chronicles of eden - act I (80 page)

“Wha… how did you do that?” Triska asked with a jump.

From the plates they watched as juicy steaks shifted up from below along with corn and sliced carrots, the warm cooked meals seeming to appear from nowhere while the cups started to fill up with sparkling water. Daniel and Triska’s eyes widened as Squeak walked over, the ant girl watching with wonder and an open mouth as a plate full of small chocolate brownies manifested up from the table in the middle along with knives and forks next to each plate.

“How… but… that’s…” Daniel said looking around at the spread that seemed to have risen up from the wooden stump they were gathered around. Squeak slowly sat down next to Triska and stared at the food with wonder, squeaking quietly as her antennae twitched a bit.

“There, does that look ok, Daniel?” Alyssa asked innocently. The group just looked to her with open mouths as they struggled to form words.

“Alyssa… that… that’s amazing! How did you do that?” Daniel asked with awe. Alyssa giggled and took a brownie, casually taking a bite and winking at him with a coy smile. Triska looked at the witch for a moment then to the meal. She slowly took her knife and fork and cut a piece off of the steak, seeing that it was cooked thoroughly.

“I don’t believe it,” she said softly as she looked at the meat on her fork. She looked back to Alyssa then to Daniel, the boy looking at the meal with wide eyes.

“Go on, Daniel, dig in. I made it just for you,” Alyssa giggled. He glanced to her then to the meal with an amazed smile.

“Alyssa… thank you. I… I don’t know how you…” he said looking around at the spread. Triska slowly took a bite of the steak as Alyssa watched her with an arrogant smile.

“Better than some lousy sandwiches, huh?” she asked mockingly. Triska chewed the food with a careful expression as Daniel and Squeak watched her. After a moment she swallowed then looked at the witch with wonder.

“It’s real… and good. How did you make this out of thin air?” she asked with disbelief. Alyssa laughed a bit as her knife and fork floated up and started cutting up her steak for her.

“I didn’t make them out of thin air; I just brought them from home. I can’t create something out of nothing you know,” she said shaking her head amusingly.

“From home?” Daniel asked looking at the meals. He blinked then looked at the dishes closely.

“Hey, these were the same plates and cups we saw on the table in your home before,” he said examining them. Triska looked at the dishes curiously while Squeak started to cut her steak, the ant girl looking at the meal with wonder still.

“Yeah, you’re right. But… how did they get here? And where did the food come from?” Triska asked looking to the Alyssa. The witch’s fork brought up a small piece of steak to her mouth, the girl eating casually while looking at Triska with an amused smile.

“My home of course, I just said that. I do have food at home you know,” she said simply.

“You just keep cooked steaks and baked brownies at home waiting for you?” Triska asked puzzled. Alyssa giggled and shook her head.

“No, I keep all the ingredients I need for my meals at home and put them together with my magic when I need them. I have a whole storeroom full of provisions for when I’m out traveling in the world,” she explained. Triska looked at her for a moment then down to her meal as Daniel took a bite of his. He smiled as he chewed the meat while Squeak was happily eating hers, squeaking softly as she looked at her meal with bright eyes.

“Hee hee, I think Squeak prefers my cooking over Triska’s as well. How about you, Daniel, is it to your liking?” Alyssa asked looking at Daniel with a timid smile. He nodded and looked at her with a curious smile while chewing his food.

“It’s amazing, Alyssa, how come you never told us you could do this?” he asked. She smiled a bit and looked down as she took another bite of her brownie.

“Well, you never asked, Daniel. I can do
a lot
of things for you if you just ask,” she said glancing back to him. Triska looked at her with a dull expression as Squeak stopped chewing and looked at the witch the same as well. Daniel chuckled nervously then looked back down to the food.

“So wait a minute, you mean to tell me you could have been making us these meals all this time and you never once said anything?” Triska asked with annoyance. Alyssa sighed and looked up with a dull expression.

“You have the strangest ways of saying thank you for me doing something for you, you know that?” she asked flatly. Triska growled as she slammed her silverware down on the table.

“Now hold on, if you can create meals like this out of nowhere how come you never offered to before? If you’ve been so against my own food how come you never opted to make your own?” she demanded. Alyssa glanced to her then looked down at the table.

“You honestly think I can just do anything at the drop of a hat with my magic like it’s nothing, don’t you?” she asked simply. The group looked at her curiously as Alyssa glanced back to Triska with narrowed eyes.

“You think it’s easy to do this? You think witches can use their magic without cost?” she accused.

“Cost?” Triska asked. Alyssa nodded and looked down as she held her focuser crystal.

“All magical casters of Eden have limits, Triska, we can’t use our magic to do
everything
, and we can’t just use it all day every day. It doesn’t work like that,” she said solemnly.

“What do you mean, Alyssa? We’ve seen you use your magic throughout each day we’ve been with you,” Daniel said curiously.

“Yeah, you’ve been throwing me around with it every day, you seemed to be just fine all those times,” Triska added with annoyance. Alyssa smirked a bit at that comment then looked to Daniel with a gentle gaze.

“Those that use magic in this world draw their power from the ether that flows through Eden, the magical stream that we tap into for our power. Using it takes a bit out of us depending on what we do with it, and some spells are just too much for us to use at all,” she explained. The group looked at her curiously as she turned her gaze down at the table again.

“The more we use our magic, the more we tire our spirits from the effort. It’s sort of like stressing your spiritual muscle in a way. Using my levitation magic on a few objects is simple enough, but other things are more strenuous. Opening a doorway to my home takes a lot of magic, as does preparing a cooked meal for everybody here. I can’t just do it every day or I’ll exhaust my reserves,” she said worriedly. Daniel looked at her curiously, remembering that when she was trying to bring her spare carriage from home out into the rolling plains she mentioned doing so would require a lot of her magic.

“Your reserves?” Triska asked. Alyssa nodded and held her crystal.

“Every caster has a limit, we can only use so much magic before needing to rest our spirits. If we push ourselves past our limits…” she said before looking down. The group glanced to each other then looked back to her.

“What happens then?” Daniel asked. Alyssa paused for a moment then looked to him worriedly.

“We break down. Our bodies would give out, our minds would break. We… would die,” she said softly.

“Die?” Daniel said as the group jumped a bit. Alyssa nodded and looked down with closed eyes.

“If we exhaust our spirits, Daniel, we’re killing ourselves. I know of a few witches that pushed themselves too far, used too much magic without resting. It destroyed them. Using up all our reserves is fatal, as it is to any caster,” she explained. Triska looked at her with wonder as Squeak showed a worried expression.

“Oh my god, Alyssa… but, then you shouldn’t have done this for us. We don’t want to put more stress on you,” Daniel said looking to his meal. Squeak quickly set down her fork and knife while nodding in agreement. Alyssa smiled a bit and looked at Daniel while shaking her head.

“I’m fine, Daniel, this may have taken a lot of magic to do, but my reserves aren’t anywhere near low just yet. I’m not in any danger,” she reassured gently.

“Are you sure?” Daniel asked worriedly. Alyssa nodded as she held out her hand and a brownie floated over into it.

“I’m very sure, Daniel. I may not be able to do this every day for you out here, but I can at least treat you once and a while,” she said with a wink. She started eating the brownie as the group looked to each other curiously.

“Well, if you’re sure, Alyssa. Thank you very much for this,” Daniel said graciously, looking back to the witch with a kind smile. She nodded and glanced to the other girls as he started eating again.

“Anything for you, Daniel,” she said before taking a bite of her brownie with a twitch of her eyebrow. Triska and Squeak looked at her with dull expressions then down to the food. After a moment they too started to eat the cooked meals as well, both of them knowing that even though it tasted very good it didn’t change the fact that they didn’t like the warm attention Alyssa was getting from Daniel.

As they continued eating the lunch prepared by the witch Specca was swimming around near the riverbed with a calm smile, looking around at the flowing weeds and a few fish that were swimming past. She giggled softly as she gently spiraled around, the girl loving the sensation of being in her natural element. As she swam around casually the water was perfectly clear around her, the girl’s aura seeming to be visible as her scales glistened with a soft light. She floated down and drifted slowly along the riverbed while looking up at the surface, the light from above being seen through the ripples and waves of the river. Closing her eyes she sighed contently as her hair flowed gently around her ears, listening to the gentle lapping of the river and waves.

‘Daniel, this would be even more enjoyable if you were here with me.’

She floated along the soft riverbed and rocks below as her tail gently swished around behind her, relaxing as she felt so comfortable in the water. Sighing quietly she held a hand to her chest, thinking about the human that was up above that she was traveling with.

‘The other girls may desire him as well, but they don’t seem like compatible matches to me. But… would he really think of me as his… mate?’

She floated down and rested on a bed of sand, the loose grains slowly drifting away in small waves as she touched down.

‘He claims he would choose a monster if they were pure hearted, that he would treat a monster girl the same as a human girl. I need to be like that for him, I need to show him that I can be that girl. We could work as a couple; we’re so compatible with each other after all. We both like the same stories, and we both desire humans and monsters to coexist. I may not be a fighter, but surely I can be of some use to him out here still.’

Suddenly her eyes opened as she sat up and looked around quickly, feeling another presence nearby. She could feel something else in the water with her, her senses attuned to the element at a heightened level. Looking around quickly she peered through the water, not seeing anything else swimming among the weeds and rocks.

‘I’m not alone in here… I can feel it.’

“Who’s there? I know you’re out there,” she called out, her voice traveling through the water perfectly clear. Slowly a bad feeling started to sink in, the girl feeling like she was being watched yet not seeing anybody around her. She shook her head then quickly darted up towards the surface, swimming up with haste. She surfaced and looked around as her vision returned to being blurry above the water, her eyes squinting as she tried to scan around the area.

“Who’s there?” she called out.

“Specca?” Daniel said from close by. Specca looked over to see a blurry figure kneeling down near the edge of the river, the shape resembling Daniel.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“Daniel? Is that you?” she asked rubbing her eyes, trying to clear her vision the best she could.

“Yeah, it’s me. I just came over to see if you wanted to join us, Alyssa cooked up a pretty good lunch for us. Are you alright?” Daniel asked as he saw the nixie looking around at the water quickly. She shook her head then looked back to him.

“Get away from the water, Daniel!” she cried out. The other girls looked over at hearing her yell while Daniel watched her with a bit of a surprise. He looked down as the water near the edge started to bulge up towards him as it shifted to a light green color, the liquid turning into a strange jellylike substance.

“Daniel?” Triska said as the other girls stood up. Daniel watched as the bulge shifted and slowly took form. First its eyes which were soft pinkish colors while a nose and mouth formed slowly. The body extended up slightly from the base as gelatinous locks formed down to the neck around the head resembling hair. Two hands slowly extended out and formed with arms as the body took full shape while rising up towards Daniel, the boy falling back onto his rear as he stared with wide eyes. Specca saw the jellylike figure forming in front of Daniel, watching with fear as she realized what it was.

“What… the…” Daniel stuttered as he stared at the monster before him, the creature’s body being mostly transparent while shaped into that of a woman’s body, the waist connecting to the riverbed where the water seemed to turn green around it as well.

“What is that thing?” Triska yelled as she unsheathed her sword.

“Daniel, get away from there!” Alyssa called out as she grabbed her staff, the girls running over towards him before the new monster lurched forward and wrapped her arms around the boy. The creature’s body stretched and oozed around him as he thrashed about, the boy covered from the shoulders down by the green slime.

“
Arg
! What is this?” he shouted out.

“No!” Specca cried out as she swam towards the edge quickly.

“Daniel!” Triska yelled as she watched with wide eyes.

The new monster slinked back towards the river’s edge and pulled Daniel with her, the boy struggling to move before he dropped down into the monster’s base next to the edge. His head and shoulders were sticking out above the surface while the monster’s shoulders and head were exposed still, its pink eyes watching him while it had a small smile on its face.

“It’s a slime woman!” Alyssa yelled out as she and the other girls ran over towards the river’s edge. Squeak pulled out her pickaxe as she looked at the new monster with narrowed eyes while Specca jumped out of the water nearby, the nixie grabbing her glasses and looking over to seeing Daniel staring at the new monster with wide eyes.