The Spider Queen

[What did you say?]

The mysterious being's voice echoed in Qiana's mind and this time it was tinged with disbelief and confusion.

"I appreciate your kind offer… but unfortunately I cannot accept it," Qiana politely refused as she bowed respectfully at the cosmic being.

There was a brief moment of silence in the white space as the creature on the throne did not seem to know what to do next.

[Mortal…]

[I offer you power beyond the likes of which your kind have ever seen before. Entire nations can be crushed under your feet… you will be the ruler of this era.]

[I do not think that you understand just how powerful my abilities are…]

The creature raised up its unnaturally skinny arm and snapped its fingers. The white space was replaced with a battlefield where thousands of aliens fought desperately to survive.

[Look upon my previous vessel's power…]

The mysterious being stretched out its hand and pointed at a small furry creature who screamed in anger.

Immediately the situation on the battlefield changed, the aliens fighting so desperately to survive began to slow down as time seemed to freeze.

Their wounds began to heal, and it was like the battle had never occurred. Even the dead were brought back to life with weapons shooting out of their once corpse-like bodies.

"What happened?" Qiana asked in confusion.

[My ability will allow you to reverse the course of life and death. Immortality will just be a fingertip away…]

[Now do you see the value of my gift?]

The cosmic being chuckled and then snapped its fingers once more. Qiana found herself standing in the middle of the white space while the creature relaxed on its golden throne.

The entity stretched out its hand for Qiana, but the mortal girl stepped away and looked at it with a wary gaze.

"I'm sorry… but I still cannot accept," Qiana hesitantly spoke.

[Why?]

[Give me the reason why you have refused to become my vessel]

The creature had no facial features but somehow Qiana could tell that it was unhappy at her decision.

Qiana furrowed her brows and thought carefully about what to say next. It would not be a good idea to irritate a cosmic level being, but she could not accept the offer.

How could she diplomatically put into words her reason for refusing to become the entity's vessel?

"Your abilities are indeed strong, but I am aware that no power is given out for free and the price for yours is too high," Qiana replied calmly.

"I do not wish to be bound in servitude to an entity whose true purpose and goals are unknown to me."

"What happens if you give me a request that I am either unwilling or unable to fulfil? What would be the consequences of ignoring your orders?"

[Mortal… you would turn down unlimited power and immortality for such a petty thing as free will?]

"I don't know if this is considered 'free will', but I have no desire to become a servant to someone or something else," Qiana spoke in a steadfast tone.

The mysterious entity was filled with rage as it stared down at the arrogant mortal girl with hatred growing in its heart.

Seven hundred thousand years…

That was how long it had been since it had found a candidate that was worthy enough to become its vessel.

And now it had been refused.

Refused by a member of some primitive backwater race. An ugly little thing with four limbs and two small flesh bags in the front.

It wanted nothing more than to kill the mortal girl in front of it, but the rules of the universe prevented direct intervention.

[You will regret the choice that you have made today]

[One day you will willingly seek out my power…]

[They all do in the end]

The entity snapped its fingers and the space around Qiana shattered into a million pieces of white shards.

Qiana opened eyes and found herself lying down on her bed with the mysterious ring sitting quietly on her chest.

She took in a few deep breaths in order to calm herself down and then reached for the ring. She placed it back in her storage bag without hesitation.

The entity's offer had indeed been tempting. Qiana was not afraid to admit that a part of her really wanted to accept its powerful ability.

Immortality and being able to reverse life and death?

It sounded too powerful to be true… which is why Qiana had been even more determined to refuse its offer.

She was an incredibly cautious girl and could recognise immediately when a trap was laid right before her eyes.

No one would give out that kind of power for free.

Qiana let out a light sigh and checked the time on her wrist communicator. It was five o'clock in the morning and the sun had yet to rise.

She got up from the bed and walked over to the door connected to her bedroom. It led to a large training room filled with heavy weights, workout devices and a holosuite.

Qiana did what she usually did when things were weighing heavily on her mind, she got in her training clothes and did a workout.

The future heiress of House Abazin began to do some stretches as she warmed up her body and relaxed her muscles.

This continued for about five minutes until she headed for the weights. Qiana picked up a three-hundred-pound dumbbell and lifted it up and down using only one hand.

She circulated qi from her dantian to the meridians in her right arm as she kept her grip firm on the heavy weight.

Despite her best efforts, her mind kept drifting to the entity's final words. Perhaps one day in the future she would indeed be tempted to accept its special powers.

Qiana furrowed her brows as she placed the weight in her left hand and began to repeat the process all over again.

As if she didn't have enough stress…

She still needed to survive in Castle Blackmore for at least a week and then her father was sending her off to a lunar colony to observe and run the mining plant.

Honestly Qiana couldn't wait for the new semester of university to begin. It did not take a divine fortune teller to predict that the rest of the month would be quite difficult.

Qiana placed the weight back on the rack and flexed both of her arms. She gently inhaled and exhaled as she moved on to the next part of her workout routine.

She climbed on to a machine and attached weights to her legs that were so heavy that if they fell then they would most likely crack the ground.

The young woman grunted as she lifted up her legs and directed her qi towards the parts of her muscles that were straining the most.

This training served two purposes, one it helped her to become stronger and the second reason was that it helped her to control the flow of her qi.

As an assassin Qiana was not the strongest fighter among the first years, that title belonged to her friend Sophie, but she was still willing to learn the basics.

At least enough to hold her own in case things went south during a mission.