The Spinstress's Dilemma Pt. 2

Quelurillian bit into the dripping red meat in her hand, sinking the rows of her jagged fangs into it and tearing it in half. A rancid taste flooded her mouth and she spit it over the balcony, tossing the other half angrily into the darkening sky as hard as she could. With any luck, it would hit one of the filthy humans in the head. The "sashimi" she had partaken of during their midday meal had been surprisingly pleasant and she had futilely hoped that other raw meats would be of equal quality.

"To the hells with this wretched place!" She fought back an enraged scream, clenching the metal railing of the balcony. The metal creaked under the strain of her grip, bending beneath it. "How can a world this fragile and foul exist?! Do they feed their livestock refuse? Would that I had access to my true power…" She clicked her tongue several times before sighing. "For all my grievances, at least I am extricated from my sisters' incessant scheming."

Quelurillian tapped the balcony railing with her finger and it popped back to its original shape. More wasted mana, though she would lose significantly more if Crescent saw the damage and lost her senses again. Would it truly be so horrible to dispose of her?

She shook the thought from her mind. She couldn't deny she'd taken a liking to the girl. She was like a meek animal relying on its master for protection while, ironically, her own helpless pet acted as her guardian. Much akin to how she saw Crescent.

Stepping into her room, Quelurillian pulled back the white silk curtain she had spun to hide the interior in case Crescent glimpsed through the door. Like all her creations, it was flawless: lighter than a feather, stronger than steel, and so elegantly embroidered it was worth more than a small kingdom. The room was furnished with a small desk Quelurillian had salvaged nearby partnered with a battered wooden chair. There was a single window on the far wall, though it was masked behind a mass of Quelurillian's webbing. The tunnel of her nest was shallow but comfortable enough for her to crawl into and stretch her humanoid body. It was a paltry excuse of a nest compared to the burrows she typically wove. It would barely cover a leg of her true form.

"I almost transformed today. Why did that man vex me so? I could, no, should have dismembered him the moment he threatened… me. Me? Crescent was right, he was no threat to me. Was it truly out of concern for Crescent's wellbeing?"

Quelurillian walked to the entrance of her nest and pulled a fist sized cocoon from it. A muffled coo came from within and she could feel the bird's racing heart beating within. She drilled a small hole through the webbing with her fingernail and spit inside, waiting until the frantic coos of the bird within subsided before putting her lips to the hole and tilting her head back. Sweet, warm good dripped out like meaty nectar, tickling her tongue and giving her a shiver of delight. She could still taste the taint of the creature's foul diet, but it was a stark improvement to the meat earlier.

"I wonder how Crescent would react if she witnessed this," Quelurillian pondered. "What do you think, little ones?"

Hundreds of petite spiders of different breeds ranging from the size of a speck of dust to the size of a quarter crawled from the edges of the nest to answer Quelurillian's call. They had no queen in this world, so they naturally obeyed Quelurillian without question. She had even used her magic to purge the putrid chemical contaminating the building for them. They were a small fraction of the servants she had bent to her will. The rest searched the city.

"Have you retrieved the artifact?"

Silent as still night air, dozens of spiders pulled various circular objects from the nest, presenting them to their queen. The creatures were too simple to differentiate between coins and similar objects, so Quelurillian had ordered them to bring anything resembling a coin with a flower on it. The majority of offerings had been buttons.

"Dispose of them," she said, waving them away and inspecting the two halves of the gold lily coin in her hand. Perhaps her instructions were inadequate.

"I should return to the point of origin. Crescent said that was where she found this accursed coin."

Feeling restless and with no other leads, Quelurillian retrieved her sword from her nest and stood by her door, listening to ensure Crescent continued to slumber. When she was sure it was safe, she stepped out of her room, silently running through the apartment and leaping from the balcony to the rooftop across the street. Her foot slipped on loose pebbles littering the black roof and she clacked her teeth in annoyance. Removing the sandals Crescent had forced her to wear, she threw them back across the street through the open balcony door.

The quarter moon hung low in the sky as Quelurillian flitted from rooftop to rooftop. She longed to assume her natural shape, but even in the darkness her prodigious form would draw too much attention. Not to mention the vast amount of mana changing back and forth would use.

Her loose hair danced in the night air with every leap she made, curtaining behind her like a silk cloak. The wind in her face was liberating, but it irked her that there were still so many metal carr— cars about. The smoke they produced was strangling and made her want to vomit, and their incessant humming made her want to gouge out her ears.

Dropping from the rooftops into the alley, she landed as gracefully as the ancient Soaring Spiders she owed half her ancestry to. She had already surveyed the alley from the rooftops, confirming the absence of magic, but she had descended for a pettier reason.

"So this is where the vermin cowers," she said, her silky voice laden with the roughness of sand blowing on the wind.

"Y-You! Stay away, monster!"

The rotting meat held his shattered wrist with his other hand, cradling it to his chest like a mother holding an infant. Well, a human mother.

"How unfortunate that your thread would lead you here after Crescent implored me to grant mercy." All of Illia's eyes glittered in glee at the sight of the whimpering man cowering in the dark corner. "But ill fortune is too cruel a reason for a man to perish. So take this chance; flee before my benevolence expires."

The man reeking of acidic smoke and feces didn't hesitate, sprinting past Quelurillian as fast as his legs could carry him. He made it three steps past her before he tripped, breaking his nose on the ground. No. That wasn't right. He hadn't tripped.

Blood poured from the stump at his knee, drenching the ground beneath, soaking his ragged clothes. He tried to call out, both in pain and for help, but when he opened his mouth, a thin strand of silk thinner than a hair and stronger than the thickest wire dug into tongue, severing it as cleanly as his leg. Quelurillian's eight jade eyes leered down at him and he let out a gurgled plea for help or mercy. It was of little consequence.

"My benevolence has expired," she purred, lowering her spotless longsword to her side. She allowed the refuse to crawl several feet towards the light of the street before crushing his remaining ankle to dust under her foot. "This won't be quick."