The Spider Queen

There was a brief moment of silence as Sophie processed this new information that was truthfully giving her a bit of a headache.

Now there were two contrasting stories, and she had no idea which one could be believed or whether both were false.

It was true that Khul's story did have numerous loopholes, but this strange giant could not be immediately trusted either.

Sophie remembered that the creature had mentioned that it had lived for eons and watched civilisations rise and fall.

Did this pocket dimension undergo some sort of reset?

A brief idea flashed across Sophie's mind, but the hybrid girl decided to ask a few more questions before testing out her hypothesis.

"Sorry… I'm a bit curious but are you and Khul the only inhabitants of this world?" Sophie cautiously asked.

"Did Khul's people never exist?"

The enormous alien stretched out his right arm and gave out a lazy yawn. Sophie waited patiently as the creature rubbed its muscular frame against a nearby boulder.

"Yes. Right now, there are only three of us in this world," a head on the right spoke.

"It's quite strange actually…." another head stated in a bemused tone.

"Every once in awhile the sky turns dark, the rivers bleed red and the grass withers away and turns into dust."

"I called it… 'The Great Dying!"

Sophie bent down and plucked a blade of grass from the soil. She carefully rolled the grass around in her hand and observed the tiny details using her enhanced vision.

From what she could tell…

This was from a natural plant with no visible signs of genetic modification or synthetic materials.

Of course, if Sophie had the right laboratory equipment in her storage bag, she would be able to conduct further tests, but this was the best she could do.

This world or pocket dimension… was definitely real.

But the strange abnormalities could not be ignored.

Why were all the leaves, branches, and stems on the various plants identical in size, shape and colour?

And what ability allowed Khul and this creature to survive this so-called 'Great Dying.'

"Can you tell me more about 'The Great Dying' and what happens after?" Sophie asked politely and gestured towards the alien.

"Well, that's simple," all the heads spoke in a synchronised voice.

A dark chill filled the air as the shadows beneath Sophie's feet darkened. Whispers and howls could be heard coming from the nearby trees as the sound of the waterfall dimmed.

"Khul and I are the gods who own this world."

"Gods?" Sophie skeptically questioned.

"Yes gods! I am the God of destruction and suffering…. and chaos… and…err… well that's about it," the creature replied with a smirk.

"And that lunatic Khul just has to mess up my work by creating new toys to run around for a couple of centuries while I gathered up power to start the cleanse all over again!"

"Super annoying! I mean you should have seen the kind of freaks he created two millennia ago."

"By the gods! I wanted to vomit when I saw their hideous appearances."

The twenty-foot-tall giant continued to speak to Sophie about his impressive powers and boundless strength, but the hybrid girl was feeling a bit distracted.

Now Sophie understood why the passing rate for the trial was so ridiculous low…

Did she need to fight a god?

Sophie took a casual glance at the behemoth who towered over her like a skyscraper and could not help but feel that this stage was impossible.

Setting aside the fact that the brute could probably squish her with one finger… apparently, he also had the power to annihilate all living things within the entire pocket dimension.

Think… Sophie… you need to think…

Sophie gripped her dagger tightly in her right palm and mentally mapped out possible routes to the giant's fatal points.

It was not that she thought that Khul could be trusted but it was always wise to ensure that the final opponent was a man who could only build rather than a beast who could only destroy.

Time to bring out her acting skills.

Devotion and purity shone through her eye as Sophie adopted a pious expression of reverence.

"Tell me o great one!" Sophie dropped to the ground in a heartful kneel.

"How should a humble ant such as me address you? How may I praise your…your… godliness and become your devout priestess?"

"I only wish to worship you and bathe in your holy light!"

The giant creature immediately recoiled in disgust with a faint manifestation of panic on its many faces.

"No! No! No!" the middle head shouted.

"Do you think I want a follower as ugly as you?"

Sophie briefly froze in the middle of her acting and resumed her holy appearance but now her facial expression was a bit stiff.

"Oh Lord please do not abandon me! Although my appearance may be…"

Sophie gritted her teeth and continued, "May be extremely displeasing… I will serve you to the best of my abilities!"

"Look… um…. how should I…." the enormous hulking beast was now visibly uncomfortable.

"This is nothing personal, but I assume you are one of Khul's creations, so I need to kill you now."

"Do you need to kill me?" Sophie glanced up with a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"It's not that I need to… but you're just so… unbearable to look at that I can't stand the thought of being alive in the same world as you," the leftmost head tentatively spoke.

"Again… this is completely not personal."

Sophie bowed her head silently and her entire aura changed to that of sadness and grief at her impending doom.

The giant creature sighed heavily when he saw that the hideous thing had finally understand that its end was near.

Not all of Khul's creations would accept their endings and many would desperately fight but at least this one knew that death was a mercy.

The titanic alien raised up his two palms and begun to absorb the entropy energy. A thin red mist of destructive ki coated his fingertips and his ten eyes all glowed with the same scarlet hue.

"May I have one final request?" Sophie whispered as she faced this overwhelming power.

"Yes, I can grant you this wish," the god of destruction replied.

Sophie bowed respectfully and asked, "What are your names?"

The giant creature gradually relaxed his arms as his eyes resumed their normal colour. This was a simple request and the god decided to be generous and fulfil this request.

"You may call me X'rehetea Constainope Frlere," the middle head spoke.

"And you may address me as Sire're Constainope Frlere," another head proudly stated.

"Puny creature! You may ref to me as…." this head was cut off by a sudden voice to its left.

"No! It's my turn to be introduced! You need to wait your turn you oversized moron!"

This unexpected interruption was enough to cause a full-blown argument to break out between the different heads.

"What did you call me? I am a GOD!"

"We're all the same god you dimwit!"

"You always act like this whenever we meet other people!"

"People? Khul's creations aren't people!"

The middle head tried desperately to regain some level of calm but his pleads fell on deaf ears as the other heads continued to fight.

This was the perfect opportunity.

Sophie truthfully didn't even expect them to start arguing but she was not going to overlook this ideal chance.

She kept her body low to the ground and crawled over to the nearest foot of the giant who was currently sprawled out against the boulder.

The floating eyeballs in the air were spinning around frantically with no commands to control them.

All of the creature's heads were too busy fighting to notice that the woman who was bending the knee had vanished from their sight.