A Tamer's Tale

Eliza trudged through the darkness of the night, her eyes fixed into a scowl. As she walked down the dirt road that led into town, she began to sense that something wasn't quite right. Most houses would have been dark by now, plunged into slumber, but that wasn't the case. Many had candles and lanterns lit, the orange light of the flickering fire escaping their windows.

Her hunch became real when she found a couple trying to block a child's path. The child, who at one point looked to be sleepwalking, turned savage, scratching, kicking, and biting at the father.

At first, Eliza thought the couple was the problem; maybe the mother or father had done something to anger the youngster. But that thought was quickly thrown out the window as the mother dropped to her knees and started crying out: "Kath! Please, Kath, listen to me! Wake up!"

Only moments had passed before Eliza turned and heard similar shouts and cries for help. Immediately, her stomach dropped. "The kids!" Her eyes widened in horror. She had left them all alone.

Eliza sprinted back the way she came, panic overwhelming her.

It only took her a few minutes to arrive home, but to her dismay, all her children were gone. The door was left wide open, their beds were messy, and Jules's pillow was scattered on the floor.

Eliza fell to her knees, her eyes red and her breathing ragged. She scanned the room, hoping, even praying, that they might be messing with her. Maybe they were hiding behind the table, or even playing in the backyard... at night...

But as she continued to look, no mischievous child jumped out.

Grabbing her head, tears fell from her eyes. Turning towards the open door, she took a deep breath and exhaled. Staring into the darkness enveloping the forest edge, she darted out the door. She was going to find them tonight. She had to.

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Rue didn't have to follow his brother for long before they undoubtedly arrived at the final destination. A pitch-black cave at the bottom of a mountain opened up wide, the darkness inside magnitudes more potent than the nights.

As if Gabe were strolling through a field of flowers, he stomped down into the cave. No fear, no hesitation, no nothing. It was eerie, and the cave was surprisingly web-free.

As Gabe entered the cave, nearby bushes began to rustle, and fallen twigs snapped. From the forest, several more children walked out. Their pace leisurely, and their demeanor zombie-like.

Each, without fail, ignored Rue, stepping past him into the clearly perilous cave.

Smacking himself in the face, Rue shook his head and pumped himself up. 'Let's do this...' He thought, taking shaky steps into the cave.

As Rue descended into the darkness, nearby where the children came out, a little girl's head poked over a bush. Her brown eyes scanned the cave entrance. A small pout infringed on her freckled face when she saw Rue's back disappear into the darkness. Glancing at the ground, she picked up a sturdy-looking stick. Gripping it tightly, she followed after her brothers.

Deep within the cave, Rue's mind had practically grown numb. He had walked through a forest of webs into a dark cave with unknown but most definitely treacherous creatures.

Tired but determined, he continued trekking. Eventually, the group arrived at an underground stream, the water emerging from a large crack in the cave walls. Moving forward, the stream flowed down the cave, keeping Rue and his band of hypnotized children company.

Then, the darkness expanded into a more expansive room, a significant drop-off appearing, compelling the river to descend into a waterfall. Rue, now at the front of the group, glanced down. He squinted his eyes, focusing as hard as he could, but he couldn't see the bottom. 'Looks like a dead end.' He concluded,

When Rue turned to see where the hypnotized children would go, a girl, maybe 6 or 7 years old, brushed past him. She stepped into the darkness, descending in a free fall.

Rue's eyes went wide.

Not even a few seconds later, did he hear the sick sound of flesh impacting hard stone, joined by the occasional squirt of liquid.

Firing his head to the side, he raised his hands. Straining his exhausted Soul Ocean, he channeled his affinity, forcefully raising a thin wall to block the remaining children from stepping to their doom.

Quickly finishing, he fell back in exhaustion, his head pounding even harder, his joints aching.

Whipping the sweat off his head, he turned and watched as the children punched and scratched the earthen wall. Understanding the wall wouldn't last long, Rue closed his eyes, trying to devise a solution. "Damn." He said.

Moving through the wall and closing it behind him, Rue stared down the pit. Looking back at the wall, he sighed, "Gabe, don't get hypnotized next time. For my sake..."

Staring back at the pit, he willed pillars to extend from the cave's walls. Grabbing on, he climbed down, Shiny following close behind.

After several minutes of descent, Rue stepped on flat ground. This time, though, it was wet. He expected some moisture from the waterfall, but he could make out a red color through his darkness-impaired vision.

Unconsciously looking forward, several bodies lay squished on the ground, the blood, bones, and flesh spread across the floor. Gravity had not been kind to its victims.

Rue scrunched his nose, the smell of dead bodies tickling his nostrils. He couldn't help but let out a gag, his eyes tearing up from the reflex. As he began to contemplate his very life decisions, a faint tapping noise echoed through the cave.

Shiny, who had scuttled between Rue's feet, hissed into the darkness, his back and fur raising in protest. In response to the perceived danger, the rocks on Shiny's body began to faintly glow, illuminating a portion of the darkness.

As the darkness retreated, a thin, long, black keratin leg gradually clicked on the ground. Gulping, Rue looked up.

Meeting his gaze, thousands of red eyes stared down at him. But that wasn't what scared him the most. No, it was the 8 giant red eyes staring down at him from 3 feet away. The red glow of the creature's eyes illuminating its long fangs and hairy face,

"Fuc-"

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The instant Rue glimpsed those red eyes was the moment his brain went into overdrive. Honestly, he should have known what to expect coming into this cave. He kept trying to remind himself he didn't have an option in all of this; he didn't want his brother to die.

But coming face to face with the threat causing all of this sent him into fight or flight. And at that moment, Rue chose flight.

Rue shot in the opposite direction of the 8-legged monstrosity, each step aided by his movement technique, sending him faster and hopefully further away. From below, Shiny quickly scrambled up Rue's back, catching a ride on his shoulder.

As they sped away into the cave's darkness, the clicking and clacking of spiders grew fainter. He had not run far before he took a mouthful of webs to the face, bringing him back to reality. "I can't believe I actually came down here. What was I thinking? Was I even thinking?"

Rue fell to the floor, his eyes red and his body shaking. Then, he felt a soft paw smack his cheek. Turning his head, he came face to face with Shiny's black eyes and button nose. A single word resonating through their connection, 'Together"

Rue closed his eyes. Even as he felt the thousands of beady red eyes gaze at him, he forced himself to calm down. Opening his violet eyes, he glanced behind.

The giant spider decided to feast on dead bodies first, giving him a few moments of reprieve. After all, food only spoils if it's dead.

Realizing he was safe from the menace, at least for now, he observed the other thousands of spiders clinging unmoving to the giant web encasing the cavern's walls. Their red eyes clearly giving away their locations.

The lack of movement was unnerving to Rue, but worse was that he held every spider's unwavering attention. Each of their gazes directed purely at him and nothing else. Then, in the far corner, a spider moved forward, and like pulling the trigger of a gun, the thousands of other spiders surged.

Watching the spiders rush forward, Rue leaned heavily on his connection to Shiny to stay sane. He had always hated spiders, but the ones he had learned to hate never grew so large they could rival a dog.

Looking around at his surroundings, he couldn't see much but darkness. But his ears caught a faint noise. Aside from the descending clicking and growing clacking, he heard the rush of water. 'The river!'

Running towards the sound of water, Rue discovered a fast-flowing river descending further down into another cave. Communicating with Shiny, the duo hastily formed an earthen wall, blocking the river's exit.

Not even a second passed before the river began to flood, the rapidly moving water engulfing the cavern's floor.

The attacking spiders continued their assault, ignoring the rushing water.

As the water level continued to rise, only when the wetness met Rue's knees did the first of the many spiders come into striking range.

Honing in on their glowing eyes, Rue used his first and only soul construct. A sandstone pillar the width of a quarter rose from the ground, ascending at lightning speeds, striking the closest spider in the face. The spider flew backward, its face now smashed into a mush.

The water level kept rapidly rising, but even then, the spiders continued their assault. From the constant use of his Soul Ocean, Rue's headache rapidly developed into a migraine.

Wincing, he continued summoning sandstone pillars, sending corgi-sized spiders flailing through the air. Shiny didn't just lay idle, either. The little rodent pulled sand from Rue's pillars, firing it into the wave of incoming spiders, blinding their approach.

However, when one spider was killed, another two took its place.

As the tide of creatures was about to overwhelm Rue's defense, Rue smirked. The water was finally making a difference. Just as the closed spider urged it's legs to lunge forward, it's legs only met the resistance of water. The spiders could no longer contact the ground, the vast majority now floating about in the rising water.

Watching the spider's flail, Rue could not help but take a moment to catch his breath, but he froze just as the water level rose to splash Rue's chin. A chilling aura rooting his body in place. The water continued to rise, swallowing him whole.

From the other side of the cavern, long, thin black legs shredded through the water, each step bringing the creature closer. The largest spider had been enjoying its meal until his food washed away.

Deciding to focus on its only remaining meal, the spider lunged at Rue.

Rue, frozen in place, felt his mind being assaulted by hundreds of thousands of persuasive thoughts, each convincing him to come nearer. The voice sounded so compelling, each word sweeter than the last. As his mind fell into the spider's trap, his Soul Ocean began to shake.

A pale red band of energy pierced into Rue's head, breaking it's way into his Soul Ocean. Just as the red band of energy attempted to snap into place, forming a connection to Rue's Soul Spring did a shield of earthen energy block the invasive connection. From Rue's Soul Ocean, Shiny stood at the top of his tiny hill, his body glowing a dark brown.

Shaking from his stupor, Rue opened his eyes, directing his attention to his Soul Ocean.

Rue couldn't help but scowl as he began to understand the nature of the attack. 'You want to Tame me?' Rue thought, his scowl growing deeper. His whole body felt utterly repulsed by the abhorrent contract the spider was trying to force upon him.

The connection between him and Shiny could only be described in one word, 'equal.' Shiny was not contained to his Soul Ocean; instead, Shiny could come out whenever he liked and do as he pleased. Their contract was formed around both of their best interests. Shiny had a safe place to store his gems and a new way to potentially find more while Rue gained protection from the little guy and the numerous benefits of having a Tame.

Shiny was not Rue's pet. Rue did not have absolute control over everything Shiny did, and he was glad he didn't. Shiny clearly had wants and desires, and forcing him to abandon those desires in place of his own just didn't sit right with him, but that was precisely the kind of contract the spider wanted to force on him.

But as Rue watched Shiny, even as exhausted as he was, fight back against the forceful intrusion of the spider he couldn't help but be thankful for the weird sequence of events that caused them to meet.

Invigorated, Rue raised his ghostly pale hand, resembling that of his past life. Directing his earth affinity, Rue reinforced Shiny's shield. But as seconds passed, their shield cracked, pieces crumbling and dispersing into motes of light.

'We can't survive if we just defend.' Glancing at the gray and blue stars above his head, he reached out. Feeling their connection, he weaponized his other affinities for the first time.

A wave of gray and white energies washed over the spider's invasive soul connection. The encroaching pale red web dimmed, its silken features turning rugged. Black spots of decay rapidly spread across the connection, and the white spots slowed its regeneration.

Outside, in the rising waters, the spider screeched in agony, raising its front legs in recoil. Rue rapidly returned to himself, opened his eyes underwater, and breathed in large mouthfuls of rapids. Gagging for air, he ascended to the surface, spitting out the water from his lungs.

Quick to take advantage of the spider's moment of weakness. Rue sent out the biggest sandstone pillar he had ever conjured, coating it with the pale gray energy he had been warned not to use.

The massive pillar coated in decay slammed hard on the creature's chest, sending it flying several feet away, toppling it on its back. Choking on the rising water, the spider flailed about, attempting to flip itself back over.

Safe for the moment, but not about to let the spider recover, Rue was about to send out another pillar when the ceiling lit up with a vibrant orange light, bathing the whole cavern in flickering shadows. Recalling Shiny, a thought flashed through Rue's mind, 'Someone had arrived.'