A Whole Bunch of Loki's

Edderkopp - Drider Loki - Part Two

The thing hanging above me was something I could only describe as beyond terrifying and yet, somehow hauntingly beautiful.

Directly overhead was the biggest, blackest spider abdomen I had ever lain witness to, accompanied with the longest and thinnest legs imaginable. The large, rounded back was coated in a strange decoration that made it look as though green paint had been dripped over it.

As opposed to a head, as expected of a spider, the body extended into the deathly pale abdomen of a man, his back arched so he could look down at me from amongst long, black hair that hung down.

Despite his otherwise terrifying appearance, there was something disturbingly handsome about his face if you could look past the pincers at the sides of his mouth and the sharp teeth behind his smiling grey lips.

Surrounding eyes that looked as human as my own were six smaller, almond shaped black ones, three on each side and as dark as the seemingly endless cavern of the cave.

Every fibre of my being was telling me to move, to run into the storm and never look back.

However, every muscle in my body was locked in place as we stared at one another and I could barely blink, let alone twitch a finger.

Tales of driders were terrifying and shared around to coax children away from venturing into unknown terrain, especially rocky areas.

As if their appearance wasn't horrifying enough, the stories told of them being vicious, flesh hungry beings who would cocoon you in their web to slowly drain you before peeling the skin away and snacking on it as if it were nothing but beef strips, a process that would take months and was nothing but pure agony.

"It's been a while since I had such fresh meat," he chuckled, slowly moving across the ceiling and down the wall.

My eyes trailed him as he moved, the skittering of his long legs sending cold chills down my spine.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue," he smirked, his pincers clicking together as he spoke, "or am I so devilishly handsome that it's thrown you off?"

He stopped mere feet away from me, looming over me like a giant and staring down with an expression of pure wickedness, which soon gave away to confusion as his maniacal grin started to fade and one of his dark eyebrows quirked up.

"Or are you perhaps mute?"

Somehow, I managed to force myself into swallowing deeply and shaking my head, my entire body protesting my movements by remaining stiff and sore as I moved.

The drider stared down at me before letting out a long sigh, closing his eyes.

"Perhaps I went in too hard."

My eyes snapped to meet his as he chuckled.

"H-Huh?" I managed to stammer dumbly.

"I'm not used to having company, I'm not great at conversation."

"Con-.." I cleared my throat and swallowed another bout of saliva, "conversation? You said you were going to eat me."

"I was merely trying to spook you," he smirked, looking me over, "and it seems to have worked."

"Spook? That was meant to be an innocent spook? You scared the hell out of me."

I wasn't entirely certain where this bravado has suddenly appeared from, but I was glad to finally be able to move and talk without my muscles and joints locking up.

Everything inside me was yelling for me to run and never look back, never mind the storm still going on outside, but my common sense somehow managed to push through and tell me that I'd likely get myself lost if I dared to leave in that moment.

"I-I should go," I stated, dumbly ignoring the voice screaming reason in my head, "sorry for intruding."

"No," he protested too loudly, suddenly surging forward which made me tense up again, my eyes flittering to his deadly looking legs. "Please, it's been a while since I had company."

"That you didn't eat?"

"I mean in general, no one comes out this far, that's why I chose this place in particular."

"So," I drew out slowly, narrowing my eyes a little as I took him in again, trying to get used to his appearance, "you don't plan on eating me?"

That cocky smirk returned as all eight of his eyes roamed over me and a blackened tongue ran across his bottom lip, that deep chuckle seeming to echo around the cave.

"Not in that sense, no."

"Not in any sense, I'm leaving."

His eyes widened and he quickly scuttled over to stand between me and the cave entrance, just barely catching himself before running into my still burning fire.

"Not yet, please," he pleaded at me with soft eyes, his eyebrows furrowed almost sadly, "it's so nice to speak to someone."

I would be lying if I said the desperation in his voice and the sorrowed look on his face didn't tug at my heartstrings, making a little bit of my fear over his appearance ebb away a little.

Though perhaps not to spend a lot of time with him.

"I can offer you shelter," he reasoned, stepping closer again, "just for tonight, that's all I ask."

It was a stupid decision, given my absolute fear of the half-man, but I found myself worrying my lip between my teeth as I considered my options, to which I found that I, rather worryingly, was considering saying yes more than I would have liked.

Eventually, I licked my dry lips and found myself nodding, internally cursing my empathy for rearing its head in this very terrifying moment.

"Okay, I will for tonight."

"Great," he grinned, face lighting up excitedly with his tone, "we may as well start with the formalities."

His movements slowed as he neared me, putting every fibre of my being into caution, something I could have to curb over the hours.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he said with a dramatic bow of his human torso while his front arachnid legs bent to add to the flair, "I am Loki, your host for tonight."

(Just dropping in to say that I hope everyone is doing okay in this time of confusion and panic.
I hope you're all well and taking care of yourself and your own.
If you're feeling lonely then I'm always here to chat either through comments or on Discord here: https://discord.gg/prshWW2
Wishing you all the best, stay safe.)