Dawned

Chapter 10

Xavier felt himself hitting the web, and then felt himself stop falling. To his surprise, it didn't hurt. He didn't hit the ground like he thought he would, and the webs didn't cut him like he though they would. He and Duncan fell through the first two layers of net, were slowed down by the next three, and stopped before they reached the last two. Xavier looked was on his back, and he looked up. He saw the canopy, high above them, but he couldn't see past it. To his right, he saw Duncan, passed out from the gravity of the fall. He expected to see puppets start appearing, but instead, he saw many spiders crawling up to them.

Voices swirled around him. They were shrill, but not scratchy. "Where did they come from? What happened? Are they dead? Is everyone ok?" He heard these sentences just barely, but didn't know what was going on. Then, he heard a louder voice ask, "how did you get here?" Xavier turned to the side, and saw a spider, bigger than the rest. "We - fell down." Said Xavier. "From - from the mountain." The spider seemed pleased. "It seems our web finally worked." Said the spider. "Now, we can finally eat." Panic struck Xavier, and he said, "before you eat us, can you tell me; who are you? Are you a monster?"
"Do not worry, we are no monsters." Said the spider. "We are insects. Here in the Dawned Zone, you can't trust anything that doesn't talk or walk on two legs. However, in return, you can always trust insects."
"What exactly are insects?" Asked Xavier. "Because I thought spiders were arachnids."

"Insects, are benevolent and helpful. They manage the souls that are trapped here. The wasps hold the story of life, the bees hold and sort the souls that are here, flies restore the world when it is broken. Us spiders, we hold information. Do you think that you people could have figured all that stuff about this world out on their own?" The spiders began approaching them, and some started nibbling on Duncan. "Don't worry." Said the spider. "We will make sure your unconscious when we eat you. Otherwise, that would be cruel."

The spiders began moving him and Duncan around, examining them. "Stop!" Said the spider suddenly. He looked at Xavier and said, "do you or your friend wish to live?" Xavier nodded, and said, "both of us."
"Let them go." Said the spider. The smaller spiders began unwrapping him and Duncan, and let him get up. "We will let you live, if you let us eat that instead." The spider looked at Joseph's wasp. "But, our friend needs that. He's been looking for it forever." Said Xavier. "Do not fret, the wasp will be fine." Said the spider. "We will leave an eye so the wasp can regenerate. As long as we don't eat the whole thing, it will be back to normal in time. They are immortal, and will regenerate if they are killed or injured."

Xavier agreed, and the spiders crawled through the gaps in the cage. They covered the wasp in some kind of blue web, and waited a minute before tearing the web back off. The spider ripped off an eye from the wasp, and the rest of the spiders began devouring the wasp, until there was nothing but the eye. The spider then put the eye back in the cage, and wrapped web around it so it wouldn't fall out.

"But, you didn't eat any of it." Said Xavier. "We only need one spider to be full. We share hunger, so when one of us eats, all of us eat." The spiders began crawling up, and repairing the web above them. Xavier asked the spider where they were. "You are in our quarry." Said the spider. "If you wish to leave, head over there." He looked towards a hole in the wall, lined with webs on the outside. "But what about Duncan?" Asked Xavier. "He passed out from shock." Said the spider. "He should wake up soon, if you wish to wait for him to, you may stay here for a while."

While waiting, Xavier asked, "so do the wasps eat as well?"
"Yes." Said the spider. "All insects eat, but we eat different things. As you noticed, spiders eat other things. Bees are tethered to the souls that they manage, and use that soul to have energy. Wasps feed on misery and unhappiness, which is why they hold memories of the now dead souls. Flies use spatial static, which collects around places that have had an event happen, like when structures fall or break."