--New World--

Draxuropolis

Ella stepped through the gate while thinking about the Haken's last word. What the hell was the Haken telling her 'don't die'?

Now, everything around her vanished, and only saw nothing but infinity of darkness between the two worlds. She gasped as her body felt a sudden freezing chill. In lasted seconds, blackness was quickly replaced by bright. A new world came to a view.

She blinked, suddenly facing a stone wall. The whole experience felt like something out of a fever dream—portals were supposed to stay in books. But now, she experienced it firsthand.

Instantly, she explored her eyes around the surroundings, and realized she was standing in a narrow, grimy alley. The walls were crumbling, some stones barely holding on, and cracks spidered across the surface. The ground was a mess, cluttered with debris and discarded junk—clearly, this forgotten corner had turned into the neighborhood’s personal dump.

"Is this really what Haken considers a world? Seriously, this place is straight-up trash!"

She carefully picking her way through the debris.

Every step felt like navigating a minefield, and she was simultaneously swatting at sticky webs clinging to her shirt. The air was thick with the stench of rotting waste, and she had to cover her nose just to keep from gagging. Meanwhile, swarms of flies buzzed around the trash, their annoying hum adding insult to injury. She'd stepped through a magical portal only to end up in the universe’s trash heap.

The reality of the environment hit her like a bucket of cold water—nothing like the enchanted world filled with mythical creatures and twinkling lights she'd imagined. Instead, this place was dim, dreary, and depressingly mundane. The walls were draped in old, tattered clothes and thick with cobwebs that looked like they hadn’t been disturbed in ages. It was clear that the sorry state of this abandoned alleyway wasn’t the handiwork of some mischievous fairies, but rather human.

She sighed and began clearing a path, sweeping away the sticky webs as she trudged along the lengthy alley. Her patience was wearing thin, but she still determined to see where this depressing corridor led. Faint noises echoed in the distance, just enough to keep her moving forward.

"This must be my first task - clearing these damn webs. At least now, someone can walk through here without getting caught up."

According to the Haken, as long as Ella remained in this world, it would keep on ticking. But the contract had been suspiciously vague about what services she'd be expected to provide. So why was she stuck in a place that looked like it hadn’t seen a broom in decades instead of somewhere neat and fresh?

Despite all her efforts to clear away the webs, she hadn’t run into a single spider.

Something wasn't right. With a firm grip on the baseball bat, she swung it like she was aiming for a home run, breaking through the webs and kicking aside any debris that dared to block her path. The sticky strands clung to her shirt, but she ignored them, too focused on escaping.

The distant sounds she’d been hearing grew louder, morphing into the unmistakable yells of nearby residents. Intrigued, she quickened her pace, eager to finally reach the end of this cursed alley. But, of course, her enthusiasm was short-lived. A towering wooden barrier suddenly loomed in front of her, blocking the way like the universe’s idea of a sick joke.

She just wanted to get out but the alley seemed to be giving her the quest. It was driving her mad. Without a second thought, she swung her baseball bat at the barrier with all the pent-up frustration she could muster. The sound of splintering wood filled the air as the barrier gave way, creating a hole just big enough for her to squeeze through.

She made it. Stepping through to the other side gave her a fleeting sense of relief—until that relief quickly morphed into dread. Standing at the end of the alley was an immovable guardian, its presence far beyond anything she could’ve imagined. And by the looks of it, this thing had been waiting for her all along.

***

"If my intuition is accurate, it's been about twenty minutes now," she stopped in her tracks and looked up at the sky, trying to gauge the time. As she trudged along, she drew lines in the sandy ground using the baseball bat that she was carrying.

Of course, the Haken had conveniently left out the part about the monstrous arachnid now hanging from its web at the edge of the alley. Lovely, eyeing the creature warily. Its legs stretched out like rulers, its bulbous abdomen looking uncomfortably like a baby human’s head, and those fangs—well, let’s just say they were long enough to make her seriously rethink her life choices. And the sheer hairiness of the thing? Enough to make her skin crawl right off her bones. The spider from her worst nightmares.

She squatted at a safe distance from the spider, trying to catch her breath and thinking back to those simpler days in her apartment. She used to be fearless when it came to spiders. In fact, she’d turned dealing with them into a bizarre game, pitting them against each other in tiny arenas she made whenever boredom struck. But now? All that bravado had evaporated, leaving her with a fear she couldn't help but feel.

"I totally should've booted Haken out the moment we met," she nibbled her nail, cursing the agreement that had landed her in this mess.

It felt like karma, coming back to bite her.

She rubbed her temples, trying to come up with a plan, when it suddenly hit her—she hadn’t even had time to brush her teeth or change out of her pajamas before stepping through that portal. All Haken’s fault, she thought bitterly. Its urgent plea had eaten up all her time. But those trivial concerns quickly faded as her focus returned to the spider, perched comfortably on its web at the alley’s end. It sat there, perfectly still, almost as if it were mocking her—like it knew she was running out of time.

Hesitant but insistent on, she rose to her feet and scanned the area for anything she could use as an additional weapon. Her eyes landed on a sharp wooden stake, just the right size for her grip.

"It's no different from the spiders in my apartment, except now it’s playing the ‘bigger is better’ card... which, honestly, I didn’t sign up for!"

Biting her lower lip as she tried to steady her nerves. It was like her old eight-legged nemeses decided to hit the gym and bulk up.

She felt a cold sweat trickling down her forehead as she advanced toward the monstrous spider, her heart pounding like it was trying to escape her chest. With the baseball bat gripped tightly in one hand and a backup stake tucked at her waist, she took slow, measured steps, trying not to spook the creature. The spider was enormous, its hairy legs spreading across the entire path like it owned the place. One wrong move, and she knew she could be toast.

Hold up.

Reaching down, she picked up a fist-sized stone, testing its weight in her palm. Her eyes stayed locked on the spider as she crept closer, every muscle in her body tense, ready to bolt if needed.

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In the face of danger, her brain kicked into high gear. She knew she had to act fast. Taking a deep breath, she hurled the stone at the web. Her goal wasn’t to harm the spider—she wasn’t that delusional—but to create enough of a distraction to give herself a chance to escape this nightmare.

Thwack!

To her immense relief, the stone struck the web, and the spider recoiled, its massive body shifting away from her. This was might actually work. Without wasting a second, she grabbed more stones and chucked them at the web, Thwack! Smack! Thwack!, each hit causing the spider to retreat further.

She pumped her clenched fist into the air when the web finally gave out, sending the spider crashing down.

"Take that, arachnid!"

It wasn’t a permanent solution, but it bought her the time she needed to make her escape.

Pressing her back against the cold shabby wall, she carefully sidestepped, her breath held tight as if even a whisper could set the spider off. Their distance was barely the length of a ruler, and she could practically feel the spider’s many eyes boring into her, each limb unfurling slowly, with a creepiness that sent shivers. She gulped and took another cautious step—only to slam her foot straight into a protruding rock.

"Ouch! Damn it, my—ah, ah!" she yelped, hopping on one foot while clutching her injured toe. The sharp pain radiated through her, forcing her to sit down for a moment, grimacing in agony.

As she caught her breath, she glanced back at the spider—only to find it wasn’t in its spot anymore. She froze, heart pounding in her ears, her eyes darting from side to side in search of any movement. That’s when she felt it—a faint tickle on her back. Her head turned slowly, dread pooling in her stomach, and she caught a glimpse of something long and hairy crawling up her shoulder.

"Accckkkk!"

With a scream, she recoiled, her hand flying to her back, where it made contact with something soft but a bit thorny and unnervingly large.

"G-Go awayyYyyy...no, no, ackkk! Mamaaa acckkkk!"

Without thinking, she grabbed it, her fingers closing around what she now realized was one of the spider’s legs. Instinct took over, and she hurled it away with all the strength she could call together, the leg landing with a soft thud on the ground.

The spider’s eight legs twitched wildly as it righted itself, its multiple eyes locking onto her with disturb. It was personal. The creature inched closer as if it sensed her fear. Instinctively, she pushed herself backward, her hands trembling as she tried to keep her gaze focused on the approaching arachnid. But the spider was relentless, surging towards her. A predator zeroing in on its prey.

She reached for her baseball bat, but in her panic, it slipped from her grasp, clattering loudly against the pavement. Perfect timing, butterfingers, she mentally cursed as she frantically kicked at the spider, trying to fend it off. But her efforts were useless. The arachnid's hairy legs crawled up her body, sending fear as she scrambled backward. Its fangs became visible closer with every passing second, its hissing filling the air with a sound that could only be described as pure nightmare fuel.

In a desperate bid for survival, she acted purely on instinct. One hand clutched desperately at the spider’s hairy legs, wrestling to keep its venomous bite at bay, while the other groped blindly for the stake she had grabbed earlier. Her heart pounded in her chest as she struggled to maintain her grip on the enraged arachnid, its weight pressing down on her like a suffocating blanket.

The spider spat a web at her, narrowly missing her face by mere inches. As she finally managed to grasp the stake. Summoning every ounce of strength she had left, she thrust it forward with all her might, the wood piercing the spider’s abdomen with a sickening crunch.

It let out a guttural screech of agony, its lifeblood spilling onto her. She grimaced as the spider’s innards oozed across her pants, staining them with vile fluids. These were her favorite pants too. She watched the spider thrash, its limbs flailing in a grotesque dance of death.

Despite its agony, the spider continued to hiss.

Enough was enough. With a grim resolve, she grabbed a hefty rock and brought it crashing down on the spider's head, repetitively, until its struggles came to an end, and silence fell over the alley.

She was breathing heavily and collapsed to the ground, shocked by the aggression she had encountered. Feeling overwhelmed by what she had just done, she experienced both relief and repulsion. And then, she stared at the lifeless creature before her. Yet, as she gazed down the length of the alley, she knew that this was just the beginning.

***

With a grimace of disgust, Ella carefully removed the few clinging hairs of the spider queen from her palm. Then, she proceeded to gather up spider silk in an attempt to wipe away the remnants of the encounter from her pants. It was awful!

She threw away the soiled silk, but the damp stain it left behind remained.

Leaving the narrow confines of the alley, her heart lightened, and smiled like an idiot.

"Alright, where the hell is that noise coming from now?"

She walked and didn't look back.

Although she was only a few steps from the end of the alley, the area seemed strangely deserted. But curiosity, that pesky little bugger, pulled her towards a faint sound from afar. As she continued walking, she noticed the labyrinthine streets with timber-framed buildings that hung precariously over cobblestone pathways they were in on some ancient secret.

"Um, eenie, meenie, miney, moe, catch a spider by its toe, if it scurries, let it go. Eenie, meenie, miney, moe... Alright, let's go right!"

Standing the crossroads, both paths seemed to call her name, each one whispering sweet nothings of potential doom or salvation. She glanced down at her palm, which had been itching like mad ever since her encounter with the spider. She scratched it absentmindedly, only to realize that the source of her discomfort might just be a few stray spider hairs sticking stubbornly to her skin.

Naturally, she did what any self-respecting unsure person would do—she let randomness take the wheel. Sometimes, a little chaos was the key to making the right decision. With a shrug and a slightly itchy hand, she veered left.

The voices grew louder, pulling her closer like a magnet to the sound's core.

"Huzzah!"

"Hoorahhhh!"

Right wasn’t always right, and she felt pretty smug about that as she took in the scene infront of her—a scene ripped straight from a historical fantasy novel. Unlike the situation of her world, where everyone was stuck like mannequins in a cosmic freeze-frame, here, people were alive, moving and yelling.

The people dressed in what could only be described as 'ten centuries ago chic.' Their accents were thick, like they had all just walked out of a medieval drama.

She spotted a ladder leaning against a nearby wall. Without much thought, she scrambled up, eager to get a better view of the commotion below. As she reached the top, her eyes widened in awe. A parade? This was a first for her, especially looked like this. Squinting down at the street, and there it was— she saw a carriage rolling through the crowd. But not just any carriage. This one was practically dripping with elegance. And inside? Ella's breath caught when she saw the woman seated within. She was a vision, with golden hair that seemed to capture every ray of sunlight, turning it into a glowing halo around her head. The lady’s gown was something out of a dream, deep emerald green with intricate gold patterns that sparkled with each graceful movement.

Ella blinked, barely trusting her eyes. Another carriage, and this one looked straight out of a fairytale!

"All hail the King and the Queen!"

"Long live the reign of King Adheesh!"

"Huzzah!"

Inside, she could just make out the silhouettes—a King and Queen, no less. The Queen was decked out in one of those regal outfits with a high collar and sleeves that seemed to go on forever, the kind you'd only expect to see in webtoon. She wore it with a grace that screamed, 'Admire me, peasants,' and honestly, who wouldn’t?

The King, sporting a crown that practically glittered with authority, waved to the crowd with a smile so soft yet undeniably royal that it felt like a gentle command to be in awe. As petals showered down on the street like some magical confetti, Ella couldn’t help but think she’d wandered into an enchanted world. She whispered to herself, "Wow," because what else could you say?

Then, thunderous sound of hoofbeats heard through the street, and as the riders drew closer, their gleaming silver armor caught the sunlight in a way that made her squint. Among them was a figure that clearly led the charge, radiating authority like it was his side gig.

“So, this is what they mean by a knight in shining armor, huh."

A wry smile forming at her lips. The whole scene felt like it had been scripted for maximum drama. She half-expected him to pull off his helmet and reveal some impossibly handsome face, all chiseled jawline and heroic hair flowing in the wind. But no, he just kept riding.

Just as Ella was getting comfortable atop the ladder, a sudden crack rang out, startling her out of her moment of amazement. Panic shot through her as she wobbled shaky, but with quick reflexes, she managed to steady herself, narrowly avoiding an embarrassing and painful tumble. With her newfound wisdom in mind, she climbed down, deciding that mingling with the crowd was a safer bet than playing human Jenga.

By the time her feet hit the ground, the knights were already fading into the distance. Disappointed. She barely managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of their armored backs.

She wove through the crowd of people and couldn’t help but felt the uneasy sensation that she was being watched. It felt like every pair of eyes in the crowd was zeroed in on her, particularly at the bottom of her back. The whispering didn’t help, either—it was like being at the center of some gossip mill.

Deciding she'd had enough of the scrutinizing stares and the suffocating blend of odors that hung heavy in the air, she quickly slipped away from the crowd. She had no intention of becoming the next topic of conversation or, worse, being trapped.

Ella needed fresh air.