"It's cold..." Yadrith spoke, realizing he was sprawled across what felt like a cold stone floor.
'Ugh... Am I back in that cave?' He hurriedly looked around and sat up, 'Quickly! I need to leave.'
A large shadow was suddenly cast over him, followed by the sound of brisk clacking as if something had sprinted up to him.
"Viruen Misupen. "
He tensed, hearing a soft voice behind him. He let out a few breaths of anxiety before turning to the source of the voice.
He flinched, seeing the face not even an arm's length away.
The face was staring at him was of a beautiful woman, with perfect skin as if she was carved out of marble. Her eyes were a deep red, and she stared at Yadrith with a somewhat bored expression.
"Miful Neuf Pel Zhurae?" She spoke once more, seemingly more annoyed.
"...I don't understand." He spoke, disregarding the awkward distance between the two.
She seemed confused by his language and frowned for a moment. Before he could even process her hand moving, he felt an odd feeling on his forehead. She had pressed her index finger up to it.
"...I am Miel." She spoke in a clear tone.
Yadrith's eyebrows raised in alarm, as he felt the unfamiliar knowledge of an entire language flood into his mind.
'She's speaking in Ezqarie... The language of demons...' A few other languages also appeared in his mind: Zhurae, Derebael, Pelsian, Deldaba, and Ancient Lobnak.
This confirmed it, he was in another world. But, more importantly, 'Language of demons?' He stared at Miel in a daze for a few moments.
She moved slightly closer and tilted her head.
"Do you not understand?"
He did not acknowledge her words. His attention was focused on something else, something he oddly didn't notice despite Miel being so close to him. She was naked, and right below her head hung...
He took a few steps back with a shameful look, luckily she did not pursue him.
'Wait...' His eyes adjusted to the darkness, and with the space from Miel he began to fully take in her figure, ignoring her unclothed top half. There was a far bigger problem. Instead of having the bottom half of a human body, her bottom half was that of a spider.
'...'
Eight long legs protruded out in different directions, and in the middle was a massive body about the size of a large SUV.
"W-what are you?" He tried his best to remain calm.
"So... you do understand me." She spoke slowly, the upper half of her body extending toward him. "Earlier I spoke, I am Miel. That is all the information relevant to you, as for me. I am curious, who are you? No, actually... What are you? That equilibrium is rather fascinating."
Yadrith swallowed, 'Is it a good Idea to tell the large spider woman I'm from another world?' He glanced down at his arms which she had treated by wrapping his wounds with webs. 'Return good will with good will.'
He decided to converse with the spider, but with a bit of finesse.
"To be honest... I'm just a student."
Miel slightly smiled, "Interesting." Her large body collapsed, and she moved to a position akin to resting. "Where are you from?"
He pondered for a few moments, "Is it acceptable to say I suddenly woke up here?"
"Hm... Someone seems to have kidnapped you. If you allow it, I will look into your mind and find the identity of your assailant."
He suddenly swallowed, "My mind..." The idea of someone searching through his mind made him nervous, and it went against his agenda of defending his secrets.
"It seems you don't want me to." She boringly stared at him, "My patience has run dry. Such an existence like you should not be allowed to roam the world. A creature like you filled with such a disgusting nature is enough to make even me vomit!" Her tone was filled with spite.
A foreboding feeling of danger washed over him, and before he could react, he was pulled into the spider's embrace.
'Shit...'
He was face to face with Miel, whose neutral expression had not changed. Instead of placing a finger up to his forehead, she tightly held him with her left arm, pulling him into her bosom. With her right hand, she gripped his head as if she was palming a ball.
He squirmed slightly, but seeing her unamused eyes, he gave up resistance.
'My fate is to be eaten by a spider woman...?' He frowned, her words did not seem even the least bit kind.
Luckily, she simply froze. Her pupils dilated, and her mouth slowly parted.
Yadrith silently swallowed, seeing her face change.
Miel let out a bloodcurdling scream, "KIEAHHHHHK!"
The cave they were in shook, and she tossed him away immediately. He skidded off the ground slightly before colliding with a wall.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" She continued to scream, and Yadrith looked up, noticing blood pouring out of her eyes. His face was frozen in fear, seeing the dominant creature screaming in absolute terror.
Something made him want to scream with her, but he saw this as his chance to leave. However, just as he turned, a small spider about the size of his fingernail blocked his path. He probably would have just ignored her—it was odd that even recognized something that small in the darkness, but something about the spider drew his mind right to it.
A primal fear of death washed over him.
He immediately understood.
If he was to attempt to flee, this little one would attack him. For some reason, he feared this small spider. Yadrith looked back toward Miel, who was now clawing at her eyes on the ground. Her silky dark purple hair had turned unruly, and looked to be defying gravity.
'Will she survive...?' He prayed for her survival, and looked back toward the small spider whose temper was rising by the moment. 'Is it going to kill me?'
The black wolf was far more terrifying in posture than this small spider, but he knew the small spider was infinitely more dangerous.
'Miel was probably the one who asked it not to kill me...'
If the spiders could communicate by mind, he wouldn't really be too surprised.
A few minutes passed, and Miel had finally calmed down. She called her small spider off with an exhausted look.
"...I would like to apologize for attempting to read your mind without consent." Her bored expression returned. "What's your name?"
"Sorry... What did you say? I'm still a bit shaken."
She stared into his eyes, seemingly trying to understand something.
She covered her mouth and looked down in thought, "...Your name? Please."
"Yadrith Jubel."
Her eyes widened, an expression of pure shock filled with anxiety blanketed her face.
"Jubel family? The Imperials of Pelsac... "
"...The Jubel family are imperials? Sorry, please explain." He rubbed his head, feeling a headache, 'It must be a coincidence.'
"They are born into a lineage that carries a terrifying Regalia. It is truly an imperial ability that allows them to seal the Regalia's of others."
"Regalia?" He couldn't help but ask.
"A sort of innate ability everyone has, or at least those that possess fate." She spoke calmly, "Rekh is the core principle of the world, what I had used to transmit knowledge in your brain was Ethra an ability gained from Rekh." She smiled and a purple-colored aura poured out of her body.
The aura felt sinister and ominous, however, a hint of yearning was contained in it. That was what Yadrith had felt from it, an energy that projected Miel herself.
'What a scary aura.'
The purple-colored aura vanished, and Miel smiled.
"That was me showing you my Rekh, you posses it as well." She crawled toward him once more, "I will give you a gift."
He averted his gaze from her body, hoping to remain somewhat respectful in her eyes.
His odd behavior caused her to chuckle for the first time.
"I'm usually cautious of exposing myself like this, I apologize... I'm unable to take a more humanoid form because of my currently weakened state due to that vile man."
He took in her words for a moment before saying:
"The vile man you mentioned is that perhaps the one with the bell?" Yadrith asked.
Her face quickly distorted to one filled with anger.
"Lucian Zaria, that damn zealot."
Yadrith took a step back, his mouth parting as he felt an immense darkness flow over him. In that brief moment, Miel had lost her calm, an overwhelming sense of absolute doom filled his body. Her face in his eyes was one filled with pure evil.
"I apologize." Miel calmed herself and looked down at the small spider next to her. "My daughter will be your guide out of the Land of Demons. You two are of similar age, with her being seventeen years old. This is to make amends for my past action of reading your mind. My daughter has not once left my side, so you will have to give her time to warm up to you."
He looked down at the ground next to Miel. He made eye contact with the small spider from earlier. Letting out a deep breath, he said, "Alright... Where should we go first?"
The small spider didn't respond.
"There's a town near here, you'll be able to obtain information there." She paused, "Mahaya will lead you there."
He smiled at the spider, 'My first companion in another world, a jumping spider.'
The small spider was definitely reluctant to leave her mother, after a few more hours of encouragement—Miel formally gave up and kicked the two of them out of the cave, demanding Mahaya leave.
***
He glanced at the little jumping spider in the center of his palm. They had been wandering the forest for at least three hours.
"...You won't talk?" Yadrith asked.
The small spider turned around toward him, doing a quick turn in the center of Yadrith's palm. It raised two of its front arms and formed an X.
Yadrith laughed.
"Alright, then, which way next?"
The two had arrived at a point where the path parts off in two separate directions.
The small spider turned toward the paths and silently stared at them for about five seconds before lifting one of its small arms and pointed toward the right path.
"Thank you..." He spoke slowly, pushing down his feelings of annoyance.
'In these stories, aren't you usually given a kind, empathetic companion who actually talks...?' He had to admit it he felt lonely.
Talking to Miel was one thing, but she was also a dominant being. Not to mention the fact she had nothing covering her that entire conversation! It was odd that he even conversed with such a person.
'In this new world, I've already lost four fingers and a hand...' He regrettably glanced at his missing hand.
"Is it possible for me to get my injuries healed?" Yadrith asked.
The small spider turned around and stared at him.
"Uhm... Jump once if yes, twice if no."
The spider immediately jumped once and turned back around.