SPIDER-CHICA!

AVATAR

The torch hit the ground with a dull thud, its flame flickering wildly. Jasmine and Raspheala spun around, their hearts pounding in their chests. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, a familiar silhouette emerged from the shadows, sending a chill down their spines, revealing.

"THE ONE-MAN WONDER! THE WORLD'S FIRST A-GRADE CREEP AND RELENTLESS STALKER... BEN BENS HUR JUNIOR!"

Both girls blinked in disbelief.

"Ben?" they asked in unison.

"The one and only," he replied, a crooked smile playing on his lips as he retrieved the fallen torch. The dancing light cast an eerie glow across his face, accentuating the manic glint in his eyes.

Jasmine swallowed hard, forcing a nervous smile. "What... what are you doing out here?"

Ben twirled the torch, his expression oddly cheerful. "Oh, you know, just a casual midnight stroll. Heard some screams, saw a man being devoured by a giant spider. Quite the spectacle, really." He paused, tilting his head to the side like a curious predator. "Then I stumbled upon a hyena feasting on a woman. Odd, considering we're not exactly in the Serengeti."

The girls exchanged a panicked glance as Ben continued, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "But the real kicker? I saw that massive spider drag its prey here, and it spoke. Next thing I know, the hyena's gorging itself on eyeballs, the spider's cleaning up the scraps, and poof!" He snapped his fingers. "They transform into you two lovely ladies."

He finished with a smile, tilting his head, watching their faces intently.

Raspheala's eyes narrowed, her expression darkening. "Well, Ben, it looks like you leave us no choice." Her voice turned cold. "I'd love to say it's been nice knowing you, but it really wasn't."

Without warning, her body twisted. Her legs burst grotesquely from her back, lifting her into the air, dripping venom that sizzled as it hit the ground.

Ben didn't flinch.

"We don't have to rush into anything," he said with an eerie calmness. "We could still... talk this out."

"I'm sorry, Ben," Jasmine growled, her eyes glowing, teeth sharpening, nails stretching into razor-sharp claws. "But this is the end of the line for you."

Ben opened his mouth to respond, but before he could utter a word, the girls lunged, fangs and claws aimed to tear him apart. Raspheala's leg was inches from piercing his heart, and Jasmine's claws nearly brushed the skin of his neck, ready to rip out his throat.

But Ben didn't move. His eyes, once a calm ocean blue, flared a brilliant gold.

A suffocating force slammed down on the girls with an overwhelming weight. They hit the ground with bone-shattering impact, the soil beneath them cracking under the immense pressure. Their limbs trembled as if the earth itself was crushing them, pushing them deeper into the dirt, bones splintering under the invisible weight.

Ben, or whatever was inside him, sighed. "We could have talked about this." His voice was different now—deeper, colder. "My master won't be pleased you tried to harm his avatar."

As he looked down, his golden eyes blazing, an unnatural power poured from him, the ground beneath the girls trembling under its wrath.

"Who dares try to harm the avatar of Hastur, The King in Yellow?" Ben's mouth spoke, but the voice that emerged was not his own. It echoed with an ancient, otherworldly authority. "You shall pay with your lives. Your souls will be dragged into the abyss, suffering for eternity."

The invisible force continued to crush them, their bones creaking under the immense pressure. Raphaela's one unobstructed eye darted frantically, catching a glimpse of their shadows. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the impossible - a colossal, spectral hand pressing down on them from above, though the night sky remained empty.

She could feel consciousness slipping away. Jasmine's groans echoed beside her. Desperation clawed at Raspheala's mind, and in that moment, she knew there was only one last, humiliating option.

"Ben! Ben!" she called out, her voice strained. "Snap out of it! Are you really…" She hesitated, knowing she might regret what she was about to say for the rest of her life. "Are you really going to kill your new best friends?"

The words hung in the air, trembling with desperation. When they reached Ben's ears, something shifted. His golden eyes flickered. His expression softened, and in an instant, the crushing force eased.

"Best friends?" Ben's face lit up with sudden joy, like a switch had flipped. "Are we friends?"

Raphaela gasped as the pressure eased slightly. "Not for long if you kill us," she managed to croak.

Beside her, Jasmine snarled, her amber eyes flashing defiantly. "I'd rather die than be his friend."

"Oh, right. Sorry, my bad," Ben said brightly, as if he'd just stepped on someone's foot by mistake. With a casual wave of his hand, the suffocating weight lifted from the girls, freeing them from the invisible grip.

The force evaporated, leaving Raspheala and Jasmine gasping on the ground, their bodies aching from the pressure.

"What the hell, Ben?!" Jasmine shouted, her claws retracting as she reverted to her human form. Her voice shook with fury.

"Shhh!" Ben put a finger to his lips, eyes wide. "Do you want Mr. Cummings to find us?"

"Don't you dare shush us!" Raspheala snapped, her limbs twitching as she, too, shifted back into her human shape. "You almost killed us!"

Ben scratched his head, looking completely unbothered. "Well, I've already killed two people tonight, so think of it as karma. What comes around, goes around. Besides," he added, putting his hands on his hips, "you attacked me first. You know, giant spider and werehyena form? To any normal person, that's a kill-or-be-killed situation."

Raspheala stared at him, her chest heaving with disbelief. "Normal? Do you even hear yourself right now?"

But Ben just shrugged, grinning like nothing had happened.

Jasmine's voice quivered as she locked eyes with Ben. "Just what are you, and how can you be so... nonchalant about all this?"

Ben's lips curled into a mischievous grin. He leaned in, cupping a hand to his mouth as if sharing a forbidden secret. "Trust me, I've witnessed far worse than this. You should see my master's children—hideous, ghastly things." His eyes glinted with amusement before he continued, "As for what I am? Just a boy, really. Well, a boy possessed—or perhaps 'avatared'—by a dark lord from another underworld. I'm on a quest to find someone named Medea."

"Isn't that the person who—" Jasmine began, but her friend cut her off.

Raphaela's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Wait, you're an avatar? Where's your arrow? What element can you bend?" Then, as if struck by lightning, her expression changed. "Hold on... you know Medea?"

Ben shrugged, his casual demeanor at odds with the weight of his words. "Not personally. But my master seems utterly obsessed with her, for reasons I can't fathom."

"So, you know how to find her?" Raphaela pressed, leaning forward eagerly.

"I wish," Ben sighed. "I'm just following my master's orders. He's been hunting her for millennia, I reckon. There are multiple avatars like me scattered across the Earth. I hoped you might know something, but..." He trailed off, noticing Raphaela and Jasmine already retreating. "Hey, wait up! We could team up if you want. We're best friends now, right?" He flashed an optimistic smile, oblivious to the girls' hasty departure.

Jasmine suddenly grabbed Raphaela's arm. "Hold on. Why are we walking away? We should take him up on his offer. He—or his master—clearly has a much larger network. They might actually have a shot at finding her."

Raphaela's jaw dropped. "You want to work with... him?" She gestured incredulously at Ben.

"Do we have a choice?" Jasmine's voice was low, intense. "Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the greater good."

"We?" Raphaela echoed, eyebrow raised.

"Yes, we," Jasmine insisted. Her eyes blazed with determination. "If Ben's master is as powerful as he claims, he might know how to break the curse that's haunted my family for generations. I've never even set foot in Africa! And what about you, Raphaela? Do you want to spend your entire life like this—prowling around at night, forever tormented by an insatiable hunger?"

"She makes an excellent point," Ben's face materializing inside the tree nearby tree. Both girls stifled screams, their hearts racing.

Raphaela exhaled heavily, her shoulders sagging in resignation. "You really want to work with... this?" She jerked her thumb towards Ben's grinning face.

Jasmine nodded solemnly.

"I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Raphaela conceded.

"Fantastic!" Ben exclaimed, practically bouncing with excitement. "We're going to have an absolutely thrilling time together. I can feel it in my bones—well, in my master's bones, technically."

As the unlikely trio set off into the night, the air crackled with an electric mix of anticipation and dread. Their quest had only just begun, and the shadows seemed to whisper of the dangers—and wonders—that lay ahead.