Chapter 8: Sidestory: 1

Early mornings were the best time to find a hunt. The Sun was yet to rise and the shivering chill of dawn was still present. At this time lone hunter was carefully traversing the forest floor, mindful of where he steps. He was an expert at his craft of hunting, a fact apparent to even the untrained eye. Ironically, such an untrained eye would not see him approach. His eye catching bluish skin covered and made inconspicuous by mud and tar and his face hidden behind a mask with an eerie visage. Donning an attire of fur and leather, he had packed lightly. Armed with javelin and a few curved short knives made from the fangs the quarry he had brought down before and carrying a full waterskin and an empty bag for transport.
The creatures that lived in this forest are savage, aggressive and territorial. The intense struggle for food and territory were everyday occurrences. Strength meant everything. The weaker ones who couldn’t compete each carved out their own niche of survival tactics. The predators hunting tactics and the prey’s survival tactics they were all put to the test everyday. Evolving and ever changing. He prided himself in being knowledgeable about almost every creature of the forest.
This was the knowledge that allowed him to survive and even take down the strongest of the predators in the forest. Though never expressly mentioned, he was regarded as the best hunter amongst his tribe. And many young hunters looked up to him. Though this morning he was vigilant, more so than his usual. And what could make the best hunter of the tribe - perhaps even the best hunter within the forest - so wary?
A few days before he unknowingly walked face first into a spider web. It should’ve been visible in the sunlight with the morning dew, yet he missed it. To further add insult to the injury web was it's durability and adhesion was remarkably strong. It clung to his face and couldn’t be removed easily. Even the knife made from sharpest of fangs made no difference. This was a grave mistake that could’ve cost his life. But moreover it told him of a new danger has arrived within the forest.
Though he knew there were dire spiders with abdomens as large as a boulder, their habitat was in dark caves and sometimes on trees and they rarely weaved a web to catch, in cases that they did, they never left their webs. In behaviour there are two types, Hunting and Web-Spinning. The hunting types attacked directly with their venomous bite. The web spinning types try catch their prey in a net of silk be it underneath them or flying overhead. Though recently both types have become rare. While the web-spinning type becoming almost extinct, the hunting types made caves and caverns into their home, fleeing from the forest. The recent resurgence of war boars are perhaps the reason for this change. As their hides are too thick for the hunting spider’s fang to fully pierce, and in contest of strength they couldn’t hope to match. Web spinning types are often simply smashed together with their web. They  even threaten the safety of the tribe. For now though they’re holding on but for how long?
This bizarre new behaviour of leaving their web meant a new species of spider in the forest. His experiences in hunting not only trained him to be stealthy but also to discern the smallest of details. If he didn’t see the web, his tribesmen won’t either. And if it was truly was regular, web spinning, dire spider. He would’ve never been caught like that.

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“Warboars are causing havoc. And now a new type of spider capable of even catching me.” He was worried for the safety of his tribe. However even with distracting thoughts on his mind, he was still following an animal track.
As he thought that he was closing in, the creature’s tracks suggested that it had become alerted and its tracks went off in a different direction. The deeper imprints and lower frequency meant it was scared and ran off. He braced for what could scared his hunt away. And there he saw; a messy mangled ball of flesh and bones. He didn’t smell it then as he was downwind, but now being close enough nauseating smell of blood assaulted him. It was obviously there a while for it to get this stench.
Looking closely he made out a number of animals and monster carcasses. More alarmingly, he found that it was held up from a tree branch in its ball shape by a web. The  particular repeating pattern of evenly distributed and perfectly shaped rectangular cells and precise work was not seen ever before from any spider that he had seen. Except one. “It’s the same type from then.”
He identified it being from the same species, if not the exact same spider. Though to an onlooker it looked to be of some sort of hideous effigy. For him as hunter he gleaned its hunting strategy as well. It had caught numerous animals, first a lark and then its natural predators. By using the lark that it had caught as bait to capture even more and then feasting on them. A cunning strategy worthy of praise. But also worthy of fear.
He was both impressed and frightened. What if the web he had walked into before was the same as this? And what if it he didn’t manage to free himself from the web then? What if the spider was near its web at that time. He could clearly imagine his own head hung up from a tree and being used as a bait. Abandoning his hunt he hurried back to his home to warn his tribesmen of a new threat.
Little did he know, it was simply a warning the spider left against the birds, to scare them away. It was him that was over thinking things and scaring himself. The spider’s aim of scaring away its harassers were achieved. Though not in the way that it had hoped to...

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