Chapter 5: Advents

'Gulp! What the f- what kind of introduction was that? Not to mention her choice of words—where did that come from, some fancy noble of the last century?'

Peter narrowed his eyes at the mysterious girl, who still had that smirk etched on her face as she patiently waited for Peter to wrap his head around this.

'Any crucial point was her last words... an accord? What for? Obviously, she must be the one behind all of my restless nights, the insomnia, and that feeling. Ugh, the feeling of being watched occasionally doesn't feel that good.'

Pete shivered slightly, thinking about all those times.

It took the young man a solid few minutes to speak up.

"You, ehm, Miss? Angel?" 

The girl chuckled at Peter's initial perplexity, though she did give him a slight nod of affirmation to call her that.

"Right, ehm, first of all, I really, ehm, appreciated your offer, but still, I gotta ask first. Why did you haunt my dreams? Did I do anything wrong to you? If so, I sincerely apologise."

Peter made a repentant face while keeping a close eye on the smallest reaction of the Angel, trying to discern her true intention.

But of course, nothing came easy, especially in the face of a powerful, mysterious girl. She still kept that smirk firm; her eyes showed no fluctuations, as if she were still waiting for Peter's answer.

It was worth mentioning that the girl seemed to be the master of this twilight park. Using the excuse of awkwardness, Peter quickly took in his surroundings as his eyes widened with amazement.

The place seemed out of place with reality. Like it was constantly glitching in and out of reality, one could see beyond the leafless trees were people still going with their lives, completely unaware of the existence of this section of New York Central Park. Their faces...

Peter's gulped instinctively, as with his newly enhanced eyesight, he could see the passerby's faces fade and clear alternatively.

And Peter couldn't be more sure that it had already passed the twilight hours. Just where in the world did he get into.

Glancing back at the nonchalant petite girl, who was still twirling with her feather in her hand innocently as she gave Peter a gentle smile,. Yet it only brought chills down the young genius's spine, as he was clearly aware that she was anything but simple or weak.

Amid the awkward silence and the tensed Peter, the girl let out a sign as she elaborated.

"Mr. Parker, I am deeply sorry for intruding on your dreams, though I mean you no harm. And about the accord, I'd say it was fate that brought me to you.

I can assure you that taking this offer will certainly help you when the time comes... I believe you must have seen it, right?

Your death."

Her voice was ethereal and strangely calm. In contrast to that, Peter's hazel swirled in fluctuations as he recalled the horrid scene. Much to it, he could feel all those dreadful feelings; it was so real that it made his body tremble.

Shaking off those memories, Peter recollected his thoughts as his eyes stayed firm on the angel.

"Look, Miss Angel, I really appreciate the offer, accord... and visions of my death? forgive me, but right now I would really be thankful if you could really stop haunting my dreams as well as 'watching me from afar'. I... I just need some time to reconsider this."

Peter said all of that in one breath as he steadyed himself for the worst to come.

However, the Angel just nodded in return. "I understand, Mr. Parker, please do consider it; this would change everything for the better or worse, but at least it would give you the chance to protect."

"I'm sorry? Change what? Protect what-"

"Until we meet again, Mr. Parker, consider this my gift to you. I wish you good luck for those adversaries that will come next.

Remember, Mr. Parker, for whatever fate bestows, there is always a price." 

... Peter dazed at her cryptic words as he soon felt his vision blur as colours deepened. With a blink of an eye, Peter found himself standing right outside Central Park, looking at the sky, now painted with thousands of stars.

"What gift, Miss-" Peter was surprised to find that he now had his clothes back, along with brand new black round-rimmed glasses that certainly did not hinder his enhanced sight.

Plus, it looks quite expensive.

"Well, the way she talked... Now that reminds me of those charlatans at the funfair, missing only a tent, crystal balls, and tarot cards." Peter sneered inwardly, attempting to shake off the weird feeling brought by all of that.

Anyway, after shouting 'Thank you' in the air,. Peter quickly checked his surroundings, and he made sure that he really went back to his good old New York.

Peter put on his hood and dashed towards home.

...

Using his massively enhanced physique and adhesive touch, Peter parkoured across the building, furthering his control over his newfound powers and keenly adjusting his force so as not to accidentally vandalise anything.

In the span of a few minutes, Peter reached the vicinity of his home. He carefully did another final check and was happy to find out that the feeling of being watched from afar had gone! Well, that was a good start.

For the moment, Miss Angel hadn't done any harm... yet.

Adjusting his messy clothes due to the hash winds, Peter's mind raced with thoughts as to how he could explain to his aunt for coming home this late.

CLACK!

"PETER BENJAMIN PARKER! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN! DO YOU KNOW THAT-"

Peter quickly drove a raging May back into the house while he gestured for his aunt to lower her voice as no to disturb the neighbour.

"You'd better have good excuses for staying out this evening; its already past midnight! There was even some sort of monstrosity spotted somewhere in the city this afternoon. Gosh, luckily no one was hurt."

May heaved a long sigh as she confirmed that her dearest godson was in one piece.

'Well, the news travelled fast... and holly Jesus, did the transformation take that long!'

Peter turned his focus back to his aunt, who was still waiting patiently.

"Ahm, ehm, you know, I have been quite busy late with all the school projects, being an intern at Oscrops and all. Plus, it's near the end of the semester too, and there's going to be a school's prom...

May crossed her hand and raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

Peter gulped instinctively in front of the menacing atmosphere exuding from her.

"Goes easy on him, May. Peter's not young anymore; teenagers are supposed to have a few rebellious moments too..."

Uncle Ben's firm voice slowly trailed off under May's fierce gaze, which seemed to penetrate the newspapers covering his face.

"Oh, rebellious moments, huh? So, how was your business trip? Been seeing some 'eye-cleansing' moments, did ya? Hm? Dear?"

Snatching the precious moment created by his uncle, Peter quickly, blabbering some good nights to the two, he dashed across the kitchen to grab some bites, then headed upstairs at godspeed, of course, not before saluting his dear uncle, who was currently bearing the wrath of May.

Uncle Ben only mouthed, 'You own me this time."

Phew. Upon reaching his bed, Peter found himself swirling with questions about the mysterious girl.

'Did she just let me go like that, and about the vision...' Once again, Peter left all of those dead-end nuisances to the back of his mind. As of now, he had acquired superpowers; the next step was...

The young genius found himself filled with enthusiasm. bright ideas and more wide awake than ever, despite the long day.

"A superhero needs a super suit..." With that said, Peter plunged himself into learning about computer engineering and such for his about-to-introduce superhero identity.

His mind absorbed that knowledge like a sponge in water. Continuing until daylight.

Perhaps this was the gift that the girl mentioned, for Peter thought that the serum didn't have a massive affect on one's brainpower.

...

Bathing in the forever twilight, the Angel of Adversity was nonchalantly caressing an owl. Still with the same posture, everything exuded an air of the highest loftiness. As if she had been sitting in the same position for aeons, observing the world.

Her dark amber eyes now flash with an illusory silverish river; deep with it were numerous brilliance dots and lines, intertwined, floating endlessly.

Soon the look in her eyes changed, as one could catch a glimpse of a glorious web and a conspicuous, larger spider watching curiously over it.

"Web of Destiny, Neith..." Her mouth curled up into a cold smile.

At the moment, on Earth 001,

Neith, an ancient deity, goddess of spiders, implied to be the true identity of the Great Weaver. Now scrutinising her greatest craft with bewilderment, as roughly not long ago there were subtle disturbances to the web, something had changed, yet by the time she discovered it was too late, the change had been made and covered up nicely.

"How? Who could have done this?" Being a deity herself, she fully understood the unfathomable forces lying beyond her yet-to-extend; it did scare her at first.

With all her might, the goddess managed to retrieve some faint clues that could point to this individual.

It was an owl feather, yet it kept glitching out of reality. Every attempt to figure out the culprit was to no avail, as all she could see was a vision obscured by numerous feathers, whether the present, the past, or the future.

Soon, the feather faded into thin air.

Neith's face darkened as she could guarantee something was cooking up, and it mainly involved her web and...

The goddess turned to look at the part of the web that was disturbed; it was earth 65B, circling the spider totem known as Ghost Spider-Gwen Stacy.