Chapter 178: Book Three Chapter Thirty Seven: TT_Hunter_Room

Having finished staring at the urn containing the future Definitely Bad Guy, the rest of the party spread out to look for other hidden alcoves, leaving just the Hero staring at it. Qube hesitated a moment, staying by his side.

 

“Are you all right?” she asked. She wouldn't have thought the Hero would be so shaken by seeing a future they’d managed to avoid. He wasn’t generally prone to brooding over such things.

 

“If we hadn’t broken the Evil Emperor, Definitely Bad Guy would have died,” he said.

 

“Yes,” Qube agreed, confused.

 

“I…” he struggled to find the words. “I didn’t think the [Traitor’s Curse] would actually kill him.”

 

“Of course it would have,” Qube said, even more confused now. “What else would it have done?”

 

“I dunno, damaged his power output or nerfed him somehow,” the Chosen One said, his voice steadily rising. “I didn’t think it would kill him—kill him. I didn’t…” he trailed off again, and returned to staring at the urn. “They didn’t say anything to me,” he finished. “Did they just… not think about it?”

 

“Aha!” the Bard exclaimed, pointing out a faintly red gem next to the words “The Hunter.” The Chosen One, jolted out of his thoughts, finally stepped away from the urn and turned around. The drawer was on the opposite side of the room from “The Mage,” but the Hero easily vaulted over the coffin in the middle.

 

“That would be mine,” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady said, scuttling over to the closed drawer. She eyed it with interest. “Do you think it’ll be past, present, or future? It would be delightful to have double of me, wouldn’t it?” she asked the Chosen One, batting all her eyelashes at him.

 

The Hero didn’t look particularly pleased by this prospect, but instead of answering he pressed on the gem. Same as the others, the panel slid back, revealing a flower missing half of its petals. The Chosen One glanced at Sexy Screamy Spider Lady, who just looked back.

 

“Shall I?” he asked politely. The Hunter reached past him, and gently stroked the flower with the tip of a claw. Once again the walls flew away from them and the coffin sank into the ground, before everything dissolved again.

 

Whoever designed the Temples really needed to be more creative.

 

---

 

“Wow they really got lazy with this, didn’t they?” the Chosen One asked, looking around the clearing. They were inside the beginning of the Forbidden Forest’s Temple, staring into the dark pit that they’d run through so long ago. The roots still burst out from the ground, forming twisted pathways that eventually lead to the other side, and a cliff edge waited at their feet. The only differences between the original Forbidden Forest Temple and this were the lack of animals in the pit, and the fact that everything was the same leeched grey as the cemetery outside the mausoleum.

 

The music was eerie, with subtle creaking sounds and rustling moans like wind through leaves turned into song. It was almost like the song was trying to make people think it was coming from the Temple itself but Qube could remember what it sounded like without the music so it wasn’t fooling her.

 

“This does seem familiar,” Sencha Bard concurred. The Chosen One grinned.

 

“Hey, remember when I made you into a horse so you could carry me around?” he asked Qube.

 

Qube didn’t dignify that with a response. Or by pointing out that riding on someone’s shoulders does not make said person into a horse, thank you very much!

 

“Look, over there,” she said, ignoring the Hero and pointing. In the centre of the floor, just visible between the enormous roots was a small, child-sized wood elf and —

 

“Ruler Wefton?” Sencha Bard peered into the surprisingly misty pit.

 

“Father?” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady whispered.

 

Qube squinted to try and bring the grey-coloured pair in the pit into focus. The wood elf adult did, indeed, look very much like Ruler Wefton had, the last time she’d seen him. But she’d never seen the child he was talking to. She had long, dark brown hair, and was wearing a short skirt and one-shouldered halter top. She looked absolutely adorable.

 

She was also wearing a vine-woven belt with two daggers tucked into it.

 

The Hero, disappointed by Qube’s refusal to reminisce about her pony days, dropped down into the pit. With a sigh, Qube followed suit, the others thudding as they hit the ground behind her. Together they joined the Hero as he strode towards the Ruler and child in the middle of the pit.

 

“You must be ready for the trials,” Ruler Wefton suddenly started saying as soon as the Chosen One entered the leader’s field of view. The child pouted.

 

“But Father, I was —”

 

Father? Was this a memory of the Hunter’s? It couldn’t be! The wood elf child looked nothing like Sexy Screamy Spider Lady. For one thing, she wasn’t a giant spider with children’s faces stitched onto her. For another, she lacked the raw sensuality that the Hunter oozed. Which, considering she looked to be around seven years old, was probably a good thing. But Sexy Screamy Spider Lady was an only child, wasn’t she? How old had she been when she was transformed into a spider?

 

“The first, and most important, thing is selecting a suitable bodyguard. This will be the man you will marry, so choose wisely.”

 

“But I don’t want to have a husband!” the child protested. “Boys are gross!” As soon as she said that the child winced, raising a hand to her forehead. A gesture Qube was familiar with from her own battles with the Golden Prophecy.

 

Definitely couldn’t be Sexy Screamy Spider Lady; not with that attitude.

 

“It is your duty, child,” Ruler Wefton said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “He must be wise, and strong. Capable of defending you, and helping you rule over your people. But your mother insists that you must also know how to protect yourself.”

 

It had to be Sexy Screamy Spider Lady, unless she had a sister. The man handed the potential younger version of Sexy Screamy Spider Lady (whom Qube mentally dubbed “Svetlana” to avoid confusion) a child-sized crossbow and a quiver of bolts.

 

“This will give you a taste of what’s to come,” he said sternly. “There will only be one wave, and they won’t be able to kill you, but they will attempt to hurt you. Do you remember the rules?”

 

“Aim for the centre of mass, continue until they’re dead,” small Svetlana sighed. Ruler Wefton smiled, the expression lighting up his whole face.

 

“Good girl,” he said. “I will watch over from the shadows, but will not intervene. Make me proud, little spider.”

 

“What a nickname,” the Chosen One whispered.

 

“Forests need spiders,” Qube whispered back. She looked at the Hunter to see if she’d registered the Chosen One insulting the endearing pet name her parent had given her. The giant arachnid (maybe that’s why her cursed form had chosen spider, rather than the weird frog or nut things of other wood elves?) was too busy watching the memory play out to pay any attention to the Hero’s mutterings, and ignored the human.

 

“Do you remember this?” Sencha Bard asked Sexy Screamy Spider Lady. “Are you the child?” 

 

The Hunter nodded. “I think so,” she said slowly. “My father would often take me into the Temple to prepare me for the Thorny Trials, or to instruct me in how to rule over the people.”

 

Svetlana plonked herself down in the middle of the clearing in the pit and picked a flower from some rather sick-looking grass. She plucked a petal, and slowly let it fall to her feet.

 

“He loves me,” she said, rather glumly. She plucked another petal. “He loves me not.”

 

The Hunter was watching her younger self intently.

 

“Who were you talking about?” the Chosen One asked the Hunter, curious.

 

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“I don’t remember,” she replied, confused. “I think it was just something I was taught to do.”

 

The noise of their conversation made Svetlana look up at the Chosen One and Sexy Screamy Spider Lady. She blinked at them with her wide, dark eyes.

 

“Hello, who are you?” she asked the Chosen One with the directness of children and the rude.

 

“I’m the Chosen One,” the Hero replied, not at all put off by talking to the memory of the woman next to him.

 

“Oh,” Svetlana processed this. “Are you my boyfriend?”

 

“No,” the Chosen One replied with a straight face.

 

“Good,” Svetlana said, before wincing. She pressed her hand up to her forehead. “Sorry.”

 

“I remember…” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady said, staring at her child self. “It hurts, doesn’t it?”

 

“Yeah, but my father says that it’ll go away once I grow up and be a good girl. You look funny; what are you?” Svetlana asked her older self.

 

“That’s the Golden Prophecy, guiding you,” Qube said to Svetlana, unsure if the memory could hear her or not. The wood elf tilted her head to the side, and for a moment Qube thought it was in response to what she’d said, before battle music slammed into her.

 

The rustling of the tree had turned into the cracking of broken branches, as several twisted creatures appeared. Qube recognised them — they were the ones that had been attacking the cute forest creatures when they’d first entered the Temple all those months ago.

 

Hadn’t they been a part of the curse from the Dryad Queen having her heart removed by that Beast? What were they doing here now? Nevertheless, Qube sprung into action.

 

“[Lesser Shield]! Chosen One, cover her!” she cried, shielding the Hero as he dove in front of the child. A twisted animal that looked like a cross between a tree root and a dog gnashed at the Hero’s magical shield.

 

“Hey,” the Hero said wildly. “Hey, treedog thing, stop it. Hey! Can you understand me? Stop it!”

 

The treedog thing ignored the Hero’s pleas and lunged around the Hero, trying to get to Svetlana.

 

“These are memories,” Sencha Bard said, pulling out his rapier and thrusting it into another treedog. “While noble, your concerns are unnecessary!”

 

A bolt appeared in the side of a half-rabbit, half-rock that was bounding towards Definitely Bad Guy and Sexy Screamy Spider Lady. 

 

“Got it!” Svetlana piped up happily from behind the bulk of the frantically negotiating Hero.

 

“I’m just saying, okay, but them being memories doesn’t mean they can’t think and I don’t want to feel bad about murdering a bunch of ghost things that it turns out have feelings,” he was protesting as he used his unwieldy shield to bash the treedog trying to circumvent him.

 

The Mage instantly started hurling fireballs, lighting several of the more wood-like beasts on fire. Squiggles was batting at several vines attempting to slap her, making it look like she was playing a game with them.

 

“They’re nothing but ghosts, Noble Patron,” Sencha Bard said, whipping his blade across the face of a rock-rabbit. “Abominations. There’s no harm in killing them.”

 

The Chosen One glanced guiltily at Qube, the action costing him dearly as the treedog, having destroyed Qube’s magical shield, slipped past the Fighter’s actual shield and bit him.

 

“Ow! Fine!” the Hero shouted as Qube cast [Lesser Shield] and [Lesser Heal] on him. “[Shield Bash]!”

 

During the fight, Sexy Screamy Spider Lady hadn’t moved. Even her child self was doing more damage than the fully-grown Hunter, happily peppering bolts into various enemies, and carving any that got too close with her wicked little daggers.

 

“Looks like that will hurt. Maybe someone can kiss it better!” Svetlana cried. She was clearly still working on her battle banter.

 

“Even this young,” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady said sadly. “I never realised…” 

 

Whatever the Hunter had been about to say was lost in the final wave of the beasts. If they hadn’t had Definitely Bad Guy the fight would have been substantially more difficult; the fact that the majority of the forest fighters were merged with wood meant that the fire-based magic ripped through them.

 

As it was, every attack of his not only crippled, if not outright killed, his target, but it rapidly spread, the wooden sections of the animals catching alight and carrying it to those deeper in the wave.

 

All too soon the fight was over, the enemies disappearing, none of them leaving even a single bag of loot behind. Within minutes it was only Svetlana and the party left in the pit. Ruler Wefton, for all his claims of watching over the fight, didn’t reappear.

 

“Huh,” the Chosen One said, looking around the empty area. “Maybe we were just supposed to murder everything. That seems… weirdly simple. They’re recycling assets too; did they just get lazy on the final Temple? I would have thought we’d see her getting turned into a spider or something cool.”

 

“I don’t think it’s just defeating the room,” Qube said quietly to the Hero. He looked at her and she indicated where the Hunter was slowly approaching Svetlana.

 

“Hello,” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady greeted herself. Svetlana blinked up at the arachnid towering over her.

 

“Hello,” she replied clearly. “You seem familiar.”

 

“I’m you,” the Hunter replied. “I’m what you become.”

 

“Oh. That would explain it,” the child replied, accepting this at face value. She frowned, then squinted at the Hunter. She rapidly bobbed her head back and forth. Her frown intensified.

 

“When I move too fast, you kinda look like a giant spider,” she explained to the giant spider.

 

“I kinda am a giant spider,” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady replied in all seriousness. “But a part of me is still you.”

 

“Oh.” Svetlana digested this for a while, fingering the arc of her crossbow. Finally she looked back up at herself, and winced, her little face screwing up in pain.

 

“Does being a giant spider… make things easier?” she asked at last.

 

It was sometimes difficult to decipher the Hunter’s expression, her face being so different from a person’s. But there was no mistaking the tears welling up in her eyes, and the wide smile she gave.

 

“It means I give really good hugs,” she offered, opening up all her arms. Svetlana, betraying none of the nervousness a regular child would when confronted with such a sight, simply walked into the monster’s arms, and wrapped her arms around her thorax, hugging for all she was worth. Part of her was instantly eaten by the Hunter’s body.

 

“That does make it easier,” Svetlana said, satisfied, before she dissolved into nothing, leaving behind only a tiny hourglass.

 

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