Explorer of Edregon

It seemed Kark had intercepted them a short ways from the actual village, because it was only a few more minutes of trailing along behind the happily humming merider before they stumbled upon the village proper.

Though it would have been more appropriate to say they stumbled under the village proper.

Vin and his companions looked up with slack jaws, staring at the white globes of thread secured on a massive web overhead. There were dozens of meriders crawling along the web in and out of the many globes, happily waving to one another or stopping for a brief chat. While there were only around sixty or so meriders that he could see, there were at least four times that number of large spiders climbing every which way overhead, spinning threads and improving the web little by little.

While Vin took in the crazy hanging village about four stories off the forest floor, he did a double take as he finally focused on the other meriders specifically. While Kark's body was mostly human from the torso up, if you didn't count the freaky spider eyes and fangs, that wasn't the case for many of the others. Just from a quick glance Vin was able to make out meriders that seemed to be half elf, half orc, and even half beastkin. Hell, there were even one or two that he didn't even recognize what their other halves were supposed to be. One looked to be covered in thick, gleaming scales with a face that reminded him of a lizard, and the other was some sort of burly, four armed monkey. The only commonality between all of them was their spider-like lower bodies, their six black, beady eyes, and their fangs.

"Welcome to Pendet!" Kark announced, turning around and gesturing up at the many meriders crawling around. "As you can see we're a rather small village, but that just means we all know each other that much better! In fact, we like to think of ourselves as a large family rather than a small village."

"Why do you all look so different?" Alka asked, asking the unspoken question aloud. Vin knew he could always count on Alka to not care about being rude.

"I take it you truly know nothing about our species then?" Kark asked, turning back to smile at them. "No worries, I expected as much! We haven't had many visitors since arriving on Edregon, but the few others that joined hadn't heard of us either. Care to join me in my nest?"

"How about you tell us down here instead?" Scule offered, narrowing his eyes at the bustling web above them. "...You know, where it's safe?"

"Ah, you are worried for your safety!" Kark surmised, turning his smile on Scule specifically. "Don't worry, no harm will come to you from us. In fact, we meriders are pacifists!"

"So those fangs are just for show, huh?" Scule asked, pointing to the fangs jutting out of the side of Kark's mouth. "Because those sure look like they could do some damage!"

"I will admit, we do require blood to survive," Kark nodded, his smile not diminishing in the slightest. "Though we have furgils we breed specifically for that reason. You're welcome to come and meet mine if you'd like! His name is Scoots, and he is my closest companion!"

"If you could give us just one second Kark," Vin asked, holding up a finger before gathering his companions in a huddle. "Shia, if you would?"

"Still Wind," she muttered, creating a zone around them that would prevent any eavesdropping.

"These guys are some real freaks," Alka said bluntly, earning a glare from Shia. "What? Come on, I can't be the only one thinking it. Nobody is that happy!"

"They're certainly strange, but no need to be insulting," Shia argued, throwing a glance over at Kark who was patiently waiting for them, his smile present as always. "If Kark isn't just some weird exception, I'm beginning to wonder if the constant happiness is some product of his biology rather than a personality quirk."

"If it is just him, it would make sense to make him the village greeter," Scule pointed out. "Anyway, we're not seriously about to follow him up into his nest, are we? This just seems needlessly dangerous, even for us. We found the village, just mark it on your map and let's get the hell out of here!"

"I thought you were eager to check out new cultures?" Alka teased, poking the petian in the stomach, which with their size difference, was more so his entire torso. "See how they lived and what not?"

"Their houses are made of webbing! There's nothing to steal here!" Scule complained, finally admitting his real interest in the other fragments as if they didn't already know.

"To be fair, there could be plenty of things worth stealing up there," Vin pointed out. "Maybe Kark keeps the belongings of all the people he eats up in his nest!"

"You're hilarious," Scule drawled. "But actually… You might be right. Smite it, I'll go up with you guys, but I'm sticking with Alka. At the very least we know her fancy sword can slice through these webs like butter."

"Fine by me. I'm hoping at least one of these guys is a warrior I can try sparring with," Alka said, her eyes flaring. "Never had a fight dangling so high over the ground before."

"Awesome, I wanted to see what the village actually looks like from up there," Vin grinned, motioning for Shia to drop her spell. "Alright Kark, we're in!"

"Wonderful!" he exclaimed, rubbing his front spider legs together again. "If none of you mind, I'll take turns ferrying you up one of the trees up to the village. Who'd like to go first?"

Shia eagerly jumped forward, and after hopping up onto Kark's spider body like it was the world's creepiest horse, they took off. Vin watched as Kark scurried over to a nearby tree, before angling himself ninety degrees and running straight up it like it was the easiest thing in the world. Shia screamed out with joy, hugging Kark's midsection as they shot straight up onto the web.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Carefully depositing Shia on one of the larger strands that was at least a couple feet thick, Kark came back down for the rest of them. Vin allowed Alka to go next with Scule in tow, and then finally, it was his turn. Gingerly mounting Kark's spider body himself, he was surprised to find the giant spider abdomen surprisingly comfortable, and he could almost convince himself he was just sitting on a particularly dense, slightly hairy bean bag.

Kark's sudden burst of speed as he took off snapped Vin's neck back, but he whooped and laughed just like Shia as they hit the tree and were suddenly flying upwards. Unfortunately, due to Kark's incredible speed, the ride was over almost before it even started.

"Here you go!" Kark smiled, letting Vin down carefully. "Now, Pendet was woven with visitors in mind, so you shouldn't have any issue walking along the web. Stick to the master strands if looking down makes you uncomfortable, they're the particularly thick looking ones. But rest assured, you should be fine to walk anywhere!"

Taking a closer look at the web, Vin noticed that there were thousands upon thousands of super fine strings stretching all over the place, allowing them to easily look straight down and see the ground, but strong enough for them to actually walk on. Trusting in his divine boon to save him if Kark was lying for whatever reason, Vin stepped onto the thin mesh of strands, laughing as he found he could walk with no problem.

"How are you able to make such fine threads so strong?" he asked, hopping up and down a few times. The web had just the slightest spring to it, making him feel like he had a little extra pep in his step.

"As you would probably imagine, our webbing comes from our bodies," Kark smiled, gesturing back at his own spider half. "It forms rather slowly within us, but because of that, it becomes heavily imbued with mana as it does. By the time we actually need to use it, it's as strong as you see before you!"

Curious, Vin cast a tentative Sense Magic out around him, and gasped as the entire web within the radius of his spell lit up like a Christmas tree. "What the hell, that's insanely magic-dense! Why can't we feel it?"

"No idea!" Kark laughed, motioning for them to follow him as he began heading toward one of the nearby globes. "I imagine it's some strange aspect of our bodies. Meriders are all rather sensitive to magic, so if we could feel the magic in the webs all the time, it would make living like this pretty difficult!"

As they followed Kark across the web, their guide greeted a couple of other meriders by name, introducing their party each time. Vin didn't want to seem rude, and managed to mumble a weak greeting each time, but his focus was elsewhere at the moment.

He'd finally spotted the runes.

There were so many different threads stretching all over the web that it had taken him a moment to actually spot his first one. Once he realized they were scattered seemingly at random across the web, he made it his mission to find each and every one, trying to figure out what they all did.

One of them had something to do with stability, and another was definitely healing related, but he had no idea how. One looked like it made certain portions of the web glow, illuminating the edges and making it obvious where the town ended.

One rune he recognized immediately as the structure for Create Water, and he watched as a merider that was half orc tapped it with a leg, channeling mana into it and using it to fill a large pot before retreating back to what Vin could only assume was his own nest.

He was so distracted by the different runes he didn't realize they'd arrived at Kark's nest until the merider shepherded them through the open doorway.

"Here we are! Please make yourselves at home!"

As his friends wandered about, checking the place out, Vin stood in the doorway and took it all in. Unlike the rest of the web, Kark's nest was covered with a dense enough layer of webbing to prevent anyone from seeing inside. Other than the doorway and few small holes to act as windows, it was completely private.

Most surprisingly was the fact that there was actual furniture all the way up here. The nest was laid out like a large studio apartment, with everything the merdier needed in one big room. There was a small kitchen, a table already set for dinner, a bookshelf with a collection of tomes sitting on it, and a luxurious looking indent on the ground that Vin guessed was some sort of bed based on the small nightstand beside it and crumpled silk blankets scattered within. Kark even had a wardrobe leaning against one wall of all things, despite the fact that he wore nothing more than a shirt.

"I know I keep my place pretty sparse, but I spend most of my time roaming the forest and maintaining the paths anyway!" Kark laughed, nimbly opening one of the cupboards with his spider legs and pulling out some cured meats and crackers. "Can I interest you in some snacks? The crackers are a bit old, but they should still be good! Like I said, we mainly consume blood ourselves, but most of us try to keep food around for visitors in the event any ever drop by!"

"You guys are a very friendly people," Vin pointed out, going to take a seat at the table before realizing Kark didn't seem to own any chairs. Seeing his confusion, Kark chuckled as he brought the food over.

"Sorry, meriders don't really sit down!"

"It's alright," Vin said, giving their host his own grin as he snapped his fingers just for the show of it while he cast his newest spell. One after another, three stone dining chairs shot out of the floor around the dining table, each one created out of his own mana. Kark's grin grew wider and he laughed at the display of magic as Vin, Shia, and Alka took one of the new seats.

"Yo, Vin, hook me up," Scule demanded, hopping off Alka's shoulder and staring pointedly at him. Rolling his eyes, Vin adjusted Stone Furniture with Runic Recalibration, downscaling the spell dramatically.

A tiny stone chair that looked like it belonged in a dollhouse rose out of the table itself, and Scule nodded.

"Thank you," he scoffed, sitting down himself.

"Don't mention it," Vin said, reaching for one of the slices of meat and taking a tentative bite. Other than the fact it was a bit salty and tough for his tastes, it seemed perfectly edible. "Thank you for the food, Kark."

"Please, it's my pleasure having guests again!" Kark grinned. "Now then, I believe you had some questions for me?"

"I was curious why you all looked so different," Alka repeated, nodding toward the open doorway. "All of you are half spider, but I saw what looked like at least six different races for your upper halves just on the way over here. What's up with that?"

"Ah, an excellent starting point! That's because of the merger," Kark said, rustling around for a few cups and filling them with water from a small basin. Placing one in front of each of them, even Alka, he finally joined them at the table, settling his spider half down on the ground once more and beaming at them.

"It's when a person and one of our children combine their bodies into one!"