"Anastrianna." A voice calls out, almost like a hiss in the ear.
The elf's eyes flutter open. All about is dark. "Hope?" She calls out. No other sound fills the space around her, but she can feel someone, or something close by. "Amadeo?" Her eyes adjust, revealing a grand chamber carved of roughly hewn stone, one opening across from her and another above. Her body feels tense and stiff. As she tries to move, there's resistance, and Anna looks down. Underneath her is a thick, white substance like a rope, sticky in feel and rather strong. "Tyrion?!" She pulls and wiggles yet remains stuck to it. "Damn it!" Her breathing quickens with her heartbeat as a scrabbling sound echoes out from the darkened opening, through which even she can't see.
"My sweet Anastrianna. You disappoint me." That voice again. Silk lined with venom; malice barely concealed by the beauty of its presentation.
The scrabbling sound stops, and Anna struggles more. If only she could reach her rod! "Hello! Who's there?" There-there-there...Her voice echoes across the stone around her. Something wet and slimy plops on her cheek, and she looks up...only to give a bloodcurdling scream.
A bulbous body crawls across the ceiling, hunched on eight long hairy legs, each ending in a sharp talon. One end of the creature's enormous abdomen ends in a humanoid torso. Long silvery hair flows from an ashen face, covering the naked chest of the feminine form. Eyes like fiery rubies stare at Anna blankly. A soft smile breaks out over the creature's face as it folds two spindly arms together. "Sweet child. You could have been great. But instead, you fled from my webs."
"You...You're her, aren't you?" Anna's voice quivers as she reaches for the rod at her hip.
The spider creature moves closer, coming face to face with the elf. A soft hiss escapes its lips, one arm stretching out toward Anna, who shudders at the icy cold touch. "You were an acolyte. You learned the teachings. You know my name. Not just my epithet...Speak it."
Anna's breath quickens, her heart pounds. In the darkness, a word passes the elf's lips, a word that causes the creature to grin wide from ear to ear.
"Good girl. You remember." The creature leans in, almost purring. Crimson eyes peer into sapphire pools before it leans back, nails trailing the elf's cheeks. "It's not polite to go long without singing of your goddess, Anastrianna. I'm sure you know-"
"What do you want?" The elf retorts, narrowing her eyes. Her gaze falls to the floor first, then the creature's body. "You want something? Out with it." Anna glares as defiantly as her trembling lips will allow her to appear.
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The creature hisses, raising its legs and straddling the sticky substance with Anna beneath the bulbous body. "Careful now." From the rear of the spider's abdomen, a pointed stinger emerges. "You wouldn't want me to get aggressive, would you? There's no one coming to rescue you anyway, little elf. In my shadows, in my darkness, the only one who can save you is me." The beast hisses. "I merely wanted a little chat, is that so wrong?"
"Then speak, Lady of Spiders. Speak your wishes and leave me be!" Anna can feel her arms shifting, coming loose. Just a little more...
"I merely wish you would return home. Your mother worries about you, my child." The creature's stinger retracts. Anna shifts her weight, wriggling beneath it.
"Not happening. I'm done with all that. Senseless slaughter day in and day out, and for what? To appease a deity who clings to the darkness, hiding in the shadows and accepting praise from us with nothing in return? No! That's not how it should work!" Her arm steadily pries from the web. "Please let this work!" She thinks.
"And just how is it supposed to work, cretin?" The creature moves back, putting its face an inch from the elf's own, a low growl emanating from its throat.
The citrine rod raises to the creature's face. "Like this!" A brilliant light fills the room, brighter than any that Anna has summoned before. With a shriek, the creature stumbles back and covers its eyes. Anna breaks herself free of the web and dashes through the opening, onward into complete darkness.
"That's right, vermin! Run! Run like the coward you are, hiding from the truth! You loved it all; the blood, the guts, the spilling of entrails, the screams!" Anna stops in her tracks, fist clenched tight around the rod. "You all love the rush of seeing someone's life ebb away at your hands! Especially your darling mother..."
"Shut up!" The elf flees, gasping at a sudden pain in her chest. She falls to a knee, feeling a crushing weight in her heart. "He-" Her voice comes out hoarse, as though she'd just spent hours shouting. "Help!" Anna tries to speak, struggling for air.
"There you are, little rat!" The creature scuttles toward her. "You think you can hurt me? Think you can fight ME? You're nothing, just a worthless acolyte who couldn't face what she's done. A coward running away from who she is...A murderer." Anna can barely muster the energy to breathe, much less fight.
Just as the creature reaches her, another flash of light fills the space between them. Golden eyes set in a dark-skinned face framed by blond hair. A pure white stola. Bare feet standing firmly on the rocky floor. A shining aura surrounding the figure's form. The creature snarls at the new arrival. "At last, you reveal yourself, beloved Sola. I should have known it was you the rat ran to."
"Silence, Aranae. You've done quite enough this night!" The figure spits back aggressively. She kneels, turning to Anna and laying a hand on her shoulder as her voice grows soft. "You were very brave, Anna. But now, it's time for you to wake up. Your companions have need of you, my little elf." She smiles, pressing her forehead to Anna's. "I leave you this gift for a job well done." A warm feeling fills the elf's heart, before she shoots awake on the couch in the main room of the Summerwind home.