AnnouAs per someone's suggestion, I added a bit to chapter 38 for some more worldly text or something. Just agreed that it was needed, so go bad read the first part of that chapter for some more text :)

  Vivienne hummed softly as they made their way into the dark woods, the shadoy swallowing the pale light of the sky above. The steppes were now far behind them, and the air felt denser here, heavy with the st of damp earth and pine. “He is this forest, exactly? I didn’t even notice it wheered Serkoth.”

  “It’s ne,” Rava replied, her toter-of-fact. “You could probably cross it in about a bell.”

  “A bell.” Vivienne said, tilting her head curiously. “I’ve heard you say that before. Is that the only measure of time you use?”

  Rava gnced over her shoulder at her. “Why wouldn’t it be? How else would you measure time?”

  “Well, there are other ways,” Vivienne said, shrugging as she sidestepped a gnarled root. “Where I’m from, we used hours, minutes, and seds. Divided the day into little ks.”

  Rava raised an eyebrow. “That sounds unnecessarily plicated. A bell is simple—when it rings, you know the time.”

  Vivienne chuckled. “True. But what if you’re out here, in the middle of nowhere, with o hear?”

  “Then you judge by the sun or the stars,” Rava said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Or you wait until you’re close enough to civilization to hear o’s not that hard.”

  Vivieook on a wicked grin. “sider me outsmarted.”

  “Not a difficult thing to do, Viv.” Rava said with a sly smirk

  Vivienne feigned a gasp, her hand fluttering to her chest in mock offence. “Oh, the betrayal! I thought we were bonding, Rava. And here you are, stabbing me in the back with your sharp tongue.”

  Rava smirked, uant. “If yo’s that fragile, you might want to toughen up. It’s a big, scary world out there.”

  “Big, scary world? Oh no, how will I survive without your unending kindness and moral support?” Vivienne drawled, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “You’ll manage,” Rava shot back, her eyes glinting with amusement. “You always seem to.”

  “True,” Vivienne admitted, her grin widening as she fell bato step beside her panion. “But it’s much more eaining with you around.”

  Rava shook her head but didn’t ent, her smirk softening into something almost affeate. The two walked on, the pyful banter between them cutting through the oppressive silence of the woods.

  But as the trail deepehe light human to fade. The trees grew taller and clether, their twisted branches f a opy that blotted out the stars. The air grew cooler, carrying a faint, metallig that set Vivienne’s senses on edge. Even Rava, usually fident and steady, seemed tense, her ears swivelling to catch the fai sound.

  “Do you hear that?” Rava asked, her voice low.

  Vivieilled, her sharp eyes following Rava’s gaze into the thick darkness betweerees. The whispers grew faint, like somethireating deeper into the woods. Her grin faded pletely now, repced by a sharp focus. “Lovely. And here I thought the forest was going to be b.”

  Rava crouched slightly, her posture tense, ready to move. “It’s not moving randomly. That sound—it’s deliberate. Like it’s trying to draw us in.”

  “Or test our nerves.” Vivienne’s voice was low, almost amused, but there was an undercurrent of caution. Her cwed fingers flexed. “Well, let’s not disappoint whoever—or whatever—is watg.”

  “Don’t get cocky,” Rava warned. “If this thing py with sound, who knows what else it do.”

  “Noted, fearless leader.” Vivieone was lighter thauation warranted, but her gaze remained sharp, sing the shifting shadows.

  The two moved cautiously, following the faint trail of whispers. The forest grew darker, the air heavier, as if the trees themselves were closing in around them. Vivienne could feel the faint hum of aether, like a vibration under her skin, growing stronger with every step. Whatever was out there, it wasn’t just a stray animal or an illusion.

  Rava’s ears twitched, her sharp hearing pig up what Vivienne couldn’t. She held up a hand, motioning for Vivieo stop. “There,” she whispered, nodding toward a break irees.

  Vivienne followed her line of sight. A faint, sickly yellow glow pulsed in the distance, barely visible through the dense foliage. The whispers grew louder, more insistent, like a chorus of voices overpping. “Well, that’s ominous,” she muttered.

  Rava’s fingers hovered near her gaus. “Stay close. And quiet.”

  Vivienne raised an eyebrow but refrained from enting, falling into step behind Rava as they approached the faint light. The forest seemed to press in around them, the air thick with an unnatural stillness. As they drew closer, the source of the glow revealed itself—a crude altar crafted from jagged stone awined roots, standing ominously at the tre of a small clearing. The surrounding ground was marked with intricate patterns, their faint luminesce pulsing like a heartbeat.

  Figures stood in a semicircle around the altar, their presence eerily still. They wore pristine white robes adorned with eborate golden filigree that shimmered in the low light, as if alive with its own energy. The robes seemed far too ornate for the rugged setting, and the figures' rigid postures radiated an uling sense of purpose.

  Vivienne narrowed her eyes. “They don’t look like your average cultists. More like they wandered out of some overfuemple.”

  Rava’s voice dropped to a near whisper, her golden eyes sing the se. “Aegis Snty clergy. High-ranking, if the filigree is any sign. How did they get past us? They are so close to Serkoth.”

  Vivieilted her head. “Clergy perf a backwoods ritual? That’s not ominous at all.”

  “Quiet,” Rava hissed. “We don’t know what they’re doing. Let’s get closer—stay behind me.”

  Vivienne smirked but plied, her shadowy form melting into the darkness as Rava took the lead. The faint murmur of ting reached their ears, low and rhythmic, punctuated by the occasional flicker of energy rippling from the altar. Whatever ritual they were perf, it was far from benign.

  Oar y a figure, unmoving. A young man, his face pale and his chest barely rising with shallow breaths. Around him, bck crystals jutted from the stone, pulsating in rhythm with the whispers.

  “Taron,” Rava breathed, her voice tight. “He’s alive.”

  “Barely,” Vivienne murmured, her eyes narrowing. She stepped closer, her cws twitg. “And look at these markings. They’re not just for show. This is a feeding ritual.”

  “A what?” Rava asked, her tone sharp.

  Vivienured to the crystals and the faiherianating from the boy’s body. “They’re syphoning his aether. Slowly. I see the loam aether leaving his body. Whatever’s doing this is taking its time, drawing it out. If we don’t stop it soon...” She didn’t o finish the thought.

  Rava’s jaw ched. “The’s stop it.”

  Vivienne’s eyes gleamed as the creature fully emerged from the shadows—a monstrous spider-like aetherbeast, its glistening carapace shiftiween hues of deep bd iridest green. Its legs were spindly but grotesquely long, each step sending faint tremors through the grou glowing red eyes stared unblinking at the pair, and strange runes shimmered faintly across its abdomen, pulsating with every beat of the whispers.

  Its mandibles clicked together in a grotesque rhythm, the sound eg unnaturally around the clearing. Wisps of corrupted aether curled from its body like smoke, adding to the suffog tension.

  Vivienne’s wicked grin widened, her cws flexing eagerly. “Want to save the boy while I deal with whatever this thing is?”

  Rava hesitated only a moment before nodding sharply. “Don’t get yourself killed, Viv.” She darted toward the group, her movements swift and deliberate, her focus locked on Taron.

  The spider hissed, its body l slightly as if to pounce, but Vivieepped forward, drawing its attention with a low, menag chuckle. “Oh no, you don’t. Dinner’s over, eight-eyes. Yht’s with me.”

  The creature lunged with terrifying speed, its spindly front legs striking the ground where Vivienne had been a split sed earlier. The impact sent a tremor through the clearing, dirt and loose stones scattering. Viviewisted to the side with unnatural grace, her cws fshing in the dim light as she sshed at the air. Sparks of corrupted aether sprayed from the tact, sizzling like acid on the ground. The spider recoiled with a shriek that reverberated through the trees, the runes on its abdomen fring angrily.

  “Glowing runes. It’s always glowing runes.” Vivietered, her eyes narrowing as she shifted her stahe spider’s movements were erratic but deliberate, a predator testing its prey. Its eight eyes glowed faintly, fog entirely on her as its mandibles clicked in an uling rhythm.

  The spider darted fain, its movements unnervingly silent for its size. This time, it shed out with one of its long, spiked legs, aiming for Vivienne’s chest. She ducked, the leg slig through the air just above her head, then tered with a sharp upward strike of her cws. Her attack raked across the creature’s leg, leaving deep gouges that oozed bck ichor. The spider shrieked agaireating a step, but its terattack was immediate—a sed leg swinging in a horizontal arc.

  Vivienne backflipped, her feet just barely clearing the limb as it carved a jagged groove into the earth where she’d stood. She nded lightly, her griurning, sharper and more feral. “Is that the best you’ve got?” she taunted, her voice dripping with mockery. “I expected more from something with eight eyes.”

  The spider hissed, visibly agitated, and began to circle her, its movements quid predatory. Vivieurned with it, her stance fluid, ready to strike. The grouh them seemed to vibrate as the creature’s legs skittered across the dirt, its weight barely disturbing the earth.

  Without warning, it lunged again, this time releasing a burst of dark, sticky webbing from its spis. The threads shimmered with corrupted aether, moving unnaturally fast as they shot toward Vivienne. She leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding the trap, but the webbing g to the ground and nearby trees, creating a tangled barrier.

  “Webbing too? Oh, you’re just full of surprises,” she said, her voice edged with irritation. She sshed at the strands, but they resisted her cws, the corrupted aether reinf them. “All right, the’s see how you like this.”

  Vivienne lunged forward, closing the gap between them in a burst of speed. She aimed low, her cws tearing into one of the spider’s legs at the joint. The limb buckled under her assault, ichor spraying as the spider let out a deafening screech. It reared up, its front legs filing in an attempt to knock her back, but Vivienne ducked beh the attad struck again, carving deep into its underbelly.

  The spider retaliated with a venomous spray from its mandibles, the toxic substance hissing as it hit the ground. Vivienne darted backward, her movements quid precise, but the creature pressed the attack, f her to stay on the defes strikes were relentless now, eaent faster and more precise tha.

  “Persistent little bugger, aren’t you?” Vivienne growled, her breaths ing faster. She feio the left, then luo the right, aiming for another of the spider’s legs. Her cws ected, severing the limb entirely. The spider stumbled, its banentarily faltering, and Vivienne seized the opportunity. She surged forward, cws glowing faintly with aetheriergy, aiming for the runes on its abdomen.

  But the spider was not finished. As Vivieruck, the runes fred brilliantly, releasing a shockwave of corrupted aether that threw her backward. She hit the ground hard, skidding several feet before rolling to her feet, her chest heaving.

  “Okay,” she muttered, brushing dirt from her arm. “Now I’m impressed.” She straightened, her griurnie the blood trig from a cut oemple. “But I’m still going to tear you apart.”

  The spider hissed, l itself again, its remaining legs braced for atack. The runes on its body pulsed rhythmically, as though drawing in energy from the corrupted surroundings. Whatever this creature was, it wasn’t going down without a fight—and Vivienne wouldn’t have it any other way.

  The spider skittered toward her again, its movements unnervingly smooth despite the missing leg. Each step sent subtle vibrations through the clearing, and its runes pulsed brighter, casting flickering shadows against the grees. Vivienne's grin faltered for a moment as she readied herself, cws flexing at her sides.

  "You're a stubborn one, aren't you?" she muttered, her gaze dartiween its glowing runes and remaining legs. "Fine. Let's see how much you take before you break."

  The spider lunged, faster this time, its remaining legs stabbing at her in quick succession. Vivienne danced betweerikes, her movements sharp and calcuted, but even her speed couldn’t keep her pletely untouched. One of its jagged legs grazed her arm, tearing through her skin and leaving a streak of burning pain.

  Vivienne hissed, retreating a step as bck ichor seeped from the wound. "Cheap shot," she growled, shaking out her arm. The injury wasn’t deep, but the corrupted aether in the spider's attack made the pain lihe wound stinging as if poisoned.

  The spider pressed its advantage, spinning and unleashing another burst of webbing. This time, Vivienne wasn’t quiough to avoid it pletely. The sticky strands caught her leg, anch her in pce as the creature bore down on her.

  Vivienne sshed at the webbing with her cws, but the strands were tougher than before, the corrupted aether reinf them. "Oh, e on!" she snapped, her frustration mounting. The spider loomed over her, its mandibles clig with eerie precision as it prepared to strike.

  In a desperate move, Vivienne crouched low, her body rippling as her form began to shift. She became like liquid, roiling and formless, her clothes falling off her. She then took on a more coherent shape, f thick cwed legs, her muscles f and thiing, and heads began to sprout from her shoulder, jaws snapping hungrily at the air. Her skin darkeaking on a scale-like texture, and her voice deepened, carrying a guttural resonance.

  The transformation into her hydra form was swift, but not without cost. A sharp paihrough her body as her limbs reshaped themselves, her vision momentarily swimming as her new form settled into pce. Each of her six heads snarled in unison, and her massive body coiled with tent power, but the ache g her mind. This was new. It had never hurt before.

  She let out a guttural roar, the sound reverberating through the forest and sending flocks of unseeures scattering. The spider froze, its eight red eyes flig between the snapping, venom-dripping maws that now encircled it. Gone was its relentless aggression; cautio into its movements as if it finally uood the scale of its mistake.

  "Not so brave now, are you?" one of Vivienne's heads hissed, its forked tongue flig out.

  “I’m going to eat you,” growled another, saliva dripping like molten tar from its jagged teeth.

  “Prey,” purred a third, its voice a low, predatory rumble.

  The spider hissed, l its body and spreading its legs wide. Its runes fred brightly, projeg a shield of corrupted aether. The shield shimmered like dark gss, faint whispers emanating from it—taunting, tempting, mog.

  Vivienne shed out, her rightmost head smashing into the shield with a siing ch. The barrier rippled but held. Another head struext, its fangs scraping against the surface, but the whispers grew louder, twisting into something more coherent.

  “Weak.”“Monster.”“You will fail.”

  Vivienne’s tre head snarled, shaking off the strange voices as her other heads attacked in unison, their bined force shattering the barrier like brittle ice. The spider screeched a backward, but not fast enough—one of Vivienne’s heads lunged forward and cmped onto its leg. With a savage twist, she tore the limb free, ichor spraying across the ground.

  The spider staggered but retaliated, its remaining legs stabbing out in a flurry of strikes. One leg scraped across Vivienne’s side, carving deep into her scaled hide. An struck at her chest, knog her back a step.

  Pain fred, but it was manageable—a distaion pared to the searing ache of her transformation. She growled, her six heads weaving and snapping like a living storm.

  "Is that the best you’ve got?" one head snarled, bloodied fangs bared.

  Another head chuckled darkly. "You’ll need more than that, eight-eyes."

  But the spider wasn’t finished. It reared back, its body vulsing as a thick, bck fog began to seep from its ruhe mist spread quickly, enveloping the clearing in an oppressive darkness. Vivienne’s heads s the air, her sharp seraining against the sm void.

  “Coward!” one of her heads roared, the sound cutting through the unnatural silence.

  Then, out of the darkness, a leg struck—pierg through her leftmost head. The head recoiled, r in pain as bck ichor poured from the wound. Vivieaggered, the other five heads snapping wildly in the dire of the attack.

  “Damn it,” she growled, her tre head twisting to assess the injured ohe pain was inte not fatal—yet.

  Vivienne’s heads snapped in different dires, keeping the creature at bay. Her movements were less coordinated now, the pain from her injury slowing her reas. Still, she mao grab hold of the spider’s abdomen with one head, tearing into its exposed flesh. The creature screeched, its runes dimming momentarily, but its retaliation was swift—a flurry of legs striking her sides and chest, f her to release her grip.

  The fog thied, pressing in on her like a living thing. The whispers returned, louder now, drilling into her skull.

  “Too weak.”“Abomination.”“You ot win.”

  “No,” Vivienne snarled, her voices overpping. “You don’t get to decide that.”

  She closed her eyes, fog through the pain and the whispers. Her body began to shift again, her massive hydra form rippling as it grew rger, more monstrous, less coherent. Her six heads roared in unison, a thunderous sound that shattered the oppressive fog like a fragile veil.

  Then suddenly, she felt a sensation of drowning. She didn’t eveo breathe and she felt like she was suffog. One of her heads so the side and her heart sank. There was a sed aether spider.

  Vivienne’s six heads froze mid-motion, her massive form trembling as her gaze settled on the sed spider emerging from the shadows. It was rger than the first, its carapace glistening with oily bck aether, and its runes burned brighter, pulsing in rhythm with the oppressive whispers that swirled in the air.

  The suffog sensation deepened, like unseen hands pressing down on her chest. One of her heads let out a low, guttural growl, the sound reverberating through the clearing.

  "Another one," she muttered, her voices overpping in dissonant harmony. “Because, of course, one wasn’t enough.”

  The sed spider moved with eerie precision, its eight red eyes fixed on her. It hissed, a sound like grinding gss, before skittering forward, its legs carving gouges into the soft earth.

  Rava’s voice rang out, urgent and strained. "Vivienne! I’m almost doh the altar—just keep them off me!"

  Vivienne’s heads so attention, her eyes narrowing. “No pressure, then,” she snarled.

  The new spider lunged, its movement faster than she had anticipated. One of her heads darted forward, its fangs sinking into the spider’s leg, but the creature retaliated with a blindingly fast swipe of its cwed limb, raking across her side. The pain was sharp and immediate, and Vivieumbled, her massive form crashing against a nearby tree.

  "Focus!" she barked at herself, shaking off the daze. Her six heads coordinated, fanning out as she advanced on the spider again, her cws digging into the earth for tra.

  The sed spider hissed again, its runes fring with dark light. Aether coiled around it, f jagged, glowing spines along its legs. Vivienne didn’t hesitate this time. She surged forward, her tre head going straight for its thorax while the others darted to attack its fnks.

  Her jaws cmped down, ichor spraying across her scales, but the spider twisted, its spines shing out and carving into two of her heads. She roared in pain, releasing her grip as bck ichor oozed from the wounds on her necks.

  The whispers grew louder, their tone mog and insidious. “You are not strong enough.”“You are falling apart.”“This is your nature, beast.”

  "Shut up!" Vivienne snarled, her voices blending into a single, furious cry.

  The spider lunged again, but this time Vivienne was ready. Her leftmost head caught one of its spiked legs mid-swing, snapping it off. Another head lunged for its abdomen, ripping through the carapa a burst of corrupted energy.

  But as she fought, her body faltered, her movements sluggish. The whispers cwed at her mind, pulling at the cracks in her focus.

  From the er of her vision, she saw the altar glhter, a spiralling n of aether shooting skyward. Rava’s voice cut through the chaos. "It’s done! Just finish it, Vivienne!"

  The sed spider screeched, its legs bug as ichor poured from its wounds. Vivienne’s six heads snapped forward in unison, her jaws g down on its thorax, mandibles, and remaining legs. With a powerful twist, she tore the creature apart, its body colpsing into a bck mist that spiralled toward the altar.

  With a sharp, decisive snap, Vivienne’s cws fshed through the air, tearing into the first spider with savage precision. The creature barely had time to react before its carapace cracked beh her onsught, splitting open with a siing ch. Dark ichor sprayed from the wound, staining the ground as the spider’s legs spasmed in its final moments. Vivienne’s movements were fluid, almost animalistic, each strike deliberate and uing. Her bck eyes gleamed with cold focus, aail swayed behind her like a predator sav the kill. The air around her seemed to hum with restrained power, her ferocity leaving no doubt—this was a hu work.

  She stood there, panting, her hydra form battered and bloodied. The whispers didn’t stop. The mist gathered around the altar, coalesg into something more solid.

  "Rava," Vivienne rasped, her voices thick with strain, the words slithering out like a hiss. "What exactly did you do?"

  Rava turned slowly, her jaw ched tight, eyes wide with an uling realisation. "I... I think I woke something up."

  Vivienne's multiple heads bared their teeth in a primal snarl, the sound eg through the forest. Her form rippled with dark energy, a chaotic blend of power and desperation. "Then put it back to sleep."

  But as the words left her, the shadows around them deepened. More sets of red eyes flickered into view, glowing like hellish embers in the darkness. They were everywhere now, creeping through the trees, the ground, the air—each cluster of eyes fixated oheir runic markings pulsing with sickly aether, the light spilling from their abdomens like toxic fire.

  The hum of the aether grew louder, reverberating i of Vivienne’s stomach. There were more spiders. Too many.

  SupernovaSymphony