AnimeSuki Forums

shiroi mahotsukai · 2010-10-22, 13:28

I thought that i was quite funny. It's much better if you listen o the song while reading it, you get the feel better. Especially since i hadn't heard it before.

Nanya01 · 2010-10-22, 13:30

Well, here's part 4.

WARNING! Do NOT read if you are watching Slayers Next as this contains MAJOR spoilers to the ending of that season. If you do read this without seeing all of Slayers Next, then you will be spoiled for the ending.

So, do not read if you do not like spoilers.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Spoiler for Nanoha Slayers Cross:

Spoiler for Some notes:

vic-vic · 2010-10-22, 13:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Well, here's part 4.

WARNING! Do NOT read if you are watching Slayers Next as this contains MAJOR spoilers to the ending of that season. If you do read this without seeing all of Slayers Next, then you will be spoiled for the ending.

So, do not read if you do not like spoilers.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Spoiler for Nanoha Slayers Cross:

Spoiler for Some notes:

Spoiler for Some thought:

NorthernFallout · 2010-10-23, 15:11

I didn't know Caro was an arachnophobic! Another horror short.

Spoiler for The Arachnids in the Dark:

One of the most ancient emotions that exist in humans is that of fear. While it can manifest as many things, it is still an instinct, a response to a perceived threat, usually not that far into the immediate future. Fear is a also product of learning. Learning that some things are threatening.

It is slightly weird, then, that Caro, who had been working in a natural preserve for quite some time, still suffered from arachnophobia. Spiders tend to love forests, and this was no exception. Yet, everytime a spider, usually bigger than a centimeter, had fallen onto her, she’d shrieked and shaken it off in panic. Smaller ones provoked a similar response, but weren’t as horrible. To make matters worse, Erio couldn’t help but chuckle everytime it happened, adding to her embarrassment.

Even though her determination to make her fear of spiders go away was strong, she never really managed to get rid of it. It would come a time when her reaction would be subdued. Then, the next time, she’d shriek again. She was mad at herself because of it.

Then, one day, when the two of them were out on patrol in the southern parts of the preserve, Erio got called away on an emergency call. This wasn’t anything abnormal; it happened several times a week, and Caro was used to continue to patrol alone. This time wasn’t any different.

After Erio had left, she walked down the path leading to the Moonpoem Caverns. The caverns acted as transport tunnels for the patrols and visitors, and Caro had decided to check it out as part of their usual route.

She walked past the two rock monuments signifying the entrance and entered the dark caverns. The path was illuminated by magical torches, always lit and infinite. Still, the darkness was profound, so she hurried through it. She didn’t want to stay longer than she needed.

The caverns weren’t that long and it didn’t take long before she reached the end of them. Or so she thought. The exit had been blocked by rocks, and even though she could see the sun outside, streaming into the few holes of the blockade, she couldn’t see an opening she could get through. She sighed at the inconvenience and turned around.

That such a massive rock slide had gone unreported boggled her. Other patrols have had to come by before she did. It needed to be reported immediately.

She backtracked until she came back to a bridge that led across a shaft. The first pang of panic hit her as she discovered the bridge hanging loose all the way down to the bottom. She couldn’t see to the other side, as there weren’t any torches and only darkness, but she concluded it had broken by itself. It was due for repairs after all.

“Fried!”

Her yell echoed in the caverns, but Fried didn’t appear. Then she remembered he had gone with Erio to assist. She had even commanded him to.

The realization that she was all alone began to set in. Neither her telepathy nor radio worked inside the caverns, as it was way too deep below ground for the signal to reach.

She turned around to head back to the blocked exit. She could probably loosen a few rocks and shout for help. Or even crawl out if she was lucky. The thought encouraged her and she broke into a small run.

She turned a corner and stopped dead in her tracks. Everything was dark. The torches that had been lit wasn’t glowing now. She couldn’t see a thing in front of her.

She looked behind her only to discover the other torches had gone dark. There were only two torches left, one where she was and one further behind. Caro stood perfectly still, listening in on the cavern to check if she really was alone. She couldn’t stop the fear that was growing inside her, causing her hands to shake a little bit.

A noise she hadn’t noticed before had risen in volume. It was hard to describe. It was as if someone had recorded an ant walking, but amplified the sound so it could be heard. There was more than one such noise though. It all blended together in a flood of noise.

The torch behind her slowly dimmed and turned dark. Only one remained now and Caro was frozen in fear. Not of the darkness, but by whatever hid inside.

She flinched suddenly as she noticed something moving on the wall. The torch that still glowed was enough to illuminate that part and she took a step closer. She abruptly stopped when she recognized it as a spider. Not a small one either, but at least five centimeters. She shivered and took a step back. Something crunched under her boot.

She looked down at her feet and naked horror burst from her face. Beneath her, crawling on the ground, were spiders. Thousands of them.

She shrieked and started pounding on them in a frenzy. All sense was gone from her mind and she almost lost her balance. She bounced into the wall and saw a black wall of spiders approaching right next to her head. A few of them even managed to fall on her head.

She screamed and shook her body in a state of panic to try and get them off. One fell into her shirt which caused her to jump and loose her footing. She fell on her back onto the cold stone floor.

The spiders were upon her immediately. Spiders are very, very fast, as she soon discovered. They crept into her clothes and crawled on her face while she tried to shake them off. It wasn’t a thousands spiders now. It was millions. She could feel their millions of tiny, long, hairy legs prickle her skin as they explored her body. The ones on her face soon found her mouth and ears, much to her terror.

She coughed as a few fell into her throat and she tried to scream again, to no avail. Spider webs were being spun in all sorts of places, including her mouth.

The light from the torch began to dim and Caro managed to look at it with pleading eyes, almost as if she could will it to stay alive.

But it didn’t. Darkness arrived.

***

“Caro! Caro!”

Erio and two squad leaders entered the Moonpoem Caverns in the early morning. The sun had just appeared above the horizon and cast a seldom felt warmth on them before they entered. To their surprise, none of the torches were lit. Each of them retrieved a flashlight and turned it on.

They gasped in surprise and fear as their lights fell upon spider web. The white silk covered everything. It was as if someone had painted everything white. Despite that, they moved onwards.

They moved carefully so they didn’t get stuck anywhere. The spider webs were exceptionally strong. It wasn’t natural they decided. This was something else. Something new.

As they searched for Caro, they eventually put their lights upon a huge cocoon hanging from the corner of a wall. They were disturbed by it.

“Give me your knife,” Erio asked one of the squad leaders. He received it and approached the cocoon. He inserted it and made a tiny slit, almost without resistance. He found it weird that it’d go so easily, judging from the webs they had encountered so far.

He jolted backwards when a flood of spiders fell out from the cocoon. It was like a container of baby spiders. They scattered when they reached the floor and disappeared out of sight. The sheer volume of them had left the three stunned.

After taking a few seconds to recover, Erio approached again and made a bigger cut. When the knife didn’t help any longer he clamped his hands around the edges and pulled the cocoon apart. As he did so, the two squad leaders aimed at it with their flashlights.

The sight haunted them for years to come.

Spoiler for Note:

Moczo · 2010-10-23, 15:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Well, here's part 4.

WARNING! Do NOT read if you are watching Slayers Next as this contains MAJOR spoilers to the ending of that season. If you do read this without seeing all of Slayers Next, then you will be spoiled for the ending.

... well, I'm glad I mentioned I was watching this to you, because I'm still only one disc into that season. Guess I'll read this later

RadiantBeam · 2010-10-23, 22:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

I didn't know Caro was an arachnophobic! Another horror short.

Spoiler for The Arachnids in the Dark:

One of the most ancient emotions that exist in humans is that of fear. While it can manifest as many things, it is still an instinct, a response to a perceived threat, usually not that far into the immediate future. Fear is a also product of learning. Learning that some things are threatening.

It is slightly weird, then, that Caro, who had been working in a natural preserve for quite some time, still suffered from arachnophobia. Spiders tend to love forests, and this was no exception. Yet, everytime a spider, usually bigger than a centimeter, had fallen onto her, she’d shrieked and shaken it off in panic. Smaller ones provoked a similar response, but weren’t as horrible. To make matters worse, Erio couldn’t help but chuckle everytime it happened, adding to her embarrassment.

Even though her determination to make her fear of spiders go away was strong, she never really managed to get rid of it. It would come a time when her reaction would be subdued. Then, the next time, she’d shriek again. She was mad at herself because of it.

Then, one day, when the two of them were out on patrol in the southern parts of the preserve, Erio got called away on an emergency call. This wasn’t anything abnormal; it happened several times a week, and Caro was used to continue to patrol alone. This time wasn’t any different.

After Erio had left, she walked down the path leading to the Moonpoem Caverns. The caverns acted as transport tunnels for the patrols and visitors, and Caro had decided to check it out as part of their usual route.

She walked past the two rock monuments signifying the entrance and entered the dark caverns. The path was illuminated by magical torches, always lit and infinite. Still, the darkness was profound, so she hurried through it. She didn’t want to stay longer than she needed.

The caverns weren’t that long and it didn’t take long before she reached the end of them. Or so she thought. The exit had been blocked by rocks, and even though she could see the sun outside, streaming into the few holes of the blockade, she couldn’t see an opening she could get through. She sighed at the inconvenience and turned around.

That such a massive rock slide had gone unreported boggled her. Other patrols have had to come by before she did. It needed to be reported immediately.

She backtracked until she came back to a bridge that led across a shaft. The first pang of panic hit her as she discovered the bridge hanging loose all the way down to the bottom. She couldn’t see to the other side, as there weren’t any torches and only darkness, but she concluded it had broken by itself. It was due for repairs after all.

“Fried!”

Her yell echoed in the caverns, but Fried didn’t appear. Then she remembered he had gone with Erio to assist. She had even commanded him to.

The realization that she was all alone began to set in. Neither her telepathy nor radio worked inside the caverns, as it was way too deep below ground for the signal to reach.

She turned around to head back to the blocked exit. She could probably loosen a few rocks and shout for help. Or even crawl out if she was lucky. The thought encouraged her and she broke into a small run.

She turned a corner and stopped dead in her tracks. Everything was dark. The torches that had been lit wasn’t glowing now. She couldn’t see a thing in front of her.

She looked behind her only to discover the other torches had gone dark. There were only two torches left, one where she was and one further behind. Caro stood perfectly still, listening in on the cavern to check if she really was alone. She couldn’t stop the fear that was growing inside her, causing her hands to shake a little bit.

A noise she hadn’t noticed before had risen in volume. It was hard to describe. It was as if someone had recorded an ant walking, but amplified the sound so it could be heard. There was more than one such noise though. It all blended together in a flood of noise.

The torch behind her slowly dimmed and turned dark. Only one remained now and Caro was frozen in fear. Not of the darkness, but by whatever hid inside.

She flinched suddenly as she noticed something moving on the wall. The torch that still glowed was enough to illuminate that part and she took a step closer. She abruptly stopped when she recognized it as a spider. Not a small one either, but at least five centimeters. She shivered and took a step back. Something crunched under her boot.

She looked down at her feet and naked horror burst from her face. Beneath her, crawling on the ground, were spiders. Thousands of them.

She shrieked and started pounding on them in a frenzy. All sense was gone from her mind and she almost lost her balance. She bounced into the wall and saw a black wall of spiders approaching right next to her head. A few of them even managed to fall on her head.

She screamed and shook her body in a state of panic to try and get them off. One fell into her shirt which caused her to jump and loose her footing. She fell on her back onto the cold stone floor.

The spiders were upon her immediately. Spiders are very, very fast, as she soon discovered. They crept into her clothes and crawled on her face while she tried to shake them off. It wasn’t a thousands spiders now. It was millions. She could feel their millions of tiny, long, hairy legs prickle her skin as they explored her body. The ones on her face soon found her mouth and ears, much to her terror.

She coughed as a few fell into her throat and she tried to scream again, to no avail. Spider webs were being spun in all sorts of places, including her mouth.

The light from the torch began to dim and Caro managed to look at it with pleading eyes, almost as if she could will it to stay alive.

But it didn’t. Darkness arrived.

***

“Caro! Caro!”

Erio and two squad leaders entered the Moonpoem Caverns in the early morning. The sun had just appeared above the horizon and cast a seldom felt warmth on them before they entered. To their surprise, none of the torches were lit. Each of them retrieved a flashlight and turned it on.

They gasped in surprise and fear as their lights fell upon spider web. The white silk covered everything. It was as if someone had painted everything white. Despite that, they moved onwards.

They moved carefully so they didn’t get stuck anywhere. The spider webs were exceptionally strong. It wasn’t natural they decided. This was something else. Something new.

As they searched for Caro, they eventually put their lights upon a huge cocoon hanging from the corner of a wall. They were disturbed by it.

“Give me your knife,” Erio asked one of the squad leaders. He received it and approached the cocoon. He inserted it and made a tiny slit, almost without resistance. He found it weird that it’d go so easily, judging from the webs they had encountered so far.

He jolted backwards when a flood of spiders fell out from the cocoon. It was like a container of baby spiders. They scattered when they reached the floor and disappeared out of sight. The sheer volume of them had left the three stunned.

After taking a few seconds to recover, Erio approached again and made a bigger cut. When the knife didn’t help any longer he clamped his hands around the edges and pulled the cocoon apart. As he did so, the two squad leaders aimed at it with their flashlights.

The sight haunted them for years to come.

Spoiler for Note:

....

I... you.... GAH!

Yasanagi · 2010-10-24, 00:32

Spoiler for It's that MD time again:

deathcurse · 2010-10-24, 00:48

Chapter 5: Fate's Interlude is up on Fanfiction.net ^^.

There is a lengthy general Author's Note included in the FF.net version that answers some of the commonly asked questions, since I've been asked the same questions many times over!

00-Raiser · 2010-10-24, 02:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for It's that MD time again:

The answer to Sette's question is, of course, that Batman can breathe in space!

vic-vic · 2010-10-24, 02:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for It's that MD time again:

Material-S started to think about her previous morally ambiguous actions - good sigh. And Rai-chan sure have a lot of knowledge about various magical devices.

JokerD · 2010-10-24, 03:51

Something that I threw together

Spoiler:

I wonder what route this will take haha.

ninryu · 2010-10-24, 09:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

I didn't know Caro was an arachnophobic! Another horror short.

Spoiler for The Arachnids in the Dark:

One of the most ancient emotions that exist in humans is that of fear. While it can manifest as many things, it is still an instinct, a response to a perceived threat, usually not that far into the immediate future. Fear is a also product of learning. Learning that some things are threatening.

It is slightly weird, then, that Caro, who had been working in a natural preserve for quite some time, still suffered from arachnophobia. Spiders tend to love forests, and this was no exception. Yet, everytime a spider, usually bigger than a centimeter, had fallen onto her, she’d shrieked and shaken it off in panic. Smaller ones provoked a similar response, but weren’t as horrible. To make matters worse, Erio couldn’t help but chuckle everytime it happened, adding to her embarrassment.

Even though her determination to make her fear of spiders go away was strong, she never really managed to get rid of it. It would come a time when her reaction would be subdued. Then, the next time, she’d shriek again. She was mad at herself because of it.

Then, one day, when the two of them were out on patrol in the southern parts of the preserve, Erio got called away on an emergency call. This wasn’t anything abnormal; it happened several times a week, and Caro was used to continue to patrol alone. This time wasn’t any different.

After Erio had left, she walked down the path leading to the Moonpoem Caverns. The caverns acted as transport tunnels for the patrols and visitors, and Caro had decided to check it out as part of their usual route.

She walked past the two rock monuments signifying the entrance and entered the dark caverns. The path was illuminated by magical torches, always lit and infinite. Still, the darkness was profound, so she hurried through it. She didn’t want to stay longer than she needed.

The caverns weren’t that long and it didn’t take long before she reached the end of them. Or so she thought. The exit had been blocked by rocks, and even though she could see the sun outside, streaming into the few holes of the blockade, she couldn’t see an opening she could get through. She sighed at the inconvenience and turned around.

That such a massive rock slide had gone unreported boggled her. Other patrols have had to come by before she did. It needed to be reported immediately.

She backtracked until she came back to a bridge that led across a shaft. The first pang of panic hit her as she discovered the bridge hanging loose all the way down to the bottom. She couldn’t see to the other side, as there weren’t any torches and only darkness, but she concluded it had broken by itself. It was due for repairs after all.

“Fried!”

Her yell echoed in the caverns, but Fried didn’t appear. Then she remembered he had gone with Erio to assist. She had even commanded him to.

The realization that she was all alone began to set in. Neither her telepathy nor radio worked inside the caverns, as it was way too deep below ground for the signal to reach.

She turned around to head back to the blocked exit. She could probably loosen a few rocks and shout for help. Or even crawl out if she was lucky. The thought encouraged her and she broke into a small run.

She turned a corner and stopped dead in her tracks. Everything was dark. The torches that had been lit wasn’t glowing now. She couldn’t see a thing in front of her.

She looked behind her only to discover the other torches had gone dark. There were only two torches left, one where she was and one further behind. Caro stood perfectly still, listening in on the cavern to check if she really was alone. She couldn’t stop the fear that was growing inside her, causing her hands to shake a little bit.

A noise she hadn’t noticed before had risen in volume. It was hard to describe. It was as if someone had recorded an ant walking, but amplified the sound so it could be heard. There was more than one such noise though. It all blended together in a flood of noise.

The torch behind her slowly dimmed and turned dark. Only one remained now and Caro was frozen in fear. Not of the darkness, but by whatever hid inside.

She flinched suddenly as she noticed something moving on the wall. The torch that still glowed was enough to illuminate that part and she took a step closer. She abruptly stopped when she recognized it as a spider. Not a small one either, but at least five centimeters. She shivered and took a step back. Something crunched under her boot.

She looked down at her feet and naked horror burst from her face. Beneath her, crawling on the ground, were spiders. Thousands of them.

She shrieked and started pounding on them in a frenzy. All sense was gone from her mind and she almost lost her balance. She bounced into the wall and saw a black wall of spiders approaching right next to her head. A few of them even managed to fall on her head.

She screamed and shook her body in a state of panic to try and get them off. One fell into her shirt which caused her to jump and loose her footing. She fell on her back onto the cold stone floor.

The spiders were upon her immediately. Spiders are very, very fast, as she soon discovered. They crept into her clothes and crawled on her face while she tried to shake them off. It wasn’t a thousands spiders now. It was millions. She could feel their millions of tiny, long, hairy legs prickle her skin as they explored her body. The ones on her face soon found her mouth and ears, much to her terror.

She coughed as a few fell into her throat and she tried to scream again, to no avail. Spider webs were being spun in all sorts of places, including her mouth.

The light from the torch began to dim and Caro managed to look at it with pleading eyes, almost as if she could will it to stay alive.

But it didn’t. Darkness arrived.

***

“Caro! Caro!”

Erio and two squad leaders entered the Moonpoem Caverns in the early morning. The sun had just appeared above the horizon and cast a seldom felt warmth on them before they entered. To their surprise, none of the torches were lit. Each of them retrieved a flashlight and turned it on.

They gasped in surprise and fear as their lights fell upon spider web. The white silk covered everything. It was as if someone had painted everything white. Despite that, they moved onwards.

They moved carefully so they didn’t get stuck anywhere. The spider webs were exceptionally strong. It wasn’t natural they decided. This was something else. Something new.

As they searched for Caro, they eventually put their lights upon a huge cocoon hanging from the corner of a wall. They were disturbed by it.

“Give me your knife,” Erio asked one of the squad leaders. He received it and approached the cocoon. He inserted it and made a tiny slit, almost without resistance. He found it weird that it’d go so easily, judging from the webs they had encountered so far.

He jolted backwards when a flood of spiders fell out from the cocoon. It was like a container of baby spiders. They scattered when they reached the floor and disappeared out of sight. The sheer volume of them had left the three stunned.

After taking a few seconds to recover, Erio approached again and made a bigger cut. When the knife didn’t help any longer he clamped his hands around the edges and pulled the cocoon apart. As he did so, the two squad leaders aimed at it with their flashlights.

The sight haunted them for years to come.

Spoiler for Note:

oh, god, I HATE spiders.

Nanya01 · 2010-10-24, 09:43

@JokerD: Well, this is going to be interesting.

Megaolix · 2010-10-24, 10:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for It's that MD time again:

Interesting, interesting... I do wonder what's the chill all about. Did an alert come out and a force is coming?

And Seikou is becoming more and more adorable to me... Meeting Nanoha just won't end well for anyone.

Justin_Brett · 2010-10-24, 14:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

I didn't know Caro was an arachnophobic! Another horror short.

Spoiler for The Arachnids in the Dark:

One of the most ancient emotions that exist in humans is that of fear. While it can manifest as many things, it is still an instinct, a response to a perceived threat, usually not that far into the immediate future. Fear is a also product of learning. Learning that some things are threatening.

It is slightly weird, then, that Caro, who had been working in a natural preserve for quite some time, still suffered from arachnophobia. Spiders tend to love forests, and this was no exception. Yet, everytime a spider, usually bigger than a centimeter, had fallen onto her, she’d shrieked and shaken it off in panic. Smaller ones provoked a similar response, but weren’t as horrible. To make matters worse, Erio couldn’t help but chuckle everytime it happened, adding to her embarrassment.

Even though her determination to make her fear of spiders go away was strong, she never really managed to get rid of it. It would come a time when her reaction would be subdued. Then, the next time, she’d shriek again. She was mad at herself because of it.

Then, one day, when the two of them were out on patrol in the southern parts of the preserve, Erio got called away on an emergency call. This wasn’t anything abnormal; it happened several times a week, and Caro was used to continue to patrol alone. This time wasn’t any different.

After Erio had left, she walked down the path leading to the Moonpoem Caverns. The caverns acted as transport tunnels for the patrols and visitors, and Caro had decided to check it out as part of their usual route.

She walked past the two rock monuments signifying the entrance and entered the dark caverns. The path was illuminated by magical torches, always lit and infinite. Still, the darkness was profound, so she hurried through it. She didn’t want to stay longer than she needed.

The caverns weren’t that long and it didn’t take long before she reached the end of them. Or so she thought. The exit had been blocked by rocks, and even though she could see the sun outside, streaming into the few holes of the blockade, she couldn’t see an opening she could get through. She sighed at the inconvenience and turned around.

That such a massive rock slide had gone unreported boggled her. Other patrols have had to come by before she did. It needed to be reported immediately.

She backtracked until she came back to a bridge that led across a shaft. The first pang of panic hit her as she discovered the bridge hanging loose all the way down to the bottom. She couldn’t see to the other side, as there weren’t any torches and only darkness, but she concluded it had broken by itself. It was due for repairs after all.

“Fried!”

Her yell echoed in the caverns, but Fried didn’t appear. Then she remembered he had gone with Erio to assist. She had even commanded him to.

The realization that she was all alone began to set in. Neither her telepathy nor radio worked inside the caverns, as it was way too deep below ground for the signal to reach.

She turned around to head back to the blocked exit. She could probably loosen a few rocks and shout for help. Or even crawl out if she was lucky. The thought encouraged her and she broke into a small run.

She turned a corner and stopped dead in her tracks. Everything was dark. The torches that had been lit wasn’t glowing now. She couldn’t see a thing in front of her.

She looked behind her only to discover the other torches had gone dark. There were only two torches left, one where she was and one further behind. Caro stood perfectly still, listening in on the cavern to check if she really was alone. She couldn’t stop the fear that was growing inside her, causing her hands to shake a little bit.

A noise she hadn’t noticed before had risen in volume. It was hard to describe. It was as if someone had recorded an ant walking, but amplified the sound so it could be heard. There was more than one such noise though. It all blended together in a flood of noise.

The torch behind her slowly dimmed and turned dark. Only one remained now and Caro was frozen in fear. Not of the darkness, but by whatever hid inside.

She flinched suddenly as she noticed something moving on the wall. The torch that still glowed was enough to illuminate that part and she took a step closer. She abruptly stopped when she recognized it as a spider. Not a small one either, but at least five centimeters. She shivered and took a step back. Something crunched under her boot.

She looked down at her feet and naked horror burst from her face. Beneath her, crawling on the ground, were spiders. Thousands of them.

She shrieked and started pounding on them in a frenzy. All sense was gone from her mind and she almost lost her balance. She bounced into the wall and saw a black wall of spiders approaching right next to her head. A few of them even managed to fall on her head.

She screamed and shook her body in a state of panic to try and get them off. One fell into her shirt which caused her to jump and loose her footing. She fell on her back onto the cold stone floor.

The spiders were upon her immediately. Spiders are very, very fast, as she soon discovered. They crept into her clothes and crawled on her face while she tried to shake them off. It wasn’t a thousands spiders now. It was millions. She could feel their millions of tiny, long, hairy legs prickle her skin as they explored her body. The ones on her face soon found her mouth and ears, much to her terror.

She coughed as a few fell into her throat and she tried to scream again, to no avail. Spider webs were being spun in all sorts of places, including her mouth.

The light from the torch began to dim and Caro managed to look at it with pleading eyes, almost as if she could will it to stay alive.

But it didn’t. Darkness arrived.

***

“Caro! Caro!”

Erio and two squad leaders entered the Moonpoem Caverns in the early morning. The sun had just appeared above the horizon and cast a seldom felt warmth on them before they entered. To their surprise, none of the torches were lit. Each of them retrieved a flashlight and turned it on.

They gasped in surprise and fear as their lights fell upon spider web. The white silk covered everything. It was as if someone had painted everything white. Despite that, they moved onwards.

They moved carefully so they didn’t get stuck anywhere. The spider webs were exceptionally strong. It wasn’t natural they decided. This was something else. Something new.

As they searched for Caro, they eventually put their lights upon a huge cocoon hanging from the corner of a wall. They were disturbed by it.

“Give me your knife,” Erio asked one of the squad leaders. He received it and approached the cocoon. He inserted it and made a tiny slit, almost without resistance. He found it weird that it’d go so easily, judging from the webs they had encountered so far.

He jolted backwards when a flood of spiders fell out from the cocoon. It was like a container of baby spiders. They scattered when they reached the floor and disappeared out of sight. The sheer volume of them had left the three stunned.

After taking a few seconds to recover, Erio approached again and made a bigger cut. When the knife didn’t help any longer he clamped his hands around the edges and pulled the cocoon apart. As he did so, the two squad leaders aimed at it with their flashlights.

The sight haunted them for years to come.

Spoiler for Note:

stop doing that

Keroko · 2010-10-24, 15:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

I didn't know Caro was an arachnophobic! Another horror short.

Spoiler for The Arachnids in the Dark:

One of the most ancient emotions that exist in humans is that of fear. While it can manifest as many things, it is still an instinct, a response to a perceived threat, usually not that far into the immediate future. Fear is a also product of learning. Learning that some things are threatening.

It is slightly weird, then, that Caro, who had been working in a natural preserve for quite some time, still suffered from arachnophobia. Spiders tend to love forests, and this was no exception. Yet, everytime a spider, usually bigger than a centimeter, had fallen onto her, she’d shrieked and shaken it off in panic. Smaller ones provoked a similar response, but weren’t as horrible. To make matters worse, Erio couldn’t help but chuckle everytime it happened, adding to her embarrassment.

Even though her determination to make her fear of spiders go away was strong, she never really managed to get rid of it. It would come a time when her reaction would be subdued. Then, the next time, she’d shriek again. She was mad at herself because of it.

Then, one day, when the two of them were out on patrol in the southern parts of the preserve, Erio got called away on an emergency call. This wasn’t anything abnormal; it happened several times a week, and Caro was used to continue to patrol alone. This time wasn’t any different.

After Erio had left, she walked down the path leading to the Moonpoem Caverns. The caverns acted as transport tunnels for the patrols and visitors, and Caro had decided to check it out as part of their usual route.

She walked past the two rock monuments signifying the entrance and entered the dark caverns. The path was illuminated by magical torches, always lit and infinite. Still, the darkness was profound, so she hurried through it. She didn’t want to stay longer than she needed.

The caverns weren’t that long and it didn’t take long before she reached the end of them. Or so she thought. The exit had been blocked by rocks, and even though she could see the sun outside, streaming into the few holes of the blockade, she couldn’t see an opening she could get through. She sighed at the inconvenience and turned around.

That such a massive rock slide had gone unreported boggled her. Other patrols have had to come by before she did. It needed to be reported immediately.

She backtracked until she came back to a bridge that led across a shaft. The first pang of panic hit her as she discovered the bridge hanging loose all the way down to the bottom. She couldn’t see to the other side, as there weren’t any torches and only darkness, but she concluded it had broken by itself. It was due for repairs after all.

“Fried!”

Her yell echoed in the caverns, but Fried didn’t appear. Then she remembered he had gone with Erio to assist. She had even commanded him to.

The realization that she was all alone began to set in. Neither her telepathy nor radio worked inside the caverns, as it was way too deep below ground for the signal to reach.

She turned around to head back to the blocked exit. She could probably loosen a few rocks and shout for help. Or even crawl out if she was lucky. The thought encouraged her and she broke into a small run.

She turned a corner and stopped dead in her tracks. Everything was dark. The torches that had been lit wasn’t glowing now. She couldn’t see a thing in front of her.

She looked behind her only to discover the other torches had gone dark. There were only two torches left, one where she was and one further behind. Caro stood perfectly still, listening in on the cavern to check if she really was alone. She couldn’t stop the fear that was growing inside her, causing her hands to shake a little bit.

A noise she hadn’t noticed before had risen in volume. It was hard to describe. It was as if someone had recorded an ant walking, but amplified the sound so it could be heard. There was more than one such noise though. It all blended together in a flood of noise.

The torch behind her slowly dimmed and turned dark. Only one remained now and Caro was frozen in fear. Not of the darkness, but by whatever hid inside.

She flinched suddenly as she noticed something moving on the wall. The torch that still glowed was enough to illuminate that part and she took a step closer. She abruptly stopped when she recognized it as a spider. Not a small one either, but at least five centimeters. She shivered and took a step back. Something crunched under her boot.

She looked down at her feet and naked horror burst from her face. Beneath her, crawling on the ground, were spiders. Thousands of them.

She shrieked and started pounding on them in a frenzy. All sense was gone from her mind and she almost lost her balance. She bounced into the wall and saw a black wall of spiders approaching right next to her head. A few of them even managed to fall on her head.

She screamed and shook her body in a state of panic to try and get them off. One fell into her shirt which caused her to jump and loose her footing. She fell on her back onto the cold stone floor.

The spiders were upon her immediately. Spiders are very, very fast, as she soon discovered. They crept into her clothes and crawled on her face while she tried to shake them off. It wasn’t a thousands spiders now. It was millions. She could feel their millions of tiny, long, hairy legs prickle her skin as they explored her body. The ones on her face soon found her mouth and ears, much to her terror.

She coughed as a few fell into her throat and she tried to scream again, to no avail. Spider webs were being spun in all sorts of places, including her mouth.

The light from the torch began to dim and Caro managed to look at it with pleading eyes, almost as if she could will it to stay alive.

But it didn’t. Darkness arrived.

***

“Caro! Caro!”

Erio and two squad leaders entered the Moonpoem Caverns in the early morning. The sun had just appeared above the horizon and cast a seldom felt warmth on them before they entered. To their surprise, none of the torches were lit. Each of them retrieved a flashlight and turned it on.

They gasped in surprise and fear as their lights fell upon spider web. The white silk covered everything. It was as if someone had painted everything white. Despite that, they moved onwards.

They moved carefully so they didn’t get stuck anywhere. The spider webs were exceptionally strong. It wasn’t natural they decided. This was something else. Something new.

As they searched for Caro, they eventually put their lights upon a huge cocoon hanging from the corner of a wall. They were disturbed by it.

“Give me your knife,” Erio asked one of the squad leaders. He received it and approached the cocoon. He inserted it and made a tiny slit, almost without resistance. He found it weird that it’d go so easily, judging from the webs they had encountered so far.

He jolted backwards when a flood of spiders fell out from the cocoon. It was like a container of baby spiders. They scattered when they reached the floor and disappeared out of sight. The sheer volume of them had left the three stunned.

After taking a few seconds to recover, Erio approached again and made a bigger cut. When the knife didn’t help any longer he clamped his hands around the edges and pulled the cocoon apart. As he did so, the two squad leaders aimed at it with their flashlights.

The sight haunted them for years to come.

Spoiler for Note:

Light case of arachnophobia here, whee that was creepy. Fun though.

Jokulhaup · 2010-10-24, 16:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin_Brett

stop doing that

No, no, keep it up!

It's not like I need to sleep or anything.

SNobleJr · 2010-10-24, 17:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

I didn't know Caro was an arachnophobic! Another horror short.

Spoiler for The Arachnids in the Dark:

Spoiler for Note:

You know, I actually like spiders, but this was still a rather disturbing read.

RadiantBeam · 2010-10-24, 18:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jokulhaup

No, no, keep it up!

It's not like I need to sleep or anything.

You're just encouraging him! Stop it!

...

And yet, whenever he posts something like that, I can't help but read even though I'm not a fan of horror....

shiroi mahotsukai · 2010-10-25, 07:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

I didn't know Caro was an arachnophobic! Another horror short.

Spoiler for The Arachnids in the Dark:

One of the most ancient emotions that exist in humans is that of fear. While it can manifest as many things, it is still an instinct, a response to a perceived threat, usually not that far into the immediate future. Fear is a also product of learning. Learning that some things are threatening.

It is slightly weird, then, that Caro, who had been working in a natural preserve for quite some time, still suffered from arachnophobia. Spiders tend to love forests, and this was no exception. Yet, everytime a spider, usually bigger than a centimeter, had fallen onto her, she’d shrieked and shaken it off in panic. Smaller ones provoked a similar response, but weren’t as horrible. To make matters worse, Erio couldn’t help but chuckle everytime it happened, adding to her embarrassment.

Even though her determination to make her fear of spiders go away was strong, she never really managed to get rid of it. It would come a time when her reaction would be subdued. Then, the next time, she’d shriek again. She was mad at herself because of it.

Then, one day, when the two of them were out on patrol in the southern parts of the preserve, Erio got called away on an emergency call. This wasn’t anything abnormal; it happened several times a week, and Caro was used to continue to patrol alone. This time wasn’t any different.

After Erio had left, she walked down the path leading to the Moonpoem Caverns. The caverns acted as transport tunnels for the patrols and visitors, and Caro had decided to check it out as part of their usual route.

She walked past the two rock monuments signifying the entrance and entered the dark caverns. The path was illuminated by magical torches, always lit and infinite. Still, the darkness was profound, so she hurried through it. She didn’t want to stay longer than she needed.

The caverns weren’t that long and it didn’t take long before she reached the end of them. Or so she thought. The exit had been blocked by rocks, and even though she could see the sun outside, streaming into the few holes of the blockade, she couldn’t see an opening she could get through. She sighed at the inconvenience and turned around.

That such a massive rock slide had gone unreported boggled her. Other patrols have had to come by before she did. It needed to be reported immediately.

She backtracked until she came back to a bridge that led across a shaft. The first pang of panic hit her as she discovered the bridge hanging loose all the way down to the bottom. She couldn’t see to the other side, as there weren’t any torches and only darkness, but she concluded it had broken by itself. It was due for repairs after all.

“Fried!”

Her yell echoed in the caverns, but Fried didn’t appear. Then she remembered he had gone with Erio to assist. She had even commanded him to.

The realization that she was all alone began to set in. Neither her telepathy nor radio worked inside the caverns, as it was way too deep below ground for the signal to reach.

She turned around to head back to the blocked exit. She could probably loosen a few rocks and shout for help. Or even crawl out if she was lucky. The thought encouraged her and she broke into a small run.

She turned a corner and stopped dead in her tracks. Everything was dark. The torches that had been lit wasn’t glowing now. She couldn’t see a thing in front of her.

She looked behind her only to discover the other torches had gone dark. There were only two torches left, one where she was and one further behind. Caro stood perfectly still, listening in on the cavern to check if she really was alone. She couldn’t stop the fear that was growing inside her, causing her hands to shake a little bit.

A noise she hadn’t noticed before had risen in volume. It was hard to describe. It was as if someone had recorded an ant walking, but amplified the sound so it could be heard. There was more than one such noise though. It all blended together in a flood of noise.

The torch behind her slowly dimmed and turned dark. Only one remained now and Caro was frozen in fear. Not of the darkness, but by whatever hid inside.

She flinched suddenly as she noticed something moving on the wall. The torch that still glowed was enough to illuminate that part and she took a step closer. She abruptly stopped when she recognized it as a spider. Not a small one either, but at least five centimeters. She shivered and took a step back. Something crunched under her boot.

She looked down at her feet and naked horror burst from her face. Beneath her, crawling on the ground, were spiders. Thousands of them.

She shrieked and started pounding on them in a frenzy. All sense was gone from her mind and she almost lost her balance. She bounced into the wall and saw a black wall of spiders approaching right next to her head. A few of them even managed to fall on her head.

She screamed and shook her body in a state of panic to try and get them off. One fell into her shirt which caused her to jump and loose her footing. She fell on her back onto the cold stone floor.

The spiders were upon her immediately. Spiders are very, very fast, as she soon discovered. They crept into her clothes and crawled on her face while she tried to shake them off. It wasn’t a thousands spiders now. It was millions. She could feel their millions of tiny, long, hairy legs prickle her skin as they explored her body. The ones on her face soon found her mouth and ears, much to her terror.

She coughed as a few fell into her throat and she tried to scream again, to no avail. Spider webs were being spun in all sorts of places, including her mouth.

The light from the torch began to dim and Caro managed to look at it with pleading eyes, almost as if she could will it to stay alive.

But it didn’t. Darkness arrived.

***

“Caro! Caro!”

Erio and two squad leaders entered the Moonpoem Caverns in the early morning. The sun had just appeared above the horizon and cast a seldom felt warmth on them before they entered. To their surprise, none of the torches were lit. Each of them retrieved a flashlight and turned it on.

They gasped in surprise and fear as their lights fell upon spider web. The white silk covered everything. It was as if someone had painted everything white. Despite that, they moved onwards.

They moved carefully so they didn’t get stuck anywhere. The spider webs were exceptionally strong. It wasn’t natural they decided. This was something else. Something new.

As they searched for Caro, they eventually put their lights upon a huge cocoon hanging from the corner of a wall. They were disturbed by it.

“Give me your knife,” Erio asked one of the squad leaders. He received it and approached the cocoon. He inserted it and made a tiny slit, almost without resistance. He found it weird that it’d go so easily, judging from the webs they had encountered so far.

He jolted backwards when a flood of spiders fell out from the cocoon. It was like a container of baby spiders. They scattered when they reached the floor and disappeared out of sight. The sheer volume of them had left the three stunned.

After taking a few seconds to recover, Erio approached again and made a bigger cut. When the knife didn’t help any longer he clamped his hands around the edges and pulled the cocoon apart. As he did so, the two squad leaders aimed at it with their flashlights.

The sight haunted them for years to come.

Spoiler for Note:

I'm very glad I'm fond of spiders myself(they're such wonderful conpany don't you think?) but that has now entered my list of "Ways I wouldn't want to die".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for It's that MD time again:

I'm getting a strong sense of forboeding for the future. I think something bad is going to happen fairly soon.

2010-10-22, 13:28	Link #27521
shiroi mahotsukai Under Death by College Author Join Date: May 2010 Location: Where you least expect me Age: 30	I thought that i was quite funny. It's much better if you listen o the song while reading it, you get the feel better. Especially since i hadn't heard it before. __________________ "The eyes are the windows that let us gaze upon the soul" "When desperate there are two choices: Lock shields for the last stand or draw your sword for the final charge" "There are no winners or losers, there are only the living and the dead."

2010-10-22, 13:30	Link #27522
Nanya01 Left for TFF Author Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Frozen Hell of the North Age: 41	Well, here's part 4. WARNING! Do NOT read if you are watching Slayers Next as this contains MAJOR spoilers to the ending of that season. If you do read this without seeing all of Slayers Next, then you will be spoiled for the ending. So, do not read if you do not like spoilers. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Spoiler for Nanoha Slayers Cross: "Now! Lina Inverse!" The blue-haired child-looking Mazoku grinned at her. "Cast the Giga Slave! Or perhaps..." He looked at the pillars that contained her friends. "You'd rather I destroy them?" "I get it." Lina muttered, though she wanted to scream at him to shut up. "Oh, and don't even THINK about using that Ragna Blade of yours on me like you did on Gaav." Hellmaster Phibrizzo waggled a finger at her. "I'll just jump away again. That thing hurts you know." "Fine!" She screamed, she stopped caring about it. "I don't care anymore, Phibrizzo." "Darkness beyond blackest pitch..." "Deeper than the Deepest Night..." "King of Darkness, Shining Like Gold as the Sea of Chaos!" "I call to thee and swear myself to thee!" "Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed!" "By the Power You and I Possess." Hellmaster started laughing. "Yes! This is what I want! Yes!" "GIGA!" Lina's eyes widened as she coughed up blood. 'What?' The spell had completed, what, what happened? "Before you finally meet your end, Miss Inverse, you should know that what you ate this morning... That food... Was actually a part of me." He started laughing more as the Giga Slave went out of control. "Yes! Consume the world! Destroy everything!" "Is that what you want?" Hellmaster stopped laughing as he looked at Lina Inverse. "What the?! Who are you?!" That wasn't Lina Inverse. The prescience was too strong, the power too great, not to mention the golden hair and eyes, as well as the black and gold lightning that crackled around her. A moment later he was lifted up by an unseen force, before being flung at the wall behind him. After landing, he scrambled and tried to phase through the wall behind him, but failed as an unseen force, far more powerful than even him, pulled him back in front of her. "I am the one who is Darker Than Blackest Pitch." She walked forward, causing him to run back until he fell over and crashed against the wall behind him. "I am Deeper Than The Deepest Night. I am The Sea Of Chaos, The source of all Chaos. That is how you describe me. I am..." A black ball appeared in her hand. "The Lord of Nightmares." "It... It can't be!" Phibrizzo, in all of his thousands of years, had never felt fear such as what he was feeling from himself at that moment. "The Giga Slave! That spell! I thought it only drew power from you! How can you be here?!" It made no sense, all spells worked that way! They drew upon power from something so that it could be used. The Giga Slave didn't? It wasn't a spell? But HER?! "My Mind is my Power. My Power is my Mind. When uncorrupted by other elements, my Mind becomes my Purest Power." Standing up, Phibrizzo started laughing maniacally before jumping back and talking about plans and how everything had been detailed out before slamming his fists down on the ground and destroying the area around him. "Everything's destroyed... Everything." Curling up into a ball, he started mumbling something, she honestly could care less. "No, wait... Destruction. That's what all Mazoku wish for!" He looked up and grinned, slightly disturbed, his body starting to fall apart due to the sheer power she was putting out. "That's what... You created us for, isn't it, mother?!" She watched as he revealed his true form to her. It looked something like a giant tea kettle, but to anyone who saw it, it was the most terrifying thing ever. Except to her, the one who existed before reality. To her, he was nothing more than a petulant child throwing a temper tantrum. When he attacked her, she decided to end it. "In this Place," the look of terror on his face as the attack failed was amusing. She wondered how many people had that same look when facing him in the past, *"My Mind is the only* Power." "GWWAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" Hellmaster Phibrizzo let out a soul-wrenching scream as she destroyed his Astral Body, letting his physical body to flop around on the ground. Dispassionately, she held a hand out, breaking his body and turning it into nothingness. Looking around, she watched as everything he created started crumbling and falling apart, before turning. "Wait! Lina!" She heard someone, he sounded familiar to the person she was possessing. Turning, she saw a man with long blond hair look at her. "Where are you..." "I am not the one you know as Lina Inverse." "No, she's not." A new voice spoke up and she turned to see another Mazoku, though this one stopped and bowed respectively to her. "She is the Lord of Nightmares, the mother of all things and the creator of the Shinzoku and Mazoku." "Xellos!" The blond man yelled at him. "What happened to Lina then?" "She cared not for what happened to her, as long as you," she pointed at Gourry, "Lived. She summoned me and lost her life to Hellmaster Phibrizzo." As she turned around, she briefly heard someone running up to her. "You can't just leave! You can't just take Lina away from us!" That blond man again. "Bringing back someone from the dead, had she not been trying to summon me, would have been impossible." "Then take my life instead!" He yelled at her, spreading his arms wide. "Mr. Gourry!" A short woman behind him gasped as she looked at him. She said nothing more as she closed her eyes a black ball consuming her. "She gave everything, now I shall take her with me." "No!" Gourry ran after her, jumping into the ball as it consumed them. "I see, your devotion to her is this strong." (---) Lina gasped as she woke up, her left eye throbbed in pain. "Nnngh... Been awhile since I had that dream." If she could ever figure out a way to get back home, the first thing she was going to do was find Xellos and shove a Dragon Slave up his rear-end. Sitting up, she looked down and sighed as she saw that Fate wasn't there anymore. Arf was still there, but Fate wasn't. Getting up and putting a robe around her body, she walked out of the room and blinked as she saw Fate, in her black outfit, sitting by the open door and looking at the moon. "You're up early." Fate turned to her and nodded. "I could say the same about you." Lina nodded at her. "Want some tea or coffee? I'm not going to be getting back to sleep anytime soon." "...Why?" Fate asked softly, catching Lina's attention. "Why are you so nice to me? Why aren't you mad at me for fighting your daughter? Why does she care?" It made no sense to Fate, that girl, Nanoha, she had everything that Fate wanted. Was she going to rub it in her face when all was said and done? "Just because you're fighting her doesn't mean that you're a bad person, Fate. One of my best friends when I was younger was an enemy of mine at first, all because he wanted something I had, but I refused to give it to him." She smiled softly, that had been a rather... Interesting time in her life. "You don't have the feel of anger and hate to you, just... Emptiness and sadness." Fate turned away from her as she put some coffee on. Her eyes closed and her body trembled as she thought about her own mother. Would she have cared if something happened? Fate wasn't sure. She practically jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning, she saw the gentle smile on Lina's face, that gentle smile, those eyes, they might have been mis-matched in color but... Lina blinked as Fate turned and hugged her, pressing her face against her body and shuddering as she started sobbing. Going quiet, she just rubbed the girl's back and let her cry. She didn't know what was going on in the girl's life, but sometimes, all that was needed was someone to cry against. Spoiler** for Some notes: I did mix and match a bit from the novels in there. __________________ My fics Due to certain things, I am not here, find me over on TFF.

2010-10-23, 15:11	Link #27524
NorthernFallout The Interstellar Medium Author Join Date: May 2008 Location: [SWE] Age: 34	I didn't know Caro was an arachnophobic! Another horror short. Spoiler for The Arachnids in the Dark: One of the most ancient emotions that exist in humans is that of fear. While it can manifest as many things, it is still an instinct, a response to a perceived threat, usually not that far into the immediate future. Fear is a also product of learning. Learning that some things are threatening. It is slightly weird, then, that Caro, who had been working in a natural preserve for quite some time, still suffered from arachnophobia. Spiders tend to love forests, and this was no exception. Yet, everytime a spider, usually bigger than a centimeter, had fallen onto her, she’d shrieked and shaken it off in panic. Smaller ones provoked a similar response, but weren’t as horrible. To make matters worse, Erio couldn’t help but chuckle everytime it happened, adding to her embarrassment. Even though her determination to make her fear of spiders go away was strong, she never really managed to get rid of it. It would come a time when her reaction would be subdued. Then, the next time, she’d shriek again. She was mad at herself because of it. Then, one day, when the two of them were out on patrol in the southern parts of the preserve, Erio got called away on an emergency call. This wasn’t anything abnormal; it happened several times a week, and Caro was used to continue to patrol alone. This time wasn’t any different. After Erio had left, she walked down the path leading to the Moonpoem Caverns. The caverns acted as transport tunnels for the patrols and visitors, and Caro had decided to check it out as part of their usual route. She walked past the two rock monuments signifying the entrance and entered the dark caverns. The path was illuminated by magical torches, always lit and infinite. Still, the darkness was profound, so she hurried through it. She didn’t want to stay longer than she needed. The caverns weren’t that long and it didn’t take long before she reached the end of them. Or so she thought. The exit had been blocked by rocks, and even though she could see the sun outside, streaming into the few holes of the blockade, she couldn’t see an opening she could get through. She sighed at the inconvenience and turned around. That such a massive rock slide had gone unreported boggled her. Other patrols have had to come by before she did. It needed to be reported immediately. She backtracked until she came back to a bridge that led across a shaft. The first pang of panic hit her as she discovered the bridge hanging loose all the way down to the bottom. She couldn’t see to the other side, as there weren’t any torches and only darkness, but she concluded it had broken by itself. It was due for repairs after all. “Fried!” Her yell echoed in the caverns, but Fried didn’t appear. Then she remembered he had gone with Erio to assist. She had even commanded him to. The realization that she was all alone began to set in. Neither her telepathy nor radio worked inside the caverns, as it was way too deep below ground for the signal to reach. She turned around to head back to the blocked exit. She could probably loosen a few rocks and shout for help. Or even crawl out if she was lucky. The thought encouraged her and she broke into a small run. She turned a corner and stopped dead in her tracks. Everything was dark. The torches that had been lit wasn’t glowing now. She couldn’t see a thing in front of her. She looked behind her only to discover the other torches had gone dark. There were only two torches left, one where she was and one further behind. Caro stood perfectly still, listening in on the cavern to check if she really was alone. She couldn’t stop the fear that was growing inside her, causing her hands to shake a little bit. A noise she hadn’t noticed before had risen in volume. It was hard to describe. It was as if someone had recorded an ant walking, but amplified the sound so it could be heard. There was more than one such noise though. It all blended together in a flood of noise. The torch behind her slowly dimmed and turned dark. Only one remained now and Caro was frozen in fear. Not of the darkness, but by whatever hid inside. She flinched suddenly as she noticed something moving on the wall. The torch that still glowed was enough to illuminate that part and she took a step closer. She abruptly stopped when she recognized it as a spider. Not a small one either, but at least five centimeters. She shivered and took a step back. Something crunched under her boot. She looked down at her feet and naked horror burst from her face. Beneath her, crawling on the ground, were spiders. Thousands of them. She shrieked and started pounding on them in a frenzy. All sense was gone from her mind and she almost lost her balance. She bounced into the wall and saw a black wall of spiders approaching right next to her head. A few of them even managed to fall on her head. She screamed and shook her body in a state of panic to try and get them off. One fell into her shirt which caused her to jump and loose her footing. She fell on her back onto the cold stone floor. The spiders were upon her immediately. Spiders are very, very fast, as she soon discovered. They crept into her clothes and crawled on her face while she tried to shake them off. It wasn’t a thousands spiders now. It was millions. She could feel their millions of tiny, long, hairy legs prickle her skin as they explored her body. The ones on her face soon found her mouth and ears, much to her terror. She coughed as a few fell into her throat and she tried to scream again, to no avail. Spider webs were being spun in all sorts of places, including her mouth. The light from the torch began to dim and Caro managed to look at it with pleading eyes, almost as if she could will it to stay alive. But it didn’t. Darkness arrived. * “Caro! Caro!” Erio and two squad leaders entered the Moonpoem Caverns in the early morning. The sun had just appeared above the horizon and cast a seldom felt warmth on them before they entered. To their surprise, none of the torches were lit. Each of them retrieved a flashlight and turned it on. They gasped in surprise and fear as their lights fell upon spider web. The white silk covered everything. It was as if someone had painted everything white. Despite that, they moved onwards. They moved carefully so they didn’t get stuck anywhere. The spider webs were exceptionally strong. It wasn’t natural they decided. This was something else. Something new. As they searched for Caro, they eventually put their lights upon a huge cocoon hanging from the corner of a wall. They were disturbed by it. “Give me your knife,” Erio asked one of the squad leaders. He received it and approached the cocoon. He inserted it and made a tiny slit, almost without resistance. He found it weird that it’d go so easily, judging from the webs they had encountered so far. He jolted backwards when a flood of spiders fell out from the cocoon. It was like a container of baby spiders. They scattered when they reached the floor and disappeared out of sight. The sheer volume of them had left the three stunned. After taking a few seconds to recover, Erio approached again and made a bigger cut. When the knife didn’t help any longer he clamped his hands around the edges and pulled the cocoon apart. As he did so, the two squad leaders aimed at it with their flashlights. The sight haunted them for years to come. Spoiler** for Note: I have arachnophobia myself. This was a *** to write while trying not to shudder and making some basic research. Make sure to check your beds tonight~** __________________

2010-10-24, 00:32	Link #27527
Yasanagi A Drifter... Author Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Brampton	Spoiler for It's that MD time again: Sette had no time to brace herself as Material-L’s device smashed through the wall, creating the opening needed to get through. As expected, the vacuum of space was quite strong and nearly forced her off balance but Rai’s hand managed to snag the Combat Cyborg to keep her close. “Hang on, Sette-chan!” She didn’t have a choice as she felt herself floating in zero gravity with the Fate replica dragging her along. Many questions flew into her mind such as how she was able to breathe and how the spell manages to keep an adequate supply of oxygen flowing while disposing of the carbon dioxide. Not to mention simulating the effects of a spacesuit and protecting the flesh from the effects of space vacuum. A quick glance back at the breach on the prison’s outer wall showed that purple sealants were already doing their job to seal up the opening. “Ahhhh… what a big improvement this is after staring at those boring walls for so long!” exclaimed the blue-haired mage. ‘Wait a minute… she is talking normally? How is this possible? What type of zero gravity aura spell did she use to do all this?’ Sette paused for a moment before trying to say something herself. “So where is your ship?” “Hmmm… it should be just up ahead.” After double checking their position and spotting the odd colour of the ship, Rai started to move when suddenly, the endless darkness of space became replaced by a multi-coloured light of sorts. “Eh…? What’s this?” “The prison’s Lightwave Barrier. It’s said to be impenetrable with the shield output strong enough to block against a fired shot from an Arc-en-ciel.” It was odd that it had not been put up earlier as a precaution but then again, it probably hadn’t been easy obtaining the authorization key from the prison’s chief of security. “Hm… I bet I can cut an opening through this barrier. Whaddya think, Vulnificus? Wanna go all Red Tessaiga on it?” “Uh…… no,” came the flat response of the device in Rai’s hand. “Transforming into a higher form would deplete the remaining cartridges. Give your companions a call and get them to help out.” “Okie dokie!” ******** ‘What’s with her? If this happened to anyone else, she probably wouldn’t have cared. Maybe I was right earlier about that peon enchanting her.’ As puzzled as she was, Material-D easily masked her features in order not to lose any more dignity to this ridiculousness. It was absurd on how ungrateful Material-S was acting but it looked like she would have to go along with this. After all, it would be very annoying to replace such a powerful and reliable servant as the Starlight Destroyer. “Alright… I’ll go and reverse the spell and explain what happened. Step aside.” “Not now. Yuuno-san’s in the middle of devising a new flight plan. You can approach him at a later time.” The moment that Seikou released the magic that she had been gathered earlier, the Hayate replica felt a mixture of both relief and annoyance. “Honestly, you’re fussing way too much over this issue.” “Am I?” replied the Nanoha replica with a dangerous glare. “Even if you are ‘royalty’, there are certain lines that not even you can cross.” Before Material-D could reply, she heard the voice of Material-L in her head. “Yami-chan! Yami-chan!” “Call me ‘Your Majesty’! What is it?” “Some barrier just went up! I might need a bit of help getting back to the ship since I’m carrying stuff!” “Understood. We’ll create an opening for you as soon as possible.” As soon as she broke off the telepathic connection, she turned to Material-S. “What is it?” “Earlier, I sent out Material-L to pick up supplies from that hidden world. It looks like she needs help returning back safely so I need you out there.” Seikou carefully examined the other woman’s face to see if she was being truthful or if she merely made up an excuse to get out of the earlier conversation. It didn’t take too long for her to recognize that Yami was being truthful in this case as she couldn’t even feel Rai’s energy signature on the ship. “Roger that.” Just as she prepared to step out, Material-D called out after her. “A quick question, Material-S.” “Hm?” “Since you wish to be more honest with my scholar, does this mean you will tell him the truth about what you did back on that planet? To the Seekers of Absolute Truth?” It was a simple question but at the same time, Seikou felt uneasy at the thought of how he may react when he learned that she had lied earlier. And looking at Yami’s smug little smile wasn’t helping either. “I……” In an instant, the smug smile was replaced with a more reassuring one. “Ah, don’t fret about it now. We can discuss this later. Just go help Material-L.” “R-right…” As Material-S made her way out to the docking area which was used to connect with spaceports, she happened to pass by the room where Yuuno was hunting for a solution to the flight problem. “Assuming that her power level is the same as Hayate’s, Yami’s magical point values should be…… argh, where did I put that information?” The Librarian quickly pulled up some more files on his laptop with his focus squarely on the work at hand. ‘Yuuno-san, if you knew what I did, would your warm hand still reach out for mine?’ The Starlight Destroyer realized that she was lingering and continued making her trek to her destination. It only took a moment for her to make it to the docking port and ensure that the doors were sealed properly so that the vacuum effect wouldn’t reach the rest of the ship. Once that was completed, her hand grasped the blue gem hanging around her neck. “I am the one who gives you this charge: release your power to your contracted master. As the searing wind reduces all creation to ashes and the morning stars scatter among the cosmos, so let power fill my being and strike fear in my enemy’s heart! Luciferion, start up!” “Start up sequence initiated.” The difference was immediately noticeable as the device no longer sounded mechanical. In fact, it seemed to be back to its original organic feminine voice which Rai identified as sounding a lot like Shirley Millner if Seikou recalled correctly back when they started travelling. The most likely reason why it had become mechanical was due to her slow gradual decrease in power over the years. Her barrier jacket instantly replaced her red dress with the device taking its default shape and for some reason; she felt an odd chill run down her spine. Better do a quick check up. “Run quick self-diagnostic.” “Mana flow is stable. All offensive and defensive functions are operating within normal parameters.”** ‘…… then what is that chill?’ After a moment, she decided not to think about it too much and focus on the mission at hand. Then she could get back to the warmth provided by Yuuno-san that she had grown fond of quickly. “Material-D, I’m ready.” “Decompressing the docking area. Opening external doors.” A beat. “And call me ‘Your Majesty’!” Seikou quickly summoned a purple aura to surround her body and protect her from the effects of space while the external door opened behind her. “Let’s get this over with, Luciferion. Set our course.” “Course set. Proceed heading 1138. Stay frosty, my Mistress.” With the zero gravity spell in place, Material-S let herself fall backwards into the vastness of space. “Starlight Destroyer… launching!” __________________ Thanks to 00-Raiser for hooking me up with the sig!

2010-10-24, 00:48	Link #27528
deathcurse Queen of Tragedy Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Place of rocks and trees, and trees and rocks...and water. Age: 33	Chapter 5: Fate's Interlude is up on Fanfiction.net ^^. There is a lengthy general Author's Note included in the FF.net version that answers some of the commonly asked questions, since I've been asked the same questions many times over! __________________ Fanfic Archive--Latest "Angel" chapter--Latest "Daily Activity Logs" chapter--Latest "Crime Never Sleeps"--The Hayate x Vivio Files

2010-10-24, 03:51	Link #27531
JokerD Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2003	Something that I threw together Spoiler: Flashing red light greeted him as he awoke on the ship. "WARNING, HULL BREACH IN SECTOR 3, WARNING..." Where was he? In a ship of some sort? The young man, boy actually, though was he struggled to collect his thoughts in the confusion. A ship, yes, the Discovery, returning from a dig site. We've uncovered some ancient artifacts there and was in the process of returning these "Jewel Seeds" for further studies and possible sealing when... this... "WARNING, HULL BREACH IN SECTOR 4, WARNING..." What was happening? Space travel is now common place enough that ship accidents are very rare and serious one when more so. "This is the captain speaking, unknown magical signature in cargo bay, security personal to cargo bay, damage control personal to sectors 3 and 4, all passengers please return to your cabins and await further instructions, this is not a drill." The captain's voice, calm and collected as ever, cut through the confusion of the flashing lights and reports. "All right, everyone wake up, Sunny, go lock the cabin doors, everyone else, grab your emergency kits and devices, I'll call the captain for an update. That was Max, our team leader, one of the house heads in the Scrya tribe, of which everyone in this expedition was a part of. "Captain, this is Max, what's going on?" "Someone, or something just breached our hull, went for the cargo hold and activated the stuff that you guys picked up. Those things are starting to rampage through the ship now. I'll send you the images, but you guys, sit tight and barricade your doors. Hopefully we can take care of this ourselves, else our distress signal should have gone through and help arriving shortly" A video of a black figure with a golden staff appeared on screen, slashing away at the the cargo boxes. When the jewel seeds started glowing as the figure touched them and suddenly, what can only be described as monsters appeared. The black figure then seem to go crazy, slashing away at the walls as if intending the breach them as well. Our watching was interrupted by violent banging on our cabin door. Max had an unreadable look on his face as he pulled me towards the escape hatch, and before I can protest, threw me inside and shut the door. All the while shouting to the rest of the guys to be ready to battle. The last thing I saw before the capsule launched was a multi armed monster sliding into the cabin and swatting the party around. It was only out in space that I saw the extent of the damage to the Discovery. 2 angry scars adored the side of the craft and a burning crater marked the cargo hold. Fires burned and over much of the ship. There didn't seem much hope of survival. And suddenly, it all came to an end. As if in slow motion, the ship rolled and broke into 2, a bright flash lit up the view port, and after that... darkness as I lost conscious. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I snap awake and discovered I was again in a ship. Not the Discovery, but the Infinity Library's private shuttle. The "Jewel Seed incident", as it was call, took place years ago. But I still get this dream of the Discovery this time of year, as I head to the planet where the Jewel Seeds were discovered. The Scrya clan that the members of the expedition, and me, are from, are a nomadic clan, dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge past and present, staying only where they are needed and moving on as needed. This also means that graves of the Scrya clan members are scattered all over the Universe. We are buried where we died in pursuit of knowledge. And this grave, belonged to Max, Sunny and the rest of the Jewel Seed Expedition members. It was actually nothing more than a small stone memorial, and we didn't really have a tradition of visiting grave, since we would have to send all our time traveling to the corners of the universe. This is just a personal habit of mine. Max played a big part in my life. It was a shared responsibility of the Scrya clan to bring me up but Max played the biggest part. Teaching me about everything and making sure I was not isolated from the other members of the clan. He even taught me the basics of my defensive magic. Which brings me to the another person in the story of the Discovery. Fate T. Harlaown She was most likely the dark figure that I saw in the video feed that day, wasn't it. A black barrier jacket and a yellow staff, the one who caused the destruction of the Discovery. And the deaths of everyone I had held dear. I had snapped at her earlier in the week when she spoke to me. I always get testy around her this time of year, kind of like the "Time of the Month" for females I guess. But I really need to apologize to her for that. My relationship with Fate... is complex. On one hand, she can be said to be my old friend, whom I had shared many adventures with. On the other, she had a hand in the deaths of many members of my clan. She's a good person. led astray by her creator, I refuse to call that... monster her mother, and brought back to the light. Although I admit to intervening on her behalf against the wishes of the clan during her trial for the Jewel Seed incident, I don't regret it. She has in turn saved the lives of many orphans who would have fell through the cracks of society. But the pain of seeing people close to me die is like a nagging injury that refuses to heal and seem to flare up at the most troublesome of times. Most of the time I'm able to talk to Fate normally but sometimes, memories of Max and the others just flash pass my eyes and I had to cut my conversation short with her. Even the relation idiot Nanoha (and I mean that in the most lovingly kind of way) is starting to get worried about this. Closure, that's what I need, but what can I do to get it? Beep That's strange, an incoming message, not many people would know the channel to call for this shuttle, and those in the library would not contact me unless it was extremely important. They can handle most of the day to day stuff themselves and even most of the more difficult situations. Ah well, might as well see what the message is about. The face of Maus, the archivist of the main library, appeared on the screen. "Hey boss, guess what, a rare alignment of Terra and Mars in the Sol system, you know the one where the aces come from, and the TSAB bureaucracy brought about a probe to Mar. And they found the crash site of a ship called Discovery. Computer...." I blanked out for the rest of the message, the Discovery, Max, found after all these years. Guess the phrase "Be careful what you wish for, cause you just might get it" came true after all. I wonder what route this will take haha.

2010-10-24, 09:43	Link #27533
Nanya01 Left for TFF Author Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Frozen Hell of the North Age: 41	@JokerD: Well, this is going to be interesting. __________________ My fics Due to certain things, I am not here, find me over on TFF.