22- Beyond Ordinary

Eventually, the Spider Riders made it back to Arachna Castle.

"That Hero Brade is a real pain," Lumen said. "Making us travel this far. I was really enjoying my nap too."

"Never insult the Hero Brade!" Magma shouted, shooting him an angry glare.

"I can if he interrupts my naps," said Lumen. "Besides, I'm the prince, and you're just a subordinate."

"Well I would gladly work for Hero Brade-sama instead if he asked me," argued Magma.

The group's bantering came to an end when they went inside, and saw many guards circled around something.

"What's going on?!" Hunter asked. He rushed in, signaling for the guards to move aside.

"Well…" one of them began. But there was no need to say more.

"Richter!" He saw the eighth Spider Rider lying there on the ground, bleeding.

"Richter?! What's he doing here?" Igneous asked. But even he was disturbed by the sight they saw.

"We'll handle this," Hunter said.

"Understood," one of the guards spoke. "But, he may need medical attention. We found him this way, and no one can figure out how it happened." They then promptly cleared the area, leaving it to the Riders.

"I'll heal him as best I can," Aqune said. "I hate to see anyone like this."

"Good idea," Hunter replied. "Then, we can at least ask him who did this."

"Fine," said Igneous. He wanted to protest, but this time, Hunter probably was right.

Aqune knelt down next to Richter, placing her hands over him. As she chanted, an aura of light appeared around the girl. Some of the wounds began to stitch up.

"I hope this was enough," Aqune said. His condition seemed pretty serious to her.

Then the red-haired boy started to stir, and his eyes opened.

"You… you're…" he said, seeing Aqune watching over him. He lifted his arm quickly, as if attempting to attack, but Aqune took hold of it.

"Wait. Don't move," she spoke, but let go.

"Shut up!" He struggled to stand up, but to no success. He grabbed at his leg, where he had received a very deep cut. He had no feeling in it.

"Richter…" Hunter began. "The question of what you're doing here can wait, but we need to know who did this to you?"

"Fine," he said. "It was that twisted girl, Glint. The one who's always clinging to you. And she also stole Wave from me."

"Glint?!" Hunter exclaimed. "Are you sure?" Everyone wore stunned looks.

"Yeah…" Richter said, still struggling. "She…" For a moment, he half propelled himself up, using his other leg. But feeling intense pain, the boy passed out.

"She's the threat Hero Brade talked about?" Magma wondered.

"I don't get it," said Hunter. "Why would Glint do this of all people? I have to go find her!"

"Hunter…" Corona said. "I'll come with you." If the girl was able to hurt Richter so badly, Corona was instinctively worried about sending one person after her alone.

"Sure," Hunter agreed.

"I'd also like to come," Aqune said. "However, first, I'd like to let Buguese know about this. Do you have any messenger bugs left?"

"Yeah, we should," replied Igneous. "I'll go and get it."

"It's fine if you three want to go," Lumen spoke. "But some of us should stay back and guard the castle."

"What for?" Magma said.

"She might come back here," Lumen answered. "And besides, there's someone else here we have to watch out for, even though I doubt there's much he can do in this state."

"Alright," Magma agreed. "Then good luck, you guys. Contact us if you find her, though."

"We will," answered Hunter.

Hunter, Corona and Aqune were on the road, on top of their spiders.

"I knew that girl was a handful, but this is ridiculous," said Shadow.

"There's got to be a good reason," Hunter replied. "I mean, she was our friend. Maybe Richter tried to hurt her."

"But, what she did to him didn't look like self-defense," the spider argued. "That was overkill."

"I know," Hunter said, a troubled look on his face.

"Where exactly are we going?" asked Aqune. It wouldn't be good to just search aimlessly, she thought. "Glint isn't a Spider Rider, so I can't sense her presence."

"I think we should try Padan," Corona suggested. "That's her home village. It's possible that she would have gone back."

"Good idea," replied Hunter.

Buguese was surprised when a messenger bug arrived for him at the Insector castle. It could have been one from the Spider Riders, but what reason would they have to contact him with it?

"What is it?" he asked.

The yellow bug began chirping a reply.

"Aqune sent this?" He wondered out loud. "Something must have happened. The eighth Spider Rider, perhaps?" He knew just guessing wouldn't do him any good. He decided to head off and find Aqune immediately.

Soon, the three Riders had reached Padan. When they entered the city, they returned the spiders to their manacles.

"This is definitely the place," Hunter said. The walls of her house were still dented, from the previous attack on the village.

Hunter knocked on the door. "Glint! Are you in there?!"

Hearing someone approach the door, the Spider Riders stepped backwards. Indeed Glint opened it.

"You came to visit me?" Glint asked sweetly. "Then, I suppose that means you've discovered Richter."

"Why did you attack him?" asked Hunter.

"Because he disgusts me," replied Glint. "All he wanted was my sympathy, but he's the last person I would give it to."

"Sympathy?" Corona asked. Though, she shook her head. "No, that's not important. All this time when you were with us, you never acted like the kind of person who would do that to someone. Please, help us understand. We are your friends."

"Friends?" she spat. "I was pretending all along." The girl stepped into her dark house. "Join me, if you want to hear a story. Or just leave."

"Tell us!" Hunter said, entering the house. Corona and Aqune looked doubtful, but joined him anyway, and Glint shut the door behind them.

"Not everything was a lie," Glint said. "I always did admire the Spider Riders. I always wanted to be one. A strong, brave hero." Each of her words had a cruel aftertaste. "I didn't live in this village all my life, you know?" she continued. "My old village was destroyed in an Insector attack. Nearly everyone died there. Why? Because the Spider Riders couldn't make it in time to save us. We were all ordinary people, who could do nothing to stand up against evil. That day, my wish became stronger than ever. I didn't want the curse of being ordinary. I wanted to be just like the Spider Riders. So I got to live with them, learn everything about them, pretend for a while that they would accept me as one of their own. Now, I even have my own manacle." She flashed her arm in front of the three.

"That's Richter's!" Hunter shouted. "Give it back!"

"No," she said. "But it's not like I truly have a need for it. After all, I defeated Richter all by myself. Me, a normal human. And I'm going to do the same thing to all of you. Now that I've watched you for so long, I'm prepared for everything. And I know you can't even use your Oracle Keys."

"You want to fight us?" Aqune asked, trying to digest all of this.

"You've got that right," said Glint.

"That's ridiculous!" Hunter yelled. "You may not have been a Spider Rider, but you were one of us. We all thought of you as a friend!"

"Enough with that friend stuff already!" she shouted. "Holding out this long was a chore! I might have made a move sooner, if not for that irritating Earthen man trying to wreck this world."

She took a deep breath to calm herself, and turned on the lights. Now, the contents of the small house could be seen more clearly. It was barely furnished, just a bed and a table, with a kitchen area in the back. But standing in front of the second room was a giant mechanical spider.

"What is that?!" Corona asked.

"A toy I built," Glint answered. "It was made from the remains of the Insector machine which crushed my village. He was my very first spider. And it's not just a decoration."

The spider crawled up in front of the girl.