After waiting for half an hour, Ventus sees first Vincent and then shortly after Avery, lugging gear along. She jogs up to them and moves the gear to her spatial pocket. “There we go, I’ll take it out once we have a defensible location. I still have some food from the mess hall, so we’re still good in terms of that as well.”
Nodding, Avery and Vincent start to head down to the cavern. Avery holds a clear blue gem, while Vincent holds a spear.
Ventus leads the way, working towards where she woke up the first time. “I don’t know what we’ll find there, but the place I’m going should have the highest concentration of mana nearby. Vincent if you could guard first so Avery can do the meditation, and then swap after a couple of hours and do it yourself. I’m under orders to just meditate sadly, so I don’t have much of a choice, or I’d just guard you both the whole night.”
Vincent laughs at that, “Oh no Ventus, you’re too important to the nation right now. It’s both of our duties to guard you. As for shifts, I’ll take first while Avery sleeps, and then she’ll take second after a few hours.”
Avery nods at that before Ventus speaks up. “Meditation can seemingly replace sleep. At least with mana involved.”
Grinning, Avery nods at that. “Okay we’ll do the whole shift system you both are wanting, but I’ll try to meditate instead of sleeping. I can feel the mana getting denser. Are we almost there?”
Nodding, Ventus continues stepping forward before holding her arm out to stop the others, her tails twitching in anxiety as her ears twitch wildly. “I’m hearing something odd, and it feels weird. Like it doesn’t really fit here.”
Vincent nods, his spear in his hands already, wind spiraling around his legs and the head of his spear. “I’m ready, what about you Avery?”
Avery nods, the gem she was holding floats slightly above her hand, snowflakes spiraling around her. “I am, thankfully those ruins that have been raided had something like this. Are you prepared, Ventus?” Smirking, she adds, “Our glorious leader.”
Sputtering, Ventus sighs before calling forth her gauntlets, channeling mana and those flames into it. “I am ready, but please don’t call me your leader. We’re allies, no one is superior here.”
Dropping onto all fours, Ventus rushes forward, entering the cavern where she woke as cracking is heard. She sees first the main egg hatching, and then many others hatching as well. Growling she prepares for the tough battle ahead as she sees the various threads spreading out into the future ahead of her. Shouting at Avery, she says “Don’t come in here! Block the entrance with ice, now! Otherwise you both die!”
Vincent is about to rush in as ice surges from Avery, blocking off the tunnel. Vincent doesn't stop in time and slams into the ice, groaning in pain. “Why Avery? We can handle whatever this is. I’m not feeling bad at all.”
Shaking her head, Avery shivers as she sees the weird shifting spiders emerging from the eggs. “No, I don’t think we would have survived. Remember what Ventus can see. Her ability is likely far more reliable than your hunches.”
Vincent groans before nodding. “At least open a small tunnel, so I can send a wind-based enhancement towards Ventus. It is the least I can do, and close the tunnel after so none of those things can get through.”
Nodding, Avery does just that, after which Vincent sends the fast majority of his mana through the path and into Ventus. Groaning, he falls to his knees, head clutched. “Well that’s the best I can do, close it up.”
Ventus spares a glance back at the two as the wind speeds her body up, before she forcefully cancels it. “I appreciate it Vincent, but that won’t work against these things, they’ll just eat the aura the enhancement causes, growing stronger.”
Vincent groans, yelling out as the small gap in ice closes, “Then how are you supposed to fight them then, Ventus?”
Ventus growls, her mana flooding into her tails before flowing back, establishing a cycle as her form starts to shift. Her tails glow brilliantly before in a flash of light she changes. Grinding and popping can be heard as bones shift and mass is redistributed. Growling as she stares at the newly hatched, and hesitantly named spiders, she covers her body in her mana while trying to mimic the effect of the barrier ring.
The floor of the cavern groans slightly as the fabric around Ventus strains and warps. The barrier fails to form, but small chunks of the floor are now floating around Ventus, as if she had become a greater source of gravity than the planet itself. Lunging forward she calls forth her echo while swinging her claw at the largest spider. Her claw slices into the spider, but as soon as it passes, the spider heals. Growling, she turns towards her echo, tilting her head and gesturing towards the spiders with her tails as if asking how to deal with them.
“Oh Ori, I can give some advice, but I can’t help with this fight, all kinds of rules prevent that.”
Ventus nods quickly before jumping to the side to avoid a swipe from one of the smaller spiders.
Echo chuckles loudly before cryptically saying, “I’m sure you’re hungry Ventus,” and then vanishing back from whence she came.
Ventus huffs before jumping away from another strike, landing on two of the smallest spiders with her paws. There is squirming under them before stillness, and then tiny sharp fangs pierce her paws.
Yelping, Ventus jumps away again and looks at her paws. Tilting her head as she sees no real wound she rapidly blinks away as the largest spider crashes into where she was seconds ago.
Hearing the static crackle that these spiders generate, she avoids them the best she can, swiping at them when she can and then jumping back right away.
Smashing her tails into the second largest spider, she shivers, a cold spark traveling into her, traveling unknown pathways before flowing back into her tails as an abundant amount of mana. Stepping away, she sees that while still alive, the spider she struck is smaller now.
That spider emits a scratchy sound, and all of the spiders rush towards Ventus, trying to bind her tails, while the biggest spider pins Ventus’ face to the ground.
Ventus growls and tries to blink away before feeling stuck, unable to travel along the fabric. Thrashing, she nearly manages to stand before the rest of the spiders swarm up her shoulders and legs, biting down to lock the joints.
The large spider rubs several of its legs together, before emitting a chittering static sound, almost like they are gloating as it bends down, fangs approaching Ventus’ neck.
cassandr4· Jan 13, 2026
