The evening sun was hidden behind the trees. Faint light seeped in from the sky above. The gray colored trees blended into the fading light.

Advancing towards the small dilapidated cottage Fritz stopped to inspect it. By all standards, only one person could live in such a tiny home. Behind the stone foundation and rotting gray wood, the well maintained garden exploded out into the clearing. All manners of herb, fruit, and terraced vegetables grew behind the dilapidated cottage. Next to the garden, the cottage looked abandoned. The singular window of the cottage was soot stained and filthy. Spiders crawled all throughout the overhanging roof in search of their next prey.

"Lots of spiders." Fritz commented.

"Just try to ignore them. They don't bite." Ada said.

"Living alone in the forest, is she some kind of witch?" Fritz asked, half joking.

"Something like that. She always does the right thing in the end though. Try to treat her with respect." Neva answered.

Fritz stood still as he watched Neva approach the door. A series of quick raps denoted a coded knock. After completing the secret sequence, the door to the cottage opened by itself. A blanketing film of impenetrable darkness wreathed within the door frame prevented Fritz from seeing further inside.

"What the-?" Fritz exclaimed as he squinted and tried to look further inside.

"Come on." Neva said before motioning to the others. She stepped through the door. As she crossed the threshold, her figure vanished instantly. Fritz shook his head and forced his mind to settle on the obvious answer.

"Magic. It's got to be magic." Fritz mumbled. Ada waited for Fritz to enter the inky darkness. Bracing himself, he followed Neva through the black film.

As soon as Fritz stepped through the door, he was introduced to a magnificent foyer that would have put Earth's nobility to shame. The walls were made of polished wood. Sconces burning with a magical purple-hued light, lined the walls all around the lower floor. A massive straight staircase split the interior in half. A long, purple, rug replete with threaded spiders and webs in black and white draped down the stairs spilling down into the nearby hallways. Paintings of this world's royalty lined the walls. The sputtering purple flames cast deep shadows across their strange garb. Fritz gawked at the sudden shift. He felt Ada bump into his back while he got his bearings. She offered him a quick awkward apology, as she stepped around him following Neva deeper into the mansion. Shaking away his confusion, Fritz moved to follow the two beastkin.

"Zola!" Neva called out in the middle of the foyer. "I brought visitors! Something important has come up! We need to talk."

"Stop dropping in unannounced! It's rude and I'm busy!" An annoyed feminine voice yelled out in response. Fritz watched Ada's and Neva's ears pivot towards a small hallway tucked behind the staircase.

"We're coming in! Can't wait! It's important!" Neva shot back.

Following the two wolfkin, Fritz's boots clicked on the hardwood floor. He walked past dining rooms, several studies, an ornate bathing room, dark lounges, and strange laboratories. Neva navigated towards a large oaken open door. Fritz slowed his pace a little. Turning around, Ada placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't be afraid. Try not to gawk. She hates cowards." Ada said quietly, as she pulled him into the room.

Webs of spider silk, sewn together like dreamcatchers, were scattered over the entirety of the room. The silk within moved like spectral tendrils creating morphing scenes. Each one displayed something different. They lined the walls and hung from the ceiling filling most of the room. A small purple flame burned within a brazier on the floor. To his left, Fritz looked into one of the dreamcatchers. A vague white figure with short hair stood in the center. The figure's dagger was held high above a prone woman. The figure plunged the dagger into the other woman's heart. Her arms flailed in pain as she tried to defend herself. Turning his eyes away, he scanned the room. Strands of silk shifted silently filling the shady room with strange visions.

A pair of large red eyes fixated on Fritz, and he felt his body stop. His heart beat quicker, as an instinctual fear gripped him. The woman stood tall nearing seven feet. Her hair was a solid white like snow. Neva looked back briefly towards Fritz. Her hard blue eyes urged him forward. Ada moved past Fritz, as she joined Neva.

Stepping out of the gloom. The woman wore an elegant dress on her upper half. The bespoke purple silk mixed with shifting strands of white spider silk drifting all the way down to the hem. Trailing down, Fritz saw a spider's black abdomen. Eight, long, slender legs carried her human upper half closer to the purple flame. An additional pair of smaller crimson eyes just above her main pair regarded her guests with annoyance.

"Greetings, Neva. Ada." The woman greeted them with cold formality. She crossed a pair of slender arms under her large breasts. The soft fabric outlined her hourglass figure. Her long index finger tapped annoyingly against her soft arm. Her hands were black, almost like she wore a pair of entirely form fitting gloves. Fritz gawked at her appearance, before he mastered himself.

"Zola, it's been too long!" Neva started, as she loaded a wad of tobacco into her pipe.

"You know, I prefer it if you call in ahead of time. I have an apprentice, who is perfectly capable of receiving letters by wing. It lets me prepare...." Zola's four crimson eyes regarded Neva without mercy.

"Last time I promised, and I do intend to keep it. It's just-." Neva lighted her pipe. The faint glow of the orange fire disappeared into the gloomy room.

"Just what?" Zola asked, she stalked closer around the opposite way towards Ada and Fritz. Fritz could feel his mind scream out in danger, yet he did his best to silence his thoughts. His eyes twitched about with each slight movement of the strange woman's body.

"She never checks, and this time it is an emergency. We need your assistance with something."

"What? Pray tell? The human, no doubt?" Zola pointed a long, slender, nearly midnight black finger towards Fritz.

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"Well yes. That's why we brought him." Neva said.

"Do you want me to read his fate? Do you wish to find out why he's here?" Zola said with an exasperated sigh. "That hardly counts as an emergency. My divinations have been off lately. Something is wrong with the cosmic weave. I really don't have the time for this. I must figure out why."

"Zola. It's hard to explain." Neva said. She frowned as she momentarily removed the pipe from her mouth. Her scarred face scrunched together as she frowned in annoyance.

"And why is Ada here?" Zola asked. "She never stops by...."

"Well, it's about him, yes. But you see, he can perform magic." Neva said as if she was regretting her own words.

"Magic? Him?" Zola let out a derisive snort. "Is this some kind of joke? Have I heard you correctly?"

"No...." Neva said with a sigh. "I wouldn't bother you just for a stupid prank. I'm serious, Zola."

Sensing his chance, Fritz looked inwards. He could feel the flow of his magic pulsing through his body. He let his energy manifest. A road flare appeared in his hands. Grabbing the stick, he cracked it in half. Red light flooded the chambers within. Fritz looked upwards, dreamcatchers laid flat on the roof. Scenes too numerous, glistened in the red light of the flare. Unenumerable figures drifted within each frame, as the silken threads morphed each scene within. Figures died, triumphed, despaired, and celebrated within the individual frames. Shaking his head, Fritz ignored the dizzying display transpiring all around him.

"Interesting. Nothing like any light spell I have ever seen. If he indeed did cast it." Zola drawled. Fritz, breathed deep to steady himself as she approached. She towered over him, as she loomed menacingly.

"Thank you Fritz! Goddess, I know it seems crazy. But I've seen it with my own eyes." Neva said. Ada nodded beside her. "I need answers, Zola."

"It could be sleight of hand. Perhaps he transformed under the effect of some potion?" Zola mused. "What else can you do?" Zola asked as she brushed a dark hand over his face. Her touch was cool and sharp like her hands were made of metal. Fritz held her gaze, as she inspected his face. Zola's eight legs twitched, causing Fritz's heart to accelerate. Standing defiantly, he held the red eyes of the witch. "Brave." She muttered under her breath.

"I brought him here, because I need you to check his past and figure out where his powers derive from. I need to know if he had anything to do with Falken's attack." Neva said. Zola turned towards the gray short haired wolfkin.

"Falken was attacked?!" Zola asked.

"By a necromancer. Undead swarmed the walls, before any lookouts could alert the town. We were attacked with our pant's down." Ada admitted. Zola looked to Neva for confirmation. Neva nodded. A barely perceptible twitch of worry passed over Zola's face.

"Which of you killed them?" Zola asked. The two wolfkin looked between each other somewhat awkwardly.

"Him? Really? I see." Zola turned to move past Ada as her hands brushed against some of the dreamcatcher-like items. The suspended dreamcatchers turned slowly as Zola passed. The scenes within spun with their frames. Fritz watched the arachnean for a while as she moved towards a small alcove in the back of the room. Squinting his eyes, he could make out Zola pick up a tightly bound piece of circular webbing. She held it up momentarily before returning towards the center of the room.

"Come to the flame. Get rid of whatever that is." Zola said. Looking behind him, Fritz threw the road flare out of the room.

"Best I can do." Fritz answered, as he stepped closer towards the brazier in the middle of the room.

"Usually we dismiss our spells." Zola said sternly.

"I cannot."

"Amateur." She said with a click of her tongue.

Zola approached the flame. She held the webbed object down towards Fritz.

"Hold your hand out." Zola commanded. Fritz grimaced as he tentatively reached out and touched the dreamcatcher.

"Calm your breathing, and look inwards. You might feel a slight prick, but don't worry. You will be fine." Zola said.

Fritz closed his eyes. He could feel the sticky sensation of the silk touching his palm. Suddenly a coursing pain shot through him. A series of bright flashing images overtook his mind.

He tried to withdraw his hand, yet his hand would not obey. The webbing held his hand still. Memories, dreams, and things yet to happen flashed before him in a kaleidoscope of sight and sound. The flashing images burned together, as Fritz felt them accelerate forward. Just as soon as it had started, Fritz felt his hand fall away from the dreamcatcher.

His mind reeled, as he returned back to reality. Clutching his head, he slowly returned back to reality. Zola watched him intently. Fritz looked towards the silken dreamcatcher. It glowed with the soft, glowing hue of blue magic. Slowly, the strands within the frame reorganized themselves, displaying Fritz drunkenly swaying in his own apartment.

"What the hell was that?" Fritz asked. He grimaced at his own past self. The scene within shifted, as he looked away. Zola's red eyes watched the scene within like a hawk.

"My own special form of divination. Using my silk, I can trap certain visions. Memories, things yet to happen, places far distant, I can see them all." Zola replied.

"Let's not do that again." Fritz said. A throbbing headache consumed him. "That hurts."

"It will pass in a moment." Zola replied nonchalantly.

Neva and Ada moved in closer. Ada placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright. They did the same to me...." Ada answered.

"It can capture visions of the future?" Ada nodded towards him. "That's probably how they knew when you were running away."

"Neva!" Ada shouted towards the graying beastkin.

"Wondering when you'd catch on." Neva said with a half-guilty shrug.

"I-I- How dare you?! You told me it was to see if I would find an enchanted sword!"

"Be quiet!" Zola screeched.

Zola turned the dreamcatcher towards the others. The strands moved faster now. They rapidly twitched and re-arranged themselves.

A vague outline of a broad-shouldered man's back floated in the air. Just behind him, two more figures floated within the webbing. One clearly a woman, stood defiantly with her arms crossed. The other a robed man with wings hovered close to Fritz's webbed outline. Zola's red eyes squinted as she tried to discern what was happening. The man lurched forward onto the ground in pain.

"Ah, I remember this." Fritz said. "The weirdo with the staff booped me, gave me magical powers."

"What's going on?" Ada asked as she pushed forward to stand next to Zola. Neva walked to the other side of Zola. Adjusting her pipe, she stood looking into the dreamcatcher.

"I don't know." Zola answered. "It looks like, but it cannot be...."

Within the dreamcatcher, the woman's head swiveled. Her face took on more detail, as her golden eyes locked onto Zola's. Her skin glowed like a sun with the scene. Sonorous words of power rolled from her lips as she spoke directly to Zola.

"Listening in on conversations that do not concern you?" The room shook. Hanging dreamcatchers fell to the floor. Space compressed as the air within the room felt heavy. Fritz froze as he wondered how earthquakes worked within interdimensional spaces. Shiver's of fear rolled through Zola like a raging sea. The purple brazier, guttered and extinguished. The room went black, as the goddess' golden fury raged.

"Ah, one of mine." The winged figure said with a laugh. Thousands of echoing voices mixed together in a confusing symphony as he spoke. "Be gentle."

"Insect! You dare to spy where your eyes should not linger?!" Blood dripped from around Zola's eyes. Her shaky hands vibrated the dreamcatcher, yet she could not break away from it. Golden light emanated like a blinding sun from within, illuminated every feature of Zola's terrified face.

"Ada! Grab her arm, get her away from it!" Neva shouted. Gripping the arachnean's arm she pulled with all her might.

"Freyes, don't. She was just curious."

"Lorgen! Handle it then!"

The dreamcatcher burned with blue fire. The scene vanished as Zola's chitinous fingers gripped the burning remains of her silk. Smoke drifted lazily into the air, as the room fell away into complete darkness. Her bloody eyes stared blankly into the room.

"What the hell was that?" Ada asked. The purple flame brazier came back to life, basking everyone with pale light.

"Freyes. Lorgen. God and Goddess, both have appeared in Fritz's memories. My scrying has angered Freyes. Lorgen saved me. It is impossible to believe. Fritz, what are you?" Zola asked. Her voice was soft, her many red eyes were wide as she looked at the strange human in her divination room.