I decided to call my awesome sword to the ground move the ‘web plow charge’. It would have been so much cooler if I was glowing like Stella did when she attacked. I didn’t need to turn back to see where Ruby was. I could feel her right behind me. Her enraged screams made my ears ring painfully.

My fingers ached from the sheer force of clutching the small glowing rock. I refused to drop the thing though. Without it, I’d be just another bug caught in the spider's web. Every sense I had was on full alert. I could smell the foul stench of rotting flesh lingering in the air. I could feel the chill of danger brushing against my skin. I could even taste the lingering bitterness of bile still tainting my tongue.

The tunnel split up ahead. Relying on pure instinct alone I faked to the right and dodged to the left at the last moment like I was playing hockey. Ruby screamed again as she tried to follow me, her many legs tangling as she tried to swerve as I had before barreling into the thick pillar of silk that divided the tunnels.

I didn’t slow even as the alarm bells inside my head started to calm down. I’d bought myself time but I was far from out of the woods. Or the web as it were. The branches of a towering tree stuck out near the ceiling I sheathed my blade and shoved the glowing stone into my bum bag before reaching up and clambering into the branches.

Ruby was charging my way. I huddled in the darkness of the branches, as still as possible to avoid sending vibrations through the webs that she could track. I held my breath as she rushed past me. I waited for a short moment until the sounds of her pursuit quietened then I dropped from the branches and bolted back the way I’d come. I took the stone back out of my bum bag to light the way, focusing the beam of light by wrapping my fingers tightly around the circular rock.

It wouldn’t be long before she was back on my tail again. I just had to get clear of the web maze and then I could Shadow Rush away from this place. I eyed my magicka bar, happy with the speed of its rejuvenation.

I sucked in a sharp breath as I flew through the carven of broken spiderling bodies. They might be monsters but the sight of it made my stomach turn violently. If there had been anything in there I might have hurled. Never thought I’d be grateful to be starving.

I charged down the tunnel I knew she’d dragged me through. It was easy to spot. I remembered the stack of glowing stones that if you were hanging upside down on a spider monster's back kind of looked like a dong. Nigel would have loved that one. I’d caught him drawing dicks in the dirt or scratching them into tree trunks so many times on our short journey together. The gnome had an unholy fascination with dicks.

My danger sense was beginning to ring again as I web plow charged through the tunnel. She must have found me again. No doubt because I was using my newly attained cutting technique; slicing the web like this had to cause a shit ton of vibrations that Ruby could feel a mile away.

When a spec of light illuminated the end of the tunnel I almost cheered with relief. I stuffed the glowing stone back in my bum bag and put every ounce of strength I had into running. I eyed my stamina bar, terrified that it would run out before I’d made it free of the silken warren.

“You can’t escape me that easily?” Ruby screamed.

“It wasn’t easy,” I yelled back, unable to stop myself.

“You’ll die slowly, meat bag. I’ll skin you alive and watch as you howl in pain. I’ll scoop out your eyeballs and jamb them down your throat and then I’ll aim a little lower and do it again.”

The fear blended with the disgust in my guts into a churning nightmare that was physically painful. My balls tightened uncomfortably, determined to remain attached right where they were.

I felt her fingers reaching for me before the sharp nails touched my skin. I yelped and dodged to the side, spinning in a circle with my blade extended to keep from being trapped in the sticky web. Ruby floundered as she tumbled past me again. She reached desperately for me, her face hidden in the gloom of the tunnel. I dodged her grip and circled her, sliding under her many legs and bolted for the speck of light. I don’t know how the hell I managed to do that.

Ruby was tangled in her attempt to catch me but it didn’t take long for her to right herself and charge after me once more. My stamina bar flashed and drained completely. I was still running but my speed dropped dramatically.

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“Nigel!” I screamed.

Ruby’s triumphant cackle rang out, like the sound a cartoon villain would let loose. I screamed as she grabbed a hold of me, sinking her fangs deep into my neck. The dark green skull icon appeared beside my health bar as it dropped harshly. By now, I was very familiar with the evil little icon.

A notification flashed up in front of me but now was not the time for reading. I shoved my hand in my bum bag and yanked out the tongue, coating my blade with the green ooze that still wept from the cut-off end of the flapping muscle. I shoved it back in my bum bag as I jammed my blade wilding over my shoulder, praying it would sink deep enough.

Ruby screamed, the relief of her fangs being yanked from my flesh short-lived as the pain of it washed through me. It was like she’d lit a fire deep within me and it was burning me alive from the inside out. Ruby dropped me. I hit the ground hard and floundered as I regained my feet and stumbled toward the exit.

Her hand circled my arm, almost yanking the limb clean off. “You can’t escape me so easily. I’m not Red. I’m a real Aranea. Let me show you what we’re made of.”

“Nigel!”

My legs were beginning to feel like jelly. In fact, all of me was. I tried to lift my arm but it wouldn’t listen. My sword slipped from my suddenly thick, heavy, and useless fingers, landing on the ground with a solid thud.

The light from the end of the tunnel lit up Ruby’s pale face. Her scattering of freckles stood out in contrast against her deathly pale skin. Her eyes were red and still glowed as they had before. Her nose was just a little crooked, as though it had been broken in the past. Her sable black hair fanned out around her face, not silken and flowing but stiff and wiry.

She licked her bright red lips, the tip of it brushing against the long fangs that hung from the edges of her mouth like a pair of thick, black, hairy tusks. A drop of venom formed on the tip of her fangs as she lunged for my neck once more.

A ball of fire struck her right between the eyes. She screamed and dropped me, slapping her face as she tried to extinguish the blaze.

“Suck on that you sickening wretch,” Nigel bellowed from the mouth of the tunnel.

Ruby screamed so loud my ears popped. The pain was unimaginable but I had to get away. I crawled awkwardly across the ground toward the exit as drops of blood fell from my earlobes. It took a few moments for me to realize I could no longer hear. There was a ringing in my head that made it difficult to piece together. Under the ringing though, was nothing. Sweet, terrifying, eerie silence.

The ground rumbled beneath my fingers, the vibrations strong as Ruby stomped over the top of me, charging for the gnome who was still firing his little balls from his finger guns. I crawled after her, trying to scream for him to run but unsure if the trembling in my throat was actually forming words. My breathing was deepening as the fear of permanent deafness descended on me.

The icon beside my health bar flickered and disappeared. The weakness in my limbs began to slowly sap away as my health stabilized and ever so slowly began to rise again.

One of Ruby’s sharp fingernails scratched Nigel’s leg. My chest heaved as the blast of pain struck me. I couldn’t hear the awful thunk of the bone breaking but I could feel it.

I rolled to the side and dug out my bow. My arms shook as I drew back on the string with one of my fungal arrows notched. The poison damage of the fetid-mushroom-infused arrows made a huge dent in Ruby’s health bar. My aim was poor thanks to my shaking limbs but it didn’t matter too much when the target was as big as a bus.

The ground vibrated beneath me as she spun in wild circles, charging toward me only to spin again and charge toward Nigel. She couldn’t seem to make up her mind who to murder first as her health bar dropped and began to flash.

I aimed another arrow. Just as I released it she leaped into the air, sticking the ceiling and scurrying out of the tunnel and out of view. The world slowed as my arrow flashed right for Nigel. The little gnome panicked and threw up his arms.

Without a thought, my body melded with the shadows as I shot forward with unbelievable speed. I came out of the rush just in time to knock Nigel out of harm's way. The strike I landed on him hurt me but it mattered little as the arrow struck. Only it didn’t. The arrow clattered as it ricocheted off the ground and tumbled uselessly away.

My mouth dropped open. It should have hit me. I should be writhing on the ground right now as my own shot ate away at my health. But I wasn’t. I was just crouching here on the ground, my body feeling as light as a feather.

“Joe?”

I yelped as sound returned to me. It was still dull and my ears still ached horribly but I could hear just a little. I couldn’t decide if I should be grateful or not.

“Joe, where the fuck are you?”

“I’m right here you dunce,” I snapped, reaching out for the gnome.

My hand passed right through the small man's body. Fear swamped me as I held my hands up in front of my face. My skin was black and translucent.

Nigel kept bellowing my name as he walked away from me, picking up my fallen blade as he spun in little circles.

He couldn’t hear me. He couldn’t see me. He couldn’t feel me. Maybe he couldn’t even smell me.

That shadows in their infinite gluttony had swallowed me whole.