15 The world around us - surface breach

Following the first impulse, to run away while making a lot of noise, and holding the only source of light in the area wasn't the smartest move. After that realization hit my terror-stricken brain, I was unable to force myself to move from the place where I stopped. Too scared to search for any door that wasn't locked - for a room that would offer me a secure place to hide. Instead, as quietly as possible, I went to the closest corridor's niche I saw before pocketing the green light crystal and crouched behind some big marble statue in the corner.

Hugging my knees, I was scanning the air for the smallest traces of sounds that didn't originate from my alarmed body. Irrationality was producing phantom sounds of many hairy legs scurrying this way. The endless darkness surrounding me was being broken time after time by the mirage of hungry insect eyes.

I should have removed this fear of spiders back in the river of souls, but the stupid me from back then thought that it would be nice to conquer it on my own - a visible sign of change through my own effort. Not to mention that it wasn't guaranteed that if I removed one fear, some other wouldn't take it place and became a new number one.

Under normal conditions, I should be able to control myself. However, the existence of fucking giant spiders was a game-changing event that hadn't been taken into consideration.

When I was wondering if knocking myself out was a viable option, one that would allow me to 'teleport' to my destination without the dreadful travel, I heard a small sound. A real one that came directly from above.

Through the eyes of imagination, I saw an endless stream of frightening suggestion as to what exactly could that sound represent. I cursed my own memories that still held so many references of gruesome giant spiders from games and movies.

"No… no… nono… nonono… nononono… nonononono…" Whispering this one word to give my mouth something to do and stop the incoming scream, I pulled out the light stone from the pocket.

My hand shook so much that the stone began producing light before I even wanted it to. At least this provided an answer to the conflict between my desire to remain hidden and the part of me that wanted to dispel darkness. But I was too terrified to look above at the source of the various noises, and instead curled up as much as possible.

When a new source of noises came from the side, I began to pray that one of them would finally do something, before I drowned myself in my own terror. Causing me to lose consciousness would be nice.

"A disgrace, that's what you are, brother." This familiar line said in a slightly hoarse voice with an extra dose of dispiritedness mixed within, made me shot out in its direction like a bullet.

"ERIIII!"

I barely paid any attention to something small that passed me on the way to her.

"Wait… w-wait! Wait! S-stop!" Regardless of her protesting voice, I ran to my sister and gave her a bear hug, hiding my face in her still wet hair. She initially tried to push me away but stopped after realizing that my entire body was shaking uncontrollably. "Fool, a huge pathetic fool." With one hand she started to soothingly rub my back, while with the other she gently worked on freeing herself from my embrace. "Brother, I know that you don't like spiders, but to think that it is so severe, ain't that at a phobia level already?"

My voice failed me, and I only made a few incomprehensible murmurs in response.

"Did you even look at them? They took your behavior for a sign that there's some scary predator nearby and now they're more confused and nearly as scared as you are." Her voice already regained its freezing cold layer, and I could hear the twin tails producing disturbing noises.

The soothing presence of my little sister finally gave the logic enough power to win over the irrationality. I calmed down a little and told myself that Crea wouldn't send something that was going to inject me with paralyzing venom, slowly melt my innards, and suck the nutritional soup while keeping me alive. After releasing the silver girl from my arms and shifting position to stand behind her, for the first time I looked at the giant spider… and the lion's share of fear was exchanged with humiliation and embarrassment. There were two of them, and each was about half the size of a soccer ball.

"H-how are they supposed to carry a rider?" That silly thought was the first thing that came to my mind, and I instantly voiced it in a shaky voice.

"Huh?" My sister had troubles with comprehending the question, and with a blank expression shifted her gaze between the pair of spiders that was curled in the corner of the ceiling and me. "Where did that come from?"

The tight underground environment, lack of light, and the unknown fantasy world made my imagination and fear spin out of control. I had been convinced that a tank sized nightmarish spider was prepared to grab me in its chelicerae if I refused to use it as an eight-legged steed.

Well, those two were still fucking disgusting and bigger than any that could be found in my old world, but my fear of spiders wasn't so severe to make me panic upon the very sight of one… as long as they were away, remained at a kickable size, there weren't too many of them, I wasn't alone, and had an escape route. On top of that, I hated getting close and would scream like a girl if one touched me, even a tiny one.

But, I didn't want to continue pilling one unsightly event after another in front of my little sister. The least I could do now was to pull myself together. It shouldn't be hard... as long as none of the critical conditions was violated by those creatures.

"Nevermind… I shot myself in the foot with my own imagination." I said and took a good look at the petite girl. She not only didn't finish drying her hair but also wore the same clothes as before. "Sister, thank you for coming."

"I wanted to stop a pitiful silver elf scared of spiders and unable to see in darkness from running around and bringing me shame. The mere thought of such sight being the first impression we left on others made my stomach ache." She said and shook her head as if preparing herself for the inevitable.

Although there was probably more to it, her words were true. And she wasn't the only one tired of my shameful display, I just needed a chance to prove that I was capable of being more than her personal hug pillow.

We decided against keeping the goddess waiting any longer, and as soon as our eight-legged guides calmed down enough to lead the way, we began to move. I didn't pay much attention to how those spiders looked like - a spider was something to be avoided, or better destroyed, the shape hardly mattered.

However, Eri either wanted to lessen my fear of them or was merely making fun of me, because she started telling me some trivia about araneas on our way to Crea. Her opening words 'you should know your enemy', were convincing enough to make me listen to the following ones.

Apparently, they were easy to train and excelled at finding people underground. They had a superb sense of smell, that was also how she found me so quickly. They also had a lot of other features that made them a popular choice for an underground pet. For example, they were a type of hunting spiders that didn't weave webs, except for a small sack they slept in, and actively kept the local rodent population in check. Their venom was too weak to hurt anything bigger than them. Araneas also automatically regulated their own numbers, by cannibalizing the members of their species if the food or territory became scarce.

Thank the heavens, them being territorial meant that those two were the only ones around our place. I would refuse to return here if it turned out that somewhere out there was an entire nest crawling with huge spiders. Still, a pair was already too much, but I should be able to squash them in an emergency… Damn, I really needed to find a weapon.

When it turned out that the stairs up were located barely five minutes of walking away from our place, I was seriously pissed off at Crea, there was no need to use those monsters as our guides. Eri was also irritated, but her reason was different. Using creatures that excelled at tracking people down meant that Crea didn't trust us to stay put in one place and prepared herself for the situation in which we would try to explore the underground district.

Luckily, the spiders didn't climb the stairs with us and disappeared in one of the many side corridors.

At the top of long stone stairs, we found a big double door made out of wood upon which many strange symbols were carved. The silver elf's underground bundle told me that it was the last barrier separating us from the surface. Which wasn't too hard to guess even without it. Gusts of fresh air together with a few lost rays of sunlight were squeezing through the chinks between stone and wood. This view instantly gave me a courage and morale boost. However, it was strange that the temperature dropped down instead of increasing.

"Maybe it's winter. Brother, could you?" Eri voiced the same observation and slowly started to turn around, making sure to show me herself from every side.

"Of course."

I happily smoothed out a few tangled strands of silver hair, removed small bits of thread from her clothes and dusted them off in a place or two. Then she gestured to lean down and did the same to me. Finally, I gave her a hug, and for once she returned it with a smug smile.

"I will become a true evil princess behind that door, don't be scared." She whispered wickedly into my pointy ear and distanced herself.

"As long as you won't become a spider princess, I will never be truly scared of you. But, are you sure about the tails?"

"Crea approved of them, so there's no need to hide. Actually, I almost wish someone would pick a fight with me." She chuckled, but It was hard to say how much of that last sentence was a jest.

The silver girl took a step forward as if trying to lead the way, but turned back right after that. To my surprise, she grabbed my hand and intertwined her fingers with mine. Not that I was going to complain, it was a pleasant change, but her annoyed expression that wasn't there just a second ago told me that there was more to it.

"Sister?"

"I forgot about a nasty side-effect of perfect night-vision. Once outside, I'm going to be blind for at least an hour or two. Take care of me during that time, and be careful yourself. I can already tell that you won't be affected too much, but don't look directly at the sun."

The tiny amount of light that seeped inside and raised my spirit had an opposite effect on Eri. Her every attempt to look in the direction of the wooden door ended with a squint of her eyes and a grimace of pain.

"Maybe, we could-"

"No, I refuse to wear an eye band or keep my head down." She predicted my words. "Some degree of pain is unavoidable… but stick to shadows please." She shifted the grasp of our hands to a less intimate one and closed her eyes. Nevertheless, she stood tall and proud, making me seem less of her brother and more of an escort.

"Leave it to me." I replied gently and moved forward, leading my little sister outside.

Behind the wooden door, a white world of ruin and despair greeted us.