[ChatGPT] World of Ashes

[SIDE] The Spider's Thread

Elara had always been good at keeping secrets. As a child in the poor quarter of the city, she learned quickly that survival depended on what you knew and who you could trust. But no secret weighed heavier on her heart than the one she carried now.

Elara had been working as a maid in the castle for nearly two years. The job was supposed to be a stepping stone, a way to earn enough money to support her ailing mother and perhaps save up to start a small business one day. But the castle, with its towering walls and endless corridors, had quickly become a prison of a different kind.

It all started with a simple task—delivering a message to one of the courtiers late at night. The letter had been sealed with black wax, the emblem of a spider pressed into it. She had been told to take it directly to Lord Valen’s chambers, and under no circumstances was she to look inside.

Curiosity had gnawed at her during the walk through the dimly lit halls. Lord Valen was a figure of mystery, a man who rarely interacted with the servants and kept to himself in the shadowed corners of the court. There were whispers among the staff about his dark dealings, about strange visitors who came and went in the dead of night. But no one dared speak openly, not where his influence might reach.

When Elara arrived at his door, she hesitated, her hand poised to knock. A soft voice from within called her inside, and she pushed open the heavy wooden door to find Lord Valen sitting at his desk, his sharp eyes already on her.

“Thank you, my dear,” he said smoothly, accepting the letter with a smile that didn’t touch his eyes. “You’ve done well.”

Elara nodded, trying to ignore the cold shiver that ran down her spine. “Is there anything else you need, my lord?”

Valen’s gaze lingered on her for a moment longer than was comfortable. Then, with a slow, deliberate movement, he pulled a small silver pendant from his pocket—a spider, its legs crafted with intricate detail, the eyes tiny red gems that seemed to glimmer in the low light.

“For your service,” he said, extending the pendant to her. “A token of my appreciation.”

Elara hesitated, sensing that this was more than just a gift. But refusing a lord was out of the question, especially one as powerful as Valen. She took the pendant, her fingers brushing against the cool metal. The moment she touched it, a strange warmth spread through her hand, followed by a faint buzzing in her mind, as if a thread had been tied between her and the lord.

“Thank you, my lord,” she murmured, forcing herself to smile.

Valen’s smile widened, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Wear it always, Elara. It will protect you in ways you cannot yet imagine.”

She nodded, slipping the pendant around her neck, though she felt anything but safe. The buzzing in her mind faded, but the unease remained. She left his chambers quickly, the pendant a cold weight against her chest.

From that night on, Elara’s life in the castle changed. She began to notice things—small, subtle changes in the way people looked at her, in the whispers that seemed to follow her wherever she went. Servants who once spoke freely in her presence now fell silent when she entered a room, their eyes flicking nervously to the pendant at her neck.

And then there were the dreams. Night after night, Elara found herself trapped in a web of shadows, the silver spider from her pendant growing larger and larger until it consumed everything. In the center of the web stood Lord Valen, his eyes glowing with an unnatural light, his voice whispering promises of power and protection, but always at a price.

Elara tried to rid herself of the pendant, but no matter what she did, it always found its way back to her—under her pillow, in her pocket, around her neck when she woke. The buzzing in her mind grew stronger, and with it, a sense of being watched, of being controlled.

One night, driven by desperation, she ventured to the castle’s library, hoping to find some clue about the pendant’s origin. She scoured the shelves for hours, pulling down dusty tomes and frantically flipping through their pages. Finally, in an old book of occult symbols, she found the spider—the mark of the Web of Shadows, an ancient order said to traffic in dark magic and forbidden knowledge.

The realization hit her like a blow. The pendant wasn’t a gift; it was a chain, binding her to Valen’s will. And the more she wore it, the tighter that chain became.

Elara considered fleeing, but where would she go? Valen’s reach extended far beyond the castle walls, and without resources or allies, she would be caught before she made it halfway to the city gates. No, she was trapped, just like the fly in the spider’s web.

In the weeks that followed, Valen began summoning her more frequently, always under the guise of menial tasks. But each time, he would watch her with those sharp, calculating eyes, as if he were gauging how deeply his influence had sunk into her. And each time, she felt the buzzing in her mind grow louder, the threads of the web tightening around her.

Then came the day she crossed paths with the kingdom’s so-called hero. She had heard of him, of course—everyone in the castle had. The Chosen One, summoned from another world to save the kingdom from an unknown threat. But when Elara first saw Yuji, he didn’t look like the savior of the realm. He looked like someone lost, burdened by a weight he hadn’t expected to carry.

She hadn’t meant to bump into him; her mind had been elsewhere, consumed by thoughts of the pendant and its curse. But when their eyes met, something shifted. For a brief moment, the buzzing in her mind quieted, and she felt a flicker of hope—hope that maybe, just maybe, Yuji could be the key to her freedom.

But as quickly as it came, the hope faded, replaced by the cold reality of her situation. Yuji might be a hero, but he was also new to this world, and if Valen had his way, Yuji would be drawn into the same web that ensnared her.

As Elara gathered the linens, she felt Yuji’s eyes on her, his curiosity piqued by the pendant. She had to be careful—one wrong word, one misstep, and Valen would know. He always knew.

“It was a gift,” she said quickly when Yuji asked about the pendant, her fingers instinctively clutching it. She couldn’t tell him more, not without risking everything. “From… someone important.”

It was the truth, though not in the way Yuji might have understood. Lord Valen was important, dangerously so, and as long as Elara wore his token, she was bound to him.

After their brief encounter, Elara hurried away, her heart pounding. She had to find a way out, a way to break free from Valen’s control before it consumed her entirely. But time was running out, and the threads of the web were closing in.

Elara knew she couldn’t do it alone. She needed someone who could stand against the darkness, someone with the strength to break the chains that bound her. And as much as she feared dragging him into the web, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Yuji might be her only hope.