Eritu sounds deeply worried, nonetheless, I can't tell what she means.
"Alright?" (N)
"Yes. Normally they are self-sufficient, yet they are still so young. And I cannot feel them anymore." (E)
"Who are you referring to?" (N)
"O-Ooohhhh! You don't know! What am I supposed to do now?" (E)
She ponders for a moment but ultimately faces me again.
"Let me ask it like this: Do you have some kind of prickling or squirming feeling inside?" (E)
I don't like where this is going.
This is one of the things I surely don't want to hear, but eventually will be confronted with.
Just ignore it for now, answer the question and dismiss it.
"Yes, I have!" (N)
Now please, go away!
Go away!
Go away!
"Huff, I'm so glad. Then the fact that I can't feel them anymore just means they properly bonded to you. This is good. So they are still fine with you." (E)
No!
I didn't want to hear anything!
But now I have to ask before my imagination kills me.
"W-what do you mean? Who is fine? Who belongs to me now?" (N)
"My little ones. They are still so young and small and react poorly to stress." (E)
"I don't understand. Who are these 'little ones'? And what does this have to do with how my skin fee-... No... No, no, no, no! You aren't going to tell me that... NO!!!" (N)
"Yes, your familiars! You completely took them over, and now you can grow and spawn them inside you. Isn't that great?" (E)
"Y-you mean this crawling feeling is..." (N)
"All your little familiars, playing and spawning inside you." (E)
I look at my arm and press it a little, trying to trap this crawling feeling.
Then I notice for a moment a bulge that travels beneath my wrist.
My vision narrows down to that spot, then goes black.
"Waahh! Nerysi!" (E)
.
.
.
"Ungh!"
I wake up again.
The first thing I see is Talisa with a concerned expression.
After this, it takes only a moment for me to realize that I'm tied up with strings, hanging in the air in a way that there is no strain on my body.
Nonetheless, I panic.
"What is going on here?! You said you wouldn't eat me!" (N)
"Calm down! No one is going to eat you, Nerysi. In fact, these bindings are for your sake. We will release you as soon as you can promise that you won't do anything reckless." (T)
"My sake? What are you talking about? What would I do? And my name is Neri!" (N)
"Eritu told me that you immediately lost consciousness when you learned about it, so it was only right to assume you would react in an unpredictable way when you wake up again." (T)
"I-I'm s-sorry! I didn't want to scare you, but they were my little ones before, so I was worried!" (E)
"W-what do y-you mean?" (N)
"We are talking about your familiars. Your spawn. The countless existences residing inside your body which you can create and order at will, and which will spawn infinitely from you." (T)
"You aren't saying..." (N)
"Yes, I am telling you that there are spiders inside your body. You are a spider matriarch, so you have them. And this group has successfully linked to your body, so you can control them at will! (T)
"They are really friendly and would do anything for you! They even take care of your body and mend your wounds or make it sturdier with their webs. Aren't they lovely?" (E)
THERE ARE SPIDERS UNDER MY SKIN!!!
My body cramps and I want to rip this ridiculously sturdy skin away!
I struggle against my bindings, trying to break free, but to no avail.
"Before you ask. It wouldn't help to expel them now. They are maybe too young to live easily alone, but now that you are linked to your brood you will produce them on your own in your body. You would eventually replace them. So there's no way to get rid of them." (T)
Terror grasps me, tears fall down my face and sizzle on the ground, and foremost this crawling feeling intensifies.
And now I know what it is!!
This simple thought accelerates my panic and intensifies like this the crawling.
And then something happens that scares me stiff.
My skin opens without resistance at several places and great numbers of tiny spiders escape from there.
They are of a white-silverish color and mostly just slightly bigger than ants, they squirm all over me and my breath gets rigid.
They gather at several places where the bindings are located.
"Zcchh"
I feel the known sensation of acid around my body, yet without experiencing the painful reaction to it.
However, the strings are affected by the burn and soon the first one rips.
The bindings start to loosen and unperceivably quickly the spiders vanish.
Back into my body!!!
The web that bound me disintegrates at the points the spiders gathered and I get lowered to the ground.
I tremble and stay unable to move despite now being freed.
"Oh, your little ones thought you didn't want to be bound and commenced to help you! So young and already so considerate, And Talisa, have you seen the color? They were all silver-white, so they really are her brood! When they were mine they were different, I spread much differently in the specifics!" (E)
"Eritu get a hold of yourself! I know that you have the strongest passion for your brood, but now is not the time to discuss this. We first need to make sure that Nerysi doesn't do anything stupid." (T)
Stupid?
Why would I do anything stupid?
Ehehehehe...
"I'm not a spider."
"There are no spiders inside me."
"Everything is fine."
"There is nothing wrong."
"Hick."
"I'm okay."
"I will just, go home, and eat dinner, with mum and dad."
"Hick. Hick!"
"E-everything is okay."
"They'll tell me, they love me, and there's nothin to be scared about."
"Hick. Sniff. Hick!"
"Waaahhhh!" (N)
I can't process this and lose control over my mind and feelings.
"Maybe we should bring her back to bed?" (E)
"Might be for the best! There was much to take in for her today." (T)
I cannot walk on my own, but get princess carried back into my room by Talisa.
The bed is like new and both of them put my trembling body gently into it.
I stay unable to move and get covered with a sheet.
I don't sleep, but instead, look hollowed at a blank point at the ceiling.
"Do you think she will be able to adjust?" (E)
"She might be a bad case, yet I think there is no need to worry. It could be an issue that she is very non-violent, but this is good for her brood for now as she won't harm them. If she lives with them she will eventually get used to their presence." (T)
"I see! This sounds good!" (E)
Ok, Now you broke her.
Uh, well... I'm sure those new guardians of her will be able to fix this in their very caring way.
I'm personally still waiting for an author who has the balls to have their MC commit suicide following something like this. Gender dysphoria causes enough teen suicides, what do you think would happen to somebody whose body completely changes in such a short period of time, especially when combined with constant terror and extreme stress? Neri's already had several panic attacks in such a short time frame that I wouldn't be surprised to see her go catatonic soon.
@Rita152 well, not every person is inclined towards suicide so it isn't a foregone conclusion under such pressure, even if a very possible one.
But more importantly wouldn't it be a rather short and depressing story to tell if things unfolded this way? Sure you could spin a moral message on it or give it some sort of poetic flair but in the end it would only fit into a tiny niche of stories and would in my opinion not really be the most interesting to explore. In stories you generally want to see characters overcome struggles, get defined or at least changed by them both as a reader and as an author.
So such a thread might very well be woven into a MC's story to great effect but having them succumb to it would generally just be sad as the MC is the heart of the story and the story would thus end in a way that there are very limited ways to paint in a satisfying light. I feel like if you use this you either have the MC overcome it in some way at least to some extent or use it on a secondary character, or secondary MC if you really want to. At least that is how I'd deal with it.
I've an interest in writing and like seeing new ideas put to paper. I'm a big fan of the PS1 Final Fantasy games and the way they depict grief and loss. FFVII in particular has some real gall permanently removing a party member midway through the game who doesn't get replaced in any way. I agree that it's something that would be very difficult to do well, and there would probably be a lot of backlash. Still, the story wouldn't have to end there. Another of my favorite game stories, Fire Emblem 4 seamlessly transitions to an all-new cast at the game's halfway point. And before you get on me about them being video games, both have traditional media adaptations that are enjoyed by many people who know about them.
@Rita152 I'm not saying it is a bad thing to tackle. And of course it can be done well(I myself have not have had any contact with the stories you have cited but I know a lot of tragedies which end in such way and some of them even are doing so in a very satisfying way). But it has not necessarily to do with having the "gall/balls" to include it. Sure many authors shy away from controversial as well as unpleasant topics and that isn't great but in the end fiction is about what the author wants to include and what the consumers want to experience.
I just wanted to point out that from both perspectives a MC, especially the primary one, succumbing to suicide in the face of adversity is something that is hard to pull of in a satisfying way and does not fit most stories.
I just like seeing characters suffer and am tired of MCs constantly winning because the story must go on. I never feel like the characters are in any danger because I've been so desensitized to it. At least in video games I can screw up but that just means I get to have another go at it. At least that doesn't stop the satisfaction of beating difficult bosses, but that's because the satisfaction comes from somewhere else.
@Rita152 I get that. But there are definitly some stories out there with plenty of suffering for the MC, just take this one here, or Game of Thrones if you want something more popular (A shame they didn't finish that series...). But yes, in general I'd like to purge Mary Sue-ness out of fiction. Tho I wouldn't want to have Grimdark everywhere...
@Rita152 I'd read that in a heartbeat. I also wouldn't mind a story similar to this, but instead of learning to accept their new life the protagonist completely regects it and swears revenge on those who forced the transformation upon them.