As Adon stepped foot into the thick tissue of discarded skin, the fabric of it moved, and he instinctively jerked back as if scalded.

He was a little nervous, he realized. Even though he knew Goldie was his friend, her species was a natural predator of his. That was only made more obvious by the fact of her Evolution into another species that was clearly much larger than she had been.

Then he saw her head poking out. Goldie was stepping onto the surface of the bits of exoskeleton she had shed over the last several hours, and her newfound size was enough to easily shake the frayed, inadequate structure of her old web. Her whole body quickly moved into view, and Adon took her in like he was seeing her for the first time.

Adon’s first reaction to seeing her was a slight tinge of fear—building on the existing thread of nervousness—and an overwhelming sense of appreciation. Awe.

She was so big.

Where before, she had been only a couple of inches long at most, she was now the size of a large human hand. Bigger than any spider he remembered seeing in any of his previous lives, although not all of those worlds had been magical ones of continuous progression opportunities.

Goldie’s basic color pattern had not changed much since he first saw her. Her legs had retained their yellow and black bands and added red bands, as if to warn, This spider is venomous! She had the same little tufts of hair at her leg joints. Her body was still a dark reddish brown, but now her small yellow speckles had reformed into a yellow and black hourglass shape across her back.

And there was her aura, of course. The slight, yellow glow that had surrounded Goldie since Adon met her. It seemed to be the only quality of hers that had not changed at all.

You’re even more beautiful, he sent.

She stepped over the bunched up cloth of exoskeletons and wobbled noticeably on her feet.

Thank you, she thought. Looks like I need time to get used to these legs.

Adon just sent back the sound of laughter. He felt a twinge of guilt about laughing at anything only hours after they had buried Red, but it subsided quickly. Red would not begrudge him this.

Then he stepped in closer to Goldie, the nervousness from earlier vanishing almost as suddenly as it had appeared. She was still the same old spider, his friend.

He placed a wasp in front of her, and she almost pounced upon it. The movement was so quick and fierce that he had to exert self-control to stand his ground. Then she consumed the creature in the usual, mildly gross way that spiders did, and Adon had no further time to be disturbed by how much more predatory Goldie seemed.

He busied himself bringing her more to eat, and she rapidly wolfed down—or, more accurately, sucked up—everything he gave her.

I need to make certain I gather plenty of food after you begin your Evolution, Goldie thought. Did not realize I would feel so famished. Did not get quite so hungry last time.

I’m sure there will be plenty of dead wasps to eat, Adon replied. But he was not certain it would be enough. As Goldie continued eating, she depleted everything that had died around the web.

Adon was a bit peckish himself, but in order to keep the wasps for his friend, he restricted himself to eating Goldie’s discarded skins. He had done the same thing with his own skin in the past, and he knew it was a way to restore some of the Biomass lost from shedding his skin. They were not very flavorful, but the layers of exoskeleton filled his stomach and made it easier to find the last few wasp corpses that had been hidden during her Evolution beneath the ballooning layers of skin.

Finally, when Goldie had consumed everything in sight, the very hungry spider proclaimed herself satisfied.

That’s good, Adon sent. I think that’s all the food.

His friend had turned to survey the web as he spoke, and she stood stiffly for a long moment, reviewing the damage in full one last time. She articulated her feelings just as the silence had begun to feel awkward.

And now we can say goodbye to this place forever! Goldie thought finally. There was a fierce edge to her tone. Adon could feel the mixture of anger and grief swirling just beneath the surface. He sensed that she would probably never wish to return to this corner of the garden again—or perhaps to the garden at all, once they had departed. The memories would be too much.

We can say goodbye to everything, Adon replied. We can make a new, safer beginning for your eggs.

Yes, she thought.

Goldie tested her legs out, and she seemed to be capable of walking much more easily now that she had consumed more than her body weight in wasp guts.

She made certain that her eggs were still secured to her abdomen, applying another protective layer of silk just to ensure they would remain attached and insulated from attack during the journey.

With that last task done, they descended from the web and began their walk across the garden in near complete silence. Their eyes wandered the landscape, but they moved in lockstep beside each other without ever letting their bodies move more than an inch or two apart.

In their own minds, each had resolved they would not allow themselves to be separated again.

Adon briefly paused to eat the royal guard wasps as they reached the place where he had cut their corpses loose from his body so he could run to Goldie’s rescue.

They were still wrapped in silk. The scavengers had clearly made attempts to tear through it, because the silk was frayed in a few places from nibbling. But it seemed they had been forced to give up before they reached their goal.

Though this was the only sign of life he had seen since leaving the web, it reminded Adon to keep an eye peeled for any wandering bugs that he might like to eat. He wanted to stockpile spare Biomass before he entered his chrysalis, in case he ended up as ravenous as Goldie.

But the walk continued uneventfully.

The garden was quiet, perhaps because a giant spider and a mass murdering caterpillar were on the prowl. Nothing wanted to get in their way. If the caterpillar had not been at the apex of the garden’s food chain before, he realized he certainly was now, in company with the monstrous spider.

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This train of thought caused Adon to wonder if he had made a dent in the garden’s population with his activities over the last few weeks since being born.

He was surprised to realize that he hoped he had not. He could do without the existence of wasps entirely, but he did not want to be the cause of a major disruption in this ecosystem. He hoped that his slaughter had been a sort of statistical blip. Just a minor deviation from normal garden life.

He searched for the reason why he felt this way, while also badly wanting to leave the garden behind and try to lead a more civilized and secure existence.

He came to a conclusion that even he found a bit lame and unsatisfying.

For better or worse, no matter how vicious the lives of arthropods could be, they were lives. Adon hoped other creatures like him and Goldie would appear here again. Bright, shining, sapient lives. Precious and rare.

But it was more than just that. He even hoped that there would be many more voles and bats. For reasons he did not fully understand, he wished the surviving residents of the garden well.

The fact that he had never truly been vengeful, despite all that had happened to him—didn’t it prove that he did not truly hate this place? He had only ever killed to survive and to improve and extend his own life and those of his friends.

With all its cruelties, the garden also gave birth to life, beauty, and friendship. Love too.

It was this environment that had created him and his friend Goldie, after all.

It’s just life, he thought. Maybe life is inherently good. I think it must almost always be better than the alternative, at least. I miss the lives I don’t have. Even though I was a hopeless guy back when I was a human, I still wish I had that life to do over. Not because I wish I didn’t end up here—I would still want to wind up in this place, at this time, so I could meet Goldie. But there was so much I could have done, so much I could have learned, so much I could have been. Let alone that time I was a noble girl, or when I was a dragon! I don’t even know all the potential I’ve wasted in all these lives I’ve failed to lead.

What are you thinking about? Goldie thought.

Life is beautiful, Adon sent, choosing not to filter himself at all. I think being at the end of all these life or death struggles gave me a lot to consider. My thoughts aren’t organized, but I’m just grateful to be alive, I guess. Thankful that I came here and met you. I even feel like I appreciate the little things more than I used to. I’m not really thinking much about them, but I’ve been observing the flowers as we walk past. The winter flowers out now are so different from the autumn ones. It just makes me want to turn the page—I mean, it makes me want to see the next season. Am I making any sense?

The garden is beautiful, Goldie replied. I am with you about leaving it, but I always loved living here. Even when I was afraid for my life. It was a complicated feeling. This place is home. I met you and Red here. I built a home here. I planted the seeds of a family. The flowers are beautiful. I saw these ones bloom once before. It feels remarkable to think that this beauty appears in winter. It is still sad I never got to share the beauty of the fireflies with you. But that would require us to go through another two seasons in the garden, and neither of us wants that.

Maybe we’ll return one day, Adon sent. As tourists instead of residents.

Goldie nodded thoughtfully, and they resumed walking in silence, taking in the beauty of the flowers and trees as the garden continued its slow transition to the dead season.

Adon noted that her vocabulary and speaking skills seemed to have improved since her Evolution, but he could not find a way of expressing it that would not feel insulting or condescending. So he kept quiet.

They reached the old stomping grounds where Adon had first emerged from his shell, what felt like forever ago.

He noticed that someone—perhaps the royal gardeners—had removed the plant beside Adon’s birth plant that he had chopped down when he first tested out enhancing his mandibles with Mana.

His birth plant looked particularly scrawny and insignificant now that it had no neighbor.

But it did not matter. That was where the Princess knew to expect him, so that was where he was going.

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home, he thought to himself.

Goldie told him, without him having to ask, that she would stay with him on the plant. For however long it took for him to finish his first Evolution, she would be there, as he had been there for her during her transformation.

If necessary, she would even build a web on his and the surrounding plants and begin catching food.

The first Evolution can take some time, she explained. My first took longer than my second Evolution, the one you witnessed. You already know I am a bit of a homebody anyway.

Thank you, Goldie, he replied. I appreciate you looking out for me. In my other lives, I’ve heard caterpillars are extremely vulnerable while going through metamorphosis.

Goldie nodded. Probably more than most creatures during Evolution, from what I have seen. But I cannot wait to see what sort of butterfly you will become. Or perhaps a moth?

That reminds me, Adon sent, what was your new species?

I am now a Willful Golden Hourglass Spider, Goldie replied. I still have not explored what that means yet. I chose the individualized Evolution option, though. So I know it was personalized for me by the Goddess.

Is the System controlled by the Goddess directly? Adon thought but did not send. There was so much about this world he still did not understand. If the Goddess was always watching, why was her world so horribly violent, at least at the micro level? Why was every world Adon could ever remember living in a violent one, at least at some point in its history?

He did not want to get into a lengthy philosophical conversation about the nature of divinity right now, though. He wanted to climb into his plant and initiate the next phase of his life.

So instead, he replied, Wish me luck! I hope the Goddess chooses something great for me too.

Oh, I feel certain she will, Adon, Goldie thought. I think sometimes that you do not realize how special you are. If she cares at all what happens in this world, the Goddess has plans for you.

The words sent a chill through Adon’s body, though he was uncertain as to the reasons why.

Part of him wanted some grand destiny in this life, but perhaps another part of him was afraid of what that might mean. Greatness and happiness rarely went together from what he remembered across the universes he had experienced.

I’ll see you on the other side, Goldie, he sent finally. It’s always good to have you believing in me.

Then he climbed his old plant and purchased Specialized Chrysalis Evolution.

Then his body, half under his control and half prompted by an outside, unseen force, began to prepare to evolve. It was as if Adon was being told the steps to a strange ritual by a presence that was living inside his own body. And at the same time, he was living through the tutorial of those steps.

Fascinating. Bizarre. Almost an out of body experience.

It was the most emotional distance he had felt from his own body since the egg days, when he had hoped and wished to be some other kind of creature. When he, for some time, did not even know what sort of animal he was going to be.

His body employed his silk spinner to stick itself to a firm part of the plant near the main stem. Then his skin began shedding by itself. He was dimly aware that he could stop it if he chose to, but he had no desire to delay. He might somehow miss his own Evolution, and what would be the point?

This was exactly what he wanted.

More layers of exoskeleton puffed up and separated themselves from his body.

The wall between Adon and the outside world slowly grew thicker and thicker as he began the transformation that would leave his caterpillar body behind once and for all.

I wonder if I’ll dream.

That was his last thought before the world disappeared behind another layer of shed skin.