The air crackled with tension as the spiders closed in, their many red eyes gleaming like malevolent stars in the shifting shadows. Vivienne's hydra form towered over them, her six heads snapping and hissing in anticipation. But as the misty humanoid figure lood, and the massive spiders sward, she did sothing unexpected.
With a slow, wicked grin stretching across her faces, Vivienne began to sing, her voices harmonising in eerie unison.
"The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout..."
A massive spider lunged toward her, its fangs gleaming with venom. Vivienne twisted in a blur of motion, her heads snapping sideways, one head tearing into the creature's abdon with sickening precision. The spider screeched, its legs flailing before it crumpled to the forest floor.
"Down ca the rain and washed the spider out..."
Another spider, larger and angrier, skittered toward her, its fangs dripping with the sa venom. Vivienne hissed as it struck, narrowly dodging the vicious strike. The spider’s fangs tore into her thick hide, but she roared in fury, her hydra heads lashing out. Two of them sank their jaws into its legs, tearing the creature apart in a frenzy of snapping fangs and rending claws.
"Out ca the sun and dried up all the rain..."
A third spider dropped from above, its legs wrapping around one of Vivienne’s heads, constricting tightly. She snarled, shaking her massive form and throwing the spider off. The creature twisted mid-air, landing deftly on the ground. She growled, her jaws parting, and she charged forward, two of her heads sinking deep into its flesh. Its legs twitched violently before the creature finally fell silent.
"And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again..."
But before she could savour the victory, a massive shadow lood from behind her. Another spider, larger than the rest, with body parts shimring with dark aether, crawled out from the trees, its many eyes fixed on Vivienne. This one was different, its form crackling with wild energy, glowing runes carved into its body. It was almost as if it was no longer a simple creature—it had beco an avatar of the dark aether itself.
Vivienne's laugh was low and guttural as she tilted her heads back, the chorus of voices rising in eerie unison. "Here we go again..."
"The itsy bitsy spider..."
The battle raged on, each of Vivienne’s heads snarling with savage glee, but her voice never faltered, the familiar rhy echoing through the chaos. She darted forward, her claws and fangs flashing, tearing through the spider’s hide with brutal efficiency, yet each blow left her feeling more and more drained, the weight of the aether pressing in on her like an unrelenting tide.
"Skath!" Rava hissed through clenched teeth, clutching her side where a spider's claw had raked across her. Blood stained her fingers, but she barely seed to notice. "I should have raided the armoury for more battle gauntlets. And so bloody armour while I was at it."
“Well,” Vivienne said, her voices overlapping in a dissonant lody, “we could probably head back and see if the armoury has sothing for you. Doesn’t look like any of those eight-legged snacks are still skittering around. At least, not alive.”
Her five heads that were dedicated to eating descended upon the mangled remains of her prey, serrated teeth tearing through their shattered carapaces. Streams of glowing aether poured into her waiting jaws, each head devouring with a feral hunger that made the air hum with tension. Her form shuddered as the stolen energy coursed through her, restoring her strength in sharp, painful bursts.
Rava grimaced as she watched, leaning heavily against a nearby tree. "You really have a talent for making als unsettling."
One of Vivienne’s heads turned to her, its crimson eyes narrowing playfully as it wiped its maw with a serpentine tongue. “I’d offer to share, but I doubt you’d appreciate the flavour. Or the texture.”
“Pass,” Rava muttered, flexing her fingers and wincing as the movent pulled at her wounds. “Just finish up before more decide to crawl out of whatever pit they call ho.”
Vivienne’s heads continued their feast, but her central one remained fixed on Rava, her grin fading. "You’re hurt worse than you’re letting on."
"I’m fine," Rava snapped, though her voice lacked its usual bite. She pushed off the tree and stood straighter, determination flickering in her tired eyes. “I’ve dealt with worse.”
“Pretty sure that’s how people die,” Vivienne said, her tone light but her words pointed. “Even I’m fairly certain their venom did sothing to . My aether feels... tight, twisted where they struck. Had to basically burn it out of .” She shrugged as if purging corrupted aether from her body was an everyday annoyance.
“I said I’m—” Rava began, her voice defensive, but Vivienne’s central head turned sharply, fixing her with a piercing stare that silenced her.
Rava let out a resigned sigh, rolling her shoulders as if trying to shake off the weight of the encounter. “Fine. Let’s head back for now. I need better equipnt, and we still need to figure out what that ritual did.”
Vivienne nodded, her many heads bobbing slightly in unison. “Oh, right. And what about the boy? You know, the whole reason we’re out here?”
Rava froze for a mont before groaning, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Gods above, how could I have forgotten? I told him to hide sowhere while I dealt with the…” She gestured vaguely at the altar and the scattered remains of the spiders and other humanoid bodies.“...clergy or whatever they were.”
A wicked grin spread across Vivienne’s face, each head chuckling in turn. “Ha! And I thought I was the scatterbrain. Let’s find the kid, poke around a bit more, then make a tactical retreat.”
“Tactical retreat?” Rava asked, raising a sceptical eyebrow.
“Fine,” Vivienne said, her tone dripping with mockery. “Advancing in the opposite direction. Moving to a strategically more advantageous position. Also known as running away.”
Rava rolled her eyes. “Are you done with your dinner yet?”
Vivienne paused in mock contemplation, tapping a claw against her chin. “Not quite, but I can speed things up.”
In a fluid motion, her monstrous hydra form began to lt away, limbs and heads folding inwards as her body shrank and shifted. The transition was unsettling, her form twisting into sothing more alien, less defined. When she finally reford, her base form stood before Rava—an amorphous, shadowy mass that pulsed with aetheric energy.
It was bigger than the last ti she’d reverted to it. Easily the size of a horse, if not more.
Or, as Vivienne surmised, big enough to devour a few giant spiders at once.
She stretched herself out, her formless body flowing like liquid over the pile of spider corpses she’d collected. Tendrils shot out in every direction, probing through cracks in their carapaces—both natural and the ones she and Rava had created.
It was efficient, consuming them en masse. But efficiency had its drawbacks.
The mont she absorbed them, her mind was inundated with a cacophony of fragnted mories. Dozens of lifetis flashed before her in rapid succession—brief, disjointed glimpses of lives lived, fears felt, and deaths endured.
A hunter in a forest, cornered by sothing unseen.
A child hiding beneath a floorboard, the sound of skittering legs drawing closer.
A woman running, her cries swallowed by darkness.
The spiders' collective experiences overlapped and intertwined, drowning her thoughts in a flood of fear and hunger.
Vivienne staggered, her amorphous form rippling erratically.
“Vivienne?” Rava’s voice was sharp, cutting through the haze. She reached out but hesitated, unsure where to touch. “What’s wrong?”
“Too much,” Vivienne rasped, her voices layered in distortion. “Too many... mories. All at once.”
Her tendrils retracted, withdrawing like retreating shadows, and her amorphous body began to steady itself. She trembled visibly as she wrestled with the flood of fragnted thoughts, locking them away like unruly prisoners. Slowly, her form coalesced into its compact humanoid shape, though her stance was unsteady. Her shadowed face seed duller, almost drained, but the faint curve of her grin returned, albeit weaker.
Vivienne let out a grunt. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that.”
“Used to what?” Rava asked cautiously, her golden eyes narrowed with concern.
“When I absorb aether like that...” Vivienne hesitated, her gaze flickering as though trying to ground herself. “I see flashes of the people they used to be. Fragnted, incomplete mories from lives long gone.” Her voice faltered before she added softly, “It’s... disorienting.”
Rava froze, her expression tightening. “Wait. You never ntioned this before. Why do they carry the mories of people?”
Vivienne tilted her head, confusion flickering across her features. “Aetherbeasts... they’re made of the aether from people who died, aren’t they? Isn’t that common knowledge?”
Rava’s golden eyes widened, her brow furrowing in disbelief. “That’s not common knowledge. Most people think aetherbeasts are just raw aether run wild, not...” Her voice trailed off as she studied Vivienne, sothing unreadable in her gaze. “Not the remnants of people.”
“Well,” Vivienne said with a half-hearted shrug, trying to dispel the tension. “Now you know.”
The silence that followed was heavy, the forest around them eerily still as if listening in on their exchange.
Rava broke the quiet, her voice low and firm. "We need to talk about this later. Right now, we still have to figure out what that ritual was about—and what exactly I might have woken up."
Vivienne gave an exaggerated flourish toward the darkened forest, her sharp grin curving with wicked amusent. "Lead the way, oh fearless warrior. I’m just the nightmare shadow that snacks on spiders." As she moved to retrieve her discarded clothing, she hastily slipped back into her dress—backwards, though she seed entirely unbothered by it.
Rava huffed, rolling her eyes, though the faintest smirk betrayed her amusent. She cupped her hands and called out, her voice carrying through the eerie silence. "Taron! It’s safe now. You can co out!"
At first, there was only the rustle of leaves, but then a soft, hesitant shuffle broke through the quiet. From behind a moss-covered tree, Taron erged, his small fra trembling as he stepped into the faint light filtering through the canopy. His clothes were muddy and torn, his face pale and streaked with dirt, but his wide eyes were alert.
"Are the monsters gone?" he asked, his voice small and shaky.
Rava softened her tone, gesturing for him to co closer. "They’re gone. We took care of them."
Taron hesitated, looking between Rava and Vivienne. His gaze lingered on Vivienne, his expression shifting from nervous curiosity to outright fear as he took in her shadowy form and glowing eyes. Her sharp grin didn’t help.
"Y-You’re one of them!" he yelped, stumbling backward and nearly tripping over a root.
Vivienne raised her claws and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Yes, yes, I am a big scary monster."
Rava sighed, stepping between them and kneeling down to the boy’s level, which was saying sothing about her height as he was in his teens. "Taron, listen to . Vivienne’s not one of them. She helped fight those things off. We wouldn’t be standing here without her."
Taron glanced at Rava, then back at Vivienne, his fear tempered by her words but far from gone. "But she—she looks like—"
"Like your worst nightmare, yeah, yeah," Vivienne interrupted, her tone wry. She crouched down, her glowing eyes narrowing playfully. "Kid, if I wanted to hurt you, do you think I’d be standing here making polite conversation? I’d have eaten you by now and burped your na."
Taron stared, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Rava shot Vivienne a glare. "Not helping."
Vivienne shrugged, standing back up with a flick of her claws. "Just being honest. He’s going to have to at least tolerate for now."
Rava turned her attention back to Taron, her voice calm but firm. "She’s... not exactly conventional, but she’s on our side. Trust , okay?"
Taron hesitated, then gave a reluctant nod. "Okay... I guess."
"Good." Rava straightened, her expression hardening as she scanned the dark forest. "Now, let’s keep moving. The sooner we figure out what’s going on here, the sooner we can get back sowhere safe."
Vivienne stretched, her shadowy form rippling unnaturally. "I’ll keep an eye out for more eight-legged friends." She paused, casting a sidelong glance at Taron. "Or anything bigger."
Taron swallowed hard, his grip tight on Rava’s sleeve as they moved deeper into the dense forest. Every step seed to drag the air around them heavier, the weight of the shadows growing more oppressive. The trees stretched high above, their twisted branches looming like skeletal hands, and it felt as if the forest itself was watching them.
Sowhere in the distance, the whispers began again, low and insistent, like a thousand voices murmuring just beyond the edge of hearing. The sound wrapped around them, curling into the spaces between the trees, pulling them forward. Taron glanced over his shoulder, but the path behind them seed unchanged, a dark tunnel of gnarled wood and shifting shadows.
Vivienne’s voice broke the silence, smooth and dripping with mockery. "Well, darlings, I hear the whispers again. Nasty little things, aren’t they?"
Rava gave Vivienne a sideways glance, her brow furrowing. "Focus, Vivienne. You’re the one who said we need to figure out what’s going on here."
Vivienne shrugged, her shadowy form flickering at the edges of her words. "Oh, I’m focused. Just trying to lighten the mood. After all, we’re about to plunge ourselves into the heart of whatever this ss is."
The whispers grew louder, their cadence shifting from re murmurs to sothing more... intentional, as though the forest itself were calling to them. The voices were twisted, incomplete, fragnts of speech woven together in a way that made the air feel thick with tension.
Taron's pulse quickened, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as the whispers wove through the air like threads of unease. "W-what are they saying? What do they want?" he stamred, his voice barely above a whisper.
Vivienne’s many heads tilted, as though tasting the whispers with ears instead of tongues. Her voice dripped with theatrical flair. "Wellll, I’m making a few educated guesses based on my extensive experience during snack ti, but they seem to enjoy poking at personal doubts. A little twist here, a little prod there—classic tornt."
Rava rolled her eyes, her voice flat with disbelief. "As if you have doubts."
Vivienne flashed a grin full of razor-sharp teeth, her many eyes gleaming with amusent. "I am well aware of how utterly, indescribably amazing I am, thank you. Self-awareness is key."
Despite himself, Taron cracked a nervous laugh, though the sound quickly died as another wave of whispers crept through the air. Rava gave Vivienne a sharp look, shaking her head as she pressed forward through the trees.
"Great, that’s one of us," Rava muttered. "anwhile, the rest of us have to actually deal with our insecurities instead of eating them."
Vivienne chuckled, the sound a low, almost purring vibration from her chest. "Oh, darling, it keeps sharp. You should try it soti—quite cathartic."
The whispers grew louder, their tone turning mocking, as if emboldened by their approach. Taron stiffened, gripping Rava’s arm. "It’s getting worse," he said, his voice trembling. "I can feel them... pressing into my mind."
"Ignore it," Vivienne said with uncharacteristic firmness, her voice cutting through the tension. "They’re just fragnts of what once was. They can’t harm you unless you let them."
Rava glanced back at her, golden eyes narrowing. "That’s a comforting thought coming from soone who feeds on those fragnts."
Vivienne’s grin widened again, this ti with a playful edge. "What can I say? I know my snacks."
Taron didn’t seem reassured, but he nodded, his hands trembling slightly as he tried to push the whispers aside.
The forest opened up ahead, revealing a small clearing dominated by a single stone obelisk, its surface etched with glowing runes that pulsed with an ominous light. Around its base, the ground was scorched and barren, a stark contrast to the dense foliage surrounding them.
Vivienne’s heads all tilted in unison, her voice tinged with intrigue. "Well, this is inviting. You don’t see foreboding magical relics like this every day."
Rava stepped cautiously into the clearing, her posture tense, golden eyes scanning the treeline for any threat. The air here felt different—denser, charged with the aftermath of powerful aether. Her voice was hushed but firm. "This is where the ritual took place... But where’s the—"
A deep, resonant rumble cut through the stillness, vibrating through the ground like a drumbeat. It was followed by a sharp ticking sound, deliberate and rhythmic, that seed to amplify with each second. From the shadows beyond the obelisk, a figure erged, its presence sending a chill through the clearing.
It stood in a humanoid shape, its unnervingly smooth body crafted from gleaming white ceramic that seed untouched by ti or decay. Delicate filigree of gold traced its surface in intricate, living patterns, pulsing faintly with an internal rhythm, shifting and flowing like clockwork gears hidden beneath its shell. Each movent was precise yet unnervingly unnatural—jerky in a way that suggested a being not bound by flesh, but by perfect calculation. Towering over Rava in both height and breadth, its sheer presence was oppressive, its looming size casting a long shadow over the clearing. The ticking sound grew louder, steady and relentless, as it turned its featureless head toward them. The lack of eyes or a face was more chilling than any glare could have been—a void of expression that stripped it of any semblance of humanity.
Rava’s breath hitched. Her voice ca out in a whisper, filled with equal parts awe and dread. "Nexus Arbiter."
Taron’s voice trembled. "What’s a—a Nexus Arbiter?"
Rava’s fists clenched at her sides, her body rigid. "An emissary of Praxus. Enforcers of his order. They’re not supposed to be here. Not unless sothing’s seriously wrong."
Vivienne tilted her head, her grin returning but without its usual levity. "Oh, look, a shiny toy soldier. Seems like it’s fallen out of the wrong toy chest."
The Arbiter turned its head slightly at the sound of Vivienne’s voice, its movents accompanied by the unsettling sound of whirring gears. It raised a hand, long, segnted fingers unfurling with a faint tallic hiss. A golden orb of light began to form in its palm, pulsating with raw aether.
"Identify yourselves," the Arbiter repeated, its voice a cold, chanical monotone laced with an unnerving sense of finality. "You trespass in a sanctified zone of the Sovereignty. Compliance is mandatory."
Rava squared her shoulders, her voice cutting through the tension with authority. "This is the territory of Clan Serkoth, not Aegis. Your presence here is the real trespass."
The Arbiter’s featureless face shifted slightly, its golden filigree glowing brighter. "Incorrect. All lands are under the dominion of the Aegis Sovereignty. This site has been sanctified. You are unauthorised entities. Surrender yourselves for processing and evaluation."
Taron looked to Rava, panic in his eyes. "Processing? That doesn’t sound good!"
"It’s not," Rava muttered grimly, her gaze locked on the Arbiter. "They are the ssengers of Praxus. They don’t process people so much as they process problems—permanently."
Vivienne chuckled, her grin full of sharp teeth and nace. “Oh, it wants us to turn ourselves in. How delightfully quaint. Rava, darling, should I deal with our charming bureaucrat, or would you prefer the honour?”
Rava’s golden eyes flicked to her companion, her voice laced with warning. “Vivienne, don’t provoke it.”
Vivienne tilted her head, her grin growing wider. “It already seems quite set on ‘processing’ us, don’t you think?”
The Nexus Arbiter’s voice cut through the tense air like a blade, cold and chanical. “This site has been sanctified. You are unauthorised entities. Surrender yourselves for processing and evaluation. Compliance is mandatory.”
Vivienne gestured theatrically toward the machine. “See? It’s practically begging for it.”
Her gaze shifted to Taron, who looked like a rabbit caught in a snare, trembling but trying to appear brave. She crouched slightly to et his eye level, her voice softening, though the glint in her dark eyes remained unsettling. “Run that way,” she said, pointing toward the densest part of the forest. “Keep going until you’re far enough that you can’t hear the screaming. That’s your cue to stop.”
Taron hesitated, his wide eyes darting between Vivienne and Rava. “But—”
“Go!” Rava barked, her tone leaving no room for argunt. “We’ll find you. Just move!”
The boy turned and bolted into the trees, disappearing into the shadows with a rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs.
Vivienne straightened, her form subtly rippling with barely contained energy as she turned back to the Arbiter. “Well, I suppose it’s just us now. Shall we dance?”
The Arbiter’s chanical body shifted, the ticking sound intensifying as it raised one arm. From its hand, a blade of pure aether energy extended with a sharp hum, the glow casting eerie shadows across its ceramic form. “Resistance is noncompliance. Noncompliance will be neutralised.”
Rava stepped forward, cracking her knuckles and narrowing her eyes. “I don’t care what the Sovereignty sanctified. You’re not laying a finger on , her, or that boy.”
Vivienne’s grin twisted into sothing darker, her shadowy form beginning to expand as she grew in size. “Next you're going to keep repeating 'delete, delete, delete', aren't you?”
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