The Spider Queen

(Alpha Star System- Planet Gaia)

(Imperial Palace Complex- Royal Hall)

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Heavy footsteps echoed through the room as Prince Theseus wandered through the great hall and quietly looked around at his surroundings.

The royal hall had recently been renovated and now it was even more glorious than its former self.

It was a large open space around the size of two football fields with a raised platform at the end of the room.

There were two thrones in the center of the raised platform and Prince Theseus' eyes could not help but linger on the large of the two before turning away.

Large pillars of white marble held up the hall and the floor itself was made from solid gold which shone under the dim lighting in the room.

Statues of dragons and phoenixes could be seen scattered across the four corners of the hall and their life-like appearances were straight out of the ancient mythology.

Prince Theseus walked towards the raised platform and could hear his heart softly beating in his chest as he neared the throne.

He… he… wanted it… all his life… he wanted it.

The throne was his. He was the most talented among the younger generation of princes and princesses.

Only he had the strength and the will to become the next emperor.

Prince Theseus froze in place as his eyes slightly glazed over.

There was a tiny voice in his head screaming at him, but the prince could not understand the words that the voice was saying.

"I need my medicine…" Prince Theseus muttered quietly to himself as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small red crystal that shone eerily under the light.

The handsome prince crushed the Kry'en crystal in his palm which instantly melted into a liquid form.

This reddish liquid was quickly absorbed into Prince Theseus' skin. The crown prince's eyes briefly turned completely white before returning to normal.

He could no longer hear the tiny voice screaming at him.

"Crown prince it is an honour to see you here…" an ancient sounding voice echoed through the hall and startled the prince.

Prince Theseus quickly turned his head in the direction of the sound and saw an old man looking at him with an indecipherable expression on his face.

He wore a simple white robe, and his grey hair was neatly tied back in a ponytail. Heavy wrinkles could be seen on his elderly face.

Yet Prince Theseus did not dare to underestimate the elder in front of him. The old man may seem weak, but the crown prince could not see through his cultivation level.

It was like instead of a person, he was staring at a bottomless source of qi that had somehow come to life.

"Honoured elder… I did not expect to meet someone here…" Prince Theseus replied politely as he bowed towards the man.

"No need for the politeness… you will probably be dead soon and I'd hate to receive respect from a walking corpse…" the elderly man said nonchalantly.

He shrugged his shoulders and stared at the prince with indifference in his eyes.

Elder Mathias was one of the few Ascension stage cultivators in the Federation and he had seen hundreds if not thousands of so-called successors to the throne.

As for how many would succeed… well… only a handful.

"What do you mean by that?" Prince Theseus could not help but ask as he took a step towards the elder.

A friendly smile spread across the elder's face and for a brief moment Prince Theseus felt as though the old man's appearance resembled that of a kind grandpa.

"I think part of you knows…" Elder Mathias cryptically responded as he raised up his hand and pointed at the prince's pocket.

Prince Theseus's expression changed as he felt the overwhelming urge to fight the elder to death immediately.

He could not be allowed to live! Those crystal they were… they were… they…

Snap!

Elder Mathias merely snapped his fingers and the world around him shattered into a million tiny pieces of light energy.

Prince Theseus blinked twice as he found himself alone in the royal hall once more.

He had the vague memory of meeting someone but could not for the life of him recall that person's appearance or what the encounter was like.

The crown prince shook his head as even this blurry memory faded from his thoughts, and he continued onwards to his original goal.

He walked towards the throne on the raised platform and stood in front of it. Prince Theseus felt another urge, so he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass vial.

Inside the vial was a deep purplish-black liquid that bubbled and oozed ominously. Even the prince himself wasn't sure what was inside.

He casually took off the stopper and poured the liquid all over the throne. Madness gleamed in his eyes as he watched the liquid stain the throne in an inky black colour.

The master would be pleased… this mission had gone far better than he had anticipated…

Wait… who was the master?

Prince Theseus furrowed his brows in confusion but the influence of the Kry'en crystal made his fear and doubts melt away into nothingness.

He soon left the room and paid no attention to the frail old man standing right in the open. It was as though the crown prince was unable to see him.

Elder Mathias stared at the throne and laughed. His deep throaty laughter echoed through the hall but even this sound wasn't enough to alert the prince.

Beings in the Ascension Stage were one step away from godhood.

They could not be judged on common sense and their abilities could affect entire intergalactic empires.

Elder Mathias watched the crown prince leave the room and then teleported in front of the throne.

He waved his hand and the liquid that stained the throne rose up in the air and formed a floating ball.

The old man played with the ball before sending it inside his storage bag.

The person behind the crown prince's loss of self had clearly realised that his puppet had been compromised.

This act of defilement was enough to warrant the prince's death from the Ascension stage cultivator stationed in the Imperial Complex.

However Elder Mathias was not going to kill the young prince. At his age those petty schemes were merely small ripples in the ocean of time.

It would be far more amusing to see how the unknown party behind the prince would react when his sacrifice returned alive.

Elder Mathias shivered as he felt a surge of excitement enter his long dead heart as he imagined how brutal the fight for succession would be.

It was just a pity that some of the more notable upper echelon noble families had decided not the participate.

There was nothing like a civil war to get the blood flowing…

A sadistic smile flashed across the kind old man's face as he found himself reminiscing on memories from hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Ahh the last civil war… now that was a bloodbath. The nobles back then were far more stupider and greedier.

One side was led by House Balorn while the other flocked under the banner of House Elysen.

Those two fools had nearly caused the Federation to split in half with their petty ambitions.

They had even managed to get the other three races involved in the human civil war which made the conflict even bloodier.

Elder Mathias teleported to his private room deep below the Imperial Palace Complex and opened up a small wooden drawer.

Inside the drawer were the preserved heads of a handsome young man and a woman who appeared to be in her early fifties.

"Ohh Duke Balorn and Duchess Elysen… you were both truly magnificent…" Elder Mathias gently spoke as he lightly touched the heads with a sweet smile on his face.