chronicles of eden - act I (51 page)

“Relax, my dear little witch, you’ll have your chance for your revenge in due time. For now however your chance has passed, calm your mind and regain your composure,” she said calmly. Tora looked at her with urgency and shook her head.

“But, mistress, I can handle her. I can still kill her before the day ends,” she pleaded with desperation. The woman shook her head and looked down to her, her lips curling into a small smirk as she held up a finger and waved it slightly.

“Not here, not now. We have more important things to be doing right now, remember? You had your chance but now we have other matters to attend to,” she said with a calm tone. Tora growled with frustration and looked down as she stomped her foot.

“Dammit,” she hissed. The woman chuckled and looked down at the witch, tilting her head slightly.

“Now now, it’s not very becoming of a lady to let her anger get the best of her,” she mused. Tora clutched her staff tightly for a moment then slowly relaxed, breathing out then glancing up to the woman with a solemn expression.

“Yes, mistress,” she said softly. The woman nodded then looked off down the street with a calm gaze.

“Good, keep a level head, my dear, and your wish for revenge will come all the more swiftly,” she assured before starting to walk away. Tora nodded slowly then followed after, looking down slightly with a dull glare. She glanced back behind her as the two walked further into the city, narrowing her eyes slightly before looking back ahead with a focused expression.

‘Alyssa, you can’t hide from me forever. We will meet again soon, mark my words.’

Throughout the world of Eden, larger cities and kingdoms were beacons of human civilization, with their fortified walls and stores of weaponry to protect against the monsters that roamed the lands around them. However, some locations allowed certain types of monsters in to trade with and use for various services, with these locations being known as ‘monster-neutral’ zones. Those that were allowed into these areas were watched closely and given no tolerance for suspicious behavior, and were widely despised and treated harshly by the human citizens they met. Still, with unique magical and finely crafted merchandise from these otherworldly traders, cities such as Ashwood became even wealthier and more secure in the world by allowing them in. Of course, with monsters being allowed into these areas the guards were always around, keeping a watchful eye over their people.

After all, you never know who, or what, might come through the gate.

*****

Walking down the streets of Ashwood three travelers were receiving harsh stares and cold glares from the humans they passed, all of which weren't going unnoticed. Daniel slowly glanced around, seeing all the citizens of the city talking amongst themselves as they pointed to the travelers that had a monster in their group. Squeak looked around worriedly as everyone was giving her glares and scowls, feeling frightened as she was inside a human city that obviously didn't want her around. Triska glanced to her with a sympathetic expression before looking around at the people with annoyance.

"For a city that allows monsters into their land, these people sure aren't very hospitable," she said flatly.

"No, it appears they only allow the monsters to come inside to purchase their wares if they're valuable enough, and that's it. These people have no intentions on forming peace with any that come here," Daniel agreed shaking his head. He looked over to Squeak as she walked alongside Triska, the ant girl squeaking quietly while her antennae twitched slightly. She looked over to Daniel with a worried expression as she squeaked a few times, the boy smiling gently back and shaking his head.

"Don't pay them any mind, Squeak, they just don't understand yet. It'll be ok, I promise," he reassured. Squeak nodded then looked down with closed eyes, unable to go anywhere near Daniel without causing even more problems. Triska glanced to her, seeing Squeak’s downtrodden expression, and then sighed quietly as she looked back ahead to Daniel.

'I should be happy she can't go near Daniel at all while we're in here, I've wanted her and Alyssa to back the hell off from him from the start. But… not like this. I feel so bad for her.'

She looked over to Squeak with concern then gently held the ant girl's hand, the monster glancing to her with timid eyes.

"Daniel's right, Squeak, don't listen to what these people are saying. They'll see that you and your kind aren't our enemies, they and all the others of mankind," she reassured gently. Squeak nodded once with a soft squeak then looked down with a troubled expression. Triska showed concern for her friend then looked down as well while the three travelers made their way into an intersection in the city.

"Well, we might as well get our supplies and then go meet Alyssa, we're not making many new friends here today," Daniel said looking around as people were walking by at a distance from the travelers, all while glancing to them with discontent. Triska nodded then looked to Squeak as she was keeping her eyes down at the ground still.

'Looks like I'm not going to get any alone time with Daniel after all, we can't leave her alone here like this.'

Triska smiled slightly then nudged Squeak to get her attention.

"Hey, how about we go get our equipment ready, I could use a hand with the shopping," she asked kindly. Squeak looked at her curiously as Daniel smiled at the two. Squeak tilted her head slightly and squeaked a few times while Triska glanced around at the stores nearby.

"You might as well stick with me today, not like you can follow closely to Daniel anyway. Besides, I'd rather not trouble him with the heavy lifting," she jested with an amused glance over to Daniel. He chuckled and smiled weakly as he shook his head.

"Gee, thanks," he said dryly. Triska giggled softly and nodded, then looked over to Squeak.

"Well, we do have a strong ant girl on our team. How about it, think you can help out with our shopping?" she asked. Squeak smiled and nodded eagerly with a few quick squeaks as she wiggled her abdomen.

"I think she's up for it," Daniel said with a small laugh. He looked over down another street then to the girls as he pointed towards something.

"I'll meet up with you two in a bit, I'm going to check out their library while we're here," he informed them with a smile. Triska looked at him with a raised eyebrow then smiled amusedly.

"Always with your nose in the books, huh?" she asked playfully. Daniel shrugged then looked off down the street where he saw a sign with a book decal on it near a large building. The library in Ashwood was two stories tall with rounded stone pillars in front of it, the building having a few people walking in through the fine crafted wooden doors.

"Never hurts to be too prepared. I'm going to see if they have any records of monster types here that I can copy down into my book, just to make sure we're ready for whatever we might find out in the wild," Daniel reasoned. Triska smiled gently at him as she nodded in agreement.

"You're the monster expert, whatever you say, Daniel," she said softly. Daniel chuckled then looked over to the two girls with a calm smile.

"I'll meet you where Alyssa said she'd be waiting at, are you two going to be ok on your own?" he asked. Triska nodded and glanced around at the people passing by in the streets, observing that all of them were watching the ant girl with cautious and harsh expressions.

"I'll keep an eye on Squeak, we'll be alright. Still, I think we should leave as soon as we're able, this place isn't exactly welcoming of monsters or those that hang around them," she said looking back to Daniel. He nodded then looked over to Squeak as the ant girl was watching him curiously.

"Just stay close to Triska, you'll be alright. I'll see you soon, ok?" he said gently. Squeak nodded and smiled as her antennae twitched a bit. He waved to them then walked off down the street with his bag slung behind him, his eyes glancing around curiously at the sight of the large city as he made his way towards the library. Triska watched him walk off then sighed softly.

"Alright then, let's get going, Squeak," she said as she looked over towards the nearby shops along the street. She blinked then looked over to seeing the ant girl eyeing another street curiously.

"Squeak?" Triska asked, then looking down the street as well. She saw people walking around casually and talking amongst themselves, but nothing out of the ordinary.

"What is it?" Triska asked looking back to Squeak. The ant girl glanced to her then looked back down the street while she squeaked and pointed ahead. Triska looked at her puzzled then glanced down the street again, still not seeing anything special. She shook her head then took the ant girl's hand and started leading her down another road towards the nearby stores.

"C'mon, we need to get our supplies and meet up with Daniel and Alyssa. We'll people watch later, ok?" she said as she walked the ant girl down the road. Squeak glanced to her then back down the other road, squeaking with a curious expression before she was led down the street by Triska.

Further down the other road a figure watched the human and ant girl disappear around the corner, a black cloak and hood concealing the face and body that turned to walk away down a nearby alleyway. As it did a green reptilian tail was briefly seen behind it below the cloak before vanishing into the shadows.

*****

"Wow…" Daniel said in awe, looking around with wonder as he had just walked into the library of the city. His old village had books of course, but nowhere near this many. The inside of the building was setup with both floors having shelves and shelves lined with books of various sizes and types, with the upper floor circling around the lower one above with an opening in the middle. The atrium style library had glass windows up above letting sunlight down into the building while a few windows were seen around the walls as well. There were warm lit lanterns hanging from hooks on some bookshelves and around the ceiling of the first floor while people were walking around, talking quietly on the green carpeted floors or searching for books of interest to them. Throughout both levels of the building there were dozens of tables and chairs setup with some people reading at them quietly.

"I… don't even know where to start," Daniel said with wonder.

"Can I help you?" a female voice said from beside him. He looked over to seeing a girl standing next to him. She was a bit shorter than he was, dressed with brown leather boots, a light blue dress that went down below her knees, a white blouse with a light blue tie down the middle, and white gloves that went up to her elbows. She had dark brunette hair that went down past her shoulders covering her ears, and wore rounded glasses over her brown eyes.

"Welcome to the Ashwood library, how may I help you?" she asked while she was carrying a few books in her arms close to her chest.

"Oh, hello. Yeah, I'm new here and… I was wondering if you had any books on…" Daniel said before trailing off while looking around again at the large collection of books in the building, then back to seeing the girl watching him with a curious smile.

"We have nearly every kind of book out there at this library, what are you searching for?" she asked with a cheery tone. He smiled and glanced around.

"Well, I was looking to see if you had any books on the types of monsters in the world, anything that would have descriptions of them and where they might be found," he said casually. She looked at him curiously then up in thought.

"Hmm, books on monsters…" she asked herself curiously. After a pause she looked over towards the shelves near the right side of the building.

"I think we have those over here, follow me, sir," she said before she trotted off. Daniel followed after her as he looked around curiously. The girl walked over towards a shelf and started examining a few of the labels, then looked up curiously. She hopped up and snatched a large book out of the higher shelf and then opened and held it before her with one hand while she held the other books she was carrying with the other.

"Here we go, a record book of the monsters of Eden," she informed, handing the book over to Daniel. He took it and flipped through the pages with a curious smile.

"Thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for," he said with a nod. The girl smiled at him as she held her books to her chest again.

"I'm happy to help, sir, is there anything else I can do for you?" she asked curiously.

"No, thank you. This is what I came here for. There are so many listings in here; it kind of makes my monster guidebook seem obsolete," Daniel said with a small laugh. The girl looked at him curiously as she tilted her head slightly in question.

"Your monster guidebook?" she asked. Daniel nodded then walked over to a nearby table, the girl following him and watching him with a curious eye still. Daniel set his bag down on the table and brought out his monster book, then sat down and opened it up while having the other book opened next to it.

"Yeah, I put together what I could from my village, but this book here seems much more detailed than the ones we had back home," he explained, checking through the new book and comparing it to his.

"If I may ask, why is it that you made that book?" she asked curiously.

"Well, I want to be prepared for when I meet them out in the world, this guidebook will-" he started before the girl jumped a bit and dropped the books she was carrying.

"Meet them? You're… planning on meeting them out there?" she asked with surprise. He nodded then looked to her with a weak smile.

"Yeah… it's a long story," he said with a shrug. She looked at him with wonder then down at his book.

"Why are you intending to look for them, don't you know what monsters will do to a male like you?" she asked worriedly. He nodded then looked down at his book with a solemn expression.

"Yeah, I know very well how their nature is and what they want. To find and use men to breed with, to merely survive the only way they can by using us humans as their breeding tools," he calmly stated. The girl looked at him worriedly then walked up next to him.