Construction

Alice could only stare at what was basically a sentient spider’s version of a modern-age human bridge.

Four massive cables of silk, each one as thick as one of her legs, had safely been anchored to the stone outcropping Alice was standing on; two of them, one on each side of the ledge, were running as parallel as possible to the crumbling natural stone structure that was the limestone bridge, a two meters thick dam that, over the years, had allowed passage over the watery expanse that cut the cave system in two; at least until Chillushrith had almost crashed half of the structure into the jet-black depths below. Now the pathway was missing a large chunk of stone and massive cracks had appeared through the remaining yellowy calcite.

Between the two parallel cables, the spiders had then started forming a layer of silk that would probably allow a careful individual to cross safely. That part seemed to be a work in progress.

The remaining two ropes, instead, had been connected to the first of three huge stone pillars that had apparently been molded out of the dam’s stone by the silent Thinker whose name she had yet to learn.

The supports, each possibly more than four meters wide and fifteen meters tall, looked extremely similar to the rough sketch of the Golden Gate Bridge she had made for the two Thinkers around a week before.

Each pillar seemed to have gradually been erected using the stone of the natural structure underneath, and then cut open where the actual passage would be, thus forming a short, round tunnel that would allow the spiders to traverse the bridge comfortably and safely once it was finished.

Eisor, Skitter, Chillushrith and Ricee had been just as prepared for the view as Alice had been, resulting in a few long minutes of silent staring at the building while an increasingly agitated Ozren sped from one to the other, excitedly chittering in the meanwhile.

When the spiders had managed to shake awake from their stupor, the tiny female had been webbed down with extreme prejudice by the four Thinkers and then interrogated with in a stream of hisses and clicks that had ended with every single spider of the swarm, which had also been listening intently to the conversation, turning and staring at Alice, their palps completely still.

She might have told them from where the idea came from whispered a tiny, singsong voice in her head as she started squirming under the countless unblinking gazes.

After yet another long explanation, Alice had finally managed to get a glimpse of the building process, mainly thanks to the translations offered by Eisor and Skitter of what Ozren had said and done, the tiny spider far too excitable to take her time with sign language.

Apparently, the small group of builders had started by laying a thin but sturdy silken wire that spanned the entire length of the bridge and then carefully braided it with more and more lines of thread until it had become the massive cable that it was now.

While the two lateral cables were being built by Ozren and her weavers; Khemi, the silent Thinker with stone-warping powers, had taken her time to erect each pillar, gradually lowering the dam by about half a meter along its length and then using the collected stone to form the new structures; Alice could still see the narrow, spiraling road the builder had created to reach the top of each tower.

When she had worriedly asked about the stability of limestone, a material not exactly known for its strength and stability, the young woman had discovered that Khemi could also use her magic to compact the stone to be much stronger than it originally was and planned to do so over time to prevent the weight of the structure from actually destroying its own supports; on top of that, they apparently wanted to create more supports that would be connected to the actual walls of the cavern.

The bridge, however, wasn’t finished.

When Chillushrith attempted to place one of her sharp limbs on the thin silk that had been laid between the cables, her leg simply passed through, unable to sustain her weight.

If she tried to cross, she would be left dangling and unable to extricate herself.

As the other members of the swarm rested on the ledge and in the tunnel beyond, the six Elder Thinkers—and Alice—convened to solve the issue.

After a long discussion filled with hisses, clicks and a few bonks on Ozren’s abdomen, some kind of plan was formed.

Within minutes, the entire swarm of more than two hundred arachnids had been mobilized and had started carefully moving up and down the bridge in clusters, each one using the weakened natural structure underneath as a sort of scaffolding while they braided countless lines of silk into more threads and cables.

Four hours of tireless work later, the entire construction had been finished and Alice had already stepped on it, even jumping up and down to check its stability and finding herself unable to feel the slightest wobble from the structure.

The actual surface of the new bridge was now composed of more than three hundred, ten-centimeter wide cables that had been carefully tied together with an extremely thick layer of braided silk, able to prevent even Chillushrith’s legs from sinking through the material.

The two larger cables had also been connected to their supports with hundreds of vertical safety lines that would secure the walkway from any kind of impact, yielding or wind.

All in all, Ozren and Khemi’s creation was a marvel of engineering that, with a bit of maintenance, would probably last for many years to come and allow thousands of safe trips to and from the Nest.

An hour later, they had crossed it, leaving behind only Khemi and a couple of weavers still busy building a railing on its sides; Ozren and the rest of her cluster eagerly joined the expedition.

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Alice didn’t know where she was anymore.

The swarm, led by Eisor, had moved away from the known route a couple hours after crossing the bridge.

The Overseer had disappeared into a somewhat hidden opening in the wet, fungi-encrusted limestone, and led them through a labyrinthine system of tunnels where the girl would have surely lost her way had she been alone.

After entering yet another identical crevice, however, the swarm had found itself walking through a smooth, round and straight passage that seemed to proceed slightly upwards, sometimes cutting through more natural-looking passages, bisecting them and continuing on its path.

Not even the many colonies of microorganisms, mucilage and mold that still grew on the walls and ceiling seemed able to mask the unnatural smoothness of the stone and only the floor was marred by the countless small divots caused by generations of Spear Spiders’ legs.

“What has made this tunnel?” she asked Ricee with a whisper the first time they stopped, many hours later.

The willowy spider softly clicked a few times, seemingly to herself but, after a bit of hesitation, extruded a thin, silvery wire from her spinnerets and attached it to the stone, basically copying Maath’s implement of speech.

The strangest of all the spiders she had met tentatively placed on of her limbs on the wire and started moving it along its length, a soft hiss of annoyance escaping her maw upon hearing the warped sounds her actions elicited.

Nonetheless, after a few minutes of warm out, Ricee managed to produce a single word out of the thread, deeming it good enough for an answer.

“Ẅ̶̨̩̲̺́̆̒́ȯ̸̩͓̫̲͍̮͒̈́̈́̀̇͌̏̾̋̀̑́͜ͅŗ̸̭̖̫̰͕͇̗͔̜͓̙̖́̓̽͝m̵̼̱̼̙͇̯̒̍̈̋̏̆̅̚.”

It echoed through the tunnel, still understandable beneath all the disturbance, and the spider clicked in satisfaction as she consumed her wire.

“Well… I definitely hope we are not going to meet it today. Or ever.” She stated before finally settling down to rest.

The next day, their travel continued forward and upwards through the colorful and spore-filled tunnel. Alice was feeling particularly thankful for the powers she had been granted as she fine-tuned her lungs’ immune system to maximum alert, focusing on the removal of any kind of infection coming from the countless particles she constantly inhaled.

She had just finished spitting a mouthful of bitter and mildly poisonous purple spores when an unusual sight caught her overwhelmed eyes.

The young woman stopped on her tracks to stare at a part of the wall that was exactly identical to the one in front of it; each microbial colony on its surface had been perfectly mirrored and the only difference was in the slightly duller colors of the one to her right.

Alice frowned in confusion; while magic was always a possible explanation, the sight in front of her still shouldn’t have been possible without some kind of external assistance.

A few meters in front of her, Chillushrith stopped and turned towards her, probably wondering why she had stopped.

The young biomancer ignored it and extended a hand towards the wall, her digits feeling its cold and rough surface as she sent a small wave of her magic towards the mold colony, hoping something in its make-up would offer a reason for the strange display.

The feedback she received, however, was not that of mold.

Her eyes widened as a single, pomegranate-sized eye suddenly appeared a few centimeters away from her hand, its almost rectangular pupil fixating on her form.

As an instantaneous reaction, Alice activated her adrenal glands with a torrent of her magical warmth, her pupils widening and her entire system accelerating as the adrenaline flooded within her veins.

Her perception of time dilated as she felt the massive amount of epinephrine coursing through her brain, forcing her neurons to respond faster to any stimuli; within her peripheral vision she could perfectly see four tentacles appear from their hidden placement along the walls, their squished forms growing thicker with every single one of her heartbeats.

She could see Chillushrith’s fangs extending as she sluggishly moved towards her, spiked limbs digging deep into the ground and her exoskeleton rippling as her frontal legs started warping into sharp and deadly blades.

Three of the tentacles had already wrapped around three other members of the swarm but the last one was coming straight towards her, extremely fast despite her enhanced reaction time.

The massive appendage impacted her body and she felt the painful suction of its suckers on her exposed leg. The young woman barely had the time to place her mace sideways as the tentacle wrapped itself around her torso and immediately started squeezing in an attempt to crush her while the rest of the giant land octopus attempted to escape with its prey.

She felt the blood flow to her leg stop from the impromptu tourniquet but the already groaning mace was managing to keep the worst of the pressure away from her body; nevertheless, she heard one of her ribs crack when the weapon’s shaft started bending inwards, the wave of pain ignored thanks to the adrenaline numbing her pain receptors.

This time, however, Alice didn’t let herself get overwhelmed and immediately sent a massive wave of energy through her right hand and into the cephalopod’s system, overwhelming its defenses.

In an instant she found herself inside, feeling the way its flexible muscles strained to crush her, sensing its receptors sending small trickles of pain from the spot where her mace was pushing against its skin; she felt the nerves sending waves of information to its large and complex brain.

Terminus

She willed the Word of Power within her head, using a portion of the warmth she had soaked into the octopus’ flesh to overwhelm the nerves that usually sent the orders to its muscles, feeling the immediate reduction of the pressure on her chest. The creature, however, did not seem interested in freeing her and still proceeded further down the passage, a band of spiders at its non-existent heels attempting to stab through its resilient rubbery skin.

An ugly smile appeared on her lips as she felt for her well of power and the shadowy core that was currently touching her skin through her bandolier.

I’m not prey anymore. It’s time you all learned about it.

Alice forcefully ignored the signals of her own system and moved completely into the giant octopus’s body, only a thin thread of warmth keeping her connected to her body.

Maintaining her grip onto Terminus to avoid being crushed while she worked, the girl sped through the monster’s nervous system until she found herself into its large main brain, connected to the remaining eight smaller ones that seemed to be separately controlling each of the tentacles.

Between its eyes she briefly felt the pressure of a large and shiny core but she filed the information for later, instead using her Biomagical Instincts to find a particular spot in its brain. She found it four heartbeats later.

Let’s see how you answer to this.

With care, Alice grappled with the remaining half of her powers and sent them as a single wave that slowly rushed through the being’s nerves, overwhelming its defenses.

A mere instant later, most of the wave had found the octopus’ version of the thalamus, the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex, activating them all at once to send the most painful wave of pain that the creature could possibly perceive, ignoring any kind of natural resistance it could possess.

The octopus stopped, a silent gulping sound escaping its hidden beak as seven of its tentacles twitched and twisted, inadvertently crushing the already broken remains of the three spiders but unable to actually push it forward even if the animal had had the presence of mind to try. The last one remained limp on the ground, still holding the silent girl torturing it from within.

Alice let the pain run its course for a few more instants while she searched for its circulatory control, the girl could feel the beings’ magic trying to fight hers but her attack had been too sudden and its own core seemed to be somewhat empty, possibly because of the camouflage it had used for its ambush. She finally reached for the large, stalk-like thread of neurons just as the core flared up in desperation, a massive wave of shining energy erupting from its body but barely registered by her own, something that had passed through her eyelids but caused only a moderate amount of damage.

Terminus she whispered again.

The three hearts of the creature finally stopped.

Two days later they arrived at their destination.

Alice smiled upon seeing the familiar environment.

An apple-sized, glowing core dangled from a pouch at her side, her glowing eyes repaired after the incredibly bright flash of light had damaged her enhanced retinas. She had also obtained a small insight on a way to further improve on their design as well as a deeper look into active camouflage and pigmented cells but, in that moment, she wasn’t focused on her body.

The subtle drone of wasps and the skittering of countless legs was a sweet song to her ears.

She had come for the payback.

*****

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