Besieged

5 Minutes In

The silken barrier was being pushed inwards by the large spider’s leg, its owner relentlessly trying to break through the thin but incredibly resilient material. Alice could perfectly see the outline of the limb, the joints connecting the various parts as they brutely pushed forward, and the sharp claws trying to pass through the mesh of the fabric.

Once again she stabbed, the hardened spike on the prosthesis perfect for passing through the silk unhindered. Her thrust was rewarded by an enraged shriek as the highly pressurized blood of the spider coated the exterior of the defenses like something out of a Quentin Tarantino’s movie.

This had been the third push of the enemy towards her temporary base and every time she had fought them until they decided to fall back. Her problem was, however, that they didn’t stop. For every monster she pushed back another one took its place, eager to reach the tasty morsels in front of it, to sink their fangs into the soft flesh of that strange creature that kept repelling their siblings.

Already another monstrous shape was pushing forward, its clicking face pressed against the taut silk as it tried to reach her.

She stabbed again.

45 Minutes In

Panting, the girl sat down on the floor with a sigh, her arms seemed made of lead after forty-five minutes of non-stop stabbing. By now, Alice knew the different feeling of a ruptured spider’s eye versus a broken limb; she could recognize a hiss of pain or a shriek of rage and she definitely knew the smell of innards, venom and blood which had already seeped through the obstruction and started coating the floor of the cave, making it slick and foul-smelling.

Beside her, the three spiderlings whose nest she had invaded had already started reinforcing the web on her orders. As it turned out, being stuck in a small cave with an entire swarm of hungry monsters on the outside did wonders for reaching an understanding. Even with giant metallic spiders.

One of the three spiderlings seemed to be particularly clever, understanding her signings and clicking to the other two, probably to relay her requests.

This way, they had managed to survive the first minutes of fighting, with her constantly repelling the attackers and the tiny arachnids persistently repairing the damage the creatures caused to the web.

Just now, she had finally managed to actually bring down one of the monsters by repeatedly piercing its ugly face with her weapons; the Jumping Spider, as she had started calling the invading species of arachnids, had been too slow to retreat from her onslaught and had finally collapsed, hissing pitifully and effectively blocking the passage once again, at least until its siblings decided to break through its crumpled-up carcass.

Thus, she was now sitting on the floor, trying to steady her breath as she listened to the scurrying sounds coming from the invaded hallway in front of her.

This is bad. I can keep up with them for now but what about in an hour? Or two? Or a Day? I’ll need to sleep sooner rather than later and even if I managed to, I would have to eat and drink.

Thank god I have the wineskin. I need to keep it safe no matter the cost.

A few minutes later, a crunch echoed behind the silk, the distinct sound of a broken carapace spilling its disgusting fluids. The young woman got up once again as another shape started pressing on the barrier, the spiderlings scurrying to the back to the cave and watching her with what she was sure was expectation.

“I’m gonna get out of here” she murmured to herself as she rose on her feet and looked at the outline of a new spider in the silk “you might be big and scary but so were tigers and look how many there are now. You’re not different”. She stabbed.

Another pained hiss echoed in the darkness.

2 Hours In

“Ah! Fuck! Hemostasis”

The young human bulwark swore, holding close the oozing wound on her left arm where a claw had finally cut through skin and flesh.

It had been an instant, a moment before, she was stabbing the umpteenth attacker through one of their legs, the next one the claws were pushing through the soaked silk and slashing down onto her arm.

She had instantly responded in kind, bisecting the limb on the spot, the stump retreating as its owner moved back screeching and hissing its pain.

She threw the severed stump on top of a small pile of parts that had been slowly accumulating in one side of the cave, already being munched on by the spiderlings.

“Dinner is served” she chuckled through her teeth.

The wound was deep, three distinct parallel cuts running down her arm to the elbow, the skin parting to show the bloodied flesh beneath. She swore again, pumping more of her power in her arm until a thin film of coagulated blood covered the exposed muscle.

Taking the chance for a break, she moved to the back of the cave as two of her arachnid companions moved forward to patch up the holes in the only thing keeping them alive.

Letting herself fall heavily on the soft silk that formed the nest was easy, ignoring the spike of pain coursing through her arm less so, but she managed with just a little bit of magical morphine.

It’s incredible how easily you get used to world-changing powers, a few weeks ago just the ability to numb the nerves of a person would have been crazy, not to talk about the other ones.

Soon, her attention turned back towards her current situation, her eyes fixating on the last one of her eight-legged comrades, the clever one, as it looked straight into her eyes, clicking softly.

“You’re welcome. Now don’t get any strange idea. I’m not food yet” she mumbled, trying to move the newly wounded arm.

“I guess I’ll need to rest it for a bit. Got to keep it up with just the stump. Ah! If someone at home could see me now”.

She sat there, her eyes getting vacant as old memories flooded her weary mind.

A screech echoed behind the veil, shaking her away from her trance.

“I guess he is coming for desserts” she grunted, getting up.

5 Hours In

“Will you fucking stop coming?” she shouted as the next contestant made its way through the passage and started attacking the barricade.

Alice’s light brown hair was matted by black ichor and grime, her mostly naked body was drenched in sweat and blood where her wounds had opened once again, forcing her to use more of her dwindling power to close them up again and again. She had long since doffed the chitinous breastplate deciding that it was better to risk dying of a wound to the heart than from the sepsis of chafing wounds.

Tiredly, she thrust again through the tattered barrier, eliciting a dying screech from the spider whose eye she had just gored.

Her head felt light as she stumbled a bit on her feet, slumping slightly against the cold wall of the cave.

“Damn, I’m tired”.

She watched silently as the spiderlings shot more and more silk, covering the holes and reinforcing the anchors that had started loosening under the continuous strain. The tiny creatures only stopped when she was in the way, using the time she gave them to eat through the severed limbs she had cut, probably replenishing their reserves. Thus, Alice was surprised when one of them moved towards her, leaving its work to come to her side and lightly poke her.

“What. I’m tired. Let me rest. You’re the clever one uh? God help me if I need another Skitter” she muttered while finally bringing the wineskin to her lips.

The glowing water flowed through her lips, soaking her parched mouth and splashing down her throat; she ignored the disgusting aftertaste of ichor and the memory of what she had used to craft the container itself, her only focus on the salvific fluid reinvigorating her.

She closed the opening of the vessel and set it on the ground, her hand already pushing on the hard limestone to stand up once more, when she felt a small tug on her lightly bleeding arm. Alice looked down, watching the spiderling extend its two gleaming frontal spikes in offering, held between them was a thin strip of silk that was still being extruded from the spider’s gland.

She looked at it for a long moment before grabbing it and carefully applying to the wound, feeling the material almost mold itself to the shape of her arm.

“I don’t even ask anymore honestly” she murmured “thank you Band-Aid, let me return the favor”.

The ground trembled lightly but the girl didn’t notice as she was already back at the opening, fighting for her life.

10 Hours In

The fighting had lessened, the tiny passage leading to the cave now too cluttered in spider corpses to be easily accessible.

Alice Desare was swaying on her feet, Band-Aid the spider was busy bandaging with another length of silk the new wounds she had received, a surface laceration caused by the death throes of a larger spider and a deep bite into her calf of a particularly fast Jumping Spiderling that had managed to blast through the weakened veil of silk before they had managed to repair it.

In the resulting fight, the smallest of the Spear spiderlings had been crushed, its body now a bit more than a smear on the already gory floor, and she had just managed to keep the monster at bay while the other two sealed the entrance once again.

The spider had been too quick, moving like lightning and biting down on her leg before she could react, its long fangs easily piercing through her skin and muscle, causing her to scream in pain and fall down on the ground. It had been pure luck that she had managed to plant one of the polished bone spikes through its brain.

The twin holes were hemorrhaging her lifeblood quicker than all the other wounds put together and she could already feel a painful, throbbing sensation spread from the wounds, already coursing through her veins and contrasted by the rapidly increasing glow of the veins under her skin. The spider had been venomous.

She could only pray her little glowy guests and her newly earned skill would be enough to stymie the venom’s spread.

Alice could still hear the scurrying sound of her foes outside, even after turning off Enhanced Hearing to use less of her magical energy.

Band-Aid softly clicked before leaving her to join the other one in its feast of the enemy, with the girl answering it unintelligibly.

Suddenly, her legs lost their last ounce of strength and she found herself on the floor; her muscles were trembling from the exertion, her sight growing cloudy as the ever-present shine in her body started fading, sending the room into darkness once again.

You have reached Level 13 in the Biomancer Class.

Starvation and Pain have been your faithful companions throughout your journey, despite them, you have thrived. You have learned the skill Efficient Metabolism. Your body will use its resources more efficiently, you will survive longer with less.

You have reached Level 14 in the Biomancer Class.

Thank you! Thank you so much. This means I’m less likely to die of thirst and hunger! It also means I’m more likely to have a death by spider. Mhhh. Oh well, it’s still a definite success.

She flew around the humming letters, enjoying the break in the fighting she had been granted by her forced rest.

Floating there, unhindered by the pains and feelings of her physical body had an almost soothing effect on her mind, letting her detach from her worries and think clearly of her situation.

Things are pretty bad, that is for sure, but right now I should be able to hold them off for a bit more. The battlefield is on my side since the passage is too narrow to be easily traversable and the silk holds strong despite their effort. It is a war of attrition after all.

I wonder if the rest of the nest is still alive. If I’m lucky they are holding and waiting for the Queen to do something. If I’m not… well I’ll go down fighting either way.

1 Day In

For a long time, Alice floated and swam in the darkness of her mental room, reveling in the lack of sensations it provided. Enjoying the quiet world granted by The Whispering Mother until she felt the familiar pulling feeling of her awakening.

She opened her eyes, the soreness and throbbing pain of her body rushing back like the backwash of a wave, unmerciful and persistent, as if enjoying her misery.

With a groan, she uncurled from her fetal position, wincing at the taut feeling of her many wounds.

Just as she was getting up on her feet the ground trembled, a dull sound of falling stone echoed from somewhere not too far away as a feeling of dread enveloped her. The two remaining spiderlings stirred from their curled-up positions near the entrance, their eight eyes already locked on her two.

More noise of displaced rubble reverberated through the hallway, this time closer.

She activated her Enhanced Hearing once again, now able to hear the skittering of the Jumping Spiders moving just outside, the slick sound of their feet on the wet ground.

She ignored them, focusing on the far end of the hallway, in the small cave source of their problems. Something was moving through the rubble. Something large.

And yet, she couldn’t hear it. She easily heard the sound of rubble effortlessly pushed away, the resounding crack of a particularly large piece of stalagmite cracking under the pressure, and yet everything else was silent. As if not there.

Sweat was already beading her back and forehead, her heart beating madly in her chest as she tried to puzzle through the enigma.

Aestus

A rush of adrenaline coursed through her body, immediately released by adrenal glands in her kidneys. Her muscles tightened, her lungs expanded and each one of her senses was turned to the max, straining to understand what had emerged from the darkness of the caves.

Finally she heard it, almost imperceptible despite her efforts, the whooshing of the air caused by the movement of many large limbs, how they moved through the mass of smaller Jumping spiders, parting them like a ship prow parted the sea.

It stopped in front of the hallway itself. Then all sound stopped and there was silence. Pure Silence. The kind you could find in a sensory deprivation chamber back on Earth.

The spiders were still, the air unflowing, the water droplets falling on the ground didn’t echo, her heart beating madly in her chest was still deathly silent.

Her glow started fading, slowly at first, almost imperceptibly, but soon all the light produced by her mutated body had been snuffed out.

She instinctively held her breath as something moved through the passage, something that felt like shadow itself; silent, imperceptible and yet still incredibly oppressive for the scared human girl.

As she held still, her hand clamped on her own mouth, Alice felt like a child, looking at her wardrobe and expecting something to come out and take her; and this time it was real. The doors had opened, and something was coming to swallow her.

Then the moment passed, and the sound came back as if it had never gone away; the scurrying spiders started moving through the hallway, ready to finally eat their fill.

*****

This chapter is officially sponsored by Itbeme12321.