Chronicles of Eden - Act IV (41 page)

“What’s this about, Kroanette?” Specca asked.

“You’ll see soon enough,” the centaur replied as Alyssa rode Lucky up next to them.

“Wait, what about us?” Luna asked curiously.

The girls looked back to seeing Luna watching them with a troubled frown while Falla was still holding her.

“Daniel only requested that they come to see him, you two may wait here,” Kroanette said before running off, with Alyssa quickly following after her. The butterfly sisters watched the girls ride away towards Eston before Luna looked to Falla with worried eyes.

“Falla, what’s going on?”

Falla shook her head and stood up, helping her sister stand up as well as she watched the others riding off towards the village.

“Who cares, nothing but trouble follows them wherever they go. Let’s go, Luna, we’re out of here,” she said before fluttering her wings.

“What? We’re just going to leave and not say goodbye?” Luna asked worriedly.

“Yeah, that’s the plan. Let’s get going,” Falla urged while waving away towards the forest nearby.

Luna looked over to seeing the riders getting closer to Eston then down with concern as her hands fidgeted together.

“But, what about Daniel?”

“Forget about that human,” Falla scoffed. “He’s insane, absolutely
insane
. I don’t want his seed anymore, it’s not worth dealing with all this crap and you being even more confused hearing about their stupid ideas.”

Luna shook her head and faced her sister while backing up a few steps.

“They’re not stupid, they’re right,” she pleaded. “Raping humans is horrible, we can’t do that to the men we find. We just can’t.”

“Yes we can,” Falla sighed with exasperation. “We have to if we want to get pregnant. Luna, I know you’re confused right now, you’ve been through a lot, but-”

“No!” Luna cried out with tears forming in her eyes. “I don’t want to be like this, I don’t want to rape anyone! Do you have any idea how horrible it was for me when I was raped?” Falla looked at her with remorse as the butterfly girl held her arms around herself and backed up a step.

“It was horrible, it was the most horrible and painful experience of my entire life! I don’t want to make anyone endure such a thing, I would hate myself forever if I did!”

“Luna… this is how we are,” Falla reasoned. “This is how life works in our world. We’re monsters, we have to get a man’s seed however we can, and that means taking it by any means necessary. You know this.”

Luna looked off towards Eston as her wings fluttered behind her then to Falla with a determined expression.

“Daniel doesn’t think we have to, I’m going to talk to him about it right now,” she declared before quickly flying off towards the village.

“Luna!” Falla called out before she followed after, the two girls flying towards the burning town with Falla trying to catch and stop her sister, and with Luna desperately trying to reach Daniel to learn how she could avoid being like the monster that treated her so horribly.

Riding along a road in Eston a group of girls were making their way through the empty town in haste, with Kroanette leading them and Alyssa following after on Lucky. Triska and the other girls grew more worried about Daniel with each step further into the town they took, all of them wondering what was going on and why he had sent for them like this. After a while Kroanette came to a stop in front of a home that had a lamppost lit before it while its windows were closed with a soft glow coming from behind the white curtains.

“What is this, what are we doing here?” Specca asked as Kroanette motioned them towards the home.

“Daniel? Daniel!” Triska called out as all the girls quickly got off their rides and ran towards the residence. She barged through the door before they all ran in together, right before they all came to an abrupt stop in the living room as they saw Daniel sitting in a chair across from them and Apoch and Astreal standing off to the side while holding their staves at their sides. Daniel seemed to have been in deep thought before he looked to them with a jump from the outburst, a small smile coming across his face at seeing them which then slowly vanished as he stood up from his seat. The girls looked around at the home with confusion before over to seeing Apoch and Astreal walking over to either side of Daniel.

“Wait, what’s going on here?” Specca asked nervously.

“Apoch, Astreal,” Alyssa breathed out fearfully as she backed up a step.

“Daniel, what’s going on?” Triska asked as her hand slowly reached back towards her sword. “Why are they here, and why are you?”

Squeak slowly reached back to grab her pickaxe before Daniel held his hands out defensively and shook his head.

“Wait, don’t draw your weapons,” he pleaded. “Please don’t start a fight, they’re not here to do anything like that.”

The girls glanced to him then to the witch sisters who just watched them with amused smiles.

“What is this, Daniel? Why are we here?” Triska asked as she slowly lowered her hand, with Squeak then doing the same.

Daniel breathed out as he contemplated what to say while from behind the girls Kroanette entered the residence, having to duck slightly to get through the doorframe before she watched Daniel with a curious eye as she too was wondering what he would choose to do now.

“The truth is,” he admitted. “I didn’t come back here to Eston to look for anything. I went to Rystone, to speak to Charlotte again.”

Triska and the other girls jumped with surprise from hearing that as they all stared at the boy with disbelief.

“What? You… what?” Triska cried out.

“Why would you do such a thing?” Specca asked shaking her head. “And why didn’t you tell us that’s what you were planning on doing?”

“Because I didn’t want any of you to be in danger in case the talks didn’t go well,” Daniel answered. “I didn’t want any of you to risk your lives to try to speak to her when it was my responsibility to do so.”

“Daniel,” Triska growled with frustration. “What were you thinking going into a village full of witches on your own? Are you crazy?”

“I had to, Triska,” Daniel asserted. “I had to try and talk to her again. We needed their help, we needed their support, I couldn’t take no for an answer. This is why I came out here, to speak to monsters about peaceful coexistence, so I did just that.”

The other girls looked to Apoch and Astreal as they stepped forward while having bored expressions on their faces.

“Ms. Charlotte wasn’t quite pleased about his refusal to do as she said earlier,” Apoch announced. “However she has made it clear that she’s interested in Mr. Daniel’s case due to his sheer persistence.”

“I’d call it stubbornness,” Astreal mentioned. “But either way, she allowed him to at least present his…
beliefs
to her in front of the entire village of Rystone.”

The other girls quietly gulped in suspense then looked to Daniel as he smiled weakly at them.

“I talked to her about it,” he explained. “And although there were some fierce rebuttals at first, she does seem genuinely interested in the idea now.”

The girls jumped with surprise before smiles slowly formed on their faces.

“Oh my god, Daniel, are you saying…” Triska said hopefully.

“Did she agree to help us?” Specca asked eagerly.

Daniel paused for a moment then slowly shook his head, with the girls watching him with growing concern as he glanced to Apoch, the witch along with her sister shaking their heads in unison.

“No, she did not,” Apoch stated softly. “I’m afraid Ms. Charlotte isn’t quite convinced that such an idea of man and witches living together peacefully can truly happen, despite Mr. Daniel’s insistence.”

“Yes,” Astreal agreed with a shrug. “Such a thought of witches and humans living happily together ever after, it just seems like fantasy bullshit to her.”

The girls looked to Daniel with sorrow before he held up a hand and shook his head quickly.

“Hold on,” he reassured them. “This doesn’t mean we’re out of luck here. Charlotte just doesn’t believe this can happen, she doesn’t believe humans could ever willingly choose to be with and mate with a witch. After all that’s never happened before. But she
is
willing to give us a chance to prove it.”

“To prove it? How?” Alyssa asked.

Apoch and Astreal giggled and looked to her with slick smiles.

“Ms. Alyssa,” they said together playfully, with Alyssa looking to them with worry as the sisters tilted their heads in opposite directions of each other. “
You’re
going to prove it with
him
.”

Alyssa and the other girls looked at them puzzled then to Daniel as the boy slowly breathed out while looking down at the floor.

“She’s willing to talk more about my idea with me,” he reasoned. “And to consider helping us, provided we show her that a human can and would in fact mate with a witch willingly.”

Slowly the other girls looked down to Alyssa with growing fear as she pointed to herself.

“Wait… Daniel, are you saying…” Alyssa said slowly.

Daniel nodded then glanced up to her.

“As proof to Charlotte that peaceful coexistence is possible between our races, she wants you and me to… do it, with each other. Tonight.”

The girls stared at him with shock and open mouths as they couldn’t believe what they just heard. Apoch and Astreal giggled then pointed to a grandfather clock nearby which read 11:24, the two girls then speaking in perfect unison.

“You have until midnight to receive Mr. Daniel’s seed, Ms. Alyssa. Otherwise there shall be no peace between witches and humans.”

In the world of Eden sometimes one would be faced with a difficult decision, being asked to choose something of great value amongst other tempting offers as well. Perhaps they could only pick one treasure among a rare and priceless collection as a reward or gift, or maybe choose one and only one delicious treat with the others then being given away to those who also desired them. Even though all the choices were enticing and considered to be worthwhile by themselves, sometimes choosing one and only one was nearly impossible. The thought of losing that which wasn’t chosen, the idea of whether or not the one picked was the right selection, or even still the dread of not being able to choose again once a decision was made, was sometimes just too difficult to bear.

After all, it wasn’t as if choosing them all was always an option.

*****

“WHAT?” Triska and Specca cried out with shock, while Squeak merely squeaked loudly with a stunned expression as well. Alyssa stared at Daniel with an open mouth as words failed her while behind them Kroanette glanced from one girl to the other as she was curious how they would take hearing such a thing.

“What do you mean she wants you and Alyssa to
do it
?” Triska shouted out. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Daniel nervously waved his hands around in front of him as he saw Triska, Specca, and Squeak staring at him like he was crazy while Alyssa continued to remain frozen and speechless.

“Wait, before you all freak out over this-”

“WE’RE ALREADY FREAKED OUT!” Triska yelled out with more than apparent frustration. “You just brought us here to tell us that you need to have
sex
with Alyssa for the witches to help us! This isn’t what we expected to hear at all!”

“How could she ask you do to such a thing?” Specca demanded while stomping her foot. “This isn’t fair of her, she can’t tell you to do that with Alyssa just to prove yourself! That’s not right at all!”

Squeak merely pointed to Daniel then to Alyssa while squeaking something, her words not being understood but based on the expression on her face it was clear she was anything but pleased to hear such a thing.

Daniel paused as he closed his eyes, knowing that how the girls were reacting was pretty much on par for them given the circumstances, and then looked at them with empathy as he slowly shook his head.

“Listen! This is why I had you all come here, to talk about this!”

The girls all watched with extreme concern as he held a hand to his head and looked down while trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to say without the girls breaking out into a rather vicious fight.

“I want to state that this isn’t how I pictured any of this going, okay?” he clarified. “I never planned nor asked for this, I never anticipated even being faced with this kind of decision, alright? I wanted you all here so we could talk about our options and for all of you to agree on what we should do, because I can’t make the call here alone.”

“Daniel, are you
actually
considering this?” Triska asked while grabbing her hair. “Are you really thinking about having sex with Alyssa just to prove a point to Charlotte?”

Daniel breathed out then looked around at all the girls, seeming to struggle to form any words before he shook his head and turned to Triska.

“Triska, the truth is I don’t know what to do,” he remorsefully admitted. “I care for all of you, I really do. You all mean the world to me. And that does include Alyssa.” He glanced to the witch, seeing her blushing brightly and holding a hand to her cheek.

“Daniel,” she breathed out, seeming to become choked up from his words.

Daniel smiled a bit at her then looked to the other girls who were all watching him with alarm.

“But, the truth is I don’t know if I love… well, who I love,” he explained. “I’ve been trying to figure that out, I’ve been trying to be fair with figuring out which one of you means more to me, I’ve been asking myself over and over again which one of you I really feel the strongest for. And… after thinking hard about it…” Trailing off with that sentence all the girls watched him closely as they grew more anxious from the silence. After a pause Daniel slowly shook his head and looked down with remorse.

“I couldn’t choose one of you, not now, not yet. I can’t do it, I just… I can’t…” He halted again as he tried to gather his thoughts, then looked to the girls with a saddened smile. “I can’t stand the thought of going on without any of you. I just couldn’t bear to lose any of you. I mean it.”