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The Web Forest

Entering the forest was easy at first, but upon getting into the depths of the forest, they realized that it could be harder than they thought it would be. Even Asterios, who claimed to traversed the forest once, had a hard time finding his bearings. The forest was dark with only small amount of sunlight that came through. The web that covered the trees, however, did not help them and made them uncomfortable. Raine was the most uncomfortable of them, especially since it was concerning Narati's safety.

Ever since Jek's death, who for him was recent, Raine had been trying to find a way to help Narati cope. Even if Narati had moved on and basically became reliable without Raine or Karkas's help, Raine was still trying to move on, and his instinct wanted to help Narati, despite of the fact.

Due to this, he felt he wanted to blame himself for causing so much trouble to the others and to himself, and for the fact that he did not care for Narati. Somehow, his distress was sensed by Karkas, who suddenly said, "Do not blame yourself for the rat's peril. You simply didn't know, and he was in a wrong place."

"How do you know?" asked Raine, surprised.

"I don't know. It's just I'm beside you, and I smell something in you that shout 'I'm the one at fault'. Don't ask me how it works. I guess that's how it is if you're a beast race."

Raine chuckled. "I felt so out of place just for being a human. It's apparent that you guys have many qualities that exceed us."

"I don't consider us to be superior from humans," said Karkas. "But, well, you humans have something we don't."

"And that is?"

"Creativity, and flexibility. Despite of our human-level knowledge, we still work with instinct."

Raine looked at Karkas for a while, and then chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"I was wrong about you, Karkas. I thought you're just a brute, but you have a flare for academics, after all. Sorr for thinking like such."

Karkas grunted. "You're not the only one who said that to me."

"Yeah. Much like Nara."

"Narati...well, he's different in all aspects. But I feel he still have so much to learn. This world is far crueler than two cults butting each other's heads."

"Not all at once, Karkas. For now, save him, then we can talk about living in this world."

After a while, they stumbled upon a lake, with ruins in it. Asterios then checked if the water was passable, and concluded that it was fine. But when Raine wanted to swim across, Karkas stopped him and said, "Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"What? Asterios said it's fine, so..."

"Are you sure?" Karkas then pointed towards the other shore of the lake, and the group could see what's waiting for them. A giant spider, lifting its two front legs, was waiting for them to come across, presumably to feast on those who were careless.

"Even if the bull said that the spiders won't attack us, there's no telling the hidden danger this lake has. That spider might've been protecting their domain. There must be a way across."

"How do you plan to do that?"

"Two ways. The first is to find it on the shores."

"And the second one?"

Karkas then flexed his body and was warming up. "My way," he said short. "You're lucky you have me here."

"Oh yeah...you're a crocodilian. Water is basically your domain."

"That doesn't mean it's less dangerous. If I do not surface for ten minutes...well, you know what you must do."

"I believe in you."

"Heh. Better than nothing, I guess. Here goes."

Without changing (given how he dressed like a swimmer anyway), Karkas jumped to the lake. He had not swim for a while in his search for Asran, but being able to be in his natural habitat was soothing and made him calmer and focused.

Even if he focused, however, it did not help. The lake was dark as there was no light that came through the leaves and into the water. What's even more unsettling was the fact that the lake had no life in it; no plants, no fish, anything. It felt like a silent space and he was suspended in it. If it was clear, he might enjoy swimming in it, like the river. But, crude waters hid many dangers, so he must stay vigilant. Even a croc, known to ambush people from underwater, could fall victim to the dangers in the water itself.

He swam towards the ruins, which looked a lot like an ancient home taken by nature. He wished he could make the place his home, if the water wasn't so crude and dirty. As he found the ruins, he tried to find the surface, which was quite hard given the water. Only after he saw the air bubble from his nostrils did he found the surface and swam there.

Breaking surface, he took a deep breath and look around. The ruin's interior wasn't all that special, and there did not seem to be any traps or anyone waiting to ambush him. He thought that everything was okay, but his first mistake was to directly jump up. He triggered a fine silk wire that he barely could feel, and all of the sudden, a noose tightened around Karkas and lifted him up. He choked and lost his breath, suffocating as the trap slowly kill him.

Just then, he saw a humanoid, with human face, yet pale greyish skin and red eyes. She was practically naked except for her arms and legs, which were covered in chitin. Upon walking out of the shadow, Karkas also noticed the rest of her body. Her back had spider legs sprouting from it, and they moved like they were her own limbs. Karkas then noticed some jewels on the humanoid's forehead, and realized that they were her eyes. All eight red orbs were her eyes.

Struggling for air, Karkas tried to reach the humanoid, who only stared at him with a smile on her face. The croc felt like he fell into a death trap, and started to lose consciousness. That was when the string was cut, and the humanoid approached him and tended to him. Karkas, suspicious and still recovering, shoved her away. She fell to the floor with a yelp, but quickly stood up with her 'legs'.

"Fuck, that was close!" said Karkas while coughing. "You could've fuck me up!"

"It's your fault jumping into a ruin without thinking," said the spider lady. She crossed her arms. "That snare was not a noose. You're lucky I was around."

"Did you enjoy that?"

"A little, but you're expected, so it's no fun if lady Arachne got mad because I accidentally kill a guest. It rarely happened, but most of the time the guests were at fault."

"Lady...Arachne?"

"She's our queen. The spider queen who rules this forest for years. You're crossing her domain, so we need to know if your intentions are purely to save that rat boy."

"Rat boy? You mean Narati?! Is he fine? What did you do to him?"

"Relax, hunky croc, he's fine. Our queen personally keep him with her. Have you got the thing to bargain him with, though?"

"Don't ask me. Ask the human. I'm not the one concerned with that rat."

"That's...kinda cold."

"It's his fault to get caught in the first place." Karkas sighed. "But you're right. It's just...I'm not in the mood for trouble."

"We, we too, so don't do anything stupid to the spiders. You may not get intimidated by my appearance, but I can't say the same with the ferals."

"I'm okay with giant spiders," said Karkas.

"They talk, okay?"

"Okay. That's new."

"Just follow me and we can deploy the drawbridge." The spider lady, however, also said, "But seriously, that drawbridge is ancient! Why didn't lady Arachne asked the spiders to repair it?"

Meanwhile, outside, the rest of the group saw the trees started to move down, which concealed a bridge. The 'vines' were actually magically reinforced ropes, yet time had taken its toll, given how everything had returned to nature.

Asterios looked at the bridge and realized something.

"Oh, I see," I said. "That ruin over there was the drawbridge control. The lake wasn't that muddy and crude back then, and we can just dive in."

"Just how easy did you get in anyway?"

"This wasn't a hard quest involving monsters and stuff, and I hope it won't be." Asterios then looked at the bridge, and his face became solemn. "If only they were immortals, like the children of gods."

"Is that even real?"

Asterios did not reply. He silently walked towards the drawbridge and cross it first. Raine and Kazan looked at each other and said, "Now I feel bad."

"Better get used to it, red. I bet he's not the only one whose life journey is crazy."

"Nothing is sane nowadays."

The group crossed the bridge, joined by Karkas, who swam towards the other shore while awkwardly smiled towards the feral spider. The spider either did not care or unable to give any emotional response. Yet, when the group crossed the bridge, it spoke.

"Your actions are your own risks, two-legs."

They silently walked away, afraid as to what the talking spider might do to them.

They walked through a dense overgrowth, but it was for a moment. They walked out into an open area that was clearly made to accommodate an ancient civilization, given how the place still had marble buildings and other kinds of things. Spiders surrounded the area as if guarding it, and spider ladies looking at the guys and point them.

As they walked, they started to become uncomfortable as to how the whole place had no males at all. The beast races were all females, and they were spiders, a very unconventional hybrid.

That was when things slowly became even weirder. A voice talking in a language unknown to the group boomed through the forest, causing the spiders to look towards the sole marble building in the middle of the village. From there, came out another spider lady, who seemed to be the queen, judging by the way she walked, talked, and clothed. She was the only spider lady around who were clothed, covering parts of her private regions with silky clothes, while leaving her chitin-covered body parts free. Her back had the appendages of a black colored spider, but not as hairy as most other spider ladies.

She walked down the stairs, flanked by two spider ladies. After reaching the bottom, she dismissed them. As they walked away, she walked towards the group.

"Welcome," she said, while extending her hands. "To the Spider Village."