Chronicles of Eden - Act III (44 page)

“Not going to eat, Falla?”

She looked to him with a small jump, seeming to come out of a trance, and then looked back down to her meal.

“Oh, right,” she said, then lifted her spoon up slowly with a disturbed expression. “Um,
what
am I eating again?”

“Oh for crying out loud!” Triska yelled out. “It’s not bad, just eat it!”

Falla gave a startled jump before quickly eating, with Triska showing her a small glare before looking to Jovian and Jacqueline who were sitting together while just looking at the fire. Neither of the new girls had bowls of stew and both were holding hands as they remained silent, the sisters wearing their masks which gave off a soft orange bloom from the fire.

“Aren’t you two hungry?” Triska asked.

“No, thank you,” Jovian said softly.

“Are you sure? I made plenty.”

“Quantity over quality, good job,” Alyssa mentioned flatly.

“Oh shut up, Alyssa! If you don’t want to eat it then don’t, nobody’s forcing you!” Triska shouted out at her. She then looked back to the new girls with a gentle smile. “Please, have some, you must be hungry after all you’ve been through.”

Jovian eyed the girl through her mask, going over the teen’s body and breasts slowly while a small smile crept across her face.

“That’s alright, we’re not hungry yet,” she answered politely.

Jacqueline nodded as she eyed Specca over from behind her mask, paying close attention to the nixie’s thighs and legs while she squeezed her sister’s hand a bit.

“Yes, please, don’t worry about us. Eat your meals.”

Triska showed a worried expression for them then nodded with a small smile again.

“Alright, but don’t be shy, we’ve got plenty here,” she said before eating her stew again.

“Oh yes, we know,” Jovian said as her eyes shifted from Triska over to Alyssa, watching as the witch merely played with her food rather than eating it, and imagined how loudly the little witch could scream in pain. Jacqueline smirked as her eyes glanced over to Squeak, the ant girl eating her stew with quiet squeaks while unaware that the blonde newcomer was fantasizing about sinking her teeth into her thighs and breasts.

“So, if we may ask,” Jovian inquired. “Why is it that you all are traveling together like this?”

“Yes,” Jacqueline said looking to Daniel with a curious smile. “You said you are looking to instill peace between monsters and humans. I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Well, just what I said,” he replied with a weak smile and shrug. “We’re looking to find monster races that would be willing to coexist peacefully with humans, so that would could all live with each other and help each other survive in this world.”

Triska nodded and looked to the sisters with a smirk.

“As crazy as it may sound to you, it’s true. And there are monsters out there that aren’t evil, as you’ve noticed with a few of them sitting here eating dinner with us peacefully,” she reasoned while gesturing around to the group.

“This tastes like crap,” Falla muttered before setting her bowl down and holding a hand over her mouth.

“For once you and I are in agreement,” Alyssa said as she dumped her stew onto the ground with a disgusted scowl.

“Would you two shut up?” Triska shouted out at them. “It’s not bad at all, you’re just too goddamned picky!”

Daniel chuckled weakly then looked at the sisters with a small smile.

“Anyway,” he continued. “There are some that are willing to give peace a chance, so we’re hoping to find all that we can in order to help convince mankind that we don’t need to be at war with them. They may look different, and live differently, but that doesn’t make them bad.”

The sisters nodded slowly then looked around at the group.

“I must say,” Jovian mentioned. “I’ve never heard of anyone preaching such beliefs before.”

“Daniel is a very radical thinker, but that just may be what Eden needs,” Specca said looking to Daniel with a gentle smile.

“He helped me see what a monster I really was, I wouldn’t be here at all if it wasn’t for him,” Alyssa admitted with a loving smile at the boy.

Squeak nodded and squeaked while pointing to Daniel, the ant girl squeaking for a while before stopping and showing a weak smile as her friends all looked at her with amused smirks. Daniel chuckled then looked to the sisters with a shrug.

“You’ll have to excuse her, she-”

“Wow,” Jovian said with a hand held to her cheek. “He chose you out of your whole nest of 108 workers?”

Everyone stopped and stared at them with a jump as Jacqueline giggled and smiled curiously at Squeak.

“My my, I bet you must have felt special after that.”

The two sisters then looked around to seeing everyone just staring at them with stunned expressions and remaining silent.

“Is something wrong?” they asked together.

“You… you understood her?” Triska asked.

“Of course,” Jovian said simply. The group looked to Squeak as she pointed to herself and squeaked with confusion.

“Yes, I understand you,” Jovian said to her. “I just said so didn’t I?”

Jacqueline looked to her sister then to Squeak before she started laughing a bit.

“Oh dear, sister? I don’t believe they understand
how
we understand her,” she mentioned, with Jovian jumping with a hand over her mouth before she smiled amusedly.

“Oh my, you’re right. We must look so silly to them.”

“Not silly,” Specca said unsurely. “Just… well, I’m not sure how to describe it.”

The sisters giggled and shook their heads in unison.

“I’m sorry, allow me to explain,” Jovian offered. “You see during our travels we’ve come across many different people and monsters, however not all speak the universal language, so communication became difficult.”

“So we enlisted the help of some witches long ago to enchant our ears,” Jacqueline said while brushing her hair away from her ear and showing it to the group, not that her ear looked any different at all. “So that we may understand any language being spoken. We can understand your friend just as well as we can with all of you.”

“That’s amazing, you can talk to
anyone
? Human or monster?” Daniel asked.

“Yes, anyone at all,” Jovian agreed.

“Wait a minute,” Specca said curiously. “You’re saying that you’ve had encounters with monsters before us?”

“Yes, many times,” Jacqueline answered.

“What do you do during your travels that have you talking to both humans and monsters like that?” Triska asked curiously.

The sisters giggled then looked to her while holding their arms out to present themselves.

“We like to party, we’re thrill seekers,” Jovian hailed with a hop.

“Yes,” Jacqueline giggled. “We always travel around looking for excitement and fun and dancing, oh I love dancing so much.”

The two girls stood up then started walking around the others in opposite directions.

“Have you ever been to a royal ball at Nimquent? Oh such a merry time indeed,” Jovian said as she gently ran her hand along Squeak’s shoulders, the ant girl looking back to her curiously.

“Or have you ever heard the singing harpies on Mount Rollound? It sounds even better with the acoustics from the cliffs,” Jacqueline said as she gently touched along Falla’s wing, the butterfly girl looking back to her with a scoff as she fluttered her wings to get the girl to stop.

“Or perhaps swam in the Icida Sea near Waterwrench? The mermaids there are so graceful and beautiful,” Jovian said as she gently held Specca’s shoulders and leaned closer to her from behind, with Specca glancing back to her with wonder.

“No, I… haven’t,” Specca said softly.

“I personally love traveling through the forests of Rentha, they have such beautiful flowers called Blue Irises that I simply adore,” Jacqueline said while walking behind Daniel, the girl taking a moment to stop and lean over sideways to smile back at him before looking to Triska.

“Maybe you and your boyfriend should check it out sometime, could be a romantic time for you two.”

The group jumped and looked to Triska as the girl smiled curiously at that before glancing to Daniel.

“Well, that sounds like a great idea,” Triska said before looking down. “But I’m not… actually… his… um…”

Jacqueline showed a curious expression then looked around at the group as the other girls were watching Triska carefully.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jacqueline apologized dearly. “I thought you were with him since you were both human. I apologize, which one of you is his mate then?”

“He’s traveling with monsters on his own free will,” Jovian mused with a hand held to her chin. “Perhaps he chose one of these fine young ladies. Maybe he selected the witch, she is rather cute.”

Alyssa jumped a bit then smiled with a blush as the other girls looked to her with dull stares.

“She does have a point,” she giggled with an innocent smile. “I am the cutest here, we can’t argue with that.”

“No, I don’t see that, sister,” Jacqueline reasoned. “If anyone he likely chose Specca here, I mean her figure is absolutely perfect from head to tail.”

The group turned to Specca as she jumped with a squeak, the girl quickly looking herself over before giving Jacqueline a stunned smile.

“Wait, really? It is?”

“Oh please,” Alyssa muttered. “Squeak’s got a more voluptuous figure than she does, how is Specca’s figure ‘absolutely perfect’?”

Specca looked to her with a flustered huff while Squeak smiled a bit and shrugged modestly.

“Hey!” Specca snapped. “Just because my breasts didn’t keep getting bigger doesn’t mean my figure is any less desirable. And at least I
have
a figure, unlike somebody.”

“So what?” Alyssa shot back as she set her bowl down with a clink. “What I lack in having boobs I make up for in sweet, innocent charm and being more experienced about sex than a succubus.”

Daniel merely had a stunned look on his face to that as Specca and Alyssa stood up and growled at each other, with Squeak and Triska watching with raised eyebrows while Jovian and Jacqueline showed curious expressions to the bickering.

“That statement is completely contradictory and does nothing to prove that you have a better body than I do!” Specca shouted out.

“No, but she does raise a point,” Jovian mentioned. “Squeak’s breasts are rather huge, I’m actually jealous.”

Squeak jumped a bit before looking down to her bust, squeaking softly once then smiling proudly and looking around at the group with a shrug. The other girls looked at her with annoyance, all knowing that fact was unfortunately true, while Daniel slowly raised his hand up.

“Um, excuse me,” he said weakly. “I think we’re getting a little off topic here.”

Jacqueline giggled as she walked over behind Triska and gently held her by the shoulders.

“That may be true, sister,” she mused playfully. “All of these monsters do have something to offer this boy. It makes me wonder why this one is okay with all of them traveling with him. A cute little witch, a beautiful nixie, and a delicious looking ant girl, surely Daniel’s noticed them all by now.”

Daniel just stared at her with a stunned expression as all three monster girls blushed brightly from that.

“Hey, what about me?” Falla spat out. “I’m better looking than all of them combined. Why not assume I’m his mate?”

Jovian and Jacqueline looked to her with amused smiles.

“Hardly,” Jovian quipped. “A rat is more appealing than you.”

“A dead rat even,” Jacqueline added before they giggled together.

“Okay, I like these girls, a lot,” Alyssa commented.

“No complaints here so far,” Triska replied, with Squeak nodding in agreement.

Falla growled with anger at them while Jacqueline shook Triska lightly and got her attention again before leaning down over her shoulder to get closer. Triska glanced to her curiously as the girl’s mask had a soft bloom to it from the light and hid the view of her eyes.

“Tell me, do you wish to have his heart? Be honest,” Jacqueline whispered.

Triska glanced to Daniel who was looking around at the group worriedly while Falla was just watching them with a dull expression.

“Well, yes, I do,” she whispered back.

“Then aren’t you afraid of those three stealing him away?” Jacqueline asked softly while brushing the teen’s hair gently. “I know I would be if I were you. Why is it that you willingly let them travel with you like this?”

Triska looked back to her nervously then to the others, with Specca glancing down at her hips and waist timidly, Alyssa slowly straightening out her skirt while she watched Daniel with a soft smile, and Squeak holding her arms closer to her sides to push her bosom together, the ant girl looking at herself curiously before at Daniel who was just sitting there with stunned expression on his face still.

“Well, it’s complicated,” Triska said shaking her head.

“Complicated?” Jacqueline asked as she stood upright again. “I don’t understand. How is this complicated?”

Triska looked down with concern as the other girls watched her curiously.

“We all love him.”

“You
all
love this boy?” Jovian asked.

The four girls nodded as Daniel looked around at them with a worried smile. Falla however scoffed and crossed her arms while scowling at the new girls. Triska smiled slightly and glanced to Daniel while she gently brushed her hair back around her ear.

“Yes, we all do,” she admitted. “It’s no secret between us, or with him, we all love him.”

“Then does that mean that you love them all too?” Jacqueline asked looking to Daniel. He jumped a bit then looked down with a troubled frown as he fidgeted his hands together in his lap.

“Well, I’m not… it’s just…” he stuttered, and then glanced around to seeing the four girls watching him with worried eyes. He took a moment to think of what to say then breathed out slowly before smiling at them. “The truth is, I care for them all, very much. They’re all special to me, and I’m lucky they’re here with me today. And, I know how they all feel about me, how they wish for me to choose one of them to be with, but I haven’t figured out if I feel the same way about them as they do with me. I… I don’t know how to choose just yet.”