Damian knew they were unprepared.

It was the height of stupidity. They were trying to go fairly deep into an unknown forest, with little to no information about what threats might be inside, and no real weapons except for his, admittedly powerful, magic abilities. He managed to coerce a decent amount of information out of the drinkers at the guild, but it was way more lacking than he would’ve liked. If it were just about the money, he wouldn’t have made the trip.

The thing was, there was something off about the Highfern forest. It bothered him.

From what he had gathered, the dimensional kidnappings that had happened to him and Dream were, while known, not exactly common. But, if that were the case, how had he and Dream both popped in nearly at the same time, at the same place? Was there something about the forest that drew these interdimensional travellers in?

He wanted to get to the bottom of it, and there were some things you just had to figure out on your own.

Plus, it wasn’t like they were going to be delving way into the depths of the place, he intended to just check out a few areas, pick some plants, and be out. If a more intensive expedition happened at all, it would be when he was much more prepared.

He was glad Dream had stuck with him. To be sure, he had tied her with her promise of honoring her debt to him, and the fact that he was the only one that could speak with her, but she could have easily taken off on her own.

It was fortunate, since he would need her help. They had discovered that her race’s senses were much better than human’s. In particular, her hearing was excellent. She could hear someone whispering from across a busy room! This would be indispensable in the potentially dangerous situation they might be in.

“What about food? My favourite back home was Kurrsha, that’s a meat dish with thick spicy sauce served with fluffy grains.”

“Hmm, if you’re talking about American food, then it’s gotta be burgers. You take a bunch of minced meat, make it into a patty, fry it up, and put in between two pieces of bread with a bunch of sauce and veggies. Absolutely heavenly!”

Like that, they had spent the time walking the path from Portertown to Highfern forest telling each other stories of home, and exploring the differences. He found that Dream came from a society not totally unlike his, except her civilization didn’t rely on science, but magic.

It was a form of magic very different from their current world. This one seemed to be all about intent, and using willpower to direct it. Her world’s magic was based entirely off of a sort of magic programming language. Only if the instructions were written down in a logical manner would magic flow and cause effects properly.

As a result of this small difference, Dream’s level of education was significantly lower compared to Damian’s, even though her society had a similar level of standard of living and convenience. Damian assumed this was because of the way her civilization had developed due to magic.

On Earth, people had to thoroughly study various mechanics in order to use them, while Dream’s people only needed a rudimentary understanding. They found they could converse evenly about what combustion was, but Dream only gave a look of confusion when he asked her about atoms.

“Damian?” Dream asked after a minute of silence. “Um, what do you plan to do after this?”

Damian gave a sly grin. “Hmm, take over the world, I guess?”

She hit him on the shoulder lightly, with an annoyed expression.

Damian laughed. “I’ve been hearing a lot about this Academy for magic, I’d like to check it out a bit. There’s still so many things about this world and its magic that I want to learn about.”

Dream looked down at the ground. “There’s probably gonna be a lot of Humans there, right?”

Damian looked at her concerned. She probably still had some trauma from her capture. It was completely understandable. So far, her only experiences with humans had been them roughing her up and throwing her in a cage to be sold. It was actually strange she didn’t have a problem with the town. Damian was even surprised she seemed okay with him.

He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He was glad when she didn’t flinch. Hopefully, that was a sign that the trauma wasn’t too bad.

“Don’t worry too much.” he smiled at her. “I won’t let the big, bad Humans get you. But if you really don’t want to, we can go look for a place without as many of us hairless apes. I’ve been wanting to do that anyway.”

She snorted, and quickly covered her mouth and turned away. When she turned back, she had a soft smile on her face.

“That’s okay. An academy sounds like fun. I’d like to learn a bit about this weird magic, too.”

“That’s the spirit! Magic is love, magic is life!” Damian shouted into the air.

Their laughter peeled through the morning air, and many travelers gave them a weird look as they walked by. They were in high spirits when they reached the edge of the forest an hour later.

From where they stood, with farmland at their backs, the forest looked foreboding. It was strange how quickly the forest started. Only a few meters past the trees, and it was too dense to make much out. It was as if some giant had drawn a line in the ground, and declared one side open ground, and the other thick jungle.

Animal calls and birdsong could be heard from within the depths, a myriad of creatures living within. This area consisted mostly of a kind of tall pine tree, with dark, almost black wood, and blueish pines. These trees were giants, towering what Damian guessed was about ten or so stories high. Further within, Damian could make out the plant that had probably given the forest its name; a species of fern with thin leaves stretching up into the canopy.

Damian looked over to find Dream studying him.

“We can still turn back, you know.” she said to him.

“No, we came all the way out here. We should at least take a look.”

Damian led the way with strides that looked more confident than he felt. Dream followed closely behind him. Pushing through the brush at the border of the forest, they soon found themselves in an alien landscape.

The air was hot and humid, as if the plants around them had trapped all of the heat and moisture. Animal and insect calls rang out loudly from every direction, and they walked through such a variety of flora that Damian thought it could rival the Amazon.

It seemed like someone had taken a plant from every corner of the world, and thrown them together into one spot. He saw pines mixed with wide leafed palm trees, and mountain flowers mixed with thorny flower vines. He wondered how they all managed to survive in such an environment, since many of the plants were clearly the type that should be in different climates. It only added to his suspicion of the place.

Despite the chaotic mess, he managed to find the first plant he was looking for fairly quickly. As they stepped into a small clearing, he spotted the small rust coloured weed on the opposite edge. As he was carefully pulling it out by the roots, he felt Dream tug on his shirt firmly. He looked up and saw her staring across the clearing with wide eyes.

He didn’t see anything beyond the vegetation, but he got his magic ready just in case. A ball of mana hung in front of him, primed to fire.

“What is it?” he whispered to her.

“I don’t know. I heard it moving in there, but it stopped when we looked over.”

Somewhere in the area, then. Damian rigged the mana he had ready with a certain image, and when he was ready, he released it.

Water quickly condensed from the moist atmosphere, and a second later, it blasted out into the area in front of them, water droplets separating and flying like bullets. The droplets tore through the vegetation, causing a lot of disturbance, but not penetrating anything stronger than a leaf. It did the trick, though, and a surprised noise was heard from behind the cover of the plant life.

Bursting it’s cover, a dark shape shot towards them, and Damian quickly pulled together more mana, and sent an unrefined wave of kinetic force out towards it, bowling the creature over. When it stood back up and shook itself off, they saw it properly.

It was some kind of feathered lizard, with a stance and size more like a cat than anything else. It had a dark bluish green colouration, which probably helped it blend in with the forest, and had a line of colourful feathers running from its head down its back.

The thing hesitated for a moment, now wary of the thing that had sent it flying away, which gave Damian time to take a step back and form a new spell.

A tiny piece of metal flew out of his hand with a crack, piercing the thing’s eye and imbedding itself in its brain.

The lizard creature stumbled back, paused, and toppled over.

Damian was woefully unprepared for an expedition, but he had managed to pick up a couple of tricks before they left. One of which was a handful of scrap metal pieces he had begged off a local blacksmith. He had expected them to make good projectiles, but he hadn’t realized they would be so effective.

He breathed out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. That was closer than he would’ve liked. The lizard was fast, it had nearly reached him before he cast the force wave. Casting from nothing was just too slow. If he could somehow hold a spell at the ready, he’d feel much safer wandering around in this wilderness.

He also realized the limitations of his mana. The combination of the droplet attack and the force wave had depleted all of the mana he had in his field of influence. After stunning the creature, he was forced to take a step back to reach new mana. If he wanted to cast spells in quick succession, he’d need to stay on the move.

He and Dream walked up carefully to the downed creature. Despite its back leg twitching, it seemed to be thoroughly dead. Damian noted its wickedly sharp teeth, and was glad he hadn’t let it get close.

Dream poked it timidly with a stick, and made a displeased face when she saw the blood leaking out of its face.

“Can we eat this…?” Damian wondered aloud. It was around lunch time, and they had skipped breakfast. Both of them were starving.

Dream shrugged, but he could see she was practically salivating over the idea of roasted meat.

‘Nothing tried, nothing gained!’ he thought, and crouched down next to the beast, bringing it into his sphere of influence. He didn’t have a knife to gut and skin it, but magic was supposed to be capable of anything, right?

He concentrated some mana into the corpse, finding it entered easily. He wondered if he could do the same with a living being, since that would open up some very interesting possibilities.

Focusing back on his task, he thought of his goal of taking the skin of the creature away from its body. He imagined that separation, and concentrated on the differences between skin cells and any other cell. When the mental image was strong enough, he released the spell.

The lizard exploded, sending globs of skin and scale flying through the air, splattering both Dream and him. Dream screamed, and he stumbled back, falling onto the ground sputtering.

“Pth! Ptew!” some had gotten into his mouth!

The now skinless, pristine corpse lay on the ground, steaming innocently.

“Damiaaan!” Dream yelled at him. She stood with her hands in the air, splattered head to toe with patches of scaly skin, glaring at him with teary eyes.

“Sorry, sorry! I didn’t think it would blow up like that. Here, let me try something.”

Damian pulled water from the area around him, and built an image of the mana acting as a soap, trapping dirt and matter and washing it away with the water. He sent the spell towards Dream.

“Soft wash!” he said for dramatic effect.

She let the ball of water hit her with a surprised noise, and the water enveloped her, washing away the dirt and organics. When it was done, it collapsed onto the ground, leaving her clean, but shivering.

“Dry!” Damian said next, sending a warm wind blowing around her strongly.

“Nice, it worked.” he said afterwards.

“It worked?! Don’t use me as a test subject for your weird magic!” she told him.

Damian made an offended face. “It’s not weird!”

Dream just crossed her arms and turned away, and Damian washed himself. By then, the mana in the clearing had decreased considerably, and new mana was moving into the area much slower than Damian had expected.

He couldn’t cast too many spells without moving around, and if he cast too many for the area to handle, the mana would completely run out. These were serious problems for larger scale magic. It seemed he wouldn’t be able to cast meteor strike, or call down a heavenly tribulation any time soon.

With the carcass of the lizard spectacularly de-skinned, Damian went about cutting the guts away from the meat, and lighting a fire with his magic. Soon they had two chunks sizzling on some skewers.

It was an extremely bland meal. With no seasonings or even vegetables to have on the side, they could only slowly munch on the chewy meat. Despite that, it was satisfying like nothing else he’d had.

Damian had caught it himself, after all.

Dumped into an alien land with almost nothing but the clothes on his back, Damian had somehow managed to succeed. He’d learned magic, made friends, and rescued a girl.

He was remarkably content.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She Who Dreams of Mountains, or Dream for short, felt horrible.

Ever since she had been stolen from her home, she hadn’t been able to do anything!

When that mysterious force had picked her up on her way home and dumped her in the forest, she had thought her life was coming to an end. Desperately trying to survive, she had fled from the weird monster with too many limbs, and ran right into the group of rough men.

At first, she thought they were her people, until she got a closer look at their faces. Their noses were weird, their ears too small, and their eyes strange and piercing.

Were they aliens? Monsters? The Jaalansi her mother had told her bedtime stories about?

Wracked with indecision and shock, she had been paralyzed, and they captured her easily.

If she had ran, if she had fought, would things have gone differently?

She didn’t know. She didn’t want to know. Even when they had taken her clothing, she had been able to do nothing but cower. At first, she thought she was about to be violated, but their expressions were instead that of disgust. Was that worse? She didn’t know.

When they spoke to her, asked her questions, she just stood silently. What was the point? She was in a weird place with nothing of value. Her family and friends were somewhere very far away. Her life was gone.

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She figured that was probably why they took her to the man who sold beasts. Someone who can’t even speak must not be a person.

Her body covered by nothing more than a piece of primitive fabric, she sat curled up in that cage for ages. Surrounded by nothing but animals, with men and women peering at her like an exhibit, given nothing but water and foul smelling slop. In this way, she waited.

She didn’t know what she was waiting for, but it didn’t seem to matter to her. It was the only thing she could do. Exist.

She deserved it. She couldn’t do anything for herself anyway. She might as well just waste away. Thoughts like these swirled around her head in a dark circle, seeping into the deepest parts of her mind.

What was the point of living? She wasn’t a person anyway.

“Hello there, miss?”

Maybe it was the familiar language, or the concerned tone in his voice, or the soft smile on his lips. Whatever it was, it gave her hope for the first time in days.

When he offered to help her with the promise of paying back her cost, she finally saw a way forward. The thought of being in debt to the man actually made her more motivated. He saw some value in her, there was something she could do that made him offer her a deal. Something that could give her meaning.

Of course, she wouldn’t follow him blindly. If he chased after danger he couldn’t handle, or if he tried to do… things to her, she would leave. Find some other way to pay him back. She almost did, when he decided to visit that cursed forest, but she pushed through her apprehension. It was, perhaps, a chance to change herself.

If she could conquer the place that had hurt her, couldn’t she do anything?

So she followed him, and learned much more about him and the world on their way there. Particularly, she learned a lot about the magic of the world. Although, even if she knew the facts, it still didn’t make any sense to her whatsoever. Magic had to be structured. Gathered and used through hard logic and physical forces, that was what had been drilled into her in class, not… Whatever wishy-washy stuff they did here.

She actually didn’t fully believe it, until she saw it. When Damian started blasting the foliage with water, and throwing a large animal around with a thought, she was shocked. Such things would have been impossible in her old world. To have such power at your fingertips… The thought was intoxicating.

If she learned this magic, could she become someone capable?

Could she change?

She didn’t know, but she’d try.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damian was surprised when Dream suddenly asked him to teach her magic. She had such a serious face that he just couldn’t refuse. Not that he would have anyways.

He wondered what had brought this on. Did she want to clear her debt faster and be rid of him? Or maybe she was just captivated by the romance of magic!

Regardless of her reasoning, her resolution was clear. She’d been meditating for over two hours straight. The thing was, Damian figured magic was probably impossible for her.

Whether a lack of talent, or just a physiological incapability, she wasn’t able to breach the barrier into sensing mana. It wasn’t like it was with him, either, where he had to push through a wall in order to get to the next step. For her, there was nothing at all. She actually had doubted him, asking if he was teaching her properly, or if it was just a prank.

With a sigh, he got ready to ask her to stop. They needed to get going and make some progress on their task.

“Ah… I think I’ve got something?” she said suddenly. “It’s like… Power rushing around my body.”

“Oh! Right, that’s probably qi. I forgot about that.”

Dream opened her eyes and gave him a blank stare.

Damian scratched his head awkwardly. It wasn’t his fault he forgot! Qi just wasn’t as cool as magic.

After a quick explanation of the nature and functions of qi, he let her get back to meditation practice. They could afford to wait a little longer.

While she was doing that, he went back to perfecting his patented Damian-style magic missile. Up until now, he was lacking a solid magic spell that he could use in combat. Normally, he could just use his fire, but, well, they were in a forest. Trees were generally flammable. He decided it was prudent to branch out a little.

Without letting the spell fire, he practiced forming a bolt of kinetic energy, and moving it around. Because it had no mass, and indeed only used energy when moving things that did have mass, he could play with it for little to no mana consumption. It did, however, give him a headache. Even at a low level, holding such concentration for so long would tax his mind.

He was knocked from his focus when Dream stood up about a half hour later with a fire in her eyes. Wordlessly, she walked up to one of the thick pine trees surrounding the area. She seemed to contemplate something for a moment, before putting one foot back.

Tension suffused her body, and her back foot sank an inch into the soft ground, as she threw a sharp punch right into the center of the tree. With a loud crunch, her fist sank into the tree trunk like it was made of Jello!

Damian could only stare in awe at the sight. Was this girl some kind of xianxia protagonist?! It had taken him ages to bring qi into just his hand, but she had managed to move it throughout her body such that she could throw a massive punch! Such a feat had taken her practically no time at all.

She pulled her fist out of the poor tree, arm dripping with sap, and looked at him with bright eyes.

“I did it!” she shouted happily. “I really can do it!”

“Haha! Congratulations, that was incredible.” Damian smiled. He couldn’t help but be swept up by her joy.

While he would have liked to see what she could accomplish with more time, the daylight was fading. So far, they had only found one valuable plant worth around five coins. That wasn’t even enough to stay in an inn.

So, they headed off again into the forest proper, leaving behind their little clearing. As they walked, and searched for anything valuable, Damian tried to keep them heading along the forest’s edge, avoiding the deeper parts of the place. Despite his best efforts, however, he felt they were gradually drifting towards the center of the forest.

At least the plants they were trying to find were becoming more common. They had already managed to find and harvest five wild plants among the ones they were searching for. Damian shoved the latest find, a blue flower, into his pocket, and decided they should probably head out. The light was fading, and if they wanted to get back into town before nightfall, they’d need to go back soon.

As he turned to tell Dream about his decision, he noticed something glinting in a ray of sunlight that escaped through the canopy. Interest piqued, he shuffled closer to get a better look. It only took him a moment to realize what it was.

“Silk…?” he wondered aloud.

A shining strand stretched from one tree to the next, hanging taut at about the height of his shin.

Damian was fairly sure that only worms and spiders could produce long silk strands like that, but why would either of them make such tripwire-like constructions? He poked it with a stick curiously, and found it was quite strong, vibrating with a low tone when plucked, but not breaking.

He turned to tell Dream to be careful when walking around, took a step, and-

Tripped, falling flat on his face.

“Damian?!” Dream said with concern. “Are you okay?”

Damian sat up, and looked back at what he had tripped over.

Barely visible against the foliage hung a strand of silk, just like the one he had spotted.

“Wait!” Damian shouted at Dream, trying to warn her, but it was too late. Her foot came out from under her when she took a step forward, and she tumbled down as well.

He swore, and hauled himself to his feet. Taking careful steps, dodging a few strands, he made his way over to her. Dream tried to push herself up to her knees, but as he watched, her arms gave out and she collapsed back down again.

A spear of alarm shot through his mind. Something was seriously wrong here.

He finished making his way over and rolled her over onto her back. Her body was trembling strongly, and she spoke to him in a halting voice, eyes wide.

“Caa-an’t… Mmm. Mo-ve.”

‘Oh shit. Oh shit!’ he thought in a panic. He didn’t know what was wrong with her. Was it brain damage? Had she fallen onto a rock and cracked her head or broken her spine?! He had no idea how to help her!

While he was wracked with indecision, something collided with his head, and he was knocked over onto her.

Feeling against the back of his head, his hand came away sticky.

Trying to push himself up, his arms soon lost strength and he fell back down. His whole body quickly began turning numb.

‘Poison?!’

Damian desperately tried to fight against it, but as the poison spread, it became increasingly hard for him to think, and impossible to control magic.

They had been caught completely in a trap.

Barely conscious, Damian became aware of a rapid tapping sound coming closer. Was this their end? After all of the training and effort he had put in, despite all his hopes and dreams, this was where they would die?

He hated his powerlessness. Because of his stupid mistake, his unpreparedness, some unknown monster would be making an easy meal out of them. There was nothing he could do about it.

Just before the darkness took him, he felt something wrap tightly around his legs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damian snapped awake.

He was alive. That was surprising.

Taking stock of his situation, he found he was laying on a dirt floor, in some kind of hole in the ground. The walls were covered in webs, and there seemed to be an opening on one side that was blocked entirely with webbing. The only source of light in the room was a softly glowing moss that grew haphazardly, giving an eerie feel to the place. Dream wasn’t around. He hoped she was alright.

There still seemed to be some poison remaining in his body, since he wasn’t able to put much strength in his muscles, and he was having difficulty concentrating.

Despite the precarious situation, he felt it wasn’t so bad. For one, he was being held in a cell of some sort, rather than being prepared for dinner. It showed that his captors had some kind of intelligence, and might be reasoned with.

First of all, he decided he needed to flush the poison out of his body. The problem was, he only had a vague idea of how to accomplish that. Somehow, he had to reinforce his immune system to combat it faster.

He tried to imbue his qi with the image of empowering his immune system, but it didn’t seem to do anything. Undeterred, he kept up the effort, trying different things with all the willpower he could muster.

A sound soon brought him out of his concentration, a sort of rapid thumping that quickly grew closer. It stopped in front of the wall of webbing, and with a ripping sound, the web was torn away.

Standing in its place was a massive spider at least as tall as he was.

Although ‘spider’ was the first thought that came to him, the creature was slightly different. While it was an eight legged insect with a chitinous exoskeleton, it had jaws instead of fangs, and had two extra grasping appendages on either side of its head. Its dark muddy brown colour gave it a menacing feel.

“Two-legged one. Why must you trespass?” the spider spoke out in a threatening tone.

A talking spider. This place was sure raising the bar. He wondered what else it would throw at him. Trying not to think too hard about what his mouth was doing, Damian responded.

“My deepest apologies.” the spider flinched back, as if surprised he responded. “We never meant to intrude. If-”

“Lies!” it screeched, leaning forward angrily. “You come here only to burn! This one knows not how you speak the Words, but it will not be deceived!”

Damian frowned. “Burn? I’m sorry but-”

“Silence! This one refuses to be corrupted, beast! This one will inform the matriarch of your ways so she may hasten her decision.”

With that, the spider quickly backed out of the room, replacing the webbing on its way out.

“Wait!-” Damian tried, but he heard it walking away quickly.

He sighed. Negotiations had already broken down. He needed to figure out a way to deal with the damn poison in case he needed to fight his way out.

With nothing else to do in the dark room, Damian resumed his efforts with his qi. As he experimented, he slowly discovered new and better ways to manipulate it, and began to see results. Before he could fully solve his condition, however, he began to hear the sounds of approaching spiders.

The web was ripped away again, revealing several of the glossy brown creatures that quickly pushed their way into the room, which rapidly became very cramped. Damian backed up all the way to the far wall, letting them crowd in.

The final one to enter was a noticeably older spider, with a graying carapace, and a clipped walk. It seemed to study him for a moment, before addressing him.

“I am told you can speak.”

“That’s right.” Damian responded cautiously.

The elderly one stared at him evenly, while its entourage shifted nervously. Damian eyed them for any sudden movements. While he wasn’t feeling completely better, his mana was responding to him somewhat, so he could put up a fight if it came to it.

“Why have you come?” it asked simply.

“My companion and I were searching for useful plants in the forest when we entered your territory by accident. We meant no harm.”

The spider gave a thoughtful noise, and one of those next to it cut in. Damian thought he recognized her voice (he figured it was a she, judging by the pitch) as the one he had met earlier.

“Matriarch! You mustn’t be swayed by its lies, it surely is here only to spread death. Most likely its friends are-!”

“Quiet!” the Matriarch cut in.

Damian cleared his throat nervously, and spoke out. “Great Matriarch, I don’t know what crimes my kind have commited in the past, but I assure you our intentions are innocent.”

“Hrm. Perhaps, but perhaps not. Long ago, your people tore into this forest with your metal and fire, burning my daughters alive and driving us from our nests. Since then, each time we interact with you, we are met with violence. What is it that makes you different?”

Damian considered this. The natural reaction of humanity to the unknown was with fear. It was easy to imagine the people of Portertown taking such measures against these giant spiders. However, Damian couldn’t accept it. The arachnids clearly would have been incredible allies. Just the thought of the economic power of their silk production sent his head spinning! How could those people be so short sighted?

If he were ever the leader of a country, he would stop at nothing to get those spiders to join him. Well, he had to get out of his current situation first, though.

“Allow me to answer a question with a question.” Damian began. “Do you have any stories of your ancestors appearing in this land after being whisked away from their homes by some force? Perhaps accompanied by an icy feeling and wondrous sights?”

It was a shot in the dark, but it aligned with what he suspected about the forest, and he had a hunch.

“... There is.”

“Truthfully, that is how I came to be in this land. I am not a part of those who have wronged you. It is pure coincidence that my appearance is the same as them.”

The Matriarch was silent for a long time.

“You claim no relation to them?”

Damian shrugged. “I use their roads and cities, but our people are different. I hold no malice towards you, even though you’ve confined me like this.”

She looked shocked. “This… Must be considered. I will consult my peers about this matter. Until we make a decision, you will stay here. Sirrim will give you food and water when you need it.” she gestured to the spider that had spoken out before.

The spiders bowed their heads to the Matriarche, and they all slowly shuffled out except for Sirrim.

Damian grit his teeth. It looked like the quick resolution he was hoping for wouldn’t be coming.

Sirrim hissed at him. “Don’t get comfortable, two-legs. The Matriarch will see through your lies soon enough.”

He looked evenly at her. She was suddenly much less threatening now that he could feel his mana responding. More like a rebellious teenager.

“Sure. Before that, though, could I get some water, and whatever passes for food around here? I think I missed dinner.”

Sirrim scoffed at him, and shuffled out the doorway, sealing it behind her. Damian sat comfortably meditating while he waited for her to return. When she did, she carried a wood bowl filled with fruits, and a skin full of water. She set them down in front of him, then stood there watching him.

Damian nonchalantly picked up a purple fruit and bit into it happily, finding the flavour to be something like a peach.

“Thanks! Say, can I ask you a question?”

“... No.”

“Cool. I was wondering about the toxin on your silk. Are you able to make silk that doesn’t have any, or is it kind of built-in?”

The arachnid shifted uncomfortably for a minute, before finally answering.

“The best spinstresses can…”

“That’s awesome! Y’know, I bet people would really love you guys back home. Silk that’s as lovely as what you make is really valuable, after all.”

Sirrim seemed to sneer at him. “Yet they set flame to it so joyfully. If you wish to make a convincing lie, you will have to do better.”

Damian waved her away. “Like I said! Not my people. I just happen to look the same; what the idiots here do has nothing to do with me. Personally, I find your silk beautiful and luxurious.”

“Oh… Yes, it is, isn’t it?”

“By the way, the girl I was with is here somewhere too, right? I’ve been really worried about her, do you know if she’s alright?”

Sirrim hesitated. “The other one… She has yet to awaken, I believe.”

“Ah, that’s a bit of a relief, I suppose. I was starting to wonder if you had taken a nibble!”

She visibly recoiled at that.

“Wha- no Arin would eat a living creature!”

“Oh, vegetarians, are you? At least I don’t have to worry about becoming dinner!”

Sirrim snorted, and backed out of the room.

“I won’t listen to this any more!”

Damian smiled wryly. Despite their looks, the spiders seemed to be pretty friendly. He wondered how things would have turned out if the humans' first reaction to them hadn’t been fire.

Settling back against the dirt wall, he wondered how long it would take for the matriarch to come back. Hopefully, it would end with the situation resolved in his favour, but he’d be ready to blast out if he had to. In the meantime, he’d keep practicing with his qi and mana, slowly working away at the poison in his body.

Four hours later, he began to hear the sound of many insectoid feet coming towards him. Standing up, he got prepared for a battle. Fortunately, he’d manage to reinforce his immune system enough that the last of the toxins were removed from his body, and he was as ready as ever for a scuffle.

The web door was torn aside, revealing the matriarch and her entourage.

“You will come with us.” she commanded him.

Damian smiled at her. “A date, is it? I could probably use a bath if we’re going anywhere fancy.”

“Save your jokes. The other elders are waiting. If your words are verified, we may let you go.” she responded coldly.

Several of the spiders shuffled forward threateningly, and Damian threw up his arms in surrender.

“Alright! I’m coming.”

He walked forward calmly, watching the spiders closely. They surrounded him, not letting him get close to the matriarch as they all shuffled out of the cell. Beyond the web door, he found himself in a short, dark dirt tunnel. In one direction lay another closed cell, and in the other the tunnel turned sharply.

As he stepped out, there was a deep thud that rattled the tunnel, bringing loose dirt raining down on them from above. Damian looked up warily. Could he hold the tunnel with his magic if it were to collapse?

Everyone paused, the matriarch’s guards closing in on her protectively.

Suddenly, the tunnel exploded from the adjacent cell, filling the place with dust, and bringing more dirt raining down on them. As it cleared, he was able to make out the form of Dream, breathing heavily in front of a new hole in her cell wall.

“Damian?!” she shouted desperately.

Thinking quickly, Damian reinforced his legs and jumped onto one of the guard’s back, using it as a spring to launch himself towards her.

“No-!” the matriarch called out, reaching out an arm as if to grab him.

He landed lightly in front of her, patting her shoulder reassuringly.

“Nice timing!”

“Thanks?” she responded, confused.

Damian turned to the spiders, conjuring a roaring white flame over his palm, causing them to visibly recoil.

“Demon!” Sirrim shouted, sounding horrified.

“You… “ the matriarch began. “So you are here to kill after all.”

She sounded resigned.

“Not at all.” Damian reassured her. “I’d just like to leave in one piece. I’m sure all of you would like to stay uncooked as well, so if I were you, I’d back up slowly, and maybe point me in the right direction.”

He manipulated the flame to swirl around him menacingly, casting odd shadows on the wall of the tunnel. The matriarch’s guards formed up in front of her protectively.

The matriarch thought for a moment.

“You believe you can burn your way out? We would bury you under our numbers.”

Damian's eyes sharpened. “Want to find out? I don’t know about you, but I’d like to get out of here without leaving corpses.”

The matriarch leaned over and whispered something to Sirrim, who ran out of the tunnel. Damian watched her go, not attempting to stop her.

Without another word, the whole group of arachnids began to step backwards slowly. Damian let them get ahead for a few paces before following along.

As he and Dream shuffled along the tunnel, the shadows from his fire danced along the walls, the light highlighting the harsh shapes of the arachnids’ bodies. A bead of sweat rolled down his face from the heat. At this rate, he’d collapse of heatstroke before he dropped the ball of flame from lack of mana.

They passed several tunnel offshoots as they walked, following their tour guide. At some point, Damian started to hear soft thumping from behind them, and a bead of sweat that wasn’t from the heat rolled down his brow. If they got attacked from both directions, they’d be in for a hell of a fight.

Fortunately, it didn’t come to that. They soon reached a section of tunnel that had a soft light rolling in from an opening to the surface. The matriarch and her group shuffled out backwards, and took positions on either side of the tunnel.

Dream and Damian walked out cautiously into the early morning air, turning to face the spiders as they went until they were walking backwards out into the jungle. The spiders flowed back to block the entrance to the tunnel, watching them closely.

“Wait.” the matriarch’s voice rang out.

Damian paused. Dream tugged his shirt incessantly, trying to get him to leave, but he waited to hear what she would say.

“You kept your word, it is commendable. Tell me your name, demon.”

Damian told her.

She nodded towards him. “Damian Hartman. We will remember.”

Damian started to walk backwards again, and the crowd of spiders watched him disappear into the jungle. Once he was behind cover, he turned to Dream.

“Let’s run.”

They shot off into the forest blindly, dodging areas where they could see webbing hanging from trees. Soon they were in a clearer area, and they slowed down to catch their breath.

Damian flopped over onto his back.

“Daaaaaaamn! That was sketchy.” He shouted out into the trees.

“What the hell was that?!” Dream asked with teary eyes.

“Well… Spiders with pyrophobia, I guess?

“Agh, I hate spiders. This place sucks!” She complained.

“Yeah. I think we’ll be stuck here for a little bit longer, though. We’re lost.”

He sighed and sat up, looking at her pouting face.

“Sorry.” He said. “This was my fault. We shouldn’t have come in the first place.”

Dream turned away and wiped her eyes. “If you understand that, then get us out of here.”

“Right.”

Fortunately, it didn’t take them long to get their bearings. They managed to find a very tall tree which Damian climbed, and he was able to spot the town from the very top.

With a direction, it took them no time at all to find their way out of the place. They were only stopped once by a lizard creature similar to the one they had fought earlier. Damian promptly roasted it.

Soon they broke through the treeline onto open ground. Damian practically burst into tears on his first step onto flat ground. They were both sore and exhausted from their overnight stay in the bush, and were extremely relieved to be out. While Damian’s cleaning magic was able to keep them clean, they were covered in small cuts and bruises from pushing through the foliage, and their involuntary trip to the spider nest.

He looked back into the dark forest. With this encounter, he was even more certain there was something about the forest that attracted the teleportation events. The forest no doubt held a great many secrets and treasures hiding in its depths.

Eventually, he would come back, and he would explore it in full. There was also the spiders to think about. Despite their appearance, Damian thought they were a friendly, peaceful species, driven to solitude from human hostility. He was a little sad at the thought that they were stuck there, unable to see the world or interact with other people.

He sighed.

One day, he might do something about that.

For now, he had to grow in power. The poison had caught him off guard far too easily, and his earlier fight had shown him just how inexperienced he was.

He wasn’t completely sure, but he could probably just barely beat Roy in a fight as he was now. Roy was the bottom of the barrel in terms of magic power, so he was sure he had far to go.

For the sake of both Dream, and his own future, he had to move forward.

He took a step towards town.