A sea of memories floated in front of Ethan.
His new Possession upgrade was kicking in. He could feel his mind and that of Rachneros’ link, and his disembodied consciousness traveled through the depths of the creature’s thoughts—to the little part of the beast that was still alive, somewhere, watching its body being puppeted by the Archon that had finally come for it.
And it was that strange sense of inevitability that brought a single wave of the past crashing down on Ethan’s face.
He was standing in his lair. He was Rachneros—completely. ‘Ethan’ didn’t exist.
He had just been hatched, and he spread his new limbs. He looked at them in curiosity, bringing the two little blades at the ends of his arms up to his face to try and work out what exactly he looked like. A little nip from his right arm drew a line of green blood from his left cheek. He felt pain—his first real sensation.
“Careful, little one!” A voice rang out in his mind. “Those claws of yours cut deep.”
This voice belonged to someone speaking to him from far away. It was like an echo traveling down a long, dark corridor.
Then a bright light blazed in front of him, displaying a large box with lines of text scrolling past faster than his brain could keep up with:
RACHNEROS, The Pale Lord.
LVL 1
[Stats]
HP: 200/200
MP: 0/0
WILL…
He stopped looking at the letters. Instead, he was fixated on the four-eyed, bug-faced being looking back at him behind them.
“Yes, newborn,” the voice said. It was clear and angelic, at once soothing and calming to his frightened nerves. “That’s you. That’s your name. And these are the numbers that define you.”
He dismissed the box with a grunt and instead focused on the other spiders hatching from their cocoons in the chill, dark chamber of his birth. The little ones regarded him for only a moment before all turning away—an army of green and black Arachnae scuttling away from him.
He stretched out a limb to try and halt them, opening his many-fanged mouth and begging them to come back.
“I’m sorry, little one,” the angelic voice said. “But that is not your purpose. You must remain here. And await the Delvers.”
He wasn’t listening to the voice now. He was trying to scurry towards his brothers and sisters. But he could do nothing but watch as they left him alone down here, trapped in the dark.
“It is okay,” the voice said. “In time, you will learn to enjoy even the pain you will experience. After all, you’ll be dishing out a fair bit yourself, haha!”
His mouth opened in a scream that begged them to stay by his side. He just couldn’t accept what this voice was telling him. Even though he knew now that he had been created purely to live a life of perpetual loneliness and suffering down here, one question still burned in his newly formed mind: Why?
And the voice, speaking with absolute clarity, gave him the answer:
“We can only be what we are supposed to be,” it said.
----------------------------------------
The light of a bug lantern shone on Ethan’s new face, awakening him to the world of the present.
“Ah, thank goodness,” Klax said. “We thought that perhaps—”
“Outta the way!” Tara shouted, running into the large, oval chamber as Ethan adjusted to his new vision. He could see and sense far more than he could before. Even the frantic heartbeats of his companions were thumping loudly in his ears—joined by the chorus of hearts waiting outside this candle-lit room. He’d have to try and deal with that…
Of much more interesting note were the two serrated scimitars he brought up to his eyes and the hybrid-spider body he now inhabited.
He checked his Status Screen just to be sure:
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Current [Host]: Rachneros, The Pale Lord
And his smiling face beamed down at his furry friends.
“Now, we’ve got ourselves a real boss, guys.”
“Hah!” Tara yelped, giving him a stout punch in his spindle legs. “Ya got that right! This thing’s deluxe. Took us long enough to stitch you back up, mind you. But, hey, it’s worth it, right?”
"How the hell did you manage to repair the big bastard's arms?"
Tara winked up at him. "Ol' Fraxx has his remedies. Some of his potions would be considered necromantic up on the surface. But fuck that. We're in Sanctum and we make our own damned rules."
Ethan then caught sight of Fauna looking up at him from behind Klax.
“Faun!” Ethan shouted. “Hey, looking good! How’re you—”
He stopped as he noticed the girl step back when he pressed forward, and then suddenly remembered exactly how this must look to her—the creature that was ready to gobble her up and chew her out, the one that had all but cleaved her—this was a real monster standing above her right now.
“Faun,” Klax said gently. “It’s okay. It’s him.”
The girl twitched her nose as she slowly emerged.
“E-Ethan?”
Ethan bent down low in a bow that let her see his hatty form wriggling around atop his new Host’s head.
“It’s all me, gal,” he said with a wink, proceeding to flex his new toned torso. “Who’d have thought, eh? I had wanted a sexy spider goddess, and instead I got me a masculine, leggy god.”
“Speak for yourself, big guy,” Tara laughed. “You weren’t looking so hot when we dragged you outta the Den.”
“Oh yeah! What happened after I blacked out?”
The Minxit shrugged. “The place came crumbling down. Almost like it didn’t like us stealing its prized Boss. We used the Teleport Stone to get the fuck outta there.”
“It…is against the Law of Kaedmon to remove a creature from a Delve,” Fauna explained. “Some say it leads to bad omens—a curse put on someone from the God of Argwyll Himself.”
“Superstitious shit,” Tara scoffed. “Besides, the Archon’s the de facto rulebreaker of this world. And now, with this new form, we can finally take the fight to the hu—”
“Tara,” Klax said suddenly. “Remember what we talked about.”
The Minxit shot the Lycae a look of surprise.
“Klax, look at him! He’s gotta be ready. He’s gotta—”
“Are you really willing to take that chance?”
The two stared down each other as Ethan got a better grasp on his surroundings. They had placed him in a high-ceilinged chamber set within the bark of a tree by the looks of the oaken walls and etchings carved into its bowels. If his senses could be trusted, he was right back in Sanctum.
He felt a pang of remorse for his old Dark Hawk body (which was probably left down there in the rubble of the Festering Den), but, hey, the bird had lived a good life…
On to the next one!
“If you guys don’t mind,” Ethan said, “I’m gonna get me some upgrades. These Spirit Cores ain’t gonna spend themselves.”
“Of course,” Klax said. “But first, there’s a very…ahem…impatient crowd out there waiting to see their Lord in all his glory.”
“You got more fangirls and guys than you’ll know what to do with, Mr. Archon,” Tara said. “Make sure there’s enough of those new legs to go around.”
“Tara!” Fauna giggled.
“Hey—it’s the truth, sis.”
Ethan couldn’t help but smile—seeing the good humor restored between the two. Klax, meanwhile, was looking like he was gonna collapse from exhaustion—and Ethan saw that his wounds were still in the process of healing.
“Hey, Klax? You all good?”
The Wolfman shook his frayed mane and managed a smile. “Fine, Ethan. These old bones are just getting on with time. With an Archon like you, though, I’ll be set to retire in no time.”
He gestured to the wooden hallway leading out of the oaken chamber, and the team followed Ethan’s lead. He was pondering his upgrades—knowing for sure that he could probably take [Hide] all the way up to at least C grade now, with enough left over to improve [Roar] and some of his bird skills, too. He admitted that he was curious, though—now that he didn’t have any wings, how was he going to manage a Dive Bomb or [Wing Buffet] attack?
Transfer Skills from previous Host: [Wing Buffet] and [Dive]?
He didn’t reckon that a spider Lord suited his [Peck] skill—and besides, he’d barely even needed to use it with his claws and AOE attacks.
[Skill Transfer: COMPLETE!]
It also looked like he’d now be adding the capacity to inflict some super crippling status effects into the mix:
Skill Description: Poison Coating [Grade E]
You slather your weapon in the virulent poison composed from your own blood, giving your weapon the [POIS] attribute.
[POIS] type: Pale Lord Venom.
-5 HP/sec
Duration: 10 secs
Spirit Core cost to Upgrade: 200
Fifty damage over time, he thought. And all it takes is a little pricking of my lovely pale skin. Applying this’ll be nothing—all I gotta do is make sure I hit. Here’s hoping you’ve got some meaty poison resistance, Mr. Artorious.
Alright, next skill?
Petrification Coating [Grade E]
You slather your weapon in the debilitating bile closest to your heart, giving your weapon the [PETRI] attribute for 10 secs.
[PETRI] Chance: 30%
Duration: 10 secs.
Spirit Core cost to Upgrade: 250
The ability to be a living, breathing Gorgon for 10 seconds? You can count me the fuck in. Sys, you seeing this shit?
I must admit that these abilities do seem rather…
OP? Ethan chuckled in his new, insect mindscape. Get with the program, baby.
Outside the oak chamber, Ethan beheld the crowds of Hybrids who had waited for him and his companions. Their faces lit up at his new presence, murmurs of excitement running through the crowd as Klax emerged to address them with his booming voice.
“Hybrids of Sanctum!” he roared. “Witness the new form of the Archon! The form that will send shockwaves of fear into this world and carve out a place for our people on its surface!”
The cheers of the people practically brought the rocky roof down. Ethan’s five eyes swept over them, waving his scimitar limbs in the air and letting them take in his new, mighty body.
“Let the celebration of the Archon’s first Delve completion begin!”
“Celebration?” Ethan looked down at the smiling old wolf. “How exactly do you guys celebrate down here?”
“How do ya think?” Tara asked as she slapped one of his slender new legs. “We’re gonna get blind drunk.”