28 — Mother of Webs (MoT)

The dungeon of Lienmont, like all dungeons, had layers to its structure. The first layer were cavernous tunnels, of twisting and turning mazes, and narrow paths. An ideal structure for ambush and poison attacks. Although one argument thought the sewers to be part of the reason for the poison inclination of the first layer.

There was no fixed depth to this layer, but like all dungeon pathways, Jennifer knew there would be a way deeper within, into the far more mana dense areas of the second layer. She also knew that the path would be likely infested with monsters, and each entrance into the deeper layer would likely have some kind of trial or enemy she’d need to beat. On Xar’s behest, they had decided to head towards his home, to hopefully find a way towards the second layer of the dungeon, and gain a hint on where the Mark might be.

Jennifer extended her arm outwards. A crystalline ball formed around above her palm, forming an eye. She closed one eye, connecting it with the glass eye instead, as her vision split into two different perspectives. A headache assailed her from the jarring shift.

“Xar, can you manage the glass eye for me,” Jennifer asked, establishing a connection with the glass to her eye. A complicated interaction entirely out of her capabilities and understanding to tamper with.

<Of course,> Xar replied. A link established between the eye and Jennifer’s mind, run entirely by the little spider on her shoulder. She opened her closed eyes back up, finding her vision returning to normal, yet, from the back of her mind, like from an organ she didn’t know she possessed, she could see a different view, a bit above her own head and floating detached from everything else.

Jennifer tugged at the eye, making it turn around to look back down at her. Her eyes met the single eye looking back, and she found her headache return back in full force as the connection shuddered, almost snapping off.

<Don’t do that!> Xar exclaimed, stabilising the connection again.

“Ouch- sorry,” Jennifer said, clutching her head. She ignored the floating eye, letting Xar control it in her place, simply sustaining the spell matrix instead.

<Maybe I should learn mind magic. It’s definitely nifty,> Jennifer sent to Xar, as the two stepped ahead, a floating eye of glass flying around them to scout.

<Jennifer can’t. She’s not a Telepath.> Xar said.

<Well, it’s like any other magic, no? I may not have an innate ability for it, but I could probably learn it at least a little bit right?> Jennifer asked. Xar didn’t reply, unsure about his answer.

<Xar doesn’t know magic,> the spider replied cautiously.

Jennifer sighed, putting the idea of talking telepathically aside for the moment. Maybe in one reset she would ask Nathaniel to teach her how, but for now, she had a task to do.

<Spikes in front. And a many-legs-death coming from below. Not too big,> Xar sent to Jennifer, and she stepped around the pitfall set in the ground. Usually she’d need a [Rogue] or a [Trap-master] around to check for these sort of ambushes in an equally distributed party, but Xar was better than any [Rogue] could ever hope to be.

Little red droplets flowing around her palm to form her [Blood Dagger], filled with the poison from the serpent she’d killed. She twirled the blade around, a smile on her face. If it had been her from months prior who had to do this, she would’ve felt panicked, but now, she struggled to believe any creature could pose a big trouble to her strengths.

<Except the Poison-Death,> Xar added.

<Except the Poison-Death> Jennifer agreed. <So let’s hope it doesn’t decide to show it’s face this time around.>

Xar nodded in an affirmative.

Jennifer waited a few moments, standing still. A breath later, the ground stirred beneath her, as pincers exploded from the dirt beneath her feet, swiping at her feet. She jumped, agile wind blowing her up. Curious to test out her new [Fusion Casting] Jennifer blended Mana Bolt and Glass Bolt together.

A shower of glowing blots of glass sprayed towards the ground, exploding into little chunks that dug through the veripede’s carapace like paper. The creature twitched, purple blood flowing from its wounds and Jennifer severed its head in a swift slice, killing the monster.

Her [Blood Dagger] soaked in the blood, shuddering with joy.

<You know, people will probably kill to have you working with them for dungeon exploration. A sentient dungeon monster with mind magic that can snuff out most ambushes? Sounds like some sort of dream> Jennifer sent to the little spider.

She received the mental equivalent of a confirming nod from him as the spider exclaimed. <Xar is mighty!

Leaving the veripede behind after her swift victory, Jennifer continued on her way through the dungeon. She kept a look out for her surroundings, dealing with the occasional Veripedes and Dire rats, but the confidence in her step was new, and refreshing. The fight with the serpent had served as a good method to reinforce her confidence in her fighting capabilities.

Jennifer felt a shiver come from [Blood Dagger], the blade echoing her excitement. It too felt excited around the many monsters that it was eager to feast on. Jennifer frowned, changing the blade’s form to its curved carving blade instead. Twirls of blood-glass now spun across in a helical pattern. The hunger became subdued upon the shift. It was colder now, more distant, more calculating.

<Xar does not like the blade> Xar said, sending a sensation akin to revulsion.

“Because it’s blood magic?” Jennifer asked, glancing down at the blade in her hand.

<Because it is sinister. It wants to eat and nothing else. It’s like… like how Xar was, before he gained the Soul-Mark. Capable of only eating, and killing, to grow stronger. Mindless.>

Jennifer didn’t reply to Xar’s words. She’d been aware of these things. But if she wanted to save her city, she’d need strength. And the [Blood Dagger] gave her just that.

<Xar feels hungry. Do you think we can get some mana cores?>

Jennifer dug in her pouch, digging one out as she handed it to the spider. Xar moved up to her shoulder, and grabbed the mana stone with his front legs, before he began to devour the treat. Pure bliss flowed through their bond and Jennifer felt her mood improve from the sensation.

<Did you always eat mana stones?> Jennifer asked the spider, curious about his physiology. The study of Monster Physiology had an experiment that had taken the same creature from the dungeon and the outside world, and put them in separate cages, with the same food provided to both of them. But while the monster from the outside had eaten food when provided, the dungeon creature had refused to touch any, and even when force fed, it would simply throw up the food back out. All those creatures had died of starvation, until put back in the dungeon.

<No. Xar didn’t eat anything. Eat-Kill-Grow was not meant for sustenance, like you humans need to. Xar ate because of the dungeon-voice. It asked Xar to eat the prey he beat, so that Xar could grow, and become stronger. But ever since Xar gained the Soul-Mark, he has felt this new sensation. Hunger. It was strange, at first, but also pleasurable. There is this sensation that comes after hunger, when Xar eats. Xar enjoys that sensation.>

<Satiation? I know what you’re talking about. Nothing better than good food on an empty stomach. It’s a feeling humans- a lot of the creatures of the outside are familiar with,> Jennifer replied.

<Must be nice,> Xar said, a sensation of envy reaching Jennifer.

The two walked in silence for a moment, accompanied by the occasional ambush and appearance of some monsters. There were little redirections that needed to be made, with Xar spotting any real threats before they were close.

<How far is your home?> Jennifer asked, growing bored by the dull and monotonous walking through dimly illuminated caverns.

<Xar doesn’t know. Can’t tell anymore,> the spider replied. Jennifer felt a pang of sadness at his words.

<You never told me what your home was like. Or your family. Which would be monster spiders I suppose.>

Xar scuttled on her back, the usual cheer gone from the spider’s voice. <Xar’s home is… dark. The memories are blurry and vague, but Xar knows that it is dark. Xar would dig beneath the earth, into the tunnels that were spread across the colony. He would wait there, to strike when something came close. It was waiting like that, when Xar learned of the cycles. The Dungeon pulses at a rhythm, with the day and night beyond the world. Two cycles for each day. That was Xar’s life. Waiting, and waiting, and sitting in the dark.>

Jennifer saw vague images of the dark blurry hole, of the chilling cold and the seeping loneliness. She felt a strange apathy fill her mind.

<But then one day. Something stepped on Xar. It was a human, but Xar didn’t know that yet. This was the first thing Xar had felt, so Xar jumped, and bit like the dungeon-voice told him. The human was injured and poisoned, and Xar continued to bite at the human with desperation, till he moved no longer. Then the colony ate him, and whatever remained was absorbed by the dungeon.>

Xar didn’t move an inch as he told the story. He’d gone rigid, and Jennifer found herself slowing down her breath to not interrupt the spider in anyway.

<Xar grew that day. He grew larger, and his legs grew bigger. It felt good. So Xar waited once more, this time excited. He wanted to beat prey again. To grow stronger and larger, perhaps as large as his sisters one day. Xar knew this was impossible, but somehow the thought never left him.>

The images flashed in Jennifer’s mind, a sensation of longing filling her through the mind-link. The desire to grow, to be stronger and better. To prove himself.

<It was twenty seven cycles, before something else came close. This time, Xar didn’t wait before he leapt at the prey. That was a mistake. The prey saw Xar coming, stomped on Xar and almost killed him. It hurt. But Xar kept biting, climbing up its body till he found the eye. Xar bit through it. And so the colony ate once more. Xar felt stronger. And this time, his sister’s took note.>

The image of a massive spider looking at her through its multiple eyes came to Jennifer. She suppressed a shudder.

<Xar was happy! Happier than he’d ever been, back in those times. But Xar also felt afraid… if he grew more, he would be selected as a mate. And he would die soon after. It was how our lives were supposed to be, yet, for some reason Xar didn’t want to die.>

Jennifer felt a familiar fear reach her from the spider. Something she used to possess once herself.

<Xar stayed in the burrowing hole. This time for eleven cycles, before something else came. Xar had hoped the day wouldn’t come. But it came, and so Xar jumped and bit. The prey was a man, a weird man who could freeze all of Xar’s sister and brothers with a thought. He could peer in our minds, and stop our thoughts. Our hearts too. He was injured and dying, but hundreds of the colony died that day. The man had killed the matriarch, and was ploughing through the webs. Destroying Xar’s home. Xar was angry.>

A wave of fury flowed into Jennifer, as she absently shot at the Dire-rat, her mind focused on Xar’s story.

<And so, with every other brother and sister, Xar leapt at the man, to eat through his ankles, and cut his flesh. Xar knew he would die, but he kept fighting, and biting to protect his home. And to Xar’s surprise, the man fell down. Xar walked around, through the dead and unmoving corpses of his brothers and sisters up to the man’s eye. Xar knew this was a weak part, so he tried to bite it, but the man froze Xar’s legs. Xar tried to bite anyway, but it was pointless. The man was dying, there was blood flowing from his wounds and he had no arm, it was torn out. Xar didn’t know that was a bad thing back then.>

The blurry visage of a massive man presented itself to Jennifer, and she noticed something set upon his hand. A symbol she was vaguely familiar with.

<The man laughed, and laughed for a while. Xar continued to watch as the man laughed and coughed then laughed again, before he began to cry. Xar was confused and angry, but also… curious. After half a cycle of moving around painfully, the man finally set his hands on Xar, and said something. That was the first time Xar understood words. As he became Xar.>

Jennifer saw a scene present itself in her mind. Unlike all the other memories, this one was clear, clearer than any memory she’d ever seen, and for a moment, she felt like she was there, listening to the man’s raspy voice.

“A curse. They gave me a curse. Now I give it to you, monster. I name you Xardhviladrothic, after the last blight dragon to exist, and I unleash you upon this world as the curse of my dying breath.”

The hand pressed itself on Xar’s back, glowing brightly. Something shivered in his soul, as a Mark set carved itself onto his soul.

Thus, Xar the great and mighty was born.

Jennifer found herself stumbling from the memory, staring blankly at the air around her. “You… knew the previous owner of your Mark? Who was he?”

<Xar doesn’t know. It took a long time before the world made any sense again. Things were so much more. The world had expanded to be larger than it had ever been before, and Xar felt everything crumble. So he ran, and hid in his hole, and waited. It was 27,541 cycles before Xar came out again.>

Jennifer quietly did the maths in her head, before her eyes widened in surprise. <You were in there for 38 years?>

Xar sent back an affirmative. <Xar spent the next 20,000 cycles figuring out words and people and the dungeon-home. Then he started to talk in ways that did not make people’s minds break. It took some practice, but he managed it. They didn’t like that. Adventurers came after Xar, though they never found him, but Xar learned quickly that humans did not like monsters very much.>

“Yeah… we don’t,” Jennifer said to the spider.

<It took a few thousand cycles more before Xar found out about the not-voice from another human. And a few more to hear it for the first time. Xar was happy. After a long time, he felt like he’d found a friend! The not-voice taught things to Xar. Made talking easier, made understanding easier. But it made the dungeon-voice angry. And Xar had to hide from the monsters around him.>

Jennifer gulped at Xar’s words, before hesitantly asking. “How long… have you been alive?’

Xar remained silent for a moment, counting, before he replied. <102,767 cycles. Or 142 years, 8 months and 6 days.>

Jennifer stood in stunned silence, trying to absorb the information she’d just learned. Trying not to stop in the dungeon lost in her own thoughts, she began to walk again, yet her mind kept drifting back to everything Xar had said.

<Why didn’t you tell me? I guess I also never asked or had a reason to suspect but… you act so young, and I thought this trial had only resurfaced recently.>

<It has. The trial was not here, but the Soul-Marks were. Have been for a long time now. And… the reason Xar never told Jennifer was because… Xar didn’t want Jennifer to hate him. Because Xar was afraid that she’d see him as a monster who ate humans and abandon him.>

Jennifer felt fear, anxiety and a myriad of emotions flood her from her mind-link. Gently, she closed her eyes and reached up to her shoulder, brushing the little spider’s fuzzy head.

<No, silly. I… well it’s a bit weird to know that you’re older than my great-grandfather but I don’t hate you Xar. I really don’t. I’ve done terrible things too, and I may have to kill people. I know there’s a demon I would kill any day. You fought to protect your home. I am doing the same. How could I ever hate you for doing that? Plus, friends don’t hate each other for their past mistakes, they help each other be better instead.>

Xar didn’t reply for a while, a mix of emotions going through the spider. <Thank you Jennifer,> the spider replied at last. <For being Xar’s friend.>

Jennifer allowed a smile to blossom on her lips. <I’m glad to be your friend, Xar.>

<Xar feels… strange. It’s like that feeling when Xar was in his hole, covered from all sides. Protected and warm.>

Jennifer laughed quietly, enjoying watching the spider’ fumble around awkwardly. <That’s also a feeling people are quite familiar with Xar. It’s… warmth and comfort, the understanding that you are safe and loved. It’s hard to put it in words.>

<Jennifer said she wanted to learn mind magic. Well, if she does, then this would be the first exercise. Words are meaningless with minds, Xar uses them because Xar knows you will not understand Xar otherwise, but it is a restriction on the mind, and it’s capability to grasp things. This could be like the light thing, an exercise. Jennifer could try and explain to Xar what Fuzzy-warmth-comfort is without words!> the spider exclaimed to her, and Jennifer thought over it for a moment.

She focused on the feeling she had when she’d gotten her [Enchanter] class. The comforting hand of her father on her shoulder as she’d slept, and the words had been whispered in her ears by the world.

She focused on the image, on that sensation of love and comfort and peace, and then directed it towards the spider.

<Warmth-Comfort-Peace> Jennifer sent, the emotion flowing through the mindlink.

She received a sensation of understanding from Xar, before another flowed in. No words accompanied the sensation from Xar, just the feeling of being safe, and secure, protected from all direction.

A smile creeped up on Jennifer’s face at the sensation. <Yes, that’s it!> she sent back to Xar, who chittered happily in her mind. But the moment faded quickly, as the spider grew quieter.

<Actually. Xar has a confession to make.>

Jennifer quirked an eyebrow, curious about Xar’s sudden words. <What is it?> she asked.

<Xar has been lying. Xar… doesn’t need to talk like this. The Xar Jennifer knows doesn’t even exist, really. It is just a fabrication Xar fabricated because the [Mind-link] with Jennifer taught Xar that it’d be non threatening and would make humans like Xar,> Xar replied. <Xar is actually… not like this at all. Xar is sorry for lying.>

<I… don’t know what to say to that,> Jennifer replied. <You’ve made a fake persona because you knew it’d make people like you?>

Xar responded with an affirmative. <Xar isn’t human. He had to do something to talk to Jennifer and the others, and so Xar created this personality to interact with people.>

<I see. Well, it definitely is a bad thing to lie to friends,> Jennifer replied, receiving a sensation of guilt from Xar. <And I do feel a bit manipulated. Rumina and Livian as well, even if they don’t remember it.>

<Xar is sorry…> the spider replied.

<Good. I’ll forgive you, if you let me see who you truly are,> Jennifer responded.

<It will hurt Jennifer.> Xar replied.

<I’m sure I’ll be fine.>

She heard something like a sigh reach her. <Brace yourself.> Xar said, as the mind-link between them expanded.

The strongest headache of her life assailed Jennifer. She stumbled,leaning on the walls for support as her mind overflowed from the myriad of sensations the spider sent her way.

His mind was complex, multiple thoughts and actions working in tandem. Like an interconnecting web of thoughts linked together. It was like trying to see four different things at once, with each one screaming for your attention. The threads of thought were a shape that she couldn’t describe in words, a tangle that ran beyond what the physical world would consider a feasible thing that could exist. Some threads governed each eye, and his vision, some for his body and others to translate this chaos to words from the memories he’d stored. An entire complex layer of webs ran the personality of Xar that she experienced, presented in a non-threatening way. A single thread for the glass-eye Jennifer sustained up above in the air, one she’d completely forgotten the existence of for a while.

It was a foreign mind, so alien and inhuman that she failed to grasp how it could ever coax itself into human speech, and restrict its workings to a mind as feeble and small as hers. A strange dread filled Jennifer, as she experienced the depth and complexity of her little spider friend. Like the sensation of peeking into the endless void, and finding it vaster than you could possibly imagine.

But, at the same time, a voice was whispering in her mind. This is who I am. This is who Xardhviladrothic is.

Jennifer stared at the vast complex vastness, even as her head felt like popping. She took in everything that her curious new friend was, and reached out to it with her own mind. It was a feeble prod, intangible and messy, yet it was the closest to a handshake she could do with her mind, and she felt Xar grasp the mind-link she’d extended with his own, a sensation of joy flowing back through Jennifer.

The mind-link collapsed the next moment, as Xar’s mind was cut off from her, leaving only the bare minimum of things. Jennifer clutched her head, groaning in pain as she slid down onto the ground, unable to move from the pain going through her entire skull.

<Xar is sorry. Xar shouldn’t have—>

Jennifer raised her hand, to cut off Xar. Breathing through the pain, and fighting the hacks and coughs rising from her gut, Jennifer slowly pulled herself up.

“No… It’s good that you did,” she replied, pulling herself up. Steadying herself, Jennifer closed her eyes and reached for a new sensation budding in her mind. Like a hand she had never moved in her life, that she was finally aware of.

A new thread extended itself towards Xar, trying to reach out, and connect to his mind. Jennifer felt surprise flow in from Xar.

<Xar was wrong,> the spider said, crawling up to Jennifer’s shoulder. <Jennifer can learn mind magic. And Xar would be more than happy to teach.>

Jennifer smiled, thanking the spider. Chugging a mana potion to clear her head, the two pressed forward. Onwards to Xar’s home.

***

The colony - as Xar had called the place - was a strange location. The typical caverns had given way to a large chamber, covered in little dirt hills and sheets of white spider silk flowing in all directions. The ground was loose, as if it had been dug in quite often, and she could vaguely sense creatures shifting beneath the surface of the ground. Her eyes scanned the location, looking up to see white pods of silky cocoons stuck to the ceiling, letting down strings of white thread that gave the location an extremely eerie feel.

Jennifer was starting to see a pattern with how these areas with a specific kind of monster were arranged within the dungeon, with the wide caverns of the slimes, to the light section where Livian got his familiar, and now the colony.

<The Colony is aware of our approach. They will intercept soon.>

True to Xar’s words, it didn’t take long for dozens of spiders the size of Jennifer’s thumb to burst from the ground, and rush the two of them. With a simple pulse from Xar, the spiders froze stiff, laying unmoving. Jennifer moved carefully to not accidentally crush underneath her feet, as they made their way further into the area.

Xar stood on Jennifer’s shoulder, his mind scanning the location. Hisses, clicks and clatters echoed through the dark chamber, the sound of shifting earth and moving bodies creating a low hum that disturbed Jennifer in a way she couldn’t quite describe.

The eerie sensation worsened very quickly, when a dozen or so spiders large enough to cover her head with their bodies slunk down from the ceiling, their six sets of eyes set at her as they hissed and spit in anger.

Xar shifted on her shoulder, sending another pulse out.

<Not Intruder. Ally. Friend.> Xar sent to the spiders, letting the concepts carry out in waves. The spider’s aggression slowed down, as they looked at Xar with a wary gaze.

<Meet Mother. Meet the Matriarch.> Xar sent to the spider. The spiders shifted their front legs ever so slightly as if discussing something, before one turned and began to walk further in.

<We follow,> Xar sent to Jennifer. Hesitantly, she followed behind the spider.

The webs around her path thickened, more and more cocoons covering the surface of the walls. The wide and sprawling cavern led to a sectioned out chamber that was clearly protected by two guard spiders standing near the entrance.

A posse of four spiders stood behind Jennifer and Xar, their sights never leaving the two of them. Jennifer felt strange at watching the weird society and structure amidst these monsters. They were clearly not mindless beasts.

The guide spider walking ahead stopped in front of a gap in the walls covered with spider silk all around.

<The Matriarch is inside,> Xar told Jennifer, as she stared at the gate, gulping once. Carefully, she reached out to the web, pushing through them to make her way to the other side.

Hurriedly walking out through the tangle, Jennifer coughed and spat, trying to wipe off the white silk covering her hair and clothes. For a moment, it was enough to make her not notice the looming figure in front of her.

Noticing the shadow cast upon her, Jennifer raised her head, and saw a massive spider with a humongous back side sitting within a cocoon that was half burst open, and oddly reminiscent of a throne.

Jennifer felt the hair rise on her body, a shiver crawling down her spine when the spider met her eyes. She was tall, coming up to Jennifer’s shoulders even while prone on the ground. Scars covered the matriarch, a chilling aura filling her chamber.

The giant spider hissed.

Xar shifted on Jennifer’s shoulder, walking down her hand as he jumped down onto the ground and walked up to stand in front of the matriarch. The size difference was comically vast, but Jennifer felt no desire to laugh.

<Greetings Matriarch,> Xar said, raising his front two legs. <Xar has come to ask for help.>