Arachnid

Chapter Two

It's been three days since the Demoness began helping me feed my lusus. I've never been more grateful to anyone for what she's been doing. I haven't seen her since she gave me the first body, but she has kept her promise of giving me trolls. Every day I go to the hidden area to collect them. It's never empty. I wish there was a way I could thank her. For now, this was our little routine.

I was on my way for yet another meal for Spidermom. I heard somebody call my name and stopped.

"Mindfang!" Okay, so maybe it wasn't my actual name. Mindfang is my FLARP name. Spinneret Mindfang, to be exact. I turned around to see my closest friend.

"Latula! Er, Redglare!" I corrected myself. My best friend, Latula Pyrope. She also goes by her FLARP name, Redglare. I like to FLARP with her more than any other activity. There aren't any rules, so she doesn't get angry so much. Since there are only two of us, we make Mindfang and Redglare huge rivals. They don't hate anybody more than each other. Of course, it's all pretend. I could never be so cruel to Latula.

Latula had on her usual attire. Her being a teal blood, she had more decent clothing options than the lowbloods. Over her black shirt with her sign on it was her teal, long sleeved jacket. She had on her red skirt than reached down to her knees, which matched her red shoes. She was very fond of that colour, despite having different blood. Perhaps it had something to do with her eyes. A while ago, Latula went blind. She learned not to look into the eyes of her lusus, Pyralspite, not even for a second. The dragon's eyes are such a bright red, even the smallest look will wash over your own with the colour. Naturally, she had on her pointed glasses and her dragon cane in hand. During a FLARP session, I was surprised to see her cane had a hidden blade inside it. She never uses it on me, but again, it's still fun to pretend.

She came up to me and stopped. She may be blind, but she has her ways. "Where are you heading at this time of night?"

"Just getting some fresh air," I told her. It pained me to have to lie to my dear friend. There was no way I could tell her the truth. She would turn me in for sure.

"Oh, yeah? Not causing any trouble, are you?" Latula questioned me jokingly. Her grin grew wide, showing off all of her pointy teeth.

"Of course not," I said. "Who do you take me for? Kurloz?"

My friend threw up her eyebrows in shock from what I said. She leaned close and said quietly, "You really shouldn't talk about those subjects out in the open like that."

I guess I could understand where she was coming from. Kurloz Makara is a pretty big fellow, and has the highest blood amongst us land dwellers, which is purple. Some people even started calling him "the Grand Highblood". Even I have to admit he's pretty terrifying, even if I've never actually seen him in person. Rumour has it, he brutally beats lower bloods to death just to deal with anger. There's no real explanation as to where that anger comes from. Kurloz doesn't say actual words that much, but he likes to grunt and growl and make other scary noises. He's more like a giant animal rather than a troll.

"I suppose I shouldn't," I told her, though I was probably a lot less afraid than she was.

"Well, I'll leave you to wherever you're headed," Latula said in a normal volume again. "I've got some legislacerator training to attend to soon."

My eyes widened a bit. "Legislacerator training? That's your goal?"

"That's my goal, and I'm sticking with it!" she assured. I've never seen her look this determined about anything. I had no idea she wanted to be a legislacerator. It's a very high leveled career. They basically hunt criminals and send them to trial. Stuff like that. I don't even know what I want to do with my life yet. So far, all I've been doing is caring for my lusus. I haven't had any time to myself to think about it. "Anyway, I'll see you later, Aranea."

"Will you, though?" I giggled.

"Ah, put a lid on it. You know what I mean." She waved and lifted her cane, taking her leave in the direction she came from. I, too, turned the other way and walked again. All of that talking took quite an amount of time, but I didn't mind. Spidermom has been making less noise ever since this feeding system began.

I was only a little while away from the area before I stopped. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. I could see it. I could smell it. I could just barely feel it. Looking up, I could see the smoke rising higher and higher. Straight ahead, the area was completely engulfed in flames.

I ran over there as fast as my legs could go. A troll I've never seen before stood in front of the flames, marveling at his work. He must have heard me gasp because he turned toward me and gave me a dark glare. Judging by the shirt he was wearing, he was some kind of green blood. I stared at him in disbelief, unable to say a word.

"Do you like what you see, little spider?" he asked in a harsh tone.

"N-No!" I cried. "What have you done?! My lusus. She's.... going to starve. Why would you do this? She'll eat me!"

"You deserve it!" he roared. He walked closer to me as he spoke. "Because of your precious lusus, trolls are dropping like flies! My friends have been killed, and it's all your fault, you bitch!" He raised his hand toward my face, causing me to flinch. However, he did not hit me. He took my glasses off of my face and threw them on the ground, stomping on them and smashing them to pieces.

"Ah! My glasses....!" I dropped down on my knees in front of them. "How will I see?" Suddenly, I felt my hair being grabbed from behind. The troll lifted me back up to my feet, not caring if it hurt me.

"It doesn't matter. You're going to die here, along with all of the innocent people you killed."

"B-But I didn't--"

"Quiet!" This time, he did strike me. I felt his hand hit hard on my back. It made me fall again, coughing uncontrollably. This was it. I was going to die here. "Get up!" His foot went into the side of my stomach, and I fell completely on to the ground. I couldn't even move. There was no point. This was my death.

Then I saw something. Next to my broken glasses, a decent sized stick laid on the ground in front of my face. Weakly, I brought my hand over to the stick. I took it and struggled to get back on my feet.

No. I was not going to die here. Not now, and especially not to this asshole of a lowblood. I refused for things to end this way.

"That's it," he said lowly. "Get back on your feet. It's easier for me to--"

"Shut the hell up."

"Excuse me?!" the troll said, baffled. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

Completely taken over by anger, I raised the stick above his head. His expression changed. It went from mad to terrified so quickly, it was almost satisfying. Actually, it was satisfying. Another thing satisfying was swinging the thicker end of the stick straight into his head. He was lucky to have such a thick skull. Who knows, maybe he'll manage to live. I doubt it since I could feel his head split open as he fell on to the ground. I could hear his rasp groaning, as if he was still clinging on to life. Since I'm such a nice person, I ended it quickly for him by whacking his face three more times until he stopped moving.

I got off of the troll and looked down at the stick. The top half of it was covered in green blood. But for once.... I wasn't scared. In fact, I felt great. Full of life, like I'd just been reborn. Having a weapon in my hand felt too natural, even if it was just a regular old stick. I had the burning urge to get something better later.

That's when I heard footsteps behind me. Normally, I would have been taken over by fear by now, but I didn't feel afraid at all. Turning to see who had caught me, I had to look up to match the Demoness's eyes. She didn't seem angry or shocked. It's like she's used to seeing death, which was probably the case.

"I won't be needing your help any longer, Miss Demoness," I told her. She nodded and grabbed the body of the troll I had just killed not long ago. Without a second glance, she continued her way through her territory, letting me go once again. I took my leave, heading back toward my hive with just the stick in my hand.

I had no regrets for killing that troll. He had it coming for sure, and I'm actually glad he is dead. If there's anything I learned today, it's this; if you want to survive in this world, you have to be the one you care about most.