Author’s note: Here is the second chapter of our second character. Enjoy. Be sure to leave likes or comments, that will help encourage me to continue, and spread readership.
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Sol
Sol had awakened again. She stretched her mind as best she could as per routine. Sol sat and waited for a time; listening to the silence of her tomb. She checked her status once again.
Name: Sol###### Race:L####### Critical da###### sustained Seek im#########help ######ess beacon depl##### Warnin##################################### Remaining Power: 90/92 QC ######## #ventory Warning: po##########els critical Location: ??? Time: ??? ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR
“Is… Someone… There…?” She cried out again. Her voice was soft and distorted.
She paused for a time for a response.
A thundercrack of noise responded to her, the rocks rattled.
Then a rumble. Deep in the ground, there was a rumble of response. To her?
“H-h-hello?” She asked with a stutter.
There was the sound of dust shaking and rocks tumbling from their ancient perches, her only response.
“Change? Something new?” Sol thought.
More rocks tumbled over. She felt herself loosen as a wedge of a rock fell off of her head.
“Help.”
She knew it. Someone was going to find her.
There was a new noise. Of shuffling and scraping. Pushing rocks away with a scatter.
A strange deep chittering. Of something large.
Sol cried out once again.
“I… Need… Help…” It wasn’t loud, but it was the best she could do.
The shuffling of rocks ceased and a strange chatter broke out in response.
“Help…” Sol said again at whoever was listening.
There was a skittering sound as something began to close in on her. It was behind her, which implied she was wedged into some sort of cavern cubby, facing the wall. The scraping skitter stopped as it got close. Sol heard a click and an absent chittering.
“Who… Is… There?” Sol’s voice came out distorted and fragmented.
There was a curious chitter in response. She began to feel pressure relieved as rocks were gently moved.
Power: 57/92 QC
Sol didn’t have much power left, so she went quiet and let the thing work. As the final rock was taken up, she felt herself falling, impacting against the stone floor. There was a chittering, clicking exclamation and Sol felt lifted off the ground. She was placed back on her stone cubby and turned slowly. All she could see was a blinding light and a soft click cooing at her inspection. It switched off the light, flooding the room back into darkness as it still held her. For the first time in a time, Sol opened her eyes and saw.
Her LED-lit eyes of deep aquamarine brightened the pitch black room. She blinked as she stared into eight large curious crimson eyes. They blinked at her in a wave and chittered a word from an unknown tongue.
It was a very large spider.
“Please help.” Sol finally got out an undistorted word.
The creature’s eyes widened at that and clicked an exclamation.
Power: 50/92 QC
Her power was dangerously low, but she continued.
The creature was a spider for all looks and mannerisms. It more resembled a large spider with soft blue-grey fur covering its body. She was propped up by two of its eight limbs. Its bulbous head was tilting left and right; a sign of curiosity. Its chittering came from it’s four vertical mandibled mouth; two large on the sides and two small in the center. It had two large red eyes surrounded by six smaller ones. The spider began dusting at her with a soft affection, turning her this way and that, inspecting the beauty of what was left of Sol.
It was just her head.
Sol noticed right away the damage to herself was extensive, she must have lost her entire body somehow. The spider grunted as it began to carry her away from her tomb. If this creature sought to destroy her, melt her down, devour her she wouldn’t feel any regret; she was relieved to be out of her rocky prison. The spider began to carry her in four arms above its head as it skittered ponderously across the rough ground. Sol didn’t remember how much she weighed, but probably a lot less compared to her old self. Even then, she might weigh quite a bit. The cavern she was in was narrow and long, the spider avoiding the rock piles it scooped away before. The spider chittered excitedly as it reached the hole of the blast site. Sol saw black and cracked rock, with blasted debris.
Was the spider mining?
Sol spotted a two-wheeled wood and scrap metal cart, filled with ore, trinkets, junk, and tools.
Power: 46/92 QC
The spider shuffled to the cart and with a grunt, letting Sol down gently. Sol was facing away from the cart and couldn’t see what it was doing. She felt a sudden movement as she began to spin. She could see as she was wrapped in a strange substance.
Silk?
The spider was using it’s back legs to wrap Sol in its silk. Sol could no longer see as she heard the spider grunting and clicking, the sound of items in the card being shuffled around. She was gently placed in the cart. All she could see was the white fuzz of raw silk. She felt something poking her in the brow and her eyes. The spider tore two eye holes from the silk. She could see it peeking at her, the six eyes were closed and the two large ones were half open, its mandibles turned sideways.
Was it smiling? Sol pondered. She understood what it was doing. It was helping her.
It had covered her in silk, wrapping a precious gift in cloth.
She pondered about this strange spider, her unintended rescuer. It seemed highly intelligent, capable of understanding speech, abstract, and was a long-term planner, based on the mine shaft she was in. The spider hooked itself up to the cart and began its journey. She could see the mine shaft that he cut was shallow, meaning that she was possibly an accidental find. The floor to the main mine shaft was flat, massive, and round with a ramp spiraling up past the distance, she could see. The spider grunted as it pulled the cart upward, chittering as it pulled. She could sense it was a determined thing, not stopping for rest or slowing down. It’s skittering limbs grasped the rough stone ramp secure.
Power: 31/92 QC
It felt like ages for the spider to slowly climb the ramp, but Sol could wait. She had been waiting for eons to be rescued. She felt more excitement riding in a simple cart than a being should have. She could see violet light splashing against stone walls and floors from sources she couldn’t quite well enough to determine. They may have been natural or placed, but helped with her vision regardless. The spider gave one last grunt and pulled the cart up the ramp and into another mine branch. As the spider made his way, she spotted dozens of small carved tunnels, all of them possibly mining trunks. Then the question formed in her head.
How long is this mine shaft?
Was the spider by itself?
How long was the spider mining?
How did I get down here?
The questions kept piling up but did nothing to dissuade that fire of excitement of being finally set free. She kept silent, trying to save as much power as possible. She had little idea if she would remember the spider if she shut down. However, her sense of time was broken from being buried, so she had little idea how long her memory lasted. It could last until she powered down, or could be longer; she didn’t know.
The spider exited the main upper shaft, heading through a narrow carved corridor. They past small branches filled with glinting ore and splashing violet light, but the spider had a destination and would not stop for distractions.
Power: 23/92 QC
The exited the mining corridor, out into a carved ravine. There was a straight drop just off to her left. If she were to all, she would have no idea how long she would drop. It was solid blackness, with the violet light unable to penetrate; implying a massive chasm. The spider made his way without looking or stopping, also implying he had been this way dozens if possibly hundreds of times before.
Perhaps thousands by the way the deep mine went.
The ravine went on a long way and Sol could see the scoring of the rock, meaning it was carved out by someone, possibly the spider.
Did it mine all of this?
How long has it been down here?
Her question was left unanswered as her power dropped. She at least wanted to thank the spider before she powered down.
Power: 5/92 QC
“Excuse me,” Sol spoke up.
The spider paused for a second, cocking his head back. She could see just two of his eight eyes.
“Thank… You.” Sol managed to say. But that was it. She would find out if she kept her memory of the previous moment.
Power: 0/92 QC Warning: shutting down
Sol powered down.
>>> The Book of Gideon: Stabilize – 14
After Megiddo 
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