Chronicles of Eden - Act III (10 page)

“I promise, I won’t let you go.”

*****

Elsewhere in The Outerlands Daniel’s group had come to a stop along the trail, with Lucky calmly eating some large grass near him while he was still hitched to the caravan. Standing close to the ride Specca was looking from Daniel’s monster guide in her hands to something in front of her with a cautious expression, the nixie going back and forth between the two as she kept turning the pages to find something in particular in the book. Next to her Alyssa was watching something in front of them with a careful eye while holding her staff in her hands, glancing to Specca then back ahead as she kept on guard from something.

“Well?” the witch asked impatiently.

“I’m looking, I’m looking,” Specca quickly replied while shaking her head. “I don’t remember this one off the top of my head, I’m sorry.”

Ahead of them, struggling to keep her foothold on the grass, was Triska, the teen holding onto one of Daniel’s arms tightly while she held her sword in her other hand. She was sliding a bit from being pulled by incredible force, even with Squeak next to her who was also holding onto Daniel by his other arm, the ant girl having her pickaxe dug into the ground as she used it like an anchor. Daniel however was watching with a nervous smile as long green tendrils were wrapped around his legs and torso, the strong appendages belonging to what was easily assumed to be a monster.

It appeared to be a very large flower blooming from the ground, with colorful red and yellow petals along with twisting vines and tendrils that were dug into the dirt around it. From the flower’s center was the monster’s body, resembling a human female from the thighs up with long green hair. Her skin was a light green texture and appeared silky smooth and slightly moist, her hips and bust were fully developed, and it had a few colorful flowers blooming in her hair like a headpiece. Her dull blue eyes watched as Daniel thrashed around in its grip, the tendrils leading towards the base of the monster’s body inside the large flower petals. The monster had a coy smile on her face while she gently motioned for the boy to come closer with one finger, something that Daniel was trying not to do with the help of his friends.

“Um,” Daniel called out weakly. “Like I was trying to say, there’s no reason we can’t… um, could you please stop for a moment?”

“I don’t think it’s listening to you, Daniel,” Triska grunted as she struggled to keep the boy from being dragged towards the monster. Squeak shook her head while squeaking, the ground cracking from her pickaxe as she held onto Daniel’s arm tightly.

“Seriously, Specca?” Alyssa called out.

“I’m looking, I don’t remember what that one is or if it can be reasoned with,” Specca shot back with a flustered tone.

“I
really
don’t think it can be reasoned with, just putting in my opinion here,” Triska mentioned loudly as her foot slipped on the grass for a moment. She struggled to hold Daniel back as the flower monster continued to pull with great force, with Squeak and Triska feeling the boy inching out of their grasp. Daniel tried to kick free, doing absolutely nothing to get the monster to let go, while trying to keep a calm and collected mind in which to speak to the creature.

“We’re here… to talk… about… peace… so let go… and we can… talk about it…” he grunted as he was yanked repeatedly by the flower monster.

“It’s not in the mood to talk, Daniel. We have to kill it,” Triska grunted as she clutched her sword. Squeak yanked her pickaxe up out of the ground and geared back to strike before Daniel shook his head at her.

“Stop! Don’t hurt it, we have to try to talk peacefully before attacking like that!”

Squeak stopped and looked at him with surprise then to Triska as the human was feeling her footing giving out.

“Daniel, it doesn’t want to talk, look at it!” Triska shouted out as she tried to hold onto the boy with all her might.

“Specca!” Alyssa yelled out at the nixie. Specca flipped through the pages in the book frantically then stopped and traced her finger along an entry.

“Wait, here, I found it! I found it!”

“Daniel!” Triska cried out as the boy slipped from her grasp, the girl falling back from her feet sliding on the grass while Squeak tumbled forward as the boy was yanked away from her. Daniel was quickly reeled in by the flower monster, the creature pulling him over to her body before her arms wrapped around him. The vines ensnared around the boy’s body before the monster sunk down into the ground through the center of the flower, pulling Daniel down with her while the flower petals closed up over them.

“Daniel!” Alyssa cried out. She started to run towards the closed flower bud before Specca grabbed her shoulder and stopped the witch.

“Wait, it’s okay, stop,” Specca assured while reading the entry in the book.

“What?” Alyssa cried out at her. “It’s
okay
? It just swallowed up Daniel!”

The two then looked to seeing Triska and Squeak racing towards the bud with their weapons drawn back.

“Wait! Don’t hurt it!” Specca shouted out.

Squeak stopped and looked back to her while Triska raced up towards the bud and geared back with her sword.

“Daniel!”

“Don’t, Triska! Leave it alone!” Specca called out.

Triska looked back to her with frustration while holding her sword back behind her.

“Are you crazy? It ate Daniel!” she yelled out before swinging her blade across the petals, slicing through them and cleaving one off onto the ground. A high pitched wail was heard from below while a few tendrils whipped up around the flower monster, with Triska furiously swinging her sword around and hacking them apart before striking at the flower petals again.

“Don’t worry, Daniel, I’m coming!” Triska shouted out, with the monster wailing as its severed limbs flailed about around it.

“No! Stop, Triska, don’t cut those!” Specca cried out as she ran towards the teen, with Alyssa and Squeak quickly following after her with confused expressions. Triska swung her blade around quickly and hacked apart the large petals, with a few twisting vines coiling up under where they were as the wailing grew louder. Through the vines she saw Daniel and the monster’s female body below, with the boy looking up to seeing his friend through the green vines while the monster was holding onto him with a pained expression.

“Daniel! I’ll get you out of there, just hold on!” Triska called out as she geared back with her sword.

“Don’t!” Specca cried out as she ran over and grabbed Triska’s hand, struggling to push the human away while Alyssa and Squeak looked down through the opening in the flower to seeing Daniel being held by the monster.

“Daniel! Are you okay?” Alyssa called down quickly.

“I think so, what’s happening?” Daniel asked looking around at everyone.

Squeak frantically pointed off to the side at something while squeaking quickly, the girl then pointing down to him and shaking her head with a shrug as she squeaked some more. Daniel just stared at her for a moment then looked over to Alyssa.

“Um… what’s happening?”

“Let me go, I have to get him out of there!” Triska yelled out as she and Specca stumbled off to the side.

“He’ll be just fine! Stop hurting the monster!” Specca yelled out at her.

Triska looked to her with surprise as the nixie pushed her away then ran over to the others.

“What do you mean he’ll be just fine? She’s
eating
him!”

“No, she’s not,” Specca argued. “She just wanted to mate with him, that’s all.”

“How is that any better?” Triska yelled out with disbelief.

“Because if Daniel politely refuses her then she’ll let him go!”

Everyone fell silent as Triska and the other girls stared at Specca with bewilderment.

“She’ll… just let him go?” Triska asked shaking her head.

Specca scoffed at her then looked down to Daniel as the boy was watching the flower monster with wonder, the creature now wailing and crying with a saddened expression.

“Daniel, it’s alright,” Specca informed with a worried smile. “She’s not going to hurt you. She’s a very peaceful monster, she just brought you down there to try to mate with you.”

“Oh good, I was worried I was in trouble?” Daniel replied unsurely while shaking his head.

“You’re not in trouble, not really,” Specca reassured. “Just don’t kiss her, her saliva is a special honey that will cause you to... well,
really
want to have sex with her. As long as you don’t kiss her you’ll be alright.”

Daniel looked to the plant monster as it held its arms around his shoulders and tried to pull him into a kiss, with him then squirming about in her grip as he kept leaning back and turning his head away from her.

“No, no that’s alright, I’d really rather not,” he said somewhat politely as the plant monster showed a frustrated smile while it tried to get him to hold still.

“It’s trying to mate with him, how is this not a problem for us?” Alyssa asked with disbelief at Specca. The nixie held a hand out to silence her while keeping a close eye on Daniel.

“Her kiss will charm you into submission, but all she can do other than that is to try to act alluring with you, that’s it. Talk to her, she can understand you, ask her nicely to let you go.”

“Are you kidding us?” Alyssa asked. “All we have to do is ask that monster to let him go?”

Specca nodded and then glared at Triska.

“Why didn’t you listen to me? What is wrong with you, Triska?”

“What’s wrong with
me
?” Triska snapped. “For crying out loud, Daniel was pulled underground by a flower monster, how could I not try to save him?”

“Because if that was a different flower monster you would have killed him!”

“What?” Triska, Daniel, and Alyssa asked at the same time, with Squeak merely squeaking once with a curious expression. Specca sighed and looked to the entry in the monster book.

“Monster Class: Fluugher. A flower monster that attempts to lure and ensnare wandering travelers with its vines. When they catch a human they pull them down into their nest under their flower beds, where they will try to copulate with the man using a powerful aphrodisiac in their saliva. There are several different varieties of fluugher in the world, differentiated by the colors of their flower petals. Red and yellow petals are docile versions of the monster. They are very timid, and are not very aggressive with the men they catch. Should the man politely refuse the monster, or wait long enough for the fluugher to become frustrated, it will simply let the man go and wait for another one to pass by.”

“Seriously?” Triska asked skeptically. “It’ll just let him go?”

The girls looked down to seeing Daniel watching the fluugher wailing and whining with tears in her eyes, the monster seeming to get frustrated as it couldn’t hold Daniel still to kiss him. The boy glanced up to his friends for a moment then smiled nervously at the flower monster.

“Excuse me,” he said gently, with the monster slowly looking to him while crying still. “I’m terribly sorry, but… could you
please
let me go?”

The fluugher let out a small wail as it leaned closer to him, its eyes glancing to his lips then back to him as her hands caressed his rear. The boy squirmed around a bit from the feeling then shook his head with a gentle smile.

“No, I’m really not in the mood to have sex with you right now. Please, could you let me go?”

The fluugher whined and looked down with a hurt expression, with Daniel showing concern at seeing her reaction then shaking his head.

“I don’t mean to hurt you,” he gently said. “And I’m terribly sorry my friend cut your petals like that. Really, we don’t want to cause you trouble, I promise.”

The monster slowly looked to him and tilted her head curiously. Daniel smiled and moved one of his hands up out from the embrace and held her cheek.

“Please, can you let me go now? I would really appreciate it.”

The monster let out a small moan then slowly started to raise upward, the vines above slinking away as the girls backed up while watching with wonder. Daniel and the fluugher rose up again as the remaining petals unfolded and laid down on the grass. The monster slowly removed all its vines around Daniel while looking down with a pained expression, with Daniel watching curiously then hugging it gently. The fluugher looked over his shoulder with a silent gasp as the boy smiled and closed his eyes.

“Thank you, for being so nice.”

The fluugher held him with a saddened smile, seeming to cherish the embrace while her vines slowly slinked about on the ground. After a moment he backed up and wiped a tear away from its cheek, the monster then looking down timidly in response. Daniel then walked over to his friends; all of them watching as the flower monster picked up one of its severed petals and whined softly as it held it gently in its hands.

“I don’t believe it,” Alyssa said softly. “It let him go, just like that.”

Squeak tilted her head with a curious expression and squeaked a few times while Specca nodded with a calm smile at the fluugher.

“We were lucky this was one of the peaceful ones,” Specca agreed with, and then looked to Triska with a glare. “Because there are those that don’t like being attacked,
Triska
. If the petals are red and green, that type of fluugher will constrict all its vines on reflex of being injured, strangling and crushing its victim to death.” Triska jumped a bit with a nervous expression from hearing that before Specca looked to the book and read aloud another line for the monster’s entry.

“And worse yet, if the petals were red and blue that type of fluugher would release a deadly poison on reflex of being attacked, killing its victim nearly instantly while inflicting any others who may be near it, namely all of us.” She closed the book with a snap and gave Triska a stern glare.

“All Daniel would have had to do, no matter what type of fluugher would have gotten him, was either talk to it peacefully and get it to let him go, or just wait until the thing got bored and let him go on its own. That’s it!”

“But… but… how was I supposed to know that?” Triska defended with while shaking her head.

“I was trying to tell you!” Specca scolded. “Squeak stopped when I called out to you two, but you just kept on going! All you do is try to hack anything that moves funny in front of you. This monster was as peaceful as a bovinette, and you just cut it apart without thinking!”