9 Web Of Despair

"Are you ready?"

The Amazon, who was waiting outside of the gate, questioned Ellamir.

She wanted to glimpse at it one last time. A maelstrom of emotions are welling in her chest as she forlornly gazes at the mansion. The place where she spent 3 years in isolation, a place where she clung desperately to her royal status, a place where she festered her hate for Antani.

It was so absurd for her that she's now willingly abandoning status as the rightful heir. She could tell herself that it was so she could keep her sister safe, and part of it truly was. But she knew in her heart that the even larger part of why she wanted to do this was waiting for her to cross the gate.

Grasping her leather backpack, Ellamir crossed the gate and closed it herself.

"Yeah, let's go."

+++

The couple once again traversed the complex pathways leading to the surface.

Surrounded by darkness and nothing but a torch to light her way, the memories of the last time they were here made Antani's lips curl with a smile.

As if it was the most natural thing in the world, the Amazon grasped Ellamir's hand.

The surprised dark elf almost pulled her hand away due to instinct, but the warmth of Antani's hand in hers soothed her. This is what they are now, and the soft smile on her face indicates that she's going to have no problem getting used to it.

After hours of walking they heard a familiar voice coming from the ceiling.

"Ahh, it looks like I don't need to shoot your torch this time around."

"Father." Ellamir uttered.

The Drider made his way down until he's face to face with the two. Looking at their conjoined hands, he addressed the Amazon. "It's good to know that you took my advice to heart." A playful smirk appeared on his face. "I have an idea, why don't you try calling me father?"

Antani's face was flushed crimson, (Should I do it? I'm not against it, but it's all too soon! Then again there isn't really any harm in saying it.)

"Yeah, thank you. F-f-father."

The drider let out a hearty chuckle.

"Father, please stop messing with Antani."

"Sorry, I don't get a lot of entertainment around here, just had to do it."

"Seeing as you've shown yourself before us, are you here to stop us?"

The Driders are tasked in overseeing anyone who enters and exits the Underdark. His duty dictates that he should detain and report Ellamir even if she was his daughter. He wasn't turned into a drider because he was good at following the rules.

"Why the hell would I do that? Underdark ain't going to be kind for the two of you. Just follow your dreams of becoming an adventurer and never return to this place."

"How did you know? We never mentioned being an adventurer."

"Just a lucky guess. Besides, what are you going to do once you're up there, run a bakery?"

Ellamir smiled at his father. "Hey, you never know, we just might end up doing that." The couple turned their backs on the Drider to continue their journey, but before they could gain some distance Ellamir faced in her father's direction again."Take care of yourself, father. Until we meet again."

With that, the two pressed onwards.

The Drider watched their silhouette fade into the distance. A melodious voice plays in her head, a memory of a certain dark elf.

(Let's escape this place, to a place where we could both be free.)

+++

While sitting on her throne, Queen Zorla's hand touched her temple. What her daughter made her remember, they drained all of her sadistic glee and filled her heart with fleeting memories of old.

In truth they were only mundane ones, like how her sister braided her hair, sparring together, reading books side by side. They were mundane, yes, but it was everything that constituted her everyday palace life. They were everything to her, until she met lolth.

She sneered grimly under hand, she must make her daughter pay for making her remember those days.

*Bam*

The door to the throne room suddenly opens, a guard bearing news kneels before her.

"My queen, your daughter, she had escaped along with her slave."

Her slave. The Amazon, her heart races upon remembering Antani's defiant glare. She was so close to delivering her the ultimate sadism, Death.

"Are the driders on their way to deliver them here?"

Her guard swallowed his throat. Sweat dripped down his forehead under his helmet.

"They….they let them go your highness. To be more specific, it was HIS idea to let them pass."

Queen Zorla abruptly stood up, her expression exploded in anger. She underestimated her daughter, she never didn't think Ellamir would have the gall to leave everything she ever knew. As if she had grown a pair.

Her gaze shifted towards the guard, a perfect stress toy. His terrified look calmed her nerves.

"Why the petrified look?"

"Nnnothing, my queen." His voice trembled as he watched her queen, getting closer to him by the second.

"You think I'm deranged enough to kill a guard for the simple act of bringing bad news? I am hurt."

Queen Zorla could sense his fear. It was delectable enough to give her a minor high. She looms from behind him, putting both of her arms on her shoulders.

"You know how easy it is to snap your neck in this position?"

The guard didn't answer, only quivering in response.

He felt her vice-like grip, they weren't only holding his shoulders, they were also holding his life.

"Well, What are you waiting for? Start pleading if you still want to keep your life, if not then I'll gladly take it."

Queen Zorla brushed his fingers through his cheeks. Strong willed ones taste great once you break them, but she does want to engorge on those with little to no resistance from time to time. Like a dessert made out of fear, cleansing her pallet.

"I'M SORRY MY QUEEN, PPPLEASE DON'T KILL ME, I BEG OF YOU!"

Hearing what she wanted from the guard whose eyes are almost ready to turn white any moment from now, her sinister grin mixed with the look of elation on her face.

"Kyahahahaha! Good, very good!" The queen kicked his back, making him fall flat on the ground."I'll let you keep your life for now, whoever you are. Live another day so you can keep fearing me."

Her maniacal cackling filled the throne room as she headed out to confront the Drider.

+++

"Give me your reason as to why you let them escape, the swiftness of your death will depend on how reasonable your excuse is ." Queen Zorla tried to hide the bile in her tone, the drider in front of them detected them nonetheless.

"My reason? Let's see, it's because you're a piece of shit mother for Ellamir and Maesha."

The guards accompanying Zorla were poised to strike upon hearing the drider's disrespect. She held her arm outward ordering them to cease.

"This one's mine. You told Ellamir, didn't you?"

Her vitriol was starting to be given form, swirl of shadows condensed around her, shaping into armor. Her appearance was now similar to the Drider in front of her, only bigger.

The Drider's still unfazed reaction was starting to grind Zorla's gears. He must feel the enormous amount of mana being exuded by her armor, it was enough to make an ordinary Dark elf shiver in terror. She had tested it many times. Even the guards behind her are starting to lose their composure.

"Told her about what? Oh you mean about.."

"DON'T SAY HER NAME!" The queen's voice boomed. She unsheathed her sword and pounced forward to cleave the Drider, only to hit nothing but air.

The Drider who was already at the ceiling, a testament to his agility, taunted the queen.

"You might wear the form of a drider but your speed leaves something to be desired. Can you keep up, My queen?"

The Drider delivered the last part of his sentence with derision, adding to the shame of missing her strike.

And so their cavern chase began. In pitch black darkness to giant spider like figures played a game of malevolent tag. A tag where being 'it' means certain death.

The Drider knew it was useless retaliating, he knows no spell or technique that will get past through her shadow armor.

Words however are a different matter, he knew for sure that they will pierce right through.

Whenever she thought she would gain on him he ups his speed but only enough so his words would still reach him.

"Nelessa trusted you."

After uttering her name, Zorla's face contorted underneath her armor. "HYAAAAH!!" She screamed as she pounced again this time with a thrust, still failing to land her strike.

"Nelessa wanted the three of us to escape this place. Become adventurers."

Another maddened howl as the queen launches herself for another swipe of her sword, hitting nothing.

"And how do you pay Nelessa's trust? By stabbing her in the gut!"

The queen was at her limit. No one is going to push her this far and not suffer. She tried to gather all her focus amidst the skull shattering headache she was experiencing.

With a smug grin on his face, the Drider could only imagine the mental anguish that she is going through. To him, it was rightful karma.

He was so filled with superiority that the word she spoke failed to register.

"Aeon"

Zorla was about to unleash her very being.

"Web of despair!"

Faster than he could blink, webs stretched as far as his eyes could see. Confusion grips him because of how comical the situation is. A spider that can't move between webs? That wasn't all, his strength was being slowly drained as well.

His confusion turns into panic as she hears a sinister cackle approaching.

+++

Those who stand at the pinnacle of strength, Aeon users. There is something that drives their quest for power or something that sustains it.

A desire, fear, hope, aspiration - an ideal they want to infringe upon the world. Anything that pushes them forward will be given form once they reach the peak.

And what kind of Aeon does Zorla harbor you might ask? For someone as debased as her, her Aeon is rather simple.

She wishes for a world where she and Lolth are the only spiders, thus anyone and anything caught in her webs will be nothing but insects to be devoured. As insects should, they should be rendered helpless in her webs, for that they are also designed to rob mana from their victims feeding it directly to Zorla.

Grabbing the Drider by the neck, she deactivated her aeon once she was assured that her grip was solid, due to the shame of having to use it on an opponent who she deemed unworthy.

She moved his face closer to her. His face was already starting to go pale, finding it hard to breathe.

"I can't believe you made me use my Aeon you slippery fuck! I'll tell you one thing before I kill you. If you didn't fill my sister's head with that romance crap, if only you did your job as her nameless slave, she should still be alive right now!"

*Crack* With a snap the Drider fell lifeless on the floor, his neck abnormally bent to the side.

Like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Before he could talk right back she executed him. She knew he would have a snappy response, she didn't care. What she told him was her truth, a parting gift of some sort.

With a deep breath, Zorla gazes at the pathway ahead.

(I'm going to let you have your little romp with your slave, Ellamir. Enjoy it, it's going to make it all the more sweeter once I tear the two of you apart.)

+++

After arriving above ground, Antani was greeted by the warm sunlight seeping through the forest shades. She stretches her hand, basking in the rays of the sun.

"Ahh, sunlight! How I've missed you!"

Ellamir who was in front of her watched over her with a smile. "Someone seems happy."

"That someone didn't see sunlight for an entire month! Of course I'd be happy!

Cutting their conversation short, the rustling of leaves coupled with the sound of footsteps warned them that someone is approaching.

Their high-spirited moods morphed into a more serious one as they anticipated their first encounter.

Coming into view was a red skinned tiefling wearing a full plate of armor, her long black hair tied into a knot, her horns slanted up sideways. The most eye-catching thing she had on her wasn't the mark of zariel on her shield(https://ibb.co/M7q9Lkk).

It was the platinum dragon necklace she had around her neck.

As the tiefling's gaze fell upon the two. She addressed them.

"You two don't look like your regular bandits."