Chronicles of Eden - Act IV (4 page)

Luna’s eye twitched a bit as she stared at the witch with a stunned expression.

“Um… but… huh?” she squeaked out.

Emily nodded then looked down with a solemn gaze.

“It was horrible,” she sadly continued. “Those damned monsters killed those humans before they could take me to the city, and what was worse was they took me by surprise. I had my other focuser off at the time during my nap and I couldn’t get it back before I was forced to run for my life. I had to leave it behind while I ran in fear of being eaten alive.”

Emily gently rubbed her ring with one finger before Luna glanced to the ring then to Emily with bewilderment.

“Your… focuser?” she asked.

“Yeah, the other ring I had like this one,” Emily said holding her hand with her ring out to show it. “It’s what lets me use my magic. Luckily I always like to have a safe refuge to retreat to in emergencies, so I left this one here in case I ever needed to come back. I was even luckier that we ended up here of all places. It’s almost too perfect, now I have my magic again, and it’s all thanks to you.” She paused then held her hands out in front of her, with the eyestalks leaning closer and examining them for her.

“Still, I’ll have to go back and grab the other one I left behind. No sense in leaving it out there.” Lowering her hands she then smiled at Luna, with the tentacle eyes turning to her again, causing the butterfly girl to tremble slightly in fear. “But thank you for bringing me here though, now I at least have my magic again.”

“Um… you’re… welcome?” Luna replied nervously.

Emily giggled while she just faced Luna with a blank stare behind her eyes, with the tentacle eyes swaying around as they gazed at the surroundings without ever blinking.

“This is indeed a great turn of events,” Luna praised. “But it still pales in comparison to me finding you, Luna.”

“Me? Why?” Luna asked shakily as the tentacle eyes rested on her again.

“Luna, I meant what I said,” Emily gratefully said. “I love you, you’re so special to me.”

Luna looked at her curiously as the witch walked up to her and held her hands.

“I never had anyone,
anyone
, care about me so much before,” Emily explained. “It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever felt. Not even my own daughters make me feel that way. Hell, they never even come to see me anymore, I don’t think they care about me like you do.”

Luna blinked then looked at her with an awkward smile.

“Daughters? You… have daughters?”

“Why yes, I have seventeen of them,” Emily replied with a nod. Luna looked at her with surprise as the witch tilted her head with a coy smile. “Truth be told, I’m 139 years old, and I’ve had many daughters in that time, with hopefully many more to come.”

Luna stared at her with an open mouth as she was rendered speechless, with Emily then showing a gentle smile and shaking her head slowly.

“But you, you’ve made me feel so loved, so happy, more than I ever thought possible. I mean it, Luna, I truly do love you so much.”

Luna looked at her with a mixture of wonder and concern then slowly smiled a bit.

“Well… I… um… don’t know what to say,” she hesitantly replied with a small shrug.

Emily hugged the girl tightly with a happy sigh, with Luna nervously looking to the two eye tentacles that kept staring at her. Emily nuzzled against Luna’s chest with a giggle then stopped as she showed a curious smile.

“Are you okay? You look a bit tense.”

Luna jumped a bit and looked down to her then back to the tentacle eyes, both of them just staring at her while swaying around slightly. Emily smirked as she looked up to Luna while holding onto her still.

“Don’t be afraid. Just think of those eyes as my eyes, they are after all allowing me to see you for the first time.”

Luna looked to her curiously as the witch backed up and just stared through her with a blank gaze while the eyestalks slowly moved closer and around the butterfly girl to examine her.

“You’re so pretty, Luna,” Emily complimented. “I was so curious about what color your wings were and what you really looked like. You really are so beautiful.”

Luna trembled a bit as the eyestalks kept turning and angling around her then smiled nervously at Emily.

“Thank you,” she shakily replied. “But, Emily, this is kind of… scaring me.”

“Aw, don’t be scared, Luna,” Emily giggled. “You’re as safe as can be with me. Now that I’ve got my power again I’m going to protect you for a change.”

Luna looked at the two monstrous eyestalks with concern then to the witch.

“Emily, what did you mean that… you killed humans here?” Emily’s expression changed to a curious one as Luna slowly shook her head. “Did you really kill people?”

Emily showed a saddened smile and nodded, with Luna gulping silently with growing concern.

“Yeah, I did,” Emily admitted. “I didn’t mean to kill the men though. I just got carried away humping them for their seeds. Turns out you
can
hump a human to death, hee hee!”

Luna stared at her with a stunned expression as the witch looked down while holding her arms behind her and gently kicking with one foot, acting like a naive child who was being questioned for doing something wrong.

“I wanted to get as many of their seeds as I could,” she said with a shrug. “So I raped them, and then I did it again, and again, and again, and again. Most of them died from exhaustion, and the rest I forgot to feed.”

“Emily…” Luna breathed out, shocked to hear that Emily had killed humans without seeming to really care. The witch nodded slowly then looked to Luna with a hopeful smile.

“But I never touched the women and children here. Honest, witch’s honor,” she said holding a hand up as a promise. Luna looked at her carefully then glanced to the window.

“Then… what did? How did they all die?”

Emily giggled then walked over to the door, opening it and waving for Luna to follow. After a moment to collect her bravery Luna slowly followed after, seeing Emily standing out on the balcony while two more eyestalks had sprung up from the ground near her. The eyes turned back to Luna while never blinking, with Luna looking at them nervously then to Emily as the girl was facing towards the road ahead of them while her hair gently swayed in the breeze.

“Luna, can I tell you a secret?” Emily asked with a mischievous smile. “You have to promise not to tell anyone else though.”

Luna looked at her with growing concern then slowly nodded.

“Okay, I promise.”

Emily held her hand with the ring on it out then waved it around in several circling patterns, with a trail of red light etching into the air from her movements before the witch then struck her hand through the circular casting ring, with strange emblems and symbols lighting up around the edges as the glowing crimson ring seemed to send a ripple of distorted air away from it.

“Luna, you know what a Darker One is, right?” Emily asked cautiously.

“Darker Ones?” Luna whimpered. “Those are the most evil monsters in the world.”

“That’s right,” Emily agreed with a nod. “There are lots of different kinds of Darker Ones out there, but they’re extremely rare to come across. Most of them are chaotic, destroying everything around them as they please, like wild animals.” She then giggled and turned her blank gaze back to Luna with a creepy smile on her face, causing Luna to feel a real sense of terror from the girl.

“Well, I tamed one,” she boasted with a twitch of her eyebrow.

“What? You…
tamed
one?” Luna asked, not liking where this was going.

Emily nodded then pointed her hand down to the road while the casting circle around her arm spun around slowly. The light then flared up brightly before shooting down from her hand into the road like a bolt of lightning, causing a powerful flash along with fire that swirled around in a circle on the road. The flames filled the circle then rose up into a torrent of fire that spun around with a monstrous howl. Luna stared at the sight with absolute fright while Emily faced the torrent with an eager smile on her face. The eyestalks turned to Luna and saw her shaking before Emily backed up and held her hand gently, with Luna looking to the girl as she pointed to the flames.

“Here, look,” she said eagerly, with the flames flashing with a powerful boom before dropping down and washing out along the ground with a sizzling crackle. Luna stared with shock at seeing something standing in the road while small patches of fire burned around it.

“What… is
that
?” she asked fearfully.

Standing on the charred ground was a centaur, however this one looked drastically different compared to most centaurs, and not only that it seemed to be twice as big. The color of the horse’s body was a dark purple with black hair on the lower legs and rear, the tail being long and black while trailing smoke behind it. Around its lower back it had a black cover on it that was tied around its belly, the blanket having two tails that hung down either side of the beast’s body near its hind legs with silver emblems woven into the fabric along the edges. Around the human waist that connected to the horse’s body it had a belt with three small skulls attached to the front, each of them having small traces of red light coming from their eyes. The monster’s human half was that of a woman, with a dark leather shawl that covered its breasts and draped down over its shoulders. Its skin was a dark blue while the eyes were solid white, her long raven hair being held back in a loose ponytail with the hairband being a crimson ribbon. However the most noticeable thing about this dark looking monster was the gigantic scythe it held in its hands, with the blade itself being the size of Luna’s body. The long steel handle was dark colored while the enlarged blade gave off a haunting purplish glow as the mere sight of it sent chills down Luna’s spine.

Emily giggled at seeing the new monster as it just stood out in the road, the beast slowly turning its head to survey its new surroundings while its rear leg scraped against the dirt road.

“That’s a deathmare. A Darker One.”

“A Darker One?” Luna squeaked out.

She then screamed and bolted back into the girl’s room, with Emily’s eyestalks turning to seeing the butterfly girl scrambling towards the opposite wall away from the balcony.

“Luna? It’s okay, it’s not going to hurt you,” Emily pleaded as she quickly ran in after the girl.

Luna stumbled and dropped down onto the floor then turned around to seeing Emily walking up to her, with two of the witch’s eyestalks wavering around behind her as they kept their single eyes locked onto the frightened butterfly.

“No, no, no,” Luna whimpered as she tried to scoot further away on her rear.

“Luna? It’s alright, you’re safe with me.”

“Safe? There’s a Darker One right outside!” Luna cried out.

Emily nodded then knelt down beside Luna as the butterfly girl tried to scramble back, with Emily grabbing her arms and holding her as she smiled lovingly at the girl.

“I told you,” she gently reassured. “I tamed it, it’s
my
Darker One now.”

Luna stared at her with shock as the witch gestured over towards the balcony, with Luna then looking to seeing the tall deathmare outside still standing where it first appeared.

“You see?” Emily said playfully. “It’s not going to attack you. It obeys my every command.”

“What? It…
obeys
you?” Luna asked with disbelief.

“Yes,” Emily answered with a caring smile. “Deathmares are Darker Ones, but they’re not of this world, they’re from the underworld. In order for them to come to be out here someone has to summon them from their home. They don’t exist to rape men, they can’t get pregnant, so instead they draw their power from stealing souls, and lots of them.”

Luna stared at her with shock as this too wasn’t making her feel better about any of what was happening.

“Souls? Like what a nightmare steals?”

“Oh, you’ve heard of those, have you?” Emily asked. “Yes, nightmares steal souls to reproduce, but deathmares don’t do that. Instead, they steal souls to keep themselves from fading away in our world. They need them just to exist here. Basically, whoever feeds them lots of souls they treat as their master, doing whatever they’re told without question so they can remain here in our world.”

Luna looked at her with wonder as the witch stood up and giggled with a mischievous smile.

“So, I summoned it here,” she explained. “After I had all the men rounded up and set aside of course. I told the deathmare it could have every woman and child in the village, but the men were strictly off limits, and it obeyed. It killed everyone in one night, and after that it remained in this world, treating me as its new owner. It’s basically like having the coolest guard dog ever.”

“You… you sacrificed an entire human village to that thing?” Luna asked with horror.

“Yep yep!” Emily cheered with a hop. “It’s pretty neat how that thing kills too. It doesn’t maim, it doesn’t maul, and it doesn’t even spill any blood. Its scythe is a special spectral blade. It can phase right through anything as if it were a ghost. But if the blade cuts through a person it cleaves through their soul, taking it away and leaving the body to drop dead!”

Luna turned pale with fear as the witch giggled while one of her eyestalks looked outside at the deathmare, which was still waiting for an order from her mistress.

“It killed all those women and children without making a mess of the town,” Emily continued. “You couldn’t even tell that the humans were exterminated here at all, could you? There’s no sign of any fighting or blood or anything, nobody would ever have a clue, so travelers still come here thinking it’s safe.”

“Emily… how could you?” Luna breathed out with tears forming in her eyes.

Emily showed a curious expression as her eyestalks looked at Luna closely.

“Hey, why are you crying? What’s wrong?”

“You murdered an entire village,” Luna whimpered. “You killed innocent humans, that’s what’s wrong.”

Emily smiled sadly as she knelt down and brushed her hand through the girl’s hair, with Luna trembling from the touch.

“No,” Emily said softly. “The deathmare killed the women and children, I never laid a hand on them, remember? As for the men dying, well, I’ll admit that was my bad. I always get carried away when I’m raping them, I forget they need to rest and eat sometimes. But still, there’s always more where they came from, no worries if we kill a few to get pregnant, right?”