Along Came A Spider...

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Shadow readied his sword and prepared to engage the monstrous arachnid. Not taking his eyes off it, it looked like it was completely ignoring the two intruders. Drawing an arrow and attaching a bomb on it, he said, “I'll just end this quick, take it's blood ant get out of...” looking closely at the web, he saw three cocoons woven on it. One of them had an item that looked familiar. Looking closely, he noticed that it was a sword... no, not just any sword, it was Mido's. Realizing that an exploding arrow would kill his ensnared friends, he grabbed a normal and took aim again. Firing the weapon, the arrow flew into the air and hit the arachnid in the back.

It let out a loud chittering sound and turned to the warrior as he readied another arrow. Firing again, the attack caused the monster to fall to the ground. Shadow quickly drew his sword and ran at the oversized spider, yelling, “I don't need a sword! I need a giant Boot!” He slashed at the creature and and connected with a leg it used to block. The attack came to a dead stop. The creature moved in to bite him and he rolled out of the way. Jumping up, he did a rising slash, knocking it to the ground. Jumping, he inverted his blade and stabbed it into it's belly.

The spider hissed loudly and scuttled to it's feet and climbed up one of the trees. Dinnalidia drew a crossbow and started firing bolts at the creature. Shadow joined her using his bow and the creature became enraged. It looked down on him and started shooting white blobs at him. Jumping out of the way of the attacks, Dinnalidia yelled, “Watch out! If you get hit by one of those webs, you'll be paralyzed!” Firing another arrow at the creature, he yelled, “I don't want to be touched by ANYTHING involving spiders!!!” The Spider jumped down and crashed to the ground, then charged at Shadow.

Readying his sword, he ran at the monster and slashed repeatedly, trying to get a past the creature's leg. It moved in to bite him and he raised his shield to block. As the creature bit down, the shield started creaking from the stress caused by the monstrous pincers. Drawing his blade back, he thrust the weapon into the creature's head. It let out a loud screech and scuttled it's way up the tree and to the relative safety of it's web.

Shadow and Dinnalidia again took to firing at the monster. Shadow started to feel a sense of worry as he realized that he was using up a lot of arrows. He noticed something on one of the adjacent webs. To his good fortune, it was a quiver... With arrows! He aimed at the quiver and fired, knocking it loose and to the ground. Taking the arrows, he refilled his own Quiver and resumed his shooting at the Death Wraith.

Again, the spider shot blobs of venomous web at the two warriors. Apparently just striking the creature just anywhere wasn't going to do the job. There had to be a weak point. There had to be a spot that would deal a devastating blow in one swift strike more than his prior two attempts. The Spider jumped down again, and instead of attacking, the dark elf started running around it in a flanking pattern. He scanned the spider as he ran around it, trying to find a weakness. Then he noticed something. A feint glimmer on the top of it's back, almost crystal-like. That was where he had to strike.

He leaped into the air and brought his blade down on the crystal, but the creature moved at the last minute and he found himself falling towards it maw. He snapped his shield in the path and became snared by the pincers that would not release it's grip. Dinnalidia fired her crossbow at the creature. Shadow turned to her and yelled, “RUN!” The lady yelled, “What about you?”
“Don't worry about me! Just get OUT of here!!!” She drew a dagger and ran at the monster, drawing the weapon into a striking position.

As she neared the Spider, it released shadow and turned to the new assailant. Realizing that she would not be able to defend against it's venom, he lunged in front of her and froze as the pincers sank deep into his body. Everything became black and he slumped to the ground. The Spider looked around for the other threat, but saw that she had vanished. Not being a creature capable of questioning the disappearance, it took it's prize and climbed back to it's web and secured it's prize in a cocoon for it's soon to hatch children to consume as their first meal.

In the darkness, Shadow looked around, floating and falling at the same time. Not knowing where he was, he called, “Hello! Is anyone there?” The silence that answered was almost deafening. The absence of all sound filled him with fear. Then a small flame formed in front of him, then circled his body. Dinnalidia's voice said, “Tell me, creature of the Dark World. Why did you try to protect me? You didn't like me from the moment we met.” Shadow retorted with, “And you never told me that you can pop out of nowhere as a floating bonfire. I guess we're even.”

Giggling, the voice said, “You might be a skilled warrior, but you're not the brightest lantern in the shop. Are you trying to tell me that you don't know who I truly am?” Thinking for a moment, he said, “An oversize firefly?” The flame stopped for a moment, then hit him with a small tongue of fire. “OW! HEY! I'm TRYING here!!! Cut me some slack!!!” There was an exasperated sigh and said, “If ignorance truly is bliss, you must be the happiest creature in existence.”

“So I've been told,” was the dark elf's reply. “Seriously, I know you're not one of the guardian dragons, so you mind telling me what is going on here?” The female voice said, “You save me from the Death Wraith, you risk your life for people who owe you nothing and you do it without the slightest shred of fear. Tell me, why is it you do these actions?” Shadow floated there silently. He didn't know how to answer. Finally, he said, “Because, even in a world filled with as much darkness as this one, someone has to have the strength to allow a feint light of hope. If anyone, why not me? Why shouldn't I do what I can to protect people? Why can't I be a light for this world?

After a pause, the Dinnalidia said, “Is that truly the calling of your heart? Is that the ideal you hold more greater than the desires of the people around you?” Shadow looked at the flame and said, “If you think it should be different, I'll bash your head in, even if you were a Deity, I would fight and die for that belief!” The fire turned into Dinnalidia . Immediately after assuming her human form, she burst into flames which quickly faded into an image of divine beauty. Smiling, she said to the dark elf, “Then I grant you full use of my blessing. Use it to light the way down the path you choose.” With that, she vanished and Shadow's body burst into flame, yet not harming him.

The cocoon ignited and Shadow fell to the ground, his clothes red as fire and the crystal called Din's fire floating over his head. Looking at the Spider, he said, “Let's heat things up a notch.”