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Orange tinted sunlight streamed through the forest's canopy and painted the grassy floor in dancing shadows.
Peaceful bird songs and slight rustling accompanied a blonde man wandering through the forest's depth in search for some relief of his boredom and a break from his hometown's crazy shenanigans.
His bright blue eyes scanned his surroundings to hopefully find something worth exploring or perhaps a new animal species to add to his collection of pets.
When day slowly turned into night and the warm orange glow faded into gentle white moonlight, Willerton took to the treetops so he didn't have to bother with all the small fry mobs starting to emerge from in between the trees. He was far stronger than them and could handle them without a problem, equipped with armor and his trusted Neptunium sword, but he didn't feel like fighting at the moment.
The blonde stopped at a small river to drink a sip of water and eat one of the cooked cods he never leaves the house without, basking in the silence for a second.
Suddenly he shuddered, feeling like he was being watched. When he scanned his surroundings he didn't notice anything amiss so he chalked it up to a distant zombie having taken aim for him.
He leisurely started walking down the river path, slaying any mobs that come in his way with his sword and otherwise just mindlessly wandering.
Behind him he suddenly heard the clattering of countless legs on the ground and whirled around to find himself staring at about 20 spiders, all heading for him at once from the other side of the river.
"What the hell", he exclaimed and turned away from the water to hurry back into the forest, not wanting to deal with that many spiders at once.
He hurried his pace when the clattering doesn't seem to let up but rather increase from all sides around him except for the front. He mused to himself that he had never seen that coordinated behavior from spiders before, not even in mineshafts or spider dungeons. This almost seemed too coordinated for the beasts to be capable of.
He stopped when he realized his mistake. This could really never be coordinated by ordinary spiders. Something inside of him urged him to look up and he froze when he spotted that the trees have grown larger without him noticing and the entire sky is blocked out by masses of webs covering the entire forest area around him.
"Shit, this is just my luck to stumble into some boss monsters' lair when I'm out alone, without even KFC near me..." Willerton tried to summon his trusted mount and friend with a sweep of his summoning staff but he already knew the town was too far away for it to work.
The blonde looked up again, trying to route out a path he could take to get through the webs but they were so dense that he would spend several hour at least to climb and hack through them, grounded as he was. So scrapping that idea he accepted his fate and continues his path forward, casting all his senses out to warn him of approaching danger.
The forest grew eerily quiet the farther in he walked and he contemplated going back, but thinking of the hoards of spiders he heard clattering behind him he might as well take on the boss itself.
After what felt like hours of walking he finally stumbled upon what feels like the nest of a giant spider. The webs almost reached the ground now and the blonde had to duck multiple times to avoid walking face first into the silken threads. Cocoons were sitting at the bottoms of trees here and there and a dangerous hum filled the air, warning all creatures to turn their back and get out... If they still could.
Willerton swallowed and slowly turns in a circle, fully expecting an ugly, giant spider to make an appearance at any moment.
Instead he felt a chill run down his spine as a warm breath tickled his neck and a rumbling voice purred near to his ear "Well, well, well, look what pretty prey has walked into my lair~"
The blonde was not proud of the scream he let out as he spun around and jumped back several paces, his sword held out in front of him in trembling hands. "What the fuck?!"
What he saw before him was certainly not what he expected. The boss was a spider alright, albeit one with a very human torso growing out of the area where a spider's face would normally be, two pairs of arms accompanying the eight pairs of legs and a too wide smile filled with rows of sharp teeth sitting in a face with eight eyes. It was unnerving to say the least.
Willerton swallowed and tried to think of weak spots the abomination before him might have to end this quickly. At this point he just wanted to go home and not go exploring for the next year.
"So, my precious children were able to send you my way after all. When I saw your blue eyes and golden hair through them I couldn't help but want to take a closer look myself, safe to say I'm not disappointed", the beast purred and lowered itself to the ground on all eight legs.
"What are you talking about?", the blonde asked in his most demanding tone, steeling his voice to not show the unnerved tremble that was going through him.
The spider person (Willerton wasn't sure if it was considered male or female as it's features would be considered more androgynous by human standards) chuckled and slowly drew closer, prompting the blonde to back away. "You see, it is not everyday that I come across a human in my part of the forest and if it's a beautiful specimen like you, I might as well, don't you think?"
He shuddered in uncomfortable disgust as the monster slowly looked him up and down and adjusts his grip on his sword. "Well, then it is just your luck that this 'specimen' will be the last human you will ever see!"
With that he charged forward and kept low to the ground, aiming for the spider's front legs. Seeming to catch the beast by surprise he actually managed to slash one clean through but his sword didn't damage the second one enough to separate it. The spider shrieked in pain and pulled itself up into the trees again.
"How dare you! I was willing to spend some more time with you before devouring you, but now, oh now I will make sure you will suffer slowly and painfully through it!" It growled and started crawling through the maze of webs faster than the blonde's eyes could follow.
"Fuck!", the blonde cursed himself while slowly spinning in a circle and tried to focus on his hearing to locate the monster when suddenly something sticky connected with his back.
"Wha-", his voice trailed off into a yelp when he was violently pulled backwards and collided with something solid. Groaning he tried to move but froze in horror when he realized he had been pulled into a giant net and all his limbs were sticking to it. "No no no no NO!", he desperately struggled to break at least his sword arm free when said weapon was ripped from his grip and thrown onto the ground.
"Not so brave now, pretty human?", the spider smirked at him with malice as it lowered itself to eye height.
Willerton swallowed nervously and defiantly stared back while subtly trying to reach his fillet knife strapped to his backpack with his right hand, which was stuck closer to his torso. If only he could grab it and slice the net, then maybe he could surprise the spider and stab its stupid face.
"Now that I have you all tied up and helpless, let's begin our fun, my dear~" the spider's smile widened and it trailed long fingers equipped with sharp claws through his golden hair.
"Stop touching me, you bastard", Willerton spat out through grit teeth, yanking his head backwards and further tangling his hair in the spider net.
The spider only smirked wider and grabbed ahold of his chin to take a closer look at his features to which the blonde spat in its face.
Stunned the beast pulled back and glared at the human, before a wicked laugh tore out of its throat. "So this is how you want to play this, brave little human"
It opened up its jaw, showing off the rows and rows of sharp teeth. From the top of its maw suddenly sprung two pinchers glistening a sickly green under the moonlight.
"Wait, we can talk about this!", the blonde tried in a last futile effort but the spider sprang forward and buried its teeth and pinchers in Willerton's shoulder.
A scream rang through the forest.
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It was the middle of the night and a peaceful, sleepy silence enveloped a small town, filled with many peculiar individuals.
One such individual woke up with a gasp from his restless slumber and blearily blinked the sleep from his eyes.
"What the hell was that dream", Luca mumbled to himself as he tiredly rubbed his hand over his face, unknowingly leaving some grease streaks he didn't manage to wash off earlier.
He sat in bed for a while, staring at his wall and thinking about what could have prompted the uneasy feeling in his stomach.
Deciding he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep anyways, the engineer dragged himself to his feet and stretched. "Might as well check up on everyone."
The blonde made his way around the town, listening for any abnormal noises or signs that someone might need help while the moon was high up in the sky. When he made his way back to his house he noticed KFC, his neighbor's most trusted mount, restlessly shuffling next to Willerton's house, keening and whining like it desperately wanted to move but couldn't because it was ordered to sit.
Cautiously he made his way over to the vibrant bird and tried to talk it down with soothing pets and words. When nothing helped he turned to the hat seller's door instead and let himself in after his quiet knock went unanswered. "Willerton?", he called into the quiet home.
The bed was made and empty and upon checking both the attic and the crawl basement Luca decided the man is not home. Strange, but not completely out of the ordinary.
Back outside he approached KFC again and noticed the bird looking more panicked with every second.
"You wanna take a calming flight, little guy?", he asked the bird and something like relief flooded the avian's expression, if that was even possible.
As soon as Luca hopped on KFC's back and took off the bird starter zooming in one direction at his top speed, almost making the engineer lose his balance. "WOAH, SLOW DOWN BUDDY!", he shouted and KFC flapped apologetically.
Realizing something urgent must really have happened to the normally so calm pet's owner, he decided to steer the mount in another direction.
"Hold on KFC, let's get some backup first before flying into an unknown situation blindly, alright?"
The bird relented and let him lead the way. Two towers started to appear in the distance and Luca hurriedly landed in the middle between them.
"VETRUVIUS! VOX! WAKE UP!", he yelled and heard a startled yelp, shortly followed by the wizard's angry mumbling.
"Goddamn it Zaddy, what are you out here startling me at this hour for?!", he demanded as he stormed outside to meet the engineer.
"I don't know what exactly is up but I woke up with a weird feeling, KFC is acting restless and worried and Willerton's not home. I think he might be in trouble!"
Sensing the urgency from the normally silly guy standing in front of him Vox straightened up and blinked the last remnants of sleep from his eyes. "Give me one second to grab my stuff", he said and disappeared into his tower.
Even faster than the promised time he was outside again and prompted Luca to lead the way. Said blonde mounted the worriedly pacing bird and calmingly strokes the its side.
"Get us to your owner", he ordered and KFC shrieked, taking off at neck-breaking speed. Vox easily kept up with his magically induced flight, exchanging a worried glance with Luca. Both of them had never seen the bird fly this fast before, even when its owner was trying to show off the full speed of his most precious companion.
It disn't take all that long for them to get to an area where the trees grew taller and taller, a weird white substance seeming to grow denser between the trunks. Suddenly a noise was heard that made all three beings in the sky freeze up.
A hoarse scream ringing out through the night and it sounded too close to the object of their search to be a coincidence.
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Tired blue eyes screwed shut in pain as another long but shallow cut was added to the bloody mess that was his chest. The monster had long since taken off his armor, the poison cursing through the blonde's veins making him too weak to even think about struggling when the webs around him were temporarily loosened to allow the spider to gain easier access.
Willerton couldn't even tell anymore if the trembling of his body was pain, fear, cold or exhaustion. Probably all of those if he thought too long about it. Luckily thinking got harder by the second so he didn't have to worry too much about that.
Several bite marks ran along his neck and shoulders, cuts ran all across his body and a puddle of red was staining the earth beneath him, the web around him painted in the same color.
'So this is how I die, huh?' came the exhausted thought in his brain and he was only mildly horrified to realize that he would rather the spider finish him off for good instead of continuing this torture. When it had said he would suffer slowly and painfully it really hadn't lied.
"What happened to your voice, pretty boy? Keep letting out those beautiful screams, they are music to my ears!" Another stab in his thigh made Willerton let out a pained whimper, too tired to produce any more sounds after the last hoarse scream that was forced out of him.
The beast scoffed and sighed. "I think you have had enough. I enjoyed the last hour but it's not fun anymore when you're literally half dead. Want me to end your suffering?"
The blonde stayed quiet, knowing he wouldn't be able to answer anyways. His hair was roughly yanked up in response and the furious red eyes of his tormenter stared into his clouded blue ones. "Answer me when I ask you a question! I can draw this out by one more hour if you want that so desperately"
He weakly shook his head and the monster smirked. "That's what I thought~"
Willerton closed his eyes and thought of all his friends back home, all his pets, all his precious memories. He made one last wish, begging them to never come near this part of the forest, ever.
He heard the swishing of a sharp claw through the air, aimed straight for his heart and braced himself. What he didn't expect was a furious growl and the sound of a gauntlet hitting flesh. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
Shocked he opened his eyes and saw the blurry figure of none other than his neighbor and friend Luca standing protectively in front of him, the spider monster several meters away with its lower jaw missing and a stunned expression on its face, quickly melting into fury.
Just then bright rainbow lights filled the forest and explosions surrounded the spider, drowning out its pained shrieks as the most powerful wizard he knew, with whom he sometimes had a slightly strained relationship between awe and fear but still considered a dear friend, descended from the sky.
Red feathers filled his vision as KFC landed right in front of the injured blonde and gave out a series of worried and angry croons.
Willerton felt pure relief course through his brain at the same time his body decided to finally give into exhaustion and the world around him went black with the sound of his trusted friends around him bringing a faint smile to his lips.
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Luca swore he had never felt his heart stop for as long as it did when KFC wove narrowly through the dense spiderwebs with Vox close on their tail only for them to stumble upon a scene of pure horror.
Willerton was suspended a few feet above the ground in a giant spiderweb, which was painted as red as the floor beneath him. Several injuries littered the man's body and his complexion was as pale as the moonlight trying to fight its way through the trees. In front of him was the worst abomination of monsters they had ever laid eyes upon and it looked like it was just charging up for another strike against their friend.
Not wasting any time the engineer leapt from the bird's back with a furious shout and smacked the spider across the face with all his might, landing protectively in front of Willerton. Seeing the rainbow lights and trusting the wizard to take care of the beast he spun around to said man at the same time KFC landed beside him and saw the exact moment the blonde's body grew limp in the webs.
"WILLERTON!"
He quickly hacked away at the giant net until he could catch his neighbor in his arms and gently lowered him to the ground.
"Shit, shit, shit", he frantically searched his pockets for any kind of healing potion or bandages and cursed himself for not thinking of taking any with him.
Hurried footsteps made their way over and Vox let out a trembling gasp as he saw the condition their friend was in with his head resting on Luca's thighs.
"Oh my god, oh fuck, what the fuck did that fuck-ass monster do to him?!", he exclaimed and dropped to his knees besides them.
"Vox, do you have any healing spells in your collection?", Luca asked urgently and Vox dejectedly shook his head.
"None, and he also seems to be poisoned. I can teleport us back to the village and we can pray that the witch has potions for healing and against poison."
Luca nods and tightens his grip around his friend, tears stinging his eyes that he angrily blinks away. If only they had been faster, if only Willerton had told someone where he was going, if only someone had went with him.
Shaking his head to clear the futile thoughts, Luca looked up as Vox stood and prepared to cast one of his many spells.
Before he could KFC suddenly made himself known with a shriek and nudged Luca away from its owner's body.
The engineer was about to protest when he saw the care and determination in the bird's eyes and gently lowered Willerton to lay on the ground, taking a step back.
The red bird lay a gentle wing over said blonde and as the two men watched it lowered its head to its caretaker's and let a single tear drip onto his face.
"No way...", Vox let out in stunned awe and Luca shot him a puzzled look.
"Remember how in the beginning Willerton always told us he thought KFC was a phoenix? And we said no way, he's a Zar-ptak. I think we were wrong. I think KFC is actually a phoenix and he just shed a tear for Willerton. Do you know how rare phoenixes are? So rare that almost everyone thinks they died out because they were so desired and hunted after. What if they just blended in with the Zar-ptaks to protect themselves? This is insane!"
The wizard let out a disbelieving laugh and almost cried as he watched the color return to his friend's face and the cuts slowly closing up. The bite marks vanished, leaving only some puncture scars from the larger stingers behind.
Luca joined Vox in the teary laughter as KFC crooned and nuzzled its head into Willerton's cheek.
Blue eyes slowly cracked open with a groan and a confused blonde started absentmindedly petting his bird's soft feathers.
"KFC? What happened?"
His friends fell back down to their knees beside him and pulled him into a tight group hug, startling a yelp out of him.
"Willerton you dumbass, don't you ever dare scare us like this again or I will personally strike you with lightning!", the wizard yelled in an empty threat.
Luca kept silent but tightened his grip around both of their shoulders, pure relief swallowing any words up. The realization of how close he had come to losing a friend was too much to think about so he shoved it into a corner of his mind.
The phoenix warbled happily and enveloped all three humans in its wings.
Willerton relaxed into their warmth and allowed the fear and pain of the last hour to catch up to him, tears starting to well up in his eyes.
"I thought I was done for. Thank you guys for coming, I don't- I couldn't- I-", any further thoughts were swallowed up in sobs and Vox rubbed soothing circles onto his back.
"Anytime Willy, anytime. Actually you have to thank KFC over here!"
"H-Huh? KFC?"
Luca chimed in with a smile. "Yeah, he was the one to alert me that something was wrong and he lead us over here. Also he healed you, can you believe that?"
"Healed me?", Willerton asked and stared at his trusted companion in awe who just nuzzled further into his neck in response.
"Turns out you were right about your bird, buddy. He is a phoenix after all and he shed a tear for you", the wizard said with a sense of awe still in his voice.
'No way', the blonde thought in disbelief.
The hug tightened again as KFC seemed determined to smush them all with as much affection as possible and as if to say to never scare him like this ever again.
Willerton laughed through his tears and sighed in content at having his friends around him.
"I promise I will be more careful in the future, don't worry!"
Smiles filled their faces, washing out the horrors of their surroundings and promising healing from anything as long as they had each other's backs.