"Do you have to be any louder Josh?!" Ian hissed quietly at me. I give him a sheepish smile.
"Sorry." I replied. "I'll try to keep it down."
"Can you both quiet down? We are trying not to have our faces eaten by a manticore here!" Jordan said from the front.
Andrew silently ran forward and crouched next to a fallen log. He peaked over momentarily before ducking back down. He mouthed the word "Manticore" to us and we instantly fell silent and hid from plain sight.
My keen survivalist instincts help me decide whether to continue, wait, or just run. I could hear a low growl and the sound of something cutting through flesh. Very quietly, I inform the group."If we can stay absolutely quiet, we can sneak past it. Which means no stepping on branches." The other three nod and we group up away from the manticore's location.
"Josh, we need to make some kind of distraction, perhaps a loud noise somewhere we are not. and then run away while it is distracted?" Ian suggests. "Unless you have any better ideas?"
"I think we should just look for another way around it, that clearing is too large for us to sneak around before it finishes eating its meal, and we don't even know whats on the other side of the clearing. I mean, though those bushes, there could be a gorge or canyon that we have no hope of crossing." Andrew says quietly.
"It's worth a risk, and besides, whats the worst that could happen?" I say with a sly grin.
Ian just stares at me. "I just hate you sometimes. I really do."
I laugh. "You know you love me!"
"Guys!" Jordan hisses, "KEEP. IT. DOWN!"
"ROOOOAAAAR!!" An ear piercing screech erupts from the direction of the clearing.
I take one look at Jordan, Ian, and Andrew before starting to run in the direction we originally came from. I take a sharp turn right at the first opportunity and we enter a dark cave. Andrew runs in behind me and summons a weak fireball, just enough to emit light. What becomes illuminated in the darkness scared me deeply. I saw mentions of these things. They were huge and could destroy entire towns even if it is cranky... And i'm pretty sure I didn't have a water tower full of cow milk, and a sweet lullaby to lull it back to sleep if it wakes up.
Before us, was an Ursa Major... Not an Ursa Minor... I'm talking about a gigantic transparent purple bear.
"Oh shit." Ian says, "We should leave." He says quickly. The giant bear shuffles in its sleep. We quickly run out the way we came and find ourselves face to paw with an Ursa Minor...
"Wow, our luck just keeps getting better and better!" Jordan says sarcastically. the Ursa Minor looks down at us with murder in its eyes. "I know our luck is bad, but seriously? This is ridiculous."
"So, we have two options, stay in here and get mauled by a stellar bear, or run outside and have a manticore AND an Ursa minor on our figurative tails. I'm liking the second option because we have at least a small chance of surviving." I deduce.
"If we're taking door number two, we'd better start running!" Andrew just BOOKS IT! He dodges between the Ursa's legs and out the cave entrance. We quickly do the same. The Ursa Minor roars and charges after us.
Leaving the scary cave, we dash the way we were originally going. We race into the clearing with the manticore still there. It doesn't even look like it actually moved in the first place. I guess it just roared to divert prying eyes. Well it definitely worked flawlessly! We ran for our lives.
The manticore swivels and roars at us, unknowing of the giant bear behind us. The bear is knocking trees down like an elephant on a rampage would. The manticore started chasing after us.
"I know this is a really bad time to say it!" I yell. "But I apologize for jinxing this!"
"Apologize later! run for our lives NOW!" Jordan yells, jumping over a fallen log.
We enter a large clearing that looked inhabited. On the far edge we see the inevitable. "Yeah I guess we all saw this coming!" I yell, dashing through the clearing as the manticore bursts through, followed shortly by the giant stellar bear. We dash past several wooden wolves that are snarling at us for barging in and destroying their campsite. As we broke through the opposite side of the clearing, and dashing past some surprised timber wolves, several started to give chase.
"A manticore, Timber wolves, and a giant stellar bear. Oh my." Ian says.
Jordan stares at him, almost smashing into a tree. "Is this REALLY the time for movie references?!" The three of us laugh and continue running. I can feel fatigue starting to grow.
"Guys! I'm starting to get tired." I yell, starting to breathe heavily.
"Great! we'll leave you behind!" Andrew yells. "Its what you get for getting us into this mess in the first place anyway."
I swat a large plant out of the way and continue running. "I already said I was sorry!"
"Whatever. Just keep run- woah!!! stop!! Cliff!" Andrew yells. Ian stares at me, giving me an 'I told you so' look.
I look across the gorge. It was quite a distance across. Hmm... I focus on the power in my ring and I imagine a bridge in front of us. Quickly, pieces of mud and dirt form themselves into a bridge for us to cross. It still looks very dangerous to cross. And I'm not one who likes falling to his death. I look over at Andrew and a silent conversation is played out. Andrew nods in understanding and shoots lava out of his ring which douses the bridge. Ian quickly douses it in water and we hurry across right as the manticore takes a swipe. The manticore steps on the bridge as we make it safely to the other side. The bridge collapses and the manticore falls with it. Several seconds later we all hear a dull thud making all of us wince. even the Timber Wolves and the Ursa Minor winces at the sound.
The four of us collapse on the ground and sigh in relief. "Let's take a moment to catch our breath and then we'll continue our journey." We all agree. I look around the area, surveying our surroundings.
"This sucks. Not saying I don't like having a journey on an alien planet, but I really want my bed from home. A nice rest would probably do us all nicely. Come on lets go find a place to rest for the night... well... its hard to tell when 'Night' is when its sunny one minute and dark the next, but whatever I guess." I exhale and I help the others to their feet. They follow behind me.
I catch a glimpse of a stone structure. "Hey I think there's some sort of building ahead!"
"Great! I hope it's inhabited. And NOT by something that can kill us." Ian says forging ahead through the thick underbrush. As he gets to the other side we can hear him stutter. "Sp-Sp-Sp-"
"Spit it out already!"
"SPIDER!" He screams. Oh yeah. He is deathly afraid of spiders. He had a traumatic event when he was young. He woke up in the middle of the night. There was a spider on his chest. Well... It crawled into somewhere... and it bit him, he was taken to the hospital for anti-venom and ever since then, he was absolutely TERRIFIED of them. Even the tiny ones that have no way of actually hurting you. If he sees a spider, he screams bloody murder and the whole neighborhood knows about it.
We quickly jump to the other side of the bush and I see a giant spider. I shit you not. It is a spider, easily as big as the giant spider that stabs Frodo in the lord of the rings movies.
We stand frozen, taking in the sight of the monstrous being in front of us. It opens its eyes, all eight of them. and they all seem to lock onto me.
"ye who holds the power of the earth. We will not harm you and grant a safe passage through our section of the forest."
My eyes widen. "Did you... did you just talk?!" Ian, Andrew, and Jordan look at me with raised eyebrows. Even Ian, who was shaking uncontrollably in fear looked at me. "Did you not just hear him?! He just talked!"
"The gift of understanding the arachnid language is a rare one. I am impressed you could understand me." The spider says, keeping it's eyes on me at all times.
"Would the invitation extend to my three friends here? We would like a place to rest for a while and gather our strength for the rest of our journey." As weird as it was to be able to talk to spiders, I couldn't pass up a safe place for us to rest, even though Ian will probably be shaking the entire time, holding himself in a fetal position, mumbling to himself and slowly going insane.
The Giant spider rises from its web and bows to me. "We shall allow you and your party a place to rest. Though I must ask, What are thou names?" I look to my three friends.
"He just asked your names." They are too conflicted with emotions to respond. "Whatever, My name is Joshua. The one on the right is Jordan, the one cowering and shaking is Ian, and the other is Andrew."
The spider bows again. "Sir Ian is given permission to rest in our burrow." He declares before turning to Andrew and doing the same. "Sir Andrew is given permission to rest in our burrow." He turns to Jordan and does the same once more. "Sir Jordan is given permission to rest in our burrow." The spider turns to me and extends one of his legs. "May I see the ring? It has been centuries since it was in our possession."
"Uh, sure? I heard mention that this, and the rings my three companions have, originated from this planet. I'm assuming that's true."
"Indeed it is. My name is Spinner, and you may call me as that."
"Thank you Spinner. I can't speak for my friends, but its a pleasure making your acquaintance."
"Before you leave, do come see me again, I'm sure there are a lot of questions you want to have answered." I nod in response.
"I do have a lot of questions, and yes I will."
Spinner smiles, which looks weird because of the massive fangs protruding from his skull. I walk back to my friends and I start pushing their petrified forms forward. I knew Jordan and Andrew weren't scared of spiders, but I can tell their brains can't process what just happened.
"My brood will assist them. They are young but they know what they're doing."
"Alright. Well, Can you point me in the direction of where i'll be resting?" Spinner nods and extends a limb towards a hole in the ground that is covered in webs. I start to walk towards the hole in the ground. A spider, half the size of spinner, emerges from the hole. The arachnid bows to me.
"Follow me to the place you can rest. Be careful and do not touch the webbing. It is layered with poison to keep the pests out. It doesn't react well to skin." I rush down the hole, being careful not to touch the poisoned webbing.
I follow the spider down the hole. It wasn't a straight drop like i thought it was. It was more of a spiral staircase. There were spiders everywhere. I felt nervous with all of those eyes watching my every move. I made my way deep into the burrow. My escort stopped by a doorway and beckoned for me to proceed ahead of him. Inside was a huge spider. The spider was so huge, it made Spinner look like an ant.
The spider opened its eyes. All eight of them burrowing into my soul. I swallow. Even my natural tolerance to spiders would've never prepared me for a spider of this caliber. I clear my throat before speaking. "My name is Joshua. Myself and my party of three was allowed temporary sanctuary in your burrow." I bow before the enormous being that could very easily squash ME like a beetle underfoot.
"Yes," It's voice rang through the burrow with a lot of force. "I've heard. please follow my associate. She'll lead you to the borrowing room." The giant arachnid lifts one of its limbs and points to spider next to it which seems to be teeming with energy. It was like the spider was going to shoot into the sky and explode in a bunch of fireworks. I glance back to the large spider with a raised eyebrow. He just sighs.
"HI THERE! I've never met anything like you before! Are you a monkey? A seagull? A parrot? A seal?" She yaps on at about one hundred miles an hour, bombarding me with questions and complements. "You're very tall. Are you an alien? did you know the first 12 digits of the square root of pi is: 1.77245385091? It's very interesting isn't it? Do you eat meat? Why are you so tall? Why do you walk on your back feet?" The bombardment of questions were giving me a serious headache.
"Woah, Woah, Woah! Slow down please." I could see the other spiders in the burrow giving me a look of sympathy. They knew she acts like this. Wow.
I look behind me to see Ian, Andrew, and Jordan being escorted by another spider. They are led through the small archway and into the main chamber. Jordan walks in first. he sees the giant spider and immediately puts a hand over Ian's eyes.
"Ian, trust me, you do NOT want to see this. If your arachnophobia is that bad, this will give you a heart attack." Ian swallows.
Jordan looks at me. "Lead the way." The small energetic spider hops away.
"Boy, its like pinkie pie possessed her." Andrew states. We all follow the eccentric spider across the room and though an archway.
"Don't touch the webbing with bare skin. It's lathered with venom to keep the pests out." I warn.
"Nopedy nope! down here it isn't. The newly hatched brood are kept down here. They are slowly introduced to the poison so they can grow and adjust to it." the energetic spider states happily.
"Look, we're all very tired, can you show us where we'll be sleeping?" I ask, a slight wave of drowsiness comes over me.
"Yepperuni! right this way!" We pass under a badly damaged archway.
"What did that?"
"Oh the evil fire ants. They come down here for the hatchlings. They attacked yesterday... relative time. With discord in the throne of power, its been rather hard to tell time."
"Huh, are they going to attack again?"
"Probably. They've been getting more and more antsy each day." She giggles at her own pun. Hearing a spider giggle is fucking weird.
"How dangerous are the ants?"
"Very, their colony is a mile north of here. Before discord took the throne, They never attacked us, but now they attack quite often."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" I ask.
"Well... You could try to talk to their queen." We enter a small room with wads of webbing compressed into pillows for us to lay on. I see a few spiders spinning silk into a blanket for the four of us.
"Oh thank the lord!" Jordan shouts. "Fresh silk is the best!" He runs a head and lays on one of the pillows. "Josh, thank them for me wouldja?"
"They can already understand you." I replied. I take a deep breath and I walk over to join Jordan. Andrew does the same and eventually Ian does too. The weaver finishes the silk bedding and tosses it over the four of us. "Thank you." I say to the weaver who bows in return and leaves the room.
"You know? I am taking all of this surprisingly well, despite the circumstances." I close my eyes and I hear the other three agree. I drift off into a soundless sleep.