Damien and I approached the horse booth where Oboro had dropped off his horse over a month ago. From what I gathered from the bank's kingdom-wide policies and informational price sheets, renting a horse cost 5 Lumin per mile.
"Are you sure we'll have enough?" Damien asked as he looked up at me. I looked down at him and smiled. "I believe so. From what I can see, the forest we'll be visiting is about a quarter of a mile from here, although I only remember a rather short ride from when I first arrived here."
Damien nodded as he approached a black horse, running his small scarred hands over its rough and silky coat. 'I like this one, it's pretty, ' he exclaimed softly. Luckily the horse's physical appearance wouldn't impact the price of usage, or we'd probably have to pay double to ride a horse like this.
I nodded slowly in admiration as I approached the horse whilst picking up Damien in my arms. I walked up the small wooden stepping stool that allowed us to mount onto the tall animal. The horse let out a small neigh as it began to walk. The horse walked towards the opening gate and paused near the makeshift toll booth.
"I assume you're heading out?" The man asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded as I took out the 10 copper Lumin from my pocket and handed it to him. "I hope that'll compensate for the trip."
The man paused for a moment and counted the currency, after a few moments he looked back up and nodded with a smile. "Be safe!" he called out as he pulled the lever, causing the large wooden drawbridge gate to open.
The second it fully opened, me and Damien set off down the trail. The horse didn't move quickly, which is something I think Damien would've wanted. "Are you scared of speed?" I asked him, looking towards him.
Damien looked up at me whilst wrapping his arms around my torso, he nodded wearily. I felt a pang of sympathy as I ruffled his hair. "I assure you we'll be fine."
I took out the photo of the Demon Spider and observed it carefully. I didn't know what color it was or how big it exactly was. But from what Mr. Dwane told me about it, it's about 3 feet long. If it's a spider we'd most likely find its web or silk within a tree or under a large rock.
"What's that?" Damien asked, peering over my shoulder and catching a glimpse of the animal. "That's what we're looking for." I answered, showing him the photo of the large arachnid. "A…spider?" his voice suddenly got lower, and he rolled his eyes whilst knitting his eyebrows together.
I chuckled in response to his exaggeratingly annoyed response. "I know, but I need this particular species and I thought you'd want to come with me. After all, you seemed quite bored back at the headquarters."
Damien fell silent, after a little bit he sighed self deprecatingly. "I was bored. But I didn't know we'd go on a damn nature walk instead of something fun."
I felt like saying something snarky in return, but Damien was about 9 to 10 years old, so this was normal behavior for a young boy forced to do something he didn't find pleasing. "How about we go out for a treat after, ok?"
…
We stepped off the horse and landed onto the fluffy green grass which had been covered in a fresh layer of dew. The forest echoed with the sounds of birds calling in the distance and woodpeckers knocking their beaks against the trees in an attempt to find food.
I felt Damien's hand slightly tug on mine upon seeing these new surroundings, a silent beg for reassurance. I looked towards Damien and smiled softly. "I assure you we'll be fine, ok?"
We began to walk through the brush, my handgun with the nullifying bullets inside of my hollister ready to fire at any possible danger. "How long do you think this will take?" Damien asked, tugging at my arm.
"As long as it takes. I've learned from all my time outside that nature doesn't wait for people, we simply have to wait for it…"
"Ugh, waiting?" Damien groaned. I rolled my eyes with a smile, trying my best not to get agitated at the boy.
"Yes, but don't worry. It's the fall time, and it gets colder outside. So we'll probably find it hiding in a humid and warm place." I said as I suddenly leapt at a boulder and attempted to ram it over. My shoulder collided with the hard rock, making me involuntarily grunt on pain as I held it.
Damien chuckled softly as he too approached the rock. His white wings suddenly unfolded, and he swung them across the surface of the rock, causing a large crack from where he had moved it to form.
Damien never told me his wings were this durable!
"I'm impressed." I said with a smile as I kicked the rock down and looked under it. Under the rock wasn't solid ground, but instead…a large hole.
Damien looked into the hole and backed up, clinging to me. "Do we have to go down there?" he whined.
I nodded, my intuition telling me we'd find something down there of value. "Yes, I think we'll find the spider."
Without saying a word I grabbed Damien, hugging him to my chest as I leapt down into the hole. Damien's wings instantly wrapped around me, forming a makeshift cushion that made my fall softer when I landed.
When Damien let go of me I closed my eyes, and visualized the string and the anchor symbolism. Perhaps at Order 8 I could manifest a small object from my memory, a lantern, the lantern I held when descending down the stairs of the Pan Marché de Bolivar complex.
Crimson energy began to emulate from my horns and the Apocalypse sigil as the lantern formed out of midair, landing gently into my hands. The lantern's size was greatly diminished in the real world then when I would divine anything inside of the throne room. Perhaps it's weaker in the real world?
Damien's eyes widened as the lanturn appeared. "Wow…"
We lit the lantern and began walking through the hole in the ground, our steps echoing through the cave. Water dripped quietly from the ceiling above, landing on the ground around us and making tiny pattering sounds echo throughout the space.
Suddenly, a cold rush filled my body as I suddenly turned around and drew my hand-gun, pointing it at the darkness. In the inscrutable darkness, a pair of crimson red eyes shone through, then another, then another, all staring directly at us. I raised my handgun and shot at the cave ground in an attempt to scare the spider.
When the bullet collided with the hard stone, the arachnid let out a shriek as it leapt out from the darkness and crawled down the tunnel-like cave. "This better be worth the information." I thought to myself as me and Damien began to chase the animal down the chasm-like cave.
I continued to shoot at the creature over and over, the bullets missing every shot. On the arachnids abdomen I spotted something glowing a bright purple color, a symbol. It was a circle with numerous spikes protruding from it, and in the middle was a lit flame, dancing as if it were animated.
"Is that a Routeway symbol?" I thought to myself as I continued to shoot my gun, Damien clinging tightly to my chest. When I attempted to fire another round, the bullet made a mechanical clanking sound, and the feeling of emptiness and weightlessness engulfed the gun.
"The chamber is empty, damn it!" I cried as the spider turned towards us. Its fangs glistened dimly in the darkness, the yellow-orange candle flames illuminating the clear venom that glistened and dropped from its fangs with a palpable hunger.
The spider was hungry! Before I could react, the spider leapt at me, but I managed to dodge the attack before it could sink its fangs into my neck. Damien used his wings to shield me from the spider, but he let out a pained yell as the fangs dug into the bone of his wings.
He stumbled back and fell against the cave wall, breathing lightly as his skin began to turn a light green color. I looked back and forth from the spider to Damien, worried about the current circumstances. The spider's venom dripped from its fangs, at this point it was drooling at the thought of consuming me.
Its red eyes flickered as it took a few steps towards me. Suddenly, it froze. The smell of the spider's venom began to fill the air, it had a coppery and metallic smell, almost like blood. When I took a deep breath and looked towards the spider's fangs, I noticed that the venom wasn't actually venom…it was warm blood.
The sigil on its abdomen was beginning to dim, then it hit me! The arachnid was trying to keep itself alive! The sigil wouldn't have been glowing if it wasn't exerting effort on itself. When I divined the lantern my sigil was glowing, so it was too when siphoning effort.
I carefully approached the arachnid, and let out clicking and squeaking sounds, reminiscent of an injured dog whimpering. I noticed something in its back, it was a knife, quite a large one.
The spider approached me and lifted up its abdomen, a silent signal to let me remove the spear. Without any hesitation I removed the spear, the tip and lower half of the weapon now coated in a golden blood.
Upon seeing this I instantly closed my eyes and divined the bandages that were wrapped around my torso following my resurrection. The spider rolled over and allowed me to wrap its torso with the bandages. It let out clicking sounds as I did so.
When I fully bandaged its injury it crawled onto my lab and began to change and combust. The spider's legs shrank into its body and its crimson eyes disappeared. The spider's size began to diminish, and its body turned shriveled and malnourished looking.
Its body suddenly turned illusory as the golden blood that it had inside of it leaked out, forming into an illusory phantom. The spider-like phantom then shrank again, turning into a small golden sphere the size of a tennis ball.
"Is that a way of thanking me, killing itself?" I thought to myself as I picked up the marble. My eyes widened as I remembered Damien's condition. I immediately rushed over to him and hoisted him out of my shoulder.
I closed my eyes and, with much force, willed us into the throne room. When we arrived I put Damien down on the carpet and divined the control serum from my memory. I couldn't divine it from history because that would have exerted too much of my strength, and I was already tired from fighting the Spider Demon.
I lifted Damien's head and gave him the serum. I didn't even know if it would heal his injuries, but something told me, some fatherly instinct told me doing this act was a good variant of the bare minimum.
Damien's eyes suddenly snapped open as he swung his arm, clawing at my face. I leapt back and looked at him with a worried expression. "Are you alright?"
Damien sat up and rubbed his eyes, which now had a tired look. "Sorry…I got scared," he said tiredly. I smiled calmly as I approached Damien again and hoisted him into my arms, before descending us back into the cave.
Even if it was an option to get myself back inside the kingdom with Damien, I chose to opt for a more humane way of operating; choosing a horse instead of teleportation via Divine Protection.
"...can I have my treat now?"
…
Aizawa opened Olive's front door and stepped in, looking at the wreckage that had now engulfed a portion of her house. The cabinets were bare and most of the china was shattered on the ground. "Well, I'd say this robber surely took a bang onto your house. This would cost a fortune to repair." he said snarkily as he entered the house and walked into the kitchen and observed the scene.
"I was asleep when it happened. If I could be aware of any possible suspects that would be of great help. Except the only person I've really come to be friends with is you, Aizawa." Olive said as she began to clean up the shattered china scattered all over the floor.
Aizawa sighed softly as he began to look around other parts of the house that had been destroyed. Olive's establishment was in the more middle-class part of the kingdom, so fancy kitchenware or clothing or anything of tangible value would be deemed "out of place."
"You said you didn't know anyone here? Are you shy or something?" Aizawa asked as he rummaged through drawers and looked through her bathroom.
"I'm not that talkative, but I wouldn't say I'm shy. I have the average conversation every once in a while, but I tend not to get along with people all that well." she replied from the living room.
"You don't get along well with people?" he questioned further, using this question to make a logical deduction.
"Yeah, one time I got into a shoot out with a gang downtown over a dispute. But that was over 2 months ago and I haven't seen them since, so they'd have no reason to come crawling back here and do something as trivial as a damn robbery." Olive said with a chuckle.
"Sometimes people like to do the unexpected to throw people off, so it might have actually been this gang you speak of. Did you have anything of real value?"
Suddenly, a chorus of illusory voices echoed in Aizawa's ears. "Artifact, characteristic, artifact, characteristic."
Aizawa's brows furrowed as he recalled what Cattleya's mentor had said about the Order 9 abilities. "Spirit calling is finally working…great." he grumbled to himself as he re-entered the living room and looked in between the shabby couch cushions.
"I didn't. Although I think one might have been worth something. It looked like a pendant that was dyed with the essence of the night sky. I never got to see it's worth simply because I didn't need to."
"Where did you get it?" Aizawa asked.
"I never got it, I found it. I was walking home from the bar when I saw it on the ground near an alleyway. Upon seeing it for the first time I've never felt the same…" Olive said solemnly as she finished sweeping up the broken glass.
"Never felt the same…what do you mean?" Aizawa asked.
Olive turned around, her blueish-green eyes flickering with a tiny pang of fear. "I've been hearing and seeing things. I think I'm being haunted too."