Chapter Thirteen: A Setting Sun

*

The afternoon sky had long since given way to evening, sunset only a matter of minutes away. Anna pursed her lips, remaining silent as she followed behind the two Spiderkin in disguise, two more behind her. The day was quickly coming to its end, and she knew Aiden would’ve figured out she was missing. She could only hope he didn’t do anything drastic.

Hours had passed since meeting with him, and her temper had long since faded. In fact, the more she thought about how things had ended and how she stormed off, the more she felt worse than she already did. Her intention hadn’t been to pick a fight, but somehow, they’d fought anyway.

Why can’t he see that we’re concerned? she idly thought to herself for the thousandth time. Why doesn’t he understand?

Those thoughts had plagued her from the moment she faded from his view. She hadn’t made it halfway back to Zion when she came across a four-man party. It had only taken her a few seconds to know something was off about the group.

With the recent conversation in mind, she’d decided to take the opportunity to do something proactive, albeit reckless. However, she knew the risks and could determine the strength of the four-man party, and none of them truly posed a threat.

So she’d revealed their identity and offered to go with them. They’d been confused, but she promised cooperation. For hours, they walked parallel to the cliffs of the massive mountain range, heading to a destination unknown, though she had a good idea of who would be waiting when they arrived.

And finally, they all stopped. Each one considered her, and she smiled back at them. Seeing her lack of aggression, they came to a silent agreement. The forward two left the forest boundary and crossed to the mountain face, walking directly through seemingly solid rock.

An illusion? That’s useful information, but I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised. From what Aiden had told her, the Spiderkin were masters of deceit. The almost-convincing disguises of those around her were proof of that much. Had they schooled their Essential presence just a hair more, she never would’ve told them apart from people of Zion. No wonder they’ve remained so well hidden for so long. Even from here, there’s no way to discern the illusion from the natural mountain face. Color me impressed.

One of the Spiderkin cleared its throat, and she left the concealment of the forest. After the several hours of walking, leaving the familiarity of the forest felt strange. Sunlight warmed her tanned skin and made her squint. The forest’s trees were high and thick, blocking out most natural light below. To reduce some of the eye strain, she covered her eyes with her hands, the sudden movement causing both Spiderkin behind her to hiss.

She shot an amused grin over her shoulder. “Don’t worry so much. I wouldn’t come all the way here to attack now. I have no reason to.”

They both glared back at her, and she shrugged, passing through the illusion. She hadn’t expected to be plunged into complete darkness and instinctively created two emerald balls of raw energy to light the tunnel.

She resisted the urge to flinch. The two Spiderkin waiting inside had already done away with their disguise, revealing their true form. Similar to what she expected of a centaur, the bottom half of the Spiderkin was spider-like while the top half was more humanoid, though the top half was still covered in a thick-looking carapace.

The most human thing about them were their bare stomachs and the length of their shoulders to their wrists. After that, the thick carapace covered the wrist up to where the fingers—or rather the sharp, elongated claws at least three times the length of her own.

But even the skin that looked vaguely human was like obsidian, nearly making her lose sight of them in the dark tunnels. The eight legs they stood on bent halfway so that they didn’t hit their heads on the ceiling.

The two in front started to hiss, their mandibles clicking rapidly, then they turned and continued heading deeper into the mountain. As she stepped forward, the two behind her entered through the illusion and immediately began to transform.

In hindsight, she should’ve known better. The soft fleshy skin peeled off and crumpled to the floor into a pile. The two Spiderkin grabbed their removed disguises and devoured them, sharp teeth grinding away the magic causing the disguise and turning the fleshy layer into white, sticky webbing.

Ew. She turned away, seeing the two in front hissing at her, and started to second guess herself. She shuddered, resisting the urge to spew the acidic bile at the back of her throat. With a great effort, she swallowed down the vile tasting bile and cleared her head. Next time, look away. Good to know. The longer she stood there, the more antsy the Spiderkin got, their mandibles clicking louder and more frequently as their spidery legs tapped against the ground. Guess it’s time to move again.

The illumination from the two emerald balls seemed to create some discomfort with the Spiderkin. The two leading the way continuously glanced backwards, but Anna shook her head each time. She wouldn’t be blindly following into the dark tunnels if she had a choice in the matter. So far, none of the Spiderkin in attendance demanded she kill the light, not that she would’ve listened had they made the request.

Essence circulated through her body, rejuvenating her tired legs. At the same time, she constantly kept the formless balls of light on standby. If her escort became aggressive at any point, she had full confidence in her ability to defend herself and make a getaway.

Given a perfect scenario, she wouldn’t have to use the balls for anything more than mobile lamps, but her time in Midrath had proven that going into any situation with any expectations at all would lead to disappointment and, more often than not, injuries. Preparation and attentiveness had been her tools of survival to this point, and she wouldn’t let her guard down.

Doubly so when she walked in potentially hostile territory while none of her allies knew where she’d gone, how to find her, or how to communicate if the need arose.

And that last point left her anxious and wary.

Being unable to send a message back to Aiden or anybody within Zion left her feeling vulnerable despite her confidence. For all she knew, she was walking into a trap.

Willingly.

That was the part that made her mentally smack herself time and time again, but she wanted to do this for Aiden. If she had gone to him rather than pursue an opportunity when it presented itself, he’d never let her go alone and try to do as he always did and bear the burden himself.

A three-way split in the tunnel made her push her thoughts aside and pay attention. The path back to the exit was committed to memory as more splits in the tunnel appeared, the cave spiderwebbing out more frequently.

Gradually, the walls of the cave began to expand, allowing the Spiderkin freedom of movement. At their full height, they stood at least two feet taller than she. Shortly after the walls expanded, the paths began to split less linearly.

So far, the tunnels had been fairly straight and level. The next split had two paths, one drastically steeper than the other, leading up on either side of a path that descended. The descending path happened to be theirs, and a few steps in, she almost walked into the wall. The path subtly curved in on itself as it progressed, the walls continuing to grow wider.

Some way down the curving, descending path, the walls stopped being completely solid. The ceiling and sides opened up to various different paths. For the first time since entering, more Spiderkin appeared. They moved about their duties, perfectly navigating the paths without colliding or halting the speed in which they traversed the terrain.

Then, without ceremony, they entered a massive chamber. Her eyes widened at the massive scale, having lost track of how long they’d descended some time ago. Webbing covered almost every surface. Countless eggs littered the ground, each bound in place by even more webbing.

As she watched, she noticed there were several different variations of the Spiderkin. Those like the ones with her were more lithe, their frames far smaller than those that guarded the entrances into the chamber. These had far thicker carapaces and two more sets of arms protruding from their backs. Their faces were completely covered by the chitinous armor, and she wondered how they saw or if they even needed to.

But those below that tended to the eggs had larger abdomens and exchanged the obsidian chitin for a more fuzzy type, kind of like a tarantula. The hairs on their appendages allowed them deft movements and manipulation of the webbing and eggs, tending to them with a speed that made her dizzy.

They weaved impressive works of art. If the population of the nest weren’t so insanely dense and the eggs below more than she could count, she would’ve likely felt admiration for their abilities rather than a deep sense of fear and dread.

They’d been given so much time to develop and grow peacefully, and she saw the result of that time first hand. Aiden, I hope we don’t come to regret this.

When he’d revealed Trixie as a spy, she’d verified with an Essence scan of her own. They’d come to the mutual agreement to keep the information in a close knit circle of those they absolutely trusted. Any information and planning they needed to do without the Spiderkin knowing required them to meet in secret, leading to a lot of the people of Zion to remain in the darkness about most of the bigger picture planning.

Only time would tell if they would regret their choices, though for her, that time approached closer and closer by the second. The Spiderkin directed her away from the chamber, nudging her none too gently when she continued to gawk at the chamber.

Collecting herself took long enough to make the Spiderkin impatient once again, and now that she was deep within the nest, they grew more confident and willing to act. Realistically, now that she saw the numbers before her and the powerful looking armored Spiderkin, she didn’t have high hopes for getting out alive if they didn’t want her to.

And that realization was chilling, making the hairs on the back of her neck and arms stand on end.

Carrying onward brought them to another decline, this one stepper than any she’d taken so far. With a little bit of Essence channeled through her feet, she continued without issue. The Essence in the ground acted similarly to magnets and stopped her from sliding down uncontrollably.

She only hoped the talk with the Spiderkin Queen would go as smoothly as stopping herself from rolling head over heels, but she didn’t anticipate anything about the rest of the impromptu trip going anything less than neutral. Even hoping for a positive outcome seemed greedy given her current situation.

Deeper and deeper they went, the walls expanding ever outwards until they reached another chamber deeper in. This one was only about half the size of the previous one but with the same amount of tunnels. Fresh, webbing free eggs were in the middle of being transported by the tarantula-type Spiderkin. They weaved webbing around the eggs and attached them to their elongated abdomen, transporting them through a tunnel beneath the one Anna entered with her escort.

They descended, the Spiderkin taking the webbed path down to the center. Anna had to get creative without alarming the nest’s inhabitants, so she used the same method to keep her from sliding down the sleep tunnel slops to walk down a small portion of wall that was free of webbing.

Her process earned her the attention of all the Spiderkin present, but once she reached the ground and disabled the Essence that allowed her progress, they all went about their business.

Within this chamber, there were at least five times the amount of those warrior Spiderkin, and not one of them turned their chitin-covered faces away from her as she moved into the center of the room.

“That’ll be far enough,” a soft and silky voice called. Seconds later, Anna saw herself approach. “Welcome, Anna, to my home.”

Crossing her arms, Anna tried not to stare in mute horror as the Essential aura that identified the Queen as something that wasn’t her shifted to match her own perfectly. That’s concerning.

“What do you think so far?” the Queen asked, waving towards the chamber. “Not as glamorous as you expected, right?”

“Just as I expected, actually,” Anna said, holding her hand out towards the Queen. She saw the shifting of the heavily armored Spiderkin but acted as if she hadn’t. “It’s nice to meet you for the first time, though, I have a feeling that’s something only I’m experiencing.”

“You are correct.” The Queen approached, grinning as she took Anna’s hand. She looked Anna up and down, then minor differences she noticed in their appearance shifted slightly. “Does this make you uncomfortable?”

“Imitation is the purest form of flattery,” Anna said with a shrug.

“You are awfully calm given the situation. I am quite curious as to whether this is due to a confidence in your own ability or whether it’s a sign of ignorance and incompetence.” The Spiderkin let her hand fall and began to circle around Anna. “I am not sure which of the two excites me more.”

“I’m more curious about how you can speak my people’s language so well, but if you’re initial imitation of my form was that accurate, you’ve probably been listening and watching, if not more, for as long as we’ve all been here in Midrath.” Anna stayed as relaxed as she could, not relaxing or showing any sign of discomfort. The last thing she wanted to do was let her adversaries see any hint of weakness. Just from how the Spiderkin had acted until now, she knew doing so would be a grave mistake, one she wouldn’t regret for long. “You may know my appearance, but what of my name?”

“Prying, are we?” the Queen said with a hint of laughter. “Of course, Anna, that is something I would know. Names hold great power from where we come, so to not respect them would naturally be a great dishonor.”

The sound of flesh being shed and consumed filled the chamber, and next the Queen appeared in front of Anna, it no longer felt like looking in a mirror. She smiled up at the Queen. “I apologize then for my ignorance, though, that may be more of a compliment towards your ability to keep sensitive information from potential enemies—which my people and I are not.”

Anna had expected the Queen to look like the other Spiderkin, but her expectations were instantly dispelled. If she didn’t know any better, she’d thought the Spiderkin Queen was just some form of dark skinned elf.

Despite being stark naked, the Queen’s deep eyes that shined like rubies drew Anna more than anything else.

“This is unexpected,” she muttered, eyes glued to the Queen. She looked her up and down several times, happy that she was present instead of one of the boys. She didn’t know if it was some hidden skill of the Queen or what, but she even felt attracted to the Spiderkin. “Your home is to my expectations, but you’re not.”

“I get that a lot. It is one of the many reasons why I do not go out all that much,” the Queen said, crossing her arms. “Does this make you uncomfortable?”

“I will admit, this is more uncomfortable than staring back at myself, but probably not for the reason you would assume,” Anna said, smacking herself internally for answering in such a way. But try as she might, she couldn’t even think to come up with another answer. A compulsory truth effect? That makes things even more interesting.

The Spiderkin Queen smiled knowingly. “Do not worry, you will get used to the effects for the most part. In fact, it surprises me that you can hold up so well in the first place.”

“Is the effect something that makes you speak more openly as well?” Anna asked, grinning. “Or have we made quite a few assumptions ourselves?”

“I am sure we both operate under many assumptions,” the Queen said, tilting her head slightly. She flicked her hand, and a piece of paper appeared. “Do you know what this is?”

“I don’t, but I’m sure you’ll tell me,” Anna said, eyeing the paper warily.

“It’s a message from your mate, one that makes me think you’re here independently. Is that correct?” she asked, ruby eyes locking Anna in place. Around the chamber, the Spiderkin tensed.

“I’m here as a representative of Zion, regardless of if I’ve moved independently.” She glared back at the Queen. “You want to know whether I am confident or arrogant, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that I wouldn’t be here if I thought I was in any true danger. You may threaten me, but if I don’t return after our conversation, I’ve already created an Essence map from the location your scouts picked me up to here. Within a day, Aiden will be here if I don’t return.”

“What stops me from taking your place?” the Spiderkin Queen asked, waving her people back. “And why should I believe anything you say? I feel no such energy coming off of you?”

Anna waved her hand, revealing Emerald veins pulsing deep beneath the ground. “Because I didn’t want you to.”

“Interesting.” The Spiderkin Queen went quiet for several seconds. “My name, you wish to know it?”

“Preferably. As you said, names are important.”

“Queen of Natraxia, Onnamixia Calvex,” she said with a bow. “Now, there are many things we should discuss. Your leader has made his desires known to me, but for what reason have you sealed me out? Tell me, Anna, what are your deepest desires?”

*

A lightning bolt crashed down as Torty stopped another horde from passing through the portal, slaying a dozen Shadowborn in an instant. Ian watched as his Companion nibbled on the Cores until they cracked open, his beak dangerously sharp. The runic tortoise slurped up the milky mist into itself and let out a sound of satisfaction.

But Ian was anything but satisfied.

Aiden had left hours ago, and no sign of a relief had been sent his way. The only person he’d seen was James, and the older boy had been in a hurry, searching for Anna. He couldn’t provide anything productive in the way of where she might’ve gone, but the news that Zion was mobilizing against the Valkyr left him deeply frustrated and restless.

“I shouldn’t go,” he said for the thousandth time. “Aiden asked me to guard the portal, and that’s important. If I leave, nobody will be left to stop the monster hordes from flooding out. If Aiden is moving all the forces out of Zion, then I have to stay here and guard in case any of them make their way there.”

Logically, his reasoning was sound. The more he told himself, the more he almost believed what he said, but his gut was screaming otherwise. Something wasn’t sitting right with him about the whole situation. The last thing he wanted to do was to wait for an unknown outcome when all his friends’ lives were on the line.

Especially as someone who specialized in Durability, he should be on the frontlines with his people, with Aiden. Sitting around at the portal when Torty was enough to handle the situation? That wasn’t right, and he knew it. But Aiden had put the responsibility of the portal on him, and to leave the portal alone would be to desert the duty given to him.

“But what does it matter if I fulfill the duty if they all end up getting killed? There won’t be anything to defend if everyone…” He didn’t want to continue spewing his negativity and end up speaking the tragic possibility into existence. He resisted the urge to punch a tree, the frustration building. “I can’t stay here. I can’t. I have to go.”

He looked in the direction of Zion and then passed it. Somewhere out there, his people were moving towards danger.

“That’s it,” he said, letting out a deep breath. “I’ll die of stress if I stay here. If it turns out I wasn’t needed, better to be there just in case. If it turns out I am, that’s both good and bad. If I’m not needed, I can just apologize and resume the duties I have here until relieved.” He clenched his fists. “But if I am needed and don’t go and everyone gets hurt, I don’t think I’ll be able to live with myself. I’m sure Aiden will understand.”

WIthout arguing with himself any further, he grabbed Torty, looked at the portal for a long moment, ignoring the deep sense of dread he felt from it, turned, and walked away, using the setting sun to guide him west.

Seeing the sun deepen and issue in dusk, he picked up his pace and began running, unable to escape the sense of dread coming at him from every direction.

“Tonight’s gonna be a long one, Torty.”