Chronicles of Eden - Act V (34 page)

“What’s going on?” Kroanette asked before Triska took off after the neko. The centaur watched them with confusion then glanced to Clover as the elf was still glaring at Triska. “Did we miss something here?”

Tabitha and Triska raced over to the building, with the neko kicking the door in with a loud bang before rushing in. Triska followed after, quickly looking around as they ran through the living room on the first floor which had broken furniture lying about and small beams of moonlight coming in through the front windows then up the narrow stairwell to the second floor. The light coming through the window in the hall was just enough to show the way as the two girls quickly ran over to the bedroom door which had an orange glow coming out from under it.

“Complica? Is that you in there?” Triska called out before Tabitha barged in through the door. The two rushed in, finding themselves inside a room which had its bed and table broken and pushed off to the sides while the rug on the ground was tattered and worn, showing the floorboards beneath which looked to be old and dirty. There was a chair set near the window which had a lantern on it and over in the corner was a big hole in the floor that had a few insects crawling around and out of it.

And standing barefoot near the window was a young looking girl, her expression of fright as she turned to face Triska and Tabitha. She was wearing a very short skirt made of large soft purple flower petals, tied to her waist by a green flower stamen which also went up her left side and connected to a tangled mesh of light brown roots and weeds that were braided around her chest covering herself. Her green eyes watched the two girls with fear, her short blue hair being unkempt with a yellow flower in it on the right side. Her antennae on her head twitched slightly while she whimpered and held her hands close to her chest, while her butterfly wings which had green trimmings and pink segments inside them along with light blue dots around the edges remained slouched down behind her.

“You know my name?” the little girl shakily asked.

“You’re Complica, the princess of Flairwood, correct?” Tabitha questioned.

“Yes, I am. Who are you?”

“I’m here to rescue you,” Tabitha announced with a small bow. “Your mother hired me to bring you home safely.”

“Are you alright?” Triska asked as she saw the little girl shaking with fear still. Complica shook her head then quickly patted on the windows while watching Clover and Kroanette out in the street.

“Get them inside. Get them inside; they’re being too loud out there.”

“What are talking about?” Triska said as she walked into the room, the floorboards beneath creaking with each step. “We’re getting you out of here, you can calm down now.”

“No,” Complica whimpered as she looked to her while breathing rapidly. “We can’t go, they’ll hear us. They’ll hear us and then they’ll kill us.”

“Who will hear us?” Tabitha questioned while holding onto her sword. “The humans that kidnapped you? Where are they? I must make sure they don’t lay a hand on you again.”

“Please make them be quiet and get them inside!” Complica pleaded while hitting the windows. Clover and Kroanette watched the girl down in the street with confusion before Clover began to yell at the centaur again while pointing down the road towards the village exit.

“Complica, what’s wrong?” Triska asked cautiously.

“Where are the humans that brought you here?” Tabitha repeated.

Complica shook her head then looked back to them with extreme fright.

“They’re all dead! And we will be too if they don’t get inside right now!”

Triska and Tabitha showed surprise and looked to each other then back to the girl as she tried again waving her arms to get the centaur and elf’s attention.

“Get out of the street! Be quiet! They’ll wake up!”

“What’s going on?” Triska carefully asked.

“
Who
will wake up?” Tabitha questioned.

“Get them inside, please!” Complica cried out at them.

Triska hesitated for a moment then quickly ran back out into the hall, stumbling a bit as she raced down the darkened stairs then over to the doorway.

“I said let’s go!” Clover yelled out at Kroanette.

“Please, be reasonable,” Kroanette pleaded while holding her hands up. “I helped you get here just like you wanted, you don’t need me anymore. I’m going to head back with Triska and meet up with my friends now.”

“Your debt to me isn’t over!” Clover shouted as she holstered her bow around her shoulder and set her arrow back in the quiver. “You want to live with the shame of running away from the one who saved you and gave you a chance to live? Is that it? You owe me your life and you know it! Your fat ass is mine!”

“Enough with the calling me fat!” Kroanette cried out with a blush. “I am not fat; I’m a healthy and fit centaur! I exercise every day!”

“Hey!” Triska called out, getting both girls’ attention. “Get over here and shut up already.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, you damn bitch!” Clover yelled at her. “I’m still pissed at you for stealing my kill! Just shut your mouth and run away before I come over there and kick your ass!”

“Knock it off,” Triska sternly ordered while waving them over to her. “This isn’t a joke, get inside right now.”

“Give me one good reason why I should!”

Suddenly they heard a window break open with a shatter further in the village. The girls stopped and listened as creaking and rustling sounds started to spread throughout the settlement from within the dwellings. Overhead a large cloud began to slowly drift over Rackleholm, with the moonlight being blocked off as a black shadow crept across the town.

“What’s going on?” Kroanette nervously asked.

The sounds of hissing and clicking began to grow throughout the darkened streets and homes, starting low like a faint whisper at first but steadily growing louder and louder as doors and windows were heard breaking open all across the village.

“Get inside, hurry!” Triska ordered, with Kroanette promptly rushing over towards her with a gallop while Clover slowly gazed around and keeping on guard. “Hey, get inside, something’s really wrong here.”

Clover glanced to her then reluctantly ran over with a grunt, with Kroanette quickly ducking down to enter the home while she followed her inside. Triska shut the door then ran towards the stairs with Clover right behind her before she looked back to Kroanette as the centaur watched her with an uneasy frown at the base of the stairwell.

“I don’t think I can get up there,” Kroanette said shaking her head.

“Just wait there, Kroanette, and be quiet,” Triska said before running up the stairs with the elf.

“Yeah, sure,” Kroanette shakily replied while looking out the front window with growing concern.

Triska and Clover ran through the upstairs hall and into the bedroom where Complica quickly put out the lantern before she cowered on the floor below the window while holding her hands over her ears and shutting her eyes. The other girls heard the hissing and clicking sounds growing louder while the large shadow over Rackleholm rolled over the residence, plunging it into total darkness.

“This sucks!” Kroanette whined from downstairs while Triska, Tabitha, and Clover slowly approached the window and peered around outside.

“I can’t see anything out there, can you?” Triska asked. There was a long pause before she spoke again. “Hey, Tabitha? Can you see out there? What’s happening?”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Clover gasped before holding her hands over her mouth.

“Be quiet, Triska,” Tabitha hushed with urgency. “We can see out there, and it’s not good.”

Triska heard the sounds of wood creaking and cracking outside among the other buildings while the hisses and clacking of countless sources echoed about. She could tell whatever was making those sounds was moving around outside, and based on how constant and loud it was there was a great deal of whatever that was flying around. In fact some of those things were heard tapping on the window and crawling all over the roof above them, causing Triska to feel a sense of dread of what was lurking about in the dark right in front of her.

“What are you two seeing?” she nervously asked under a whisper. “What’s out there?”

Slowly the large cloud in the sky passed over the village, with the moonlight gently shining down upon the town again as if a dark curtain had been pulled away from it. As it did Triska held a hand over her mouth and stared ahead of her with wide eyes, seeing very clearly what was outside.

“They’re everywhere,” Tabitha breathed out.

Triska saw one crawling on the window before them, the monster seeming to stare right at them without making a sound.

“We’re so fucked,” Clover softly said.

It resembled a naked girl, at least the parts that were human. The long insect wings it had fluttered wildly for a moment before resting back down along its shapely body. It had hardened carapace segments covering its shoulders and hips that went down along its outer legs past its knees to the feet. The hands were covered in hardened scales and had sharp nails allowing the monster to stick to and climb on the wall with ease. The antennae it had stuck straight upward out of its head which had messy locks of beige colored hair. And the eyes were wide and shaded in a light yellow while the smile on its face was wide revealing its sharpened teeth.

“It can’t be,” Triska nervously whispered, fearing what she knew the monster to be from reading Daniel’s guidebook.

“Swarm,” Tabitha quietly answered. “Keep quiet and don’t move, they can’t see well in the dark.”

They watched the locust-like monster on the window hiss as it stared at them with its wide eyes and creepy smile. Sure enough after a while it decided to keep moving, being unable to see in the darkened room and make out the frightened girls. Slowly it crawled up the wall out of sight, and as it did Triska’s stunned expression turned to horror as she saw countless numbers of the dreaded monsters, all crawling about the walls and roofs of the village while others were flying around in a large gathering overhead. The mere echoing sound of their wings buzzing and the hisses and clicks they made with their mouths caused a cold chill to run down the girls’ spines.

“What do we do now?” Triska asked shakily.

“There’s only one thing we can do,” Tabitha said, with Triska looking to her and seeing sheer fright on the neko’s face.

“Panic.”

In the world of Eden there exists what is known as magic. Supernatural powers and abilities that monsters and even humans could learn to wield should they be able to tap into the mystical ether that flowed through the world unseen. Some could do so more easily than others, with certain monsters such as witches and fairies being able to channel the powers of the ether more naturally and easily than those who were born without the gift. Still, anyone could learn to use magic, it just depended on how much they wanted to do so. It would take a great deal of resolve to train oneself in the art of sorcery, often times being forced to do so alone since some aspects could only be learned by doing.

Of course, that wasn’t to say those around couldn’t help in special ways.

*****

Lucky neighed and bucked about while tied to the rickety fence near a village that had hundreds of monsters swarming around and above it. A few of them flew near the horse and hissed while moving about blindly in the dark, the echoing clicking and buzzing from them causing Lucky to whinny with fright. He scampered around quickly and yanked on the leather strap that was tethering him to the fence before a few of the swarm landed on him and screeched with their wicked smiles. Lucky bucked back onto his hind legs before fire shot out of his nostrils, his tail lighting on fire while his hair shifted to black. The swarm quickly leapt off the horse as skeletal wings emerged from the animal’s back, his eyes glowing red now while he snarled and ran back and forth with the reins snapping taught again and again. The swarm hissed and flew around him again before he finally broke free, the reins tearing off the fence as he ran as fast as he could back along the trail away from Rackleholm. The swarm flew about around the area before quickly returning to their many sisters who were flying through the streets of the village. All throughout the town it was dark with only the moonlight above showing the swarm buzzing about and crawling all over the buildings. However the village wasn’t entirely abandoned as three girls were watching the deadly monsters from inside a darkened room, safely hidden in the darkened building from the dreaded creatures that surrounded them.

“This isn’t happening,” Triska quietly prayed while watching another of the locust-like monsters crawling up along the window before passing by as it scurried up onto the roof.

“This village is infested?” Tabitha exclaimed with shock.

“I can’t believe it,” Triska said looking around at seeing the monsters literally everywhere on and around the town. “We were out there right next to swarm this whole time?”

“I think we know why the humans vanished from this place,” Tabitha reasoned. “The new inhabitants moved in.”

“Fuck, this isn’t happening to me,” Clover grunted with frustration. “I shouldn’t have to be dealing with this shit.”

“You,” Tabitha scorned turning to the elf. “If you and that centaur weren’t yelling and arguing so much in the street you wouldn’t have woken those things. This is all your fault.”

“My fault? How was I supposed to know this place was infested with swarm? I didn’t know. Did you know? Because you sure as hell offered no warning to anyone earlier.”

“Shut up,” Triska hushed them while watching another of the monsters slowly crawling down the window of the building. “If they hear us in here they’ll charge right on in.”

The three girls watched the swarm outside crawling and flying all over the village then looked down as they heard Complica whimpering on the floor.

“Complica?” Triska softly said before she sheathed her sword and knelt down before the frightened girl.

“Be quiet, and they’ll go to sleep,” Complica spoke as if in a trance. “Be quiet, and they’ll go to sleep. Be quiet, and they’ll go to sleep.”