Chapter Text
Art by u/Defying_Gravity33
Deep underground, there was a community called Deepnest. While you may be picturing a sprawling city carved into the walls of massive caverns, Deepnest is actually quite an unwelcoming place. This was the home of the beasts of the bug world. Weavers and other such spiders can be commonly found here, willingly living in the darkness. Nearly across every rocky surface, fibrous webs tangled together, competing for space. Every few seconds, a tiny spider would scamper just out of view, its instincts warning it to stay out of sight. It is here where our story begins.
“Well, I’m off!” A small weaver-like spider waved to some other bugs, leaving the local gathering place in Deepnest. He was quite small for a weaver. His ball-shaped mask only reached up a quarter of the distance it should. He didn’t let his height bother him however, as he adjusted his dark-blue cloak and headed off toward his home.
“I’m going to go rest. May we meet again!” he said in a friendly tone. After skittering a short distance, he tripped over a web that he failed to spot in time, face-planting and sending a group of smaller spiders scattering in a panic. The other weaver bystanders gave hissing laughs in response.
While the weaverling was crawling back to his home, he casually pulled out a thread of silk and plucked on the string, playing a soothing melody. It was a hopeful beacon in the middle of the dark and dreary nest of beasts.
“ In wilds beyond, they speak your name with reverence and regret… ” He sang a made up tune for a famous poem. Suddenly, snapping the peace like a string with too much tension, a crack was heard in the distance, sending yet another hoard of tiny spiders fleeing. Something in the distance suppressed a scream.
“Wha?! Who’s there?” The arachnid spun around, six eyes darting back and forth in a search for any danger. He started walking backwards, keeping up his awareness. Suddenly he felt a presence behind him. He turned around to spot the source of his concern.
“H-huh?! W-W-Wait!” What he saw was one of the most horrifying and unnatural things that he had ever seen.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
When wakefulness struck the area next, Herrah the Beast was on her way to the local marketplace. She was driving a young garpede-pulled cart intended to be filled with supplies needed by her royal cabinet. As dark and dreary as Deepnest was, it was still a community.
“Alright, I’m going to go buy some supplies, you two stay here and protect the cart.” Herrah herself was probably the largest being in Deepnest. Her teardrop-shaped mask was adorned with six intimidating eyes. Framing the mask was a dark blue fabric, being held up by two horn like pincers. Underneath the cloak, multiple legs came through, attached to a grub-like body.
“Understood, Mother!” A short figure eagerly jumped up to the rim of the cart. This was Hornet, Herrah’s daughter. A similarity she had with her mother was her two prongs, being covered by her bright mask. Framing her neck was a bright red cloak dropping down to her stubby feet. “No harm shall come to this cart under my watch!” she yelled while striking a dramatic pose.
Herrah gave a sigh. “Hornet, I was talking to Arachne .” she pointed to the other figure in the cart. Sitting next to where Hornet used to be was Arachne, the child’s temporary caretaker. Like many weavers, she had a spherical mask that was bisected down the middle, and three eyes on either side. Arachne wore a yellow cloak to hide her multiple legs.
“What?!” Hornet let out a frustrated groan. “You tell Arachne to do everything ! When are you going to trust me with something?”
“Um…” Arachne timidly piped up. “Actually, you were trusted with things. You just quickly proved that you can be… un trustworthy.”
Hornet raised a claw to her chin in thought. “...I don’t remember anything like that.”
“Well then, allow me to jog your memory.” Herrah started.
While Herrah was studying in the weaver’s den, she heard multiple loud snaps. Apparently, Hornet thought it would be a good idea to somehow integrate her fake shellwood nail into the spell of silk to see what would happen. Results were… less than desirable.
“Whoops.” The baby spider said. And then her nail bonked her on the head.
While taking a well deserved break and napping in her bed, Herrah suddenly heard a loud rumbling. The next thing she knew, a fully grown garpede being ridden by her child crashed through her wall.
“AAAAAAAAAAAHH!"
“Hornet, what did I tell you about bringing down lumaflies?!” The young spider brought down a glass bulb containing a glowing winged insect commonly used outside of Deepnest. However, they were banned here for a reason.
A couple of large, bioluminescent bugs appeared, attacking the house, thinking that they had seen their species’ signal for a challenge. Both mother and child screamed in terror.
“...Okay, so last cycle was a bad one.” Hornet waved it off, blaming it all on bad luck.
Herrah put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder and gave her a sympathetic look. “I know that it’s frustrating, Hornet, but you’re simply too young for this kind of stuff. You’ll be stronger when you’re older.” Hornet gave a disappointed nod.
“Alright. Goodbye for now!” Herrah reached into her cloak as she approached an establishment. “Now, where’d I leave my geo?” Even though she was the leader, she insisted she pay for everything to give back to the community.
Hornet sulked back to her seat. “It’s not fair. Just because I’m young, I can’t help out with anything.” Arachne was unsure of what to say, so she just patted her on the back affectionately.
Suddenly a scream was heard coming from a path leading deep into the wilderness. In ran the small blue-cloaked weaverling, Sutura. “MONSTER! S-SOME CREATURE… THING… IN THE WILDS!” He gathered up a crowd listening to him in confusion.
“Calm down, Sutura! Slow down and tell us what you saw.” One of the spiders said, taking initiative.
“Oh, it was awful!” Sutura said. He took a wad of his silk and started spinning a picture with his legs moving at a blur.
“This thing was taller than any weaver I’d ever seen! It had long spindly limbs attached to a body with no abdomen. In its clutches was a square light I was sure was ready to steal my soul! The worst part is that its body was soft like a grub, but its limbs somehow still bent at angular joints, like its shell was inside its body!” At the description, the whole group cringed in disgust.
“That’s disgusting!”
“There really is a monster!”
“Alright, everyone, remain calm!” The weaver from before piped up. “What we need to do is to drive this creature out of deepnest so that it doesn’t harm anyone!” The group agreed with him and started to develop strategies to drive it off.
As Hornet watched this go down from the cart, she hatched a plan and gasped. “ Ideeeaa… ” She turned to Arachne “What if I went in there and caught the creature? Then Mother would have to say that I’m strong!”
“Oooohh no!” Arachne stepped in, putting some feet down on this plan. “Herrah said you had to stay in the cart. And whatever she says, goes .”
“Hmmm…” Hornet thought of a way to get by her caretaker. “Oh! Hey, Arachne, look!” She pulled out some silver fossilized disks from her cloak. “Geeeooo…” She said tantalizingly, then threw them to the floor of the cart.
Arachne looked between the geo and Hornet and tried to resist, but failed in the end. “BRIBE ACCEPTED!” She jumped down from her seat and started scooping up the silvery shells.
Hornet then leapt from the cart and ran off towards adventure. “TRY NOT TO DIE! ” Arachne called off towards her.
Hornet darted through the untamed wilds of deepnest, nimbly diving through every obstacle in her path. A couple of dirtcarvers decided that she would make a good target, but a few whacks from her wooden nail convinced them to search elsewhere.
“Hmm…” She said as she wandered into a large room. “This place seems pretty open!” She observed as she carelessly stepped into the center. “Seems like the perfect place for a traAAAP!” Irony struck her as she instantly fell to one of her own ideas. A loop of web pulled her by the leg into the air, connected to a particularly strong glowing mushroom. What was weird about the trap, however, was that the web didn’t look freshly spun at all. It was almost as if a weaver had taken old cobwebs and bunched them together until the mess of a string was strong enough.
Incoming steps alerted the young spider that whatever was trying to catch her was quickly looking to claim its prize. “Ah!” She cried out in a panic. The footsteps grew louder, then a tall figure brushed away a curtain of webs and came into view. Hornet gasped upon seeing it. A rectangular box shone a light brighter than any lantern into her face.
“Aha! Thought you could outsmart ol’ Anne, eh? Well, ya didn’t! ” The thing spoke to her. Hornet pointed to it in horror
“Spindly limbs? Glowing box? SOFT BODY?!” Hornet yelled upon making each observation. “THE CREATURE!” She screamed in terror at what she saw. Sutura’s description was more than accurate. Whatever was standing in front of her, it definitely wasn’t a bug. Its whole body was soft, yet still stood tall and stable, with no shell in sight. It wore clothing like the intelligent bugs of this world, with the piece covering its ‘thorax’ bearing strange symbols. The clothing was quite colorful compared to the rest of Deepnest, yet its soft non-shell was a dark tan. Framing the creature’s face was a mop of curly hair tangled with a few webs.
“STOP. FOLLOWING ME.” It said in annoyance, narrowing its singular, non-compound eyes.
“I have bad news for you creature! I’m not becoming anything’s meal without a fight!” Hornet said as she simultaneously pulled a mask of bravado and her wooden nail from behind her.
“Ew, I’m not going to eat you. ” The creature said in …disgust? Hornet wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved or offended.
“Well… you tried to eat Sutura!” Hornet pointed accusingly.
“I tried to ask ‘Sutura’ for help. He ran off screaming the second he saw me!”The creature shot back.
“...That is typical of Sutura…” Hornet reasoned. Suddenly, another set of footsteps sounded from the distance, this time with them sounding much heavier, and with a lot more sets of feet.
“It’s coming back!” The creature said in terror, then grabbed the broken half of a discarded nail that Hornet failed to notice before. The creature ran away, prioritizing itself.
“Hrrgh, ghh!” Hornet struggled to free herself from the trap. She resorted to sawwing the webby rope with her wooden nail. However, the edge wasn’t sharp enough to cut through.
Before she could think of anything else, she was suddenly cut free. “I gotcha!” The creature called out, then carried her the opposite direction of the incoming beast. Hornet simply held still in the creature’s clutches as it ran to a rocky outcropping then hid behind it. The young spider remembered the teachings from her mother that when hiding from danger, to never make any sound, so she simply sat there with the creature beside her, waiting for the thundering steps to pass by.
Both Hornet and the creature peeked over the rock to spy on what they were hiding from. It was a truly colossal bug that skittered around searching for its next meal. Were it to find either of them, it would devour them without a second thought. They kept silent until the danger finally wandered off, away from view.
The creature relaxed and slumped against the stone mound. “Phew. It’s gone.” It then turned its eyes towards Hornet.
Hornet was completely shocked by what the creature had done. It could have simply kept running, yet it risked its own safety for a tiny bug that it had never seen before. “You… saved me. You’re not a monster at all, you’re a hero! A really disturbing hero!”
The creature gave a smirk. “Call me disturbing again, and maybe I will eat you.” It said in a playful manner.
Hornet gave a laugh. “No, your reaction from before was enough proof that you won’t eat me. So… what do they call you, stranger?” Hornet tilted her head curiously.
The creature gave a genuine smile. “My name’s Anne. Anne Boonchuy.”
The young spider stuck out her hand in a friendly gesture “Call me Hornet!” Anne then grabbed her hand to give a handshake. Hornet gasped. “Woah, your body really is squishy. That’s so cool!”
Anne giggled, then a rumbling came from her stomach. “So, you got anything to eat?”
“Definitely!” Hornet said proudly, then lifted a random rock to reveal several spider-like creatures scurrying away. A couple of them hissed at the disturbance.
Anne cringed in disgust. “Things that aren’t … bugs ?”
Hornet hummed. “So bugs are off the table, then, huh? Oh well!” She effortlessly caught a tiny bug then threw it into her mouth. “Follow me, then! Let’s see if we can forage for anything.” She started dashing off again into the wilderness.
“Hang on a minute.” Hornet skidded to a halt then turned back to Anne. “How do I know I can trust you ?”
Hornet gave the question some thought. “Well, if you can’t right now I guess I’ll just have to earn it!” She said, like this was another challenge.
Anne giggled. “You know, for some weird spider thing, you’re actually kinda cute!” Anne then got up to follow her.
Herrah the Beast gave a sigh of exhaustion as she finally made her way back to the cart. “Ugh. That took longer than expected.” She wasn’t thrilled by the fact that this was only the first of her stops. A commotion caught her attention. When she looked up, she saw a group of bugs holding up weapons and nets of silk, ready to catch something from the wilds. “Welp, another cycle, another hunting party.” she observed as she climbed into the cart’s seat. “Alright, are you two ready?” Herrah asked as she turned around.
Herrah was shocked to see that there was only one figure in the cart. Arachne was laying down, holding a few measly pieces of geo close to her. Arachne suddenly noticed her and shot up straight. “O-oh! Uh, hi, Herrah, I was just, um… it was Hornet’s idea! ” she tried to excuse herself.
“Arachne…” The leader of Deepnest rumbled with tranquil fury. “ Where’s Hornet? ”
“U-um…” Arachne shakily raised a limb and pointed towards the path that Sutura came screaming out of. “She went into the wilds to look for a creature that Sutura ran from.”
“That’s all I needed to hear.” Herrah then ran from the cart, bolting to the pathway. “ Hold on, child! Mother’s coming! ” She yelled down the pathway, unintentionally leading the charge of the hunting party from before.
Hornet brought Anne whatever she could find for her. In a small pile in the center of a room were fibrous roots, some grown bulbs, and the stems of mushrooms that she knew were not poisonous.
Anne gave an experimental sniff towards one of the items, then gave it a bite. “Hey, this is pretty good!” she said excitedly.
“Yup!” Hornet said, proud of herself. “To be a successful hunter, you must be able to survive off of whatever you can harvest from the land.” she said, quoting one of her mother’s lessons.
“So, now, then…” Hornet leaned forward questioningly. “What exactly are you?”
Anne held up a hand to herself “I’m a human being, and I come from…” She got up and posed dramatically. “ANOTHER WORLD!” She held the pose for a few seconds, then sat back down. “Either that, or this is a dream.”
“Wow…” Hornet said in awe. Here she was sitting with a creature from an entirely different reality. “So how did you get here?”
Anne shrugged “I dunno. One second I was back home, and the next, I’m here.” She looked down with a worried expression. “I’m not sure how to get home… or if I even can go home.”
Anne let the depressing thought hold for a few seconds before deciding to change the subject and to get to know the first bug that showed her friendliness. “So, what’s a ‘hunter’ like you doing down here?”
Hornet struck a pose and said courageously: “Proving that I can be strong!”
“Oh yeah? How are you gonna do that?” Anne asked curiously
Hornet suddenly remembered the reason she came into the wilds in the first place. “Uh…”
Anne yelped as she was pelted with dozens of strands of silk at once. Within seconds, the limbs of weavers completely immobilized her. There was a whole hunting party of spiders surrounding her.
“Alright, we got it!” one weaver called out. “...Honestly? That was pretty easy.” he said, kind of disappointed at the ordeal.
“Dude, what the heck?! You set me up? I thought we were connecting !” Anne said accusingly towards Hornet.
The young spider waved her arms in front of her. “ What ? No, nononono! This wasn’t my plan!” Hornet and Anne then froze as a huge figure towered over them.
“Child, you did it! You helped capture the creature! I’m impressed.” Herrah praised her daughter. Anne felt dread sink into her entire body at seeing a spider of this size.
Hornet quickly tried to diffuse the situation. “Wait, Mother, no, you got it all wrong!”
Anne’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head. “ THAT'S YOUR MOM?! ”
Before the crowd could celebrate any further or decide what to do with their catch, a rumbling familiar to the creature and young spider quickly approached the commotion. The beast that Anne and Hornet hid from before burst out of hiding to fight for its next meal. It roared at the crowd, and Anne screamed in response.
Herrah positioned herself between the hunting party and the opposing beast. “Everyone, remain calm. Do everything you can to immobilize it!” She then charged forward to attack the wild beast head on, waiting for it to make the first strike, then dodging and countering the attack.
Anne watched the other weavers charge off towards the dangerous bug when she felt the webs around her loosen. She looked down to see Hornet getting her free. “Huh? What are you doing? You need to get out of here!”
Hornet gave a confident nod towards Anne. “I said that I was going to earn your trust, and I meant it. Now, come on!” she encouraged as she got the last of the webs off of Anne.
Once she was free, Hornet went to join her mother. “Take this!” she yelled as she threw her wooden nail like a dagger. Suddenly, the nail changed direction to trip the bug. Anne didn’t notice it before, but the nail had a hole whittled into the handle so that Hornet could control it with her silk like a giant sewing needle.
Hornet’s attack only served to enrage the creature, with it quickly getting up and lunging at the spider. Hornet flinched, then looked up to see that the beast’s maw was being held back by Anne. She was grunting with effort.
“Do something!” Anne flashed her eyes towards the young spider.
“Ah, right!” Hornet got the idea, then grabbed her nail to start tangling up the giant bug with webs. With the two working together, it was quickly immobilized and fell to the ground. The crowd cheered in celebration.
“Phew. Thanks.” Anne gave a thumbs up towards Hornet. The young spider pumped her fists into the air.
“Now then…” The group of spiders that caught her before grabbed Anne’s attention. “What are we gonna do with this thing?” One of the spherical arachnids gestured towards the human.
“I’m not exactly sure what it is, but we can find out how it tastes!” one of the bugs suggested with hissing laughter. Anne felt dread creep up her spine and started to back away slowly until she bumped into a tall figure.
“That won’t be happening.” Herrah said with finality. “This creature risked itself to save my child’s life. I owe it a great deal.”
“And not only that!” Hornet popped up from behind Herrah and chipped in. “She also saved me from the same bug earlier!” She hopped down from her mother’s back and turned towards her with a pleading face. “She isn’t some monster at all. She’s just a lost girl that needs help. She should live with us!” Anne smiled at Hornet sticking up for her.
“Absolutely.” Herrah nodded. “The creature can stay here and live in our community as long as it, sorry, I mean, she , needs to.” With that declared, the hunting party dispersed, dragging the captured bug away, ready for processing.
Hornet gave a disappointed sigh. “I guess I’m just going back to messing everything up.”
“What?” Herrah turned to her daughter in shock. “Hornet, sticking up for what you believe in, that’s one of the strongest things a bug can do. Not only having the strength of their body, but of their will. I have no doubt that you will make a fine warrior someday.” Herrah praised her. “...But don’t go sneaking off again. It was pretty foolish to go alone.”
“Not that I’m not grateful…” Anne cut into the conversation between mother and daughter. “But I can’t exactly be staying here forever. Either of you know a way out?”
Herrah chuckled. “ Out of Deepnest? I’m afraid that won’t be happening for a while.” She pulled out a map of her cloak. “You see, the border between our land and the rest of the kingdom is guarded by a tribe of mantises.” She explained as she pointed to a structure with four spires drawn to the right of the map. “They’re fierce warriors that prevent anything from Deepnest coming through. But, they allow a single shipment of spools of weaver silk to go through once a year to be delivered to the palace. I personally oversee the shipment, and I would be happy to bring you along to search for a way home.”
“Oh, so when’s the next shipment?” Anne asked innocently.
“About 60 cycles from now!” Hornet eagerly chipped in.
Anne’s jaw dropped. “You mean I’m stuck in this crazy spider nest for two months?! Where am I gonna stay?”
The next thing Anne knew, she found herself in a structure called the weaver’s den. It was a silvery structure with dozens of weavers going over carefully placed lines of silk. Instead of a chaotic mess that would make you wipe your face in a panic, these webs were far more elegant. Their placement reminded Anne of a harp. Herrah had shown Anne to a room that was now designated to be hers for the time being. The same silvery architecture was present here, with a silver-lined bed in the corner. The sheets of the bed were a fine silk, woven elegantly enough for it to shine like metal.
“Wow… I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much!” Anne thanked the leader of Deepnest.
“Think nothing of it.” Herrah waved the human off. “This room was unused anyway. And now, with you living close to the village, you can help look after Hornet!”
“Wait, what?”
“Anyway, rest well!” Herrah waved goodbye as she turned to leave. “Next cycle brings new possibilities.”
As she left, Hornet peeked in, leaning past the door frame. “Hey, Anne!” She ran over, holding something in her clutches. She dumped them in front of the bed to reveal them as plush toys to help with sleeping. “I brought you something to help you settle in on your first rest here. I’m not gonna miss these, since I’m way too old for them.” She waved off casually, but then changed her tone as she took one more peek at the pile. “Well, except maybe this one…” She plucked out a tiny fuzzy replica of a dirtcarver.
Anne smiled. “Thanks, Hornet. I think I’m gonna like it here. You know, after getting over the whole spider thing.”
Hornet smiled through her eyes. “I’m glad you’re living with us, human. ” She turned away to follow her mother.
Anne laid down on the bed before she was disturbed once again. “ AHA! ” she jumped to see that there was now a yellow-cloaked weaver at the door. “You may have the others fooled, but I’m onto you. You probably only want to attack us while our guard is down. Well, I’m watching you. Always watching… ” Arachne narrowed her eyes before slowly closing the silver door.
Anne shrugged before laying back down on the bed. She had to admit, spider silk made for some pretty good sheets. She thought for a moment before taking out her backpack and fishing something out of it.
Unwrapping a cloth revealed what started this mess in the first place. The cloth held a wooden box with a pale silver trim. The left of the lid bore a symbol of a bug shell, with the top sporting a long, spiny crown. To either side of the symbol, long veiny wings elegantly spread out, almost looking like they were made of feathers. Across from the symbol, three dull gems were implanted in the lid.
“Come on, come on…” Anne braced herself, and opened the box.
Nothing.
She experimentally opened and shut it a few more times before giving up with a sigh.
“...Looks like I’m gonna be here for a while.”