The Spider Queen

Sophie tried her best to reply to the mysterious voice that was calling out her name, but nothing happened when she moved her lips.

There was a black mist-like substance that was covering the lower part of her face and other areas of her body.

What was going on? What was this thing?

Sophie struggled and twisted but the black mist kept tightening around her body like an insidious python.

"Hunter goddess? Priestess? Are you the ones doing this?!" Sophie wordlessly mouthed.

She waited for a few moments but did not receive a reply.

This was clearly the space inside her amulet since Sophie could see the stone tablet hovering in the middle of the void.

But for some reason it felt slightly different in a way that Sophie could not seem to pin down. All she knew was that there was a guiding force pulling her body in a certain direction.

Sophie's golden eyes darkened, and the black mist slowly changed and morphed before her eyes to reveal a shocking sight.

Hidden inside the black mist were thread-like particles that danced merrily as they formed a constantly moving patchwork rope.

This rope was wrapped securely around her body and extended outward in the same direction where her body was slowly being pulled towards.

"Sophie!"

"Sophie!"

"Sophie!"

The voice continued to chant non-stop as though her name was some kind of mantra. Sophie growled in frustration since she couldn't get the annoying noise to stop.

Sophie tried desperately a few more times to use brute force to snap the black mist but no matter what she did… the rope would simply bend and stretch like a rubber band.

The flow of time inside the amulet space was different from the outside world so Sophie had no idea just how much time had passed since she entered the void.

She let out a heavy sigh after a few more minutes of fruitlessly struggling. Sophie relaxed her body and decided to just wait and see what happened next.

Clearly there was nothing she could do to get out of this situation. Besides whom knows what would happen if she did manage to get the black mist off her body.

"Sophie!"

"Sophie!"

"Sophie!"

"Yes! Yes! I can fucking hear you!" Sophie silently roared in anger.

The hybrid girl took a moment to compose herself and then just stared wordlessly into the void.

She tried to distract herself from the non-stop chants by focusing on reading the text written on the stone tablet.

It was all written in the ancient Arachnais language, but Sophie had long possessed the ability to somehow be able to understand the writings.

'Strength leads to anger.'

'We are the hunters of the universe.'

'The night shadows within behind the mark of the ancients.'

'All creatures shall be enthralled in our dark web.'

'None shall survive the spider's wrath.'

'I pledge my soul to the great goddess to grant me the power to slay all in my path.'

Those words were the source of Sophie's greatest strength… and her eternal curse.

Sometimes Sophie wondered if she would have made the same decision to cultivate using the Spider Whisper Art if she knew that it involved becoming a vessel of the hunter goddess.

Sophie's musings were cut short by a pulsating wave of energy that suddenly entered the void and rippled outward.

BOOM!

Sophie's body was rocked sideways under the force of the blow, and she could hear a tearing noise as though someone or rather something was trying to enter the void.

Suddenly the black mist covering Sophie's body tightened and that was the only warning sign she got before the pulling force intensified.

Sophie's body turned into a blur as she was rapidly pulled towards the direction where the pulsating wave of energy had entered the void.

Bang!

The poor hybrid girl slammed against an invisible barrier that instantly knocked all the air out of her lungs.

The pulling force didn't stop and kept trying to push Sophie's body through the barrier without any success.

Sophie was now plastered against the invisible barrier with barely any space to breathe. She tried to resist the pulling force and it felt as though her body was being split in two.

She could vaguely hear the mysterious voice chanting out her name a few more times before a loud cracking noise filled her ears.

The void space instantly shattered, and Sophie opened her eyes to find herself back in her bedroom.

"What the… hell…?" Sophie panted frantically as she grabbed her bedsheet.

The rapid beating of her heart, pale face and the beads of sweat running down her brow made the hybrid girl appear as though she had just woken up from a nightmare.

Sophie took a few deep breaths and then gently exhaled before counting to one hundred slowly.

Gradually she could feel her mood calming down. Sophie glanced at her communicator and saw that several hours had passed since the time she was about to call Qiana.

Sophie took a peek at the mirror on top of her dresser and observed that the heavy bags under her eyes were now gone.

She also noted with surprise that her body felt lighter and more rested than she had felt in weeks.

What happened? Did she fall asleep?

Did she really go in the amulet space or was it a dream?

Sophie closed her eyes and felt her consciousness sink into the void. She opened her eyes and saw the space exactly as she normally remembered it.

There was no black mist. The stone tablet was floating silently.

There was no mysterious voice calling her name.

Sophie floated silently around in the endless nothingness but didn't encounter any invisible barriers blocking her way.

"Huh? But… I…" Sophie whispered in confusion. She opened her eyes and returned to the normal sight of her bedroom.

Was it truly a dream?

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.

.

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(Star of Ethnaise – Another Void Space)

(Astral Plane)

"Sister… I tried my best, but I didn't get a response," Princess Rai'lle whispered softly with some disappointment evident in her tone.

The youngest member of the Arachnais royal family made a series of hand gestures and multiple summoning portals closed.

A slender palm was gently placed on her shoulder and a soft whisper came from the person standing behind her.

"Don't worry. My daughter is not strong enough to astral transfer through different void spaces… at least not yet," the voice spoke calmly.

Princess Rai'lle turned around and came face to face with the owner of the soft palm.

It belonged to an otherworldly beauty whose aura radiated both seductiveness and deadliness in equal measure.

The humanoid woman was roughly six feet tall with long slender legs and beautiful golden eyes that shone eerily in the darkness.

Her lips were incredibly red with a colour similar to blood while her voluptuous figure would make any observer blush.

Six bladed appendages jutted out of her back with a sharp barb attached to each end. The fangs in her mouth glistened menacingly as she smiled confidently.

She was the beautiful and enigmatic former princess Thai'lle who was forced to rot away in an interstellar prison as punishment for her crimes.

However not a trace of struggles or hardships could be seen on her perfect facial features that were almost identical to her daughter's.

"But sister… I know how badly you wanted to see your offspring and I couldn't summon her," Princess Rai'lle frowned as she spoke.

"Mother…I mean… Empress is working on a plan to break you out of prison, but we are being monitored currently."

"No don't worry. I have my own plans set in motion," Thai'lle replied calmly.

"It's too dangerous! You didn't break into the Ascension Stage. How can you possibly escape?" Princess Rai'lle cried out.

Thai'lle's grin widened as a murderous expression flashed across her face. A heavy aura of bloodlust filled the void that caused Princess Rai'lle's body to tremble involuntarily.

Fear but what she felt was more than fear.

It was a primal fear.

An irrational feeling that made Princess Rai'lle want to flee immediately without looking back.

At that moment, Princess Rai'lle remembered why her older siblings had been so relieved when the emperor ordered that Thai'lle be stripped of her right to inherit the throne.

Everyone knew that a terrible price would be needed to be paid in order to kill such a monster.

Thai'lle lazily extended her bladed appendages outward in an intimidating display of force. Her cold voice was filled with arrogance as she spoke a simple sentence.

"I'll be out in a year."