The Spider Queen

(Earth Federation- Alpha Star System)

(Planet Gaia- Peterlor Estate)

Everything was just as she remembered. Everything was fine. She was safe with nothing to worry about and yet…

Sophie sat up with a groan and rubbed her temples furiously using her fingers. The familiar sight of her bedroom did little to ease her frustrated mood.

She had tried fruitlessly for several hours to fall asleep but no matter what she did…

Nothing seemed to work.

Counting sheep?... Nothing. Just closing her eyes… nothing. Doing light exercise and washing her face… nothing.

"I… just… I can't sleep," Sophie muttered hoarsely.

Being a cultivator in the qi tide stage meant that she should be theoretically capable of going without eating or sleeping for months at a time and be perfectly.

Perhaps it was due to her Arachnais physiology, but Sophie still felt the urge to rest and eat on a regular basis.

Which meant that right now she was tired as hell with heavy bags present on the underside of her eyes.

What was keeping her awake?!

Sophie slammed her fist against the soft mattress in frustration. She made sure to hold back using her strength, so that the bedframe didn't snap in two.

This was completely ridiculous.

Sophie got up from the bed with an angry huff and decided to take a walk around her room to calm down.

One would expect the noble heiress of a dukedom to have a magnificent bed chamber filled with obscene and gaudy displays of wealth but that couldn't be further from the truth.

It was fair to say that Sophie's bedroom was large and spacious, but it was mostly filled with flowers and tiny plants of varying colours and scents.

There was an old poster hung on the wall that showed a virtual band that was popular a few years ago.

In the corner of the room was a large bookshelf filled with story books, fantasy novels and written autobiographies.

It was true that Sophie had an expansive collection of novels on her wrist communicator, but nothing felt better than holding a physical book and turning the pages by hand.

In her childhood and teenage years, many an afternoon had been spent sitting down on the ground and getting lost in a world of fantasy.

It was the perfect form of escapism.

Sophie smiled softly as she pulled a few books from the shelves. 'The Evil Dragon And The Princess', 'Ancient Earth Fables- The Gods' and 'The Psyker War' were all titles she remembered clearly.

She carefully opened the book covers one by one and flipped through the well-worn pages that were slightly yellow and faded.

Next to the bookshelf was a plain wooden desk with a comfortable chair. On the top of the desk were numerous pictures.

Some were of Sophie and her father playing in the garden, another photo was of her and Cleo grinning broadly at the camera during their date at the zoo and there was even one of her first day attending high school.

Happy memories…

Sophie walked slowly and explored every corner of the bedroom before returning to the bed. She pulled the blanket to side and lay down with a heavy sigh.

She had spent months in a hostile environment encountering one life threatening situation after the next.

As a result, Sophie was now finding it impossible to get rid of her nightly vigilance.

Her eyes would constantly flicker to the corners of the room and her enhanced senses would unconsciously extend outward.

Sophie frowned as she caught herself once again keeping a close eye on the entrance to the bedroom.

There were no threats nearby.

"Relax… just relax… just relax…" Sophie muttered quietly. She took a few deep breaths and gently exhaled.

Well, if she wasn't going to get any sleep tonight then she might as well do something.

Sophie knew it was a bad idea to look at a bright screen while trying to sleep but at this point she was too bored and tired.

She reached for her wrist communicator that was placed on the top of her dresser table and powered on the device.

The metalloid device took only a few seconds to boot up and soon the homepage appeared.

Sophie browsed the different icons and finally settled on the 'Messages' tab.

She clicked the icon and received an endless flood of unopened conversations and messages from friends, acquaintances and even professors.

Sophie reached out using her finger to tap a random conversation but paused with her hand mere centimeters away from the screen.

"No… I should prioritise," Sophie muttered thoughtfully. She scrolled down to the contacts section and clicked on Astrid's profile.

The Mendolesa girl's profile picture was a selfie taken of her sitting down at the beach with cool sunglasses on.

Sophie chuckled softly and clicked to open the conversation. She was blown away by the sheer volume of lines of text.

Astrid had been sending her weekly texts with updates about her life and important events that had happened in the university.

Some of the messages brought tears to Sophie's eyes as she could feel the longing and hurt in the tone of her friend's messages.

Astrid: [Hey Sophie… it has been a few weeks since you disappeared, and I have been trying my best to find new leads using spatial magic.]

Astrid: [I know it's a long shot since that stupid Emperor blew up the warp circle, but I won't stop looking for you.]

Astrid: [I promise.]

Astrid: [I miss you :( ]

Sophie's hand trembled as she continued to read the other messages that were saved on her communicator.

Astrid had spent the last few months desperately reading through the various books inside the university's magecraft archives trying to find a way to track the exit port of a random warp circle.

Even Astrid's mentor had told her that it was impossible, but she had never given up hope.

If there was at least one bright spot during those dark times it was that Sophie's disappearance had given her the courage to finally confess her feelings to Qiana.

Life was too short not to make the most of every opportunity. Astrid had been fully prepared to face a rejection but surprisingly she had gotten a yes!

Sophie couldn't help but smile since it was pretty obvious to everyone except the wolfish mage that Qiana found her attractive.

The tone of the text messages after that point improved but Astrid's search for her had not stopped even for a moment.

The minutes turned to hours as Sophie didn't stop after reading Astrid's messages but had opened up the other conversations in her inbox.

Some messages made her laugh, some made her cry, and some made her feel warm and fuzzy.

There were more people that cared for her than she ever imagined.

Unfortunately, she could not reply just yet since her father wanted her to wait a week before announcing her return.

It was just an extra precaution to avoid any suspicion falling on the Nephilim Church's delegation who were still in the star system.

Duke Peterlor also planned on having some of his personal starships intentionally be seen near the frontier region.

Sophie hummed softly as she considered what to do next.

It was a bad idea to send a reply to her acquaintances but maybe she could make an exception for Qiana and Astrid as long as she told them to keep it a secret.

Cleo already knew so it probably wasn't an issue to tell just two more people. Sophie hesitantly reached for the call icon and pressed it.

[Connecting to Astrid Lockhart… connecting… connecting…]

Sophie's heartbeat quickened as she imagined the shocked and elated look on Astrid's face when she realised who was calling.

[Connecting… connecting… connection…]

Err... or not?

Sophie checked the local time on planet Eleron and saw that it was the afternoon which meant that her friend was probably in the mage tower studying at the moment.

Well, that was okay. There really wasn't a need to rush. Sophie typed out a brief explanation of her current situation and then pressed send.

She was about to try calling Qiana next when something strange happened. Sophie didn't notice at first, but the corners of her vision started to darken.

Crack!

The world around Sophie instantly shattered, and the hybrid girl found herself floating helplessly in a familiar looking void.

It was the space inside the amulet. Sophie looked around in confusion since she hadn't been cultivating.

There was a fainting tugging feeling in the center of her stomach and her body started moving towards a certain direction.

Something or maybe someone inside the vast emptiness was calling out her name but she couldn't tell where the voice was coming from.

"Sophie!"

"Sophie!"

"Sophie!"