once the campground of sorts. Nearby trees and bushes were burnt and crumbled over while most of the grass around the area was charred and covered in blood. A few makeshift slanted shelters made of wood were toppled over next to some of the trees, the collapsed shelters being burnt and falling apart. There was a stone altar in the middle of the campground which had blood soaked on it, and strewn all around the area were the remains of lycans. The monsters had very little flesh on them still that was either intact or burnt black, all of them appearing to have been eviscerated and savagely mangled. Triska and Alyssa slowly walked around while Daniel hopped off the caravan, all of them looking at the campsite with unease. Squeak quickly grabbed her pickaxe from inside the cabin and hopped out of the caravan while keeping on guard while Falla got up onto the front seat then looked around with surprise.

“What did this to them?” Daniel asked.

“What… were they?” Triska asked as she looked at a lycan’s corpse. Specca gazed around at the fallen monsters with remorse and shook her head slowly.

“Lycans, these are… or were, wolf monsters of Eden. They have a very strong pack mentality and always hunt and live in groups. They are known to steal away men and rape them with overwhelming numbers and force. They’re carnivorous, and even eat other monsters and animals to survive, however they are known to have a strong sense of pride. They only capture and eat what they need to survive, otherwise they don’t harm anything, and they actually let the men they rape go free afterwards, although they tend to steal them away again if they so desire. They’re rather peaceful as long as they’re not hungry,” she enlightened as she and Squeak slowly walked around the ravaged campsite.

“I’m counting six very dead lycans, and… something else,” Triska said as she saw another skeleton on the ground, only having scraps of flesh and burnt organs that did nothing to show what it had been in life.

“They look like they were eaten by something, this was a slaughter,” Alyssa mentioned. The group looked to each other then to Falla as the butterfly girl slowly walked towards them, her eyes glancing around at the fallen monsters with growing fright.

“What if… those man-eaters the kid talked about were here? What if this was from them? What if…” she said shakily before looking at the skeleton on the ground, the bony figure missing an arm while it had almost nothing to distinguish who or what it could have been before. Falla whimpered and held her hands over her mouth.

“Luna?” she asked fearfully. Triska kneeled down next to the skeleton and eyed it over carefully.

“I… can’t tell, this could have been anyone,” she said shaking her head. Falla started breathing heavily as she held her arms around herself, the group watching with concern as she started to break down.

“No… no! That can’t be her! It can’t be!” she shouted out before crying. Daniel looked down to the remains on the ground then walked over and gently held Falla, the girl clinging to him while crying uncontrollably.

“It’s going to be ok, calm down. We don’t know if that was really her, we need to stay optimistic here,” he said gently.

“You said she was with a human child, didn’t you? I don’t see a child’s body anywhere around here,” Specca pointed out as she looked around the area carefully.

“Would lycans really kill an innocent little girl?” Daniel asked her worriedly.

“If they were really hungry, then anyone, man or monster, young or old, would be fair game to them. They don’t hunt or eat to be malicious, they only do so to survive,” Specca said shaking her head slowly.

“A blind human child, if she were all alone she couldn’t have escaped this if she were here, but if she’s not here then Luna must be somewhere else too,” Triska reasoned hopefully. Falla whimpered and looked to her with watery eyes then to Daniel, the boy nodding at her with a worried smile.

“Not to mention your sister would be airborne, right? She wouldn’t have been caught like this,” he added.

“But what if… what if they did catch her? What if that’s… really her?” Falla managed to get out before looking to the corpse on the ground while struggling to hold back her screams.

“There’s no telling if that really was her by looking at the skeleton, but Triska’s right, if Luna had a child with her, and if she really did get eaten here, then the child would be here also, right?” Alyssa reasoned.

“I’d like to think that the lycans wouldn’t have been so hungry as to actually hunt down a human child,” Specca mentioned with concern.

“Still, what the hell hunted
them
?” Triska asked cautiously as she looked around at all the dead lycans. Alyssa slowly gazed around at the fallen monsters, seeing that they were all disemboweled brutally. She then noticed one of the disheveled shelters budging a bit with a creak. The witch snapped her fingers and pointed towards it, with the group watching as the shelter budged again before a hand slowly crept out and pushed the wooden top up more.

“Somebody’s in there,” Daniel said as he turned to see, with Falla quickly grabbing onto his back and peeking over his shoulder. Triska drew her blade and slowly approached the shelter while Squeak and Alyssa followed, the three girls watching as the hand holding onto the wood pulled back while a scuffle was heard under it. Specca quickly ran over to Daniel and held onto his arm worriedly while the boy watched the scene with careful eyes, seeing the three girls approaching the shelter while keeping on guard.

“Who’s in there? We mean you no harm, come out peacefully,” Triska called out. No response was heard from the wooden planks, with Alyssa then holding her staff out towards it while Squeak and Triska tensed up.

“We know you’re in there, please come out,” Triska asked again. After no response was heard she gripped her sword tightly while Alyssa focused her magical power, the witch then waving her staff to the side and throwing the broken shelter over to the side into a tree with a crash. Daniel, Specca, and Falla watched as the lumber flew off to the side before two girls screamed.

“Don’t hurt us, please!” one cried out.

“I don’t want to die here!” the other pleaded before crying was heard. Daniel glanced to the two girls next to him then started walking towards the scene, with Specca and Falla following as they saw Triska slowly sheathing her sword again.

“Hey, calm down, we’re not going to hurt you,” Triska pleaded gently while holding a hand up defensively.

Cowering before them two girls were seen in the dugout of the shelter, both looking to be Triska’s age and height and both holding onto each other while trembling fearfully. The first girl had short raven hair and wore a black webbed masquerade mask over her eyes, a red cocktail dress with black edgings and a black tail, the dress having gold embroidering below the bosom, and black high boots with two green straps. The second girl had long blonde hair, wore a purple floral masquerade mask, a long purple slit dress with long sleeves and a sapphire embroidered belt, and long black stockings under her dress along with black high boots that had red bow ribbons on the front. Daniel and his group looked at the two girls curiously as they whimpered and looked up to them while holding each other close.

“Please, what do you want?” the raven haired girl asked nervously.

“I’m so scared, sister,” the blonde whimpered before burying her face in her sister’s bosom. Squeak and Alyssa looked to each other curiously then down to the girls as Triska slowly knelt down in front of them.

“Hey, we’re not going to hurt you, I promise,” Triska said gently.

“Are you two alright?” Specca asked. The two girls whimpered then looked to Triska with quivering mouths.

“Who are you?” the raven haired girl asked worriedly.

“My name is Triska Raylight, it’s ok, you’re safe now,” Triska assured with a small smile. The two new girls slowly stood up and looked around at everyone.

“Am I seeing this correctly, or… do you have… monsters with you?” the raven haired girl asked curiously. Daniel nodded and stepped forward.

“Yes, but don’t worry, they’re not malicious at all, I assure you. They’re our friends,” he said gesturing around at the group.

“You are
friends
with monsters?” the blonde haired girl asked softly. Daniel and Triska nodded before Triska pointed to Falla with a dull expression.

“Well, we’re not exactly friends with her, but don’t worry, she’s harmless,” she said flatly. Falla scoffed at her then looked at the new girls carefully as the two kept close to one another while looking from one group member to the other.

“What happened here, can you tell us?” Specca asked.

“It was horrible, just horrible,” the raven haired girl said sadly, looking down and holding an arm over her eyes.

“So much blood, so much death, it was almost too much to bear,” the blonde whimpered as she looked away while holding her hands over her face.

“You poor things, what did this to these monsters?” Triska asked. The two girls looked back to her with fearful expressions behind their masks.

“Monsters did this to these monsters,” the raven one spoke.

“We saw it all unfold with our own eyes,” the blonde said gravely. Alyssa looked at the girls carefully then raised an eyebrow in question, noticing that she couldn’t actually see the strangers’ eyes at all from behind their masks.

“Um, what’s with the masks?” she asked. The two new girls’ gazes snapped to her instantly then after a moment they looked down with remorseful frowns.