Thud! Aleph stares into the crater, newly emptied of the boulder lizard which formed it. Notably, she pays most attention to the spider shaped impression in the centre of the hole. Holy shit, what is this spider made of? Stupid! That's what! Damn near gave me a heart attack! It was a good plan, considering her 'apparent' invincibility, but come on! What was I supposed to do if she didn't happen to apparently be THE most durable arachnid of all time! This place is lonl-too dark for me to go around without my flash-light!

Aleph prods the spider with her tail, eliciting another apologetic squeal. I guess her carapace is harder than her floofy exterior makes her appear. Still no excuse for nearly giving me a heart attack. No perch for you. Sinking her teeth into the dead boulder lizards tail, Aleph storms off in a huff. A very slow huff, as she drags the absurdly heavy lizard which, even without gravity magic pulling it down, weighs at least five times her own body weight in bulk and rock.

Man, this thing is heavy! Ugh, one solid hit from it would've killed me for sure... If that's how every fight I get into is going to go there's no way I'll survive long enough to even make it out of this place. Boosting my offence would be nice, and ranged attacks could trivialise most confrontations. But there's simply not enough ambient Aether to get away with casting.

The pair slowly trudge forward, leaving a deep groove in the ground as they drag the dead lizard to their mossy abode. Shame too... I'm pretty sure I would know some cool giga laser beam attacks. But I can't afford the Aether loss with so little ambient Aether to recover with. Besides, the big advantage of Aether is its persistence. Just using it on myself won't expend it at all, so by relying purely on physical reinforcement I can remain at full capacity all the time.

Unceremoniously dumping the boulder lizard on her corpse pile, Aleph hacks off the head for Bloop to lay claim to before taking a chomp out of the felled beast. Tastes like more rocks... Actually I'm pretty sure these scales ARE rocks. Biology is weird... Oh well, I'm a dragon with a crazy dragon furnace for a stomach so I can just eat it anyway. If it has Aether it goes down the hatch. Aleph ignores Bloops dumbfounded stare as she devours a solid third of the lizard, bones, rock scales, and all.

Haaah. Guess my Aether core works well enough. I did just eat my weight in lizard, and have already digested most of it after all. These things aren't some kind of lesser dragon are they? Would that make this cannibalism? Hmm good question, how about I simply resolve not to think about it? Sounds good. Great. Let's sleep. With a grand yawn she squomps herself to the ground and clocks out for the day. Bloop following suit shortly after.

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I try to open my eyes. I cannot. I don't have any. Yet I can still see. All around me is a seemingly endless river. I cannot breathe. Yet I do not drown. It is not water, but something else. Lights. Everywhere I look there is a dazzling cacophony of lights dancing its way forward. I follow. I know not where I will end up, but I must search for... something. What am I looking for again?

I think to myself. It's all I can seem do here. Who am I? I cannot remember. There is something important. But I must not remember. I have a goal. A mission? I must be somewhere... no, something? Perhaps there? I see something in the distance. I must go th-no wait, I am already here.

I try to open my eyes. I succeed. Around me I see trees. A forest. A jungle. I look at myself. At my hands. All... four of them? I look at my feet. At my tail. At my golden fur. I am held by a creature, much like myself. It cares for me. She cares for me. Raises me. They all do. My... family. Yes, this is right. How things should be. But it is not enough. I cannot... remember. I need strength, I need... Aether.

I must stand. I remember how to stand. I must run. I remember how to run. I must be faster. I learn to swing through the trees. I must be stronger. I hunt, and I hunt. I become strong. But there is not enough Aether. Why is there so little Aether? I pry what I can from the living. But it is not enough. The creatures I hunt I give to my family. I provide for them. I have become their leader. Because I am strong. But I must grow stronger. How strong must I be?

I hunt more. Take in more Aether. There are great beasts, having collected an abundance of Aether in their old age. Yet they are too powerful. Perhaps I could best them, but the risk is too great. If I die, what happens to my family? My tribe... I must provide for them. My mission... can come later. Right?

There is no more food. I must seek out more. But my tribe is too large to relocate. The forest grows weak. I grow weak. Old. I have Aether. But it is not enough. My body fails me. I cannot grow stronger. I cannot provide. We are starving.

My tribe begins to die. I grieve. I can do nothing more. I have failed them. I brought this upon them. If I were only stronger... I cannot give up. Yet I can no longer succeed. I starve. My tribe starves. My tribe...

I should have done more. I could have done more. I should have taken greater risks. I should have...

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

I try to open my eyes. I cannot. I don't have any. Yet I can still see. All around me is a seemingly endless river. I have been here before... I follow the river. I cannot remember my mission. But I must succeed. I must continue on. This time... I'll do better.

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Violet eyes dart open, a soft glow escaping them. A tear dangles precariously at the corner, refracting violet light into small patterns against obsidian scales. Aleph sits up, her thoughts suspended in an almost meditative state of contemplation. She remains lost in thought for what feels like an eternity, yet could only have been moments.

With a glance behind her she eyes the remainder of the boulder lizard, as well as the discarded pile of smaller lizards and bugs she had collected. Such a waste... Pulling herself from the ground she begins devouring the remainder of the boulder lizard's carcass, along with the left over bits of her corpse pile, not letting herself slow down despite the growing protests coming from her overworked core. Leaving nothing behind but a patch of dry blood, she stands up and shakes herself off.

Settling down by Bloop she lets a deep breath of air ripple across her tiny companion's fur. Startled awake by the sudden gust of wind, Bloop jumps on guard, waving her pedipalps like swords at whatever threat deigned to disturb her slumber. As Bloop's eyes cross the dragon's she pauses her panicked swings, a sympathetic chitter exits her upon spotting the dragon's tear-filled eyes. Warm breath brushes the tiny critter's fur as she leans in to the closest thing a dragon and a spider can come to an actual hug, resting her pedipalps on the dragon's snout and letting out a frankly annoying set of chitters. Soothingly of course.

Clearly dissatisfied with the level of comfort, Bloop skitters backwards before spreading out her front legs and curling them. She flexes her barely existing spider muscles like a trained body builder, pulling different poses as if saying 'Look at me! I'm strong!'. Pff, naww I just can't stay mad at that. What was I even mad about in the first place? Who knows? Not mad anymore though. Nudging her companion onto her rightful perch Aleph sets off, ignoring the look of abject shock as the spider spots the now empty corpse pile. It's about time I begin my descent proper. I've been way too slow thus far. The pair head onward, this time avoiding any signs of life as Aleph searches for a way down.

After a few hours of blind searching, Aleph spots a tunnel arching downward. With her destination set she marches forward, only to be interrupted by the tiny white fuzzball now blocking her way. Bloop?

Standing in the entrance to the tunnel, Bloop aggressively waves her front legs. As Aleph makes the attempt to move forward she is halted once again as the spider shoots to the sides, wrapping the entrance in web before the dragon can so much as take a step.

What is she trying to tell me here? Normally when there's danger she'd just tap my head. Is this because I ignored that yesterday? Maybe... But this feels different somehow. Like she's telling me something else. Does she just not want me to go down? Why? Aleph sits down a short distance from Bloop, calmly eying her companion.

She's clearly more intelligent than I first gave her credit for. If that wasn't obvious from our initial interactions, the hunt yesterday spelled it out nice and clear. Perhaps she can even speak. But alas, we both lack lips, cheeks, and probably vocal chords so standard languages are out the window and I don't speak spider. I could maybe summon a demon to help translate? Nah, I don't have nearly enough prepared for that.

Aleph idly scratches at the ground with her tail before pausing. Right! Where words fail actions succeed! Or something like that. Raising a paw, Aleph pokes herself a few times with her claw, before pointing down the tunnel. Bloop watches, before shaking her body side to side.

Aleph responds with a curious tilt to her head. The spider thinks for a moment, scritching her head with her pedipalps, before skittering off and returning with a few differently shaped rocks. Picking up a small rock, Bloop points at Aleph, and then the rock. Ooh I've never been a rock before... I think?

Taking a larger rock Bloop lifts it high in the air and slams it to the ground, repeating the action a few times. She then hits the two rocks together before discarding the bigger rock. Picking up a yet larger rock she points at the rock and then the tunnel. She then mercilessly slams the larger rock on the smaller one, discarding the smaller one.

Hmm, I think I get the gist... Aleph leans forward to pick up the smaller rock representing herself. She then takes the second rock, hitting them together before discarding the larger as Bloop did. But then Aleph discards the smaller rock, taking the larger one again and pointing at herself and the rock. Hope that translates.

Bloop thinks for a moment, before giving Aleph a suspicious glare. Aleph in turn stretches out her now undamaged wing, giving it a hearty flap for good measure. Suspicion turns to surprise, but then back to concern. The pair lock eyes, neither giving the other an inch, lest they all but admit defeat by looking away.

Invisible lightning bolts spark between their eyes as they wage a calm, silent war with each other. The bloodless battle drags on, wearing down its combatants who both refuse to even blink. One might think it the spider who holds the advantage here, after all it is she who has no actual eyelids to even blink with in this situation. Yet all eight of her eyes waver at the unrelenting conviction held behind the violet orbs she contends with.

Bloop collapses in total defeat, weary of this long war. For war brings naught but suffering, and the only way for it to end is for one side to acknowledge their defeat, or be destroyed. Hell yea! Dragon one, spider zero. Aleph picks up the thoroughly defeated fuzz bundle before triumphantly striding forth.

Her March remains unperturbed as she simply walks straight through the wall of webs. Though the threads hold tight, giving no indication of being strained, the walls they stick to have other ideas as they crumble away helplessly with minimal strain. Bloop makes to complain, before remembering she is in fact a spider and cannot speak dragon, so she instead just flumps across her perch, officially done for the day.

The pair make their way down the tunnel, ready to explore the floor below.