The Spider Queen

(Planet Corpeola – Capitol City Underground Sewers)

“Can you describe what happened next?” Sophie asked curiously as she watched the female Mendolesa nervously shift from side to side.

“Alright… so the fella… he wore some strange shit on his face… it looked real ugly…” Lexi hesitantly spoke.

“A clown mask… god… dem things always creeped me out… big white face… red lips… erghh… disgusting.”

“He came here and started preachin bout all kinds of nonsense… said some shit about the coming of some god or whatnot…”

“Nobody really cared but he reached into his pockets and handed out a few… ‘stuff’ and well… he coulda said whatever he wanted after that…”

Sophie furrowed her brows as Lexi continued to tell her story.

So apparently a strange human male who hid his appearance behind a mask entered the camp in the early night.

He spent a few hours preaching and gave out illicit substances to convince the members of the underground community to listen to his lecture.

Lexi shot up on some of the drugs after he left and went straight to her tent. She woke up later in the night when she heard the sounds of lots of footsteps.

She then heard some people taking about a ritual but fell back asleep since her body was still recovering from its previous high.

“But why would they just follow a complete stranger?” Sophie muttered quietly to herself as she tried to piece the puzzle together.

Her voice was soft, but her question was still heard by the Mendolesa girl who shot her a look of tired bemusement.

“You clearly aren’t part of this world… listen honey… most of the blokes in here would sell out their own mothers for another hit… me self included,” Lexi chuckled hoarsely.

She went silent and looked at the ugly patches of bare skin on her paws. Sophie did not speak as well, and the quiet moment lingered.

Lexi was right.

She had grown up in a tremendous amount of wealth and privilege and did not know the desperation that these people felt that made them turn to drugs.

Even setting the drug use aside… the fact that these people were forced to live in the underground sewers was a disgrace.

It spoke to how badly managed this planet was run by the authorities in charge of it.

Of course, in a vast intergalactic Empire such as the Federation it was impossible to make everyone rich but to maintain a basic standard of living was very possible.

“I’ve told you all I know… gimme the cure…” Lexi finally spoke as her remaining eye shifted to the syringe in Sophie’s hand.

“Before I give it to you… which direction did the footsteps go?” Sophie asked gently as she stretched out her palm.

Lexi quickly grabbed the syringe from her right hand and then pointed her skinny paw in a northeastern direction.

Sophie nodded politely and thanked the girl who looked at her with an expression of disbelief as if she could not believe that someone had spoken to her so gently.

Sophie opened her mouth and gave the Mendolesa girl some parting words as she walked away,

“I’m not going to tell you how to live your life but… that healing serum can give you a fresh start… it should cure your disease and your drug dependence.”

“Of course, it’s not going to stop you from feeling the urge to take them because that is psychological but…”

“You have a real chance.”

She dug into her storage ring and pulled out a plain black card.

The hybrid girl tapped the card and transferred enough funds to last the Mendolesa girl for six months.

Sophie tossed the card at Lexi who caught it with clear surprise evident on her face. Lexi opened her mouth to thank her benefactor, but Sophie had already walked away.

As she wandered through numerous side passageways and tunnels, Sophie absentmindedly thought about what would happen to the Mendolesa girl.

Maybe she would get clean.

Maybe she would relapse.

Either way their paths would probably never intersect again.

The hybrid girl moved to the side just as a thick brown sludge fell down from the ceiling and landed where she had been standing just moments ago.

Eww… this place was so gross.

Sophie nearly threw up when she saw red flecks of blood in the brown sludge and a dead furry creature that was already beginning to decay.

The air was getting hotter and hotter with every passing second as she moved in the direction that Lexi had pointed out.

Sophie was forced to adjust the inner temperature controls inside the bodysuit as she felt beads of sweat running down her brows.

She could handle the heat of course but could not stop her body from having physiological reactions.

The hybrid girl stopped when she heard the faint sounds of chanting coming from a tunnel that was several meters up ahead.

Sophie immediately adjusted her footsteps and withdrew her cultivation aura. Step by step she inched forward and did not make a single sound.

The chanting got louder and now she could make out the words although they made little sense without context.

“Believe it! The dark one! He is coming!”

“Believe it! The judgement day is here! Praise be! Praise Lord Victor!”

“HAHAHA! LORD, I SEE YOU! LORD, I SEE YOU!”

Hymns of praise mixed with pious chants formed a cacophony of sounds that echoed through the dark tunnels.

Sophie entered the tunnel bravely and took in a deep breath before diving into the nasty sewer water that formed a river.

She made sure that the helmet function on her bodysuit was working properly before she sank into the water’s murky depths.

The hybrid girl swam forward for what seemed like several minutes before she resurfaced and hid behind a pile of garbage bags.

What lay beyond the tunnel was an enormous wide-open room the size of a banquet hall with a nasty river flowing through its center.

Sophie’s entire bodysuit was covered in filth, so she blended right in with her surroundings.

It was not a pleasant experience, but she had no desire to be spotted and give away the element of surprise.

She peeked above the water and saw dozens of Mendolesa men and women dancing around an open fire whose green flames shone with a hypnotic light.

What the hell?

Wait… was that…

There was a creature tied up on a stick and slowly roasting over the fire. The scent of cooked meat filled the air and Sophie found her mouth beginning to water.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

The creature in question was an enormous rat-like animal the size of an ordinary man whose entire body was covered in boils, blisters, and lumps.

Occasionally one of the singing Mendolesa warriors would slit their wrists using a sharp knife and then press their bloody palms against the slowly dying animal.

“LORD, WE HEAR YOU!” an elderly Mendolesa woman screamed as she lovingly planted kisses on the animal’s fur.

“OH LORD! OH LORD! VICTOR! WE BESEECH YOU!” a skinny young Mendolesa male cried out in righteous passion as he embraced the animal even though his feet burned on the fire.

“Praise! Praise! Sing praises my brothers and sisters!” a voice called out from the corner of the room.

Sophie shifted her gaze in the direction of the sound and saw a familiar individual.

The skeleton mage was peacefully sitting down on a rock and directing the insane ritual using a mixture of words and hand gestures.

He had taken off his disguise so one only saw a pile of bones in the shape of a human man holding what appeared to be a wooden staff.

There was a crimson red jewel embedded in the staff that shone with the same kind of light as the greenish fire.

“Oh my…” the skeleton mage suddenly spoke as he pointed his bony hands in a certain direction.

“It appears as though we have an unexpected guest.”