chronicles of eden - act I (33 page)

"I knew we could trust you. Thank you, for helping me," she said kindly. The ant girl squeaked as her antenna twitched slightly. Triska then looked down the tunnel and saw other pincers in the ground still.

"C'mon, I have a few more to take care of," she said glancing back to her friend. The ant girl looked down the tunnel then at the monster she killed. Slowly she reached out and grabbed the handle again, pausing as she stared at it curiously. Triska smiled a bit and rested her hand on the girl's shoulder, the monster then looking to her curiously.

"You don't have to, I'm the one your queen wants doing this, remember?" she said gently. The ant girl looked at her for a moment then down to the pickaxe. She gripped it and slowly pulled it up, the tool dripping blood from the predator's skull. Holding it in front of her she examined it with a blank expression, remaining quiet before glancing to Triska. The human smiled then looked down the tunnel at the other underground predators.

"You sure?" she asked glancing to her friend. The ant girl looked at her for a moment then to a pair of nearby pincers. She squeaked as she showed discontent, then slowly walked up towards the hidden ant-lioness below. The ant girl gripped the pickaxe in her hand tightly as she held the torch in the other, gearing back her weapon as she glared at the monster that had been preying on her kind for so long. Triska smirked then glanced to the ant-lioness’s pincers.

"Yeah, they are your prey no longer," she said simply, right before the ant girl swung her pickaxe down into the monster she hated more than anything in the world.

In the world of Eden, mankind had to deal with not only monsters attacking and taking away their men, but also with their own kind waging wars with each other. Even though all of mankind had the same enemy of the monster races, it didn't change that certain territories of humans still fought and killed each other just as always. Either for land, for riches, or for anything they wished to take by force, mankind still had to deal with their own conflicts as well as the monster ones. It wasn't as though every human was at war with another however, as alliances and truces were formed just as new enemies were easily made. Mankind had learned to somewhat coexist with each other peacefully, as long as one condition was met.

To become allies, both sides must benefit from the union.

*****

Deep underground the sounds of monstrous howls and screeches echoed throughout a few darkened tunnels. A red glow could be seen coming from a corridor branching out from the ant girls’ nest, a glow coming from a single torch lighting the way for two fighters.

"Eat this!" Triska yelled as she struck her sword into an ant-lioness that was running at her, the blade piercing into its open mouth and carving out the back through its skull. As the monster fell to the ground with a hoarse cry an ant girl nearby swung her pickaxe down into the ground, striking between two protruding pincers and right into another underground predator. The pickaxe shook around in the ant girl's grip as the ant-lioness down below howled and screeched before falling silent. The ant girl slowly lifted the weapon back up, dripping fresh blood from the kill, and stared at the blood forming on the ground with wonder. Her kind was frightened to death of the underground predators, as all ant girls in Eden naturally were. However, this one had actually killed a few, something she was still amazed at as she slowly overcame her fear of the monsters.

She blinked then slowly looked over to Triska, the teen spinning her blade around then striking down into the ground with a yell. Her sword pierced into the ant-lioness hiding below, the monster screeching as Triska pushed her blade down with a crunch. She yanked her sword back, causing blood and broken pincers to fly up, then spun around and sliced another ant-lioness across the chest as the monster charged her above the ground. The ant-lioness stumbled back before Triska followed around with her attack and swung down on the head with her sword, splitting through the skull with a crunch down to the neck. The monster dropped to the ground as the ant girl squeaked softly in wonder, watching the human girl slay monster after monster with her blade. Triska wiped her forehead then glanced back to her.

"Hey, you doing alright?" she asked. The ant girl's antennae twitched a bit and she tilted her head slightly. Triska smiled and glanced back to seeing another ant-lioness emerging from the ground while screeching at her.

"If you're getting tired you can stop, I can handle the rest of these things," Triska said before charging the monster. She swung her blade and sliced off a hand as the monster clawed at her, then swung back around and sliced off the two front legs. The monster howled and stumbled down before Triska struck down and pierced her blade through the skull and into the dirt with a crunch. The monster twitched a bit then lay still as Triska glanced down the tunnel. There were still more pincers sticking up from the ground, and more ant-lionesses emerging from the cries of their comrades.

"I won't stop, no matter what I won't stop. I won't stop until you're all dead, I won't let Daniel's chance at forming new allies for us slip away," she vowed as she gripped her sword with both hands. Beside her the ant girl slowly walked up and faced the ant-lionesses that started skittering towards them. Triska glanced to her friend who had a forced look of determination.

"You don't have to fight them you know, you've already done your part. Leave this to me," Triska said looking back ahead. The ant girl glanced to her then ahead as two ant-lionesses rushed towards them, the monsters skittering across the ground as they had their mouths opened wide. The ant girl gripped her pickaxe tightly and squeaked, watching as the monsters that killed her kind ran towards her with loud screeches and wide eyes. The ant girl shut her eyes and shook her head, squeaking repeatedly as the Triska looked at her worriedly.

"Hey, don't worry about this, I can handle it. Just get back," she said before the two ant-lionesses skittered up to them. Triska yelled and struck her blade into the mouth of one of the beasts as the other reached out for the ant girl.

"Get back!" Triska shouted as she yanked out her blade from the monster that dropped down dead, then geared back to swing her sword at the other ant-lioness. Before she could move the ant girl squeaked loudly and darted forward, tackling her foe down to the ground. She started whacking the pickaxe into the skull of the ant-lioness repeatedly, squeaking loudly as tears were starting to form in her eyes. Triska watched with surprise as the ant girl struck the skull again and again, smashing the head of the monster into bloody pieces as she seemed to be lost in her moment of adrenaline. With each squeak she struck harder into the bloodied corpse, her strength more than evident as her digging tool decimated the monster relentlessly with powerful strikes.

"Holy… shit," Triska breathed out as the ant girl shakily got up to her feet. She dropped the torch in her hand, the light falling onto the corpse of the monster below and igniting it as the ant girl gripped her pickaxe with both hands. She had tears in her eyes as she kept squeaking with discontent, glaring at more ant-lionesses that were crawling out of the ground.

"How many of these things are there anyway?" Triska grunted looking down the tunnel. The corridor lit up brightly as the corpse of the antlion started to burn, the human looking to see the ant girl next to her shakily walking towards the roaring ant-lionesses with frustration and teary eyes. Her teeth were bared, tears were dropping from her cheeks, and her hands were trembling while holding her bloodied digging tool.

"What… what are you doing? Get back here with me," Triska called out as she started to run up to her. Before she could get close the ant girl squeaked loudly and rushed towards the ant-lionesses, gearing her pickaxe back as she ran towards the predators. Triska ran after and watched as the ant girl swung down and spiked an ant-lioness into the ground, the digging tool going right through the skull with a loud whack. The pickaxe struck into the dirt with a mighty strike before the ant girl yanked it back up and struck out to the side, spiking her weapon into the shoulder of another ant-lioness and pinning it to the wall. Triska ran up and swung down on another ant-lioness’s head, slicing it into two, and then looked over to see the ant girl repeatedly yanking her pickaxe out of the monster she was squeaking loudly at before striking into the skull of the creature again. She went wild with rage for the monsters, her strikes becoming furious and swifter as she squeaked louder and louder with each swing.

"Wow, somebody's angry," Triska noticed as the ant girl continued to strike at the predator. Even the other ant-lionesses were staring with surprise as the monster they all used to hunt down was mercilessly destroying one of their own with a pickaxe. She swung down again and again, the weapon smashing in and carving up the body as the head was now completely destroyed. The body slumped down against the wall as the ant girl continued to vent her rage on it, hacking the body into bloody pieces as she squeaked loudly with each strike. Triska watched with awe as the ant girl reduced the body of the ant-lioness into a pile of blood and bone. After a while of hacking the corpse to shreds the ant girl backed up slightly, squeaking softly while she was breathing heavily. She clutched the pickaxe in her hands tightly as she had her eyes narrowed, glaring at the remains of the predator she despised so much.

"Um… I think you got her," Triska said simply. She then glanced to the other ant-lionesses, all of them staring at the ant girl with their wide eyes and open mouths.

However none of them were charging forward. None of them were making a sound. They were just staring in silence at the ant girl that decimated one of their own.

Triska turned to face them with her sword drawn, glaring at the monsters as the body of the dead ant-lioness behind burned brightly. The other ant-lionesses looked to her as she glared at them, the fires behind her flaring up as she held her sword at the ready.

"You picked the wrong nest to infest. Now you're going to pay with your blood," she threatened with a growl. The monsters looked at her as she prepared to run forward, all of them remaining perfectly still. The crackling from the flames behind was all that was heard as the corridor glowed brightly with the fire. The ant girl looked down with her hair covering the view of her eyes, baring her teeth slightly as she gripped her pickaxe tightly.

"You're all going to hell for attacking them like this," Triska growled as she tensed up, eyeing the monsters carefully as she gripped her sword. One of the ant-lionesses slowly took a step back, right before a pickaxe flew through the air and spiked into its head. The monster wavered then dropped down with a thump as the other ant-lionesses looked to her with surprise. Triska blinked then slowly glanced over to see the ant girl glaring at the monsters with teary eyes, with one arm still outstretched from her throw. She squeaked in a low tone as she glared at the monsters, her eyes filled with rage rather than fear. Triska smirked then looked back to the monsters.

"Like I said…" she said before she ran at them. She jumped into a downward strike towards an ant-lioness’s head, the monster looking at her with surprise as she yelled out.

"You're all going to hell!"

*****

Inside the queen's chambers the leader herself was seated at her throne, watching a human boy with a slightly curious expression. Daniel was looking down in thought, having one arm crossed before him while his other hand was resting against his chin. A few ant girls with swords sheathed at their hips were standing before the queen, yet parted slightly so the queen and human could talk about his belief that they could all coexist peacefully together. Alyssa was standing next to Daniel, looking at him worriedly as he was thinking about a question that the queen had asked him, a question he didn't have an answer for.

"Well?" Victoria asked expectantly. Daniel looked to her again then shook his head.

"I'm not sure, I haven't really thought about that part in full detail yet," he admitted before looking down again.

"You come here wishing for us to make peace with your kind, to coexist peacefully. Then answer the question, Daniel, how are we to continue breeding should we accept this alliance, and then the humans decline us men to breed with? I need to mate with human males regularly in order to provide eggs for my nest, the same as any queen would have to for her nest. So the question remains, what will your people do about this?" Victoria asked again.

Daniel continued to look down in thought as he pondered that. The ant girl race would need to keep breeding to keep their numbers from dropping, the same as any monster race would have to. That meant if mankind did choose to coexist with the ant girl race, or any monster race for that matter, then the human men would have to voluntarily mate with the monsters to keep them from dying out. Even Alyssa was curious about this question as well; as the witch and her race would have to have men willingly mate with them should they ally with mankind.

"Well, perhaps if they are given the option to do so on their own accord, rather than being taken by force, it would be more acceptable," Daniel suggested while scratching his head.

"Let me ask you this, Daniel, what exactly did you intend to propose to our race with this deal of coexistence? Or any monster race for that matter? Your little witch friend, the one that wishes to control her nature to stay with you on your journey, will need men to mate with along with her entire race. Have you even contemplated in the slightest how to arrange it so that their race, our race, or
any
monster race that decides to ally with you will be allowed to continue to breed?" Victoria asked with a raised eyebrow. Alyssa looked at Daniel as he showed a concerned expression.

"Well… I haven't quite… figured that out yet," he said softly. Alyssa looked at him worriedly then to the queen.

"But Daniel did say he would consider me as a mate, willingly even. If he could do that, maybe other humans could too," Alyssa said hopefully. Daniel nodded and looked to the witch.