New changes?

I could only think about it for a moment before I was pulled out of the dream. All colors blended together and my headache returned, stronger than ever before.

I woke up (at least, I think I did) but I couldn’t see a thing after opening my eyes. Everything was white.

From what I could tell, I was lying on pillows. I wasn’t in the hammock, instead, I think I was on the floor.

It would be quite miraculous to awake in the hammock. I imagined I was dragged home by my companions. Getting me inside my usual bed would be a bit of a stretch.

I groaned because of the headache and wanted to rub my eyes but for some reason, I couldn’t reach them. There was something between my eyes and my hands that acted as some kind of sheet.

“Urgh,” I groaned again, loudly this time.

“El?” I could hear Velariah’s voice from beyond the door, followed by a scraping sound across the floor.

I heard the doors open and close and saw a shadow approaching me through this weird white sheet.

“The fuck is going on? I can’t see shit.” I complained.

“It’s just your molt.”

“What?” I asked in disbelief. Why would there be a molt in front of my face?

“Here,” Velariah said before I felt her hands on my face. “Let me help you.”

She helped me raise my human torso before continuing.

The elf pried a bit with her fingers before she peeled off a thick, old layer of my skin, freeing my eyes. When she did, I was staring into her eyes. My headache was slowly diminishing.

“Why is there a frigging molt on my face?” I asked.

Something wasn’t right.

I was staring at Velariah, yet my vision was also… red?

Was I going blind?

 

I started panicking. Everything I could see was filled with a weird, red haze. It was as if I was looking through a sheet of transparent-red paper.

“Vel, what the fuck is going on?” I asked. I was quite scared.

“Uhhhh, El,” Velariah said as she seemed to stare at my behind. “You’re not going to believe this.”

Her expression was one of surprise, rather than shock or fear. She placed her hands on my cheeks and started peeling off the layer of skin.

“Tell me. What is it?”

“I’ll show you instead. As I said, you’re not going to believe it.”

She continued peeling the skin off of my face until she reached my ears. She peeled off more skin and suddenly the red that was in my vision became much clearer.

I was looking at my own hair.

Wait, what?

The red was brushed aside and I was looking at Velariah’s intrigued face.

Wait a second.

Didn’t she just disappear to my right?

Why was I looking at her now?

“What the fuck?” I let out.

I turned my head to the left and looked away from the elf.

I could still clearly see her in front of me. She started giggling, too.

Not only that, but I could see… the bathtub, toilet, sink and cabinet, and the hammock, all in one field of vision and VERY clearly. There was no peripheral vision whatsoever.

“El, you totally grew another pair of eyes.”

“What?” I still couldn’t believe it, despite just confirming my vision had changed considerably.

I wanted to look in the mirror. I tried standing up but failed. I forgot I still had a molt I needed to get rid of.

“Take it easy, El. Let’s get you out of that molt of yours first.”

I sighed.

“Seems your… human parts also molted quite a bit,” Velariah mentioned as she moved her hands down to my stomach. “Not sure why.”

I looked down to see her hands removed a thick layer of old skin from my belly button and downward.

I could also observe the entire right side of the room at the same time. This was so weird…

It actually made my head hurt. Just when I thought I got rid of that headache. I closed my eyes and felt some of the pain ebb away.

I could still see Velariah and the right side of the room. My left side was still covered by red and a sheet of molt, resulting in a blurry sight.

“I’m getting dizzy...” I admitted.

“Just relax, El. I’ll do the work. I can imagine you may need some… time adjusting.”

“I may need more than a little time. I still have no idea what the fuck is going on.”

“I have no idea why this is here,” Velariah said while staring at my stomach. “But this is sexy as hell.”

“Huh? What the fuck happened down there?”

 

I opened my eyes again and felt my headache grow in intensity as I looked down.

Small fragments of chitin were embedded in my flesh, creating a pattern. Two larger symmetrical chunks were located below my belly button, just above where my skin transitioned into chitin. From the outsides, near the top of the fragments, four smaller fragments completed something that looked like a U- or V-shape, running up above the sides of my belly button. Additional chunks were located at the sides of the larger fragments and seemed to follow the line where my body was fused.

The whole could have been a stylish tattoo, except that these chunks of chitin were actually tangible.

“Ugh, more changes I didn’t ask for,” I commented.

“What do you mean ‘didn’t ask for’? I saw you looking at Minia when she jumped on the die and grasshopper. Did you wish your eyesight would be as good or something?”

“Uhhhh,” I let out.

Was that it?

Did I not quietly wish my coordination would be as good as Minia’s one day? Did my body interpret that as ‘improve eyesight’?

“I think I did, by accident. Still, I wasn’t expecting… this.”

“Well, it can’t be a negative thing, right?” The elf asked.

“My headache tells me otherwise.”

“I think that’s because you’re not used to it, yet.”

“Thanks, Vel.”

Velariah rose. She sat on her knees and finished removing the molt from my human torso.

“You know, this really is sexy,” She said as she ran her fingers over the chunks of chitin. Her touch sent shivers down my spine as the skin was still very, very sensitive.

“What about the eyes…?” I asked, unsure what she would think about them.

Velariah shrugged. “I don’t mind them. Wait,” She moved her hands to the other side of my head and freed my other eye from molt as well. She then brushed my hair out of the way.

“Can you even… close those?” She asked.

My field of vision was broadened even more. I could see around me at an almost full 360-degree angle. Even my behind could be observed pretty clearly, without me having to turn my head.

I could see all of my legs at the same time, as well, but I had trouble working out what was left or right when I wanted to move my legs while I was observing them. I found that I simply had to not focus on observing them, and instead move them on instinct as I had before.

What a struggle…

I placed a hand over my left eye and closed my normal eyes. I imagined I’d be able to focus on one at a time.

I did not see or feel anything that resembled an eyelid. I carefully moved a finger to feel the skin around my eye and accidentally poked it, even with all the care in the world.

“Ouch,” I let out. “What do these things even look like?” I asked, unable to observe myself in the mirror.

“Uhh, how to explain. You know those two big eyes that Minia has in the center?”

Oh no.

“Yeah, they look like that. Yours protrude out of your skin just like hers.”

 

“What the fuck. You mean I can’t even close them? How the hell am I supposed to sleep at night?”

“With two eyes open? I guess?” Velariah seemed to take this a bit too lightly.

I actually got frustrated. “There’s no way I can sleep properly. I’m just going to get everything poking into them when I try to lie down. Fuck this!”

 

“Calm down, El. There’s probably something that prevents that.”

“You want me to put a cup over them when I try to sleep or what?”

“El, calm down.”

“How am I supposed to calm down when I’m going to die of insomnia?” I continued my rant.

“EL!” Velariah practically shouted, causing me to react with shock.

“Chill, El. You’ll be fine.”

I looked down at her lap and spoke softly. “I hope.”

 

“Shhh, you’ll be fine,” She said softly as she hugged me, her hands on the back of my head.

“I am truly a freak now...” I continued with my soft voice.

Even if this was a biological advantage. I probably looked ridiculous…

“It’s not that bad,” Velariah replied. “And you know I don’t care.”

I nodded slightly. “I know...”

“Let’s get you out of your old skin so you can look for yourself, shall we?”

I nodded again.

I let Velariah do as she wanted. She seemed to be taking this quite seriously this time around, mirroring my current mood.

She started with one of my legs and tried removing the molt, to no avail.

“Uh, El. I don’t know how to say this, but your molt is quite… tough.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s… hard, tough.”

I pulled a leg in front of me and noticed the molt wasn’t white. I should have seen this earlier, but I somehow didn’t register this as being off. My leg looked exactly the same as before my evolution. I knew, however, there was a layer that needed removing.

Come to think of it, why didn’t my earlier molts look like this? What came off then was more or less what one would expect from a snake.

Was I just that stupid at the time?

I never even thought about it.

 

“Uhhhh,” I let out. “How do I get out?”

Velariah stood up and ran a hand over my old exoskeleton, stopping when she reached my spider abdomen.

“It seems there’s an opening at the top where the old chitin is cracked. I assume that’s where you get out, no?”

Why couldn’t this be like the other times? That had been far easier.

I looked at where Velariah had her hands and noticed the narrow crack that ran along my backside.

“I see what you mean.”

“Well. That’s one thing I’ll have to get used to, I guess,” Velariah said.

“What is?” I asked.

“You looking at me without me knowing.”

Oh.

I had unknowingly observed her hand without turning my head. I was still looking in front of me with my human eyes.

That must have been awkward for her.

 

“How about you get on your back and then I try to lift your old skin, see if I can glide it off of you in one piece.”

That brought me back to the molt that my grandmother had saved.

If we could get this thing off of me in one piece, I imagined she’d go crazy over something like this.

I shook my head at the thought as I prepared to simply roll over. I needed some help from Velariah as my legs couldn’t grip the floor too well, but I managed.

“Well, here goes nothing,” I let out, as Velariah started pulling on one of my legs.

All of my legs were up in the air and I bent my human body forward to assist Velariah in pulling the old skin up.

It seemed my body had secreted something like oil to assist with the process. The old exoskeleton slid off quite easily. I had to twitch my legs whenever Velariah reached the joints as she pulled, but it didn’t go as bad as I had expected.

“How long have I been out, anyway?” I asked as we worked together. I forgot to ask earlier. It wasn’t hard to, with all the madness going on.

“Four days. It’s afternoon right now.”

I sighed. “At this rate, I’m going to be unconscious for longer than I am awake. Any news?”

Velariah freed another one of my legs. We were going through this one leg at a time.

“Not much. Things are pretty much the same as when you went into your slumber. It took those five soldiers, Draco, Seralyn, Nira and me to drag you home. I’m sorry we couldn’t place you back in the hammock, you were too heavy. I imagined getting the pillows down here was the least we could do...”

“Yeah, thanks for that,” I said in earnest. “I’m sorry you had to do that, though...”

“El, you couldn’t help it. Stop worrying about things you can’t help.”

 

“You’re right. I should.”

 

Velariah freed my last leg and spoke up once more. “Now to get that behind of yours out...”

“Just hold on to it at the end. I’ll try to wriggle myself out.”

“Good idea,” Velariah replied.

She walked over to my rear and took hold of the chitin near my spinnerets with both hands. I wriggled my behind and used my arms to drag myself away from the elf. It didn’t take long for me to be freed of my old exoskeleton; my pedipalps, and fangs came out cleanly in the process. This weird oil was quite something.

Suck on this, WD-40!

I panted as I was finally freed, exhausted after losing my second skin.

“Holy crap,” Velariah commented. “We actually managed to get this thing off in one piece. It’s kind of creepy, but also intriguing.”

I raised my torso a bit to look at what she was talking about.

Sure enough, the entire thing had come off in one piece. I never would have imagined myself simply… admiring a spider molt. The entire thing looked exactly like my lower half. It was still completely black and awe-inspiring.

And Velariah started playing with it…

She placed the molt upright.

It actually kept standing…

Velariah laughed. “This is awesome. I have a literal copy of you.”

“What are you going to do with it?” I asked with a smile.

“Scare the neighbors? Or maybe… hmmm.”

She stretched out the molt’s legs, forcing the part where the old exoskeleton connected to my human part to the ground. Then, she did something I did not see coming.

She placed herself in it!

Velariah literally entered my old molt and knelt down.

“How do I look?” She asked with a smile.

“Like me? I guess?” I smiled back.

She looked ridiculous.

She then placed her hands inside the molt and raised the molt’s pedipalps.

“Look at me, I’m Elania, I’m going to web you up,”

The sight of Velariah messing around with my old skin caused me to laugh. This was such an odd scene.

She looked behind her and observed the large spider abdomen and legs. “Damn, El. You sure do carry a lot with you, don’t you?”

“You know it.”

I paused for a moment and simply delighted in the sight of Velariah exploring my body from the inside. She even found the fangs and raised them with her hands inside the molt.

“You know… I never mentioned this before, but your fangs are weird as hell, you know?”

“I wouldn’t know, Vel. I didn’t care much for spiders. I preferred to stay away from them. Speaking of, where is Minia?”

“She’s in her crate. I didn’t put her in there. She moved into it herself. The glass top is off, so she can get out anytime.”

Velariah continued observing my old fangs. “I mean. These fangs of yours… they have like three segments before the actual fang. It’s more of a fang on a mini-pedipalp than anything else.”

“I do prefer to keep them that way,” I replied. “The flexibility allows me to hide them when I don’t use them.”

“Hmm,” Velariah hummed. “It also gives them extra reach, which is useful, I guess.”

“Don’t you dare make weird suggestions to how my body should change when I next evolve. Seralyn was the one that brought up the extra eyes the other day. I’m going to blame all of this on her.”

Velariah chuckled. “I doubt we have any influence on it, really.”

 

I shrugged. “Who knows?”

The elf placed her hands inside the pedipalps again and raised them. “I’m so going to save this molt.”

“Do whatever you want with it,” I said with a smile.

“I do wonder what it’s like to be an… Arachne was it?”

I nodded. “It’s a lot of work adjusting, especially the first days. I can tell you that much.”

“You feeling any better yet?” She asked with a teasing smile.

“I am. Thanks, Vel.”

“You still want to look into the mirror?”

I nodded. “I’ll have to eventually...”

I rolled myself over and stood up. Velariah was still inside my old molt as I stood up.

“You’re having an awful lot of fun, aren’t you?” I asked.

“It’s fun to be inside you, El,” She said with a seductive smile.

“Wow, that was terrible,” I chuckled at her horrible attempt at a joke. “You must have really missed me in the time I was out.”

“I did,” She said softly as she lowered the molt’s spidery limbs.

I walked over to her and lowered myself to her.

“Do let me know when you learn how to walk in that,” I said with a smile before kissing her.

“Hmmm, I’d love to have to learn how to walk around in this. I could return those quality hugs.”

I smiled at her remark before I stood up and walked to the sink. As before, I had to not look at what my legs were doing or I’d lose my footing.

Velariah had been right when she said that my eyes looked like Minia’s large ones.

Two large, red eyes, which I imagined were larger than my human ones’ full size, were located between my eyes and ears. They protruded from my skin, just like hers.

They were huge…

They were red…

Seeing myself in the mirror caused my headache to resurface. I imagined it had something to do with all the signals being mixed together and then reflecting back. I had no idea how to explain this…

I could see Velariah walk up to me, both in the mirror, and with my eyes.

Holy shit, this was confusing.

I was also surprised by the fact that parts of my ears were clearly in the way of their vision when looking at my rear, yet somehow I didn’t see them…

Was this the same thing that was going on with my nose, where my brain simply chooses to ignore it?

But I didn’t have two eyes at the side, so why?

I should stop overthinking this. It only made my headache worse.

 

“And?” Velariah asked once she was next to me, looking into my right-right eye.

What a hassle.

 

“I honestly don’t know what to make of it. Having a broader field of vision is great and all but… you know, this makes me look even less human.”

“You know I don’t care, El. I prefer you alive, you know.”

“Heh, makes sense. Well, I guess I can easily see what I’m doing with my silk now, I guess?”

“There you go. It really isn’t so bad,” She comforted me.

“And my legs...” I added.

“See?”

“Oh, I see plenty, Vel.”

“Heh, funny.”

Velariah smiled at me as she pulled on my hands to get me facing away from the mirror. She then stared at me from top to toe. I was suddenly made aware that I wore nothing but my underwear.

“Do tell me, El. How does this look with those extra eyes of yours?”

“Wha—”

She planted her lips on mine before I knew it. I closed my eyes in reflex to enjoy the sensations.

Yet, I was still looking at her as we kissed.

This was so weird.