The hero versus the emperor

Arthur charges forward without warning, eyes locked on the queen. His grip tightens on the dagger, sprinting with every ounce of energy he can summon.

But he never makes it more than three steps.

Spidaract slaps him.

It’s not the casual slap from a friend, but a full-force swing from the instinct from a knight to defend its people, a strong blow from a chitin club at flesh and bone.

Arthur crashes into the ground sideways. His ribs ache while his mouth tastes his own blood. His dagger skids across the soil already out of reach.

“You…” Arthur gasps, struggling to stand. “So that’s your choice then.”

Spidaract doesn’t answer, he just stares at Arthur.

Arthur hardly staggers upright, then takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. His skin begins to ripple, color draining and shifting to multiple, rapidly changing color: blue, green, red, even white and gray - creating an illusory motion, tricks of depth and speed.

However, Spidaract doesn’t fall for that.

With one quick shot, a line of web hits Arthur square in the chest, knocking him flat again. The thread binds to his shirt and pins him down for a moment before snapping loose from his struggling.

Arthur grits his teeth, yanks himself free, and rolls back to his feet.

He looks at Spidaract - the monster that he once called a comrade, finally reveals itself to be no more than its species.

“I expected more from you,” he growls. “You could have become the greatest among your kind!”

Arthur vanishes through changing the color of his skin, clothes, and even the second dagger on his belt to mimic the surrounding terrain. One moment he’s standing, and the next he’s simply gone, lost to the eye in a world of fungi.

“I also expected more from you,” Spidaract says while standing still before the enarmon’s queen.

The tension tightens. Spidaract closes all of his eyes to focus solely on his spiracles. Then, he senses a familiar smell, from a patch of moss right behind the enarmon’s queen, where he is unable to protect her when being attacked.

He sighs, never expecting the one human he believed in to plan a thing like this.

Just a moment before Arthur leaps from cover, aiming straight for the Enarmon queen’s lower body with the dagger raised, Spidaract charges to his old comrade's direction.

A line of web fluid that is connected to one of Spidaract limbs sticks to Arthur's neck. The impact is weak by comparison to earlier, but enough to throw Arthur off balance. His dagger slices misses the enarmon’s queen.

Then Spidaract brings down his second limb.

Then come a brutal blow, just hold back enough to let Arthur survive.

Arthur collapses instantly. His dagger clatters to the dirt. His chest rises and falls, still breathing, but his eyes have already closed.

He quickly falls unconscious.

Spidaract stands over him, breathing slowly. All of his six eyes are visible, but unreadable. The enarmon’s queen lies behind them, confused and all senses hurted. From up the hill, Asa is struggling with her own air walls in the earlier battlefield.

Silence reigns.

Asa runs toward them, her robes are torn and her arms are clingged with dirt and dust. She slows as she sees the scene: Arthur crumpling on the ground, Spidaract standing guard, the enarmon’s queen retreating into the trees.

“…What happened?” she whispers.

“I found my true home,” he gently says.

Then, he walks forward. Step by step, he approaches the ant queen - who twitches, then lowers her head slightly in recognition.

Spidaract raises one limb, then gently pats her carapace. She giggles, expressing a sense of comfort despite the lemon acid.

“You’re safe,” he murmurs. “And he is, too.”

The queen backs into the undergrowth, her soldiers slowly following.

Asa kneels beside Arthur, checking his pulse, brushing hair from his face. His heart is still pumping, but his body is bruised and deeply shaken. His face wears a strange expression - one of anger, guilt, and sorrow.

Spidaract turns his back to them both.

His voice is low, almost soft. “I’m done with this hero stuff…sorry.”

He walks away, following enarmon’s queen.

Asa’s fingers tighten around Arthur’s collar. She opens her mouth, but the words can’t come all the way through.

“Spidaract…”

He doesn’t stop.

He disappears into the woods, swallowed by glowing mushrooms and ash.

And Asa sits in silence, unsure what to do now.