Chapter 33- To be human in a world of monsters

Rylth raised Berith and Coran for 5 years before something happened.

She never accepted them as her own children, and continued to reluctantly raise them as a 'backup plan' in the case that she never found a male partner again.

She could not even consider using her son as a male partner, for that would only create more abominations within the species, and taint herself.

One day, she found another male partner, and was able to once more lay eggs.

This time, there were thousands.

She laid the eggs in a large cavern in an abyss below her web. The eggs covered the landscape, and each and every one of them carried her own blood.

This time she could feel it.

She could feel the blood of the spiders within those children. Wild blood.

What to do with the humanoid children now?

She had raised them- coldheartedly- but she was still their mother who took care of them for 5 years.

So, Rylth decided to give her two humanoid children a test.

If they could pass it, then she would allow one of them to become her successor. If not, she would simply kill them and have the other children fight each other for dominance.

For spiders, sibling rivalry was taken to the extreme.

Typically, out of the thousands of eggs that hatched, there would be a bloodbath that would result in a single survivor. Rylth was a survivor of her own bloodbath, and that is why she had become the 'queen spider' of her own web.

The children would by instinct kill and consume each other until the strongest one is left.

Why had these two children not had the instinct to kill each other when they were born? Was this also an effect of their humanoid features?

Rylth decided what she would do.

She laid in her web, relaxing on her back, and she called to her two children who were patiently waiting on the other side of the web.

"Coran. Berith. Come here."

Coran, the male, heard the strict tone in his mothers voice and became on guard. He slowly approached, his sister behind him and stared at his mother.

To Coran, his mother was nothing more than a monster.

His sister was everything to Coran, and he would give his life to protect her. Coran sensed the killing intent of his mother towards him and his sister throughout his life, and always slept with one eye open because of this.

However, this was not enough to protect him from his mother. He knew that if she ever wanted to kill them off, she could do so without a struggle.

Coran was weak. Still, he was ready to give his life if it meant his sister could escape. She was the only creature in the world who understood him, and he was the only one who understood her. They both felt the arrogant glare of their mother, looking at them as monsters... as parasites... as abominations.

"I will give you both one chance. If you two fight to the death right now, I will kill off all of your new siblings and appoint the winner as my successor. It is a good deal, no? If not, then I will simply kill both of you here and now and my successor will be one of my real children. Prove to me that you have what it takes to survive in this world."

Coran bared his fangs at his mother and hissed.

He could not take this kind of punishment.

"I will never harm my sister, and I will fight even you if you intend to harm her!"

His sister stood shivering behind him.

"I.. do not want to harm brother!", she exclaimed.

"Ah. I see.", Rylth stated unconcerned as she was 'filing her nails', or whatever the spider equivalent to that would be.

"Well, I was a good mother and gave you both a chance to survive. Only one will survive anyways, so I would rather it not be either of you. Goodbye then..."

"Wait! Is there nothing we can do to convince you otherwise!?"

Coran had a look of fear in his eyes now.

He could not die here. If he died, his sister would be next. If he could somehow get his mother to allow him and his sister to live...

The mother turned to the children, and a light bulb went off in her head.

A grim smile crept across the face of Rylth. She hissed and chuckled as she thought up a dastardly plot.

"Alright then... how about this. You two can take part in the upcoming bloodbath among your siblings down in the abyss. If you two can stay alive and be the last two surviving, then I will allow both of you to live. I'll even give you a headstart!! You two can go down right now and start killing off your competition before they've even hatched! What do you think!?!"

Rylth was smiling at her plot.

She knew a few things. The first thing was that the humanoid children had never killed anything before. This was something that, as a monster, she could not accept in her own children. How would one survive if they did not seek power? How would a monster get by without killing others? Killing was the law of nature. Yet, her children always refused to put the finishing blow on any of the maggots she had captured, even when she offered them the opportunity to.

As they were, these two children were too innocent.

They failed as monsters.

They needed to see a real bloodbath. They needed to be put in a real life or death battle to become cold blooded killers.

But the second thing was that she wished to simply be rid of them. If she put them in the battle, they would likely die and she would be able to say that she gave them a fair chance.

What a wonderful mother. Even giving the misfit children an equal chance to the others.

Coran stayed silent for a while, and continued staring at his mother. He seemed to be debating in his head whether or not to accept this proposal, because he knew it would end in his death.

However, the one who spoke first was not Coran. It was Berith.

She looked completely determined.

"We will do it. We will kill all our siblings and live on as the true successors of this bloodline."

Coran looked at his sister, surprised at her determination.

His little sister, who he had looked after this entire time.

When did she become so grown up?

At seeing her determination, Coran had no doubt anymore, and he replied in the affirmative.

"If she has no issues then neither do I. We will come out victorious."

The mother was now laughing.

"Ehehehe!! Is that so? Then, please give me a good spectacle to see. You had better hurry before the others hatch."

And with that, Coran and his sister threaded a web from their abdomens, and descended into the abyss to kill off their siblings.

"I had bettered go and watch the battle then... it will certainly be interesting to see who comes out victorious! And I cannot wait to see the look on those two's faces when they are consumed by the thousands of little ones who hatch... I suppose that is the one good thing about those humanoid freaks. They show such interesting emotions."

As Rylth was thinking this, an instinct flared up.

Someone was about to enter her web.

The image of four beings- all dressed in silky garments appeared inside Rylth's mind.

[Does one dress like a sheep because they are a wolf, or perhaps because they are a cow? A cow, with the juiciest of meats would dress as a sheep in order to avoid being picked first for the slaughterhouse. Or perhaps, one simply is a sheep?]