The Spider Queen

Chapter 164: Welcome Home My Child

Darkness.

Nothingness.

Purgatory.

Sophie found herself gently floating in a void-like space with little control over her body. 

There was nothing as far as the eye could see and time seemed to be sped up as the minutes turned to hours then days and then years.

“What happened just now?” Sophie frowned as she tried to remember what could have brought her to this strange place.

“Arghhhhh!” she shrieked.

Sophie could not help but clutch her head in pain as wave after wave of memories hit her all at once. 

She saw herself attacking the children to rip the parasites out of their bodies and then consume the fleshy biomass.

She could still recall the warm flow of qi in her body after being promoted to the upper levels of the qi spirit stage that had felt very comfortable.

Sophie could also remember trying to turn around to tell Cleo that they needed to go after the Blackguards to get the stone tablet.

But then…. she lost control.

The memories after the last parasite had been eaten were disjointed and fragmented with a cloudy white fog preventing her from seeing most of the details.

From the bits and pieces of the different images shown, Sophie reasoned that she must have gone on a rampage.

It was just frustrating that the last few moments leading to the end of the memories were gone completely.

As for why she was in an endless darkness, there were really only two possible explanations.

Sophie may either be a mental space or suffering a psychic attack that caused her to fall under an illusion.

Sophie glided gently through the void while looking for a way out. 

Most illusions would have tiny cracks that would allow their victims to discover flaws in their fake reality.

Once these flaws were identified then it was a simple matter to dispel the illusion.

Sophie tried for a few minutes without much luck until an idea suddenly struck her.

Oh wait…. she could use her enhanced vision!

Sophie smiled and directed the flow of qi to her golden eyes. 

This caused her pupils to shine with an eerie light as her vision shifted into a world of yellow and orangish-red.

All illusions would fade away under her Arachnais gaze.

Unfortunately, there were absolutely no changes to the scenery of complete and utter darkness which left Sophie quite disheartened. 

Clearly this place was not an illusion which meant that it was a mental space. 

This would be a bit trickier to escape as one would be trapped within the confines of their own mind.

“Fuck how do I get out of this wretched place?” Sophie groaned as she tried to rack her brain for a solution.

“Are you so desperate to leave my domain?” an enchanting feminine voice sounded out from the void.

“Wait who said that?” Sophie warily glanced around but could see no one else present in the darkness but her.

“Sorry but you are far too weak for me to reveal my true form. You will need to get a lot stronger before we can have a proper conversation face to face,” came the smug reply.

Far beyond Sophie’s location in the void, a mysterious lady was staring at her with a look of curiosity and adoration.

It was hard to describe her appearance as it seemed to be constantly shifting between two forms at the same time.

She had eight eyes that were sat deeply within their sockets and also glowed a warm golden colour. 

Her figure was well endowed with two massive mountains in the middle of her chest that would make any woman jealous.

Six blade-like appendages flowed gently out of her back with several purplish stingers attached to their ends.

The ears of the woman were pointed and with greenish veins that covered all the available surface.

Instead of the typical extended fangs of the Arachnais tribe, the lady only had slightly sharper than usual teeth.

Her physical characteristics matched that of the ancient Arachnais ancestors from eons ago.

The other form that constantly overlapped with her body was an enormous spider beast with massive limbs that seemed to have no end in sight.

Features of the monster seemed to be distorted as the space around its body warped and twisted in a strange manner.

The woman laughed lightly to herself as she saw the confusion on the little spiderling’s face who managed to reach this place.

It had been hundreds of years since a member of the Arachnais royal family had been born with the special physique needed to channel the powers of the great Weaver to this extent.

These chosen Arachne cultivators were also able to astral project their souls into the domain of the goddess.

They were exceedingly rare as this physique would only appear at random times throughout the long history of the tribe.

The individual who reached the closest in modern times had been a princess named Thai’lle who showed great promise but ultimately barely failed to reach the potential threshold required to enter this subspace.

Ironically, it was not even a pure-blooded Arachne but rather her daughter who was a hybrid mixed with the blood of a human who gained this special physique. 

The great Weaver had taken a liking to the girl and the high priestess Raphi’elle also held a certain level of fondness as well.

This weak little hybrid would be the spark that would set the universe ablaze to bring about great change. 

The universe had begun to stagnate and even the gods had resigned themselves to small time battles and petty squabbles.

Very few had the courage to gamble with truly high stakes involved. 

This displeased the Weaver who now lacked entertainment and worthy prey to hunt. 

It was clear that this game had been going on for far too long… 

And it was time to reset the board.

“You may call me Raphi’elle,” the priestess sent another voice message to Sophie.

“I am the current host for the great weaver. The hunter goddess who we have both pledged our souls and will serve for the rest of our lives.”

“Welcome home my child.”