The Spider Queen

"Take a deep breath and relax," Sophie slowly whispered to herself as she sat down cross-legged on the floor.

The magnification of her senses meant that she could hear the dust particles floating through the air and could smell every single microscopic scent in the room.

It was horribly distracting.

The hybrid girl furrowed her brows and tried her best to shut out all the chaos and surrounding noise.

She closed her eyes and focused only on her breathing.

Inhale... exhale... inhale... exhale...

Inhale... exhale... inhale... exhale...

The star-shaped amulet hanging around her neck slowly got hotter and hotter as Sophie continued to relax.

She waited until her mind had fully settled down and then sent strands of qi into the amulet to activate it.

Her heartbeat slowed down to a crawl as she concentrated on her qi as it flowed through the meridians around her body.

Sophie opened her eyes and found herself floating aimlessly in the familiar dark void hidden inside her amulet.

The void appeared to be the same at first but then she heard a loud cracking noise as if something was shattering.

Crack!

Sophie turned in the direction of the sound and saw the massive stone tablet that floated in the centre of the space slowly begin to split apart.

Piece by piece the massive stone-like structure separated and the sections that broke off mysteriously disappeared into the darkness.

Sophie willed herself to move closer and her body began to fly towards the tablet.

To her pleasant surprise she discovered that her control over her body in the void had improved quite tremendously.

The hybrid girl approached the stone tablet just as the last piece of it disappeared.

Now she was alone in the infinite darkness with nothing but her thoughts.

What had just happened?

Where did the tablet go?

BOOM!

A loud explosion rocked the entire space and Sophie could feel the void itself begin to tremble violently as if someone was shaking it from the outside.

Sophie was flung backwards into the far side of the void with so much force that she could feel her body tearing itself apart.

It was an incredibly painful experience.

Sophie gritted her teeth and resisted crying out in pain. She travelled backwards at a rapid speed until she crashed against an invisible wall.

The violent trembling stopped and Sophie could now make out what had been the source of the mysterious explosion.

A massive statue composed of a dark-black material silently floated where the stone tablet had been just moments ago.

The statue had been carved into the shape of an enormous arachnid-like creature with multiple legs, several eyes, razor sharp fangs and other insect-like appendages.

She could make out words carved into the body of the statue but oddly enough the words appeared blurry and unfocused.

It was like when she tried to read them a white fog would enter her mind and prevent her from understanding what she was seeing.

"Hmm... well.... that was... different," Sophie muttered quietly to herself as she resisted the urge to float over to the statue.

She had not forgotten her true purpose in visiting this place. She needed to talk to her mother again and find out if her father was alive.

No... she needed to find out where he was. Obviously, he was alive.

He had to be... he had to be...

Sophie shook her head and pushed those unwanted fears out of her mind. She refused to succumb to doom and pessimism.

Her father never stopped looking for her after she disappeared along with the rest of the nobles at the Royal Banquet, and she would do the same for him.

Because that's what family do... they look after each other.

Sophie focused her mind and pictured the image of her mother. She could still remember every single detail about the woman who had given birth to her.

Princess Thai'lle.

Mom.

In fact, there was a strong resemblance between Sophie and Thai'lle with only a few subtle differences.

Her mother was a woman with almost identical facial features to herself albeit slightly older. She looked like a grown-up version of Sophie who was in her early thirties.

Her beauty was untouched by the passage of time and if anything, there was a mature charm surrounding her figure that was very attractive.

Princess Thai'lle was roughly six feet tall with long slender legs, striking golden eyes and razor-sharp fangs in her mouth that gleamed slightly.

Her body was seductive and voluptuous with flaming red lips and a physique that leaned slightly on the muscular side.

Six blade-like appendages jutted out of her back.

These appendages were not as long as the ones that Sophie possessed and each one was only around the length of two human arms combined.

Sophie continued to picture her mom in her mind and finally a small part of the void slowly began to rip apart.

She saw the faint outline of a figure right in front of her.

The outline of the figure was made from what appeared to be stardust and Sophie could feel a mysterious connection to the figure that was slowing drawing her in.

Sophie could not stop the wide grin that began to spread across her face.

She had done it!

She was going to get to see her mom again!

The excitement of being able to rescue her dad and see her mother for a second time made Sophie feel positively giddy.

The hybrid girl quickly reached for the outline and touched the tip of the figure's palm. It felt warm to the touch almost as though she was touching skin.

Crack!

The void shattered into a thousand pieces and Sophie found herself being transferred to an unknown location.

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.

.

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(Insectoid Empire- Lo'vrean Galaxy)

(Unknown Location- Hijacked Starship)

"Tell me what you know," Princess Thai'lle growled darkly as she approached a creature whose body was bound with heavy iron chains.

The creature was around the size of a horse with a thick fleshy exterior and multiple pale arms sprouting out from random parts of its body.

"I... I..." the creature stammered slightly as it physically wilted under the pressure coming from the Arachnais woman in front of him.

If Sophie's bloodlust was a river, then Thai'lle's was an open sea.

The pressure of her bloodlust was so intense that the creature wrapped up in chains could taste the metallic tang of blood surrounding her body.

Those terrible golden eyes...

This woman... she was a monster.

The starship that they were currently on used to belong to a notorious criminal organization backed by a certain powerful Naslitsers prince.

The crew onboard the spacefaring vessel were hardened criminals, vicious bounty hunters and skilled mercenaries.

And she had killed them all.

No mercy. No hesitation.

She simply slaughtered them as easily as one would slaughter livestock on a farm. She was a butcher, and they were her prey.

"I... I... I'll tell you all you want... please... please... let me live," the creature begged desperately as it lowered its head to the ground and made a submissive posture.