A spidery leg dripping in green algae reaches over the treetop. An oak tree splinters as the spider cleaves it in two.

Scarlett’s jaw drops. Trees shake as the spider lunges from the thicket. Scarlett rolls. A wave of snow tosses her forward. When the snow settles, Scarlett has vanished.

The spider’s immense figure looms above us. Seven long hairy legs attached to a narrow trunk. Carapace segments that shimmer with an oily blackish-yellow. A fat orb-like abdomen that’s thrice the size of its trunk. And fungal tubers sprout the same as the hairs, except they extend from everywhere. In all eight of its eyes, the fungal tubers twitch in unison. The spider reacts by shaking, which casts yellow spores into the air.

Lincoln steps to the front of our gawking group. Adjusting his weapon, he places a finger to his lips and then gestures for everyone to back up calmly.

Sir Mouser returns to the arc suit.

Together, everyone turns in an attempt to retrace our footsteps. We manage to place three hundred feet between the spider and us when the roar of firearms stirs it.

Still clutching the red flare, Scarlett’s hand rises from the snow. The spider hisses, raising a leg to crush her as a blinding orb of light discharges from Lincoln’s pistol. With a boom, the orb strikes the spider’s trunk. When the light vanishes, Scarlett is sprinting toward the side of the Boathouse.

A screech echoes. Snow tumbles from the tree branches as the spider recovers its footing.

“Fairy! Stay away from me, b-but he—” Scarlett cries.

She gasps, veering behind a tree. A fat leg hews the top of the tree.

As wood flakes rap against my helmet, Scarlett screams, “But help them, please!”

Scarlett points to a tree line where the dins of weapon fire echo.

Several soldiers dash toward us—a silver crab-like beast charges from the hedges in pursuit.

“It’s the Strummer Crab!” Ethan shouts.

With a sharp hiss, the spider swipes at the Strummer Crab. The Strummer Crab raises its pincers while retreating back into the hedges.

Taking a deep breath, the front-most soldier shouts, “The crab is hunting us! S-spider keeps it at bay!”

The spider leaps, landing mere feet from Scarlett.

As Scarlett's eyes widen, I sprint ahead.

{Constance!} Terra shouts in my mind.

The spider’s oozing black mandibles open.

Scarlett spins on her heel, hurling the grenade.

My cattail wraps around Scarlett’s waist. I sling her from the path of two horse-sized fangs that sink deep into the earth.

Silver threads wrap around me. Terra yanks me backward a mere second before a spidery leg flattens the ground I occupied moments earlier.

The spider’s immense body shoots upward. Algae coils around its fangs, holding its maw agape. With a muffled screech, it rips at the algae.

Nyle races to Scarlett. Grabbing her just as she stands, he shouts, “What’re you trying to pull, blondie!?”

“Let go of me!” Scarlett screams.

Gritting his teeth, Nyle shouts, “Are you working for them!?”

Scarlett kicks her leg toward Nyle’s crotch.

Nyle reflexively releases her and protects himself.

Scarlett scrambles up a mound of icy mud along the Lake’s edge.

A mess of algae sticks to my arc suit. Overhead the spider rips strands of algae from its fangs.

“Monster!” Scarlett’s flare hits the side of the spider’s body. Standing atop the icy mound, she screams, “Are you angry!?”

Scarlett leaps down as the spider destroys the mound.

The spider spins around, following after Scarlett.

I attempt to stand, but a silver strand yanks me to the earth. {Terra! I am going to give chase!}

Glancing back, I see Terra with an expression of wrath. {Senseless...!} She struggles to tame her words, {That stunt could have gotten you killed! What on earth were you thinking!?}

{Scarlett wants revenge upon the colossus; it’s the same as Jessica! This time I can fix it before it’s too late!}

{Constance! Everyone in Central Park is replaceable, even me. The only exception is you! I know it hurts to see someone be so self-destructive, but you can’t act so recklessly!}

{But this is my fault! I rejected her Greater Token out of malice. I issued the Fairy quest on a whim. I never spoke to her because of how busy I was—I even saw her earlier and could have said something!}

{After today, there will be hundreds of people just like Scarlett; next month, there could be thousands! Since we’re at the helm of this insane ship, we’ll both just have to live with the guilt of not being able to help everyone!}

{Why am I at the helm of anything!? I was a mere waif before this!} [1]

{Stop. You’ve proven you aren’t a ‘mere’ anything time and time again already.} Terra sighs. {We don’t have time for this discussion right now.}

{Aye, we do not have time!} I glance in the direction Scarlett fled. {Scarlett is leading the spider onto the frozen Lake; everyone knows that something lurks beneath the ice.}

Terra’s threads withdraw. {Right, then you understand that she might not be able to break through such thick ice.} She glances at each of the people around us. {Give me a moment to prepare. We’ll help her, but only because I think her plan may work if we can nudge it in our favor.}

{But what if she cannot persist until we are ready?}

{Then, unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be...}

Stumbling to my feet, I respond, {Then let’s hurry.}

With narrow eyes, Terra stares at me for a second longer. {And when this is over, I want to take a close look at what you’ve done to your eyes.}

I nod. {Me too.}

Closing her silver tome, Terra announces, “There will be no questions. If you can’t resist asking any, leave now.” She points at Lincoln. “Run to the Boathouse; request that General Riddick prepare a drone. I’m sure you’ve already figured out what it’s for.”

“Yeah.” Lincoln turns and begins sprinting. “Be back in a few.”

“Barry, Jonathan.” Terra points at her group of Galtry guards. “Take four others and split into two groups of three. One group goes to Pilgrim Hill, and the other to Cedar Hill. Bring any Pilgrims you can find to the Terrace within six minutes.”

Barry and Jonathan nod. Alongside four others, they also start to sprint away.

‘Were they Dylan’s and Norman’s brothers?’

As the six pass out of sight, I notice several white ‘buses’ through the treeline. All of them simply read, ‘Correction.’ They throw yellow spore canisters from the windows as they speed away.

“Ignore them!” Terra says, turning toward the west. “We’re going to start moving toward the Terrace. Continue to listen to me carefully.”

Without questions, we all follow, hurrying west toward the Terrace.

A blue wall appears.

+1 Fortitude

+1 Agility

5 Stat Points Remaining

Achieved Novice Feline Whip [Grade 8]

I push the wall away as Terra says to Pierce, “Return to Sheep Meadow. Retrieve Summer, Noah, Gregor, Guillermo, and one-third of the armed Pilgrims, but leave the clickers here. They’re going to help distract the spider for as long as they can.”

The clickers produce a mixture of low clicks.

Pierce sighs. “Yeah, we can do that, but the clickers won’t be able to stall for long. The spider has already gotten a feel for their controlled movements, so they’re less effective than they were when it first showed up.”

“It must be at least moderately intelligent to learn their movements; that’s good to know,” Terra remarks. “But stall it for as long as you can anyway.”

With that, Pierce veers to the south and the clickers to the north.

When we pass by the first glass tree, Terra says, “Ethan and Nyle, right here at the border of the glass trees, you’ll keep the Strummer Crab busy alongside the soldiers. Just keep moving it along the outskirts of the Tower until more people are free to help.”

Nyle forces a smile. “S-shouldn’t be too difficult since the Towering Sword were the ones who caught it.”

Ethan rolls his eyes. “Yeah, sure.”

“Lieutenant, I don’t know how much more I can run,” a soldier whispers.

Ethan, Nyle, and the soldiers stop.

We arrive at the Terrace.

Pausing at the edge of a disorganized mob, some people begin to shout,

“It’s Fairy!”

“But also G-Galtry?”

“Who cares!? Surely, they’ll have an idea of what we should do!”

Terra points at Owl and Rabbit. “I’d appreciate it if you two could keep running and retrieve Hoarse alongside half of my men from Cherry Hill. Tell Hoarse to bring as many thermate grenades as he and the men can carry.”

“Okey-dokey!” Rabbit answers with a salute.

Owl and Rabbit dash away.

“Remember, thermate, not white phosphorus!” she shouts at the two. Looking at Kenneth, Terra continues, “As for you, you’ll be helping the Pilgrims stay organized.”

Kenneth nods.

Together we push through a crowd of gawking onlookers at the northside of the Terrace. Where the Lake meets the Terrace, Terra and I climb atop the stone railing.

Terra points toward the Tower’s arcade doors, ordering, “All children are to be moved into the Tower’s arcade immediately. Any spare capacity is to be filled by the parents of said children. Anyone with a firearm stays on the Terrace. Anyone with a physical weapon guards the Arcade entrance. Anyone without either, stay out of the way or find another way to help.”

Kenneth and the Pilgrims do not question from whom the orders originate; they carry them out with haste.

Terra and I turn toward the Lake. There we see the smooth expanse of white ground, reflecting the orange of the setting sun.

A mere hundred feet north of the Terrace, we witness Scarlett’s petite figure standing tall before the spider. All around her are bronze cogwheels—the three clickers have already been knocked from the air.

“Do it!” Scarlett screams, opening her arms wide before the colossus. “I’m not running anymore, so go ahead and kill me! Hit me as hard as you can!”

Ayameko and Preacher Wainwright elbow their way to the front.

Preacher Wainwright waves his hand. “Scarlett, this isn’t right! Run away from it!”

“Scarlett, run!”Ayameko yells.

The spider leans in close. It hisses through the remnants of the algae around its mandibles.

In its colossal shadow, Scarlett waves her bright red flare. “What’s the matter!?”

It continues to stare at Scarlett with befuddlement. With a hiss, the spider jabs at the surface in front of Scarlett. A dull creak echoes across the flat expanse.

As water spurts upwards, the spider pauses. It sweeps a leg across the snow.

“What’s wrong with you!?” Scarlett screams, casting the flare at one of the spider’s eyes.

Ignoring her, the spider scrapes the snow away, exposing the ice underneath.

Dozens of huge shadows glide and bump against the underside of the frozen lake. A low hum from the spider sends the shadows scrambling.

The spider recoils when a faint hum answers from below.

An enormous shadow swims by, turning the lake dark. With a low grumble, the shadow sinks back into the dark waters.

While the spider steps back, I question in my mind, {Earl, are Nodes 5, 6, and 7 prepared to change into their glass form?}

Earl appears next to me. “Response: Node 7 requires a few moments as the Mistress did not request it previously. Nodes 5 & 6 are prepared as promised.”

{Keep Node 5 and 6 ready; prepare Node 7!}

Earl nods. “Statement: This one serves the Mistress.”

The spider hums. It turns its body, abandoning its hunt for Scarlett.

Scarlett drops her bag, preparing another Paradox grenade. “Y-you think you can just leave; after what you caused!?” she yells with a red face.

It flees toward the northeast shoreline where Pilgrims stand gawking.

I look toward a black willow tree that sits in the spider’s path. {That tree is Node 5; Earl, complete its glass transformation now!}

The Pilgrims gasp. They scatter to the edges of the Terrace.

“Confirmation: Shedding Node 5’s material form now.”

The willow tree creaks as its bark is cast off. Witnessing the rising glass willow tree, the spider’s legs attempt to use the ice to break. Its momentum carries it into the glass willow.

The willow’s whiplike limbs hook unto the spider’s forelegs.

A shriek echoes across the park.

Mushrooms drop from the spider’s body. It writhes—the willow’s limbs burrow deeper.

Cracks spread along the ice’s surface as the spider frantically stomps its legs.

Seeing the Arcade full of children and their parents, Terra announces, “The Arcade will now be sealed until the situation has been brought to a conclusion!”

Earl glances at me with a questioning stare.

{Aye, it’s as Terra says.} The Arcade doors begin to seal. Parents who could not fit within the Arcade wave while comforting the scared children until the doors seal shut. {Earl, take Nick and move to the Mistress’s Chamber. The Bishops might try to spy on us, and it’s best they do not see either Nick or thee if avoidable.}

The spider screeches. Opening its mandibles, it gnaws at the glass willow limbs.

Earl frowns. “Statement: This one cannot be influenced by the Bishops, but this one shall observe from the Chamber. Notice: This one may intervene at any time,” she adds before vanishing.

As soon as Earl vanishes, Scarlett rushes toward the trapped colossus with a Paradox grenade. She moves to its side, hurling the Paradox grenade at the spider’s mouth once more.

The grenade bursts. The spider’s mandibles are bound by algae anew.

It howls, swiping at her. A willow branch detaches, striking Scarlett with a crack.

I wince. Terra places her hand in front of me to prevent me from rushing over. She motions behind her; everyone she sent for is arriving at the same time.

As jaundiced ichor drips from the spider’s maw, Terra takes command, “All awoken Pilgrims, hurry to the front. You will all receive a thermate grenade.”

Owl, Rabbit, Hoarse, and the Galtry guards pass thermate grenades to the awoken Pilgrims.

Hoarse hands a thermate grenade to a teenage girl while murmuring, “Don’t hang onto this long. It’ll get hot enough to melt steel.”

Terra nods and continues, “Unawakened Pilgrims, please guard the outside perimeter of the Terrace, make sure none of our attackers decide to interfere while they’re pulling out.”

As the unawakened Pilgrims speedily race in different directions, Terra raises one of the thermate grenades. “Awakened Pilgrims. Everyone is about to receive a small amount of restitution, courtesy of the despicable people that blindsided and attacked us.”

The spider pulls so hard at the glass willow that one of its limbs snaps. Strands of tendon hang from its joint as the limb drops to the ground.

“I want every person who has one to place a grenade at the spider’s feet on my command. When the thermate melts through its casing and hits ice, it’ll explode, so make sure you throw it when and where you’re told,” Terra says.

Rabbit approaches me with her arm extended. “Special delivery,” she whispers, holding out a red canister that reads ‘AN-M14_TH3.’

I take the ‘thermate’ grenade from Rabbit.

Terra sighs. Glancing at me, she says, {And Constance, throw your grenade and then go retrieve Scarlett alongside Lincoln.} She points at Lincoln and then me. Lincoln nods. {Come back immediately; drag her kicking and screaming if necessary!}

I hop down. {Aye!}

Lincoln hops down beside me while gesturing toward his torn suit. “I’m freezing, so let’s hurry.”

Nodding, I yank the pin from the grenade and sprint. Lincoln follows.

We approach the screeching colossus. I cast my grenade near its fallen limb, and the ice thaws around it rapidly. As we run toward Scarlett, Lincoln flings his own grenade next to mine.

“Everyone, throw your grenade near Fairy’s!” I hear Terra command.

Dozens of burning thermate grenades pelt the ice around the severed limb.

Stooping to Scarlett’s side, I find her confused and bleeding from a laceration across her abdomen. “Chris... Jennette,” she mumbles, glancing between Lincoln and me. “Hey... listen… I-I had a bad dream. I don’t think we should do the quest. W-we can get tokens some other way; it’ll be fine.” She chuckles. “We still have plenty of time.”

Lincoln points at Scarlett’s arms and grabs her legs. I nod, looping my own arms under her armpits.

Witnessing this, the spider hisses. It throws a tantrum, stomping the ice repeatedly. Water spurts from between cracks, turning the Lake’s surface into a slippery slush.

Lincoln glances at the furious spider, yelling, “Screw backtracking that way; head north!

As cold water seeps into Scarlett’s clothing, her eyes recover a tiny amount of light. “...Oh, Fairy, it’s you; I thought you were somebody else….” She smiles at me. “Huh, have your eyes always been so radiant? One’s gray too; it’s pretty.”

We lift her from the ice, shuffling toward the lake’s bank.

“...Hey, Fairy,” Scarlett murmurs, gazing at the streaks of her own blood in the snow. As white smoke clouds the air, she asks, “Do you think Chris and Jennette hate me? I’m alive, and they aren’t.”

I shake my head.

Thermate grenades melt through the ice and fade into the Lake’s depths.

“Water was only five feet deep a few months ago; at least thirty now,” Lincoln hastily remarks between breaths. “Lots of extra water from somewhere.”

We reach the far edge of the north shore. Lincoln and I drag Scarlett up a mound of muddy snow.

The enraged spider tears at the willow, freeing itself as a second leg snaps from its trunk. In a blind fury, it charges us.

Several thermate grenades that failed to melt through the ice begin to explode.[2] Cracks become fissures as the ice grows weak.

One of the spider’s hind legs smashes through the icy sheet—it screeches.

As the spider struggles to free its leg, I hear Lincoln whisper, “Someone’s coming.”

Pulling Scarlett into my arms, I draw my sword.

“Fairy, your clothes are going to stain,” Scarlett whispers, kneading her blood from my cloak.

I take Scarlett’s hand as six Pit ruffians race out of the tree line behind us. They stop, firing their weapons into the trees.

A large lizard-like beast races toward them. ‘The Líng Nian...’

The Líng Nian reaches the Pit ruffians. With a low growl, it sprints past them.

Ruffians keep firing into the trees.

Golden bandages shoot from the thicket. They wrap around the Pit ruffian’s faces.

All six ruffians collapse to the ground, yanking at the bandages for air. Several whispering spirit shades encircle them.

When a spirit woman appears as well, the Pit ruffians are flung into the air. They sail over our heads and skid to a cold halt atop the ice.

Bishop Manhattan and Bishop Bronx stroll out. “Well, it ran away again,” Bishop Bronx says with a sigh.

Bishop Manhattan smiles. “It’s definitely getting tired, though.”

Four red-faced people dart around the Bishops. I recognize them as Belladonna, Arata, Callum, and Colin; all Fairy Quest participants.

Colin huffs. “God, please, let this end!”

They disappear into the trees. None notice the Pit ruffians struggling for air on the Lake’s ice.

“Let’s just let those four handle it,” Bishop Bronx responds.

Bishop Manhattan and Bishop Bronx disappear into a thicket.

Lincoln shakes me. “It’s General Riddick’s delivery!” he shouts as a drone darts overhead. “Brace yourselves!”

A thunderous explosion hurls ice dozens of feet into the air. The Lake’s surface flips in on itself, dragging the screeching spider into its depths.

A surge of numbing water rolls toward us.

Lincoln wraps an arm around me as I stab my sword into the mud.

Freezing water, carrying slabs of ice crash against the muddy wall.

We are dragged into the Lake. Lincoln and Scarlett are torn away from me.

Underwater, I hear the muffled cries of the spider. The motionless bodies of the Pit ruffians float around me.

Water leaks through Rabbit’s patch at the back of my helmet. Inside the arc suit, the Snappish Beads pop. A streak of runny sable overhead proves that I am sinking and losing haze fast.

I kick my feet, raising my hand toward the waning twilight. The arc suit is heavy. A fish swims up from below, biting a ruffian in two. The ruffian’s bodies are knocked about as more creatures begin vying for the carcasses. I flinch when Lincoln’s cogwheel arm wraps around me. Scarlett swims from behind to help pull me. Her wound tints the water red.

The fish scatter.

From the dark depths, the spider’s algae mandibles spring forth. Scarlett shoves Lincoln and me back as a fang catches a torn piece of her clothing. In less than a second, Scarlett is gone, leaving only a trail of bubbles. A wagon-sized shadow swims toward Lincoln and me. My hand tightens around my sword as I point it toward the shadow. Lincoln and I are driven toward shore as a gleaming fish spears itself upon my blade.

Bleeding, the fish darts away as a small hand reaches from above the water, grabbing me. Lincoln and I are tossed from the Lake. Our backs hit against the muddy wall.

With a cough, Lincoln asks, “What was that?”

“Query: Is the Mistress suicidal? Declaration: This one is angry,” Earl states, knocking her lantern against the arc suit’s helmet. “Statement: The Mistress is behaving carelessly! All for a fleshie that wasn’t even interested in remaining in the material realm.”

I hit my fist against the mud. {It’s not so simple, Earl! She is not in her right mind!}

There’s a rumble from the Lake. A spider leg reaches for the Terrace’s shoreline.

Pilgrims shout. They fire their weapons. The spider regains a foothold as a shadow below the water overtakes it. A low grumble silences all.

The spider spins round. It delivers a screech so great that the ice bobbing atop the Lake’s surface is pushed against the shore.

Water spouts upward as the Lake’s resident colossus erupts from the deep. Jaws composed of glittering glass clamp onto the spider’s trunk. A shimmering blue Mana shield embraces the spider’s body.

The spider wails as the turtle colossus’s jaws emit a blinding flash.

With a burst of blue light, the Mana shield shatters. There’s a crunch. A portion of the spider’s face is bitten from its trunk. The spider stabs at the turtle’s back. Its leg scrapes against a hard shell, leaving only a pitiful line of its own ichor.

As they descend into the water, the Lake grows more violent than the stormy ocean. Earl grips onto me as waves crash into us. Lincoln, Earl, and I scramble overtop the mound. We peek out to search for any signs of Scarlett. All we see is a Lake stained red and the Tower’s reflection upon its rough surface.

Minutes pass in silence until a blue wall appears.

Helped Subdue Lv. 9 Young Spudded Sheet-Web Arachnid Matriarch

Main Contributor: Young Fairy-Glass Terrapin Dino

Final Blow: Young Fairy-Glass Terrapin Dino

Primary Support: Entity 1150012

2.2% of Essence Received

Essence value: 396

+1 Acuity

4 Stat Points Remaining

Congratulations, you have been awarded the title:

[Towering In Footprints]

On the eve of Advents’ Epoch, Entity 1150012 stood steadfast in the footprint of a Young Infested Sheet-Web Arachnid Matriarch, ultimately leading to the downfall of a colossus during the Beta. The ones who hold this title bore witness and partook in the fall of the young colossus.

{Though it was weak, young, and you didn’t really do much, you still did something. From now on, when a colossus is so near that you can almost taste it, you’ll literally be able to taste it. -- Any hungry or aggressive colossi will cause you to taste something sweet in the air. The more potent the sweetness, the bigger the sweet.}

The Pilgrim’s celebratory roar echoes all across the Lake.