They had been warned. Multiple times at that. The signs had all been there, plain to be seen and understood.

And still, they hadn’t been ready .

Isse hadn’t been ready. Not at all. Even with all of Siidi’s support.

Puberty hit her like a military truck going full speed down a newly made road bringing fresh soldiers to the front before the winning attack.

Which was to say: it was hard.

Now, arachne had one thing that made it all better: no period! Death had been kind enough to design them with the ability to ‘recycle’ unfertilized egg cells, which meant Isse didn’t bleed for a week out of her lady parts each month (she still remembered the rather traumatic first time she’d had to go to the toilet and realized the damn thing wasn’t where she remembered it should be!)

The problem, well, if one could call it a problem, was that arachne went into a spidery-version of heat. Which also meant that couples among the sisters were formed at the speed it took an italian to say no when asked if they wanted cheese on their spaghetti with any kind of fish in them.

It didn’t take long because the couples were usually formed among soulmates, which were chosen not long after birth.

Long story short, the nights in the clearing had quickly become quite noisy.

Also, the smaller spiderlings, who were still quite some time away from puberty, had to be moved, because the Stars knew none of the older arachne wanted to explain exactly what their big sisters were doing. It wasn’t appropriate. Also, it would ruin the surprise for them when the time came. Arachne really weren’t cloistered in their desires.

Afterwards, they’d all been given more private places to sleep in, little areas among the trees where they could put their things in and, most importantly, surrounded by a [Bubble of Silence] Spell, which came really in handy during those periods.

Now pair all of this with the bodily changes and you had the perfect cocktail for a very stressed out Isse and a constantly laughing Siidi.

Because, the same way as humans, arachne went through quite the growth spurt during puberty. Unlike humans, it wasn’t unusual for them to wake up at, say, a meter and twenty in the morning, and come back in the evening at a meter and eighty.

Also, now Isse knew why arachne didn’t wear bras until after the end of puberty.

I swear I was an A cup this morning, thought Isse.

Well, now you’re a C, said Siidi.

These are not Cs Siidi, B at most I’d say.

Hey, I don’t understand why humans from your world measure them. I always saw it this way: you’re either flat, a handful, medium or a wet dream.

And why do you even use letters? Can’t you just do the intelligent thing and tell the range in numbers?

Don’t ask me, I grew up with things being the way they were. Still, this is… very fast.

Don’t get used to it. Give it a week and your body will settle down. Afterwards you’ll just have to worry about being horny.

Isse was not having a fun time during puberty. Not because of the growth spurt, oh no, she loved that part. She didn’t even have to worry about things like back pain or becoming chubby or getting pimples or being hairy (well, she already was quite hairy, but that was her spider part, so it didn’t count). It was because of her sexuality.

Wanna talk about that?

Not much to say, Siidi. I was very much straight back on Earth. And now I’m an arachne surrounded by lesbians. I feel… uncomfortable, is all. My body wants one thing, while my mind says I should want another, and I can’t decide. It’s mildly infuriating.

You say mildly infuriating, I feel uncertainty and fear. Your Mind Castle is quite literally vibrating in some areas. Would be trembling if it weren’t made from stone.

Ok, ok! I know, alright? I… I can’t understand this! Alright?

Hey, hey, calm down now.

No, I can not calm down! This is wrong! I feel wrong.

Well, then you’re an imbecile.

That stopped Isse’s thoughts right in their tracks, the gears in her brain stopping as a single grain of sand fell in the mechanism, locking it in place.

Then she felt a presence in the back of that mechanism. A kind and gentle hand wormed its way inside, the bones and skin and muscle twisting this and that way, creaking and cracking to reach the disturbing grain and taking it out, letting everything go back to working order.

The gears turned again, and for a moment Isse worried they’d break the kind hand apart, mangling it into meat paste. Instead, the gears, moving much slower now, seemed to caress the flesh, moving out of its way to allow it to move freely.

What was that? she asked.

That was me restarting your brain. Now, would you like to talk about this? I’m pretty sure that bottling that up will only hurt you more.

What, you a psychologist now?

Girl, you watched enough Doctor House that it would be easy.

Doctor House isn’t about psychologists.

Yeah, but House is a piece of shit who needs one. Love the man, but he should really stop acting like an imbecile and settle down with Caddy.

Oh, you sweet summer child, just you wait until season eight.

Whatever, point is, you ain’t acting right. You’re only going to hurt yourself and regret it when you’re halfway towards brain death.

…Anxiety doesn’t cause brain death, Siidi.

Clinically, no. Practically? It’s the same.

Oh, stop trying to speak like a damn doctor, would you?

Nope! So long as it keeps you talking, I won’t. Now, what do you see in this inkblot?

The image of an ink splatter on a page appeared in her mind’s eye, and she began giggling.

This is dumb.

You’re being dumb, so it seems only right.

I am not!

Yes, you are. You’re reverting to how you were acting before that last Trial. You’re breaking at the seams trying to be the person you once were, forgetting that that person is dead, gone and buried in either a vase or a coffin. Your old mind is telling you to be the person you were, to not listen to your instincts and body. And it’s hurting you.

Siidi took a deep breath, then continued: What is it one of your people once said? ‘The Heart has its reasons that Reason cannot understand’. You’re killing your Heart doing things this way.

So what should I do?

Give in. Try new things. If you don’t like it, then stop and do something else. But don’t deny yourself the chance to be someone else, someone new, just because in your past life you were different. Change is in the nature of us arachne. Don’t deny yourself.

She giggled: In conclusion, give Anda a good… I don’t know. Cunt-ing?

Isse had to giggle at that.

Well, maybe Siidi wasn’t wrong.

----------------------------------------

Turns out, Isse rather liked topping.

And no more details will be given about that wonderful night filled with discoveries and untold pleasures.

This is not that kind of story, and our dear protagonist will be allowed her privacy at least in moments like that. Will there be more? Most certainly. Will we talk about them? Not really, unless they have significance.

Now, without further ado, and after the workers have finished repairing the fourth wall, let us continue.

Isse woke up next morning lying in a hammock with Anda, who was still sleeping with a blissful smile on her face, arms hugging her tight. She had rarely seen her soulmate and sister look so satisfied and happy as she did that morning.

For the matter, she felt that way too. As light as a feather and as high as a kite, for a moment she just stared at a little bit of sky that let light filter in their little place in the woods, and she felt at peace.

She smiled, deciding to turn around and hug Anda. The day could wait.

And then Siidi had to break in: That was a great night. You can thank me later.

If Isse could’ve drooped, she would’ve. Alas, she was lying on her flank in a hammock, so the best she could do was mentally sigh. It wasn’t that Siidi was wrong. She had spent most of the night either feeling Isse’s pleasure or giving her pointers on how to bring Anda to orgasm better.

No, she sighed just because of the unbelievable levels of smugness in her tone.

Thank you Siidi. Now let us rest, please.

Ha! Not a chance. Time for Sex-Ed with Professor Siidi!

Isse could see, in her mind’s eye, Siidi putting on a graduate’s hat while wearing the stereotypical blue robes that teens always wore in those american films.

Please spare me.

Nope! Now, you did pretty well during the scissoring, but if you had moved your legs in just this way…

The next five minutes were spent with Siidi somehow managing to make her feel embarrassed, proud and underwhelmed all at the same time. Now, she hadn’t been a virgin back on Earth, but Stars know just how many things Siidi seemed to know. It was like the woman had done nothing but fuck around for her whole life.

Are you sure you didn’t have some kind of sex Class?

Nah. At least, I don’t think so. Can’t remember. Anyways, you should really try poison play.

…Do I want to know?

Oh, you absolutely want to. You’re basically supposed to stimulate your partner, or yourself if you’re into it, with each other’s poisons! Or aphrodisiacs in your case, because your poison sucks, pun intended. It’s fun! And you can’t even begin to imagine how pleasant it can be if your partner knows how to do it.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Yes Siidi, let’s allow my soulmate to use acid on my unmentionables. That will be a great idea!

Girl, you have [Poison Immunity], and you already found out that it works perfectly with Anda’s venom. Stop being a pussy and test it out when you have some time!

Afterwards, they lapsed into companionable silence, Isse finally managing to embrace Anda and go back into blessed sleep.

A little bit of autumn wind filtered through the trees, caressing them softly, while they swung in silence over the ground, birds outside the Spell chirping their little songs without disturbing anyone.

They stayed like that for who knows how long, uncaring of anything in the world other than themselves and their slice of life.

Until someone walked in, disturbing the little webs Isse and Anda had placed around their ‘room’ to alert them should someone come visit them. It was some sort of running joke among the arachne throughout history that they were always there, waiting with a smile, whenever a guest came to visit them.

This time though the coming guests only got, as a greeting, two grumpy frowns in their direction.

The two arachne still walked in, uncaring. One of them was wearing a red dress that complimented her flaming hair, while the other had yellow eyes accompanied by a yellow dress. They had names, but Isse and Anda didn’t care for them, instead calling their friends and sisters ‘Red Queen’, or simply Red, and ‘Catgirl’.

Yes, they were the same ones Isse had encountered a long time ago when she’d first played Queen of Tree.

They were also, apparently, soulmates. Had found out after that very game.

“So, you two finally fucked,” started Red.

Isse’s face began to heat up as Anda giggled.

“Who starts a conversation that way?” hiss-shouted Isse.

“Me,” she chuckled, “Now, I’m happy you finally decided to ditch the nun attitude, but this place reeks of sex and you two need a bath. Come on out,” she motioned them away, towards the ‘baths’, which were just a clearing where stones had been used to create many small pools which were refilled daily by a [Water Mage].

As they walked their two friends bombarded them with questions about last night, which were more or less answered by an increasingly embarrassed Isse and a consistently smiling Anda who kept lauding her abilities.

“Maybe we could do a foursome one of these nights,” proposed Catgirl.

She was answered by two glares and a raised eyebrow that was begging for details.

“...It was a joke,” she backpedaled.

“Good save,” said Anda.

They finally reached the baths and, after cleaning up, started their days: Anda went to train her [Rogue] Class with the Silken Orchestra, while Red and Catgirl went on to [Hunter] training.

Finally, Isse went to Grandmother’s clearing. She had so many things left to learn.

Her life was good.

----------------------------------------

Two Months Later

Isse connected the last threads of her Spell and, finally, let go, sighing as the mana in them began to react to the form she had imparted on it, understanding the purpose she had given it and reshaping itself and the world around them.

Souls Magic was a magic that manipulated souls, and mana was the soul of the world. Every time she interacted with it, she changed a small part of the world, just like she did every time she interacted with the objects in the cabin in Grandmother’s soul.

The key difference was that the world was so much vaster than even the greatest and most powerful being in this world. So much so that any and all changes to it meant… nothing. They reverted nearly immediately after they were made.

She still remembered one of the tales Grandmother had told her about that:

“Among our [Mages] there was what we called the Rite of Tears. It was something like a rite of passage for when they could be declared World Shapers, the highest Level any of our Class could ever reach.

“In this Rite, the [Mage] was left alone in a place where they could be most attuned to the things their magic was centered around. The depths of the ocean for water, the mouth of Old Smoker for fire, and so on and so forth. They’d spend the time there doing whatever they pleased with their magic, or meditating, in general doing that which let them come in touch with the world.

“It was a process not unlike what you do whenever you reach for the doorway to my soul, but grander. Only the greatest of us could achieve such a thing. Could observe the true Soul of the world, walk in its Heart and understand the truth of Creation.

“Always, the came back crying in joy and sorrow, usually as gibbering messes that talked about all that had been lost, that could never be achieved, or the possibilities that had been missed.

“It was a grounding experience, forced upon them to make sure the power wouldn’t go to their heads, making them go completely mad.”

“Did you participate in this Rite Grandmother?”

“No, Issekina. I am not even a quarter of the [Mage] World Shapers once were. I hope, though, that one day you shall reach them. I was not brave enough to make the steps to scale that peak.”

And still, they had died. Each and every single one of them.

Apparently, the Vinzant Desert had come to be after one of said World Shapers had been killed by the Hunters as a last ‘fuck you’ to them, who had died of thirst before they could managed to get away.

She came back to the world, time shifting back to a normal speed.

[Thought Acceleration] was one of the first Spells Grandmother had taught her after she’d seen her progress with basic Illusion Magic.

The Spell itself was extremely complex and nuanced, but the effects were simply perfect for the kind of magic she did, which basically qualified as some sort of ‘Spell Crafting’.

She watched as, in front of her, a life sized arachne began appearing. Her hair was green, just like a good half of the fur on her spider half and one of her eyes, while the other was as red as blood. The illusion of Siidi looked at the world around her with curiosity.

Hmm, why am I chubby?

Because you are.

I am absolutely not chubby, little miss!

Siidi, you live in my mind, I can see you if I close my eyes. You are a bit chubby in all the right places that would make hugging you very pleasant. I should know, I did.

Siidi chuckled and nodded. She had lost this little battle.

“It is passable,” said Grandmother, nodding her head.

“In the future, you shall learn how to give your illusions a voice to speak. An image that cannot make sound will quickly be found out as a simple image, however complex it may be. A painting is still a painting.

“Now, [Let Me Show You] how it’s done.”

As she pronounced the words, Isse felt her sight shift and watched the world through Grandmother’s eyes as she began manipulating threads of Mana inside her illusion to, apparently, give it a voice.

She watched as the threads around the throat were altered and sewn together forming strange patterns that hurt her head if she looked at the too closely, spaces forming between the stitches that shouldn’t be there yet forced themselves upon reality, raping the concepts of physics into submission.

And then it was over.

Isse’s sight went back to normal as she watched her illusion of Siidi open her mouth and produce a sound akin to a child’s warbling. She flinched back and commanded her creation to shut her mouth and not try making any sound for a while.

“What did I just see?”

“That, young arachne, was me breaking reality. I forced light, a thing of sight, to form sound. It is unnatural. It is what every [Mage] worth their Class learn to do sooner or later.”

Only then did Isse notice that her illusion of Siidi had quite literally lost all color. Her hair was white now, as were her eyes and her spider half. Her skin had also become pale, nearly cadaverous.

“Did you have to change her color?” she asked the Elder.

“It is not my choice, Issekina. It is one of the effects of a Skill I have. I cannot control it as much as you can control yourself from jumping your soulmate when you’re both in heat.”

Isse blinked, then changed color to a very bright bed.

“Wha - How?”

“You should not have confided in Makira.”

“But she said she would tell no one.”

“She is also a [Chatterbox] and knows none of the things told to me will ever be heard outside this clearing.”

Isse had to chuckle at that.

“Well, today’s lesson is over. Rest, spend some time with your soulmate. I will be waiting for you here tomorrow afternoon, same hour.”

Isse nodded and skittered away, humming a little tune to herself as the illusion of Siidi behind her smiled slightly before disappearing into the whiteness.

Meanwhile, the world kept on turning.

The leaves in the trees slowly changed color and fell, turning the ground into a beautiful rainbow of decay and death. Winter was fast approaching. Together with the arachne’s eternal enemies.

----------------------------------------

Two More Months Later

Isse sat in Grandmother’s clearing in front of the usual white table.

She stared into her cup of tea, letting the heat of the last sip course through her body. Winter had arrived, and it had been quite kind so far: snow drifted towards the ground, carpeting the forest in white, yet no one felt cold.

All because of one of Grandmother’s Skills: [Winter is my Clan’s Friend].

With it, they couldn’t feel cold, the snow didn’t impede their steps, nor did it ever become a nuisance in any way to anyone that was part of the clan. The [Hunters] loved it, because they could hunt down Mimehounds without having to fear they would mimetize somewhere on the ground.

Still, she liked the tea’s warmth. It was soothing, especially today. Apparently Grandmother had to talk to her about something serious. The last time she had done so the Trials had started. One could easily understand why she felt so anxious.

“Why did you call me Grandmother?” she asked.

The Elder didn’t answer. She just kept staring at Isse with her closed eyes, as if looking for something inside her very soul. Knowing her, it was actually a possibility. Stars, she could do it too. Thanks to [Thought Acceleration] and the other cool Skills she’d gotten in these past few months it wasn’t even difficult. That is, if the person she was looking at wasn’t trying to actively fight her off and had strong defenses.

Now she was a Level 18 [Soul Shaper]. Quite a slow ascent, but Grandmother had told her clearly that [Mages] always leveled slower than most other Classes. Even when they were challenged as she had been.

“You have been called, at last, to hear the Question, arachne.

“You have grown these past few months, both in body and mind. You are now, officially, an adult. As such, you have the right to hear the Question, and look for an answer.”

“The… Question?” she was confused. All that fanfare for something like that?

Oh, she’s going to tell you, said Siidi. Her tone was, unexpectedly, serious, as if they were talking about organizing someone’s funeral.

Yeah, so? It’s a question, what’s so important about it?

No Isse, you don’t understand. This is the capital q Question. The one that has defined our race since we were created by Death. It’s… the only thing that gives us hope, even in our darkest hours.

That sent a chill down Isse’s spine all the way to her spider feet.

“Yes, the Question.”

Grandmother nodded.

Then, with the same grandeur she had used when Isse had just been born, she lowered herself to the ground, her white hair creating a natural curtain between her and the world outside.

The detail that struck Isse the most was just how much closer her face was to Grandmother’s. When she’d just left her egg, she had to crane her neck to look her in the eyes. Now though, they were nearly at eye level.

“The Question has another name, arachne. It is known better, to us, as this: The Spider’s Dilemma.

“Now, hear the Question, and draw your conclusions:

“Why does a spider keep building and rebuilding his web even after it is destroyed again and again?”

Isse stared up at Grandmother, confused. That… made no sense.

What am I supposed to answer, Siidi?

Silence greeted her question. Then:

I will not answer you, Isse. That’s something you’ll have to find out on your own.

Isse began to panic. This was clearly important, yet she didn’t know what to say. What if she answered wrong? What would happen then? Would Grandmother kill her? Tell her to leave the Clan? Would…

Stop it Isse! hissed Siidi, Nothing like that will happen. I promise you.

Isse took a deep breath to calm her heart. Then she looked up, uncertain:

“Um… I guess he does it because he can?”

Grandmother stared at her for a moment longer. Then she began lifting herself back to her full height.

“If that is your answer…?”

Isse didn’t hear the question immediately, but when she did she nodded.

“Then let us hope you won’t come to regret and change it. Go Issekina.”

Confused, the arachne left the clearing.

Is that all?

Yes.

Did… did I answer right?

Was the answer right for you?

Well, sort of? It was kind of sprung out on me. I wasn’t prepared.

That’s the point Isse. You’re not meant to be prepared, the answer will be more honest that way.

What did you answer when they asked you this?

Siidi, again, fell into a deep silence, before she answered: I cannot tell you. It’s very personal. Never ask anyone what they answered. They will never tell you anyway.

Not even you? You even heard mine.

Not even me, sister. I’m sorry, really. How about this: if ever you will change your answer, and it will align with mine, I will tell you, alright?

…Deal!

After all that a thought crossed Isse’s mind: that maybe there was no wrong and right answer. But was it possible for something that important?

She didn’t know.

Throughout the rest of the day each and every mature arachne was brought to Grandmother’s clearing and asked to answer the Spider’s Dilemma. Everyone did, in their own way. Everyone kept the answer to themselves.

That night she fell asleep hugging Anda, their last kiss still warm on her lips.

Soon after, that night, she would come to hate warmth.