The Hunt Pt. 4

As they walked down the tunnel, the webs got progressively thicker until the tunnel felt like the inside of spider lair in a movie. All that was missing was the giant chamber. The further in they walked, the more spiders Cress could see through the dense webbing along with thousands of buttons and coins bearing various flower motifs.

"I guess Illia used these guys to search for another coin."

"Coin?"

"That's what took me to Illia's world and brought us back. It was an old gold coin with a lily on it. We hoped getting another one would send Illia back, but we never found one."

"We could have helped," Vianna said. Her voice was bitter as if she had more she wanted to say.

"I could— You're right. I should have been more honest and told you guys. I'm sorry."

"What matters is we're together now," Kirian said, continuing to be the annoying comic relief to lighten the mood. Cress could tell she was doing it intentionally; her eyes were wide and her body was shaking like a terrified toddler's on Ian's back. Either that or it was the powder from earlier.

"You having fun?" Cress asked over her shoulder to Ian. The lair narrowed, with low hanging webs blocking the light from their flashlights and forcing them to contort through. She had made sure to test the web earlier to make sure it wasn't as dangerous as Illia's.

"So much fun. Best day of my life."

"Glad to hear it. Now get ready because there's an open chamber up ahead."

"That looks like some sort of dungeon. That's what Illia said when we saw that witch, Yuri? Yana? I can't remember."

The chamber they walked into was round and wide, almost half a football field in diameter. The ceiling sat higher than the tunnel's and was covered with a glowing webbing that pulsated dimly. The floor of the room dropped down into a fifteen foot pool that collected a small layer of water that poured off into several barred drains at the edges. A round-framed stone door was embedded in the wall, adorned with a symbol Cress couldn't make out with her out-of-date glasses and there were three other entrances to the room that looked similar to the entrance the group stood in.

"Did you hear that?" Vianna asked, whispering to Cress. "Something big moved in the tunnel across from us."

"Big? Like how big?"

"Big enough that we shouldn't mess with it."

"Maybe she's right. If this were a game, there's no doubt a boss would pop out while some barrier blocked our escape."

"It might be one of Illia's spiders. In the other world she controlled one the size of a car. "

"You said she was cut off from that world, though. And I can guarantee there's nothing in this city big enough to make that kind of sound."

"What are we whispering about?" Kirian poked her head between Cress and Vianna. "Are you talking about that ominous sound coming closer?"

Vianna and Cress stared across the chamber, straining their ears. All they could hear was the splash of the tainted water pouring down into the pooled area.

"There's no point in just standing here," Ian said, walking around the girls. "This seems as spidery as every other part of this nasty ass place."

As if summoned by his arrogance, the sound coming from the far tunnel grew louder until the entire area quaked. The group exchanged worried looks, all of them ready to sprint back the way they came.

One street lamp sized chocolate-brown leg with white stripes thrust out from the tunnel, quickly followed several others. Barbed, spiny hairs as long and thick as tree branches covered the legs and in the shadowed recess behind them, Cress could just make out eight giant black eyes.

"Hell no," Ian said first, grabbing a blankly staring Vianna by the arm and turning to flee. He only stopped when he realized the passage behind them had been covered in thick webbing.

"W-We're trapped!" Kirian cried, trying to push through the solid silk barrier with her hands. White strands stuck to her skin, though thankfully they weren't as aggressively adhesive as the ones in Illia's room. Still, the wall was thick and impossible to push through.

"This is it. We're going to die and Illia isn't here to save me. It hasn't shown its whole body, but judging by the legs, this thing has to be at least five times larger than the Cave Stalker."

Sure enough, the monstrous spider that emerged from the opposite side of the tunnel reared back, standing well over fifteen feet high and Vianna let out an ear splitting shriek. She joined Kirian in her futile attempt to escape while Ian tried to cut his way through with a pocket knife he had hidden away. They were making little progress against the boss barrier and the giant spider hopped into the sewer water arena below with a room shaking thud that caused several bricks to drop from the ceiling.

Just the sight of the beast made Cress's heart race, and she could barely hear the frantic cries of her friends behind here over her breathing. Not even the putrid sewer air bothered her; she was completely enthralled by the advancing monstrosity.

"Why can't I look away?" An unfamiliar tingle wriggled in the back of Cress's mind. "I should be panicking, trying to escape, but I don't feel anything. I just feel empty… and calm?"

"CRESS!" Kirian yelled, grabbing Cress's shoulder and yanking her back as the giant spider lumbered closer. "HELP US BEFORE—"

It only took the spider a few splashing strides to cross the room and it loomed half its body over the cowering group, trapping them between its front two legs. Only Cress stood straight, her eyes taking in every detail of the monster. Its black hooked fangs were glossy, dripping with a slimy fluid that dripped like rain into the water below. With every rise and fall of its body, a gust of strongly scented warm air blew from its disproportionately small abdomen and its pedipalps wiggled every couple of seconds. All eight of its eyes were fixated on Cress, boring into her and making her recoil on instinct.

Still, she remained surprisingly unfazed. She was panting and between her breathing and elevated heart rate, she felt like she'd sprinted a mile. Her pulse thrummed in her ears instead of the deafening battering she expected. Heat radiated from her core, all the way to her fingers and toes and she swallowed hard. If she didn't know any better, she'd have said she was excited.

"Cress," Ian hissed from behind, brandishing his feeble pocket knife. Kirian and Vianna were huddled behind him. They'd given up on trying to escape. "Step back. Slowly."

"But it's not doing anything," Cress mumbled to herself. She tilted her head to the side and the spider copied, its black… no, green eyes following her every movement.

"Is this?"

"Illia?"

Clacking and hissing noises echoed through the room and the ground trembled as the spider dropped below the ledge of the floor half out of sight. Racing forward, Cress peered over, watching the spider shrink. She didn't wait for the transformation to finish before she leapt off of the edge of the drop.