Her own personal hell. That is what she was experiencing. The spiderbourne were feared due to their ability to create minute threads capable of sending anyone they touch into a nightmare, their own nightmare.
Nothing would happen to a person's physical body, however their minds would be under significant stress and torture. Those who can overcome this earn the approval of the spiderbourne, and are then free to ask for any favour. Let's just say it's the spiderbourne's way of saying 'hello'.
Spiderbourne were all rounders. They had incredible skills in blacksmithing and other arts while also being a powerful ally during combat. Do not underestimate a spiderbourne's favour. A powerful being's loyalty, even once is something all people crave for.
Though it's not easy to earn it.....
******************************************
He slowly dislodged himself from the indent he had gotten stuck in.
"Urgh....well, looks like I survived"
Darwin slowly rose to his feet and dusted himself off. He then surveyed the deserted marketplace. He sighed sorrowfully, regret twinkling in his eyes.
"I'm never gonna put myself in that kinda situation again, I'm gonna become so strong that no one will be able to defeat me, not even those stupid animals from that forbidden forest"
"Fantasizing about the future huh?"
"Who?!"
Darwin turned to his right, in the direction of the voice but all he saw was a blue blur. The next thing he knew, a dagger was embedded in his chest.
"Wha-?"
He looked forward and saw the brat who had given him all this trouble. That kid....why had he returned? He crumpled to the floor, bleeding out from the wound.
Alex walked forward towards the helpless man and stepped on the dagger, burying it deeper in the man's chest, all while smiling gently.
"Oh I love the feeling of ecstasy I feel when I'm crushing a strong man underneath my feet. Hehehehe, did you think I would let you go?"
"You cruel bas-urghhh!"
"I never let my enemies live. A policy I'm sure even you follow"
Darwin's eyes slowly dulled, his heartbeat stopped along with his breath. His struggle had ended, he stilled.
Alex pulled his dagger from the corpse and flicked it, scattering blood across the ground. He then kicked the body away and walked away with his hands in his pockets.
"Now to meet my buds and see how they're doing"
******************************************
Cold water hit her face and she shot awake, holding her hands out like she was planning to karate chop the water.
"Calm down there lady, we can't have other customers coming in to see a woman sleeping on the floor in our respectable...shack"
"You know that your store looks ugly?!?"
"You don't have to be so surprised, only a blind man wouldn't know"
"Then why don't you renovate?"
"Waste of money"
"Huh?"
"Forget it, you wouldn't understand. The good news is that you survived the nightmare! Which means you earned Frankie's repect! You can ask him for any favour you want, other than your purchase, of course"
"Oh yes..."
She just remembered the nightmare she had. She shuddered at the thought of one of her most haunting memories.
'The war.....'
Frankie walked up to her as well. She had stood up by now and was taller than the spiderbourne, but she did not look down on Frankie.
I mean, she did have to look down at Frankie but metaphorically, she didn't. Frankie looked a bit apologetic and, did she see pity in his gaze?
"Sorry 'bout that lady, but I wanted ta know the person who was gonna empty out our store and what you could do. We don't care 'bout business much, ya hear? We jus need to know their personality"
"I do not mind, spiderbourne, I just want the weapons as soon as possible"
At this point the elf intervened.
"Lady, even though we understand that you have no bad intentions, we can't give you all the weapons you need without checking the person to whom the weapons are going to"
Frankie also gave his two cents
"Ya, but hear' me out, we will give you two weapons. You can take ta rest when you bring the lad with ya next time"
"Hmmm.....alright I'll bring him next time I visit. I agree with your conditions"
"Great! I'll git started righ' away!"
Frankie scuttled away to the room in the back. Teresa was given a piece of paper by the elf.
"Write which weapons you want and what you want it to be made of"
"I'll get a greatsword and a scythe. As for the material, I don't know much about metals. Can you just choose the best one for them?"
"Not a problem. By the way, I just realised I haven't introduced myself, I'm Etlas. It is a pleasure"
"Teresa, nice to meet you as well"
Etlas nodded and took the paper, scribbled something on it and blew it into the room in the back. The wind seemed to obey his every command and carried the paper directly to the busy blacksmith.
"But you're an elf?"
"Yeah so?"
"A wind elementalist? I thought all elves were wood or nature elementalists"
"That's elf-ist. But yeah, I'm a dual wind and wood elementalist"
"Woah! A dual elementalist is even rarer!"
"Yes yes, I've heard this a million times...."
While Etlas and Teresa discussed the mysteries of elves and dual elementalists, Frankie continued to work on the weapons, picking different metals to make a powerful alloy.
Every time he picked a metal, he infused his mana into it before melting it with the other metals. A spiderbourne's mana was also inherently thicker and more tightly knit when compared to other creatures, making them natural craftsmen.
After a 6 hour long wait, it was finally done(Do not underestimate the patience of a rhino). Frankie had made the two weapons, putting his heart and soul into crafting them, designing them into two deadly killing tools to do the bidding of the person who wields them.
On the table lay a silver greatsword with a gold hilt, consisting of a ruby pommel and a sapphire sparkling on an indent in the cross-guard.
A beautifully designed scabbard lay beside it, also gold accented, the brown leather still visible, making the gold pop.
While the sword gave a holy aura, the scythe was the exact opposite. The blood coloured blade and the darker than black handle stood out beside the holy sword.
Like hell's greatest evil, it seemed so.....calm, almost inviting.
A false sense of security, luring you into it's deathly embrace.