Omnipotent: Chapter 4 - Doomed to repeat.
It was difficult being human. Everything was out to kill her.
After waking up, Sanity went on a search for wood. During her search she came across a small village filled with crude-looking houses and chubby pigmen wandering aimlessly about.
It wasn't exactly the company that she was used to, but given the circumstances she figured being too picky wasn't a good idea. Also, the humanoid swine may very well be the only sentient creatures beside herself in the nearby area, and she wasn't about to pass up what might be her only chance to get back to the ruins.
With that in mind, she approached the pig-village, intent on asking where a nearby cave entrance was.
"Excuse me," she said, walking over to one of the pig-man dithering around on the outskirts of the village. "Could you please direct me towards a cave - "
"I KILL NOW!"
"DIE!"
"YOU GO SMASH!"
"RAAAAWR!"
And so began Sanity's many unfortunate experiences.
After being chased by a group of extremely aggressive pig-men, Sanity decided that she would have to be more careful in the future.
It didn't pay off.
She found a strange-looking carpet in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by giant, marble pillars. In the middle there was a grand statue of Maxwell, and around the base of the statue were a couple of snoozing clockworks.
The clockworks down in the ruins didn't attack her, so she thought it would be the same on the surface world.
She thought wrong.
"Would you be so kind as to - "
The group of clockworks charged at her the moment she stepped onto the carpet, and for a second time that day Sanity ended up fleeing across the field. Fortunately the clockworks gave up quickly and began to hop back, leaving Sanity to stop and muse about her current situation.
"The creatures up here appear to be more hostile than the creatures down in the ruins," Sanity muttered to herself, glancing back at the retreating clockworks. "Yet, humans are not able to survive down there, but can live up here for quite some time. How strange."
She frowned, touching her chin in thought.
"Or maybe it is I who is the strange one," she said. "I do not belong up here, after all."
As the landscape began to turn dark, Sanity went back to her previous task of finding wood. She went around the pig-village, mindful of the territorial creatures within, and headed into a nearby forest.
Every now and then she caught a glimpse of Terrorbeak or Crawling Horror out of her peripheral vision. Whenever she looked at them head-on, however, they vanished, which she found extremely disturbing.
Normally her shadow creatures only did that to things that they were stalking.
Had she become food to them? Did they not recognize her?
The thought was unsettling.
It wasn't long before Sanity spotted something amongst the trees up ahead. It was a brief flash of white that caught her eye, and as she drew closer she realized the flash of white was really a giant, bulbous pod.
She had seen that silvery material before. Normally the substance was spread out on the ground, like a twisted, white rug. Or perhaps a death-trap would be a more accurate description, as the creatures that created the fine strands of silk usually hid in the shadows waiting for an unfortunate victim to tread upon their web.
Sanity wondered if the spiders on the surface world were anything like the ones in the ruins. If the clockworks were anything to go by, she assumed that answer would be a solid 'no'.
Still, it was worth a try.
She once again abandoned her search for wood in favor of asking for directions, heedless of the possible dangers of approaching spider nests.
"Pardon me," she said, walking over to the closest arachnid. "Could you tell me where a cave entrance is?"
"Your pets are nothing but a nuisance."
"They are our friends, not our pets."
"Either way, they are still a nuisance."
Wendy frowned at the spiders scuttling about in the distance, searching for food now that the sun was dipping behind the mountains.
Her companion wasn't bothered by them at all - he didn't really need to be, thanks to his monstrous appearance - but she didn't trust the little pests at all. Even though their camp was a good distance away from the cluster of spider nests, the arachnids kept wandering too close for her liking.
She had been bitten once. She didn't want to be bitten a second time. It was hard enough getting Abigail to stop attacking them the first time.
Personally, Wendy didn't really care that her sister kept killing the spiders, but her companion got upset each and every time one of the hairy monsters keeled over. And since she was now living with the spider-boy, she had to be mindful of his feelings.
Or at least try to be.
"We don't think they are a nuisance," Webber muttered sullenly, poking their fire with a long stick.
"Of course you don't," Wendy replied, pulling her legs to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "They don't attempt to devour you every time you tread on their silk."
"It's our fur," he said. "They feel it and know that it's us, so they don't attack."
"That's good for you, but not so much for me," she told him. "Perhaps I could kill one or two of them and make some shoes out of their skin. Then I would be able to traverse by their nests without being eaten."
"No!" Webber protested, staring at her in horror. "You can't! How would you like it if someone killed you for your skin?"
"I would be dead, so I wouldn't have any feelings on the matter," she said in a remarkably dry tone.
Abigail whispered in agreement.
"Please don't hurt them," Webber said, resorting to pleading. "Just walk around their nests. No one has to die..."
"I have no intention of harming your pets," Wendy replied. "What good would that do? If I harm one, the entire nest will come out and attack me. Not even Abigail is strong enough to protect me from a horde of abnormally large spiders."
Webber gave her an uncertain look.
"Do you promise?"
Wendy rolled her eyes.
"Yes, I promise," she said. "I will not harm the arachnids."
"Okay," he replied, looking a little more relaxed.
"That woman, on the other hand, I'm not so sure about it."
Four pairs of confused eyes turned towards her, all belonging to the spider-boy. Wendy nodded her head in the direction of the spider nests, and Webber followed her gesture.
On the other side of the clearing, right on the edge of the cluster of spider eggs, a dark-haired woman casually strolled out of the forest, over to the spiders, and then started... talking with them.
It was obvious the woman hadn't noticed Wendy or Webber yet, because she didn't even spare them a glance.
"Who's that?" Webber asked, eyes going wide.
"I don't know, but she's about to be obliterated," Wendy intoned.
"We have to warn her!" Webber exclaimed, dropping the stick and scrambling to his feet. "Watch out! They're going to eat you!"
The woman turned her gaze over to Webber, looking oddly calm despite the situation.
The moment her eyes left the spiders, the group of arachnids began letting out a chorus of hisses and shrieks. In a matter of seconds, the number of spiders had doubled and they were all scuttling towards the unsuspecting woman, jaws open wide and fangs glittering in the low levels of light.
Wendy decided if someone was stupid enough to try and strike up a conversation with giant spiders, they deserved to be eaten.
"Look out!" Webber shouted, already running towards her.
The woman turned back to the spiders. Instead of screaming in terror or bolting like a normal person would have done, she merely stared at them contemplatively and tilted her head to the side.
Alright, not stupid then.
She was utterly brainless.
Wendy got up anyway, and brushed her skirt off. Abigail drifted closer, letting out confused little whispers.
"I don't know either, Abigail," Wendy said, bending over to grab her spear. "I suppose we shouldn't just stand aside and watch her die, as tempting as that sounds. Come, let us save that foolish woman from her impending demise."
Wendy headed over to the stranger, Abigail following closely. Webber was hopping from foot-to-foot anxiously, trying to convince the woman to run.
"What are you doing? Don't just stand there!"
"Oh, so they are aggressive," the woman muttered. She squinted at Webber. "Are you not one of them? Can you not command them to cease?"
"Uh, no," Webber said, frowning in confusion. "They don't listen to us unless we feed them meat."
"What a shame," she said with a sigh. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to run a third time. This is getting bothersome."
"Enough with the chit-chat," Wendy butted in, grabbing the woman's hand and forcing her to run. "If we don't leave this area soon, we will both become meals."
"I suppose," she muttered, following Wendy without complaint. "I was hoping the spiders wouldn't stray too far from their nests, but it appears that I was wrong."
"What do you mean?" Webber asked, running beside them despite the fact that he wasn't in any danger. "Spiders always leave their nests when it's dark."
"Not always," the woman replied cryptically.
Fortunately, the group didn't have to run for very long before the spiders gave up on eating them. Once the trio were a good distance away, they let out shrieks of annoyance and began to head back to their nests.
Wendy watched them go with a blank expression, before turning to the stranger.
"What, exactly, were your intentions?" Wendy demanded.
"I was just wondering if they could take me to a cave entrance," the dark-haired woman replied, as if such a question was perfectly obvious. "The pig-men weren't very helpful, and neither were the clockworks. It seems everything is out to kill me today."
"How long have you been here?" Wendy asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Here?" The woman frowned, looking thoughtful. "I woke up in a field a few hours ago, if that's what you mean."
Although Wendy still thought the woman was quite stupid for trying to communicate with giant spiders, at least she had an excuse now.
"You've only been here one day?" Webber asked.
"Define 'here'."
"This world," Wendy replied. "Where else?"
"Oh," the woman said, looking bored. "In that case, I've been here my whole life. I woke up on the surface today, though."
"You... live underground?" Webber muttered, looking even more confused.
"I used to," she replied. "It appears that is no longer the case. They must have gotten bored with me and banished me up here, which is rather unfortunate."
"Who's they?" Webber asked.
"I'm not quite sure, to be honest. All I know is that They created this world and all the creatures within it, including myself. I've never actually seen Them, but I've been speculating that They are omnipresent, omnipotent beings that cannot be perceived in any way, shape, or form. Whether that's the truth or not remains to be seen."
Wendy was beginning to feel the dull throb of headache forming.
As if living with a spider-boy-mutant wasn't tiring enough, now Wendy had someone who was clearly delusional on her hands. Delusional and stupid enough to put herself in highly dangerous situations without the least bit of concern.
As if survival wasn't difficult enough.
"Darkness approaches," Wendy said, cutting off Webber before he could ask another question and prompt another confusing response. Wendy had heard enough insanity for one day. "Let us return to our base and survive another night."
"Very well," the woman said. "But first, may I ask a question?"
"Yes?" Wendy replied tentatively, half-turning towards the strange woman.
"Do you happen to know if there are any cave entrances nearby?"
Author's notes: Third of the Nightmare Trio. Hungry wasn't kidding about Sanity being absentminded. And perhaps just a tad naive...
Anyway. RainingCatsForecast (love your name, btw), requested Webber and Wendy. And so, I give you Webber and Wendy! :) And with that, all three OCs have met up with someone. Which means I'll have to get more creative in terms of adding the rest of the cast. .-.
