“Hey,” I called to my friends. “Snap out of it. This place is trying to get into your head.”
Eric blinked. “Not cool,” he mumbled to himself. “Sorry, sleeping on the job.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “This place is messing with us all. Clem, you all right?”
“Yeah,” she said softly, then nodded and straightened up to her full height. “We need to get out of here before that happens again. I don’t know if I can shake it off if it hits me again.”
That worried me. I’d nearly fallen under the spell, too, and I was a whole level higher than they were. It was time to get my friends out of this place before it was too late.
My serpents aided me in clearing a path. Their darting tips slashed through the cobwebs along with my fusion blade. I picked up the pace and widened the path further, eager to be free of the strange web-choked hallway. Finally, we emerged from the corridor.
And stepped into a much, much larger web.
The floor beyond the hallway was made up of thick white woven cables with narrow gaps between them. They spread out in every direction to form a circular chamber with walls that sloped inward to form a silken sphere. Thinner strands outlined concentric circles that grew progressively smaller until they reached this place’s sole occupant.
Eight glossy, chitinous legs extended from the hips of her slender humanoid torso, which was covered in a scarlet kimono. She pressed the tips of black-lacquered nails to the corners of vibrant red lips quirked into a faint smile. The top half of her face was hidden by a gleaming silver dome dotted with mechanical eyes that lengthened and retracted as if trying to focus on the four humans who had just wandered into her domain.
“Mama Weaver?” I asked.
Her slight smile faded as her eyes focused on me. The spider woman offered me a shallow bow and waited for me to return it before straightening. She strode toward me on those long multi-jointed legs and stopped just a few feet away, towering over me.
“While I am not her, she is a part of me,” she said quietly. “And if you know that name, then you are very far from home, child.”
The creature before me exuded a raw power that nearly forced me to kneel. I tried to examine her core, only to find she didn’t have one. No aura surrounded her, either. She was like the warped in that way, but unlike them in every other. She had a stark and alien beauty, and a regal presence. The smell of oil and hot metal wafted from her, a mechanical perfume that warred with the ripe scents of raw life rising through the gaps in the floor.
“We are indeed far from home,” I said. “With all respect, we must pass through your territory. We wish you no harm and are no threat to you. May we continue our journey?”
“I cannot stop you.” Her eyes extended and retracted as she spoke, focusing on each of us in turn. “The way ahead is perilous for those who do not fully understand the path they tread. But you must know that even if you travel together, you walk alone.”
Her ominous words sent a chill down my spine. We’d already experienced one threat from the webs that surrounded us. I wasn’t eager to discover what else it had in store for us. But we couldn’t turn back, and we had to reach the Forge. I bowed once more, careful not to send Abi tumbling to the ground.
“Thank you for the words of warning,” I said. “Do you have any advice?”
The strange creature stepped to the side and gestured for us to continue. A doorway opened across the round chamber from us, its mouth dark and menacing.
“Remember who you are,” she said, “and hold fast to that. Now, go. The skein of your destiny grows more tangled by the moment.”
That was far from comforting, even if I wasn’t sure what she meant. I thanked her for the advice and led my friends to the exit. The passage beyond was wide enough for us to walk side by side by side, and beams of faint light rose through gaps in the webs to push back the darkness. The floor was still made of thick webs, and we bounced slightly with every step we took.
“Stay alert,” I warned my friends. “I don’t know what she meant by that last warning she gave us, but it can’t be good. If you feel anything, speak up.”
A cool breeze gusted through the webbed walls that surrounded us. It carried the faint aroma of expensive perfume and the savory scent of roasting meat. I couldn’t help but smile as I remembered the fine things I’d enjoyed during my time in the School of Swords and Serpents. There’d been dozens of sumptuous meals with politicians and stars while I was on tour with the Five Dragons Challenge. My clan elders had wined and dined me during my second year, and even the School’s dining hall food was better than anything I’d ever had in my years in the labor camps. But that was only the start. Once I entered the Umbral Forge, anything I’d ever wanted could be mine.
“You don’t understand,” Clem said, her voice urgent and low. “She didn’t have a choice.”
My friend had wandered away while I’d been lost in thought. She pleaded with someone I couldn’t see, begging them to listen to her. Clem took another step toward the passage’s wall, and her words became fuzzy and slurred. Her sweeping gestures and body language told me she was very upset, but I couldn’t make out what was wrong. More worryingly, I couldn’t bring myself to care.
Eric was lost in his own world, too. He wore a beaming smile and raised his hands over his head. His glazed eyes stared out at nothing as he turned to the left and
