Humans evolved over millions of years to be uncomfortable around spiders, and for good reason. Having a massive arachnid creeping toward you in the dark is one of the most viscerally terrifying situations a human psyche can fathom. Sunwhisper had no such evolutionary history, however, and as such, the spider might as well have been a curious dog that just happened to have eight legs and mammoth, venomous fangs for self-defense. He recognized the risks involved, as it could have bitten him before he could have reacted to an attack under those conditions, but he was relatively confident that he wouldn't be killed as long as he observed the rules. Besides, if their venom was their primary weapon, it would have little effect on him.

As long as he did not take an aggressive stance, or try to leave the cell, he was relatively safe.

The spider’s legs ended in bristly pads that allowed them to climb almost any surface. It felt rough against Sunwhisper’s skin, and as soon as contact was made, he activated Hand of the Gentle Sage.

Given that the anatomy of this sacred beast was very different from that of a human, as was its mind, he wasn’t sure what the result would be. He couldn’t know ahead of time if the continual state of hunger that the spiders experienced would qualify as a form of pain that could be removed by his ability.

His hip and back were still in agony, though it was manageable as long as he wasn’t moving, and he wondered if there was some limit to what he could absorb or feel at one time. Whatever that limit was, he was far from reaching it.

The hunger flowed into his body in a manner that was reminiscent of the flow of mana, except that instead of filling his core with warmth and light it emptied the pit of his stomach and caused his limbs to tremble.

Sunwhisper had never starved, even as they crossed the largely barren Tree of Heaven, the mechanoborgs had never suffered from pangs of hunger, because they could eat virtually anything. They had snacked on whatever plants and animals were available in the regions they crossed, as well as some of the softer rocks. The petrified bark of the Tree of Heaven itself could be processed for energy and carbon, though it was barely worth the effort to do so.

He let his hand rise from the candle, and was rewarded with the sight of a tremendous, hairy spider rising up on its back legs in a threatening stance before backing off into the shadows.

Part of Sunwhisper thought the spider looked delicious, but he stifled the thought, worried that his Aura of the Bleeding Heart was going to lead to a hunger crazed feedback loop between him and the ghastly predators he was trapped with.

The soup was gone, so he picked up the porcelain bowl that had held the onion broth and bit into it. Fortunately, his teeth were almost as hard as his bones, which were about the density of titanium. He had to chew quite thoroughly to get it down, and it wasn’t very satisfying, but just the act of chewing and swallowing provided some relief.

The spider who had touched him was moving excitedly about the room, climbing the walls, rearing and dropping, and generally confusing its partner with its antics.

"What is it? What has it done?"

"Brother? Brother…I feel strange."

"Strange? Strange? Why do you move so strangely?"

"I do not feel full, but I am not empty…brother, he took the empty. He did not feed me. He took my empty."

"I do not understand."

"Touch him, touch him brother, make him take your empty."

The second spider came forward in spite of the candlelight, which granted its hairs and carapace a glossy sheen. Its mouthparts waved madly as it took the approach in several sessions of advancement and retreat, seeming to have to fight its own instincts to do so. Sunwhisper wondered whether there would be meat in the spider’s legs, or whether they were fluid filled, like a true arachnid. Either option would be equally digestible, but not equally convenient for the mess involved.

He understood what the sacred beast was feeling, how it must have desired to bite him, and how much effort it was taking to resist the impulse to feed. He shared that impulse himself, now. As a way to master his thoughts, he closed his eyes and shoved the last of the bowl in his mouth to tide himself over. There was the faintest trace of soup left on the porcelain as he ground it into dust with his teeth.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Moments later, he felt the bristly touch of a second padded foot, and he experienced the rush as a second wave of hunger overtook him.

It was too much. It was worse than the nerve damage.

He lay on his side and half curled into a ball, no longer caring how he presented himself to the predators.

(You okay, kid?)

Sunwhisper’s response was to begin eating the backup candles. They were a vast improvement over the porcelain bowl as a means of sustenance, as they were made from tallow, and he found them to be genuinely savory.

"His promise, he made his promise."

"Do you feel it, brother?"

"I feel it. I feel not feeling it."

The spiders, at least, were pleased.

(So what’s the plan here?)

"You need to understand something," Sunwhisper sat up, and the spiders paused in their carousel to watch him. "If I die, your hunger will return. You will never be free. If you want to remain this way, you will have to come with me."

Their legs quivered.

"We cannot…"

"We cannot let you pass…"

"Wards…there are wards…"

"Where?" Sunwhisper asked through a mouthful of candle.

The spiders didn’t have necks, so instead of turning their heads, they turned their whole bodies to indicate the trapdoors they had come out of.

(I’ll check it out.)

Starscream detached and crawled into one of the holes. The spiders reared when he came by them, but it appeared to be a reflexive response, and they didn’t try to corner or attack him. After a few minutes, Sunwhisper was down to one candle, the lit one, and had begun eyeing his blankets.

His companion came back out and plugged himself in so they could have a proper conversation.

(Yeah, it looks like the scripts keep them within a certain distance of their hidey-holes. I don’t know for sure, but if you flipped one of them over you’d probably see tattoos on their bellies tying them together.)

{Can you do anything about it?}

(Nope. It’s way more advanced than anything I’ve played with before. It makes the raven’s cage look like something a toddler put together.)

{Problematic. You can’t just break them?}

(I think that would kill the spiders. So I’m cool with it if you’re cool with it.)

{I thought you liked them.}

(I do. But I also wouldn’t mind a meal.)

{For the first time, I think I understand your perspective…What if we take them with us?}

(The spiders? You can’t, that’s what we’re talking about, isn’t it?)

{We take the wards with us.}

"My friends," Sunwhisper addressed the spiders, "if you are willing to accommodate me, I believe we can come to a solution that suits us all."

A few minutes more, and Sunwhisper called for the initiate again. The man appeared in the doorway looking more than a little annoyed.

"What is it now? I’ve heard voices in here, don’t you remember what I said about the watchers?"

"I do," Sunwhisper said, and then he shot sticky webbing from his hand. The gooey end splattered on the initiates face, who barely got out a shout before he was tugged into the room full of spiders.

"Quiet, or we will eat you," Sunwhisper warned him. The struggle that followed was brief, and it ended with a naked initiate fully bound and gagged by webbing.

The spiders crawled around him, enjoying the way he squirmed. Sunwhisper donned the man’s robes, and hung the jade key he had stolen from the Azai scribe around his neck. It wasn’t really a disguise, just something to give whoever saw him a moment of pause.

He didn’t want to change his form, as that would result in the loss of the tattoos he had paid so much to gain. In any case, they weren’t going to be very inconspicuous from here on out.

The wards were inscribed on a single brick in the roof of each spider’s den. With Xanthous Ascendancy providing supernatural strength, and a rod of titanosteel enhanced with Eight Mines Clutch of Lead, busting a few stones was hardly a challenge.

It was, however, very loud.

The spiders didn’t care for the noise, and they retreated to the other side of the cell when Sunwhisper went to work. Having mana coursing through his meridians ameliorated the hunger pangs, which made the process of smashing through the walls all the more enjoyable. He had the first brick out in a matter of seconds, which was about as long as it took the first group of Azai clansmen to show up in response to the disturbance.