Webs and Bones

The Start Of A Nightmare

The two Spider-Men walked across the endless white ground. Neither of them dared to speak as they approached the black mass. It was the definition of a sore thumb. Bloated and dark, constantly shifting while looking as out of place in the white void as Spider-Ham in Noir's world.

They tried calling Sorcerer but he didn't respond, as they had expected. It tended to be difficult to contact him while he was meditating and since everything about this multiverse was new, they did not doubt that their resident magician was busy learning all that he could about it.

So for now, it was up to them to investigate. They could only hope that he actually did sense the powerful presence before them and would show up soon.

They stopped a respectable distance away from the mass of black slime. Despite how far they had been when they first spotted it, they could tell that the mass had grown larger. It continuously convulsed, parts of it endlessly expanding and contracting but the overall size continued to gradually grow with no end.

"Hey, UK," Miles said with a hint of fear in his voice, "Please tell me that this isn't what I think it is."

William shook his head, "I doubt that this is a symbiote, despite the resemblance."

"How can you tell?"

"Well for one, symbiotes don't make you feel small and weak without making physical contact.

This... thing... radiated something that could only be described as pure negativity. It seeped into their hearts and slowly turned the valves needed to shatter their souls through emotions alone. To put it simply, something that definitely did not belong in the Omega Timeline.

The two spiders stared at the blob, unsure of how to handle it. There was no question that it was a threat to the residents of this place and yet the webheads felt powerless to help. The town didn't have any built-in defences, not even a wall, as the only defence they needed was the Omega Timeline's 'unbreachability' and their Guardians. But this thing was here anyway and blocking the doors which would be needed for evacuations to be possible unless all of the residents were willing to just run blindly into the endless void.

"Well, this definitely isn't good."

The two Spiders blinked and their heads swivelled towards the voice that had suddenly appeared between them. It was one of the short skeletons with the shit-eating grin. This one didn't have a hoodie like the others. Instead, had a pair of bright orange gauntlets.

Reacting quickly to the sudden appearance, UK offered the skeleton his hand. "You're Delta, right? I'm Spider-Man UK."

Delta's (probably) permanent grin grew a little as he happily accepted it. "Nice to meet you, ya. I'm one of the guys that Core called to look over the Omega Timeline. You guys have caused quite a stir, you know."

Miles chuckled awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry about that. Any idea what we're looking at?"

Delta's gaze darkened a little as he turned his attention back to the goop. "The only one in the multiverse who uses slime like that is Dream's brother, Nightmare, the Guardian of Negativity. And from the looks of it, he's bringing something big," He turned back to UK, "Call your friends back here, now. If Nightmare himself shows up, we're going to need Dream's help. Only magic made of positivity can hurt him."

William nodded, piecing together just how dire the situation was. He lifted his watch up to his face, the screen activating instantly. He brought his hand to the screen, ready to potentially send a message across multiverses. A feat that neither one has ever accomplished before.

But right as he was about to hit the button, the device shattered into scrap metal and broken circuits as a black tentacle pierced through it.

William stared at his arm in utter shock as time slowed and his sixth sense began to scream in alarm. He turned to Miles and he saw the younger Spider-Man already trying to back away, only for another tentacle to cut through his watch as well.