He went to the Veravid quarter. It was the perfect place to the start a riot. But he was not very excited about the method by which he was to do it. Simple killing was insipid. It served a purpose, but the Spider preferred to savor the act, to make it last, squeeze out every drop of fear and loathing and terror that he could. It was just too sweet.

So sweet! Nazrednas echoed. Soooo sweet!

The Spider didn’t suppress the other mind inside his mind. He wouldn’t abide being told what to do, but he did prefer the companionship, someone to enjoy the world with.

His intention had been to stalk a child and threaten to murder it to get the parent, preferably the father, to comply with his demands. A Mikuman killing a Veravid child out in the street would cause the whole of the quarter to rise up in arms.

The sweet torture of forcing a man to kill in cold blood, and a child no less or else suffer the death of his own child, would have made the Spider feel something, the only thing they could feel. But it was not to be.

Not to be, Nazrednas moaned.

No, the Spider said inside his mind to the other mind that lay nestled there like a crab spider dug in for the long hunt. Not to be.

It didn’t matter! Tonight Yukai City would be anarchy and the Spider would have as much meat as he wanted. All kinds . Every flavor. Men. Woman. Children. Humans, demi humans.

He sucked hard on his front teeth, loud enough to make a squelching sound. And there was no way the witch could betray him. She had promised the Spider unquenchable desires, and that was what he would have as the chaos raged.

It was his task to create general unrest in the city of Yukai—a distraction, among many distractions while these invaders did their work. It mattered not. Not to the Spider.

When order was returned, he would retreat back into the darkness, not to be seen again for at least several years. If he could capture enough food. He needed extra. To play with.

Thoughts lingering on that bitch. That filthy witch! She had spat on him. Maybe he would kill her. Maybe.

But first, he would do his part. And then he would hunt.

And then maybe…

Maybe she will be my toy!

Sniffling.

Our toy?

Yes, yes—our toy!

What do we do, Spider?

Nazrednas couldn’t cry. Not really. But the Spider could sense when he cried, like the imaginings of a person crying within his mind.

“We drink this damnable potion that witch gave us and do the deed ourselves!”

Ourselves!

Yes, ourselves!

You fiend! Nazrednas cursed.

Don’t start, you whoreson! You’re as needful as I am when it comes to the killing. You enjoy it!

I do…

…not.

You lie!

Nazrednas moaned inside his mind. The Spider hated it when he got like this. At times the other mind inside his mind was as thirty as he was, at other times he wanted nothing to do with what was an integral need for life!

“There is no life without death.”

No life without death.

“Are you agreeing with me, you idiot?”

Nooo, Nazrednas moaned.

The Spider growled and hissed. “Shut up! Shut up!”

A small group of onlookers were watching him as he hissed and spat in the corner. When he spoke to the other mind inside his mind, he had no need to use his eyes. But now he needed to move.

He screamed, flailing his arms wildly. “Out! Out of my way!”

He ran before any of the frightened mothers or their whaling babes could call for a man to get rid of him. In a one on one fight out in the open street, the Spider was no match for a man, especially one that could fight.

Spiders didn’t fight. They waited, they captured their prey. And when they couldn’t move, they sunk their teeth into the soft flesh of their victims.

And then we feed.

The mind inside his mind moaned in consternation and self-pity. “We drink the potion.”

We become them!

“No!” the Spider spat. “It’s an illusion. It’s not real. A disguise only.”

And then…?

“You know what comes next!”

Whaling inside his head. What comes next.

The Spider removed the vial from his scrip. It was a murky brown liquid with a strange sheen too it, almost like liquid metal. He was ready.

He scurried along to the busiest part of the quarter where there was a lot of intermingling between the races. There was cat eye here, local Mikumans, and oni, red skinned, green and the others, along with a few other, inconsequential factions. The Veravids were plentiful enough.

No guards. No.

Guards from the different quarters mistrusted each other as much as the common folk, and they were bound to interfere in matters of dispute. Too much friction for this area for there to be guards.

It was a crime-ridden place, yes, but not so crime-ridden that one would see out-right murder in the open street.

The Spider found an abandoned back alley. The concoction would manifest an illusion, so he had no need to change his apparel. He drank the potion.

The world looked…

Blurry.

He glanced down at his hands. They were not his hands, but rather the hands of a tall, surely handsome young man.

There was an instant of loathing.

That witch whore.

“We must be quick.”

Be quick, Nazrednas moaned. Quiiiick!

He walked out into the street. Not a soul gave him a second look. Well, he was eyed askance by some Veravid cows. The women stepped clear of him, keeping their gaggling children close to their sides.

He looked about for a good victim. One that was sure to create intolerable outrage. “The Veravids are always outraged,” he muttered to himself. “Any one of these will do!”

Nazrednas moaned, which quickly turned into a whaling sob. Any one of them!

Shut up, the Spider demanded. “I need to concentrate.”

The only thing he was worried about was that it was beginning to get dark. The killing had to be public. There were still a lot of people out, some of them drinking and carousing, as there were a lot of inns and taverns near the area, and they liked to do festivities here as well.

Not surprisingly, there was a lack of Mikuman-style celebrations here like in most of the city. These people cared nothing for the royalty of Yukai City, by and large. And neither did the Spider.

They were suddenly shunted. He kicked his feet to keep from falling on his face and snarled, jerking toward the direction from where the attacker came.

The Spider was quick. He had his hand in his scrip, his fingers gripping the hilt of his blade there tightly.

The young man in front of him yelped. “Easy, there, big guy. I’m sorry!”

When he realized he wasn’t under attack, he lowered his hostile posture, but he didn’t remove his hand from the knife. There were assassins everywhere. “Watch where you’re going, worm!”

The Spider back stepped. He wasn’t prepared for his own voice to come out. He thought his voice would change to suit the image of this trickery.

The man who had stupidly bumped into him widened his eyes and quickly stepped away. He must have seemed a freak with the wrong voice.

The Spider’s voice belongs only to the Spider, he thought.

He looked about again for the best victim. After a time an unbidden smile split his face as he realized he was staring directly at a group of women with their children. And they were in a good position to be seen from every area of the marketplace.

Yeeeesssss!

Y-yes?

“Yess!”