by Jez Cajiao
“Back! Get back!” I shouted, shoving the party, and they fell back quickly, but not before several spiders shot their webs at us, with more being released repeatedly.
Instantly, it became a mess of screaming faces, yanking arms, and flashing weapons as we all tried to cut the dozens of strands that hit us, yanking us off our feet, even as smaller spiders jumped across the room or fell from above us.
I felt the pain of tiny bites on my neck, the back of my wrist, on my cheek…
Beware!
You have been poisoned. You will lose one (1) point of health, and one (1) point of stamina per second for the next ten (10) seconds.
Beware!
You have been poisoned. You will lose one (1) point of health, and one (1) point of stamina per second for the next ten (10) seconds.
Beware!
You have been poisoned. You will lose one (1) point of health, and one (1) point of stamina per second for the next ten (10) seconds.
Beware…
I felt the bites as they continued, and I saw the notification flash up, the poisoned warning getting my attention straight away, as I realized just how dangerous this was.
I had one spell that I could use here, but didn’t have anywhere near the time to cast it, considering how long it took for ‘Cleansing Fire’ to activate. Ten seconds wasn’t long, but when a single mispronunciation would cause the spell to backlash and harm me more, and I had dozens of poisonous spiders covering me, I didn’t have the time or control to cast it.
I had one chance, and that was to embrace my new ability.
I pulled my mana in, and shoved it into my muscles, my tendons, my…
“ARRRRRRRGH” I screamed, as my body was suddenly flooded with vitality. It felt like I’d had a pint of strong espresso injected into my brain directly, as time seemed to slow around me. The Drow I’d faced before had been stronger and faster than me, until I’d boosted myself.
The spiders weren’t, they weren’t even close.
There were lots of them, but they were only dangerous as the ambush predators they were, especially when facing me in my newly enhanced form.
I spun my naginata through the air, a touch of mana spared to flare it to life and imbue it with fire as I cut through all but one of the cords holding me.
I smashed down with my other hand, swatting the spiders that covered me, feeling them explode in tiny pops of gore, and when my feet hit the ground, I felt the last connected web yank on me, trying to pull me back up, even as other spiders readied themselves to fire another salvo of webs at me.
I grinned up at the spider connected to me, and I gripped the thick webbing with my left hand, yanking…hard.
It came loose from the wall where it had crouched. It’d been bracing to pull me up, not prepared for a tug of war with a being far stronger than it.
It fell forward, legs windmilling as it tried to secure itself. Its thrashing legs hit a second spider and pulled it free, the chitinous forelegs punching deep into its unfortunate brethren, who immediately counterattacked, sinking its fangs into its supposed attacker.
I was moving now; I’d cut the cord connecting me to the spider that was battling for its life against another of its own kin, and I started to dance. I jumped and sliced, cut and tore through webbing, my people falling free.
Lydia cursed as she smashed down nearby, but yanked a potion out and chugged it, even as Arrin fell nearby, his FlameShield spell being a nasty surprise for the spiders that had covered him, and even more so for the ones that fell all around him. He quickly drank a health, then mana potion, and started running around giggling as spiders fell, bursting into flames as they hit his shield.
Barrett grabbed Stephanos as I freed him and started dragging him from the room, Arrin leaped up and grabbed onto a spider easily ten foot tall that had landed nearby, and as he grabbed handfuls of coarse hair, pulling himself upwards, his FlameShield burrowed into the creature, killing it in a gory explosion of superheated chitin.
I spun and jumped, my health and mana dropping steadily, as well as my stamina, but as my blade licked out, piercing and slicing, skewering and deftly freeing my party, I couldn’t help but grin at the world around me.
These were spiders, giant fucking killer spiders, in a cave deep underground, and I was going to be giving any survivors fucking nightmares after this.
I saw Arrin cancel his FlameShield, firing a handful of Magic Missiles upwards, and a second later, the struggling cocoon fell from the ceiling. Lydia caught it, staggering under the weight.
“I’ve got him!” she screamed, running for the exit from the room, and the safety of the others.
I spun my naginata, flashing out again and again as they fled, and more spiders landed all around me.
I could feel my mana getting low, and I frantically spun, lashing out and slicing a leg from the nearest spider, then pivoting and driving the point forward to crack upwards, piercing through another spider’s open maw, the tip crunching into its brain and sending it to the floor, spasming in death.
I started to grow frantic, spinning and kicking, sweeping the blade forward and disemboweling one, then flipping it over and swinging the metal clad base around like a baseball bat, another spider practically exploding from the impact.
“ENOUGH!” roared a hoarse voice, and the spiders fell back, slowly clambering up the walls and returning to watching me from their webs.
“What do you want, fleshling?” came the question, and I stared as enormous webs that had coated one entire wall slowly withdrew, and the creature that hunkered behind them was revealed.
It was a spider, grossly oversized, and old as sin. Where the others were grey and black, with haphazard patterns and markings, this creature was midnight black with red patterned across it. My every instinct screamed that nature always marked things with warnings, and that this red was a hint to make sure I stayed the fuck away from it.
It slowly moved forward, a leg as thick around as I was, touching down with a crunch as it impacted a bone and smashed it into oblivion, and I realized the floor was covered in them. I was in a nest that had seen thousands of deaths, and I was almost out of mana, like seconds left… if that.
“Well? Why have you come, now of all times? Your kind never comes without cause!” It bellowed, and I felt the hot, fetid breath wash over me, the stink of carrion thick in the air.
“My friend was taken…” I forced out, my mana reserves bottoming out, and I felt the boosted stats leaving, my muscles deflating. I forced myself to stand straighter, knowing I couldn’t win this fight.
“And now you have it back. Leave! Leave my children, before more die!” It bellowed at me, and I shook my head.
“No! He is my scout; the Drow took the friend I am chasing… I hunt them…” I tried not to let it show, but I’d grounded the base of my naginata, frantically trying to stay upright as I gripped it with all my waning strength, the last effects of the spiders’ poisonous bites bottoming out my stamina, while my health wasn’t much better.
“Drow!” The spider spat; disgust clear in its rumbling voice. “Always they curse us, use us! We want no part of your fight with them; you will leave some of your number to make up for my losses, then go to hunt them.”
“Get fucked,” I said, not pausing to think.
“What?”
“I said, you can get fucked!” I growled. “You attacked my scout, attacked me! I’m not at fault here…” I frowned, earning a vicious pulse from the mana migraine I was trying to ignore as I used my Identify spell on the Spider.
Ashrag the Old
Greater Ancient Cave Spider
Ashrag was young when the city of Himnel was built, a creature steeped in blood and death even then. Ashrag was once counted an Imperial servant, but she exists for only two reasons now: to protect her young, and out of hatred for the Drow Spiderkin that forced her species to the brink of extinction.
HP: Unknown
Mana: Unknown
“…Ashrag.” I
finished, forcing myself to stare into the same eye continuously. I figured that trying to look at each of them would only show weakness.
“Mageling. I should have known,” Ashrag spat. “I am old; I’ve seen your kind come and go, be born and die; why shouldn’t I command you to be slaughtered now? Give me a reason or die screaming like so many of my children have,” She snapped bitterly. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, deciding to risk it all on one more flip of the dice, making it up as I went along, and hoping the details I had weren’t leading me astray.
“Because you swore and Oath to me and mine, Ashrag. You were an Imperial Servant once… I am Jax, Lord of the Great Tower, ruler of Dravith. How deep is your honor? Who are you, under the cloak of age; are you Ashrag the Honorable, or Ashrag the Oathbreaker?”
Silence reined across the cavern, as she slowly moved closer to me, her eyes flaring in rage, and I forced myself to glare right back. I’d never be able to win this fight, not as I was. I’d have a hell of a time when the entire party was prepared and rested, and now they were clinging to life in the tunnel, while I was surrounded.
“You dare… you dare to accuse me… I broke no Oath! It was your kind who abandoned me and mine! Thousands of my children perished; we were forced to flee when the fire mountain struck the realm, when the seas turned to flame and the skies to ash. Your kind turned on us… you hunted us, laughed at our Oaths, slaughtered my children until I fled… and now you DARE CALL ME OATHBREAKER!” The cavern shook with the rage that filled her voice, and I felt Amon staring out from my eyes.
We have wronged you… failed you… abandoned you…
The voice that filled my mind was a whisper, but it echoed, building until it became physically painful, the words thundering over and over, until I spoke them aloud. I opened my eyes and looked up at Ashrag, repeating Amon’s words as he spoke.
“I was murdered by those I loved, the Gods themselves banished through Nimon’s black arts, and my people, from the lowest to the highest, suffered for it…”
Ashrag paused, her enormous bulk hovering before me, her pedipalps each longer than my legs, twitching uncertainty, even as her fangs shook with repressed anger and a need to lash out.
“Who…Who are you…?”
“I am Jax, Lord of Dravith…” I said, swallowing hard, before going on. “I am Amon’s descendant, and I claim his Oaths as my own.” I said the last at his prompting, but I knew it was going to be a mistake.
I was right, as my meagre mana reserves bottomed out instantly, and the world shook, light erupting around me as my world vanished, and I fell backwards into darkness, a single notification filling my vision:
You have resurrected the Oath of Imperial Allegiance!
Due to lack of mana and territorial control, Oath range is limited to six miles radius. Eleven (11) Imperial Citizens have been found inside this territory, and their Oaths have become active, tied to yourself as Lord of Dravith and Scion of the Empire.
“I swear upon pain of death, to faithfully execute all that the Emperor decrees. I swear upon my soul that I shall stand for the Empire when it calls. I shall be strong when the weak need me, generous when the poor are at hand, and merciless when my fellow citizens are threatened. I shall worship the Gods of my fathers, respect my elders, and raise up my children to stand tall.
I am an Imperial Citizen. I claim the right to call upon the Legion in my hour of need, to hold those that wrong me to justice, and to be avenged if I cannot be saved.”
Those who swore the Oath in truth can now sense your location and are pulled to you by its Power.
You have taken your first step on the Path of Imperial Right. Be wary, for there can be only one end in sight: you must rule, or you must die.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I woke slowly. The first thing I could feel was pain, horrific pain that filled my body. I felt it roaring through every bone as they screamed with agony, their marrow pulsing.
I groaned, straining, and felt myself shift slightly before my restraints stopped my movement.
I struggled weakly, pulling against whatever held me, and I felt a sticky strand that caught the suddenly exposed skin on the back of my left wrist.
As I coughed and forced my eyes open, I realized that the ceiling high overhead was moving as I was carried along, before sagging to one side, as the creature carrying me began to descend a wall, carrying me effortlessly downwards.
It took a while for any of it to make sense, my mind pulsing crazily with pain, but eventually I focused in, seeing a blurry patch close to my face that shifted and moved.
It resolved suddenly as it moved closer to my face to examine me, and I jerked back.
A bright red and black spider the size of a Pitbull was squatting on my chest, staring at me from dozens of jet-black eyes.
“What the…” I snarled, trying to back away. I realized that I was webbed down, and my instincts flared, I opened my mouth, about to try to bite the spider, before it could bite me, when Amon spoke.
Wait…
I froze. The usual madness that filled his voice was gone, leaving only a bone deep weariness, and somehow, that one word carried a sense of hope as well.
She is no threat to you, scion of my line.
“Can you hear me?” I asked, not really expecting an answer.
I can, Jax.
“Well this is freaky as fuck, but right now I’m about to be a spider buffet, so…”
The Children of Ashrag are no threat to you.
“Clearly you missed the fight, then…”
I saw some of it… I think… the world is different, and I lose my place in time on occasion. We don’t have long, Scion, so listen well.
“Okay…”
Be silent.
The voice carried no anger, but it was full of authority, and I froze again when it commanded silence, the sarcastic comeback dying in my throat, the words never uttered.
We have no time but the present. Listen if you wish to survive. Ashrag felt her Oath become active to you when you took my Oaths as your own. Your mana was too weak to claim all my oaths, and if it weren’t, you’d be dead from the shock, so be thankful. For now, just accept that those nearby who swore to the Empire have had their Oaths called upon. They can feel you, can sense your lineage, and are compelled to come to you, to serve you. Ashrag feels aggrieved, abandoned, and ill-used, but she recognized the truth of the Oaths becoming active. She will not harm you or allow another of her brood to do so. If you would claim more from her, it will be on you…
“Look, I don’t know what the fuck just happened. I just know that I feel like I was hit by a fucking bus, and you’re spouting shit I don’t understand. So, any chance you could run through that again in English?... Hellooo… Amon? …Fuck.”
I groaned as I felt Amon’s presence vanish, and I tried to sit up again, only to collapse a handful of seconds later when it was obvious that I couldn’t move. I flexed my hands as best I could, feeling the surrounding webbing pull at the skin.
I could feel the heat of the spider under me, the long coarse hairs that covered its body, and the shifting chitinous plates that lifted and dipped as it clambered down the wall.
“Anyone there?” I called out weakly, and I felt the spider under me freeze momentarily before continuing, but it moved cautiously now, as though afraid.
“Jax?” A weak voice called out from behind me, and others rose to join it.
“Lord Jax?”
“You crazy bastard! Whoot!”
The last I recognized as Arrin’s voice; the trainee mage was clearly loving life at the minute, I realized, as I managed to twist my head to get a look up at them. The rest of my party were all strung out above me, webbed onto the backs of spiders that climbed the sheer face of an underground cliff.
“They are safe,” came a tiny, rough voice and I twisted my head around. The smaller spider that hunched on my chest stared at me; its voice interrupted by a nervous clicking of fangs. “The queen commanded
you are not to be harmed. We are travelling to the central nest, where she will summon the others.”
“What others… tiny spider?” I asked, hesitating over the name.
“I am Horkesh,” the spider said proudly. “I am the Queen-in-Waiting of our colony; my sisters travel with your servants.” I coughed and tried to shift again, the spider under me freezing, and I felt it start to shake in fear.
“What…*Cough*… What happened… Horkesh?” I asked weakly, and the spider shifted on my chest, scuttling to one side to say something in a language I didn’t understand, before dashing back to stand on my chest, its fangs flashing inches from my eyes as she spoke.
“Your mount fears it has given offense. Do you wish to eat it?” Horkesh asked, and I had to fight down bile.
“No. No, I really don’t fucking want to eat it. I want to get where we’re going and get the fuck down.” I replied, swallowing hard.
“We are less than a turning of your sand glasses from the nest. Be patient, please, Lord.”
With that she darted away again to carry out a hurried discussion with the spider acting as my mount, and it resumed the trip, this time notably faster and more bumpily. “I have ordered your mount to hurry,” she said, and I drew in a deep breath, unsure if I was really in a rush to get wherever I was going after all. I was webbed to the back of a giant fucking spider, I reflected.
I checked my mana and health, and saw they were both steadily rising, but far slower than I’d have liked.
“How long was I unconscious?” I asked, and Horkesh considered for a long while. I was about to ask again when she spoke up at last.
“You were unconscious for, I think, a full arc of the daystar. The Queen allowed your servants to administer the red and blue waters to you, and then she bit you, to ensure you would sleep deep and dreamlessly.”