Legends - A Devil's Daughters Crossover - Book One (Published)

A Look Ahead... A Sneaky Peak at Book Two...

"What is this place?" Navina inquired, gazing at the shit hole before her, leaving Kember to guard the ship, they made their way to the edge of the cliff.
The lands in the valley had been clear cut, the valley littered with little towns and villages, so small, that if one were to squint their eyes, they might not even see them at all. It was a cold and savage world, and yet, Malice had been more than excited when they'd landed.
"This, is Safe Haven, home to the righteous rift-raft and scum sucking dead beats, the worst of the worst!" Mia sighed, shaking her head.
"I thought The Null was home to the rift raft?" Navina cocked a brow, watching as one of the buildings in the distance, went up in flames before their eyes.
"The Null is a prison!" Malice laughed, "These bastards here,they choose to live like this, and they'll end up in The Null soon enough."
"So what are we dong here?" Lync cut in,standing beside Navina, as he too looked out over the desolate wasteland that was the valley.
"Where there is scum, there is always a Scum lord, just waiting to brag about his conquests!"The Valkyrie laughed.
"And conquests, are usually fueled by rumors!" Mia added, "And rumors, come from legends themselves."
"Can we visit Torch?" Nyx grinned, "Wonder if she hooked up with Rae yet?"
"Who, is Torch?" Navina was so confused.
Weren't they supposed to be searching for Rammal and the Temple? What did visiting a shit hole like this, have to do with the mission?
"Torsha, is one hell of a hunter!" Mia smirked,"This is her domain!"
"She lives here? You're serious?"Navina asked, pulling the cloak she wore, tighter.
"And Old Nan makes the best stew I've ever tasted! Please tell me we're going?" Nyx was almost drooling, and that look in his eye as he pawed at Mia. "Pretty please!"
"How about we find Dizal first? And then you can go hog wild on the stew?" Malice glared at the Demon, "I don't want to stay too long..."
"Yeah yeah! Insid Hunting parties...." Nyx grumbled and shook his head.
"This is their turf, and the clans that roam this particular planet, are harsh old school!" Mia cut in, "They don't follow the Eno'tai..."
"Well that's a relief!" Navina smiled, but Mia shook her head.
"That only means they're less predictable! They've got some sacred quest going on, have had for thousands of years. Each new generation is trained for the hunt, they care for nothing but the kill!" She sighed. "They use tactics, like no other Insid clan I've seen..."
"What are they hunting!"
"Oh me, me, me me me!" Like a kid in a candy store, Nyx was full of giggles and grins.
"They hunt, you?" Lync growled.
"No, fuck no! They hunt dragons, Homie!" The Demon's grin was so wide, and his markings began to glow an eerie amber color. "Fucking dragons!" He was beyond excited.
"Simmer down now!" Malice chuckled, "That was almost a year ago!"
"But they were here, none the less!" He shot back.
Safe Haven, didn't look so safe, with billowing smoke and flames that shot up into the night sky, the hoots and the hollers, the ships that passed over head...
"Why didn't we land in the space port?" Lync let out, watching as one of the ships set the landing in the distance.
"Space port calls for I.D! The Mangese people don't like surprises!" Mia told them, riffling through her pockets.
"And Malice here, is the biggest surprise of them all! Wings and all!" Nyx howled, and then something howled back from the darkness. "Shit!" He let out, and took a step back.
"Haha! Priceless! I think we found your family!" Malice was in hysterics, hugging her gut as Mia joined in.
"Very fucking funny!" The Demon growled, and let off another howl. "Wait for it...."
One, no, two replies, one from the left, and one... from behind them.
"What the fuck?" Malice shot out, and spun around, blades draw and feathers ruffling."Show yourself!" She shouted into the shadows, and a figure emerged.
Walking on two legs, standing freakishly tall, the beast laid eyes upon them, a snarl crossing his lips.
"What the, fuck?" Nyx growled, approaching Mal's side, his own blades drawn and ready for battle.
"Pretty sure, I said that already!" The Valkyrie hissed, returning her attention to the...What the hell was that thing?
"You are trespassing on Mornin land!" The words were husky, they way it rolled its r's...
"We have come to speak to Dizal!" Malice let out, "Nothing more!"
"Then you have come, too late!" The beast chuckled, and rose to stand even taller. "You're friend, was put to the dirt two days past."
"I wouldn't call him a friend.More of an, informant!" Nyx snarled, his markings a glow of full blown red, giving his long black hair an eerie tinge and Malice giggled.
"I've seen that look before!" She laughed, and Nyx could see her thoughts.
"You're not helping!" He growled at her, trying to shake the image of his hands bounds behind his back, and hi female...
"You're a wicked mistress!" He chuckled at her, raising his blades even higher.
"If the one you seek is no longer of this world, may I suggest that you leave this place, and fast, the hills swarm with the vile warriors of old!It is not safe!" The beast shook his head. "You should go, before you meet the same fate, as Dizal!"
"Warriors of old?" Navina mumbled, feeling the dizziness take over. "Shit..." She let out, and her head flew back, her eyes, gazing at the stars above...
She could see the moon, a pale pink in color, shimmering in the cool waters of a pond. Above the stars shone bright, below, a glimpse of pitch black, like a shadow soaring across the sky. With one look, her breath was stolen, and the sight had her shuddering.
It was massive and beautiful, with scales that glistened like diamonds in the moon light, sailing on the winds with wings so wide. It was circling the pond, getting lower, and lower still, until it's massive claws touched down against the soil, and its back arched as it gazed to the heavens above. The sun would soon be rising, the soft glow barely visible on the horizon, but the beast before her, so magnificent and...
It took to the skies once more, it's incredible wings flapping as it climbed through the air,disappearing into the darkness. It was gone but for a moment, before the sound of footsteps could be heard, and she hid behind a nearby tree as the figures dressed in leathers, their guns and swords drawn,appeared next to the pond.
'It was here!' The voice let out,so gruff and so... mean.
'Then her mate will not be far behind her!' Another replied, 'Bring the horn!' It shouted, a beast so vile,so...
They were warriors, tall and bulky, and green in color. Insidian Warriors, not unlike to fellow clansmen, and yet, these warriors moved differently. The Warriors of Old? The ones who hunted the dragons, they were, Insid!
'Let's move!' One of the warriors shouted, and the pack began to move off, dragging behind them, the massive horn.
She watched as the last of their torches disappeared into the tree line, but just before she took her first step out from the foliage where she hid...
He was tall, and blonde, and the way he moved about, staring first at the pond,then down to his knees, feeling the soil between his fingers, looking from side to side and sniffing the air. It was odd, for a male to do such, like an animal hunting for its prey...
By now the sun was rising, its rays shining down beneath the tops of the trees, dancing across the ground, moving closer, and closer still, to the male who now, gazed into the sky. So odd indeed, on all fours, drinking as if her were...
The moment the first ray touched him, the sizzle shot through the glen, the heat and the air that swirled around her,as if something great was mounting on the horizon. Another, and another, until the sun bore down upon him, unable to hide from the light as his skin to turned scales, his body growing ever larger, and his back... Oh Gods, he was growing wings.
Before long, the great white beast stood before her, his eyes on the sky before he shook his great head, the horns on the top, gleaming like gold in the morning light. Such a magnificent beast, covered in star dust and blinding all that surrounded him...

***

"Is she going to be alright?" The beast inquired, scratching at the fur that covered his head.
"She does this!" Malice sighed, "It's a hassle, I'm not gonna lie, but when she wakes up, she's gonna have a wicked story to tell!"
"I knew a female once, she too, told a good story! But she is long gone from this world..."
"I am sorry to hear that!" Navina mumbled, and the beast smiled at her.
"She is not dead, Child, just gone from this world! She was a Norn, too!" He asked, and Malice's ears perked, her gaze floating to meet the beast's eyes.
"What do you know, of the Norn?" She inquired, and a chill filled the air.
"What do you know, of the Order?" He replied in kind, a question, for a question.
"Who are you?" Mia cut in, coming forward to gaze upon the beast. "Never before, have I encountered a species such as you!"
"And yet, we know all about you, Euphamia, daughter of Light and Dark." It grinned, "Come, we have much to discuss!" It added, and turned back towards the darkness, only to pause once more. "The people of this Verse, and the next, have many different names, and yet there is always one constant..."
"Wait! Did you say this verse, and the next?" Lync grumbled, lifting Navina into his arms and laying a kiss upon her forehead.
'There is much you do not know!" The beast laughed, or at least, that was what it sounded like, and waved his hand for them to follow.
"What is the constant?" Malice asked, hot on his heels.
It was all she could do, to hold back from jumping into the beast's thoughts, and extracting their final destination from his mind. She wanted to know more about the beast, and the knowledge held within his furry head.
"Life, and death!" The Beast replied, ducking behind a tree, and along a hidden path. "We are born, we live, and we die!"
"And those worthy enough, will rise again!" Malice chuckled, "Oh I like the way you think my friend."
Soon enough, a cave loomed over head, and inside it, Malice found a quaint little hideaway, furnished with chairs and tables, couches and giant fireplace.It was much bigger on the inside, housing quite a few rooms, and before they even had a chance to say hi, his females? Were they all his?
"Let me look at you!"
"Such beauty and grace!"
"She is important, this one!"
"Please,off with you now! Tend to the supper, our guests are parched and filled wit hunger, bring them meat and drink! Hurry now! Come on!"
Like clockwork, Malice watched them all dance around, scurrying to and fro with their pitchers and wooden mugs, bowls and spoons. Such a frenzy, one was sure to find themselves in the chaos and dropped a dish, or perhaps a mug... But nothing. The females worked so well together.
"May I introduce my mates!" He chuckled, as they all found a seat.
Malice, Mia and Nyx sat at the table, while Lync, cradled Navina in his lap on one of the couches. "Take note of this one, my loves, she slumbers with the visions!"
It was as if she had been handed instant God status, the way the females hurried to put the supper on the table, and then took to swooning around Lync. "Let us take her, you need to eat! She will sleep well, we assure you!"
"These are, your, wives?" Malice cut in, sensing the tension that had risen within Lync.
"A handful of them!" He chuckled. "The Mornin are a social people,these are my first mates!"
"There are others, on other worlds, but we are his first and foremost!" One of the females spoke.
"They may share in his body and the pleasures it elicits in them, but his hear, and his soul, will forever be entwined with his!" Said another, who looked a little different from the rest.
Were they Human? They looked Human.
"Please, let us take her! You need nourishment to keep your strength!" One of the Older females approached Lync, her eyes so sincere and her face,that of a Grandmother, filled with love.
Lync had never had a Grandmother, but Malice watched, as the old female's charm won him over.
"Here, let me help..." He offered, trying to rise with her in his lap.
"Nonsense!" The old female smiled, and with a touch of her finger against Navina's hand, Lync's mate, began to float.
"What the hell?" He let out, trying to hold her down, and the old female shook her head, and returned Navina's to his lap.
"If you so chose to carry her, it is this way!" She smiled again, and turned towards one of the doors across the room.
Lync rose and followed, though weary with each step, Malice watched as he and his female disappeared into the room, and the door was shut behind them.
"What are you?" Nyx let out, after along hard swig from whatever was in his mug.
"Right to the point! Just what I would expect from a son of the night! Tell me, do your sisters still haunt your dreams, Nyx?" The beast let out with a sigh, and Nyx dropped his mug.
"That shit is creepy, yo! Don't be doing that!"
"You do not wish to speak of your dreams?" He inquired, sitting himself down in a chair that twice the size to small for him.
"His sisters are more like nightmares!" Malice laughed taking a swig herself. "So, you call yourselves Mornin." She turned to the beast.
"Here, yes! But on other worlds, we are referred to as a variety of things. On Kelmar, we are Watchers, on Samo'san we are Night Stalkers, though in their language, it sounds far more horrid than that! On Earth, they call us Sasquatch..."
"You're Bigfoot! I knew I recognized you!" Nyx shot out, slamming his fist on the table. "You guys were showcased in Harry and the Hendersons."
"In what?" Malice asked, almost spitting her drink out.
"Harry and theHendersons! Seriously, Mal, know your role when it comes to the vids, Darlin!" Nyx laughed, and stood to refill his drink.
"Sit, sit! My mates will tend to you, in any way you require!" The beast chuckled, "Sit, enjoy yourselves, let me tell you of my people, and how we came to reside in your verse!"
"Yeah, that part about our Verse, is kinda sketchy!" Nyx growled, "As in, I don't like it! Another Verse..."
"There are lots of Verses!" Malice cocked a brow at him.
"Doesn't mean I have to like them!" The Demon shot back.
"Not all are as peaceful as this one! Which is why my people made the journey to this realm! When we arrived, were approached by a group called the Order, though at the time they were very young, we could see potential in their ranks. They were like us, they traveled to those places of worth, observing what was..." He paused a moment, and hung his head. "We showed one of them how we traveled, a male so strong and vibrant, only to find that his darkened streak hid beneath the surface. Betrothed to a Sister of the Order, he had claimed a seat on their council... He spoke their tongue and eventually gave their orders, a male, lost in a realm of females..."He paused again, and reached for his cup.
"If he was a he..." Malice started, and then stopped short herself, and they could almost see the wheels turning. "The Order, was created to observe moments in time..."
"That, is where you are wrong! That, is what sets us apart!" The beast growled.
"That male took what we had taught him, and allowed himself to be corrupted by an enemy so great... Time, is yet another constant, it is meant to go forward, one does not simply travel through time to places they should never have been, to places they could change in the blink of an eye..."
"So, you, gave them the power of time?" Malice wanted to clear it all up, her mind running a mile a minute with tales of old. One, in particular.
"We did not, nor did we know, that he would turn around and give the gift of knowledge to the enemy! His mind had been warped by their voices, and even his beloved had chosen another to replace his vile mind in her heart..."
"Keep talking!" Malice advised him, the story of long ago, now fresh in her mind.
"A male, among females, once trusted by all, now loathed by many! He corrupted the Order, sending them out through space and time, relishing in all that his new found abilities had to offer, and for the first time in the history of the Order, a male, ruled them all."
"Pathen!" Malice growled, and the Beast turned towards her. "The male you speak of, his name, is Pathen!"
"Then you know of the chaos he begun, and thus now know, why we cannot make ourselves known!"
"TheEno'tai will hunt you..." Malice gasped, "Like they hunted us once before!"
"Us?" Nyx let out. "What do you mean,us?"
"The temple!" Malice let out, still lost in the wonder.
"Yes!" The beast grinned, "Pathen, as you call him, though his name has changed so many times, took it upon himself to govern the females, even laying with those he called the best and brightest, spreading his vile seed throughout..."
"But Rammal would not have him, not when her heart belonged to another..."Malice added. "And heaven was turned to hell before their eyes, the dark clouds descending upon them as their Gods unleashed their wrath.The curse would come next, wiping for this world, those with the blood of his beloved in their veins, holding back against none as it devoured her kin, one by one."
"That was deep, Mal!" Nyx let out, and shook his head. "Valkyrie Proverb?"
"No, just something I read in a scroll about the first, end of days! Pathen banished Rammal, and a Valkyrie named Janice, her lover as you've recently found out!" Malice grinned, "And since then, according to Navina, there are but three four descendants left."
"That you know of!" Nyx cracked up.
"That's why I said four! Gods, you can be such an ass at times!"
"Just at times?" Mia cut in.
"Then you know of the battle? The one between the Warrior Foran and Pathen?"
"I'm afraid not!" Malice sighed, "It was but a tale I heard in passing, and a snippet from a scroll I managed to lay eyes on..."
"Pathen stole from Foran, the one thing, he cherished most, handing her over to his enemy..."
"Marena!" The voice sent a chill down Mal's spine, and they all looked over to the door that had just been opened.
"Look who's awake!" Mia smiled, and rose to help Navina to a chair. "Where is your male?"
"He sleeps! Finally!" Navina smiled back. "Now tell me, what happened after Pathen stole Marena away?" She added, taking a chair.
"No one knows! Her time was lost to us! Hidden away over the centuries..."
"And how do you know this then, if your kind do not travel the time line?" Mia inquired with a cocked brow.
"We are born with the memories of our ancestors, a gift, we bestowed upon Pathen and the Order."
"Then that is how Navina here, could remember shit still, right? I mean, then wiped her memories..."
"One cannot delete genetics!" The beast laughed, "I may not have seen the birth of this world, but I remember it as if I had been here, standing on the rocks of the moon above. But Pathen, he used our gift, and paired it with the sinister gifts of a race so vile..."
"The Eno'tai!" Malice grumbled.
"Yes! And because of them, the worlds have suffered so, and we, have been forced into hiding; along with so many others."
"Like the Dragons?" Navina blurted out, and the beast looked at her. "I saw dragons, one white, and one black!"
"A curse laid upon a couple so fair, their clans at war, and an evil male to blame for it!"
"Pathen?"
"Truth! She, was the kin of Rammal, he, an innocent prince, and the vicious cycle of hate and anger has continued on ever since in the lives of the next reincarnations! Since the temple was lost..."
"Tell us of the Temple!" Malice ordered, almost standing out up from her seat. "Tell us where it is!"
"In a Verse, much like this one, guarded by the pair of Dragons." The beast sighed, "Though that is all I know, there are others of my kind, who could tell you more."
"The dragons? They are the same as in my vision?" Navina asked, before taking a sip of the sweet juices in her mug.
"Perhaps! But they are not all that guards the sacred temple of old..." He smiled at Malice, "It is said that they too, wander its halls, banished to the glory of each others arms."
"Rammal and Janice! They are there? And alive?
"That, I cannot tell you, though the others..."
"And where do we find, these, others?" Nyx inquired, so close to slumbering you could barely see the slits in his eyes.
"I will draw a map for you!" The beast replied.
So much was happening, so many questions added to the never ending list, but one thing was for sure,they had made progress. From the vision of the dragons, to the news of Marena and her abduction, and Janice and Rammal, the temple... So much, and yet, it was only a sliver in the giant web that had been woven so long ago.
"I'm gonna head out, maybe find Torch!"Nyx let out with a yawn, but he didn't make it far, snoring like an infant in no time.
"Ha!" Mal laughed, and sat back in her chair. "Figures!"
"Come on, my love!" Mia laughed, attempting to grab him under his arms.
"May I?" One of the female's spoke up, and lay a finger on the Demon's hand.
Nyx rose like a feather, following behind the female as she led them to a room.
"The gift of memory, was the only gift you gave that bastard, right?" Malice inquired, and took another sip.
"My kind learns from their mistakes, Pathen learned nothing more from us,though I cannot say the same for the enemy!" He growled, he too, falling asleep at the table.
Oh how scary and true that was.
Mia returned from the bedroom, and sinking down into the chair,accepted another drink. The males were sleeping, and most of the females were now sitting around the fire, gazing at the flames.
"We can head out and search for Torch in the morning! Give Nyx his stew fix before we start on that map he's gonna draw us!" Malice yawned, resting her head on the back of the chair.
"You will not find your friend!" One of the female's spoke up.
"What do you mean? Who won't we find?" Mia asked, sitting forward, her arms out before her on the table.
"The one you call Torch!" The female replied, though the others begged her not to. "They should know before they go looking, it is not safe out there Sahge!"
"Torsha?" Mia asked again.
"Yes! She and a male named Raemon, and an older woman too!" The female told them.
"Nan!" Mia sighed, "Where did they go?"
"They followed the dragons!" Another chimed in, "The dragons came, and they left, and then Torsha left!"
"How long ago? Where did they go?"
"We do not see everything like our mate does! Emaggen has never shown us how! But our ears work well enough, and the people in the towns talk a lot!" The female named Sahge, sighed. "They say that she left, that she dreams of the massive beasts and heard their calls when they arrived..."
"Some even say that she was a dragon herself. That she was the reincarnation of the Princess Nevelyn herself." The second female added. "They said that when the dragons left, she and a few others left with them. No one has seen them since, not even the Mangese could locate them, and they have outposts on thousands of worlds."
"So where do you think they went?"
"Emaggen had a few too many drinks one night, boasting about his memories, his past life and the parties he had shared in. Among them, was the tale of the warriors, and how they invaded the blood moon celebrations, stealing off with the women and..."
"Really, Sahge! No one wants to hear of their beastly ways." The second scolded her.
"Anyhow, it is said that if you dwell beneath the blood moon long enough, you will see the dragons, and they will lead you to what was lost!"
"And what was lost?" Mia asked.
"No one knows for sure, and Emmagen won't admit it..." The female sighed, looking at her mate as he slumbered. "But even he believes that the Celestial Temple lies beyond the Gates of Hell themselves,and that those dragons, are they key to finding it!"
"But don't tell him that we told you, please? He searched long and hard for it, since the day he heard that it had been lost beyond the stars, he swears that Pathen had something to do with it, banishing the females as he did, and then oops, the temple just happened to disappear!"
"I can feel his guilt, and you can sleep well, knowing that we will never spill a word of it!" The Valkyrie smiled. "Now tell us all you know, of the Temple, and these dragons!"