Prophetic dreams or not, there is little one can do with vague cues. What the hell is that Darkness anyway?

Well, maybe he had a clue. In his possession, there were both the True Dark Tome and the Soul Well. And maybe preventing souls from passing on was also a factor. But that was just a speculation on his part. Also, that could have been an empty warning, he wasn’t one to trust strange powers which invaded his sleep to spout some ominous warnings.

Regardless, to do nothing would be foolish so he went to check on the spider mages. That was long overdue since he had heard they had a serious breakthrough.

He reached a very dark place, its walls were reinforced and on the floor there was an elaborate magical circle. In its centre, there was an obsidian-like crystal – a legendary item known as the Soul Well. Currently, it was empty.

The crystal flashed a purple lightning as if excited to see its owner. The nearby spider stopped tinkering with the magical circle and turned to look at him.

“G-Greetings,” Spider Archame greeted with a stutter.

It was very unusual for the spiders to stutter. “Did I distract you from something?” He asked.

“N-no. You would never." The spider fidgeted with its spider hands.

“I can tell something is wrong. Did I come at a bad time? If I’m interrupting something important I can come back later.”

“No, King, no. It’s just that...” The spider struggled to finish.

“What is it?”

The spider sighted and looked apologetically. “The True Dark Tome was destroyed.”

“What!?” He was shocked. "How? What happened? Did the experimental ritual backfire? Or did someone mishandle it?” He had so many questions.

“I’m sorry. It is my. Fault.” The spider bowed apologetically.

“Just explain to me what happened.”

“It’s hard to. Explain. Come. I’ll show.”

The Spider Archmage led him to a nearby secure storage and produced an item. It was a thick book, a tome, it was definitely produced by spiders since it had that iconic spidery design. The black cover looked as if entangled in a blue web and on the web there was an artistic depiction of a spider, it had four little yellow gems for its eyes.

The tome was pretty and well made. But why was the spider showing it to him?

The tome opened by itself and began flipping its pages excitedly.

“A magical item?” He guessed.

“Oh look. It likes you.” The spider chirped somewhat happy. “Please take it in your hands.”

He did just so.

[You have obtained Spider-Nom-Nomicon]

The message was unusual, and the name even more so. But what came next was a shocker.

[Chaos Blessed], the perk triggered on its own.

[Spider-Nom-Nomicon has been bound to your soul],[Soul Bound].

“Okay. This is more than a fancy book.”

“I made it.” The spider chirped proudly.

“This is quite something...”

“It’s a. Divine grade item.” It chirped nonchalantly.

The tome flipped its pages as if to confirm that statement.

“...”

How do you even process that information? This was insane. He was under the impression that items like that could only be made by, well, gods; apparently not.

“Just how?”

The spider began to fidget again. “It ate. The True Dark Tome. And became this.” It chirped apologetically. “I just wanted to. Improve on your tome. Write something better. But..."

Whatever happened – happened. “I see. Don't worry, I’m not angry.”

“But the old tome. Was destroyed!”

“And now I have a divine grade item. Thank you Spider Archmage, you achieved something... Truly divine.” He bowed in thanks.

The spider returned the bow.

“How about the Immortality ritual? Is it still possible without the True Dark Tome?”

“Everything was solved. Before the destruction of the old tome. And this,” the spider pointed at the spidery book, "is ten times better.”

The tome flipped its pages happy at the praise.

The spider continued. “The ritual is. Almost complete. I was just fine-tuning."

“Well, then tell me how this works.”

It was rather simple, or maybe it only sounded so. No, it definitely wasn’t simple, it took a whole spider research department months to solve this. Anyway...

For this to work the spider had to carry a special magical item, a Soul Crystal. The crystal had to be bound to the Soul Well and attuned to each spider with a small ritual. Then, and if, the spider experienced the untimely end, its soul would be pulled into the crystal.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The crystal was calibrated so that the soul wouldn’t linger there for long. Hypothetically the crystal pulled on its magical energy, shattered and then sent the soul towards the well to be stored. Then the spider's soul could be reincarnated with the Rebirth ritual into the new body. Simple!

Of course, it was still a theory because for it to become a real thing a spider had to die. And at what distance the crystals remained effective also remained to be seen.

“Well then, I will leave the tome in your hands. Just in case you might need it.”

The tome stopped fluttering its pages and closed its cover shut, as if in protest.

“I won’t be able. To use it. If it refuses to open.”

Apparently, it could shut itself rather tight.

“Spider-Nom-Nomicon, you better behave yourself!” He scolded.

The tome opened reluctantly.

...

Neither the new tome nor the well looked like they would be potential sources of trouble. Those were just items, convenient tools; right? Right? So he left it at that.

He was taking a casual stroll through TomGrape fields. The sight was relaxing. The diligent spiders walked on the webs plucking the juicy fruits and storing them in the bags attached to their backs.

The fat squirrels dashed in and out from under the webs, dash was a strong word to use. They mostly casually wobbled from A to B; without natural predators, the squirrels had no feeling of urgency. They had grown obese and rather delicious.

“Huh?” He noticed something odd under the vine. “How unusual.”

There was a dead squirrel right under the plant, it looked desacated and all dry like a mummy. Usually, the spiders took care of such things, so what it meant was that the body was new. And bodies didn’t become mummified in a day or two.

There was only one conclusion. “Dark magic.” Was this the Darkness he was warned about?

He crawled under the web and skewered the squirrel with his spear. "I'll bring the body for the spiders to investigate." He decided.

“Greetings, King.”

“Greetings.”

“Salutations.”

The trio of voices surprised him, and he turned to look. There were two heavily armoured men and a centaur. There was no mistake who the two were; Bareth and Gareth obviously.

"Hello." He greeted back his subjects pointing the spear at them. The sight was morbid and the accidental gesture was probably rude.

The two didn't even blink at the squirrel, it was as if the mummified squirrels were an ordinary sighting here.

"This is new to me, but by the looks of it, you must know something about this.” He waved the spear.

"Yes, King. This is the victim of the shadow wolf.” One of the humans replied.

Shadow wolf? What was that?

His confusion must have been obvious because the other human jumped to elaborate.

“It was drained by shadow wolf, it probably happened this night.”

This didn't explain anything. "Why are there wolves on my farm? And did you say drain?"

“Drain.” A Chirp coming from the other side of the web repeated.

“Okay, what is going on?”

“I’ll come. Over.” It chirped.

The spider mage climbed over the web and jumped down right in front of the king. Then it began speaking about his 'Research' in an animated fashion. The humans just nodded as the spider spoke.

“Wait, wait, wait... So my farm is invaded by monsters? Shadow Dolls and Shadow Wolves? Why is it the first I hear of this?" This sounded bad.

“The spider farmers. Wouldn’t bother the King. About minor details. Such as. Pest extermination.”

Indeed, the spiders were left to manage the farms and they were experts in their jobs, but this seemed more serious than a simple pest infestation.

Will he need to follow the Wisp’s example and ask the Drow to cleanse the farm?

“We have it. The Shadow Plague. Under control." The spider reassured.

“The shadow plague?” It sounded way too ominous to ignore.

"Yes. A phenomenon needed a name. I named it so. A Shadow Plague. It repeated.”

Was this something to do with the Darkness the entity had mentioned? Scary!

“King, you have. A curious look. Are you interested. In my Research?”

“Of course I am! This should have been reported straight to me.”

The Spider Advisor must have slipped somewhere, or maybe it wasn’t too serious, but that name... It gave him the unpleasant feeling of foreboding.

“Come. Let’s check the traps.”

The spider waved a spindly hand to follow.

For some reason, the centaur had a panicked face all of a sudden. The actual monster must be very scary to make her so anxious and fidgety.

The centaur kept gazing at him and at one of the humans back and forth.

“I’m sorry, master Bareth.” She bowed apologetically.

Wow, way too low! He couldn’t not notice.

“King, let me give you a ride.” She crouched so that the climb would be easier.

Nope, he wasn’t doing that. There was nowhere to hold and it barely seemed appropriate. After all, she was a woman.

“I must refuse. You see, I enjoy these casual walks. This is the very reason I am here. To stretch my legs, so let’s walk.” He gave a long-winded excuse.

“Then, master Bareth. Please.” She said somewhat dejected.

"Oh no, I can't be riding if the King is walking. That would be unforgivable.”

“As expected of my master. Forgive my rudeness." She bowed twice, once for the King and once for her master.

"Let's get going. Already." The spider urged.

He couldn’t agree more.

...

They had to walk all the way to the edge of the farms, and he slightly regretted not taking the ride offered. But, oh well. He didn't want to make the Spider Leader jealous. For some reason, the spider took great joy and pride in being his royal mount. So he was fine walking.

Anyway, they reached the spot. It was obvious that this was the place because it was slightly different from the normal farm. Ever so often, there was another plant inserted in between the ranks of TomGrape webs. The plant had a tall and fat stem and on its top was a nut the size of a grapefruit; it undulated beggingly to be plucked off. This was the TrapBush plant, but it was modified. He recognised the vines growing around the stem, ShadowVine. Another plant was transplanted from the Magical Forest.

“Ah!” Spider pointed cheerfully. “Sucess.” It began running towards it.

“Oh did it work this time?” Bareth asked curious.

"It must have," Gareth replied.

“What? What work?” The King was still in the dark.

However, once he saw it, it became clear. The TrapBush must have been triggered because there was a cage in its place, and inside there was a shadowy monster.

“The ShadowVine. Keeps it in place. Otherwise. It just fazes through the bars. The experiment was a success.” The spider clapped cheerily.

Inside the cage was a creature. It was nothing like a wolf. It had tentacles!

"Is this safe?" The King asked with his spear at the ready.

"It should be." Gareth didn't sound too sure. Was

“It must be, otherwise it would have escaped already." Bareth sounded more convincing.

“It is safe.” The spider chirped and explained further. “It can’t touch the vine. Without getting. Drained itself. We'd successfully trapped it.” It clapped again in joy.

“Hmm, a shadow monster like this. Isn’t it vulnerable to light?” The King pointed at the sky. “Isn’t it on its last legs already?” If so it was rather cruel to keep it exposed to daylight.

Bareth jumped in to reply. “No, contrary to what one might think. They aren't vulnerable to light at all. At most, they only shy from it preferring to prowl in shadows."

“So what are these creatures? Why are they here and where did they come from?” He had to ask.

“Good question.” The spider nodded. “So far...” It began explaining.

The two humans had confirmed many times over that the shadow monsters were invulnerable to physical damage. Magic was the only way to kill them; any magic, it could even be Dark magic. Indeed, there were a lot of counterintuitive things about these creatures.

The biggest puzzle was that the spiders struggled to confirm the entry point of monsters. There were sightings of them leaving, but there were zero sightings for entries. It was almost as if they came into existence spontaneously here at the farm, gorged themselves on life and left the farm. This was the hypothesis number one.

Hypothesis number two was that the Shadow Plague sneaked into the farm with a third form. Something small and hard to notice, then it would drain life, use the energy to transform into a bigger monster and leave.

“But if they’re leaving. They must be going somewhere.” The King warranted a guess.

“Exactly!” The spider pointed at the trapped shadow wolf. “We’ll track it. And find out.”