Chronicles of Eden - Act III (5 page)

“Once we steal him away we’ll use him to get pregnant, both of us. You hold him down for me, and then I’ll hold him down for you. That’s what he deserves for trying to weasel out of our deal.”

Luna watched her for a moment before a deranged smile came across her face.

“WE’RE GOING TO RAPE HIM TOGETHER?” she screamed out before laughing crazily. Falla chuckled and nodded.

“Yeah, why not, we’re sisters after all,” she mused, with Luna looking off towards where the caravan rode off with a twisted smile, the girl laughing wildly through a big smile on her face. Falla laughed and looked in that direction as well.

“C’mon, Luna, his seed shall be ours!” she declared before taking off into the air with her wings. She flew up over the trees before stopping and looking back to seeing her sister still on the ground. Luna was looking off to the side with a curious expression while remaining motionless.

“Luna? What are you waiting for, let’s go,” Falla called down.

She watched her sister stand there for a moment then looked over to see what she was staring at. Over on the other side of the river a young girl was seen walking out from the trees. She looked to be around eleven years old, wearing a simple white and brown dress that had blood splattered all over it. The girl was missing a shoe, the one she still had on her left foot having blood on it as well, and was walking slightly off-balance while her arms remained at her sides. Her short brown hair was messy and had some leaves and dirt in it, the girl’s blue eyes wearily looking around as she stumbled out of the bushes and staggered along on the grass.

“Is that… a kid?” Falla asked curiously.

The child seemed to be in a daze, walking forward with unsteady steps while whimpering and murmuring to herself. Luna watched the girl curiously as the child kept walking towards the river, before promptly falling into it with a splash.

“Oh my gosh, hey! Hey!” Luna called out as she ran over to the edge of the river. She searched around the moving river quickly before seeing the girl floating to the top of the water further away.

“Hey!” Luna called out before she took off into the air after the kid. She flew over the water quickly, watching as the little girl remained motionless in the water while face-up.

“Hey, are you alright?” Luna asked loudly as she flew closer to the child. She grabbed hold of the girl and flew up into the air, seeing that the girl was unconscious.

“Please, wake up. Please wake up,” Luna begged while gently shaking her.

“What are you doing? Put that girl down, we have to go after Daniel!” Falla called out.

Luna shook her head and flew down towards the riverbank, with Falla groaning with annoyance before following after her.

“Please wake up. Hey, c’mon,” Luna said gently as she landed on the grass and knelt down with the child in her arms. Falla landed next to them and looked at the young child with a raised eyebrow.

“What are you doing?” Falla asked. “Put her down, we have get going or else we’ll lose Daniel.”

“We can’t just leave her here, and I think she’s hurt.”

“There’s no way a child is all the way out here on her own,” Falla reasoned shaking her head. “Her family is likely close by, and the last thing they’re going to want to see next to a kid is a monster, let alone two.”

“But, Falla, something happened to her,” Luna said looking over the child’s dress, seeing the blood marks all over the clothing. The girl herself didn’t seem to have any cuts or wounds though, so it was hard to say if the blood was hers or not.

“All the more reason for us
not
to be seen with her,” Falla warned. “Luna, you know as well as I do that children are not to be messed around with, humans get
very
protective of their young, and that’s all the more reason for them to kill us for even being around this child.”

“But we can’t leave her alone like this, she’s not safe here,” Luna pleaded while looking to her sister with worried eyes.

“Luna,
we’re
not safe with her!” Falla cried out. “Again, she’s a
child
! Only the most horrible and depraved monsters mess with children, and if we’re seen with her then guess what, we’re number one on the humans’ hit list! Leave her here and let’s get going, if her family finds us then they’ll hunt us down like animals!”

Luna looked at her worriedly then to the child. Before she could speak the girl started to groan weakly and shift slightly in the butterfly monster’s arms.

“Oh crap, she’s waking up,” Falla nervously said. “Luna, we have to go, now.”

“I can’t leave her like this, it’s not right,” Luna said shaking her head.

“You don’t even know this girl. Look, you saved her from drowning, good job, so let’s get going now before her family comes and kills us.”

Slowly the young child’s eyes opened, not seeming to focus on anything as she appeared to be in a daze still. Her hand slowly moved up to touch Luna’s arm, the child wearily looking around a bit while water dripped from her hair.

“Um… are you… okay?” Luna asked softly.

The girl looked to her while remaining silent, her eyes just staring at the monster as the two butterfly sisters watched her carefully.

“Who… are you?” the young girl asked quietly.

“My name is Luna,” Luna nervously said. “I… I’m sorry, please don’t be afraid of me, I just wanted to help you.”

“We’re not here to hurt you,” Falla added while looking around quickly. “Seriously, please don’t scream or anything.”

“Why would I be afraid of you?” the child asked softly. Luna glanced back to her wings then to Falla before looking at the young girl with worried eyes.

“Well… I mean… don’t I frighten you?”

The child’s eyes moved around slightly while she remained silent, the two sisters watching as she just stared at Luna.

“Kid?” Falla asked slowly.

“You sound nice, you don’t frighten me,” the young girl said after a while.

“I don’t?” Luna asked. “But… look at me. I don’t scare you at all?”

“I can’t look at you,” the girl replied while still watching Luna with a dull stare in her eyes.

“What do you mean can’t, you’re looking at me right now,” Luna said curiously. The child shook her head slowly as the two sisters showed puzzled expressions. After a moment the young girl showed a saddened smile.

“No, I’m not. I can’t see anything. I’m blind.”

In the world of Eden, conflicts and battles we
re all too common. Whether it be from feuding human civilizations, fighting against lustful monsters in the wild, or a simple dispute that escalated to seeing who could hit harder with their fists, getting into a fight for one reason or another was part of life in this world. However, sometimes using brute force wasn’t the way to solve a conflict, sometimes there were more peaceful alternatives to spilling blood. In the event that a solution couldn’t be reached by drawing arms then those in question would be forced to think of another way of ending their conflict. Of course this didn’t mean the fighting was over just yet for them.

All they were doing was choosing a new battlefield to fight on.

*****

“You’re blind?” Luna asked worriedly.

The child nodded slowly as her eyes didn’t seem to focus on the butterfly monster at all. It was as if the girl’s gaze went straight through Luna entirely.

“Yeah,” the girl said softly.

Falla nodded slowly then glanced to Luna with a careful eye.

“Oh, you poor thing,” she said softly. “So you can’t see us at all, can you?”

The child shook her head as she moved a bit in Luna’s arms. Falla nodded then motioned for Luna to let the girl go with her hands.

“I see,” Falla said with an expecting look at Luna. “I’m sorry to hear that. Well, we must really be on our way now. Try not to fall into any more rivers, okay?”

“Falla, we can’t leave her here like this,” Luna argued shaking her head. “She’s blind, she shouldn’t be out here all alone.”

“Luna,” Falla said through a forced smile. “She’s not alone, I’m sure her family is close by looking for her. They’ll be along any minute now, so there’s no reason for
us to be here
.”

“Where are your parents?” Luna asked the young girl. “Do you have a camp close by?”

The child shook her head and looked down with a whimper.

“No…”

“She was probably traveling with her parents near here and got separated from them,” Falla reasoned. Again the child shook her head while remaining silent.

“Then why does she have blood all over her clothes? Something happened to her,” Luna said, with the silent child nodding to that.

“Maybe her family are traveling butchers, who knows?” Falla said throwing her arms up in the air. “The point is that her parents are going to be coming here soon and we
shouldn’t
be here then.”

The young child shook her head to that while Luna looked around the area worriedly.

“But we can’t just leave her and hope her parents find her, we should return her to them.”

“Look,” Falla tiredly said. “If she just stays put here I’m sure her family will find her, they’re not going to just abandon her.”

“No, they won’t come for me,” the child said sadly.

“What do you mean they won’t?” Falla asked. “Sure they will, just, you know, stay put so they can find you.”

“No, they won’t come for me,” the child repeated while shaking her head.

“Why do you think they won’t?” Luna asked. “What kind of parents wouldn’t go looking for their own daughter?”

“Because they’ve been dead ever since I could remember,” the child sadly answered. “I’m never going to be with my parents again.”

Luna and Falla looked to each other then back to the young girl as she whimpered and wiped a few tears from her cheek.

“You don’t have any parents?” Luna asked.

“But then who are you out here with?” Falla asked looking around, still not seeing any sign or hearing any commotion from anyone that may be searching for the lost girl.

“I was out here with my foster family,” the child said. “We were traveling to Ashwood because we were going to live there. But… but… but then…” She started trembling and held her arms around herself in a panic. The sisters watched the girl as she whimpered and shut her eyes tightly.

“What happened?” Luna asked.

The child shook her head then looked to Luna with teary eyes.

“But then monsters came and ate them!” she cried out before clinging to Luna and crying, with Luna looking at her with surprise. She looked to Falla who had a cautious expression on her face.

“Ate them? Monsters…
ate
them?” Falla questioned.

The child nodded while crying still, keeping her face hidden in Luna’s bosom.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry,” Luna said gently as she held the girl.

The child trembled in her arms as she tried to control her breathing.

“They were so nice, I thought they were friendly, how could they do such a thing?”

“They? Who are they? You mean the monsters?” Falla asked.

The child nodded and looked towards the sound of Falla’s voice.

“We didn’t know they were monsters,” she shakily explained. “They seemed like lost travelers, they were so nice and friendly when we picked them up. They said they needed a ride, and my foster dad agreed to give them a lift. They even offered an apple pie as thanks, it was so yummy.”

“What kind of monsters were they, what did they look like?” Luna asked.

“She’s blind, Luna,” Falla flatly said. “How would she know what they looked like?”

“Oh, right, sorry,” Luna said nervously.

The child shook her head and looked down with watery eyes.

“There were two of them,” she recalled. “They were girls, they sounded older than me, but younger than my foster mother. They were very polite, always talking and laughing with my family while they rode with us, telling us about their travels. They… they did talk strangely though.”

“Strange? How so?” Luna asked.

“They kept talking… at the same time,” the child answered. “It was like they were both speaking together, like they were the same person. It was kind of weird.”

Falla looked around the area carefully then back to the young girl.

“So… is it just you out here now?”

“Yes,” the girl said with a whimper. “I woke up from my nap, and I heard my mom screaming. The two monsters, they were eating her. I could hear them chewing into her, they were laughing and eating her alive!” She started breathing quickly as the two sisters watched her with worried eyes.

“I cried out for help, but the monsters only laughed and said that I was next as their dessert! I heard my mom crying out to run for my life. I tried to get out quickly, but I tripped and rolled over… what was left of my dad! Those monsters just laughed at me while my mom screamed in pain! I fell out of the carriage and then just ran. I ran and I ran far away into the woods. I kept running and running, and running, and I kept running until… until…”

Luna looked over towards where the girl fell into the river earlier with remorse.

“Until you couldn’t run anymore,” she said softly, turning back to the little girl as the child nodded and closed her eyes.

“They ate my family, they ate my family, they ate my family…” the girl whimpered while holding onto Luna. The butterfly monster held her gently and looked to Falla with a saddened expression.

“We can’t leave her like this, she’s all alone.”

“What are we supposed to do, adopt her?” Falla said with disbelief. “Luna, look at
us
. She doesn’t belong here with us, we’re not exactly the right babysitters for her.”

“But look at her, she’s frightened to death and all alone, we can’t just abandon her,” Luna said looking to the young child.

“Luna, put her down. We have to go.”

“No, we have to do something for her,” Luna pleaded while holding the child closer.

“You saved her from drowning. You’ve done more than enough.”

“Stop being so cruel, we can’t leave her out here like this and you know it,” Luna shot back with a flustered expression.

“We can’t be seen with a human child and you know it!” Falla shouted out, then jumped with a small gasp and looked to the young girl as did Luna. The blind girl looked towards the sound of Falla’s voice then to where she thought Luna was.