I watched in anticipation as more of the eggs started showing movement. The first spider to hatch was still working on the soft, yet surprisingly resilient eggshell and more of its legs appeared, expanding the gap through which it would eventually crawl.

What little I could see of it was like a copy of myself. White, fluffy legs, and eventually, four red eyes appeared, peeking into the world for the first time. When its head became visible, I saw a telling feature, a birthmark of some sort on its head in the form of a yellow dot that looked like one of the stars in the night sky.

It was easy to spot, but it could just as easily be overlooked seeing as the yellow was bright enough to be mistaken for white from a distance.

The creature itself was huge, but that was to be expected with eggs this size. Besides the spot on its head, it looked precisely like me, minus the pattern on my abdomen… and well, the elven part. If anything, it looked like a previous version of myself, but with the color that I now wore.

When it had finally completely freed itself from its constraints, it peered into my arachnid eyes, only for it to then peek into my upper ones.

I was relieved to see it look around. Its eyes were full of life and not soulless like the ones I’d seen in the dungeon. This ‘little’ spider had personality, and that became all too obvious moments after it was born.

After looking at me for a few seconds, it turned around to get a better look at Cellestra, cocking its head by moving one half of its body up while it appeared to be stroking its chelicerae with its pedipalps.

She seemed a bit nervous, but when the spider turned back to watch me, I saw a smile growing on her face. When it then walked up to me to watch me from up close, her smile grew wider.

After watching for a few seconds, leaving me completely stunned and unsure what to do, it walked off to the spell orb which lay at the edge of the nest. It was fascinated by the swirling, ever-changing spectacle of colors, and carefully reached out with its two front legs to touch it.

“That,” Cellestra said before pausing. “Is like the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“No kidding. That’s more like a kitten than a spider, and the curious type at that.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the sight, but on the inside, my heart ached and my mind was troubled.

Why?

Elysa, why?

It was as I expected, and also feared. Watching the creature I’d spawned crawl around like this, fascinated by anything and everything… it warmed my heart.

Why had I done this?

I didn’t want to see this precious, curious creature get hurt. Not in the slightest. I was already attached, and I’d only known about its existence for a few minutes.

I let out a deep sigh and, as if in reaction, the spider skittered towards me and simply stared at my face. Without even thinking, I moved my hand to its head and rubbed it absent-mindedly, earning affection in return when its palps moved and rested on top of my arm.

“I take it back,” Cellestra said, smiling. “This is cuter.”

“It is, and I’m starting to regret my decision.”

“I can see why.”

“This isn’t just any creature,” I said, recalling my thoughts earlier. “This is a living, breathing being, and I can feel that it’s sentient. I mean, look at it. It’s enjoying this.”

I sighed again.

“What am I going to do?”

I watched as the second spiderling crawled out of its egg. This one was completely white and didn’t have any notable features to speak of. As soon as it got out, I could feel it being wary, and after a brief peek at Cellestra, it sped towards my abdomen, where it hid from sight.

“I…” She mumbled. “That’s hard for me to answer. I mean, your original plan was to have them take our prey that you already immobilized, right? That still seems like a good place to start.”

“I suppose you’re right. As adorable as they are, I spawned them for a reason. I can’t lose sight of that.”

I looked down at the creature that was still ‘hugging’ my arm.

“But it’s hard.”

“I understand,” Cellestra said with a soft, soothing voice. “But you’ll find a way. You always do.”

“I hope so,” I replied, watching as the next spiderling forced its way into the outside world. This one had an extremely odd feature. A red stripe ran all the way from its head to its spinnerets at the back of its abdomen, catching both Cellestra’s and my attention. As soon as it hatched, I saw its legs twitch, and once it was free, it immediately started skittering around. Its actions, despite my conflicted mood, made me chuckle.

The star-dotted spiderling turned around to watch its slightly younger sibling run in circles and skittered closer to investigate.

“So,” Cellestra continued, still smiling. “You said they had personalities. How do you know?”

“I have no clue. I just… I feel it. They aren’t like the husks that are dungeon creatures.”

“And you can tell them what to do?”

“I probably can, but I don’t want to, at least not yet. They barely hatched, and they seem to be enjoying themselves. I don’t want to ruin that.” I paused for a few seconds as memories flooded my mind. “I want their first moments to be filled with happiness and comfort; goddess knows mine weren’t.”

“That’s admirable,” She whispered, then chuckled as she watched the most active spiderling still skitter around. “That one reminds me of you.”

I shook my head and grinned.

“What? Is it because of the white hair? Maybe the red eyes? The fact that it’s a spider in general?”

“No,” She said with a coy smile. “It’s because it’s so active. That’s exactly how you are when it comes to a lot of things.”

“What about the other one? The curious one. That’s not me, is it?”

“Sometimes,” She replied with a sweet smile.

“How about this one then?” I pointed to the one at my side before I used a leg to push it away and forward, towards Cellestra.

“Nope. That’s definitely not you. If anything, that would be me.”

More movement from the last two remaining eggs caught my attention and two large spiders crawled out. These two again had prominent features. One had two black stripes like rings around its two front legs, whereas the other had a black spot on its abdomen that reminded me of my old kite shield.

I was taken aback by sudden, lightning-fast movements from the first as it jumped straight at Cellestra, who was still sitting nearby. My heart skipped a beat as I thought it attacked her.

Cellestra was shocked too, but only temporarily as it turned out the spiderling had no bad intentions.

It had jumped, sure, but this was far from an attack.

It was hugging her.

I shook my head as I watched it happen. The creature had wrapped its front two sets of legs around Cellestra, who had overcome the initial shock and was now petting the affectionate spider.

“That…” I said, taking a pause. “Well, I guess that’s me sometimes.”

Cellestra giggled and pointed at the other spiderling, which had taken position before me and stood still without moving an inch, just watching its surroundings.

“What about that one?” She asked.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “It’s not doing much. It looks like it’s… is it guarding me?”

“Dunno,” Cellestra said as she attempted to stand up, which, admittedly was hard when there was a giant spider hugging her.

I asked for it to let her go in a friendly manner, and it did just that. There was no force from my end and I didn’t think this was the way in which I was able to ‘control’ them.

“Thanks,” She said before making her way over to me. When she got close, the spider before me placed itself between her and me, baring its fangs and raising its legs menacingly.

“Hey,” I said sternly, moderately pissed off by its behavior. “Cut that out.”

It listened and went back to its previous, neutral stance. The whole ordeal had me covering my face with my palm as I shook my head.

It seemed the overly friendly spider noticed what I was doing, and it skittered up to take me in for a hug.

“By Elysa,” I let out. “Seems this isn’t going to be easy.”

“Well, there’s plenty of time left to get started on some things today.”

“You’re right,” I said as I watched my newly-spawned spiderlings. Each one of them was unique, and thankfully easy to recognize. There was still one thing that was on my mind. “Do you think we should name them?”