Alice

I walked along the ground, towards the small tremors. The warming blanket clinging to my wings through static. It was pleasant to be warm, despite the cold. My breath lingering in the air, as I continued towards my prey. Small spiders were easy, since I could squish them. Even my kin could deal with them, since they were close in size to most spiders with armor thick enough to protect them. They also usually had others helping them when dealing with such. The Harper spiders were also rather easily dealt with. While their silk posed a problem for my hive, I was able to walk through it with very little effort.

The problem was that the spiders seemed more capable the bigger they got, and now I was about to walk to the nest of a spider the size of a fiend from the sounds of it. It was still day time, but the forest grew darker. Looking up, I could see the webs stretching between the trees, covering them with small spiders moving about freely. The vegetation on the ground appeared to be uprooted and dying, with small groves growing in patches further in. I sat my pack down, outside the territory of this creature. Reluctantly shedding the warmth of the blanket. and placing such on the pack. I kept my wings tucked close to myself, as I looked around. Some of the trees had silk bridges going between them for the spiders to travel along. Others looked like cotton candy due to the webbing, that probably made them nests. The spiders themselves were smaller than Harpers, but also larger than the average ones I typically had my hive deal with.

Looking around, I managed to find a glob of webbing close to the roots of a tree. I needed to know how strong it was, before proceeding. Thus I stuck my hand into it. The webbing clumped around my fingers, trying to bind them together. It was still warm, making it fresh, and thankfully my strength was more than enough to overcome it. I could probably break free if I were bound. Still, everything here suggested the spider I was about to fight had intelligence to it. That, or there was a smarter spider leading them about. I pulled away from the glob, wiping it on the bark of the tree. Spiders descending from above.

I watched as they came about eye level, before they tried to attack me. Some jumping at my face, others going for my neck, and a few on my exposed upper arms. I undid my mask, before closing it to guide those attacking my face into my mouth. The ones biting at my exposed skin tried to inject poison into me. Which just didn't do anything. I allowed the elastic chitin to cover me, completing my battle form. They were unable to bite through it, which was reassuring. I watched as spiders over head started to turn away and ran towards the noise made by their largest member.

Plucking the spiders that still clung to me, I ate them one after another. They were much better than the cake Wyatt had me eat last night. Their little bodies popping with a satisfying crunch. If I were still out in the wilds, I wouldn't even bother with the source of the noise. I'd happily just loiter around the edges of its territory, eating my fill of these spiders. Then move along the moment it came towards me. Now that I was being asked to kill it however, I was curious how I might fair. These bearded tarantulas were hairy, but they were also rather tasty.

Continuing further in, I saw less and less trees. The forest growing dimmer, with glowing groves of magical plants here and there. These ones lightly illuminating near invisible threads. I continued walking, taking off my sunglasses since I did not need them with the dimness cast by the thick nests above. There were perhaps thousands of spider here. I tugged on one of the near invisible strands of thread to find it was closer to wire then silk. I thought there was only supposed to be one spider here, this was strange.

Then I felt it, a pressure coming down on me as magic tried to rewrite what I was seeing. The spiders above me were using various magics to try and trick my mind. Trailing the source of the magic, I found it to come from a specific nest were spiders were working together. They were waving their arms to manipulate magic. The spiders in question seemed to panic, when they realized I was staring right at them. The magic stopping abruptly, the second I touched their tree. If spiders could do magic, then perhaps my kin could learn how to do it from these spiders.

I was about to start climbing the tree, when a very real spider seemed to erupt out of the ground in front of the trees. The spiders sending magic to it, directing it's movements. I wasn't about to fight one large spider, I was about to fight an entire nest. I started to turn, as all the spiders were beginning to use magic. A barrier erected to stop my escape. |"You have seen too much!"| A voice from one of the spiders managed to reach me. I turned back towards the giant spider, the magic of the others starting to swirl. I could feel the connection to my hive starting to be diminished as they worked on my connection to them. |"None shall know our secret! You shall perish here! Fool!"|

I was starting to panic, when I started to realize something. The spider talking to me, established a connection. |"Please don't kill me?"| I sent my own lines through the connection. Probing the spider subtly. I needed to seize it, before it even thought about breaking the connection. I scratched at the rock wall that was erected to my side. Making it seem I was afraid of the giant spider more than anything else. I just needed more time.

|"Oh ho!? You can talk to the great me? I am Gray Beard, master of this grand colony! The meager connections you have with the few outside are noting compared to my own network. You foolish bug! We are spiders, and we devour your kind."| I pretended to look around from where the voice was coming from. Already knowing the answer.

This area was warmer, than the immediate area outside. The silk no doubt working to keep what little warmth they could in. |"I'm sorry master Gray Beard, the hooman led me here. I won't tell anyone about you, I swear. Please don't eat me."| I smiled under my mask, pitifully scratching at the walls still. I could feel their network now, how this one spider was connected to all of the others. Directing them, like I did my own hive. There was a key difference though, my main hive numbered in the hundreds of thousands. While this only seemed to have a few thousand spiders.

|"Ha! Master Gray Beard. I like the name, if you properly surrender we will make your death quick. Your blood makes you worthless to us otherwise. I am a kind and wise master after all."|

The 'wise' master probably never actually tested how the network he created could run. How he might better use it. Though that was probably the difference between needing to run tests to survive, and just assuming no one else could do what you can. I lowered my head, resting on my knees. Closing my eyes to actually focus on this next step. I could feel the last few lines to my hive starting to slip away. |"Do you hear the bells master?"|

|"The bells? What are you talking... yes I hear them."| The foolish spider tried to pull away, but I had connected with him much more than he intended. Information from my incredibly small hive all being force fed to him. As the spider was forced to see through hundreds of eyes. He tried to mitigate the information to other spiders, but it was sloppy. I learned how painful it was first hand, but I persisted because I needed to know exactly what my kin saw. To know what they felt, what they smelt. All to better track and communicate with them. The process made the master slip up, asking for more information to combat this influx. All the minds happily sharing everything they saw.

I saw when all the spiders jerked suddenly. Their minds not used to thinking for themselves anymore. Even the large spider jerking and looking around panicked. That was when I asserted myself over them. Wyatt quickly came barreling down through the webs cutting a hole where he was. "What happened!? Where did all these spiders come from?"

I sorted through the memories, realizing that they just made Wyatt think there were no webs. That everything was fine, that the former master had planned on eventually taking over the kingdom with his army. I was a queen, and I held no masters however. "The problem was bigger than was reported. The big spider was controlling all these smaller spiders. It's an Entomancer."

Wyatt blinked at it, "A bug with the magic to control other bugs? What about the illusion?"

"One of the spiders it summoned has a talent that allows them to make illusions. Because it was controlled with others. The big spider managed to make all the other spiders do magic." People would want to believe that the biggest spider was the one doing everything. I couldn't bring myself to just let Wyatt kill all of them. After all, it's free food, and free minds. I fixed the severed links, which thankfully weren't all completely severed. Otherwise I could have gone berserk.

"So... what's going on now?" He looked around at all the spiders, that started to skitter into their nests.

"One of the spiders had another talent that allowed them to communicate with telepathy. This made them all one big unit, and well my antenna picked up on it. They tried to brainwash me into joining them, but I'm a bit more experienced with this. Not the brainwashing bit, the telepathy sort of stuff." I was naturally ordering the spiders to make it look like they lost control.

The large one started to move, and Wyatt raised his pipe. I flinched a little and he frowned at that. "I can try to keep some of the spiders under control if you want. Might be a good place to set up an outpost or base."

Wyatt stared down Hugh the Grand, as the master called it. "What about this big guy here?"

He was large, and strong, but not as grand as the spiders I just took over. It should be easy enough for me to beat him, and put on a show. Plus I really wanted to eat him, just to find out what made him grow so big. Was it natural? Did he have a talent? All the possible answers just made me want to bite into him and find out. "Sadly, I can no longer control him. Though you wanted me to fight it anyway right?" I released control on the large spider. Which seemed to sputter and looked around cautiously. It raised it's front legs trying to scare us off, ready for a fight.

"You think you can take it? It's pretty huge." Wyatt looked at me, a little concerned.

I nodded, moving towards Hugh. He did not back away instead threatening more. His legs easily the size of two men each. Hugh hissed at me, warning that he would attack if I came into his territory. Though the sad fact was that he was trapped here, in a forest full of trees he couldn't break through. He could try climbing over them, but one slip and he'd fall and get impaled. He would eventually starve to death here, just because he was too large to skitter through the forest properly. Too weak to bulldoze through the trees themselves. This was a mercy killing.

I frowned inside my mask, no I was justifying what I already was planning on doing. This was a killing, so that I could grow stronger for my hive. I wasn't depraved enough to pretend this was mercy. He had things I wanted, things I was curious about. He was a giant spider I was squishing to forward my own goals. If this was mercy, I would end him swiftly and leave the body. Which I wasn't, I was fighting him to the death. Confident in my victory to put on a show for Wyatt and afford myself freedom later. I only hoped Hugh could forgive me, and enjoy one final fight.

I hissed back, spreading out my stingers to make myself look bigger. Rattling them by bumping and grinding pairs together. My antenna staying down, as my wings unfurled. The other spiders keeping the area warm enough with their magic as I commanded them. Hugh backed up arching his legs to jump to either side if needed. I slowly approached, as he took cautious jabs at me with his front legs. His blows too weak to scratch even my elastic chitin. His talons the size of fists, that scrapped against me. I moved with the blows, while bringing up my arms as a guard.

Hugh lunged towards me, and I lunged to the side, avoiding his mass. Flapping my wings for a little extra movement. The tear was still there from where Wyatt tore them with his pipe. Something, that caused me to spin slightly as I moved more into the circle away from the trees. Hugh scuttled like a crab, trying to ram me. While I moved between his legs. He lowered his head to try and bite me with his fangs, still hissing. I grabbed those fangs pressing back against his weight. Then I broke them off his body. Tearing down when he pulled up in surprise at my strength.

Hugh leaped back with a pitiful cry, while I held his spider fangs. I watched him scuttle towards the cave, while I chewed on his severed fangs. Drinking the poison. Hugh was too large to hide inside the cave properly. The tunnels he erupted from before, were made by the magic of the spiders. Without them, Hugh was still still formidable. At least against anything that didn't hold the strength of a fiend. I could feel my body digesting the poison. Breaking it down while I walked towards Hugh. He tried to nurse the bleeding wound, before hissing at me again.

Hugh was corned, and had no where to run. As I casually approached him, he braced himself. Lunging at me from the cave entrance. He jumped away at the last second. I used my wings to block the silk spray. Which practically fused those same wings together. I got low to the ground sticking the wings I was about to shed to the hard compacted ground. Hugh charged at me, hoping to crush me with all his mass. While I lunged under him, shedding my wings once again with another pop. It was the only way to heal the tearing since they were the only part that wouldn't regenerate unless they were torn from the base.

Hugh quickly jumped off my wings, checking to see if that managed to kill me. Sadly he hadn't even touched me. He jumped back, when he saw me standing in front of him, both sets of arms crossed. Hugh took a moment to look at the wings, then me. Trying to understand what happened. He was a simple creature, unable to put two and two together. Instead, opting to run back to his cave. I was not going to let the same thing work twice, and it was clear he was not enjoying this fight.

Hugh hid once more in the cave, as I walked towards him. This time when he lunged, I lunged at him. My arm aiming for his head. He pivoted a little, causing me to catch his side, gouging a large wound as his exoskeleton was torn open. My chitin was like metal compared to the paper that made his. Hugh rolled on his side letting out pitiful gasps and chirps. I lunged again, digging my arm into the wound. Then I tore at him from the inside. Finding a part of his brain as he flailed. I pulled it out and started to eat. While his body spasmed. Hugh was dead, and no one could hurt him anymore.

As I ate, I felt a divine energy inside Hugh. The talent that caused his body to grow so large. I did not know what it was, but from the memories of the other spiders. He was always molting. Growing in size with every molt, never dying. I felt it start to transfer to me, as I started eating his heart. Hugh tasted like the other spiders in this place. Which made eating him enjoyable. I waited to see what was going to happen as the talent transferred to me. Then I felt a flash of insight from Devourer. The talent was called Eternal Molter. I understood what it did as it seemed to settle around the other two.

The holder of Eternal Molter, could heal their wounds through molting. Their life was extended through such a process, allowing an insect to effectively be immortal. It would not save the holder from dying, and it could not work if the holder didn't have enough energy to molt. Effectively it was a terrible talent that was made to kill the holder if they were a molter. My symbiosis talent seemed to be able to take it to another in my hive if I really wanted to keep it from myself. Which made me wonder if any of my kin had talents themselves. Now that I knew what to look for, I could check it later.

Still, if I gave it to another, they would ultimately make it useless if they didn't molt. Even if they did, it would still be like telling them to die. Since they would become too large to fly or do anything useful. I just wanted to get rid of the thing, and never see it again. Which seemed to spark something in my Devourer talent. I blinked, when I felt Eternal Molter was devoured by the talent. I looked at Wyatt, as he started to approach me. "Hey Wyatt? Are talents supposed to eat each other?" I looked at him a little confused.

He stopped where he was, "It happens sometimes where two talents that are very similar fuse together to make a stronger version. In some cases the weaker one just becomes a part of the stronger one without changing much. The king told me very clearly that he tested these things, and that he could take my talent from me and give it to another. It was part of the contract he had me sign before I could be a proper Captain. He made certain I understood it, why did that happen to you just now?"

That didn't feel quite right, but it terrified me that there was someone who could actually take talents from people, and possibly monsters. I just nodded, "I guess, I don't know what the other talent was."

Wyatt looked me up and down, "Maybe something that makes you bigger the more you eat? Are you okay? What will your wings be fine?"

I crossed my arms at him, "You shouldn't call me fat Wyatt. That's rude, and yes my wings will grow back. I need to eat this spider and take a break though. I don't know what I'll get from it, since it was weak. You can go start a fire by the cave if you feel like it. The changes will take a little while."

Wyatt swallowed hard, "Yeah... sorry. I just meant you were tall, not fat. You are heavy though..." I narrowed my eyes at him, "Heavy handed in combat. Yeah, that's what I meant. I'll go get some kindling. Will the spiders and your hive be alright?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I've done this before. I can keep control of them. Bring the pack too please."

He nodded before running off. I could feel him using his magic past the trees to fly. Which was considerate of him considering that I kept jumping whenever he used magic. I needed to make him think the monster half was still afraid of him. To make this all seem natural. Letting out a sigh, I looked at the spinneret of the spider. If I could control what I got from it, by eating. Then I'd have to eat what I wanted. I needed to test what my Devourer actually did, and how it worked. More so, now that it ate another talent, that I really felt had nothing to do with it.

I tore into the spider, choking down silk and other not so tasty parts. I even ate a few legs to see if I could get tiny claws on my finger tips to help me work silk better. Wyatt himself was quick, and already had a campfire going by the cave by the time I finished. He didn't watch me eat thankfully since it was a messy affair. He stuck to eating his own rations, and thankfully the Lum'kai cake. After eating every part I could think of wanting, or potentially having. I felt the changes in my body starting to occur. I sprinted to the cave, more out of habit than not wanting to be seen changing.

Thankfully, I wasn't growing a new set of legs. Though a hot pain streaked through my body, causing me to writhe on the cave floor. I felt something like thin needles puncturing my chitin from the inside. As a dark oil seemed to coat the top of it. Something to keep silk and other sticky things off me. It wasn't too noticeable, but it did add a little extra shine to my dark chitin. Which could make it harder to hide in the dark if someone had a light flickering. My wings grew back, this time with all the fur on the being pitch black. The inside being softer and fluffier than last time. The better to keep eat in. It felt like a mix between fiend and tarantula fur. Soft when I was relaxed, but prickly since I was currently writhing in pain. My mouth developed a new gland along the jaw to break down silk. Which meant I could eat silk now.

I was rather disappointed that I couldn't spin silk now, or make my own. Even if I didn't want to grow a stinger on my butt or something. I was left panting on the cool floor of the cave, starting to get up when my vision went white. Sparks of pain as my skull rattled from the inside. Pressure building to give me a splitting headache as I cried out in pain. I slammed my face into the ground, leaving a crack in the rock that made the floor up. I moved the other stingers out of the way as I clawed at the back of my head. I had completely forgotten this unbearable pain. I could feel bumps on the back of my skull as I convulsed. I slammed my head on the floor again, this time drawing blood and embedding small rocks on my forehead. I couldn't scream, Wyatt would come.

I clawed at the back of my skull again, feeling the bumps had grown bigger with pointed tips. I clawed again, and was rewarded with the sickening crack of bone splitting. Three new stingers limply hung where they exited my skull. The pressure gone as they slowly started to grow. I tugged on them, to make sure they were all out, before stinging the tender area with my healing stinger. Relief flowed through me as the pain subsided and the new stingers grew to the proper length. Making a total of twelve, with the new set of three doing something I didn't know yet. I was relieved to find that I wasn't growing a new stinger with every additional set. Since I started out with a single healing stinger, then went to four with two healing and two explosives, before finally getting nine with my acid. It would have been outrageous to have four sets of four, then five sets of five if i got another new set.

I truly was glad, since there was a point where things were just too much. I lifted my head off the ground, to feel silk on my lips. I practiced swallowing, and realized that I had something producing silk from my mouth. My teeth had changed to be able to bite the strands off while still being sharp and resilient enough to eat what I wanted. I used my lower arms mostly on instinct to work the silk into a small gauze. That I then used to wipe my forehead and pull the rocks out. The small blood was absorbed by the makeshift cloth. I couldn't feel the changes in my throat thanks to the pain. Now, I knew it was there, and pouted a little at this being snuck in when I could have missed it. Still I would have preferred it coming from the tips of my fingers, or even the wrists. I couldn't complain since I got what I wanted in the end.