The Guardian Of The Multiverse: A Hero's Burden

The Smile That Followed the Mask

(Marvel, DC, images, manhuas, and every anime that will be mentioned and used in this story are not mine. They all belong to their respective owners. The main character "Karito/Adriel Josue Valdez" and the story are mine)

Peter Parker shivered.

No—not just shivered. He trembled, convulsing in silence.

It was cold.

Colder than anything he'd ever felt since becoming a Guardian. This wasn't just temperature—it was emptiness. Bone-deep. Soul-deep.

Everything around him was black. Not darkness like night—but something more primal. A void that swallowed even the concept of light. It felt like existence had turned inside out.

And then came the sensation.

A slow, prickling itch crawling across his skin.

At first, he thought it was just nerves. But the longer it went on, the more he realized—no. This was different. Wrong. It felt like spiders. Thousands of them. Crawling beneath his skin, weaving through his muscles, biting, burrowing.

He gasped.

But there was no air.

Only the sharp sting of frozen wind biting at his lungs with every desperate inhale. Breathing wasn't just hard—it hurt. Like every breath scraped against the inside of his ribs.

His chest tightened.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

He tried to move—and that's when it hit him.

Crawl.

That word echoed in his mind, like instinct. He felt the need to crawl toward something... anything.

That's when he saw it.

A faint, pulsing light in the distance. Pale. Ominous. It flickered like a dying flame, but it was the only thing in this nightmare that had shape. A destination.

He tried to step toward it—

But there were no steps.

He looked down.

And froze.

His legs weren't there.

Gone. Torn off. Nothing but cauterized stumps and dried blood trailing behind him.

A scream ripped from his throat.

But it came out as a whisper.

Panic set in like wildfire. He didn't understand—how hadn't he noticed this? How could something so horrifying slip past his senses?

The crawling intensified.

The spiders weren't outside anymore.

They were inside.

Inside his legs—where his legs used to be. Writhing. Nesting. Burning.

"Stop," he gasped, trying to claw at the sensation. "Please... stop..."

His breath quickened.

Hyperventilating. His lungs screamed for oxygen. His heart raced like it wanted to tear itself out of his chest.

The more he looked, the more real the pain became.

And the light?

Still there.

Still waiting.

He didn't know why, but it called to him.

So he did what instinct told him to do.