Kiri stood in shock as she watched the two men bleed out in front of her. Her joints were frozen, body not responding to her instinct to flee. Something invisible killed them, and she might be next.

The human that yanked her away came into view and spoke words she couldn’t understand. Another joined him and they both took turns speaking to her, gradually raising their voices.

“This isn’t going to work. We need to find some kind of basis to communicate,” Kiri said, anticipating that they in turn wouldn’t be able to understand her either. She was wasting her time with them, when she should be looking for the women that opened up the portal.

A thunderous noise erupted behind her, banging into her eardrums. She dropped to the ground and pressed her hands against her ears to block it out. More and more humans came out of their caves and wandered down the aisles. A man with a neat beard lifted her up and inspected her body. Heat rose to her cheeks when his eyes lingered on her curves longer than she liked. Goosebumps spotted her arms but she couldn’t afford to waste any of her energy to keep herself warm. She felt embarrassed having his eyes linger on her curves and how exposed she was. He spoke with the other two men and nudged her down a side path.

A chilling wind bit into Kiri’s exposed flesh, sending tingles running up her spine. She searched for the three women that opened the portal. She couldn’t get a clear look at them from the edge of the forest but believed them to be Erythrai. Only other nymphs could open the gateway between worlds and these brought with a sizable force of spiders. She needed to ditch the man and find out their true intentions before it was too late.

The explosions rang out, sending shivers running down her body. The barrage of sounds and smells made her want to curl up into a ball but the man urging her onward wouldn’t allow it. That was, until they came across a hunter. The spider sat on top of a trench and was wrapping an unconscious human when they interrupted it. She dropped the meal and eyed them both.

The human stood perplexed at the sight of such an enormous beast. His hands fumbled at his side for a metallic object he had strapped away in a pocket. He pulled it out and leveled it onto the spider.

Kiri jumped to the ground, pressing her hands against her ears as the device gave out loud pops of explosions. It somehow hurt the spider from a distance, despite her not being able to have seen anything strike it.

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The hunting spider squealed and scrambled to dodge the pops until only clicking remained. The man looked to his weapon, growing paler as he realized it wasn’t enough to kill the spider. There were plenty of minor wounds dripping but none that were lethal.

The spider sensed its turn and leapt forward, striking the man several times and biting into him. He flailed, trying to free himself and cried for help.

Kiri watched in horror as the screaming came to a gurgling end and he was eventually wrapped up tight. The spider went back to finish up the other human, collecting both before heading off and ignoring her.

The dryad climbed on top of the trench and watched the spider scurry off with its packaged meals. Behind her, thousands of people rushed through fields of mud and splintered wood. Men fell and merged with the lifeless landscape as others attempted to continue up the hill and fight those waiting for them. Her heart sank at the sight of the destruction and loss of life. It would take years for life to return and only if it hadn’t been destroyed everywhere else as well. The world was sick and required her help but first she had to find the women that opened the portal.

She pursued the spider but kept enough distance to not gain its attention. More sprang out of the trenches and joined the spider she was trailing. Each carried a trapped human wrapped onto their backs. The sheer number of humans she encountered so far was overwhelming. There were easily double as many humans at this one place than there were dryads on her home world.

The spiders united a half mile away near a small lake and as Kiri drew closer she spotted the first pale woman. She couldn’t locate the other two but figured them to be nearby. The place rank of rotting flesh and hardly seemed the best place to break away from each other to go exploring. She wanted to return home as fast as possible. Every moment she lingered the weaker she felt herself grow. Kiri dug her fingers into the ground and reached out, taking in small amounts of energy the soil stored.

The woman cast her hard gaze across the field as she turned around to inspect the newcomers. She hesitated, holding her hand out to stroke the head of the nearest spider while continuing to look Kiri’s direction.

Kiri pressed herself as flat against the ground as she could and hoped she hadn’t been spotted. Her training to become a Warden never included stealth operations. As a Warden it was her duty to step out and confront them all for their wrong-doing and help prevent further misconduct. A bad idea, considering she had an army of spiders with her. She peeked out from between the rocks and examined the stranger, taking in her sharp features. Her piercing green eyes resembled Kiri’s but only the Daughters of the Evening, the Erythrai, had such pale skin.

The spider hoisted the nymph onto its back and dove into the small lake. Once all the spiders had gone through, she slowly raised herself and looked back across the war torn plateau. A world without a Warden gone mad and keen on destroying itself.