Prologue

  The Starlight Spear

  The group anxiously arrived at the third and final door of the Deladar Vault. Two doors rose high enough to reach the forty-foot ceiling above. Upon each of the brass-coloured behemoths was the insignia of a spider and at their base, a pair of doorknobs made to look like balls of silk. The battles to get here hadn’t been too troubling, especially with the help of their newest member, Morana. She was an adventurer like them and her temperament was enough to impress a group calling themselves “The Starlight Spear.”

  On first impressions, the group was without a doubt a collection of naive simpletons yearning for stardom and riches. Morana sized them up as lesser than her in intellect; even combined for that matter, and they had quickly accepted her offer to loot this vault. The fact they had agreed to aid her so willingly was enough to forgive them of their intolerable shortcomings. The heavyset fighter, Duke, thought himself the leader of the group out of principle of size alone was especially intolerable.

  To enter a Deledar vault was forbidden but it hadn’t taken much convincing on Morana’s end, especially after hinting at the potential gold and—more importantly—Deladar artifacts to fully convince them. The capital of Lupos paid handsomely for such finds.

  “When this is all over baby,” he had said to her, his breath heavy with ale “I’ll show you the girth doesn’t stop below the waist”

  Morana could do little in response but gag at the thought of his “girth” on top of her. Truth be told, she preferred the softer aspects when it came to attraction. Their healer Olivia overly compensated in such regards with long golden hair which shimmered while draping down past her hips, its natural appearance being forever glossy and perfect. Her face portrayed similar features to those fair virgins depicted in books. She was young, with Morana guessing early twenties, but she could have been younger, and without a doubt a virgin. Morana had an eye for such things and the girl radiated purity in all its aspects. The standalone fact that she had to avoid the consistent advances from Duke had her sympathies.

  It was not just Duke’s advances that chased her, bringing her to the third member of the Starlight Spear, an older man pushing the edge of fifty for sure. His talents as a hedge wizard had kept him in the game of treasure hunting for some time, apparently. Or maybe it was just his insatiable desire for gold. Regardless, his frailty was obvious enough from just looking at him. Tim was a renowned wizard in his youth—or so he claimed. Supposedly, everyone in the capital knew him by sight once upon a time…long…long ago. But that begged the question: why he is this far west tagging along with this lot? Morana figured him to be just another old man with fake stories to compensate for his boring and mediocre life, stories that no one would disprove because all that could were dead. His old age, however, hadn’t seemed to slow his desires for women, specifically much younger women to boot, and when Duke was away emptying his bladder or passed out drunk, Tim would circle in like a vulture and seedily try his luck. When Morana thought about it, Olivia must have been relieved now there was a new addition to this would-be group. Now that Morana and her more robust beauty were present within the group, Olivia could relax knowing her maidenhood was not in as much immediate danger.

  There was indeed a third female in the group, but her beauty could have been compared to that of a goblin. Maybe. The group’s rogue was a spiny and withered thing, providing no intrigue from either Duke, or Tim. As well as her dark robes which hung off her loosely, she also had the strange tendency of sitting like a frog atop chairs and bars, which was usually enough to avert the most lustful of eyes. The girl was also deathly pale and never talked. To this day, the Starlight Spear hadn’t got her name so just called her ‘Widow’, assuming she probably had a man at one time but ate him along with her own children. Morana didn't care much about such rumours and shared the group's enthusiasm that so long as she could kill effectively, who cares who she was.

  So here they were outside the tall doors of the third and final chamber. Inside would undoubtedly lie the meanest and most sinister Deladar spawn imaginable, but also the most loot and prized artifacts of old. If this vault held even one Deladar artifact, it would set them all up for life.

  Despite not coming close to death in the previous chambers, they had still taken some wounds; mainly Duke. His armour was dented and scratched in places; his leather boots torn and in need of a repair, but one salutrum draft later, he took point and bragged about his hearty constitution. Tim and Widow were untouched but, grudgingly, the cleric took a fireball to the chest. Grudgingly because although the damage dealt was nothing to be concerned about, the flames had licked their way around the cleric’s robes, burning away the thin cloth that concealed the slender body below. Now to the great appreciation of both Duke and Tim, Olivia now exposed a pale thigh, a belly button, and some side boob. Morana caught Tim’s lips curl around tobacco-stained teeth when the fighting had ended. Duke made doubly—rather, triply—sure the flames were indeed out by patting the singes on her chest and buttocks.

  "Well," Morana stated. “Open it.”

  The group looked at Morana, who looked at Duke. Duke tried to conceal his face, now turning the faint colour of beetroot, and turned to face the door.

  "Maybe it's trapped." He bellowed at last, his voice echoing slightly within the vast interior of the vault.

  Tim and Olivia looked at Morana, who looked at Widow, who approached the door swiftly. Widow knelt at the doors knob; its spider's silk combined into a ball and began to tinker with proficient fingers. Morana had seen the woman pick the previous doors open in seconds with nothing more than a hair pin.

  Duke backed away hastily at first, then morphed his retreat into a sort of casual nonchalant walk. They watched for a moment in anticipation until Widow stood, turning to face him. She shook her head, giving Duke relief. They waited, all staring at the back of Duke to lead them until at last he turned to notice their gaze.

  “P-perhaps Tim should take point,” he proposed. “Fire some light spells to soften up any poor creature inside?”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Absolutely not, I’m extensively more effective behind you Duke, you know that.” Tim replied pompously.

  "Well, maybe Widow should sneak in…Just so we know how best to approach, you see." Duke retorted.

  “If I weren’t mistaken” Morana said, “I’d think you were afraid, Duke-y”

  “Afraid!” he laughed. “Nonsense! Well, fair enough, I’ll take point”

  Duke moved with some haste once more but resorted back to his casual crawl as he got closer. Taking one last reassuring look over his shoulder to confirm that they were indeed waiting for him, he then placed a single hand on the knob and pushed. It took some force and all the weight he had behind him to swing the door inward. After just getting the door ajar, Duke recoiled back quickly as if suddenly stung or electrocuted. From inside, a feint mist exhaled outwards and the sound of a rumbling hiss sang. Duke stood there for a moment looking over his shoulder once again to assure himself the rest of the group hadn’t run off to abandon him.

  Realizing it was safe; at least for now, he went and pushed again, using his whole shoulder this time. He was able to open the door about three feet before something inside issued a horrendous smell, the same scent one would get if they left meat to spoil for weeks on end. There wasn’t any light inside, but Morana paced forward with intent and the group followed her ambitiously. Simply showing confidence was enough to swat any fear from these people, she reflected. When they entered, the darkness consumed them and even the dim light from the previous chamber was not enough to penetrate this new black void.

  “Tim?” Duke whispered. “You want to do something about this darkness”

  “Oh-oh yes.” A weak voice replied, and the next moment four small beads of light fluttered from Tim's palm and floated upwards like bubbles trapped underwater. Tim’s eyes glowed a timid blue after the spell, and as the lights rose, their hearts fell. Surrounding them were many layers of string and white webbing. It covered the floors, the walls, and even the ceiling. They had wandered into the middle of a nest that could be nothing else but a spider's liar. Duke drew his blade, its metal hissing sharply as it left his scabbard. The sound echoed dimly around the chamber. Tim's hands turned to purple flame and Widow crouched low, curved daggers in each hand.

  It was then the walls shook under a great boom, reverberating all around them. From where? Where they came in? The group turned and saw Morana standing at the foot of the door. It was slammed shut and there was now little chance of escape if things went bad. The group looked at each other and all came to the same naive conclusion: This girl is so confident she does not even want the spider to have a chance of escaping.

  Morana saw their conclusion painted on their faces, the smiles they gave were short before their eyes rose sharply. Something had shifted, black and silent. They all gazed up, and Morana chuckled in ecstasy.

  “I’VE BROUGHT YOU WHAT YOU ASKED, MY LOVE!” she shouted in almost titillating pleasure. “Master!”

  Then everything happened fast. The walls were alive with insectoid legs and eyes which sprouted from the deep holes woven in the walls. Dozens of giant spiders rushed the prey that had so appetizingly found their way into their nest. Duke let out a shriek, Tim fired a jet of purple light before collapsing and clutching at his chest. Widow was gone, disappearing into the darkness. Olivia froze, wide-eyed in fear. But Morana stayed put, her arms outstretched like a woman awaiting rainfall after a heated day. The screams filled the chamber as the spiders swarmed, they pounced at Duke who raised his sword puncturing one spider in its large underbelly, but three more were on him before he could remove his blade from the spider's body. One tore at his arm, greedily ripping it free and scurrying away, while another chose a crunchier part of the human body. The sound of a skull-cracking under pincers was enough to cause Tim’s heart to finally fail. He was pulled limb from limb in a moment. A heart chilling scream then came from a corner of the room. Morana listened to the tormented screams thinking; So, she can speak, as Widow flailed about in torment, four spiders fighting for their choice of limb.

  Amidst the centre of all this, the eight-legged monsters scurried around Olivia, avoiding her like she was stale or rotten. She remained frozen, tears silently dripping down her cheeks as her companions were eaten alive around her. Unable to do anything, Olivia did what all prey animal do when caught in the jaws of a predator: Seize up and accept death. Her breathing both shallow and rapid.

  When the feeding was done, the spiders returned to their burrows, some carrying prized bits of body with them. Silence swallowed the chamber and in the dim light from Tim’s magic, an enormous arachnid approached Olivia. Its many eyes were dotted across its face like shining beetles, the light shimmering across their surfaces. Olivia did not look, but still began to stammer incoherently at the presence of such a monstrosity.

  “A virgin master, a delicacy.” Morana stated coldly. This was not the first time she had set such a trap for her master, and it wouldn’t be the last.

  Olivia whimpered for a second, expecting what would come next. The underbelly of the beast rose high over her, engulfing her in its enormous shadow. Oliva had time to look up for a mere second before the monster snapped down wickedly fast, sinking its large fangs into the soft flesh of Olivia. A heartbeat later she was gone, her legs protruding from the mouth before disappearing.

  After having its fill, the enormous spider approached Morana silently and slowly, considering her. Morana shrank down on her knees and averted her gaze obediently. She felt its hot breath and the smell of blood that came with it intoxicating. It warmed the part between her legs. The monster tapped its foot rapidly against the ground, signalling her attention. She looked up and was overwhelmed with happiness and lust at what she saw. Its eyes gazed into hers, raw power and evil incarnate could be seen in those eyes with great clarity. She raised an arm to stroke its face.

  SNAP

  As quickly as it lunged before, fangs met flesh and bone, and a second later even before the pain had a chance to register, Morana noticed her forearm was gone. White bone protruded from her elbow and flesh hung down in strips of searing red. The spider’s venom was already at work. Crimson liquid sprayed from the wound at first before becoming a steady stream. Morana opened her mouth to scream but before she could—

  SNAP

  Another bite, this one with more ferocity and now she was in its mouth. She could feel, but more terrifyingly, hear her bones crunch, her flesh rip. She yelled but her cries were muffled within that putrid mouth. Another moment later, darkness.

  *

  Like waking from a dream Morana lost all perception of time. It could have been a month, a day, maybe even a minute. But as her mind came to consciousness, she realized she was laying upon a cold sticky floor, white string clung to her like hot wax, and something was soaking her body. It felt thick and slimy. She struggled to her feet before a large black mass shifted next to her. She flexed into an upright position in fear, before realizing it was her master, its body turning and its many eyes locking onto her.

  "Why-why did you do that master?" She managed through a stutter, now realizing that she was naked. But the body she looked down at was not her own, for perky breast lay beneath a tangle of golden hair. Her skin was tight and lean, a layer of mucus stuck to her coldly, its wetness drying rapidly. Morana raised her small hand curiously, investigating the clean nails and narrower wrist when the dots connected. It did not look like her body because it wasn’t her body. It was Olivia’s.

  “Goooood,” The spider hissed. “Bring me more Morana.” It commanded.

  Morana lowered the hand she had been investigating, unable to resist slipping it between the gap in her thighs.

  “Yes master.”