2-Chapter 24: Anastasia pt 1

Lucilla stood on the ships bow, leaning against the railing as the crew of the vessel got things ready to go. The light breeze she felt around her gently moved her hair behind her. There was no way for them to travel to the lost country using a normal ship. No water way lead east wards long enough to even reach the country, much less the center of it. Cristina shouted direction to her crew to get ready for takeoff. They were running around and securing items to the deck more firmly or bringing them down below.

Next to her Sara also leaned on the railing in front of her. Ever since they got back Lucilla has been pointedly ignoring her. Again. The Crimsoned eyed woman was lost in thought as she contemplated the Archangels words. The fact she unconsciously thought of Sara as her own child. Which didn't make any sense to Lucilla.

She wasn't motherly, she never thought about having kids, and she didn't particularly want any. There must be another reason for this. Perhaps her thoughts and emotions are being influenced by this mark Nielia mentioned. Otherwise, she would treat Sara like the random child she is. She glanced in the girl's direction only to see Sara looking right at her. When their eye's met Sara turned away, with a complicated look on her face.

Lucilla sighed as the light breeze from before started to turn into grow stronger. Her hair bellowed out behind her like waves of Silver. Looking back over the railing she saw the shore up ahead with its white sand. The forest dim glow reflecting of the pearly shore, giving the Silver haired woman an enchanting view.

Deciding that her relationship with Sara could wait, Lucilla thought about the task at hand. As they made their way back to the ship earlier Cristina didn't say a word. She walked in silence as they made their way back to the ship, this time walking along the shore, which shorten the time significantly.

Once they made it back to the ship, she went back to her cheery self and took the map from Judieth and exclaimed, "Oh. I know where this is. Damn didn't know this was where she lived." Then ordered her people to start the ships lift off. The protrusions Lucilla had noticed earlier swingout and revealed themselves to be sails attached to the side of the ship.

Looking behind her she saw Cristina barking orders from the ships wheel with her usual smile. Nothing indicated that anything was wrong, and that was concerning. The fact this was the exact same smile that has graced the pirate womans face since the day they met, meant she was forcing it every time. Lucilla looked on in wonder on how someone could do that.

Sure, Yuki held a lot of negative emotions herself, but her cheery personality wasn't an act. Yuki was like that because that's just who she was. Seeing Cristina's perfect act of cheerfulness fascinated Lucilla. She wasn't emotionally aware enough to see through something like this herself without it being obvious. It hasn't even occurred to Lucilla that people could even fake oh they feel on a daily basis.

She wondered how Cristina really felt, but she wasn't going to ask. It wasn't her business, and she didn't really care that much. The wind around them grew stronger once more as Lucilla turned her attention towards Sara again. The wind was starting to become too strong and as a result the young girl was now fighting against it to keep herself from being blown backwards. Lucilla reached out and placed her hand on her back without thinking when she saw her starting to fall, keeping her in place.

"Th- thanks teacher." Sara said, though it was hard to make out over the sound of the rushing wind.

Before Lucilla could respond a large gust hit the ship all at once. Not from the above or from any of the side's but from below. The ship rocked as it started lifting into the air. Lucilla grabbed onto Sara and covered her body with her own, protecting her and keeping the girl from being flung away. After a few moments the strong blast from below the ship stopped. Matter of fact the strong storm like wind that was moments before threatening to knock everyone off the ship was calm and was once more a light breeze.

"Whoa." She breathed as she Looked up and over the railing, Lucilla couldn't help but feel amazed. Below them was a sea of trees that made up the Enchanted Forest, their mystical glow making it seem like they were sailing across the pale light. Far above was the ocean of stars, reaching far into the Horizen, giving her a peak of the cosmos. The stars looked close enough to touch, so much so Lucilla stood up and reached her hand towards the sky, as if she was trying to grasp the universe in her hands.

From such a Hight the Monster woman felt as if she could even reach the moon. She brought her hands together in a small prayer to Ovana, wishing for her mother's wellbeing in the afterlife. Ovana, Goddess of Souls, also happened to be the current Moon Goddess. After the death her mother Lucilla would give a small prayer every night to the moon, hoping her mother would be taken care off in the 'Realm of Souls'.

Suddenly she felt a hand placed on her shoulder, turning she found Morella giving her a small smile. "It's getting late Lucy, and we have a while before we reach our destination." She said before glancing in Sara's direction. "I think getting some rest in while you can, would be beneficial."

Glancing in the younger girl's direction Lucilla found her staring up into the sky just as captivated. Sighing slightly, she thanked Morella before placing her hand on Sara shoulder's and guiding her down into the ship. Sara looked slightly disappointed but didn't fight it. Allowing herself to be led away, both of them eventually found themselves in a small cramp room meant for the both of them, Morella and Judieth. Maisy didn't need a room, or even sleep and preferred watching over everyone to keep them safe.

"Here, drink this." She said handing the younger girl a Mana restoration Potion and a Blood vial, meant to help the body produce more blood.

"Oh... thanks." Making a face Sara chugged both containers as quickly as possible. "Uhg, it still tastes horrible."

Sara was made to drink both concoctions throughout the day and every time was just as unpleasant as the last. Lucilla, who was forced to consume worse things, such as various poison's, rolled her eyes at the girls scrunched up face. Seeing that Sara finished drinking she decided to lay down in the swaying hammock and pull the thin covers over herself.

"You should feel much better tomorrow and won't need me carrying you around all day." Lucilla grumbled, he back turned to the girl. "Night then."

Seeing as Lucilla fell silent, Sara laid herself down in her hammock, and stared up at the ceiling lost in thought before finally falling asleep.

_______________________

A large grey ship gently lowed itself from the clouds high above the world of Zelviea. The morning sun rising in the horizon, causing the people on board to squint. Below was a war-torn land, with charred trees, craters and even remnants of a building her and there. Despite this scenery, that wasn't what caught the eye of most.

All around, floating masses of land could be seen. From the smallest pebble to a largest hill, parts of the land have seemingly been ripped from the planet itself and now flouted suspended in midair. This sight wasn't rare the closer you got to the scenter of the country, but near its borders, you'll be lucky to see fist size rock floating in the air.

The land was rich in a mineral called Grav-Stone. A green mineral that possessed the ability to defi gravity. During the countless wars waged across this land caused much of the land to fly into the air to never touch the earth again. It was a wounders sight to behold for the first time and is one of the easiest sources of Grav-Stone on the continent. If one was able to get this far that is.

In the distance was their destination, 'The Abandoned Citadel'. The entire structure was built atop a large mass of earth suspended in the air and anchored to the ground by large heavy black chains. Tube like protrusions could be seen coming from the bottom of the floating island.

This structure has withstood the test of time, existing since even before Eldon Vesh came to power. It was said this Citadel was used by the First Hero Oliver during the early days as a sort of mobile base of operation. Eventually he set up a permanent base, which is where the Capital of the Holy Theocracy is located in the modern day.

As the 'MS Ann' landed a distance away from the Citadel, its generated wind pushing the floating rock and stone out of the way, Lucilla could see a large army of spiders and Arachne waiting for them. There were roughly three hundred giant spiders, and three figures seemingly leading them from the front. Everyone who saw this sight grimaced in disgust, fear, or both.

"Seeing so many spiders are highly unpleasant I must say." Morella said looking as though she ate something bitter. "If Yuki was here, she would probably burst into tears."

"Are we really going over there?" Sara asked looking pale, which made her look worse than she actually was.

"I... I have no words. I haven't seen this many Giant spiders in one place before." Judieth said with a look of disgust. "Nor have I've seen them in such an orderly fashion."

"...." Cristina stayed silent, but her grin was unusually stiff.

"Look how cute those guys look." Lucilla muttered under her breath.

Nearly everyone looked on in disgust and fear, with only one exception. Lucilla was genuinely confused on everyone's negative reactions. From her perspective it was like seeing a large number of puppies in a field. She was still embarrassed to admit she found them cute, so she muttered her thought under her breath. Unfortunately, for her and those she least wanted to hear, heard her.

Morella, Sara, Judieth, and Cristina all turned to look at Lucilla with horrified expressions. Not one to show how much she was bothered by this, Lucilla simply shrugged with her usual expression. The sharp fangs, eight eyes, and a mouth full of sharp fang like teeth, despite normal spider not possessing a mouth. Some of them even dripped with saliva at the thought of having a fresh meal.

One of the figures stepped forward and approached their ship, it was an Arachne, the other two figures were a Demon and a Human. Once she was a certain distance away, she looked up and shouted, "Who are you, and what is your business with us?!"

"This is yer mission girl, I'm just the ride." Cristina said as she pushed the girl forward. She didn't want to deal with the army of spiders any more than she had too.

With a panic look, and seeming on the verge of passing out, Sara searched for someone to help her. She locked eyes with Lucilla, and with unshed tears in her eyes she mouthed the word, 'Please'. With a heavy sigh Lucillia stepped up to the ship port side of the ship with Sara. She looked down, took a deep breath and shouted back.

"We come with a message that must be delivered by Sara Prosperty, from Ni- Lady Nielia!" She said, correcting the way she addressed the Guardian. "We wish to see the Arachne Queen Anastasia!"

"Do you have any proof?!" They called back with clear skepticism.

"Do we have proof?" Lucilla asked no one in particular, turning around.

"The map might have somethin' on it." Cristina said. "She likes to package important stuff together like that for sum reason."

Taking the map from Cristina's extended hand, Lucilla made her way down from the ship. Walking down the ramp, with Sara meekly walking behind her, and Morella silently following them both. When they reached the bottom Lucilla approached the Lead Arachne, without an ounce of fear on her face. Matter of fact she enjoyed the sight of the spider woman finding them pleasing to the eye.

The spider half of the woman was a fuzzy brown tarantula, everything about it was just like a normal spider until it reached the point where it's head should be. In place of a head was where the waist of the humanoid portion of the creature was located, with fang like appendages jutting out.

The top half of the Arachne was that of a woman. At first glance one would call them attractive, that is until they got a good look at them. Similar to the picture she saw of the Queen, while it appeared their mouth was of similar size of a normal humans, a thin indented line could be seen extending from the edges of her lips. It stretched wide across her face overlapping even her cheeks.

The spider woman's brown skin wasn't any better. While it looked normal at first, Lucilla couldn't help but see a dull sheen to it as the morning light hit her in a certain way. According to Cristina their so called 'skin' wasn't skin, but the extension of the spider's hard carapace. Yet it was still slightly different compared to the main spider body. It was apparently quite flexible, but when enough force was applied to it, it'll harden quickly, while still have a little bit of give, keeping the upper body from shattering easily from a blunt attack.

Cristina described the texture of their bodies as being somewhere between waxy and plastic like. Not that Lucilla knew what plastic was.

The joints on the Human half were also noticeable and seemed to be segmented. The eyes were just as disturbing as the rest of the monster in front of them. There were eight in total, four on either side of the face. While the two eye's that were located in the same area one would expect eyes on a person would be located at, looked like a human's eye. The other six were that of a normal spider. The spider eyes were colored blood red, and the human eyes had crimson irises.

What made people react so negatively wasn't any of that though. Something about Arachne gave people an uncanny feeling. The longer one looked at these monster's the more unsettled they would feel. For the Arachne's entire human half was almost to perfectly symmetrical, almost like they were trying to make themselves as appealing as possible. The problem was that they seemed artificial, the symmetry only making that more obvious, to the point it felt both wrong and weird, making peoples skin crawl if they stared at them too much.

The Arachne weren't disgusting looking creatures. They were objectively speaking, attractive, after all the reason they look the way, they do was to lure in unsuspecting victims. No, what made them so disturbing to look at was the perfect symmetrical, artificial look and the uncanny feeling that came with it. The creepy feeling that one feels when being near one made people who got to close feel unsettled and want to leave the area immediately.

That is, for everyone but Lucilla. For her part she was able to see the attractive features of the Arachne without feeling even the slightest bit off. Normally even if one didn't feel creeped out by the Human portion of the spider woman, the giant spider half would have people running towards the hills, praying to any Celestial that would listen.

For Lucilla though, that seemed to only add to this race of Monsters charm. So much so, she was very confused as to why Sara was hiding behind her in fear. 'Could it be the height difference between us and the Arachne?' She thought since the spider bodies gave the spider woman a higher vantage point compared to them, even if it was only about two or three feet. Significantly shorter than Nielia Lucilla thought, still not understanding Sara's fear.

"My name is Lucilla Crimson, and this one behind me is Sara Prosperty." Lucilla said once she was Infront of the Tarantula woman.

"Hello." Sara squeaked.

"I don't really know if this would have what you're looking for, but we did receive this from Lady Nielia." Saying that, the Crimsoned eyed woman held out the map towards the other woman.

Taking the map from her, the Arachne waved her hand over the folded map. Lucilla noticed the glow of Mana coming from her hand. After a few seconds the woman looked at Lucilla, depositing the map into the bag hanging from on her side.

"You wish to meet with my aunt?" The woman said addressing them.

"That's right." Lucilla confirmed, Sara and Morella nodding in agreement behind her.

"Follow me. You can bring along others from your ship if you must." With that she turned and started walking away.

Before following she turned around to signal for Cristina and Judieth to follow them. Once she did that she started walking forward, not looking to see if anyone was following. Sara was clutching the sleeve of her coat, so she didn't need to worry about leaving her behind. She was also confident that Morella would always be with her and didn't even question whether she was following her or not.

They continued walking, passing through the army of spiders, heading towards the Abandoned Citadel. The Human and Demon that were there walked beside the Arachne when they passed by, apparently, they would be joining them. The Human was a man somewhere in his mid-thirties, while the Demon was a woman Oni, towering over the Human male.

"Are we really letting them see her Eleanore?" The Oni asked in a gruff voice. She bared her teeth, which were pointed and threatening on their own, but the two tusk like teeth coming from her bottom jaw made her visage all the more frightening.

"We are Lida, stop you complaining." Eleanore answered.

"They seem to be fine, plus I'm pretty sure on of them is a Vampire, they have an umbrella and everything, so I doubt these people are here for a fight." The human said.

"Why, because you don't think monsters don't attack each other, Savant?" Lida asked sarcastically. "Because we all know how peaceful and kind monsters are to each other."

"Whatever, my point was that they aren't likely to tell anyone this is where Queen Anastasia dwells."

"Can you too be quiet." Eleanore hissed.

The rest of the walk was made in silence. A short while later they found themselves at the Citadel. Looking at the floating stronghold, Lucilla and the others couldn't help but feel impressed. Eleanore led them to a small building, inside was a gondola. The cable car led all the way up to the Citadel's floating island.

The car was large, clearly made to allow larger beings inside, such as the Arachne. Everyone boarded the contraption, and once Savant confirmed everyone was on, he pushed the lever on the consol up. With a sudden jump, the gondola started moving upwards, towards the citadel.

After a about five minutes the cable car finally stopped. Stepping out from the car and leaving the small structure housing it Lucilla and the others found themselves in front of a massive gate. The gate itself was made from what appeared to be some kind of metal. There wasn't any indication of a seem to be found anywhere on its surface. It looked like it was made from one large slab of steel.

The walls were also made from a stone Lucilla hasn't seen before. Though unlike the large metal that posed as the Citadel's gate, parts of the wall were cracked or even crumbling. Yet the stone that made up the wall seem sturdier than even Prosperty City's great wall. Some parts of the wall had large swaths of webbing coving it, holding the crumbly parts together.

The wall itself looked to be worn, not from time, but battle. Scorch marks and small craters marred its surface. As they approached, the large gate slowly lowered itself into the ground, startling the Silver haired woman and her companions. Once lowered, Eleanore continued walking forward passed the lowered gate that had seamlessly implanted itself into the ground.

On the other side, pass the gate, was a spacious courtyard. They didn't get to stay long enough to really see what was there, other than the fact there was a few buildings inside, with people walking around. Next thing Lucilla new she was inside the halls of the stronghold. It's dark red stone absorbing the light and making the passage appear darker than it actually is.

Along the way they passed many different people from all three races, Mankind, Demons, and Beast-folk. There were even Intelligent monsters walking about. There was also a great number of Giant Spiders crawling about, from floor to the wall to the ceiling, you couldn't go more than five minutes before passing one.

Then they found themselves looking at a large double door entrance.

"My aunt is on the other side." Eleanore said turning to Lucilla and Sara with narrowed eyes. "Don't try anything funny, she's not only strong, but once we sense something is wrong this whole place will swarm you."

"Um, we d- dont want to cause any trouble." Sara stuttered from behind Lucilla.

"We should be good. Dont'cha worry, we only got ta ask somethin' simple ya know?" Cristina added.

With a final look of warning the Spider woman walked away with Savant and Lida following. The Oni giving the party one final glare before leaving.

"Guess we should head in, right?" Lucilla asks as she turned to everyone else. To her dismay they all seemed to have taken a step back from the door.

"I'll back you up if anything goes wrong hon, but I think you should go in first." Morella said, not wanting to deal with spiders. If she thought something was going to happen, she would be standing next to her younger sister, but sense she didn't see themselves being attack she wanted Lucilla to go first for her own sanity.

"You got this teacher; you seem to be the only one unaffected by them." Sara cheered her teacher on, despite the quivering in her voice.

"I find 'er creepy. Good luck." Cristina said crossing her arms grinning.

"Yeah no, you can go first, this place is dropping my sanity levels the longer we stay." Judieth said as she eyed a Giant Spider walking some distance away down the hall.

"...." Lucilla said nothing as she turned back to the large double doors, made from a heavy black stone with silver handles. She placed her hand on the doors, took a deep breath, and pushed.