The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Floren Sector)

(Planet Corpeola- Capitol City Underground Sewers)

"Please don't run away!"

"Help me! Help me!"

"I'm begging you..."

The unknown child's heart wrenching sobs grew fainter as Sophie fled into the distance. The hybrid girl channeled her qi into her leg meridians and her speed greatly increased.

Nope. Nope... Hell no.

Her figure became a fast-moving blur as she ran through what seemed to be an endless labyrinth of tunnels.

She only stopped once the sounds of the child could not longer be heard. Sophie took a moment to catch her breath and glanced at her right arm.

Fuck!

She had completely forgotten that part of her bodysuit had gotten torn off when her arm had been ripped off her body by the bone spear.

Now her right arm was covered in foul smelling muck that was slightly brown.

Sophie gagged and tried her best not to think about what the ooze was made of.

She quickly looked around her nearby surroundings for any threats and then dragged her tired body to a small hole in the wall.

A few furry creatures scurried out of the hole as Sophie entered inside and reached into her storage ring.

She took out a few wet wipes and a bodysuit repair patch.

Sophie would normally consider cleaning herself up to be a waste of time under the circumstances, but her enhanced sense of smell meant that the ooze was interfering with her combat ability.

The hybrid girl spent the next ten minutes furiously wiping off the muck and grime off her skin while desperately fighting down the urge to vomit.

There was only one sentence echoing constantly in her mind as she threw one dirty tissue after another into the dirty sewer water.

I hate this place.

I hate this place.

I HATE THIS PLACE.

Sophie eventually got her arm relatively clean and then placed the repair patch near the region where her bodysuit had been damaged.

The memory foam material expanded and soon her armour was good as new. The leftover material even fixed the small holes in the rest of her bodysuit.

"Okay... now what?" Sophie muttered quietly to herself as she pulled out the map and considered her next move.

There was clearly something dangerous living in the sewers beneath the city. She had defeated the skeleton, but Sophie could sense that the creature was not dead.

Then there was the matter of hearing a child call out for help in what could only be described as a ridiculously obvious trap.

What the hell was going on?

Sophie wasn't sure if she should keep looking for the missing pet or perhaps these mysterious incidents were part of the hunter goddess' task.

She let out a heavy sigh and flicked away a furry creature who had crawled up her shoulder. There was nothing she could do now except press forward.

That damn time limit set by the hunter goddess meant that she only had little over a week to figure out what to do.

The air inside the sewers was warm and damp.

Sophie could feel beads of sweat running down her brows as she wandered through the muck.

For the next few hours there was an eerie sense of quietness. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary except for the occasional corpse floating down the river.

This was not surprising considering the high crime and poverty rate on planet Corpeola.

The enormous sewer system beneath the capitol city was probably the best place to dump bodies.

Sophie saw the young and the old, male and female, strong and fragile.... all reduced to nothing more than half eaten lumps of flesh.

It was a sobering reality check.

Life was harsh on this planet.

Especially considering that no resources had been allocated to raise the standard of living.

The Mendolesa tribesmen living here would be born into a never-ending cycle of violence and poverty.

They would never be able to escape.

A small flash of red caught Sophie's eye and brought her out of her contemplation.

The hybrid girl cautiously approached a wall and saw a line of text painted in what appeared to be dark red blood.

'Nonten Vorcaios Limeron'

Three simple words and yet they were written in a language that Sophie did not recognise.

She quickly powered on her wrist communicator and typed them out on the virtual Net.

It took a few seconds but eventually a result came up.

These words were part of a long dead language spoken by the aboriginal Mendolesa warriors before they were captured by the Draxi Empire.

Nowadays the language was only spoke by a very small fraction of the population less than 0.001 percent since most Mendolesa spoke the Federation trade language.

Sophie furrowed her eyebrows as she pulled up a translation website and typed in the words to find their hidden meaning.

'Nonten' meant brother or blood companion.

'Vorcaios' meant the afterlife or rather it was a reference to the afterlife that the aboriginal Mendolesa believed in.

There was a small footnote at the end of the translation that the afterlife was supposed to be an endless grassland where only the greatest warriors would reside.

Finally, the last word 'Limeron'... did not turn up any results.

The closest word to it that Sophie could find was 'Limoreon' which meant a feast or the act of devouring.

Brother. Afterlife. Feast?

Sophie repeated the words in her mind trying to find some sort of connection but failed to see the relationship between the three words.

She gazed at the dried flecks of blood for a moment and then leaned in closer and removed her mask.

The hybrid girl sniffed the blood a few times before immediately putting back on her mask.

It was hard to smell the blood with the overwhelming stench of the sewer rising up from the dirty river but she somehow managed.

The blood smelled... old.

It was not fresh.

Sophie did not know if that was an important clue but at least now she had some additional information to work with.

There was a dark mystery afoot and Sophie could not help but get the impression that she was wandering every so closer to a dangerous threat.

She snapped a picture of the words using her wrist communicator and then continued to walk forward through the darkness.

There was a faint hissing noise almost like the sound that a serpent would make coming from somewhere up ahead.

Sophie looked forward and saw part of the wall in front of her crumble away.

A small passageway had mysteriously opened up in the wall and she saw a hooded figure standing on the other side.

The figure threw back the hood of his cloak to reveal a bald-headed human monk with several snake-like tattoos carved on his forehead.

"My child? What are you doing in this dangerous place?" the monk asked with confusion evident on his face.

Sophie did not say a single word but instead reached for her weapon that was securely attached to her hip.

The monk threw up his hands and made a surrendering gesture. Sophie wearily took a few steps back but could not sense any impending danger.

Her golden eyes briefly flashed white as she explored the possible futures and outcomes.

Sophie found herself standing in both familiar and strange black and white world.

She saw an image of herself running at the monk and attacking him. The monk chanted a few words and then disappeared.

Some futures she talked to the monk and although she could not hear what was being said... an angry expression flashed across the face of the alternative version of herself.

Still at the end of the conversation the monk chanted a few words and his body disappeared into smoke.

That was the common factor in all of the futures that she could glimpse. Whether she chose to attack or converse with the monk... he would eventually disappear.

There was no future path where the monk attacked her, so Sophie eventually cancelled her ability and her eyes returned to normal.

She felt a slight headache coming on as she focused her attention on the monk who smiled at her with a peaceful expression.

"What is going on here?" Sophie quietly asked as she maintained her grip on her weapon.