Chronicles of Eden - Act VI (19 page)

‘While I am thankful my helpers always return, I can’t help but wonder who keeps sending them back to me.’

*****

Outside of the caravan Kroanette was gently brushing Lucky after having finally calmed the horse down from earlier. Lucky grunted softly with a slowly swishing tail as the centaur pat his nose and head before turning her eyes towards their ride, curiosity once again getting the better of her as she then walked over and popped her head in through the curtain to see the rest of the group seated around the table. Falla and Luna were sitting on the edge of the bed together after they had finally come to again and watching as Pip was circling the room above them as she always liked to do.

“She’s pretty strong for such a tiny girl,” Luna nervously commented.

“Yeah, good thing she’s on our side,” Falla said before they looked at the others with concern as they were talking about something else that made the butterfly sisters feel uneasy.

“So wait a minute,” Clover said while eyeing over the relic in her hands. “What you’re telling me is that this isn’t a divine treasure from the gods but rather a piece of something?”

“Essentially, yes,” Specca agreed. “We don’t know exactly what it is or what it’s used for. But we do know that many are after those pieces, they’re supposed fragments of what’s called the Key to Eden. That succubus wanted them, Charlotte wants them as well, and there’s even a swordsman who wields the Archlight’s Blade who is searching for them. They all wish to collect those things for some purpose.”

“Yeah, about that,” Clover mentioned glancing to her with a raised eyebrow. “The Archlight’s Blade isn’t real; you do know that, right?”

“Yes it is, we’ve seen it,” Specca insisted.

“Right, sure you have. Next thing you’re going to say is that there are such things as gemini in this world. Cut the crap, what are you really trying to get at here with my priestess’s treasure?”

“We’re not making this up,” Specca defended. “It’s the truth. And gemini
are
real, we’ve seen them ourselves.”

Clover laughed at the girl then looked at her artifact while shaking her head with an amused smile.

“Who do you think I am? I don’t believe in crap like immortal monsters and legendary swords. Those are just children’s tales, nothing more.”

“Multicolored eyes,” Triska carefully said, with Clover slowly looking to her with a fading smile. “One of them has red, blue, green, and white colors in her eyes, the other has yellow, purple, pink, and black in hers. They both speak in perfect sync with each other, and cannot die by any physical or magical attack thrown at them.” Clover quickly glanced around at the group and saw they all had serious faces then back to Triska as the teen slowly shook her head.

“We watched them kill an alpha witch, survive a deathmare cutting through them with its deadly scythe, and all of us hacking and burning them did nothing to stop those two. They always got back up, always resurrected without a scratch, and always laughed at us while taunting that they were going to eat us alive. A Darker One with two bodies, but only one soul.”

“The fuck?” Clover breathed out as she tried not to show any surprise or fear from her words. “You didn’t see anything like that, you couldn’t have. They’re not-”

“Yes they are,” Daniel interrupted her, the elf looking at him with a slight amount of unease as he showed discontent at remembering the twisted sisters and their haunting laughter. “We came across them, not knowing what they were. But they revealed themselves and tried to kill us all just for fun. Charlotte even confirmed what they were. Gemini
are
real, Clover. There are two of them out there right now.”

“You think you can scare me that easily?” Clover retorted with a forced laugh. “I’m not buying this crap, and I don’t believe what you said about this either. This is a one-of-a-kind relic that has been given to my priestess by the gods.”

“Eight-of-a-kind,” Specca corrected. “There are eight of those pieces. Look at it, Clover. It’s a fraction of a sphere. It’s a part of something more.”

Clover blinked then looked at the artifact carefully, tilting it around in her hands while trying not to believe their words.

“I was hired to bring a piece just like that to Charlotte,” Kroanette spoke up. “It brought all manner of death and pain after it. I was fortunate to be rid of it, since as you can see it attracts a lot of very dangerous individuals.”

“You had one of these?” Clover asked her with disbelief.

“Yes, it was found by witches in the south, and they hired me to deliver it to their alpha as she wished to have it. I was not informed of anything about what it truly was, either because they themselves did not know or wished not to say. But I was lucky to have met everyone here when I did. Had I held onto that thing any longer that succubus would have come after me for certain.”

Clover looked at her artifact with concern then glanced around the table, seeing all eyes on her while Pip was still circling the room above as she continued to giggle happily. Luna and Falla walked over and stood behind Daniel while looking at the fragment with concern, both knowing that it was a beacon for trouble.

“Get rid of that thing,” Falla urged. “It only brings misfortune.”

“It’s giving me the creeps just seeing it,” Luna said hiding behind Daniel’s back. “Can’t we just throw it away and be done with it?”

“We should give it to Charlotte,” Triska suggested. “It would help us get on her good side more, and she even offered a reward for it.”

“That sounds like a good idea to me,” Alyssa agreed. “That succubus may not be chasing it anymore but I don’t think I want to find out who else might come for it.”

“I can already think of a few that might,” Specca reminded her. “That swordsman, Daemon, and those monsters that follow him. They’re sure to come after it soon.”

Squeak nodded and squeaked while looking at the artifact with worried eyes.

“I’d recommend being rid of it right now,” Kroanette insisted. “Throw it outside and leave it here, we shouldn’t get involved with any of this.”

“Fuck that!” Clover shouted at them. “I’m not getting rid of this, I’m taking it back to my home and giving it to my priestess as are my orders! You’re not scaring me into giving it up just like that. Gemini and swords made by angels, all of that is just bullshit! This is a one-of-a-kind treasure and it belongs in the hands of my priestess. End of story!”

“But, Clover, didn’t you just hear-” Specca started to say before Daniel raised his hand and silenced her, all eyes turning to him as he nodded slowly at the elf.

“It’s yours, Clover,” he decided. “You earned it after all you’ve been through. I know how much it means to you, how important it is that you take it back to your priestess. You can keep it, we won’t stop you. But you need to understand that you are in danger with it.”

“From gemini?” Clover scoffed.

“No, they weren’t after those things at all as far as we could tell. But others are, and they’re not playing around with finding them. If you want to keep that with you then fine, but hide it. Hide it, and don’t let anyone else see or know of it. And when you get it back to your priestess please warn her that others are going to be coming after it.” Clover watched him carefully as he showed concern and held his hands up defensively.

“I don’t want you to get hurt, Clover. And none of us want to steal it from you, if anything we just want it as far away from us as possible. If you really want it then please take it, just be careful.”

Clover turned her eyes down to the artifact in her hands while remaining silent. Everyone watched as she slowly tilted the relic around and eyed it carefully before she glanced up to Daniel again.

“This is going back home to my priestess, no matter what,” she declared, then turned her gaze down and away from the group while holding the relic close to her. “Once she has it again you can tell her what you told me, what she decides to do after that is up to her. Even if I wanted to get rid of it I just can’t do that.”

“We understand,” Daniel assured her. “We’ll talk to her about it. Just do your job and take it back to her like you were going to.”

“Fantastic,” Specca groaned while holding a hand to her head. “As if traveling with Clover isn’t tiresome enough, now we have to take that thing with us as well?”

“Fuck. You,” Clover retorted while not making eye contact with anyone.

“If Daemon or anyone else comes looking for it they can deal with Clover,” Triska reasoned. “She wants to keep it, she can fight them for it.”

“If Charlotte finds out we have it then we’ll have to give it to her,” Alyssa pointed out. “We can’t keep that thing from her if she knows we found a piece.”

“Again, she can talk to Clover about that,” Triska said while watching the elf with a raised eyebrow. “We’re not getting involved with it. That thing is Clover’s property and problem.”

“Like hell anyone is taking this from me,” Clover muttered looking down to the artifact with discontent.

“I’d imagine they would need to fight very hard to get it from you,” Daniel agreed with amusement. Clover merely glanced to him for a moment then back down to her artifact while remaining quiet. She blinked then looked back to Daniel with puzzlement.

“Hey, hold on. You never told us how the fuck you did what you did earlier,” she reminded him. “It’s hard enough to believe there are such things as gemini or legendary swords out there and that this isn’t a divine relic, but I
still
can’t believe I saw you taking on a succubus like that and
winning
.”

“Yeah, tell us about it, Daniel,” Alyssa eagerly asked him as all eyes turned to the boy. “How did you do all that? I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“Daniel, what happened to you?” Triska asked with wonder.

Daniel chuckled and rubbed the back of his head as all eyes were on him before Pip flew down towards Triska’s bosom. To everyone’s surprise Triska snatched the fairy in her hand without even looking before the tiny monster could dive down into her shirt. Pip froze with a squeak then looked at Triska with wonder as the girl glanced to her with a smirk on her face while holding the fairy in her hand.

“Pip, not now. I want to hear what Daniel has to say,” she amusingly said.

“Triska, how did you catch her like that?” Specca asked with disbelief as everyone watched her curiously.

Triska blinked then looked at Pip confusedly as she wondered that herself.

“I… don’t know. I just… did, somehow.”

‘That was weird. I just knew to catch her, like I saw her even though she was moving so fast.’

“Boobies,” Pip pouted while looking down at the teen’s bust.

Triska looked down to her chest with a small smile then shrugged and turned to Daniel as she let the fairy go, with Pip then gently landing down on her shoulder and staring at the girl’s breasts with a frown.

“Lucky catch I guess,” Triska reasoned. “But what you did earlier wasn’t luck, it couldn’t have been. Spill it, Daniel. What happened with you?”

“Well, I just reacted,” Daniel said looking down while replaying the event in his mind. “When that demon held Triska like that I was so angry, I knew I had to do something to save her. I didn’t care that I was facing against a Darker One, I put everything I had into my magic to beat her.”

“That’s right,” Clover remembered as she glanced around at the other girls. “They all got really turned on and dizzy when you did that.”

“I focused with everything I had to attack that demon,” Daniel explained while looking to his hand, remembering the sword of light he had manifested then. “I saw the stars of light in my mind more quickly that time. The first was Alyssa’s, it gave me the boost I needed in power to form my sword as fast as I could.”

“Really? That was from me?” Alyssa asked with a timid smile.

“It was, I could feel the surge of power from her own magic pouring into mine. Then I charged the succubus with all my might. I was able to move so quickly, just like a certain centaur I know,” Daniel continued before glancing over to Kroanette with a smirk, seeing her jumping a bit with a blush from hearing that.

“Me? I helped you do that?” she asked with a growing smile.

“Who else here could have given me that much of a speed boost?” Daniel chuckled. “I felt your spirit aiding mine, it let me move so fast without any problem.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Kroanette bashfully said holding a hand to her cheek. “I’m thankful I was able to serve you in battle, Daniel.”

“It wasn’t just you,” Daniel said looking to Squeak with a wink. “Somebody else contributed their aura. I was actually able to attack that demon with enough power because of your spirit, Squeak. I could feel your star in my mind giving my muscles the strength to push on with my attack.”

Squeak blushed and squeaked quietly as she pointed to herself while the other girls looked at Daniel with wonder, with even Clover showing a curious eye as his story had caught her attention.

“But what about when you blocked her fireball?” Clover asked shaking her head. “It was right in your face and you deflected it in no time.”

“Specca helped me there,” Daniel answered turning to the nixie, with her blushing and holding her hands over her mouth. “With her spirit helping my mind stay calm and collected I was able to plan my own defense while also keeping you all from being caught in the crossfire. I knew exactly how to block the Darker One’s attack while making sure none of you would be hit by it.”

“I did that?” Specca softly asked.

“You did, and I can’t thank you enough, Specca,” Daniel praised her. Specca smiled with amazement at him as she slowly lowered her hands while the other girls exchanged similar looks with each other.

“I see,” Alyssa realized. “So that’s also how you were able to dodge all of her attacks when she got angry at you. Kroanette’s aura gave you the speed you needed while Specca’s kept your mind focused on your steps.”

“And the way you attacked her with the wind?” Clover asked with genuine curiosity.

“I had some help from these two,” Daniel mused looking back at Luna and Falla.

“Us?” Falla asked with wonder.