Turns out fifteen fades were taking a lot more time than I thought. My stamina had gone up quite a bit, I could run faster and for a lot longer than I used to. I only had to stop for a few minutes every now and then before being good to go again, but it still felt like it was taking too long.

I had already set up camp before the first fade happened, and although I couldn't exactly say for sure how much time had passed, it was enough for me to eat, drink and sleep before it happened. I even used the goddamn "toilet"—something that Zanir made sure to teach me like I was child, step by step, so I wouldn't leave any traces for sectioned to follow.

Find the proper soil, dig a reasonably deep hole, then do the deed. After that, you just have to use one of the specific plants to clean yourself with, and don't forget to bury everything like a proper animal. According to him, a surprising number died because they did something wrong in the process, somehow. I did exactly as told, didn't want to take any chances on dying because I messed up, literally.

The lightkeeper was extremely useful, not being able to tell how much time had passed was maddening, and even if it wasn't perfectly precise, it was way better than not having it. I tried counting how much one fade was in hours, but I had only so much patience, I felt it was around nine hours long, which meant the supposed underground kingdom of Arness was roughly six days away. I was really wishing Zanir was just a crazy old man and I would see sunlight at any turn.

Five fades had passed and no such luck, but I did find something unexpected while making a turn.

"Sssss!" she hissed.

"Shit," I said, jumping a few steps back and almost tripping.

I began flowing Lu through Moon, waking her up.

There really is someone else down here, I thought.

A girl around ten years old, close to Asha's age, pale white and on all fours, using a tattered white dress, dark long unkempt hair and eyes almost as black as of the creature in front of her.

It was clearly a spider, except for a few details, it had seven legs instead of eight, and only four eyes, from what I could see. White hair with black stripes covering the whole body, and two bright red mandibles—almost screaming venomous. I also couldn't let it pass that it had the same height as the child.

The spiderlike sectioned wasn't acting like a threat, to the girl, but its two front legs were up in my direction, menacingly. As if its appearance wasn't a warning enough.

"Nalamah! Ata! Ata!" she blurted out.

I wasn't sure of what 'nalamah' was, but I think 'ata' meant something like 'don't move', so it probably wasn't any friendship offering.

"Seme, seme," I said, telling her to calm down.

For some reason, telling someone to calm down when they were clearly agitated was the most natural and dumb response you could have. Very hypocritical and careless of me, since telling me to calm down was what led to the discussion between me and my younger sister, before all of this.

"Not going to hurt you," I said, carefully lowering Moon down, then taking the hammer from the holster at my waist and doing the same.

I had been training with the hammer while running, I had tried with both arms to confirm something I noticed. Swinging with my transformed left arm was significantly easier than with my right, so I was betting that even unarmed I could fight the spider off if it decided to attack.

"Sali," she said, pointing to my left.

The spider suddenly sprinted forward, I winced but it stopped, then it did it again. She kept moving in these short bursts of movement till she was close enough for me to know that the next movement would be to attack.

The girl walked closer and started to take my things soon after the spider got in position, first with the wooden tubes, drinking most of my water and eating the food, then she took my bag, with the map inside.

"I need that," I said.

She ignored me.

Doesn't she speak the same language as Zanir?.

What was I doing? Speaking a made up language with the only other person I found in those damn tunnels, I was starting to buy into the story and didn't even notice, though the giant insects and glowing stones did made it easy.

I decided to try again in my language, "Do you spe-"

Bad Idea.

The girl pressed a short piece of wood to my neck, it was sharp, and with strength enough that I wasn't willing to open my mouth again.

She opened the bag and took the map out, looked at it for a couple of seconds then turned to me and tore the map to pieces.

I grimaced. That map was my only lead to getting out of there, but I didn't move, the spider was still to my left. Ready to pounce.

"Meru," she said, making a gesture with her hand and jumping away from me.

The spider attacked me in the same instant, my arm went up by reflex, blocking its mandible from reaching my head. I fell with her on top of me, her several legs trying to pin me down while she tried to chew my arm, but it seemed to be useless, the centipede armor covering it was too hard.

I was trying to get up when my hand moved, twisting, fingers piercing the spider's head from the side, my arm still in its mouth.

This time It wasn't reflex, nor me.

I could feel more Lu moving towards the hand, soon the spider stopped moving. I looked at the girl and she was stunned, confused as I was, then angry. She ran for the axe, for Moon. I was too far to reach her on time, and with a giant spider on top of me.

It didn't matter, she didn't even get to swing at me, the spike at the bottom of the axe extended and coiled around her legs, making her trip.

I wriggled out from under the spider and ran to them, Moon successfully immobilized her and was about to penetrate her skull through her ear when I got there.

Stop, Moon, stop! Don't kill her, I thought, touching Moon.

I go it from here, thanks.

She seemed reluctant but obeyed me. I held the girl's hands behind her back while pressing her down with one knee before Moon's black tongue freed the girl and went back to its original position at the back of the handle.

"Malava! Surem lah! Zi-"

"Listen, brat, I have no idea what the fuck you are saying and honestly I don't care," I said, speaking over her shouts.

I spoke in my language, she wasn't acting like someone willing to talk so there was no point on going through the mental process of translating into her language. When trying to get your point across someone, the most important thing isn't really what you say, but how you say it. All about body language and voice tone, and I wasn't a teenager trying to make my way into a gang anymore, my voice was deep now, it carried.

"That," I said pointing to the pile of paper pieces, "you seemed to know what it is."

When she didn't answer I pressed my knee harder on her back, just enough to be a little uncomfortable, she grunted.

"Do you know what place is that?" I said, speaking slowly so she could understand.

"Mi," she said.

"Do you know how to get there?"

After a few more seconds, she answered, "Mi."

Was she lying? It didn't sound like it... No, wait, I thought, this was my chance to confirm it.

"What's the name?" I asked.

"Uh?"

"The place! The place on the map, what is it called?"

She gave me a confused look, then asnwered, "Arness?"

Yes. A small sense of achievement washed over me, immediately followed by a strange mix of feelings.

A new clue towards the truth, a step towards explaining all I've been through, and it went in the direction of what Zanir told me. Assuming Arness is real, what now? It just created more questions. I could force myself into doubting it, entertain the thought that maybe she was in it with Zanir, but that felt too much of a stretch.

"Good... I'll free you now, don't even try running, I'll just catch you again."

Despite my warning, she ran, not to flee but to the spider's side, hugging it, crying. Although the sectioned tried to kill me, I did feel bad about it, maybe the fact that she looked Asha's age took some part in it, but it was more than that. Ever since I started talking to Moon, I realized she was more than just a giant bug, sometimes it even felt like I was talking to a child, even if she didn't answer ne with words.

The way the spider acted with the kid, she was probably just as intelligent.

How did I kill the spider? When did it transform? I thought, looking at my exoskeleton covered arm.

The fact that it moved without my will was concerning, but it was what saved me, and there was nothing I could really do, for now. I wasn't even sure of exactly how it killed the spider, the first possibility that sprung to mind was that it used the same poison that affected me. Something to look into later.

The girl was still crying.

Can you do anything about that? I tried.

No answer came, I expected as much, this thing in my arm wasn't my ally. It only saved me to protect itself.

Maybe I can...

It was a long shot but it didn't hurt trying, I walked up to the body, the girl shot me an angry look but it was understandable.

"I'm just going to try something," I said, putting my right hand on the creature.

I started to pour my Lu into it, trying to find its soul, its sernaz. I didn't find anything like the ball of light like Moon, or the string from the centipede, the spider's Lu was still flowing throughout the body.

"She's alive," I said, despite myself.

The truth is I wasn't sure, but the spider started to move again, turning to the girl in a lazy manner. The kid began crying even more, hugging the sectioned harder, laughing.

"You won't make her attack me when she's all better, will you?" I asked, offering her more of my water and food.

I wouldn't know what to do if she did, I wasn't very fond of threatening a kid but I would do it if it became necessary for me to get back home. Not that I actually intended to hurt her.

"Nam," she said, after a considerable amount of time.

I sighed.

"Good. I need you to lead me towards Arness."

She was looking down, but I could see her eyes changing, getting more distant.

"Why go back there? Here is better, I have Meru, food, water," she said, "and that man isn't here."

I could feel the heaviness of those last words.

"Who?" I asked.

She didn't answer, I knew the feeling, not wanting to share certain things.

"Either way, I need to go there, you can go wherever you want once I'm close enough."

"Fine," she said, reluctantly.

She fell asleep soon after, still beside the seven legged sectioned, which seemed to be watching me.

What was a kid doing in these tunnels? And she also knew about Arness? Things were making less and less sense... or the opposite, which made everything even more confusing, for completely different reasons.