Chapter 166: Book 8 Chapter 1

“Are you sure you have to do this alone?” Korgron asked, an annoyed look on her face.

“I’m the only one who can open the door,” Joan said softly. “Not to mention there are more important things for you seven to be doing.”

Hardwin made a light, objecting grunt but didn’t say anything.

“And what about me?” Bauteut asked.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Joan said. “But if I’m not taking the Chosen in there, I don’t want to take you in there. Even if this is safe, it doesn’t make it any less… creepy.”

“Why can’t we just tunnel through or around it all?” Thalgren asked.

Joan gave a soft little sigh. She didn’t blame them, she was uncomfortable about it as well. She was literally going into the spider’s den. But, most importantly, she was invited. On top of that, that was the whole reason the spiders were here. Like it or not, they had been waiting for her.

Not to mention she felt a little bit of guilt. All the times the Hero had fallen into those tunnels, had the spiders been trying to get his attention? How many thousands of them had died in that attempt, only to fail in the end? Supposedly the massive spiders weren’t even a threat to any of them, with no actual attempts to harm humans, elves, dwarves or even demons on record they could find. Some of them even had benefits, such as Zapper.

But they still made Joan feel icky. So many lifetimes of falling into so many of them, of feeling thousands of them crawling over her skin, being tangled in their webs, feeling their feet poking and picking at her. The Hero hadn’t known they were harmless to humans. He knew they could devour massive beasts, trapping and killing all manner of animals to feast on. He’d thought they were trying to do the same to him. But a misunderstanding did not forgive the mass slaughter of creatures that had only wanted to help.

Or at least, it didn’t to her. “Please, just leave this to me,” Joan said. “It’ll take like an hour, maybe two. Then we can move on. Now, more than ever, it’s important that you’re all ready for what’s to come. The Inferno God won’t hold back. There will be only a limited time to do what you all need to do, you need to be ready. That means I need each and every one of you at your best. As strong as you can get.”

Andreas gave a small nod before glancing towards the cave. “And if you’re wrong?”

“I’m not wrong,” Joan said.

“But if you--”

“If there was even a tiny chance I was wrong, do you think I’d be willing to do this?!” Joan yelled, unable to stop herself. “Do you think I WANT to do this? Do you think I am looking FORWARD to this? NO! I don’t want to! It freaks me out! I don’t like SPIDERS! Even if I KNOW they aren’t dangerous and won’t hurt me I’m still SCARED! Okay? But that doesn’t matter! This needs to be done and since none of you can go into the door, I can’t just leave it like this! So please stop trying to make me stop doing what I need to do when I already don’t want to do it!”

Silence reigned for a few moments and, very slowly, Bauteut reached out and pat her on the back. “Joan, we’re just worried about you. You have a tendency to…”

“Do stupid, suicidal things?” Joan asked. “I know. I’m trying to stay calm, though. Please. Please trust me. I swear I’ll be safe. They know why I’m here, they want me to come. There’s no confusion this time. Besides, even if there was?” She lightly tapped her belt, no longer cracked and damaged. “I’m pretty sure this thing could destroy the whole mountain if it came down to it.”

“Yeah, probably,” Korgron said with an amused, arrogant tone before drawing a slight glare from Searle. Joan couldn’t help but feel a little proud of him, he so rarely let his annoyance show at all.

“So please, just focus on your own efforts for now. We don’t have much time,” Joan said. “Soon? This will all be over.”

“What happens if we fail?” Myrin asked.

“World dies,” Joan said with a shrug. “Everyone we’ve ever known, loved or cared for goes with it. Likely in a terrible, painful, horrific way. So we should try and… not… have that happen. You all deal with the parts you can, I’ll deal with the parts I can.” She then glanced to Bauteut. She did feel a small rush of guilt towards her, though. There really wasn’t anything her friend could do right now. “I’m sorry that--”

“Don’t worry about it,” Bauteut said with a small smile. “I’m just going to keep helping where I can. I know as we get closer and closer to the end, there’s less I can do.”

Joan nodded, before glancing back towards the cave. She reached out to grab her spider bracer, sliding it on and then cringing when she felt it bite down on the back of her hand. “Come on, Zapper. We should probably get this over with.” She held out her hand, trying to resist the urge to shudder when he crawled up her arm. Ew ew ew ew ewwwww.

If only he was the only spider who’d be on her today.

“Are you sure I can’t come with you?” Bauteut asked. “Just for a little bit?”

“It’s probably best you don’t,” Joan said. “It’s going to look really, really bad.” She got to her feet and stretched out. “But don’t worry. I’ll be back before you know it. With company.”

“Just be careful,” Korgron said.

“I have enough armaments to take on a small country,” Joan said before motioning to her belt. “I’ll be fine.”

“If ever there was a sentence to fill me with dread,” Hardwin said with a small glare.

“Just trust me, okay? Like I trust all of you,” Joan said before walking towards the tunnel. Just a little longer. Her journey was almost complete.

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Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew EW!

Joan really hoped this was a one time thing. It had been bad enough coming here as the Hero, coming here like this was awful. A small orb of magical light hovered above her, revealing everything she didn’t want to see.

The tunnel had finally begun to open up into a massive cavern that seemed to go down forever, only a single wide stone bridge connecting it from one tunnel to the next.

Massive webs hung overhead and on either side of the tunnel. Thick, massive knots in them of creatures that had either been dragged here or wandered too close.

Worse, though, was what was on the webs. Thousands, if not millions, of spiders. Some nearly the size of her fist while others were easily the size of wagons. Dwarfing her with ease. But the very, very worst part?

They were all staring at her. Watching her every movement.

“Fate’s chosen,” she could hear one of them murmuring, the bracer translating every word.

“So brilliant.”

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“She shines like a star.”

“Beautiful.”

“Radiant.”

Ew ew ew ew ew ew. Joan couldn’t help but shudder. She knew she should be grateful that, to the spiders at least, she apparently seemed to be a good thing. Even in their strange voices the awe and reverence could be heard.

But knowing so many spiders were watching her made her feel even more uncomfortable. She walked to the edge of the bridge, before taking a slow breath. She could see some of them, just on the edge of the light. Watching her. Some with legs bigger than her.

“You know why I’m here,” Joan said, trying to keep her tone as neutral as possible. “May I?”

“Come, come,” one of the spiders said, more of them echoing the invitation. “The door awaits you, Radiant One.”

“Thank you,” Joan said, giving another shudder.

The webs shook and vibrated, though she didn’t know if it was because of spiders moving on them or captured prey. She really, really hoped it was the former. Supposedly the spiders were known to quickly neutralize their prey and not leave them trapped in their webbing, unlike some smaller spiders. She still couldn’t help but imagine herself ending up wrapped in those webs, helpless and--

Joan shook her head. Nope. Thinking those ideas would just cause her more suffering. She reached out and wrapped a hand around the webbing before giving it a tug. Normally it would have been so sticky and almost impossible to get off, but fortunately the gauntlet just made it far more rope like.

Joan took one more small breath before leaping off the bridge and onto the web.

Ew ew ew ew. From there she began crawling down the web, struggling so very, very hard not to scream. The larger spiders seemed more than willing to give her space, but not so much for the little ones. She tried not to think about the feeling of little tiny legs crawling over her body when she climbed down the webbing, listening to their cries of radiant joy in her presence.

Then the webbing she was climbing down snapped.

Joan let out a scream, for a second or two she was in the air, then she landed on even more webbing. The thread bounced up and down from her sudden fall, causing some of the spiders on it to fly through the air and, unfortunately, some landed on her.

Joan struggled to bite back another scream. Why did she have to do this? WHY?

Inch by inch she had to climb down the webbing, struggling to ignore every spider crawling over her body. Trying to ignore the way the light reflected off so many bulbous eyes. Trying to ignore how many strange web sacks there were in the webs. Trying to ignore the fact they had such strange, vicious fangs. Trying to ignore the fact their venom could probably paralyze her if they bit her. Trying to ignore the growing horror that she wasn’t entirely sure the elemental could protect her entirely, if they rushed her. Trying to ignore the fact they were all watching her, so closely. Trying to ignore the fact that the further down she went, the stranger the spiders seemed to be and that there appeared to be glowing blue ghostnids as well.

But they didn’t attack her. Even as she made her way down, they seemed mesmerized by her. Some followed closely behind, but never touched her. Others kept their distance, watching her with reverence. ‘Fate’s Chosen’ indeed. She’d have a few choice words for the fates after all this was over if they knew she was going to be subjected to this.

“Stop,” a voice called when she dropped down onto a new web. Down below she could see the cavern floor, covered in millions of what she suspected were spider eggs. Oh, she remembered falling into those and she desperately wanted to avoid it. “Fall no further. Walk along to the source.”

Joan shuddered but slowly began to crawl along the web. While many of them, up to this point, had been wild and erratic, this web seemed almost entirely horizontal in nature.

More than that, it seemed fresh. While most of the webs seemed dried out and old, this one seemed slightly wet and glistening. She wondered if they had made it freshly for her.

Probably. Joan would have felt grateful, if she wasn’t so horrified now. She shuddered, but did feel a small amount of relief. The only spider on her, that she could see, was Zapper. More importantly, the web she was crawling on seemed only to have her on it. She wished she could thrash about and make sure no other spiders were on her body, crawling through her hair or clothing, but she didn’t want to insult the creatures. She swore she could still feel them, though. All over her.

How massive was this chamber? She didn’t know how long she crawled for, but slowly the eggs below began to fade away, revealing the stone floor beneath.

The web she was crawling on sunk lower and lower before, finally, ending on the ground. She climbed back to her feet and kept walking, giving another shudder. She could still hear the spiders talking amongst themselves, but they were further away now. Were they no longer following her? She wondered--

Joan barely suppressed the urge to scream when suddenly, directly ahead of her, eight bulbous eyes seemed to appear. The head of a spider many, many, many times her size slowly seemed to rise from the ground, its massive body easily the size of a building and covered in thick, gray fur. Even with her light she could only barely make out some of its legs in the distance, though she could barely even look at them.

Beneath the spider she could see it, though. The doorway to the Realm of the Gods. Protected by the massive creature. “Finally… you… have… come…” it said, its words slow but rough.

“Y-yes, I have,” Joan said softly.

“At… last… I… can… bathe… in… the… light… of… the… fates…” it said gently. “Is… our… vigil… at… an… end?”

“Yes,” Joan said softly.

Slowly the spider crawled away, its lumbering body collapsing to the ground besides the door, its head only a few feet from it. “Come…” It then let out what she could only assume was the spider equivalent of a wheeze.

Joan gave a small nod, barely resisting the urge to scream. She didn’t want to go by such a massive head to get to the door, but it wasn’t like she had a choice.

She reached up and let Zapper crawl onto her hand. “Well, I guess this is it,” Joan said softly. “I’ll be back in a second, okay?”

“Be safe, radiant one,” Zapper said.

“Oh, I’ll try to be,” Joan said before lowering him to the ground and then turning towards the door. Slowly she stood back up and walked towards it, tensing up once more when she passed those dark, bulbous eyes. Watching her every move.

Her hand reached out and, once more, she touched the door.

She yelped when magic shot off it in all directions, sending bolts of magic before the world seemed to once again freeze and the door opened.

A stone tunnel awaited her. The Realm of the Gods calling to her one more time. Nervously, she stepped through the open doorway.