They considered a webbed hammock for Sela – practical and comfortable. But the thought of replicating her captivity felt like a cruel mockery.

  Instead, they fashioned a rock bed, softened with scavenged clothing, and covered her with a makeshift blanket woven by the spiders from their meager supplies.

  Kleo and Bug Bug arranged for a spider guard, their glowing eyes fixed on the recovering woman.

  In a side tunnel, Kleo leaned against Jack, her head resting on his shoulder. Exhaustion clung to them like a heavy second skin. The journey, the desert heat, the brutal battle—and Sela’s fragile state—weighed heavily on them.

  The spiders’ acceptance of Kleo as their queen was temporary. Once they left, communication would be impossible. They needed a solution, a way for her to leave without igniting chaos.

  Kleo’s thoughts swirled: the spiders, Sela, and Jack. Would he still accept her Arch Demana form now that the adrenaline had faded? The Queen was dead, but the unease lingered. She needed to address it now.

  Without lifting her head, she voiced her concerns. “I’m worried about Sela. We’re helpless. She needs the sanctuary, but we can’t move her.”

  Jack brushed his lips against her hair. “We could transport her by spider, secured with webbing.”

  Kleo considered this, the image of Sela waking up bound to a spider unsettling. “It might shatter her further,” she admitted, her voice heavy. “But we might not have a choice.”

  “Delaying could be worse,” Jack said. “If she dies because we hesitated…”

  Kleo nodded, the unspoken agreement hanging in the air.

  “And the spiders,” she added. “I can’t stay, and they can’t come with us. How can I be their queen?”

  Jack, thoughtful, offered, “Have you considered a Spider King?”

  She tilted her head. “Meaning?”

  “Bug Bug,” he said. “He’s your most trusted. Promote him.”

  A sly smile played on Kleo’s lips. “If I married him, they’d recognize his authority.”

  Jack huffed. “That’s not what I meant. Am I not enough?”

  Kleo laughed, her shoulders relaxing. Jack’s teasing tone reassured her.

  “Well,” she said, “you saw my Arch Demana form. Maybe that’s too much.”

  Her words were light, but Jack caught the underlying insecurity. He hadn’t fully processed it himself.

  “Well,” he began, his tone serious, “I did talk to Maya about a spell to grow my body an extra meter or so. You know, for… experimentation.”

  Kleo’s eyes widened, amusement battling surprise. “Oh, husband. You’d do that?”

  “Anything.”

  “Would everything grow in proportion?”

  Jack laughed, Kleo joining him. “Maybe. But we’d need mittens for those claws.”

  “Don’t worry, handsome,” Kleo teased, leaning closer. “I’ll be gentle.”

  Their laughter faded, and they kissed, a long, deep kiss that felt like a lifetime.

  When they parted, Kleo sighed, the warmth easing her tension. “Let’s sleep. We’ll figure it out later.”

  Sela clawed her way through the labyrinthine passages, her arms streaked with blood and grime, her fingers raw and stripped to the bone. Broken nails, torn away, left crimson trails along the jagged walls. Her veins—blackened and swollen with poison—throbbed with each labored heartbeat, a rhythm of agony and defiant will. Her tattered clothes, remnants of a forgotten life, dissolved like shadows, revealing raw, glistening skin. The venom of her death and rebirth seeped from her pores, an acrid scent of rot and renewal.

  Ascend. If she could only reach the surface, she would be pure. Clean. Transformed.

  A whisper stirred, ancient and inexorable, not a voice but a presence—a truth etched on the edges of her unraveling. She clung to it, a lifeline in the darkness, though its meaning eluded her grasp. Yet, like light seeping through cracks, it permeated her being.

  Then, a thought, fragile yet undeniable, surfaced.

  “I was a crystal.” Cold. Flawless. Unbroken.

  Until the fire came and whispered: “You are a prison for the light.”

  The image consumed her. She felt the shattering—the exquisite agony of being undone. She was neither crystal nor fire, but the ash that bore their memory.

  And in the stillness of her breaking, the riddle emerged:

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “What are you?”

  Her answer, a truth forged from fragments:

  “I am the question you will never answer.”

  The world felt distant, dream fragments clinging to her mind as Maya shook her awake. The urgency in Maya’s voice sliced through the haze, pulling Kleo back to the reality of the small cavern beneath the desert.

  “Kleo, it’s Sela,” Maya whispered, her voice tight with worry.

  Kleo opened her eyes, lifting her head from Jack’s warm, solid chest. The ground was hard, but his presence was a comforting anchor, making her reluctant to move. Not for Maya. Not for Sela. Not for anything.

  Maya’s voice sharpened. “She’s gone.”

  Kleo tensed, her mind snapping awake. Gone how?

  “What do you mean, gone?” Kleo asked, sitting up. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Maya admitted, her voice rising. “She’s just… not there. The spiders are resting, but she’s not.”

  A chilling thought crossed Kleo’s mind. “You don’t think the spiders—” She couldn’t voice the possibility.

  “No,” Maya said, then more firmly. “They didn’t harm her.”

  Kleo nodded, relieved but still uneasy.

  “I found a blood trail,” Maya continued. “It leads through the tunnels, heading upwards. I followed it, calling her name, but she didn’t respond. She’s trying to reach the surface.”

  Before Kleo could reply, a flicker of green caught her eye. Eight glowing spider eyes appeared in the darkness, and a single word pulsed into her mind: Ascend.

  Kleo glanced at Maya, their eyes meeting. The word hung between them, its meaning elusive but insistent.

  “‘Ascend,’” Kleo murmured. “What does that even mean?”

  Maya frowned. “It fits. She went up—towards the surface.”

  Kleo shook her head. “It’s more than that. Something deeper. Like… a spiritual ascension.”

  Maya gasped, misunderstanding. “You think she’s—dead?”

  “No.” Kleo’s reply was calm but confident. “Not dead. Changed. Transformed. A spiritual shift, I think, though I can’t explain it.”

  Maya’s worry lingered. “Should we follow her? She could be half-dead, dying alone in a tunnel.”

  Kleo nodded, her lips tightening. If Sela were only half-dead, it would be an improvement.

  “We’ll follow her,” Kleo said. “We need to leave soon. My mother should be at the sanctuary, and we can’t wait.” She hesitated. “First, the spiders. Jack and I have a plan.”

  Maya’s brow furrowed, but she didn’t press. Kleo’s tone suggested an explanation wouldn’t be forthcoming.

  “Let’s prepare, then,” Maya said. “If Sela’s out there, we’ll find her.”

  Kleo nodded. The word ascend echoed in her mind as she rose, the weight of their journey settling on her shoulders.

  The light shattered into a million fractured reflections, painting a single, distorted image—alive, breathing, wary, and irrevocably twisted. She scrambled, frantically sifting shards through the sieve of her memory, forming and unforming, shifting and unshifting, a thousand fragments per moment in a ceaseless, maddening dance, until she closed her eyes to silence the chaos.

  She had fled, and they had sung a name.

  Were the angels coming to save her again? Had she shattered again? She felt shattered.

  I cupped my hands, and the rain whispered:

  Their voices, sharp and swift, fell like chaotic droplets of morning rain, splashing into her—a puddle, full, overflowing, spilling out like shadows fleeing the dawn.

  "You have no name—only the echo of a name you can no longer be."

  She did not falter. She did not look back.

  Kleo found Bug Bug amidst hundreds of resting spiders in the dim, web-laden cavern. She motioned for him to follow, leading him to Sela’s vacated resting chamber. The trance-like spiders stationed on the walls stirred as they approached.

  Cluster?

  Bug Bug’s signal echoed confusion, mirroring the group’s unease. Sela’s absence was an enigma.

  The resting spiders’ glowing green eyes opened one by one. A ripple of thought pulsed through the chamber: Ascend.

  Bug Bug tilted his head, considering the signal, then replied: Ascend.

  The word vibrated through their bond, layered with unspoken meaning. Sela’s trail, leading upwards, was clear. How she moved in her state remained a mystery.

  Kleo gestured towards the tunnel. Queen. Move.

  Move, came the immediate reply, laced with protective intent.

  Kleo shook her head. Stay.

  Bug Bug hesitated, his posture radiating resistance. His loyalty was absolute: to serve and protect.

  Kleo glanced at Jack. It was time for their plan. If it failed, they had no backup.

  She turned to Bug Bug, sending a stronger signal: Cluster.

  A gathering. A meeting of purpose.

  They entered the Spider Queen’s former lair, the swarm above stirring, their movements shaking the vast webbing.

  Kleo and Bug Bug stood at the center, surrounded by a sea of glowing green eyes. The spiders resembled a living constellation in the dim light, both awe-inspiring and unsettling.

  Queen hummed the swarm, their loyalty a raw, unrelenting pressure against Kleo’s mind. She worried about their reaction to her departure.

  She reached out, touching the primal bond that tethered them. Focusing on Bug Bug, her first follower, she steadied her thoughts.

  “Bug Bug,” she said, resting her hand on his carapace. “You’re their leader now.”

  She sent a clear, commanding signal: Cluster.

  Silence fell. The swarm’s hum receded, their focus narrowing on her and Bug Bug.

  Kleo stepped back, raising her hands. King.

  The word resonated, carrying finality. Bug Bug’s hesitation dissolved, replaced by a surge of resolve. He turned to the swarm, emitting a deep, resonant hum.

  The spiders froze, their eyes locked on Bug Bug. Tension filled the air, and then, one by one, they lowered their heads, their forelegs folding in submission.

  “They’re… bowing,” Jack murmured, disbelief in his voice. “It worked.”

  Kleo exhaled, releasing held tension. Bug Bug clicked, vibrating with powerful energy. He stepped forward, assuming his role. The swarm moved with synchronized precision, their chaos replaced by order.

  Kleo raised her arms, her voice steady. Queen. Ascend.

  The reply came in unison, a resounding hum: Ascend.

  The spiders bowed again as Kleo led her group towards the tunnels, leaving the lair behind.

  Ahead lay Sela’s trail, the surface, and the Demana sanctuary.

  Sela crawled into the light—warm, brilliant, the golden embrace of a goddess’s smile. She tried to rise, but her legs buckled, sending her crashing back to her hands and knees.

  Seven veils hung between me and the truth I could not touch.

  She collapsed, surrendering to the warmth, letting it consume her. It scorched away the old skin, the remnants of her former self. It drew out the poison, the memories, the nameless horrors.

  I tore through six, only to find the seventh was my own skin.

  When she rose, she shimmered—her new skin a constellation of light, a million fractured reflections woven into a radiant whole. She was remade, her edges keen, her form incandescent, no longer the creature that had crawled into the light.

  She would be an angel. She was an angel.

  The angels circled, chanting songs of mercy, but their voices were the same as the wolves that howled in the abyss.

  Her wings were there, waiting to be unfurled. She lay back, gazing at the endless, blinding sky, spreading herself wide in worship, her arms carving arcs across the sun-warmed sand. The desert watched in silent reverence, the air shimmering with awe.

  I said, “If I cannot be whole, I will be infinite.”