Chronicles of Eden - Act V (17 page)

“We’re sorry, my grace,” Astreal apologized as the twins walked up behind her. “We didn’t wish to disturb you but our sisters in the village were growing concerned.”

“We assured them that nothing was wrong,” Apoch mentioned. “And that there was no danger of the fires spreading here to Rystone, but we fear our sisters may grow more worried if the smoke draws nearer.”

“What’s burning out there?” Charlotte asked. “Everything’s dead that far out, only wolves scamper about in those woods now.”

“We’re not sure,” Apoch said shaking her head. “It’s too far out for our nearby forest to be on fire.”

“Whatever is burning out there is very large,” Astreal warned. “The amount of smoke coming up from that distance appears to be quite a lot.”

“There were even rumors spreading in town about the return of the Wildfire Witch,” Apoch added. “We quickly put those rumors to rest and assured our sisters that the Wildfire Witch was nowhere near our home.”

“Ms. Charlotte, what could be causing that?” Astreal asked. “Are we in any danger?”

“I hardly think our sisters need to worry about some smoke like that,” Charlotte said shaking her head. “Still, I don’t like any fires in my backyard. I’ll go see what’s cooking out there.”

“Allow us, Ms. Charlotte,” Apoch and Astreal offered together. “You don’t need to trouble yourself with this. Please relax with your personal time.”

Charlotte shuddered then glanced back to them with annoyance.

“I keep telling you two to stop doing that.”

“Stop doing what, Ms. Charlotte?” the twins asked in unison.

Charlotte groaned with frustration then hopped up onto the railing of the balcony while holding her hand back, summoning her wand from inside her study to fly over into her grip.

“Never mind. You two stay here and clean up this place, I’m going to go stretch my legs and check out what’s burning in my land.” She paused for a moment then looked to the twins with a scowl. “And spread the word that I’ll grant an even higher reward for each fragment that’s brought to me. The faster I can lure my beloved Daemon back into my home the faster I can douse the fire that’s burning between my legs.”

“Yes, my grace,” Apoch and Astreal replied with a formal bow.

Charlotte then hopped off the ledge, dropping down towards the ground before waving her wand around herself. A streak of light flared up beneath her feet as a powerful gust of wind blew from below her, with the witches around the street watching as the alpha gracefully touched down on the ground while revealing her panties briefly. Charlotte casually brushed her skirt then whistled into the air, with a black cat then quickly running towards her with a yowl.

“Um, my grace?” a nearby witch nervously asked with a small smile. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes, just doing a little redecorating,” Charlotte said glancing back to her home that had holes all over it. “Pay it no mind. Now if you’ll excuse me I have somewhere I need to be.”

She waved her wand before her with a red glow streaking behind it. The cat meowed before it suddenly grew in size, with nearby witches watching in wonder as the animal turned into a large black panther with smoke being blown out of its mouth. Its eyes glowed with a deep red while a sharp sickle grew out from the end of its tail. Charlotte quickly hopped onto its back and pet the beast before glancing to the witches close to her with a smirk.

“Do enjoy the day, ladies. It’s quite lovely right now,” she politely said before riding the panther through the village and out into the forest.

Riding through the woods Charlotte felt her anger bubbling up inside of her, though she wasn’t sure if it was from possible intruders in her land or that her raging emotions to lay with the swordsman she desired were relentlessly haunting her.

“I must have him, I must! I cannot charm him, even if I wanted to. No no, I want all that he is to worship me, to lust after only me, to think about only me, to crave me with every fiber of his being. Oh, my dear Daemon, it matters not what silly quest you think you are on right now. When we meet again I’ll show you the only thing worth pursuing in this world.” She then growled with frustration as she felt her crotch rubbing against the back of the panther with each heavy gallop it took.

“You’re going to fuck me hard, every day, every hour, every minute, until you beg me to stop, and then you’re going to keep going! You will be
mine
! Dammit! I can’t stand this! Get your ass back here to Rystone, Daemon, and do me!”

As she rode further into the forest thin veils of haze and ash began to drift by, the smell of burning wood and smoke growing stronger while all the trees nearby had shifted from old timbers to rotting and decaying woods that still stood amongst the parched and desolate dirt.

“These remains of the forest shouldn’t be able to burn too well,” Charlotte pondered to herself. “Something isn’t right here.”

Riding deeper into Ritherwood the smoke and ash in the air began to grow thicker and darker, with the sounds of a burning inferno being heard further ahead as the panther raced along through the forest. Charlotte glanced around and caught glimpses of a few wolves running about behind the trees, however they were all making haste in the opposite direction and paying the witch no mind.

“Filthy mutts,” Charlotte hissed. “What are they all running from?”

The witch rode her panther for a ways into the dead forest before suddenly stopping near some trees as a crimson glow illuminated them and the nearby woods. Ahead she could see a large firestorm swirling around behind some trees, the flames seeming to roll about violently and scorch all they covered into cinders and ash.

“What do we have here?” Charlotte wondered before she kicked the panther and got it running forward again. As the witch drew closer to the firestorm the heat in the area grew substantially, with the air getting harder to breathe as the smoke and floating specks of ash were billowing through the woods more powerfully now. Finally they crossed out of the forest into a large clearing that had a monstrous swirling firestorm raging in the middle. The flames reached high into the air while smoke was exuded above in large amounts. The ground all around the inferno was scorched and barren while the trees lining the edge of the clearing were sizzling and slowly crumbling into pieces from the sheer heat.

“This isn’t a normal forest fire,” Charlotte cautioned. “The woods here couldn’t burn for more than a second before withering away. What is causing those flames to remain standing?”

Suddenly a loud boom sounded from the firestorm before it expanded out with a howling roar. The panther yowled and bucked back before a heat blast struck against it and knocked it and the witch back into a tumble. As Charlotte rolled across the ground she screamed it burned from the touch. She quickly got back onto her feet and waved her wand before her, a shining curved barrier of light lighting up before her and fading in and out as she struggled to fend off the heat that raced past her. She saw the panther letting out one last howl before igniting into flames and falling to the ground. In a flash the firestorm flowed past her in a furious wave, with Charlotte shielding her face with one arm and focusing to keep her barrier standing to block the fires with her wand. The extreme heat caused her body to sweat almost instantly while the bottoms of her boots began to sizzle slightly from the ground heating up.

“Dammit, that hurts!” she yelled before swinging her wand down. A massive blue and white casting circle appeared below her, with dozens of intricate wheels and symbols spinning around within as the magical spell extended out a few yards all around her. With a wave of her wand a blast of wind expanded out against the flames followed by spears of water that trailed snow. As the super cooled water and sleet struck against the waves of fire they pushed back with great force, with Charlotte watching with growing ire as the inferno before her rumbled and spun around relentlessly.

“Who dares start a fire in my land?” she shouted out with anger.

A sharp red glow became visible inside the firestorm, shining like a crimson star as the inferno slowly began to recede. Charlotte watched the scene carefully as the swirling mass of flames and smoke gradually withdrew while the crimson glow remained at the center.

“I order you to show yourself!” Charlotte called out.

Slowly the red glow began moving towards her as the flames crackled and flared around it. As the red light moved along it came out of the fires while the inferno shrunk behind someone that Charlotte now saw walking through the haze and smoke. The red shine from something was seen clearly although the figure was blurred still.

“Explain yourself,” Charlotte ordered. “Just what do you think you are doing here in
my
forest starting fires like this?”

As the rumbling roar of the fires dwindled a scraping sound was then heard as the figure drew closer, the sound of metal being dragged along the scorched ground becoming more audible with each step the figure took. Charlotte watched carefully as the smoke and ash drifted about then parted to reveal someone approaching her.

“Oh, my
apologies
,” the figure spoke in a bitter, young girl’s voice. “I was only venting my
frustrations
about something, I wasn’t aware I was causing any concern with you way out here surrounded by
nothing
.”

Charlotte’s eyes remained locked onto the figure as she kept on guard. Walking towards her was a young girl, a little shorter than the alpha herself and appearing to be the same age. She wore ragged brown boots, large gray socks, and a black gothic skirt which had a long tail behind it with rips and burn marks all over it. The girl had a black fleece cape on which was buttoned with two orange gemstones above her chest, having burn marks on it and left open in the front showing her belly which had not a scratch on it. She had black and white intertwined ribbons spiraling around her arms and going to her wrists where they were tied to bracelets which had dozens of charred and burnt metal charms attached to them. Her hair was bright orange and held up in a very large fluffy ponytail using a long crimson ribbon. Going down the right side of her face was a large scar, the eye it crossed over being milk white while her healthy eye was colored golden. She had four rings, two on each hand, of black steel with glowing red gemstones on them. And in her right hand she was dragging a sword by its handle at her side; a blade that Charlotte noticed was emitting the bright crimson light along its edge. It was a straight single edged sword, made of dark gray steel with a black handle. The sharpened edge glowed with a fiery hue while close to the hilt there were colored red etchings that slowly softened their extremely bright light as the fires behind her finally went out. As the girl dragged the blade which was quite large compared to her short height the end scraped along the ground and lit up a trail of black and red flames behind her briefly.

“Tell me, where did she go?” the girl asked before she stopped and struck the blade into the ground at her side, the sword coming up to her shoulder while she watched Charlotte with a cold stare.

“Where did who go?” Charlotte asked carefully.

Behind the new girl the smoke and haze slowly drifted away and parted, revealing a large scorch mark covering the clearing where the firestorm had been raging earlier. In the center Charlotte noticed the remains of a chimney standing amongst charred rubble, the blackened smokestack then crumbling and falling to the ground kicking up ash in a cloud.

“There was a house here?” Charlotte questioned turning her focus back to the girl.

“Yes, but it was empty. The one I seek wasn’t home, and… well…” the girl said before her good eye gave off a deep glow briefly. The ground around her wavered from a heat spike appearing while her sword gave off a powerfully dark aura. Charlotte glanced to the blade then to the girl who she could assume was a witch now.

“I felt rather angry,” the girl admitted with a cold smirk. “So I released my frustrations on her home. I must admit that it made me feel
slightly
less angry seeing that place burned to the ground, though I’m still quite mad inside, so I would be very grateful if you could tell me where she went.”

“I don’t know who you speak of,” Charlotte replied. “And I wasn’t aware of anyone living out here in this rotting forest. The only things alive this far out in Ritherwood are wolves, are you by chance seeking one in particular?”

“You know where she is,” the girl accused with a sharp eye on Charlotte. “She came through here recently, and I know you see
all
who pass through your land, Charlotte the Invincible.”

“You know who I am,” Charlotte mused with a smirk. “Though I’m quite curious who you are, especially seeing as how you think you can speak to me in such a tone.”

The other girl giggled with a devilish smile on her face, her sword giving off a dark aura and a red glow while small flames flared up briefly around her from the scorched ground.

“Oh, I’m so
sorry
,” she sneered. “Where are my manners?”

She gave a mocking bow to the alpha while keeping her creepy smile on the witch before she rose with her eyes remaining fixed on Charlotte.

“I am Ember, the Hellfire Witch.”

In the world of Eden one of the most skilled weapons to wield was the bow and arrow. A simple design yet powerful enough to strike down opponents before they could get close, archery was used by both humans and monsters who were capable shots with the arrow. Of course none compared to the elves of Eden, for their accuracy and talent for the bow was considered legendary. Even in a crowded forest, while riding horseback, and in the midst of a fierce battle, an elven archer was known to always strike their targets with perfect precision. Whether it was because they trained hard to become so skilled or if they were naturally proficient with the bow, one thing was certain when confronting an elven archer.

Should she take aim at you, there was no eluding her arrow.

*****

Charlotte watched as the new witch smiled coldly at her, her single golden eye giving off a soft hue briefly while the air around her wavered from the increased heat she was exuding.