"That could have gone better."

"It could have gone much worse, instead."

"The ravage is a wreck!"

"But we survived. And we got the remaining gladiators onto other small-ships."

"...I suppose so."

Nero let out a slow breath, shaking his head as he looked at the wreckage. The ravage, small chaser ship that it was, had barely been big enough for him. It most certainly had not been large enough to fit both him and Arachne. But here they were. Alive and unharmed.

"There is no supposition, Serpent. Only fact," The enormous spider said. She reached into the wreckage and extracted, with great care, a sheathed curved sword. The sheath was covered in gilded patterns spiraling inwards on themselves. She held it out to Nero. "Your weapon."

Nero accepted it and sighed. He strapped it to his waist, happy to at least have it in its proper place. "Thank you, I suppose."

"You are welcome." Arachne looked down at him with her bulbous eyes. She really was a hideous thing, all hair and hard chitin, angles and bristles. No scales or soft curves, no sinuous structures on her body. Just her bulging eyes and bulbous abdomen, and those horrible overly long limbs. "You have frozen. Has something paralyzed you?"

"I'm fine." He shook his head and ran his hands over his face. The rough, scarred scales rubbed irritatingly against his eyelids, but it was better than looking at that thing. "Just… thinking."

"I see." Her enormous form shifted, moving with impossibly light movements as she began to move away. "I will be hunting. I am hungry."

Nero waited until she was gone before he finally opened his eyes.

What a disaster his life was. Just one misfortune after another. Gorgon, rejection, exile, gorgon again, poison swamp, pirates, and now this. Stuck with a giant spider that would probably eat him the instant he stopped being convenient. At least Apex and Null would be okay. Those poor kids didn't deserve what they'd been put through.

Actually… Arachne had just walked off. He was alone. He could just… go.

So he did. Nero extracted a map and a compass from the wreckage of the Ravage, set his bearings, and set off.

He couldn't exactly go home. That was… well off the table. Something he hadn't shared with Apex. He felt somewhat bad for deceiving the young dragon, but… well, he had his pride. There were some things he'd never admit to another.

Going after the Gorgon again didn't seem like a good idea either. His potions had all been taken from him when he'd been captured by the Skavengers, and he didn't have the resources to make more. He wasn't about to venture into the most toxic place on the planet without an antidote on hand. Nor was he going to face the Gorgon without adequate weaponry. A sword alone wouldn't do.

The map that had been on the Ravage was, frankly, underwhelming. Minimal attention given to borders, almost nothing beyond the shoreline, only single dots for major cities. But it had Warfang marked on it, and that was a start.

The sun was beginning to set when he set up camp. It wasn't much. Just a small fire and a small structure of sticks he scavenged. Enough to keep any brief night-time showers off him. It would suffice.

"I have acquired an additional cervine for your consumption."

Nero jumped as the heavy corpse of a deer thudded into the ground next to him, its neck bent at an awkward angle. He scrambled for his sword, only to stop as he looked up at the bulging eyes staring down at him.

"Do not do that!" Nero scowled, gesticulating uselessly. "You could have given me a heart attack, or dropped that damned thing directly on top of me!"

"You are quite healthy, a brief startle would not impose much health risk. And I did not drop it on you. I made certain to avoid that." Arachne lifted another deer carcass with two of her hands, doing complex motions with the rest in order to rapidly wrap it in a silk cocoon. "You have moved quite a distance since I departed to hunt."

It wasn't an accusation, or at least it didn't sound like one. He could never be sure with this creature. She lacked anything he could define as a face.

"How did you even follow me?" Nero grumbled, unsheathing a knife to begin skinning the deer. He couldn't eat this much meat in a day, much less a single meal. But at least it was a meal. He wouldn't need to eat for a month if he devoured the whole thing, though that would mean going into torpor with Arachne nearby. Not an idea he liked.

"You leave a distinctive scent. I am a skilled hunter." She said it so matter-of-factly. Like most things, actually. There was never doubt in her words, but no pride either. Never anything but a statement of what was. It was unsettling, honestly. He hated it. A skilled warrior should boast their exploits, not speak of them as though they were formulas in a textbook.

…The people back home would hate him for that sort of thought. But then they hated him for taking up the sword in the first place.

"What are you?" Nero asked eventually.

Arachne paused in the middle of sinking her fangs into the cocooned deer. It was impossible to tell if she was focusing on him, with the way her eyes were constructed. After a moment she retracted her fangs, spinning another web to attach the cocoon to a nearby tree.

"I do not truthfully know," Arachne answered in that same impassive voice, "I hatched with a clutch of siblings, in a place where the sun does not shed light. I fought my siblings for dominance, and they were not strong enough to best me. And… over time I grew stronger and smarter. I realized eventually that I was nothing like my siblings had been. I was… other. Unique. I don't know at what point I went from a giant spider to what I am now. I remember… purple. And yellow eyes. Past that, I was captured by the sky-sailors and made to fight. That is as conclusive an answer as I am capable of giving."

"...Okay." Nero really wasn't sure what to make of that. He had been expecting a six or seven word explanation of species and role, not an entire life's story. "I'm… sorry to hear that."

"I have outlived my siblings many times over."

Well that was… most certainly a response.

Nero worked in silence, cooking slices of deer meat over his meager fire. Arachne was, as usual, completely silent. Motionless in the flickering firelight. It creeped him out.

"What are you?" Arachne asked eventually.

He could have given a sarcastic response, but given that Arachne had just told him everything…

"I'm a naga, from the deserts to the far west of here. I lived most of my life in the city of Althastrasan, which is the most esteemed center of alchemical progress in the world," Nero explained, "I am… I was a skilled alchemist in a prestigious position. There… there was an incident in the laboratories. Something happened, and… a monster got in. Nobody knew how. My wife… she didn't survive. The monster escaped. I tried so hard to move on. To continue living a good life. I tried to keep my daughter safe. I tried to find new love. And… I couldn't be satisfied with that. I let the relationship fall apart.

"I took up the sword. Althastrasan culture eschews violence. No naga worth anything should fight another thinking creature. And if violence is required, it should be done through incapacitation, such as sedatives and sleeping potions. Using a weapon, especially one with as bloody a history as a sword, made me a pariah. I became a social reject in short order, despite my high-ranking role as head alchemist.

"I couldn't take it anymore. I left Althastrasan to hunt down the monster that killed my wife." Nero took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "I suppose that what it really makes me is an outcast."

"If an outcast you must be, at least you are an outcast with a noble cause."

Nero looked up at her suddenly, meeting those solid black eyes with his own crimson gaze. They were unreadable, impossible to make sense of. But they were there, sharing the night with him.

"Yes, I… suppose that is true." Nero took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. He extracted his meal from the fire. "Thank you, Arachne."

"They are merely words. Words are easy to give. Empathy is easy to give. But sometimes we lie to ourselves and make it harder, and sometimes others lie to us to elicit more than they are given. It is much easier to live honestly, even if it hurts sometimes." Arachne began moving to the trees around Nero's camp, stringing her webbing from tree to tree. "Rest, friend Nero. I will keep you safe tonight."

Earlier today, perhaps he might have found that to be a terrifying thought. Hells, even an hour ago this would have thrown up alarm bells in the back of his mind. Now, though? He wasn't sure. It was, at least, an improvement.

O-O-O

Traveling alongside Arachne was at once a boon and a curse.

On the one hand, she was exceptionally agile and strong. There was no obstacle that could slow her down, no way to halt her continual march. She was an expert hunter, always bringing back copious amounts of food for meals.

On the other hand, she had a standard pace that was more than twice his own. She didn't have to worry about terrain in any meaningful way, which meant that spots where he was at a disadvantage due to his tail were completely ignored by the giant spider. And she always brought back significantly more food than could be eaten in one day.

That said, she did at least bring her leftovers with them when they left each morning. For… better or worse.

At least she no longer complained of always being hungry.

"How did you get so good at finding food, anyway?" Nero asked at some point in their journey.

"There is minimal prey in the place I was hatched. Many large flying creatures who screamed terror into my heart. They were furred and scaled at once. Very strange creatures. I never caught one. I think that is a good thing. I remember very little from before becoming as I am," Arachne answered. She was carrying a cocooned deer from the previous night, occasionally bringing it to her head to bite in for a few moments. Nero was quite glad he couldn't see what was actually happening, given how the silk cocoon deflated a little bit each time she did that. "I learned how to catch ground-prey very quickly. Little rodents and wriggling insects. There was never enough to satiate me. These cervines are fat and stupid by comparison."

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

Arachne was moving significantly slower than usual today. It seemed she had finally realized that Nero had no way to keep up with her standard pace.

"Did you see the dragons flying overhead?" Arachne asked suddenly.

"What?" Nero looked over at her, frowning.

"A group of dragons flew overhead a short time ago."

"How did you see that? There were no shadows."

"I see in all directions, except for a few angles where I cannot due to my abdomen."

"Huh." Nero gave it a few moments, then asked another question. "Did any of them look familiar?"

"One had shiny scales."

"So no, then." Nero shrugged. "How many?"

"I did not count. More than a dozen. They were heading in the same direction we are."

"I wonder why so many dragons would be traveling together…" Nero rubbed his chin. "If only we could travel that quickly…"

"I could carry you."

"No."

They continued on, and at long last Nero spotted a road.

To think, nearly a week of travel and they had just been going through forests and mountains. Now they had a road, an actual road designed for long-distance travel. He could almost weep at the evidence of civilization. Almost. Not really. But it made him feel a lot better about continuing onwards.

There was even someone traveling down the road. A naga, to Nero's surprise. They were heavily garbed, hooded and using a large stick to tap the ground in front of them. Nero hadn't seen another naga in a long, long time. There was a hint of fear in his chest at the thought of meeting another of his kind, though. What if they rejected his company, or hated him for wielding a sword? Worse, what if it was someone he knew?

No. He wouldn't let a moment of trepidation stop him.

Nero slithered towards the road, only to pause again. Not out of worry, but because he could hear something rapidly approaching. It couldn't be Arachne, who was silent. It couldn't be anything with feet, actually, given the sound was more like… a flood?

Nero turned towards the source of the sound as the naga on the road came to a sudden halt. He couldn't see it yet, but he should have been able to. Right? A flood would be a large-scale event.

"I smell something… bitter," Arachne said, much closer to Nero than he had expected, "Acrid. The stench is vaguely familiar. I do not like it."

Before Nero could say anything else, he spotted it. The source of the sound.

With the rage of a rushing river rushing downstream, there was a living flood. Its frontmost edge was like a swarm of claws and limbs, grabbing and pulling its mass forwards. Toothy jaws opened and closed along its shape, acquiring definition for a few moments before melting back into the water. In the center of the watery shape was a crystal of deep purple, black veins running across the surface of the stone. Arcs of black electricity would spark through the water at intermittent intervals. In its current course, it would shoot harmlessly past Nero and Arachne without doing more than getting them damp.

But the hooded naga was directly in its path, standing still and casting about with their stick.

"No!" Nero started moving. He could never reach them in time. They would be bashed into the ground by the living flood, drowned and battered to death in moments.

Arachne shot past him, skittering across the ground with absurd speed. She leaped up into a tree for a brief moment before catapulting herself further, barely visible spiderweb spreading between her hands. She hurled the silk forwards, ensnaring the hooded naga and pulling them up into the air. At the same time Arachne backpedaled, climbing back a thin thread to ascend into a tree.

The giant spider hung there, the hooded naga dangling in a net below her. Water rushed past beneath them, clawing and slamming against the tree but failing to topple it.

And then the living flood was past, leaving a damp trail in its wake as it rushed down the road.

Nero slithered towards the tree with haste. The naga was wriggling in the net, thrashing as they tried to grab something on their person. Their dark green tail slammed into the tree trunk a few times, sending the entire thing shaking.

"Stop struggling." Arachne had to shift a great deal to keep the naga suspended. "I do not want to drop you."

"Let me go!" The naga shouted. She - and it sounded like a she, though Nero could always be wrong - finally found what she was looking for. She extracted a long tube from her heavy cloak and pulled the end off, causing fire to erupt out in a concentrated stream. The webbing around her burned instantly, causing Arachne to shriek and back away. The hooded naga landed hard, but got up quickly to wave the flaming phial in her hand at the air.

"It's okay! It's okay! You're safe now!" Nero soothed, putting his hands up in a pacifying gesture.

"Two of you?!" The hooded naga waved her flaming phial at Nero, coiling up on her tail. "I don't know who, or what you are, or what that sound was, but I'm not letting you get the better of me!"

"It's okay! I'm a naga, and though my traveling companion is intimidating she's not a danger to you!" Nero said quickly, "She had to get you out of the way of that elemental quickly. That's why she webbed you up."

Something inside the other naga's hood shifted, and she lowered the flaming phial. "...really?"

"I promise, we're not a threat to you." Nero put one hand over his heart. He looked at the phial in her hand, and after a moment of thinking he realized he knew that concoction. "Is that a variation of the Endless Flame formula created by Ptolomos?"

"Uh, yes, actually." She sounded surprised. "My mother taught it to me. Adding some marsh essence increases the flame's projection by a large margin. Lily seeds makes it burn even when wet, and treant bark makes it spread faster."

Nero glanced up at Arachne, who was still hunched up and staring at the flaming phial. He reached down and picked up the cap, holding it out to the hooded naga. "Your mother sounds like a very talented alchemist."

"...Yes. She… she was."

She wasn't taking the cap, he noticed. Why? Was she - oh. She hadn't even looked straight at him, either. That would…

"I must apologize if this sounds insensitive, but are you blind, miss?" Nero asked.

"I… yes." She nodded slowly. "I… I can't see."

"I'm terribly sorry to ask this, but can you hand me the phial of Endless Flame? I have the cap here, and I don't want to risk setting the forest on fire."

"Oh, right. I'm… I'm sorry." She held out the phial, holding it perpendicular to her arm so that the flame jetted harmlessly to the side.

Nero took the phial and slid the cap on it, then handed it back to her. Arachne relaxed the instant the flames were gone. "There you go. What's your name, miss?"

"Yuri," She answered nervously as she put the phial away.

"Yuri." It wasn't a typical naga name, but it was familiar. "Is that short for Euryale?"

"It is. How did…" Yuri shook her head. "Right, you said you were a naga too. I… figure that's a pretty normal name, huh?"

"Not especially. It is a name for brave explorers who venture far from home, and no parent would want that of their child," Nero explained softly, "Yuri, what are you doing so far from Althastrasan with no company? If you are blind, that cannot be safe…"

"I… I don't really… have a choice," Yuri muttered, rubbing her arm. "I have to find… a friend. In Warfang. And I… I don't have anyone back home."

…She'd said her mother was a talented alchemist. Past tense. There were only a few reasons to speak of someone in the past tense like that…

"I'm sorry," Nero apologized sincerely, "I'm so sorry."

"I-it's…" She stopped, sniffling. One hand brushed under her hood, pushing it back just enough for him to catch a glimpse of her youthful face. She was wearing a blindfold. "It's fine."

She reminded him of his own daughter, who was so much older than this poor girl by now. Skilled and extremely competent, fiercely independent, but still vulnerable. Yuri wasn't even an adult, by the brief glimpse he got of her. No more than halfway through her second decade. She was but a child.

Why were children being driven from their homes? Why was the weight of the world thrust upon their shoulders? First Apex and Null, and now poor young Euryale. What was the world coming to?

But then, even the famed dragon saviors were themselves children when they saved the world. Perhaps the only way forward was through the next generations.

He needed to handle this carefully. He couldn't push too hard or she might shy away, but he didn't want to seem cold to her plight. He needed to be clear -

"Poor child." Arachne descended from the tree, stepping down to the ground. "You need not travel alone any longer. Nor need you hide your face."

"I'll… I'll keep the hood." Yuri tugged at the hood.

"Regardless of your choice," Nero said, "We will keep you safe. I promise."

And so their group went from two to three, marching on to Warfang.