Pant leg getting caught on a stone, I stumble and trip, landing on my front with a thud and a groan.

  “Fuck… this place sucks… Oraxia your parents suck at housekeeping…”

  “I don’t know mine, but Salka is like one! She carried my egg and kept me safe.”

  Grumbling, I stand with a bit of effort. “Not what I meant. I was complaining that this place is not fun.”

  “Oh. sorry.”

  Chuckling a little at her bluntness, I continue on through this cave. It’s felt like days… and honestly it might’ve been, I’m just going by when I get hungry to keep track. And even that might not work, with how busy I am.

  “I can’t imagine Lumi doing this… maybe Sal though. Lumi would just be freaked out, or struggle with so much heavy stuff.” Stepping over a rock, I- jump forward quickly, realizing it was a beetle with a rock-like shell trying to grab me.

  .Sprinting ahead for a few minutes to lose it, I finally am far enough and lean against a wall, catching my breath.

  “...Lumi’s short height would make sprints like that more difficult, yes. But she is very resourceful in her own way, I imagine.”

  “She’s from the city, this would be a whole new world for her. Even more than it is for me.” Looking ahead, I realize- “I can see light!”

  Finally, after what felt like days of camping and crawling through this cave- which has been full of weird critters and creepy things, I finally reach the exit.

  Or, an exit, the other one had a giant spider’s trap so I’d rather not go there.

  With fresh air on us, I sit down against the stone wall of the cliff face we’re against, relaxing for a bit. “Finally… sunlight.”

  “I did not think I wouldn’t enjoy exploring… but I would rather not learn more about the denizens of that cave soon.”

  Chuckling a bit, I move her to my chest from my bag, hugging her. “Agreed… I mean, a colony of ants the size of my foot? I’m just glad they were distracted by the rations I threw at them.”

  “I still believe we should have taken a few to eat.”

  Grimacing at the thought, I can’t help but imagine how it’d be crunching through their shell… terrible. “Don’t ever make me think about that, just ugh. I’m not a spider, I don’t like bugs.”

  Making a little chitter, she nuzzles my cheek. “I know, it was a suggestion. We’re low on rations faster than we should have been, thanks to the ants.”

  “Yeah, by a day. We’ve got enough for… a few more days, maybe. We just need to hurry up.” Pushing myself off the floor, I look around from the vantage point I now have.

  I’m high up, with a view of the valley between two mountains. Looking down it, I spot a valley of… what looks like a swamp, or marsh or something. It’s filled with some murky liquid and giant bugs that remind me of mosquitos if they walked on water instead of flying.

  Shivering at the thought of being grabbed by one of those things, I focus my attention to the land masses beneath me. There’s a few islands in the swampy waters, and I see some paths into the sides of the mountains on a few of them. But one…

  Is particularly notable. A large island, in the center with seemingly no path to it, made out of a dark slate, with white lines in it following a spiderweb’s design in the slate. And in the center, a wooden temple… wait…

  Feeling my chest tighten at the childhood memories, I can hear him behind me, guiding my hands as we put together the small temple out of twigs. “Just like that Yunaria… now you just need to move these threads together, and… done!”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Feeling wind brush by me, I’m snapped back to reality, my hands held in front of me as if I were putting it together again.

  “That temple down there, it looks like one my Dad designed with me, when I was a kit. I… how?”

  Wiping some tears away, I hear her voice in my mind. “Was it made here after you did? Or were you inspired by it without knowing?”

  Staring at it and spotting nothing out of place but a few glimmers over the rooftop, which I assume are from getting wet, I shake my head. “I… I don’t know. But I think we need to go there. We can see if it’s truly like the one I made when we get there.”

  Nodding a bit, Ora moves to my back. “Of course, let’s go. There’s a path to our right we can take.”

  Looking over the edge of the outcropping we’re on, I see the path. Various small jumps I can take between platforms to get lower, all the way to the swamp below.

  “Well… as terrifying as a several story drop would be… we don’t have options.”

  “Terrifying? You would die.”

  “Exactly. So I better not miss.” Stepping back a bit, I run and jump off the ledge… landing on the next platform with a roll, coming to a stop a few inches away from the ledge, heart pounding in my chest.

  Ha… fuck… almost died. …almost.

  “Alright… next one…”

  …

  After making half a dozen of these jumps, I’m sitting and catching my breath, not wanting to make these when I’m truly exhausted. That could end very bad.

  “The cliff is sloping down from here. Maybe we could slide down instead?”

  Looking over the side, I see what she means. It’s like a very steep slide, but a bumpy and rough one that ends in a swamp bath. “No thanks… I don’t want a bath in that, and it leaves no chance for us to slow down at all. I’ll need a break at the bottom before we swim, if needed.”

  Oraxia nods a little, looking out around us as I close my eyes and try to take a nap. “Wake me up if… anything happens.”

  “Okay~”

  Smiling at her energy, I fall into a restful sleep quickly. Thanks to her, of course, eating my nightmares and getting her own fill.

  …

  …

  “na- Yuna!”

  Eyes opening, I shoot awake. “What’s wrong?”

  Seeing we’re covered in shadow, my chest tightens. Looking up, I see a spider on the side of the mountain.

  A soul weaver, sending fear through my soul with its immense will.

  “Run Yuna!”

  Eyes widening, I shoot up and grab Oraxia to my chest, making her squeal.

  “Hold on tight!”

  Dropping off the ledge, I slide down the cliffside. My hand against it holds me steady, but my flesh tears off and bleeds.

  But it doesn’t matter.

  Foot catching a bump in the wall, I bounce off it, crying out in pain.

  But, I manage to slam back into it on my way down, not entering freefall, but probably breaking a rib by the sharp stabbing in my side.

  “Argh!”

  Fighting through the tears, I push myself to the left, my pants and bag being torn through already as I slide past another bump out.

  Growling in adrenaline pushing me through, I feel my legs burn and get filled with sharp stones and gravel, the once cold surface feeling searingly hot.

  And the shadow is slowly getting further away.

  My back is as bad, but my tail being scraped sends agony ringing through my body.

  ‘C’mon, c’mon!’

  Feeling the surface of my tail get scraped off, I know it’s not long now before it eats through the spine and makes my legs useless.

  Fear filling my lungs, I see how far to go-

  The water is near, so I push off the wall to save my torn flesh any more pain-

  Only to be caught mid air, stuck on something cold and sticky, like sap. “Wha… what…?”

  Trying to roll over, I can’t, forced to pant labored pained breaths. But Oraxia crawls off my chest onto something thin, and nearly invisible, moving with practiced ease.

  “We’re on a web… the valley is covered by a giant web!”

  Feeling the web hum and resonate with my soul, I know it was an intentional trap. I fell for the bait.

  ‘The glimmer… it wasn’t from water, it was the web hanging over it!’

  Eyes widening, I feel fear run through my soul, as the weaver’s shadow looms over me once again.

  ‘Please… not like this.’

  ___

  Not exactly a good place to be, huh? Trapped in webs, with a soul eating spider looming over you.

  Want to see how this ends already? Well, my patreon offers the next two chapters for only $5!