Reincarnated as a Spider (Draft/Writing practice)

• ‘Worry not… Come hither… I apologize for this humble abode being in less than stellar state for reception…’
• ‘So this is what it’s like to be on the receiving end of Telepathy…’

The draconid’s eyes were slack and relaxed… as if it just woke up from a slumber… or struggling to stay awake.

• ‘You’ve called me a dead man… Now I know you’re big, strong and almost at the top of the food pyramid and all. But I’m not just going away without a fight if you’re thinking about making me your meal.’

It huffed almost like holding back a chuckle, air that exited its nostrils ignited in orange fire, illuminating some of its body. Crimson scales, large twisting umber hue horns, leathery wings and eyes of golden sclera and predatorial vertical slit pupils.

• ‘Hm hm hm you misunderstand me outsider… You’ve met with death… and were saved by them weren’t you…?’
• ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
• ‘What was the word again… Reanimation…? No… Ah there it is, Reincarnation. A dead man brought back into life, isn’t that what you are?’

‘I don’t think I’ll get far playing dumb…’

• ‘How do you know that.’
• ‘Scent of an outsider is not something I will mistake.’
• ‘What do you want from me? Couldn’t be a chat over tea I assume.’
• ‘That sounds charming… Unfortunately I do not possess the necessary supplies for it.’

‘And here I thought I was about to see a dragon brew tea… oh well.’

• ‘Let’s get straight to the point, rally the lost races and protect this world.’
• ‘Who? What? Excuse me?’
• ‘Who…? Ah where are my manners I forgot to introduce myself. Iimmar, once a spirit of fire made by master aeons ago.’

‘That’s not what I- whatever…’

• ‘I was ordered to protect this world… that my master fell in love with. Truth be told… after thousands upon thousands of years of watch… I grow weary and I wish to join my master in death…’
• ‘Okay, but why me?’
• ‘Why do you think you were chosen to live again like my master; like many others before you? There has to be some purpose for it, don’t you think it is the time to discover that? And I know you will survive the coming trepidations, the residents of this world will not… without your help.’
• ‘And you think that purpose is me somehow saving the world?’
• ‘Perhaps.

• ‘… from what?’

• ‘Can’t you feel it? How the storm gathers.’

• ‘I feel that this place is humid and needs some airflow. Sorry going around saving lives, that just doesn’t sound like me when I couldn’t even save my own hide. You've got the wrong person.’
• ‘Wait! Master instructed me to show this to his successor…’

The dragon spirit shifted from its curl, revealing more of the altar. In its center anarchic crystalline growth with enchanting glow altering its color and patterns. It appeared to have some fluid flowing inside it. Colossal unseen pressure emanated from it and Alicia’s sword started quivering on her back; inwardly she felt some abnormal intimacy with the material.

‘That looks familiar… and the sword… Are these two related?’

>Warning. Volatile Energy readings detected.

She involuntarily started to reach for the object. ‘Just like that time with Greimen, that thing… It feels like it's… calling me.’

• ‘What is that?’
• ‘A void growth, crystallized in the material world. It should empower you…’
• ‘You don’t sound too sure.’
• ‘Apologies, words of my master not mine. I do not know the broader meanings. However this should be enough of an incentive… yes?’
• ‘Let me think.’

‘I never really had much of a purpose other than just staying alive for the sake of it… Saving the world… While it is nice to make the world better than how I found it, this decision isn’t mine alone to make.

• Isn't it, Alice? What do you want to do?’
• ‘…offspring…family…’
• ‘You want… spiderlings? Can I ask you why?’
• ‘i did not… experience family like you had. want same.
•  Uhm… So you want to become a mother? I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of relationship yet but I’ll keep it in mind. Anyway we slice it you can’t raise ‘offspring’ without the world. Besides Elves, Trolls and that water spirit… I wouldn’t want to just see them gone so I guess I became a little attached. Hell I still need to make that molten cake for you… So I guess I need the world to last for a while then… and I think we’re going to need every bit of help we can get for that.’

…

• ‘Fine I’ll play along for now but I’m not making any promises.’

Letting out a mental equivalent of a sigh of satisfaction:

• ‘Ah… at long last this duty of mine is finally coming to an end…
• What, do I just take it? What do I do about that, gather the races thing?’
• ‘You will understand how with time…’
• ‘Huh. Awfully descriptive of you.’

Stepping near the growth:

?$war͝n̢IN͏G͡.͏ ̨unId͡ęn͘t̨I̡F̵I̷E̕d ͟E͘X̡t͞eR͠NAL eNE͝ŕgY ̵S͟O͜uR͏c̕E̸ dÉţec͢T̶eD҉ ęx͜trEMe cA̷UtÌOņ IS̸ ̶a͏DvI͜Se̕d.͞

Reaching out to the crystal moment she made contact with it all of the world went dark… the floor underneath her collapsed causing Alicia to plummet screaming. Winds rushing past her, mass of obscure dark shapes zooming by. Falling and falling it feels like forever since she started to fall until at last she crashed through something headfirst and stopped by landing on some laminate floor… The impact, the pain of hitting the ground at terminal velocity was all the real however they only lasted an instant.

She could no longer feel the presence of Alice immediately causing her to be anxious and there was no response from Alma. She was alone. Shakily standing up disoriented, extremely so as it felt like she was on uneven footing and she couldn’t shake off the feeling of still falling even as her feet were firmly planted on the ground. And even the simplest of actions felt clumsy as though she was under water. Carefully looking around… She was back in her room or more correctly ‘His’ room. The all too familiar room was ‘his’ before passing away.

However everything felt ‘a bit off’ colors her surroundings faded and the lightswitch did nothing. Window showed a curtain of darkness and where she crashed in was a hole, she couldn’t see much through with no light source anywhere. But even without light everything was visible tinted in cold purple, the debris suspended in air not subject to gravity was an unnerving sight to see and from who knows where constant howling wind could be heard with occasional sound of rock crumbling and falling apart.

Grabbing the handle with the intent to open it, the wooden door detached from its handle & hinges and started to fly away gently revealing a twisted ‘pathway’ of ebon basalt not the hallway she expected. Veins of purple pulsed with subtle brightness in the lifeless stones. And she didn’t know since when the indescribable whisperings that resounded around her started. Their blaring sounds combined with the howling wind would drown out her thoughts. She couldn’t proceed through the path, its twists would be impossible to traverse as she needed to ‘step’ on walls and the ceiling. Looking around she could only see ever collapsing mountains and islands formed of the ebonstone suspended in air tilted in various axes and she was on one such desolate island. Snaking trees like growths of vines and brambles connected these islands.

Looking up there was nothing in the sky, only an abyss where its end couldn’t be discerned; not even a single star. Vision was limited by the omnipresent pale fog that envelops everything in this place, yet looking down from the cliff edge, an endless drop containing some sort of ‘sun’ like star giving off icy blue light, only its ‘light’ could pierce through the mist. Alicia couldn’t find any obvious way to traverse thus she followed the twisted path thinking that she may need to climb yet as she drew near the foot hold seemed to move into her steps. Pathway led to somewhere up. And as he made her way she saw the sun was moving with her steps… as it was now in a horizontal plane to her… no it wasn’t the sun that was moving, the island where she was on too had moved, everything had moved or rather she had somehow - without knowing - ‘walked on the walls and ceiling’. There was no gravity to help her know which way is up or down, in truth all of her senses were jumbled.

After some time? Has it been a minute, an hour or an eternity? Time doesn’t make sense here; neither seconds nor centuries.  Alicia found herself on ‘landmass’ harboring a shrine. Walking closer to it with each step the whispers intensified not even halfway through unable to bear, she snapped out:

• “BE QUIET!”

And with just that… everything became silent. Even the wind had stopped. In this eerie world without sound or color that she created, it appeared as if the time had ceased its advance. The unsettling wringing mixture dread and emptiness creeped up on her. But with the world around her silent she could now finally hear… ‘singing’ as sinister as it was coming from the shrine of twisted rock formation. Standing in front of it inside the shrine above a pedestal, a handicraft of broken crystals, bone and metal rested in suspension spinning slowly jittering sometimes.

Taking hold of it, it was hot and burnt through her skin like a heated brand. The object tried to propel and fly away, flinging her along. As much as she wanted to let go, something told her that if she let go if it now she wouldn’t be able to go back. Fighting against its influence was tiring. Eventually it stopped and when it did she opened her hand to see that the unidentifiable object had turned into something vaguely similar to a key.

As she was observing its details it shot out again but not away from her. Launching into her chest it dug into her sternum reaching deep into her heart, before she could understand what was happening the ‘key’ spun inside her twisting in her core in manner just as though opening a locked door. Unbearably agonizing pain spread through her body, crumpling on the ground overcome with pain she could not even vocalize a sound. Her muted screams were only heard to herself in the confines of her mind. Again the key turned followed by even more suffering. After the third turn… everything went dark…

Gasping and coughing she came to on the rocky surface of the cave floor. When gaining her senses her hands raced to feel around her heart trying to see if there’s a hole there. Calming down after finding no wound there she was relieved to feel the solid ground, the pull of gravity. Crystals she touched had shattered to tiny pieces, and they had lost their onyx color and the pressure they exerted had vanished leaving behind glassy quartz like remains. And the dragon… had disappeared. Believing it to have perished after reaching its goal…

>Resuscitation successful, resuming normal operations.

>Unsupported skill entry detected, Anima-form analysis underway.

• ‘Alice? Are you there?’
• ‘mmm… saw strange… place…’

‘Was that just some bad dream for both of us? I’m glad I don’t have to sleep if that's what my dreams are going to be like…’

She still felt some of the searing heat inside her as it faded away but mostly she was relieved to be back in the normal world again.

• ‘Let’s go… I think I know why that winged rodent was so evasive.’

Hoping that ache will go away she left the caverns leaving the cracked altar behind her. 

At the cave exit the setting sun told her how much time had passed.

• “Baa!”
• “Oh great you’re still here?”

>Notice. Subservient Kindred access requested.

‘Does this count as one of the lost races? Could he have been any less helpful? ’

• “You know what, you win! Go ahead I don’t care anymore.”

>Consent received. Idiosyncratic correspondent synchronization underway…

>Genomic mapping in progress…

>Multiple traits acquired…

>Deprecated skill found… Compatibility assessment complete. Modernizing…

Beneath her waist her exoskeleton of her cephalothorax changed its color and gained predominantly white, yellowish smooth texture. Hard to the touch, even her fangs gained the new marmoreal form.

‘Huh I guess that’s where a spider’s brain is… pretty tough looking exterior… Wait I’m not growing horns am I…? Okay good…’

After frenetically feeling around her head Alicia decided to collect her thoughts.

‘It’s pretty late I guess I should go back… I really should make a real home or something like that…’

Thanks to her new trait, scaling down the mountain was a breeze compared to before.

‘I guess sure footed also makes me confident in hiking, sure footed indeed…’

Behind her trailed a line of goat herd hopping down from the mountains, led by the large goat from earlier.

• ‘What do you guys eat anyway, just grass and tree leaves are fine right?’
• ‘…… … … ……’
• ‘Good, what can you provide me then?’
• ‘…… ……’
• ‘Never had goat milk before… So you guys just shed your wool? Maybe combing would help with that…’
• ‘…… … …’
• ‘Yes, yes… whatever…’

‘I think I’ll split them up between the Elves and the Trolls… I think they’ll be able to take care of them… Cause I’m not doing it.’

• ‘Oh uh… hey Alice…? About our topic from earlier… the spiderlings… won’t try to eat me right? Right…?!’