The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Floren Sector)

(Planet Corpeola- Capitol City)

"The horse! The angel! The horse… IT'S ALL SO CLEAR!" the elderly Mendolesa shrieked in terror as his eyes widened in shock.

Sophie's body tensed up as she circulated qi through her meridians and extended her senses to cover the immediate surrounding area.

She watched in horror as the Mendolesa elder reached into his pocket and pulled out a sharpened knife with an edge that gleamed under the sunlight.

Without hesitation the so-called Shaman slit his throat with one smooth motion. Blood splattered on the dirty ground and his lifeless body slowly collapsed.

His eyes were still wide open but now the life was draining out of them.

Even in death, his gaze seemed to follow Sophie as if seeing something that was beyond this world.

Sophie kept her posture but the danger from earlier had vanished as soon as the shaman killed himself.

She carefully approached the corpse and reached into her storage bag.

The hybrid girl pulled out a small metalloid device and pressed a button on its side.

A beam of red light was emitted from the device which then swept up and down the length of the Mendolesa elder's corpse.

Sophie checked the readings on the scanner but found nothing unusual. She backed away from the body and could not help but feel a little bit disturbed.

Why had he just killed himself?

And what did the words 'the angel' and 'the horse' mean?

Questions surfaced in her mind as she wandered through the damp and dirty alleyways of the capitol city.

There was a part of Sophie that wanted to dismiss the encounter and the words of the Mendolesa elder as ravings of a madman but…

Her danger sense had definitely sensed that a threat lurked nearby.

Sophie's brows furrowed as she checked her map and walked for around two hundred metres to the right before stopping.

There was nothing else she could so except press forward and raise her alertness to a higher level.

The hybrid girl glanced down at the ground and saw a rusty metal cover. This was a spot where she could enter the sewers.

Although…

Sophie knelt down and gripped the edge of the cover. She used her enhanced strength to lift it slowly upwards to reveal a dark hole.

An awful stench wafted upwards from the hole.

The scent of sewage, garbage and filth were all mixed together and it made her want to throw up.

Sophie reached into her storage bag and pulled out a dark green combat body suit that was made out of memory foam material.

She pressed the suit against her chest and the material slowly covered her entire body until there were no openings.

Next, she took out a mask and placed it over her face.

There was no telling what kind of foul odours and unpleasant surprises were waiting for her inside the sewers.

Sophie grabbed a blade from her pocket and roughly cut off her ponytail. There was no way she was going to crawl into the sewers with long hair.

There were a few skinny Mendolesa children in the alleyway watching her with curious expressions on their faces.

Sophie ignored their gazes as she steeled her nerves and gently lowered her body into the gaping black pit.

There was a 'ladder' on the side of the walls but to call it a ladder was a bit of a stretch.

Metal rungs had been embedded into the wall's surface, but they were badly rusted and some of them broke as Sophie put the weight of her foot on them.

Sophie's golden eyes glowed slightly, and the darkness of the sewers faded way to reveal what could only be described as a scene straight out of a nightmare.

Thick, murky brown ooze flowed through the sewers and Sophie felt her body tense up as her boots landed on a squishy reddish patch of sludge.

Garbage such as old clothes, discarded needles and plastic containers floated lazily on the water's surface.

Tiny furry creatures scurried along the walls of the sewers and Sophie could swear that their beady red eyes were locked onto her position.

"Fuck this… fuck this…" Sophie cursed softly under her breath.

She was wearing a mask but thanks to her enhanced senses she could still smell the foulness in the air.

It did not help that her night vision allowed her to see the brown pieces of shit floating on the top of the murky waters.

God… was that a corpse?

Sophie moved to the side as a half-eaten body floated down the river.

It was missing an arm and several of its limbs were covered in tiny bites.

Sophie could not tell if the body belonged to a female or a male Mendolesa since most of its flesh had started to rot away.

"Okay… just need to find that pet and accomplish the hunter goddess' task," Sophie quietly whispered to herself.

She held a sharpened knife in her right palm and proceeded through the sewers. Hours passed as Sophie wandered through tunnel after tunnel.

The sewer complex beneath the capitol city was massive and stretched over ten kilometres. It had been built to carry the wastes of the over two million residents.

Sophie leaned against a wall and took a few seconds to compose herself. Her body suit and her cloak were now covered in… shit.

When people imagined the number one ranked student in Zrudread University they probably pictured someone who trained hard and enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle.

Not someone who was currently crawling through the sewers like a fucking rat.

Sophie closed her eyes and recalled the details of the task.

It was supposed to be a one star ranked assignment and the owners said that they lost their pet in the sewer system.

Now if they had mentioned what kind of animal their pet was in the mission details that would have been very helpful, but of course they did not.

Honestly how the hell was she supposed to know what she was looking for?

Maybe she should just grab one of the furry bastards running around the sewers and call it a day.

Sophie laughed quietly as she opened her eyes and tried to think positively. She still had over a week to look for the pet and find the target to sacrifice to the hunter goddess.

Danger!

The hybrid girl flinched, and her body moved faster than her mind could react.

Sophie dove down into the muck just as an enormous ball of fire passed over where she had just been standing moments ago.

The ball of flames ignited the garbage floating in the river and soon the temperature inside the sewer system soared.

Sophie flung her blade in the direction of the flame and heard a loud whimper as her weapon embedded itself in her attacker.

Cloud Treading Dragon!

Sophie's figure blurred and then vanished from the spot as she reappeared hundreds of feet away.

It was not a moment too soon as an enormous skeletal hand rose up from the river and snapped its bony fingers around her last location.

An ambush?

"You have good moves," a sinister voice chuckled darkly.

Several floating balls of green flame illuminated the sewers and Sophie saw a hooded figure walk into view.

He was not a Mendolesa but rather a human… or was he?

Sophie watched as the man threw back the hood of his cloak to reveal a skeleton face that was devoid of both flesh and muscle tissue.

"What the hell?" Sophie muttered in shock as she gazed at what appeared to be a lich straight out of a fantasy story.

"My dear… why don't you just relax," the skeleton whispered sensually as he snapped his fingers with a spine-chilling crack.

The water beneath Sophie's feet stirred slightly and she could feel something tugging fiercely on her leg.

Sophie's bladed appendages immediately shot towards the ground, and she stabbed whatever was holding on to her leg several times.

"What are you?" Sophie hissed softly as she felt whatever was holding on to her leg slowly let go.

"My dear… do you not recognise me?" the skeleton whispered in an almost saddened tone. He slowly removed the robe that was covering him to reveal a naked lower half.

Despite his skeletal head and hands, the rest of his body was that was a normal human male with a lean and muscular physique.

He was entirely naked, and one could see tiny scars covering his lower region as if someone had used a blade to carve into his groin.

He was missing his genitalia… there was nothing but smooth flesh where a penis and testicles should have been.

The skeleton whispered some words beneath his breath and flesh began to slowly creep upwards until it covered his face.

When the flesh stopped moving Sophie was struck by a feeling of… familiarity.

"You…" Sophie exclaimed in disbelief.