FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Prince was called to hear a grievance from a group of people resting on the head of the giant Gebronk. He was familiar with these people, The Miniske, usually just called Mini but don't call them that in front of them. They hate it. They are a fairly large community of mouse traders, merchants as well as medieval style knights and archers. Yes. Mice. The Prince has been all over the world and seen all manner of strange creatures. Talking Mice was hardly the most outrageous thing he'd seen. The Prince wore a blue tunic and hooded cape that reached down to his legs and had a crooked staff that he never traveled without and a pair of winged shoes, flying high through the sky with his companion, Asteria, by his side in the shape of a blue jay. The Prince himself was a dark skinned man fairly muscular yet still skinny in appearance, short hair and dark blue eyes.

"Man lemme tell you it's good to get out of the house! All that paperwork in the palace was driving my crazy." Asteria simply looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Hey I was gonna get to it! I just... need a little fresh air first is all. Besides, a Prince's duty is to help people and I would be remiss if I didn't hear from the Miniske. They're always getting themselves into some kind of trouble." Asteria rolled her eyes and gave a coy smile. The Prince flew down towards the massive stream beneath him and skated across it like it was made of ice, waving to the mermaids and fish people underneath it. They popped up and waved hello back to him, the look of overwhelming joy on their faces. The Prince was a bit of a celebrity around these parts... Well okay I'm selling him short. The Prince WAS a celebrity. All over the world in fact. He was the next in line to take the throne to the whole world and its people, which was a very big ask for someone as young as him. It's this reason he regularly goes out to help the people who need it, to get used to serving the people who will one day call him King. This made him quite the pariah around the world which wasn't always welcome. Just as easily as people respected him, others feared the powers he had and openly disliked him. But those are stories for another time perhaps.

The world of Arkea was something of an enigma. Magic was very much a part of the world and practiced without issue but technology was also incredibly advanced so that any who didn't want to practice the art could still get around. All royals were supposed to be well trained in both science and magic so that no issue ever proved a problem. It was a very stressful thing, constantly studying and restudying spells and schematics in the hope that one day they might prove useful.

The Prince grabbed his canteen and gathered some water before launching back into the air, his winged shoes glowing brightly like a star as he rocketed towards the nearby mountain. He quickly flew to the peak of the mountain and landed softly, looking down to see a large tiny city filled with little Mice running around. It almost looked like a mini renaissance fair but there were a lot of shops and mice walking around. Asteria landed next to him and changed back to her original form. She looked beautiful, a four legged wolf looking creature with large horns and glowing blue eyes. Her body looked as if it was made of space, like the cosmos itself had taken a physical form, stars adorning her entire body and every brief movement she made had some of them twinkle just a bit brighter. She looked down at the mouse market and gave a small laugh. Tiny little mouse people going about life. It was adorable.

"How dare you!" Shouted a small voice. "You laugh in the presence of a King! A conqueror! We are a race worthy of respect like all the others." The Prince looked down to see the King of Miniske walking towards him. He wore a long furred cape and carried a ruby scepter, proudly holding it high and slamming it on the ground when he reached the end of the walkway, marked with a red carpet. The Prince got down on one knee and Asteria bowed her head. "I'm well aware of the stories of our people. That we are small and cute and oh so adorable, ptew!" He spit on the floor and adjusted his crown. "Such horrible phrases. While your friend doesn't speak, her mannerisms are not unlike yours and laughter has always been demeaning towards us. I shall excuse your friends mockery. But should she lost control of herself again and dare laugh in our presence, She will be spared no expense of torture!" The knights that guarded the King cheered and The Prince looked at her with a slight smirk. She blushed slightly and lowered her gaze, refusing to meet eyes with anyone.

"I apologize for her. She didn't know."

"Clearly. You must be Prince Kaiser."

"Oh just Kai is fine," he said smiling. Both the Mouse King and Asteria scoffed.

"No no. That will not do. You are royalty! You must be treated as such! You are the Prince and you must be addressed as such." Kai smiled nervously.

"You really don't-"

"And in response you will call me 'The Right Honorable Lord and Master of the Miniske people, King Menestill Enduramance Cecil.'" He bowed and his knights and servants bowed as well saying "Hail to the King" in unison. "Now I have summoned you here so that you can perform an incredibly important task for me, Prince. Come with me." He turned around and walked back to his palace, a large(to them anyway)castle like building that had a direct path to the shops and streets. A second red carpet rolled out for him as he walked into his palace and called for the Prince to join him. Kai took a deep breath and muttered a magical incantation, his hands glowing and his body shrinking in size until he was just barely taller than the King himself. Asteria then did the same.

"Magic. Never did have a taste for that sort of thing," King Menestill said as he sat down on his throne, his long, stringy tail curling around his waist like a belt and one of his subjects getting down on all fours and acting as a footstool. The palace was a beautiful, red curtains adorning marble white columns that depicted the visage of a past Mouse King holding his sword high, holding a broken crown in his other hand. The Prince had been meaning to ask about what it meant but maybe now wasn't the time. The beauty and tidiness of the place made the Prince believe that he had to change up his home to look more like the Miniske. Maybe get a home decorator...

"I have demanded the presence of your father for a very long time now. Time is of the essence I assure you, great Prince."

"I'm sorry that I was the one to respond. My father was a bit occupied with other things at home. What seems to be the problem?"

"Our people are... fragile I suppose you could say." He almost spat out the word and refused to look Kai in the eyes. "We keep to ourselves and grow our own food and owe our trade to the travels of the Mountain Man. He loves the warm weather and so do we and when the cold comes, he brings us to the warmer climates near the capital so we can trade. But he's been sleeping through it lately. Our scheduling for everything is off because he sleeps through the cold seasons and we have resulted to eating the food we intend to sell. It kills our profits. When he does move to warmer places, it's too late and there's little we can do cause we cannot wake him. If he doesn't move soon, the snow will hit us again and we won't be able to grow anything again. We cannot let this continue!" The knights in the hall cheered. The Prince simply nodded.

"I see, I see. Well this is fairly easy to fix. I'll go and talk to Geb - er, the Mountain Man and get him to move for you guys." The Prince bowed and him and Asteria left the crimson colored castle, briefly saying hi to everyone he walked by. They all kept thanking him for his help and some of the market people tried selling him some of their goods. He only had a brief moment to look over the place now but now he saw that the market was very well put together. It branched off further into all kinds of streets where people sold bread and corn and meat to one another, the smell of the cooked skewers filling the air, an abundance of places selling the meats. Wheat was also very popular as this mountain top was more green than you would expect. They had an abundance of land to farm and with the Miniske people naturally being small people, it was almost more than they needed. There weren't any buildings or anything, more like little hovels and tents that people simply packed up and stowed away when the Mountain Man moved. But with all of this free space and room, it all got buried under snow and rain when the ice season came, rendering a massive portion of everything completely unusable. The Prince made it to the cliffside where he first arrived and grew back to his normal size.

"It's not like Gebronk to sleep through the cold. He's very sensitive to changes in the weather. Wonder what's wrong with him." Asteria turned into an old sloth and began to slowly shuffle her feet forward, lagging behind the Prince. He laughed and lightly bopped her head, changing her back. "I'm telling him you called him slow." She stuck her multi colored tongue at him. The Prince tapped his shoes and the feathers fluttered up and glowed a bright golden color while Asteria summoned her wings.

"Wait! One second, my Prince!" Came a little voice behind them. They looked back and saw one of the mouse people running forward, a bow and arrows around his torso and a small fencing sword at his side. He also seemed to be carrying what looked like art supplies with him in the backpack he carried. He wore a red cavalier hat with a blue feather sticking out and he stood up tall before bowing politely.

"Greatest apologies, sir. But I would like to accompany you on this quest!" He stood back up, a clear smile on his face. He looked like he was struggling to keep himself contained and Kai found it really funny. The slight shakiness of his breath, the quivering of his legs, his eyes darting all over the Prince's body, taking in every precious detail he could."

"May I ask why?"

"Well I am an artist! A traveler! I seek to explore the world and chart down everything I come across! My people know very little except for what the King tells us and the few tales that merchants see fit to explain when the Mountain Man moves. I want to know more! It'll be amazing. Seeing the Mountain Man with my own eyes. Detailing everything about him, seeing the face of the Man we've lived on for decades! And then perhaps join you on future adventures. So what do you say? Can I come along?" The poor guy looked like he was having difficulty holding himself in the presence of the Prince. His tail wrapped around his leg and his nose twitched repeatedly in apprehension. Asteria looked at the Prince worriedly and tried to comment quietly which wasn't exactly difficult.

"I know what you are going to say. He's too small, and clearly shy and probably doesn't know how dangerous the world truly is. He can get himself killed, I should tell him no and not to endanger his life or tell him that the world outside is a very scary place and all that. All good points..." The Prince turned around and kneeled down closer to the mouse prince. "Alright you can come." Asteria slapped his back with her tail but he laughed it off. He truly believed that Asteria had great points. But he wanted him to come along. No real reason as to why. Just thought it'd be fun. And if he wanted to come back home, the Prince would bring him. "But you have to follow what I say, alright? This mission is not to be taken lightly. If you do well enough though, maybe I can bring you along on future ones." The mouse nodded and cheered before composing himself and bowing.

"Thank you, my Prince! I promise not to be a burden. I'm very handy with a sword and a bow. And I'm small. Many people will underestimate me, I'm sure. Oh! Where are my manners. Sir Taccy Arsene Fletche. But friends call me Red cause of my hat." He held out his hand and the Prince shook it. Without hurting him of course.

"Prince Kaiser and the celestial beast next to me is my guardian Asteria." She bowed politely and Red waved hi. He climbed up onto the Prince's arm and rested on his shoulder.

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun! I'm ready when you are." Kaiser smiled and leapt off the cliffside, free falling down the numerous trees and various Miniske people chipping at the side of the mountains. Red waved to all of them and they all shouted hello back, some of them joking about how they were gonna tell the King that he was running away. He seemed to be fairly popular with the people. The three of them all landed softly on a big patch of dirt and Kaiser summoned a large crooked wooden staff with a bell at the end of it. He lightly banged it against the floor three times and simply waited for a response. Nothing happened. He did it again, the bell ringing more vehemently this time. Still nothing happened.

"He must be really tired," The prince said before putting his headphones.

"Red, hide in my pocket. This is going to be very loud." The mouse did as he was told and buried himself into the Prince's pocket. The Prince took hold of his staff with two hands and slammed it against the ground, the trees nearby leaning over as a gust of wind blew forth. The bell this time was deep and powerful, like a massive gong had gone off, shaking the earth and rattling the surrounding trees and after a few minutes, it finally faded away. There was finally a response from the Mountain. The earth beneath his feet began to rumble as slowly the patch of ground he stood on rose back into the sky, almost as if the earth was growing another mountain right under him. The higher they got, the closer to the mountain they were brought until it stopped just short of the mountain side. Red was in absolute awe as he paid attention to the dirt and dust falling away from the sierra and saw an eye open up. The large emerald green eye was bigger than the Prince and the bits of stone around it, acting as the skin for the mountain man, curved upward showing a smile. A loud, bellowing laugh had been heard from the mountain and Minn found himself incredibly nervous. He thought that Kaiser was big! He felt almost worthless in the presence of the Mountain Man. His father always told tales about how Kings of the Miniske was in control of the Mountain Man... how could any of them make this massive hulking creature do anything without being laughed at?

"Prince... Kaiiiiissseerrrrrr... it's been... Yearrsssss..." His age clearly showed in how he spoke. Slow and old. The mountain shook with every word and everything he did both sad and wholesome to hear. Like he was on the verge of dying with every word but smiling the entire way through, a long and pleasant life filled with sleeping and funny visitors, spinning outlandish tales and just having a blast in his presence. And of all the people that came to visit him, Prince Kaiser was his favorite. He remembered his grandfather when he was just a baby and had always respected their orders and requests. He was too old to really rebell anyway. He just wanted some sleep.

"It's good to see you again old man! How have you been?"

"Ohhhhhhh justttttt... Woooonderrrrrfullllllll. I was havingggg the greatesssstttt... Dream. It wassss...I think it was... Was about... " His eyes began to close as he spoke, his speech getting even slower before he stopped entirely faintly snoring. The Prince frowned and slammed his staff down again. The forest trees shook again and Gebronk opened his eyes, smiling happily once more. "Princeeeee... Kaisssseerrrrrr... It's been... Yearrrrrrrssssss." Oh boy. The prince laughed snapped his fingers.

"Hey old man, you okay?" The Mountain Man's expression shifted for a bit before going back to a smile, albeit a forced one.

"Oh I'm finnneeeee. Just... Just a little sleepyyyyy is allll. Been very very very tired lately. I believe... I slept through the... the uhm... Uhmmmmmm..." His eyes began to close and he slowly started nodding off again. The Prince slammed his staff on the ground once more and the Mountain Man awoke, The smile crawling across his face again, He was going to repeat his greeting but the Prince stopped him, no longer laughing.

"You sure you're feeling okay? Not feeling... Sick?" Gebronk groaned and lifted the Prince closer to him.

"Now that you mention it, I do feel a little less than myself. I've had... this terrible heartacheeeeee. Sleep wasssssss... the only thing that made it... go awayyyyy. But now... It is not enoughhhhhh." He started to close his eyes again but he pulled himself back awake. He looked at the Prince and groaned once more. "My Princeeeeee... I know you are verrrrrrrry busssy... But please can you-"

"Say no more! That's actually what I'm here for. I mean come on, you've only been around a Millennia. Not even that old. Got your whole life ahead of you!" Gebronk gave a small laugh. He opened his mouth as big as it could go, the whole mountain shaking once again before The Prince and his friends were staring right at what could be perceived as a massive hole in the side of the mountain. Red had crawled to the top of the Prince's head and started illustrating everything he saw, every precious minute detail. And he was pretty good too, even trying to detail the bits of dust that fell down the titans face as he moved.

"I've never seen anything like this! I never had the pleasure of seeing the Mountain Man or even really leaving the city limits! And now... Oh man I'll be famous all over the kingdom!" The Prince moved forward, stepping over the teeth of Gebronk and into Gebronk's mouth, covering his nose as he walked further and further inside.

"Wait, the King doesn't let you guys leave the city? I would think one as proud as him would be encouraging his people to 'Go out there and show everyone that the Miniske are no pushovers' or something like that."

"Oh he does. It's not the Kings fault at all. In fact, it's kind of my own fault why I haven't left. I kind of did this so to be more attractive to... Well... Someone very special to me." Red started to blush and Asteria gave a small chuckle, her whole body turning red and the irises of both her eyes turning into hearts. She let her tongue fall out of her muzzle and started panting like a hot dog. The Prince nudged her while Red tried to hide his face.

"I agree! You gettin yourself a fine mousey lass." The Prince gave a thumbs up.

"It's not like that! She's... a lady. Very much so. And she expects a true gentleman, a really impressive male to hold her hand. I... am not that. I am a sanitation worker. I don't make much money, I am the lowest of the low in our society. The woman I want to be with is wealthy. I can't even look at her without possibly being punished." The tone in his voice was heavy, his head lowered so his face was hidden though this time it was more of shame rather than embarrassment. "I've been practicing my artistic skills and wanted to go off and explore the world, detail all the things my people cannot, My drawings will sell well and I can finally have enough money to be worthy of her time..." He looked down at his hands and rubbed them together. "I know it."

The Prince nodded, smiling smugly.

"Risking your life for a woman. Been there, done that." Red raised an eyebrow and looked down at Asteria who shook her head in mild frustration. "Hey you have too so don't be judging!" She looked at him, her mouth agape, and bumped her hips into the Prince's. He laughed and slid further down Geb's throat before clicking his shoes together, the wings fluttering to life and save him from hitting the ground. He landed softly and checked to make sure Minn was okay. The atmosphere was rather humid, and the Prince immediately felt a little stuffy and changed his attire to something more airy, simple shorts and a short sleeved shirt so he wouldn't die from heatstroke or something. Asteria coughed slightly, a brief puff of smoke bursting from her lungs. She shook herself like a dog and her whole body went red, glowing like a lantern in the dark caverns.

"A nifty trick. If I may ask, what is Asteria? I've never seen a creature like her before." Red asked, doing his best to detail Asteria's form in the dimly lit room. Asteria growled and looked at Red with clear disapproval.

"Sorry! Not creature. I meant... Being." She rolled her eyes and scoffed. The Prince on the other hand was laughing. Asteria wasn't much for words but that doesn't mean that she can't speak. She often finds she doesn't need to and remains mute unless absolutely necessary. This was not one of those times as she defiantly refused to speak and continued on down the tunnel. "She certainly isn't a cat or a dog, I've seen plenty of those in my brief travels on the Mountain Man but nothing even remotely similar to her." He leapt off of the Prince and onto the head of Asteria who did her best not to throw him off. Not out of anger though, that would be terribly rude. No but rather the mouse weighed practically nothing, almost like an origami bird was on her head.

"She's special for sure but the best person to explain what and who she is would be Asteria herself." The Prince rubbed the glowing beasts cheek briefly. She purred slightly and licked his hand. She still said nothing on herself however which bummed Red a little. At least he could draw her. The Prince walked further and further into the humid caves before slipping and falling further down into the canal. Asteria jumped down after him, grabbing onto the collar of his shirt so she wouldn't lose him. When the travel downward ended, the Prince found himself dangling right over a cliffside and overlooking a massive room, bigger than any palace he had ever been in, the bottoms filled with a whole ocean. Small little islands could be barely seen through the massive spider webs circling around the whole place. The Prince's feet stayed just a few inches above one. Asteria quickly turned off her personal light.

"Holy crap..." The Prince mumbled. Asteria - with the help of Red - pulled the Prince back up who thanked them but kept his eyes glued on all the webs. If it wasn't creepy as can be to see all the little Spiders moving around and working to munch on the colorful bugs native to Gebronk's insides. The bright blue colors dying out and being eaten by all the arachnids. The webbing was everywhere! Everything was covered in a thick layer of grey webbing, and at the very center of everything, the prime heart of the arachnid troubles, was Gebronk's heart! A massive Red faintly pulsating organ at the center of the room wrapped tightly in a bed of grey silk and webs. There was so much that the color of the heart was distorted and becoming white. The Prince and Asteria looked at each other and nodded.

"Arachne," He said simply. Red was more than a little confused.

"Who's Arachne?"

"I am!" Someone screamed from above. Just then hundreds of Spiders descended from the ceiling and spun web after web around the three intruders, encasing them in a silk cocoon and bringing them to the ceiling. The Prince struggled hard against his bonds and came face to face with Arachne herself, a massive furred Spider woman, her face a cracked mess of marble and stone. She laughed, the entire cavern rumbling.

"Well well well What a surprise!! If it isn't the great Prince of Arkea! Here! In my home! Heh heh heh heh!" Her voice was deep and raspy, years of age clearly showing like dust was pouring from her mouth. At the end of every sentence there was an echo of her last few words, almost like all the baby spiders around her were repeating after her. She wrapped some of her arms around the Prince and stroked one over his face. "It's been so long! So very very long. You've grown... Mm you've grown so much..." She really started eyeing the Prince down while he barely struggled against his bonds.

"Arache! You look... charming as ever. Are those new fangs? You must have been in quite the tussle to lose those babies." Arachne gave a dry chuckle. Her fangs were made of bright gold no doubt something she stole from someone in the past. Last time she and the Prince fought, He managed to rip out her fangs and used them to form weapons for a friend. Punishment for poisoning a dear friend of his.

"Oh ho ho ho how charming you are. I wonder if you'll stay so merry when I eat your mouse friend." She looked over and saw Red had already escaped from his cocoon.

"What?! Where-"

"Yoohoo!" Red had fallen down to a cliffside and aimed two arrows at the Prince and Asteria. He released them and they pierced through the sides of the webbing on both of them, the whole cocoon they were wrapped up in breaking in half and releasing them. Asteria wiggled free and landed on her feet with a silent thud, her entire body lighting on fire and setting flame to the cobwebs. The Prince smiled at Arachne and kicked himself free of her grasp and landed next to Asteria, pulling a small knife from his hip cutting through a spider that tried to grab him again. Arachne groaned and screamed to her minions in a foreign tongue but the Prince knew enough of the language to get what she was saying.

"Don't just stand there gawking! Get them you idiots!" She fled to the massive webbing around Geb's heart and she did everything she could to douse the fires from getting them. Red hopped onto The Prince's back and started fighting off the tiny spiders climbing up him. His skill with a bow and arrow was truly put on show as he scored shot after shot on any bug making its way up the Prince's leg and shoulder. While he fought off the little spiders, the Prince fought off the bigger ones, arachnids about his size in height but still easy to clean through, like wet tissue paper. The smoke filling the cavern was starting to grow bigger and bigger, making it difficult to see all the bugs coming after them. The Prince dodged an incoming spider web, grabbing the line and pulling the spider closer to him,thrusting the sword through his center and watching him crumble into dust.

"This fire can't be good for the Mountain Man! We have to put it out!" Red shouted, shooting an arrow at the eye of one of the spiders, the creature poofing into dust. The Prince covered his mouth with his shirt and sliced off an incoming spiders leg. He latched onto Asteria and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and ran over the cliffside, bringing him and Red down to the massive ocean at the bottom. She transformed into a watery creature and protected everyone as best she could as they burst through all the webs and fell deep into the water. Asteria took a deep breath and sucked in all of the water around them and rose out a giant sea creatures literally made out of the water. The Prince grabbed Red and climbed to the top of Asteria's head, leaping forward and grabbing onto the webbing that surrounded Geb's faintly beating heart. Asteria took a deep breath and shot a powerful stream of water all over the smoking cavern, putting out the last few embers of flame and washing away the tiny little arachnids that still hung around the burning cavern. The Prince was grabbed by Arachne and tossed down to the ground, Red sticking onto the heart webbing and hiding from her gaze. Arachne leapt down and grinded her claws together, cackling like mad.

"I finally find a new home and of course you have to come and ruin it! The Prince is always coming to screw over my day!" She stabbed at the Prince but he dodged out of the way, slicing his sword at her leg. It didn't cut through the whole leg but it chipped away at her natural armor.

"You need to stop picking occupied territory! Maybe if you just built a home in a regular unoccupied cave like a normal spider instead a living, breathing giant, I'd let you go!" Arachne hissed and shot a web at the Prince, a web latching onto his foot and pulling him off balance. Asteria, still an oceanic titan, took a deep breath and prepared to launch another massive stream of water but got choked up when she saw hundreds upon hundreds of spiders swimming through her body and taking over. Somehow they weren't drowning in the water and began to spin webs from inside and restrict her movements. Red on the other hand was doing everything he could to cut through all the webbing tying up heart and hear someone whistling for his attention. He looked up and saw someone stuck to the ceiling, squirming in place.

"Hey kid! Mouse guy!"

"Who are you?"

"That's not important! Listen, I see you guys wanna help Geb! Let me go and I can tear through that stuff!" Red was skeptical but he had very little option and shot an arrow at the edges of the cocoon, tearing the girl free and watching her fall onto the webbing of the heart. "Thanks! Now... about these..." She held up her hands and saw that they too were wound up in intense webbing. Meanwhile the Prince was fighting off Arachne, barely breaking a sweat as he turned the ground beneath them into ice. She started slipping and fell over onto her side groaning in pain. He rose his sword and brought it down towards her face but she brought her arms up to protect herself and the blade dug in through her armor, slicing off both her arms. She screamed and kicked the Prince away, crawling away briefly to heal. He gave her no reprieve and ran after her again, his sword transforming into a spear and attempting to stab at the spideress. She screeched and spat out a puff of dark dust, the spear that stabbed through her abdomen slowly decaying. The Prince gripped the spear tightly and broke off the ending part of it, watching as the parts that stayed in Arachne's stomach fell apart into dust. Arachne hissed and pulled herself up, her body morphing and changing, turning into the very metal that the Prince stabbed her with. Any part of her that was fur before had changed into hard golden metal. She laughed before swatting the Prince into a wall.

"A friend of yours gave me a little trinket to aid me in our inevitable reunion with you heh heh." She laughed and slammed her leg against the Prince's body, him putting up a protection spell to stop her from completely piercing him. She slammed her legs down on him again, the spell still holding as the Prince grabbed onto the leg and slowly began to freeze it, encasing the whole spider leg in ice. Arachne began to shiver and as she lost feeling in her left leg, backing off slightly and trying to knock the ice off. The Prince whistled and Red, now done freeing the woman who called for his help, had notched and arrow with a magical seal on the tip and released it, the arrow whistling through the air and exploding upon contact. A mix of Ice and Fire splashed over the cave as Arachne's whole left leg broke into pieces. She screeched and fell onto her side once more, her entire body started to crack apart.

"Red! Get Asteria!" Red nodded and pulled out several sharp tipped arrows from his quiver and fired them one by one, each arrow cutting through the webs holding Asteria hostage. The first two were aimed at her joints, freeing her arms to move around and knock some of the webs off her herself. The second was aimed right at her chest, tearing straight through the webs and coming out the other side. The spiders quickly began to web her backup and Red pulled another arrow out with an electric seal on the tip and fired it right at the heart of Asteria, the arrow managing to plunge into her watery center her entire body reacting to the electric arrow and sparking up as storm, frying off the webs and killing the spiders that covered her. This came at the expense of harming Asteria but it wasn't nearly enough to tire her out. She was made of much sterner stuff. She transformed back into her more spatial looking body and leapt up to the body of Arachne, biting at her dense skin and managing to actually damage it. The Prince summoned a hammer into his hands, smashing the massive weapons on the head of Arachne who could do nothing to defend herself. Asteria clawed at her back, tearing through her natural armor and reaching skin. Arache cried out and slammed the ground, spike shooting out of her back and pushing Asteria away. The spikes morphed more into legs and then a set of hands poured out of the back, pulling out a woman covered in black blood. She took a deep breath and the giant spider body she resided in collapsed onto the floor into a mass of black dust. The Prince looked down at the body crawling out of it and dust and grabbed the legs spawning out of her back, tying them up in a magically embroidered rope, impossible to break out of. Arachne hissed and tried to crawl away before Asteria bit one of her legs and pulled her back.

"You try and leave again without my permission and she'll bite your legs off." Asteria growled, gripping Arachne's leg even tighter and the spider woman screamed.

"Okay! Okay!" She relented but kept her grip tight until the Prince pulled another binding ribbon and tied up Arachne's hands behind her. He pulled her up and turned her to face him, a shining red medallion dangling from her neck. The Prince took it from her.

"Now where did you get something like this?" Arachne hissed at him and he slapped her, earning another hiss from her.

"How dare you?! I am the Queen of the Arañas! To touch me is to - " He slapped her again. She was silent after that.

"Ima ask again. Where did you get this?" The medallion hummed loudly and looked about ready to burst out of Kai's hand.

"It was a gift. From one who said she knew you. A feral woman, Wolf like maybe a mole of some kind by the size of her hands but also bare skin like you. Nails sharper than any weapon. I never got her name. Was going to eat her shortly before you showed up. She was no longer useful."

"I was plenty useful you little - oops." Shouted the woman helping Red clear the webbing off of the heart. She smiled nervously once the Prince and Asteria looked over at her, earning a rather loud groan from both of them. The wolf woman gave an awkward laugh.

"Prince! Asteria! How have you guys been?" They did nothing but glare at her.

"Somehow I'm not surprised. I should be... but I'm not. Huntress I know I'm gonna regret asking this but how in the name of the Sun and Moon did you get yourself in this situation?" Huntress laughed nervously.

"Uh... Unimportant! Besides I'm concentrating on cutting all these webs!" Huntress was slicing through more and more of the webbing, the Geb's heart beating a little quicker with every layer of webs removed. Red and Asteria helped her cut through all of them and then jump back as for the first time in a while Geb's heart beat unhindered, finally free of the constraints forced on it. A loud sigh of relief could be heard from Geb and the color that had long faded had soon come back in full, bright blues and greens filling the caverns, the waters glowing and new bugs flying through, cleaning away the remainders of cobwebs and making the giants inside nice and clean.

"I liked it better before," Arachne whispered.

"Huntress! Down here now." The Prince demanded. She grabbed Red and jumped down, landing softly next to the Prince and handing him his mouse companion. Her description was true to what Arachne said, a very furry woman that walked on two legs just like the Prince. Her claws were very sharp, almost like a cat's and covered in dirt and dust from all the digging she's done throughout the years. She had black and purple fur with a kind of grey mask across her face. She had long black hair, wolf ears and tail. Her mannerisms were very much like a wolf, licking her paw and then running her fingers through her hair... Despite the fact that they were covered in dirt and spider webs. Gross.

"Hi Kai." She said smiling. She looked very nonchalant, innocent even. Doing her best to seem completely detached from the problem. The Prince wasn't having it and slammed his fist down on her head. She whined much like a pup would and held her head in pain.

"Owwww! I said I was sorry!"

"No you didn't."

"Well I was thinking about it." The Prince slammed his fist down on her head again and Huntress fell down to her knees.

"Okay okay! I'm sorry!"

"Did you steal this?" He shoved the medallion in her face. Huntress sighed.

"Yeah but it - "

"Do you know what this is?" She shook her head quietly. "This medallion gives the wearer an insane flux of power, way beyond anything they can naturally handle. It is designed to eat away at the soul of the person who's stupid enough to wear it.

The Prince glared at Arachne who hissed at him. He turned back to Huntress and found her struggling to keep her eyes open, teetering back and forth, faintly snoring. The Prince clapped his hands hard and she awoke, covering her ears in pain.

"Ah I'm sorry! You know I hate history lessons! I just can't stand it! It's just so booooorriiiing." She started to fall asleep again. The Prince sighed. This girl always gave him a headache. He looked down at her clothes and saw they were completely in tatters, a trademark of her people. They normally didn't do the whole clothes things but when they left home, they were expected to follow the rules of decency that others did. It was also a bit of a form of protection from self harming as she had a tendency to scratch at her clothes or anything she could get her hands on when stressed. If she couldn't find something, she would cut herself. The Prince had known her for years, routinely getting her out of the trouble she always got into somehow. The Prince grabbed her ear and spoke sharply.

"When we get home, you are going to be in SO much trouble." Huntress immediately quit her innocent facade and lowered her head obediently. Red on the other hand was detailing the two women he had the pleasure of meeting today in his notebook and smiling the entire time, leaping onto Asteria's head and showing her his drawings.

"Such interesting species these two are apart of! What race is Huntress? What kind of name is Huntress? And what of Arachne? What species is she? Giant spider is not one I am familiar with." He kept rambling on and on with his drawings and Asteria smiled briefly before walking with the Prince and his captives out of Geb's mouth and into his hands. Gebronk was already looking and feeling better than he did before the Prince arrived and laughed out loud when the Prince arrived.

"Ah, it's been a long time since I've felt this good! Ah by the Sun King I've missed this feeling." the Prince was happy to see his old friend was happy and gave a bow. "Oh how can I ever repay you?"

"Don't get sick again and we'll call it even." Gebronk smiled but then lowered his gaze to the trapped spider woman next to the Prince. She stared right back at him and hissed and he just laughed.

"Amazing how one so small can cause me so much trouble."

"Size isn't everything!" She shouted at him. "I could have killed you at any point in time I wanted and you wouldn't have even realized!" Gebronk gave another laugh.

"I don't doubt that." Arachne frowned as Geb seemed very... uncaring about the seriousness of the him having lost his life if the Prince didn't show up. Like he had no real worries with any of this. He simply laugh at her again, lifting the Prince up to his head to greet the Miniske King who was already waiting there with a very special guest to Prince Kai. She was a beautiful woman, tan skin and long white hair, black and thick framed glasses, and nearly her entire outfit was white in color with golden accents and buttons and black leggings on under white furred boots. She also wore a furred white hat and carried a book with her titled "Rules and Regulations". She never left home without it. Hell the Prince had never seen her without it in general. She looked at him, frowning before adjusting her glasses and bowing politely to King Menestill and walking briskly to the Prince. This was Alismiria, A very... interesting figure in the Prince's life. He froze right when he saw her and tried to hide his face behind his hood.

"My Prince! You had me worried sick! You know that when you leave the palace that you are to inform me where and when and what time you will return! And then you must let me know when you arrive and - " She kept rambling on for quite some time before the Prince held up his hand to quiet her.

"I'm sorry." He said simply. She took in a deep breath and then sighed fixing her hair. She gave him a look of temporary forgiveness and stepped out of the way so he could speak with the King of the Miniske. She stood next to Huntress but refused to acknowledge her.

"Greetings madame Asteria. I trust that the Prince wasn't too much trouble to watch over." Asteria smiled and shook her head. "Good. I know I can always count on you to care for him when I cannot."

"Would you quit it with the whole proper speak Ms. Killjoy?" Huntress said groaning. "Startin' to give me a headache."

"Oh. Hello Huntress. Forgive me. I had forgotten you existed... I was wondering why things seemed so peaceful and quiet." Huntress growled, scraping her claws against each other.

"Oh you mean boring? No. That happened when you decided to show your ugly face. We were havin' a wonderful time catching bad guys and curing Giants and - "

"Giving these aforementioned bad guys their tools for causing trouble? Hmm. Where did you get that medallion I wonder." Huntress' eyes widened, looking at the white clothed woman in disbelief.

"How did you... Are you reading my mind you Neat freak?!" Alismiria didn't even look in her direction, flipping open her book and scrolling through it until she found the page she needed.

"Rules and Regulations page 111, chapter 17, verse 20: Any who have committed, are in the process of committing or suspected of committing a crime can have any manner of espionage enacted unto them, including but not limited to eavesdropping, stalking, spying, lying to gain their trust and telepathy." She slammed her book closed, a smug grin etched across her face. Huntress grit her teeth.

"One of these days I'm going to rip apart that stupid book of yours." Alismiria opened her book again to a new page, pointing at another rule. "Rules and Regulations page - "

"Shut it you!" Huntress cried. Asteria got between the both of them and pushed them apart.

"Are they always like this?" Red asked quietly. She simply nodded.

The Prince meanwhile had kneeled and gently shook the hand of the King.

"The Mountain Man will be moving shortly. He had a... A bit of a bug. Sleeping was the only way the pain would stop for him." The King nodded.

"I thank you my Prince. You have helped us once again. I will see if I can't send some people to protect the Mountain Man from further bug infestations."

"Stop calling me a bug!" Arachne shouted.

"Speak only when spoken to monster!" The King shouted back. The Prince chuckled.

"Don't mention it. If you guys ever need me again, call me and I'll be over." With that he stood up and walked over to Asteria, looking over at Arachne.

"I wonder what punishment my Mother will give you when we get home." Arachne showed quite a bit of fear once the Prince mentioned his mother. Asteria struggled to hold in her laugh. Red raised his hand.

"Forgive me but I am unaware of the Queen's method of punishment. I have only heard stories of her kindness." Alismiria adjusted her glasses.

"The Queen is the one in charge of dealing out punishments for any criminal who is an outsider. Those who do not live in the city are hers to do with as she pleases. She is notorious for being - ADORABLE!!!" Alismiria quickly halted her explanation and grabbed Red from his position on Asteria's head, squealing like a child and petting him like a dog. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh! It took all of my strength not to pet the King in such a manner but I just can't take it any longer! You're just the cutest little thing! Yes you are! Yes you are!" She truly was in bliss every second she held the little mouse in her hands, rubbing up against him in pure joy. Red on the other hand was feeling very uncomfortable.

"My Prince! Help! I don't feel comfortable with this at al!" He shouted. Kai walked over and took the pleading mouse from her hands and Alismiria whined like a puppy.

"Awwww come on! He's so cute! Lemme hold onto him just a little longer!"

"Alismiria, recite Rules and Regulations chapter 2, page 16, verse 2 and 3 please." She froze in place, looking at the Prince almost in disbelief before she fixed herself back up and cleared her throat.

"Professionalism is of the utmost importance. Respect the dignity of others and treat them with the same level of respect you would give to the King. I am sorry." Red nodded and dusted himself off, fixing his hat and taking a deep breath

"Well... I guess it's not too much of an issue. Just lemme know when you're going to do that stuff." Alismiria nodded and held her hands out to hold him again. He seemed unsure on whether or not he wanted to be put in the care of a lady who almost instantly harassed him upon first viewing him and the Prince noticed this.

"FYI, she is the cities primary record keeper. Fantastic memory, knows everything that goes on in the city and is responsible for enforcing the laws. She does a lot. Could get a lot of good stories out of her. Stories you could make art of." Red looked back at the Prince in shock and then looked at Alismiria with a small smile.

"Well... I'm willing to converse professionally with her. Just don't call me cute! Or adorable. Or anything else like those words!" Alismiria nodded vigorously.

"Of course of course. I shall mind what I say. I promise." Red nodded and jumped into her palm, climbing up her arm and sitting on her shoulder. The look on her face showed she was ready to explode. She could die happy right now. Asteria, dragging Arachne with her, walked up to the Prince and rubbed against his leg. She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow and he petted her head softly.

"It's just so she'll forget to tell Mom and Dad that I kinda bailed from home. It'll also keep her from bickering with Huntress the entire way home." He looked back and saw Huntress poking Arachne over and over, the spider queen screaming and trying to kick her away. "I'm a little tired. Just need some quiet." Asteria rubbed against his leg again.

"First up you have to tell me what species Arachne, Asteria and Huntress are." Red said bringing out his notebook. Alismiria grinned mischievously.

"Oh easy. Arachne is apart of the Arañas, an ancient group of spider people who live in the underground of Arkea. They thrive in dark and wet environments and are not above eating their own kind for sustenance should the need arise. Asteria is the only of her kind so there is no real name for them. The Prince and I call her a Guardian. Seems sufficient enough. The King and Queen made a constellation in the night sky and brought her to life to watch over the Prince. And Huntress is a bitch."

"Who you callin' a bitch?!" Huntress shouted, stomping over and getting in the white clothed woman's face. Arachne gave a sigh of relief with her gone.

"I'm simply speaking the truth."

"Prince! The killjoy is being unprofessional again!"

"Stop calling me a killjoy!"

The Prince ignored the both of them and sat on the cliffs edge looking out at the castle in the distance. The ground beneath them began to rumble as Gebronk had risen out of his sleeping spot and took major strides on his way to the King Palace. The feeling of the cold air brushing against the Prince's face was so soothing. He felt like he could fall asleep right now. But he didn't want to miss this view. He can sleep when he gets home.