I followed Selleron and his squad, Cellestra on my back, safe and sound, but still weakened and in shock. I, too, was weakened significantly. My strength had completely left me, and the pain from my wounds started surfacing now that my heart and mind were starting to calm down.

I let out a groan from the pain of the spike in my eye. Several smaller ones were still embedded in my spider abdomen, but they weren’t nearly as agonizing. I was surprised the fragment hadn’t blinded me. Instead, It remained in my vision, no matter how hard I tried to filter it out.

“Are you okay?” Cellestra asked softly, guilt evident in her eyes. “That looks nasty. Will it be fine?”

“I’m… okay. It just hurts. I’ll fix it later.”

I sighed deeply. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” She replied weakly.

“Cellestra…” I continued softly, a tear appearing in my eye again. “Cellestra, I was so scared I’d lose you. I don’t know what I would have done…”

“Shhh,” She cooed. “I’m still here. Don’t think about things like that.”

“How can I not?” I asked, a tear dropping down onto my large red eye. “Cellestra, I… I love you. I don't want to be left behind in a world without you in it.”

I had great difficulty getting the words out. More tears dropped after I finally said them. I placed my hands on my throbbing head and rubbed my eyes and forehead. Cellestra looked down at my spider’s back, sadness and regret written all over her face.

“I’m… sorry,” She said so meekly that even I had trouble hearing it. A tear then flowed down from her face onto my hair. My heart had trouble seeing her like that, but I didn’t know what to say for the time being. I was too occupied with the question of what my life would look like without her.

My chest ached at the thought. I didn’t even want to imagine it…

Despite having my family back, losing Cellestra would probably break me, perhaps even more than the loss of my parents all those years ago.

I kicked the wall of the tunnel with one of my legs out of utter frustration. It was powerful enough to hurt me. That too could be added to all the other pain I was enduring.

The physical torment I experienced was overshadowed by mental agony as dark thoughts seeped into my brain. I shook my head, one of my hands still covering my eyes. There wasn’t a grain left of the knight I once was.

We finally reached the entrance of the dungeon and I stepped through the portal. I had made a note to get some meat earlier, but that would be for another day. I simply couldn’t be bothered with anything right now besides going home.

“Just… come and find me when you wish to continue,” Selleron said, composed but compassionately.

I replied with a simple nod before I left him behind and made my way towards my nest… the foundations of one at least. I couldn’t see my parents in this state, but it was still early. I definitely needed some rest first and foremost.

No words were spoken along the way. It wasn’t too far, but silence for this long between us was rare. Finally, we reached the net that, fortunately, was still there, undefiled and untouched by strangers. Maybe the notes had worked.

I stepped onto the webs and collapsed. Cellestra stepped off my back, walked up to my torso, and took me in for a hug.

I returned the hug and lightly patted her back.

“It’s okay,” I replied with a whisper and a deep sigh. It took minutes before I was the first one to speak.

“Go and rest for a bit.”

“What about your eye?”

“I used all my mana on you in a blind panic. I’ll need to wait a bit before I can heal myself.”

“I’m so sorry…” She said.

I broke the hug after a while, took off her backpack, and carefully forced her to sit down on the webs. “Just get some rest, okay?”

I reached for the canteen and filled it with some fresh water before handing it to Cellestra. I also gave her some bread to go with it.

After eating and drinking a bit, she laid herself down and closed her eyes. She fell asleep moments later, leaving me to deal with my own pain, both physical and mental. I could only imagine how distraught she must be. To have her own spell backfire like that… I didn’t think even she could fathom that.

My regeneration kicked in and I felt the wounds on my rear flare up as they forcefully tried to close themselves. I used my rear legs to remove the spikes one by one, blood trickling from the wounds when I did. At the same time, I was left thinking about what to tell Cellestra.

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It was clear her own spells were far more dangerous than I could have imagined. My rational mind told me she shouldn’t be using her own spells anymore. They were a danger to both of us. My issue was that I didn’t know how she’d react if I told her. Would she understand? Feel bad because I’d technically be stripping her of her power?

Sure, she could learn my spells, but that would take time. If we headed into the dungeon again before she knew a spell other than earthen spike, she’d be dead weight once we got to the second floor.

It hurt me to even think about her in such a way. I wanted to spare her from that pain if I could.

I moved one of the wolf pelts forward and noticed one of the fragments had pierced it, ruining it. I shook my head as I took the other one, which had fortunately gone through the incident unscathed, and covered Cellestra with it while I simply waited for my mana to regenerate.

It was then I realized I was hungry. More than that, I was ravenous. I really should have eaten when I had the chance…

Everything together, the pain, the hunger, the worries, had my mood soured. I felt terrible right now. I wished I could just lie down and sleep this day away, and hopefully, have things start out better tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I had a promise to keep. Hopefully, I could get this rocky spike out of my eye and heal the damage before long. I didn’t want Elira to see this.

I sighed again and resigned myself to waiting, all while going through this hellish pain. At least Cellestra could get some much-needed rest.

Once I had a bit of mana saved up, I finished removing all the slivers of stone except for the big one, and then made sure all the wounds had closed with my healing light. It got rid of some anguish, but the worst part was yet to come. It sent shivers down my spine to know I’d have to pull it out.

I envied the brunette for not having to see this… or feel this.

I waited for an hour or two, all while hesitation rose within me. Eventually, I felt I couldn’t put it off any longer. I took a deep breath and used my pedipalps to take a firm hold of the spike lodged in my eye. Just doing that already sent jolts of nauseating pain into both my brains.

I felt bad for Cellestra for what I was about to do. As much as I could withstand pain, I wasn’t going to be able to keep quiet.

With gritted teeth and one strong jerk, I pulled with as much strength as I had. The scream that followed felt like it was wrenched out of me with just as much force, and despite my best efforts to let Cellestra rest, she woke with a start.

My breathing was fast and unsteady, and my hands were shaking as were my legs. The entire web wobbled up and down. I tried healing myself, but I needed several attempts to even get the spell going. The torment was too much.

Cellestra watched in terror as red fluid dripped from my eye. Despite my healing efforts, I knew that it would also need time to naturally regenerate…

I cast my healing spell again and again, until most of the pain had subsided. There was still some that I just didn’t seem to be able to get rid of. When I looked down, the result looked grim.

My eye seemed to have deflated and shriveled due to missing fluid. The wound itself seemed to have closed. Now I had to hope that my regeneration would take care of the rest.

Gods, I was craving meat…

“By the goddess,” Cellestra said quietly. “Are you okay?”

My breathing was still shaky, but I managed to speak. “I think I’m okay now. Sorry to wake you up.”

I didn’t want to admit just how much it had hurt, and how much it still was. I had the feeling she knew, nonetheless.

“How are you?” I asked.

“Much better than you, I think.”

I nodded and sighed. ”I’ll get there. I’m just going to rest for a bit before we head out.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes. I’ll break no promise. I’ll be fine. Hungry though…”

“Sorry about that,” She said softly. “We could get something from the city if you want?”

I shook my head. “We’ll just dive into the dungeon again tomorrow. Maybe take it a bit easy and stay around the first floor, just so I can eat something, you know?”

“Don’t push yourself. You have a habit of doing that.”

“I know.”