Arcen felt cold as if he woke up in a refrigerator. He opened his eyes screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Euh! what the! what’s here! where am I!”
Seconds into being awake, he found himself at a loss of words.
He realized why just a few more seconds later.
Someone had thrown cold water on him.
He caught a glimpse of the dried meat hanging all around him as the cold water dripped from his eyes.
He was still in the meat storage tent that he wandered into earlier. An empty blue bucket was hovering before his face. His eyes danced frantically, trying to comprehend his situation.
He tried to move, but he quickly discovered that it was impossible. He was completely wrapped in strings just like the dried meat that hung all around him.
Is it Morgav again?!
Mere thought of that red eyed freak’s face felt like a stab between his lungs. Just when he opened his mouth to scream again, the bucket was dropped, revealing a black woman.
She was wearing two tank tops.
Thank fuck! It's not Morgav.
Arcen shut his mouth.
The woman bent over him, reaching for something above his head. This placed her breasts right in front of his face.
They were at least double Ds, maybe even Es just barely contained in two tank tops. This was the last thing he expected to have shoved in his face in this hell tower, specially after getting splashed with ice cold water.
Other than the structural intrigue of breasts, there were things that were even more interesting when seen from this up close. She had orange-brown reptilian scales lining her shoulder blades and her collarbone. These scaly patterns reached deep into the cleavage pushed up by two tanktops.
That’s enough! I gotta look up!
He took his eyes off her chest and tilted his head up at her face. He almost screamed again.
Everything about her screamed ‘spider’ and ‘reptile’. Her eyes were bright brown, with faint scaly patterns on her cheekbones and her forehead. Spider eyes dotted both her temples, three on each side. Her wavy hair was tied in a messy bun and six large spider legs poked out from behind her head.
Hybrid. Reptile and arachnid. It has to be.
She looked like she was in her late twenties, more likely to be in her early thirties. Something about her reminded him of his sister. It had nothing to do with physical beauty.
This woman had the same air of confidence categorical of those fully comfortable in their own bodies. It wasn’t something very common in mutants after the Mayday. The best example was his own brother, who was paranoid about his slightly scaly lower legs.
“Please! don't hurt me!” he begged, trying to sound as pathetic as possible. “I'm lost! please, you've got to help me!”
“You’re lost? help you with what, mister octopus man?” The woman asked, almost in a mocking tone. “I almost butchered your ass, good thing you started talking when you did.”
She flipped the blue bucket around and sat on it with a groan, bringing her face down to his eye level.
“I want to leave this tower! I'm not here to climb. Please, can you help me? I'll pay you!”
“Not here to climb?” She asked in a higher pitch voice. “More than three million Aura, four fifty floors up, and you’re saying you’re not here to climb? You think I’m a fucking idiot?”
“I can explain!”
“Sure, go right ahead octopus man. Let's hear your lies.”
“This is not a lie!” Arcen gulped. “I came here for my job! Helviter. They screwed me over. They left me here.”
“I've not seen a single corpo team this high up.”
“Not this high. I was at the ground floor. Then I took a shortcut up here.”
“A shortcut that goes four hundred fifty floors?” The woman said, laughing out aloud. “Now you're just bad at lying!”
“It's true!”
The woman stood, groaning. She had a slight limp on her right leg.
“You're so lucky I don't kill without talking first,” She said, limping away.
A blue glow appeared before she left the tent. It was Jelly. The woman paused, hands on her hips, panting with her face twisted in pain. She had some sort of injury under her clothes.
“Let's go Jelly dear. I need some shut eye... ”
“Sweepy sweepy?”
Did Jelly just speak English?
“Yes, bedtime now. I'm tired. Eat your food. I heated up some of your favorite jerky… ”
“Hey!” Arcen shouted. “I saved him, your friend! he was in trouble.”
“You talking about Jelly? First of all, she's a girl!” the woman said in a exasperated voice. “And second, she gets in trouble all the time. What do you want me to do about it?!”
“N-nothing!”
“You calling me a bad mother or something? is that it?!”
She's the mother of a jellyfish child?! what's-
“N-no! I was just saying, I'm not a bad guy!”
“Shut the fuck up octopus man. I'm so tired.”
“Look, I understand! we can talk when you wake up then,” Arcen said, trying to negotiate. The woman was clearly in a lot of pain, and a sour mood because of it.
“Sure thing octopus man...I'm going to sleep now.”
“Wait!”
“What?” she yelled.
“Your name, What's your name?”
“Zuhara,” she said, walking out of the tent.
“I'm Arcen! Nice to meet you!” he shouted, trying to make sure she heard it.
“Whatever, man.”
He heard her limp away into the other tent, leaving him in the meat storage by himself. He got to work almost immediately. He didn't want to stay tied up and helpless in this meat tent. He had a way to cut these restraints and free himself.
He wasn't going to ambush the injured woman, of course. He wanted to get on her good side.
I'll help her however I can, and see where that gets me.
He activated Mirage Blade from his forearm. His hands were bound tightly but he knew the blade was wide enough to rip the rope that she used to tie his arms.
Mirage blade didn't work. Gold veins weaved something else in his eyes.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
╭ ╰︶?? ERITHERIA ?? ︶╯ ╮
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ ACTIVATION FAILURE ╰︶
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ INFORMATION ╰︶
????
CANNOT USE CONTRACTS
OR SKILLS WHILE IN DOMAIN
[SPIDER SILK COCCOON]
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
What the hell does that mean? I'm in a domain?!
“I thought you said we'll talk when I wake up? why are you trying to escape now?” the woman's sleepy voice came from all around him. She sounded more than tired, almost drunk.
“Ah, Sorry. I was just-”
He spoke at the ceiling, hoping she could hear him. There was something about this tent that was wrong from the beginning.
Zuhara yawned lazily. He could hear her breathing as if she had a microphone between her breasts. He could feel the thumps of her heartbeat from the floor.
This is what this domain thing is? she's connected here somehow?
“By the way octopus man...” Zuhara murmured. “You know anything about this guy with a fucked up arm?”
“Uh? what guy?”
Is she sleep talking?
“There's this tough looking guy, one red eye, busted right arm. Jelly found him crawling in here a few hours ago,” Zuhara yawned again. “He was rude to her. So, I wrapped him up and hung him from the ceiling. Is he a friend of yours?”
“Oh hell no! kill him!” Arcen yelled, struggling against his restraints.
“Whoa...” She yawned yet again. “Not friends then...”
She made small noises as if she settled onto a comfortable pillow. The thump of her heart beat faded from the ground.
“You've got to kill him! please!” Arcen yelled.
There was no reply. Zuhara had gone to sleep.
Arcen idled for what felt like hours. He was hungry and tired and he slowly drifted into sleep. Jelly woke him up a couple times. She kept poking at him as if to check if he was still alive.
“Stop that... ” he mumbled, rolling his head to the side the third time around.
He was woken up again.
She had brought food this time. It wasn't anything impressive, just a thin piece of jerky that was dipped in some sort of red oil. It must have been delicious, because Jelly changed her mind right before putting it in his mouth.
She started nibbling at it, staring at him without even blinking.
It's actually a kid!
He wondered what Zuhara was doing with this alien toddler. He'd barely made it out alive with his own encounter with an alien fetus. As far as he was concerned, all the cute things in these hell towers were just created by Satan himself. Even Jelly had more than a million in Aura. That had to be for something.
The fourth time, Jelly came back with more jerky. She climbed up after hesitating for a bit.
“Eato!” she squeaked, blinking at him.
I can't tell if she's speaking or mimicking sounds.
It didn't matter. He opened his mouth and let her drop the four long strings of meat into his mouth. It was quite the chore for her. She even used her foot to shove it all in. He munched them, grateful for the little thing's kindness.
The jerky was dipped in what could only be the world's spiciest chili oil.
The meat was very tasty, whatever it was, but his mouth was burning about two seconds into eating it. Jelly hopped down, casually munching on a piece she'd reserved for herself.
“How are you eating that?” he asked, trying to cough the heat away. His nostrils flared with heat.
“Tatie! Yum!”
That’s tasty? I'm right. this is another goddamn kid from hell.
“Jelly sweep!” she announced stretching her small arms. She waved at him and went on her merry way out of the meat storage.
Eventually, Arcen let himself drift back to sleep.
“Yo, Octopus man?”
Arcen woke up screaming, cold water dripping from head to toe yet again.
“Stop throwing water on me!” he yelled, trembling. “What's wrong with a slap!”
“That'd be rude,” Zuhara flipped the bucket, placed it underneath her and sat down on it. She looked much more lively than before. Her eyes looked less tired.
“That fucker with the busted arm. What do you know about him?”
“His name's Morgav,” Arcen held off on yelling this time. He had to come across more reasonable to win Zuhara's trust. As much as he wanted Morgav dead, he wanted her help to get out of this tower. “He's from Nostrum. They were hired by Helviter to run security on a research camp on the ground floor.”
“There's a corpo research camp on the ground floor?”
“Not anymore,” Arcen frowned at her. “Why do you sound surprised?”
“No one was here when I started climbing. I guess things change in… what is it? three four months now? I lost track. Anyway, that's too quick for corpos to catch up. They don’t set up camps in just any tower. It has to be safe, and several years old.”
Wait a minute. She's been here since the beginning?
“You've been climbing that long?!”
“What? nothing wrong with that. I take my time.”
“How did you not get killed by that queen thing a few floors away?”
“Ah, saw her a couple times. Never had a problem with her. She was recovering from some burn wounds, the last I saw her.”
What the hell does she mean she had no problem with it!
“Can I use Reveal on you?” Arcen asked, not even worried about sounding judgmental. He doubted Zuhara was anywhere near as powerful as the queen or Tymon. She didn't have spatial distortions caused by high density of Aura. He couldn't imagine how anyone lesser than Tymon could be this confident.
Zuhara laughed.
“How nice you asked, but no. Don’t waste your Aura. You won't get anything. I hide everything always,” she said, slapping her shoulder. “It's got nothing to do with power. I'm just really good at staying the fuck out of the way,” she explained.
“I see.”
“The camp, you said it's not there anymore. What happened?”
Should I lie?
“I'm thinking about what to tell you. You won't believe the truth, and I don't have a lie good enough.”
Zuhara laughed again. “You're a funny guy, octopus man”
Is she flirting with me?
“I guess here's the truth. If the queen had burns you already missed it somehow. She killed this guy Norm Lorraine. Do you know him?”
“The really hot dude that went on Saturday Night Live?” Zuhara's face warped to shock. “He was killed?! how’d that get past me?”
“Yes. He came here with the same shortcut. The queen killed him, and put her egg on him. Helviter recovered the body. I work there. They wanted me to see what's inside the egg. They brought me here.”
Arcen paused to make sure she was following him. She looked like she was still processing the death of hot guy Norm from Saturday Night Live. He had no idea Norm was that popular.
“What was in the egg?” Zuhara asked, suddenly fascinated. “Did you crack it open or what?”
“I'm a Ceph as you can see. They plugged me into it with a machine. There was a fucking demon inside. It got into me. I don't know how. I destroyed the camp. Killed everyone there.”
“You don't look that dangerous now.”
“I'm not, because someone stole the egg from me. There was this oily kid, she was climbing up, have you seen her?”
Zuhara clapped. “So, that black ball was the egg!”
She's seen her too!
Zuhara continued, “She was here a while ago. Wanted some food for Gold. I don't sell things, and specially not to a hungry little kid. I just gave her all the meat she could carry.”
“Do you know her?” Arcen asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’ve met her before in a different tower, never climbed with her. We have some friends in common. Jelly really loved her when she was here for a few days,” Zuhara said, tilting her head. “I don't like kids climbing these towers, I hate to admit it, but that damn kid knew what she was doing.”
“That kid is a fucking lunatic!” Arcen yelled. He hadn’t even begun to process the oily girl, and everything she did to him.
“Interesting, you getting that riled up about a middle schooler,” Zuhara said with a grin. Arcen ignored her.
“Anyway, Morgav. I killed his team when I destroyed the camp. He had this contract to bring them back from the dead by sacrificing someone else. Long story short, he wants that egg. He dragged me all the way up here for it. Then we met this shark boy, Tymon, they started fighting, and I escaped.”
“Ah Tymon! I gave him some food last week. Oh, he was hungry as hell!” Zuhara clapped again. “So, that's how this Morgav fella lost his arm.”
Is she running a fucking food program? what's going on here?
“Did you get all that? Morgav is no joke. He’s an asshole. If you don't kill him, he's going to kill you.”
“Well, I don't kill people before they try to kill me. So, we'll see about that!” Zuhara said, standing up. She gestured at Arcen with her forefinger. The restraints that held him in place loosened right away.
“Wait, you have to hear me out. I want to get out of here. There's a shortcut. I just need a little help!”
“Alright now, you don't have to lie about this shortcut. If you don’t want to tell me how you climbed this far up, just say that. Anyways, I'm letting you off because I don't think you can kill me. That's all.”
Of all things that I said, shortcut's the one that she doesn't believe?!
He couldn't wrap his mind around it. Anything about the shortcut went straight over her head.
“Alright fine, don't believe me then. Can I help you in any way?” he asked, rubbing his sore wrists. Her threads still clung to his skin like strands of glue. “I see you're injured, What can I do to make things better for you?”
Zuhara groaned and pulled her tank top up.
There was a glistening red scar of a huge wound that had just begun to heal. It looked like she was scraped with a giant ice cream spoon. It wasn't just missing skin, she was missing an entire strip of flesh.
“What the fuck happened?” he asked, trying to sound less surprised than he was. He had no idea how to fix that level of injury. It would require Restore of a rank that he couldn't even imagine.
“I'm too tired to keep talking, sorry,” she sighed, dropping her tank top. “If you really want to help, keep an eye out on Jelly. She’s not supposed to leave this chamber. You found her in the next one over, right? so, you see how well that little shit listens to me.”
Zuhara paused.
“Maybe collect some fireflies. I like how their juices feel on my wounds. You're also free to go by the way. You don't have to do anything for me. Don't sneak up on me again though. I hate that.”
“No, no, I'll help,” Arcen said eagerly, standing up.
Staying with this woman was in his best interest now that she had Morgav trapped. “Would you let me kill that Morgav asshole If I do?”
“He escaped. Jelly checked. He's not on this floor anymore.”
God fucking dammit.
“Fuck that then. I'll help you anyway,” Arcen said.
It was the wise thing to do. It didn't matter if this woman didn't believe in the shortcut. She knew the tower more than him, she had food and she had shelter. If all goes well, he could learn from her just like he did from Gareth.
“Whatever you do, don't bother me until I wake up again.”
Zuhara limped away back into her tent.
It's very different from this story, but give it a read if it's your jam.
The Maker Of Veilthorn
Next chapter on Friday.
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