I stood and watched as Cellestra held the pole with two hands and cast her spell. A boulder about five feet across appeared in mid-air right above the trunk and smashed down on it, causing it to sink into the ground. The rock vaporized after that. As quickly as it had appeared, it had disappeared as well.

How many spells does Cellestra have? Truly?

That looked like some powerful spell to have. I realized I didn’t have any spell where I could have a projectile attack my target from above. I’d be highly interested in one if I ever got the choice.

I was about to skitter over to her when she walked to the second pole and repeated the same thing where she blew off the panel first before ripping it out of the ground. Soon, she’d placed it a fair distance away from the first one she’d hammered into the ground. And at the same distance from her house. She then summoned another boulder, except this one crumbled while it was floating, causing smaller pieces of rock to fall onto the ground.

The elf then cast the spell again. This time, it did what it was supposed to. What was interesting was that the pillar stood at the exact same height as the other one after the boulder had hit it.

“Is that enough?” Cellestra yelled at me from where she stood.

I skittered closer and nodded as I approached. I then summoned a thread and connected the tops of the pillars, spanning a line between the two. I then connected the pillars to Cellestra’s home, finishing a square. Now it was just a matter of creating some kind of roof with threads. I’d at least have shelter on top to protect against rain, that should last through my evolutions.

If I grew bigger than the area that was covered I’d be quite unhappy.

“Is it okay if I leave you to it for a bit?” Cellestra asked. “I haven’t eaten yet and I’m starving.”

I nodded and saw the elf smile as she went back inside.

Crap. I’d forgotten to get something for dinner. I had promised Cellestra I’d bring something back. Was she disappointed that I hadn’t?

I was quite disappointed in myself for forgetting something so important.

Fear about what Cellestra would think about me flooded my mind. I knew it was irrational, as the elf was so kind, but I couldn’t help worrying about what she’d think of me.

I was definitely going to make up for that.

While Cellestra was eating, I worked on the roof of the shelter, which was basically a giant web. I created lines that criss-crossed and kept going at it until I’d filled any holes in it. I then continued some more. Because of the sheer amount of thread that I’d created, I found myself exhausted at the end of all that I’d done.

The sun was setting in the meantime as well, and I couldn’t wait to get to sleep. Before that, however, I saw Cellestra leave her house, with the same two wolf pelts in her hands as before, and look at my handiwork.

“That’s looking pretty neat, Kealyna. Do you think it will stop the rain?”

I walked over to the letters and Cellestra followed.

“Think so. Cannot know for sure. Maybe throw some water on it?”

“Heh,” She chuckled. “I can try that tomorrow. Here, I brought these for you.” She nodded at the pelts in her hands. “I figured I’d at least get you something to cover yourself with. Nights can get chilly sometimes.”

I hadn’t really noticed the cold, but there was a campfire burning the night before. I imagined I’d be okay, but the warmth and softness of the furs on my back were comforting. It was almost as good as the warmth I felt in my whole body that Cellestra gave me with her kind words.

“Would you like me to put them on your… back?” She asked softly when I didn’t reply.

I nodded slowly.

Darkness was falling over the forest quickly, and I saw Cellestra look up to the sky after she’d put the pelts on my back, the fur side down.

“I hope you’ll be comfortable for the night,” She said.

“Will be fine,” I replied.

“I hope so,” Cellestra said. “I’ll go to bed then. If I’m not here tomorrow morning, don’t hesitate to start your day. I’m exhausted, so I’ll likely still be asleep.”

Poor Cellestra. I imagined her nights without my help turned out to be not so good after all. I wished I could just go inside and help her get over her nightmares every time.

“Good night,” I spelled out.

Cellestra then started collecting the pieces of paper as she responded. “Good night.”

I waved at her as she went back inside and she did the same. I then made my way under the silk roof that I’d made and laid myself down.

What will become of me…?

That one thought danced around in my mind as my exhausted body was soon taken by sleep.

____________________________________________________________________________

I awoke feeling thirsty. I hadn’t had some water in a while, and while I’d gotten plenty of blood with the deer that I’d killed, it just wasn’t enough apparently.

There was no sign of Cellestra yet, so I figured she was still asleep. I hoped she was still asleep and not having nightmares. The poor soul deserved her rest. In the meantime, I made my way over to the stream, after casting my multi-barrier spell, and prayed that it was fresh water. I’d never actually checked.

I reached it and lowered myself so that I could taste it. It was kind of weird how that worked. I didn’t have a tongue, but I still tasted everything that I ate. Fortunately, the reaperfish seemed to ignore my presence. I guessed I’d grown large enough for them to actually be scared.

As it turned out, the water was fresh water, so I drank as much as I could and started heading in the direction of the ant nest.

With my bigger form and stronger legs, the trip to the ant-heap had shortened from half a day to an hour or two. The difference was significant and would allow me to do more things today. If I found what I needed, I would have plenty of time to try to get some other things done for my next and last evolution.

I finally reached the area that I recognized. Unfortunately, there was no buzzing to guide me to the correct location, but the vegetation around here was quite recognizable. There was a certain dead tree and some purple flowers nearby that I’d previously noted down in my mind.

I skittered into the vegetation and soon reached the blackened ant-heap.

There was something wrong here…

There were ants aplenty again, and just seemed to be going about their business, but what was striking were certain footprints in the black dirt. I skittered closer to investigate and confirmed that these prints could have been left by nothing other than creatures walking on two legs wearing boots.

Was it the humans?

I was quite far away from where I’d first seen them. If they were here before, they must have been more spread out than I’d initially thought. Moreover, they had seen this ground. They should know that this wasn’t natural. Would they recognize it as the effect of a spell? Would they be on the lookout for something that could have done this?

Worries started entering my mind. This also meant that they’d come closer to Cellestra’s home than I’d thought. I’d like for them to stay away as far as possible, but I couldn’t mindlessly attack them. I’d just make things harder for myself. I needed to figure out what they were doing first, and attacking them would jeopardize that.

These footprints were deep. Whoever they belonged to must have been heavy. I assumed that was because of the armor that they wore.

I skittered around and checked out the nearby area. I didn’t find anything of interest besides some more footprints that led away from the nest. I could try to check where they went after trying to get this achievement to see if I could get to know more.

Hiding would be extremely difficult with my current size, though. I wasn’t quite sure about it.

First, I needed to get this achievement.

I skittered to the top of the heap, and the many ants that were going in and out started converging on me and climbing on top of my body to bite me.

I ignored them for the most part as their attacks did literally nothing. Instead, I made it to the top and then started channeling my flame beam down into the hole.

The spell roasted many ants, as messages kept showing up before me. I asked Elysa to hide them, and they disappeared, offering me some respite from the constant stream of text.

I held up the spell for a while to make sure the flames could reach everywhere inside the hive. I knew these underground structures could be huge, and with ants this size, it wouldn’t surprise me if this one far surpassed that.

The heat and flames intensified. Soon enough, an important message showed up before me.