Chapter 2: Rebel

Trey did not know how to respond. This new Queen--who had just slaughtered Ryia--was looking right at him with a concerned look on her face. Rather than say anything, he just stood there and stared back at her, his legs shaking like jelly.

Then, she began to walk towards him.

"D-Don't hurt me!!" Trey cried as he began to cower.

She stopped a few feet away from where he was, looking down upon him with the same expression. Her fingers then released the hold that they had on her sword, which then disappeared in a flash of electric-like particles. Then, she kneeled down on one knee, bringing her face closer to the ground, and to Trey.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said in a soft tone. "You don't have to be afraid."

"Wha-what do you want from me?" Trey was still frightful. "I'll do anything! Just don't kill me!"

The Queen sighed. "...I can see that you don't trust me. I don't blame you, though." She looked back towards the lifeless body of Ryia. "My people have inflicted unspeakable horrors upon humankind since they arrived years ago."

Calming ever so slightly, Trey also looked at Ryia's body. It began to glow in a whitish light, and the body started to fade away in sparkling white lights that rose into the sky. Before long, Ryia was completely gone, leaving behind a slight indentation in her form in the valley ground.

Trey was in astonishment. "What happened to her?"

"When us Queens--as you humans call us--die," the Queen started, "our essence returns to Mother and become part of her once more."

This was the second time Trey had heard this Queen mention this "Mother". "What is 'Mother'?" he asked.

"Mother is just what she sounds like," the Queen answered. "She gave birth to us."

"So is this 'Mother' making you all kill us and make us slaves?"

The Queen looked back towards Trey. "This planet belongs to the humans. It is not our place to take it from you and annihilate you. ...That's what I believe, but my people think otherwise. They see you humans as a plague on this planet, and want to eradicate humans down to the last man. In their eyes, they are saving the planet..."

Trey recalled hearing stories of humanity's past, when their technology and high intelligence led to their overconfidence and negligence towards the planet itself. They mentioned that there were people who fought to preserve the natural beauty of the planet, but the populace largely ignored them. Not long after, the Queens arrived and tore apart everything humans had worked millennias for.

"...So I decided to take up my sword and fight against my own people," the Queen continued. "I believe that only humans know how to save the planet that bred and raised them, and I intend to ensure that they survive to revitalize this world. So I won't hurt you. Not you or any other human." She smiled.

As Trey listened to her words, he felt himself becoming less tense. Her soft words and kind demeanor, as well as her ambitions, worked to calm him. His legs became stable, and he found himself standing upright and staring right into her face. Her eyes portrayed a light of genuine kindness. Could this Queen truly be different from the others?

"I believe this is the part where we introduce ourselves, no?" she asked.

Trey was somewhat taken by surprise. "Huh! Oh, uh.... My name is Trey."

"And I am Merle," she said. "Pleased to meet you, Trey!"

"Umm... The pleasure is mine." Trey felt rather awkward exchanging pleasantries with a Queen.

Then, Trey remembered Richie and Elijah. He ran past Merle, and approached Elijah's bisected body. He had been slice across his waist, the cut having pierced the ground even. The ground was coated with Elijah's blood, and the path of the blade that Ryia had used extended several feet to his left. Seeing the state of Elijah's body nearly make him vomit; it took all he could to keep it down.

He merely glanced over to where Richie's remains were, his body having been crushed flat into the ground. He did not want to see such a sight up close; he knew that it was going to be far more gruesome than Elijah's body below him.

He knew that had it not been for Merle, he too would have met with a gruesome fate.

He felt the ground shake below him, as well as accompanying thuds. Before long, was covered with Merle's shadow.

"Were they your friends?" Merle asked.

Trey paused for a few seconds. "Not really," he answered while still looking at Elijah. "I didn't know them all that well. In fact, I didn't really have any friends. Except for one person, but when they said that they were running away, I jumped at the chance and didn't even tell her 'good-bye'." Trey's tone had become melancholic. "...I'm a coward."

"No, I think you're quite brave," Merle said. "You made it this far away from Kharlla's domain. You would be able to reach the underground tunnel... But Ryia destroyed the entrance to it so thoroughly that not even I can fix it."

This news took Trey by surprise. "...So we came out here for nothing..."

"I know of another tunnel on the other side of the valley," Merle said. "I can take you there, but first, I have to take care of something."

Trey looked up towards the giantess standing over him. "What's that?"

"I have to defeat Kharlla," Merle answered.

Hearing this shocked Trey. "But she's the strongest Queen in this region! Are you sure you can beat her!?"

"I'm confident that she won't be too much trouble for me. Rather, what are you going to do, Trey?"

"What do you mean?" Trey asked.

"I'm going to Kharlla's domain. Are you going stay here?"

Trey looked at his lifeless companions once more. If there was another Queen lurking about, the chances of him being rescued again were slim to none should he decide to head for the other passage himself. He looked towards the opening that he was hiding inside of earlier. He figured that he could hide out in there again until Merle returned, but there was no guarantee that she would survive her encounter with Kharlla aside from her own confidence. Also, it was very uncomfortable inside.

On the other hand, should Merle defeat Kharlla, he wanted to bring his friend with him to freedom. It would be dangerous--going right back where he had escaped from--but this was a case of picking his poison. And seeing his friend--and apologizing to her--and bringing her with him was too good a deal to pass up.

"...I'm... going with you," Trey finally said.

Merle's expression was a mix of surprise and impressed. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. There's someone I need to see."

Merle nodded. "If that's your decision, then I will respect it."

Merle then reached down and grabbed him from the ground. He flinched as her fingers wrapped around his body; this was the first time that he had been picked up by a Queen, though he had seen others who had also been taken away or killed right there on the spot. He counted himself lucky that he had found a Queen who seemed to care for his well-being.

Lifting him higher off of the ground, Merle then places him on her bosom, right inbetween her two massive breasts. His legs sunk in between the two large but soft bulges, as he held onto both with his arms to prevent himself from sinking lower. He never imagined that he would be getting carried around in a Queen's cleavage.

"First, I'm going to bury your friends," Merle said. "Then it's off to Kharlla's domain."

"Okay," Trey said.

From his place in her cleavage, he watched as she picked up both parts of Elijah's severed body, and with her free hand scooped out a hole in the valley ground.

~~~

Elli pushed open the heavy doors that led to Empress Kharlla's chamber, and walked inside. Empress Kharlla's chamber was a long room with open windows lined on both sides of the room that illuminated the room with daylight; an equally long blue rug led up a few stairs to the large throne that Empress Kharlla sat upon.

The fair-skinned Empress Kharlla had long golden hair adorned with a silver tiara, and blue eyes as vivid as the sky outside. She wore a white dress that extended only to her knees, and the only things she wore on her feet were anklets.

With her right leg crossed over the other, she watched as two human males viciously fought each other on the floor in front of her. Surrounding them were five other humans also watching the altercation.

As Elli approached her, Empress Kharlla looked up towards her, an annoyed expression forming on her face.

"What do you want, Elli?" Empress Kharlla asked.

"I have some bad news," Elli replied. "...We have reports that Ryia has been killed."

Empress Kharlla's mouth dropped in disbelief. "Did those humans do it?"

"You know that humans are not capable of such an act. ...It was the Rebel."

"...Oh, her?" Empress Kharlla leaned back in her chair. "Interesting... Am I right to assume that she is coming this way?"

Elli nodded.

"Get the others ready for battle," Empress Kharlla ordered. "You too. If she can make it past them, I highly doubt she will survive against my prized archer."

Elli blushed. "...And what of you, Empress?"

"I shall remain here," Empress Kharlla answered. "If she happens to make it this far in, I'll show her what happens to traitors."

Elli nodded. "Understood."

At that point, there was a loud cry of agony from below. Both Elli and Empress Kharlla looked downward and saw one of the humans lying on the floor. His face was bloodied and his arm had been twisted into an irregular position.

Empress Kharlla stood up. "You have lost, human," she said.

"Please...!" The battered human pleaded. "Don't kill me!! I'll do anything!!"

"You know full well what happens to humans who fail to impress me. I have no more use for you."

Empress Kharlla then lifted her right foot and brought it over the battered human.

"NOOO!!! PLEASE!!!" he screamed. "NOOOO!!!!"

Empress Kharlla then stepped down, crushing the human underneath her foot. The sounds of his bones cracking emanated throughout the room, as blood began to spread out from underneath her foot as she pressed down on him with an increasing amount of force. Soon, she removed her foot from the human, revealing the flattened and bloody mess than remained of him plastered on the floor. Empress Kharlla then sat back down on her throne.

"You!" she said to one of the other humans. "Clean that mess up. The rest of you can clean that human's blood from my foot."

Elli watched as the humans carried out her tasks. The human she had instructed to clean up the loser's body ran to grab ahold of nearby cleaning utensils, while the others took rags and began to wipe at the blood that was on her pale sole.

Empress Kharlla looked back up at Elli. "Why are you still here?!" she angrily asked. "Go do what I ordered you to!"

Elli winced. "Yes, Empress!" She then immediately ran out of the chambers and closed the doors behind her.

The Rebel Merle was headed in their direction. Elli knew that the other guards would be no match for such an opponent. Therefore, she knew that she had to prepare herself for battle.

She was going to show the Rebel why she was considered the best marksman in the region.

~~~

After a rather short walk, Merle had arrived outside of Kharlla's castle. She stood in front of the two closed doors that served to block any attempt to infiltrate the stronghold. From his position in Merle's cleavage, he looked upward at just how big the castle was; though he and his fellow humans called it a castle, it looked more like a typical three story building to the Queens. At least, it did on the outside.

She stepped closer to the door, and began to push on it with her right hand with as much strength as she could muster. The door did not move in the slightest.

"I'm sure that they must know that I'm out here," Merle said.

"How are you going to get inside?" Trey asked.

Merle's large hand rose to her breasts and plucked Trey out from inbetween her breasts. Then, she placed him on the ground besides her.

"Do you know of a way in for yourself, Trey?" Merle asked.

"Umm..." He looked along the structure's walls, and spotted the opening that he and his companions had escaped from earlier. "Yeah, over there." He pointed towards it.

Merle nodded. "Good, because I think that it would be too dangerous for you to go in the way I'm going to go through."

She then held out her right hand and manifested her sword within its grasp. Taking hold of the hilt, she held the blade below her. Trey watched as she closed her eyes, as if she were trying to concentrate. Then, the blade of her sword began to glow with a white light. Trey stepped back as the light seeming became so powerful that it started to crackle with white electricity.

Then, Merle opened her eyes and swung her sword with what looked like all of her strength. She cut diagonally through the closed doors, the blade slicing right into the metal. She swung again, this time the opposite direction, forming a cross on the two doors. Afterwards, the pieces of the door collapsed onto the ground, making an entrance for Merle.

Trey was impressed. "Wow..."

Merle looked towards him. "You hurry on inside before they find you."

"Okay," Trey said. "You be careful."

Merle smiled. "I'll be fine. But you do the same."

Trey nodded, and ran for the opening that he had pointed out before. The loud footsteps he heard behind him suggested that Merle had also made her way inside. He arrived at the opening and slipped through it.

He was once again back inside of Kharlla's Castle, the place where he had spent most of his life. He ran down the dark corridor, hoping to reunite with his friend and others that he had been acquainted with.

~~~

With her sword in hand, Merle rushed down the hallway lit by lamps above her. As she reached the center of the hall, she stopped in her tracks as she saw several of her former comrades file into the room, wearing leather armor and their weapons--mostly swords--drawn. They stood at the other side of the hall, preparing to rush her at a moment's notice.

"I take it you are the guards?" Merle said. "You all did not do a good job if you let a human slip past you," she taunted. "Irregardless, I would have come here anyway even if I had not met that human."

"Leave this place now," ordered the guard in the middle, who also wielded a shield. "Or else we will show you no mercy. Especially not to a traitor who killed one of our own."

Merle laughed. "Sorry, but if you want me to leave, you'll have to kill me."

The guard glanced at her companions on both of her sides. "You heard her! We must end her siege right here and now!" She then pointed her sword towards Merle. "Charge!"

With those words, all of the guards began to charge her, their weapons drawn. Merle ran to meet them head-on. Once one of the guards had come within striking distance, she attempted a swing at Merle with her sword. Merle parried the attack, and returned with her own attack, slicing through the guard's leather armor and piercing her skin. The guard let out a cry of agony as Merle slashed her sword out of her skin, cutting through her body.

The guard collapsed as blood started to pour from her wound, as two more guards swarmed her. Merle dodged their attacks with grace, and swung her sword into theirs. She knocked one of the guards' weapon out of her hand, and before the guard could run to retrieve it, Merle gave her a swift kick to the side of the head, knocking her unconscious. The other guard went for a thrusting attack with her sword, but Merle sidestepped it and stabbed into the guard's shoulder.

Merle looked towards the three remaining guards, one of whom included what she assumed was the leader.

"Is that all you got?" Merle taunted.

The fourth guard, who wielded a chain mace, ran towards her while spinning the spiked ball of her mace overhead. Once she came close enough, she swung at Merle with all of her strength. Merle blocked the attack with her sword, but the force that she was hit with caused her to stumble backwards a few steps. Not giving her any time to regroup, the guard went for her again. This time, Merle ducked underneath the attack, during which she used her sword to stab into the guard's abdomen. The guard cried out in pain as her hand released its weapon onto the floor, and as she clutched her wound, Merle stood back up and kicked her off of her feet.

The fifth guard seemed apprehensive; she looked as if she wanted to run away and save her own life. She looked nervously from Merle to her leader, and back at Merle again.

The leader then began her assault. She rushed for Merle, sword in one hand and shield in the other. Not wasting any time, the leader unleashed a fury of slices at Merle. Merle blocked each attack with her sword, while also attempting strikes of her own. However, this particular guard was of a great level of skill than the ones she had dispatched beforehand.

Before long, the two were locked in a clash of their swords, the both of them pushing on their blades to overpower the other. Both were exerting tremendous strength, so much so that neither of their swords budged at all.

Merle decided to try something else. She slashed her sword to the right, parrying the guard's sword away and knocking her off balance. As Merle went for the kill, the guard blocked her attack with her shield. Taking this opportunity, the guard went for an attack of her own. Merle leap back and dodged, but not fast enough as the guard's blade sliced into her shirt and slightly broke the skin.

"Not bad," Merle commended the guard. "You're better than the rest of them."

Seemingly not paying her words any mind, the guard lunged at her and attempted a slash at her head. Merle blocked the attack with her sword, and delivered a swift kick into the guard's gut. As the guard reeled back from the blow, Merle channeled some of her energy into her sword--until it glowed with a white light--and leapt at the guard. Before the guard could react, Merle dealt her with a vertical slice from her head to her waist. Dropping both her sword and shield, the guard covered her face as blood poured out from her body. With a cry of pain, she collapsed forward onto the floor, and laid in a pool of her own expanding pool of blood.

Merle looked at her fallen opponent, and then right back at the hesitant guard. She looked to be utterly petrified at the thought of losing her life. Suppressing her weapon, she turned and ran away, running further down the hall and up the stairs at the end.

Merle shrugged and merely walked after her.

~~~

Trey walked out from within the wall's corridor and into a very large room. He heard all of the commotion outside in the hall; no doubt that Merle had engaged the guards in battle. He wanted to see how things were going out there, but the door was too far away for him; he feared that the fight would be over by the time he reached it.

Instead, he looked to his right and saw the colony that belonged to his close friend. Its inhabitants were also looking towards the door, their attention drawn to the ruckus on the other side.

He approached the colony, and as he did so, some of the people there took notice to his arrival. Though most of them were still looking at the massive door. As he drew closer, he noticed that he did not see his friend around.

"Trey," said an older man who looked to be in his 50s.

"Hello, Mr. Watkins," Trey greeted. "Quite a lot of noise, huh?"

"Yes, I wonder what's happening out there? Jumi was called out not too long ago, and then that ruckus started not long after."

"...Well, I know what's going on."

Mr. Watkins looked at him expectantly.

"I met a Queen who said she's going to free us," Trey said. "She's fighting the guards right now, and she's going to kill Kharlla."

Despite the noise, it seemed that the entire colony heard Trey's statement. They all turned their attention from the door and towards him.

"What did you say!?" said a male.

"Surely you don't believe her!" said a female. "She could just take all of us to another castle! Maybe she wants what Kharlla has!!"

"But I think she's telling the truth," Trey said. "She's not like the others. She has this air of sincerity around her."

"I don't believe it." Mr. Watkins shook his head. "Why would a Queen want to save us? We are not worth saving in their eyes."

"Yeah, she's playin' you like a fool," said another male.

"You're only asking for trouble by relying on a goddamned Queen," said a third male.

These doubts did not surprise Trey. After all, the Queens have done the most horrific things to humans since they arrived nearly two decades ago. It was to be expected that they did not believe his words in the slightest. The only way for them to see that he was right was for them to witness Merle slay Kharlla themselves.

He took a quick look around the colony once more. No sign of his friend.

"...Where's Maria?" Trey asked.

Several members of the colony looked amongst themselves, with what looked like worried expressions on their faces.

"...Kharlla came and took her to her chamber," Mr. Watkins answered.

This news made Trey's heart sink in his chest. "Wh-What!? When?!"

"Five hours ago," Mr. Watkins replied. "We haven't seen her since."

Wasting no time, Trey turned around and dashed back towards the opening in the wall. He knew that Maria was in trouble; people who were taken to Kharlla's chamber were not guaranteed to come back alive, or even in one piece. He had to hurry to the castle's third floor and try to get her away from the mad Empress. He hoped that by that time, Merle would have engaged her and provided a distraction for him to rescue his dear friend.

~~~

Merle arrived on the second floor, and before her was yet another hallway, though this one had pairs of pillars lined down the hall. On the floor some distance away was the guard that had fled from her earlier. However, her body was lifeless; her eyes were wide open as what looked like the end of an arrow protruded from her forehead.

At the end of the hall was another figure. She had short brown hair adorned with a red bandana around her forehead. She wore a brown top with very short sleeves and a stiff skirt at the bottom, along with brown fingerless gloves that stretched to her elbows, black leggings, and brown boots. In her left hand was a bow.

"You have finally come, Rebel Merle," she said.

"...I see that you showed one of your own no mercy," Merle said.

"Of course not. Anyone who runs from the enemy is a coward, and not worth living." Then, she brought her bow up and pointed it towards Merle. "The same for a traitor who kills her own comrades to fight for the enemy."

With her right hand, she touched the base of her bow, and pulled it back. As she did so, white lightning began to flash around her hand, as an arrow appeared on the bow. Taking the end of the arrow as well as the bow's string in hand, she pulled both of them back as far as she could.

"You now face Elli, the greatest marksman in the world!" she declared. "My arrows will pierce your skin and bring you to submission!"

Elli then released the string, firing the arrow towards Merle.



[End Chapter]