"Back before he even met me, Igneous was living with his family in this mountain village. From what I heard, it was this nice, pleasant place, popular with knights and spider riders who had wanted to escape the rat-race for a bit, were planning on retiring or had gotten injured and had to lay low for awhile. That's how Igneous's father, Fitz, ended up there. When he'd been younger he had been a spider rider just like you and me but things had changed."

"What's that supposed to mean? Who'd give up being a spider rider!? No village could have been that nice-"

"...He fell in love Hunter. You know? Met a pretty girl and decided that he wanted to stick around there with her, have a family and get a job that didn't risk his life every second day of the week."

"Oh." Realization dawned on the young boy's face. "OH!"

"Can I go on or are you content with this knowledge?" Slate asked, preparing to get up off the ground. "Cause if you're not going to listen than I'm not going to go around blabbing about things Igneous doesn't want to share..."

"NO! NO! NO! GO ON!" Corona shouted, angrily slapping a hand over her friend's mouth to get him to be quiet. "I've been waiting to hear this story for a while now! I want to hear it!"

Hearing this made Blake chuckle, even though it was in poor taste. He sat back down and continued, "So I assume you guys know where it goes from that point right? He marries the pretty girl, gets a safe job and they have a couple kids. Three boys to be exact. Tolkin, Doyle and our good buddy Igneous..."

Ten Years Earlier

"The oldest was Tolkin. He was about eight years older than Igneous and three years older than Doyle. Naturally, he carried out the older sibling stereotype of being serious, overprotective and responsible. Doyle was the middle child, about twelve years old when this story takes place. From what Igneous told me he was a clever boy but an easily excited one who seemed to find trouble wherever he went. They got along like normal brothers. They'd fight, they'd steal stuff from each other, they'd goof off...they acted like children until the dark day came..."

Have you ever noticed how on days when something big is about to change, it starts off just like any other day and nothing seems to be heading your way? This seemed to happen a lot more in the inner world than on Earth. The day Igneous got his manacle and became a spider rider was no different. Like every other day, he awoke to the sound of his two older brothers squabbling downstairs while his mom and dad tried to split the two up. As the youngest in any family would do, Igneous hurried out of his room and downstairs into the kitchen to see what had set the two off this time.

Like the majority of families in the village, Igneous's family lived quite comfortably. They weren't exceptionally wealthy or had a huge house but they didn't live in poverty. In fact, their parents made a fair amount of money by running the only pub in town. It was a smart move opening the place up, since a lot of the people passing through and staying only for a couple of days liked to partake in the consumption of alcohol and let their hair down. The five of them lived above their establishment, everyone pitching in to keep the place up to code. The kitchen was located downstairs, along with one of the two bathrooms which was also available for customers, while upstairs there were three bedrooms (Tolkin and Doyle's shared room, Igneous's and their parents'), a bathroom and a living room. It wasn't a big place, or the best looking but it was home and a young Igneous couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

On this particular and important day, he was just seven years old and looked quite different than he did as the teenage he was now. His hair wasn't gelled and combed upwards in what could be mistaken as a tribute to sharks and instead hung around his head, face and shoulders in a riot of dark blue curls. His eyes and face weren't as sullen and even had a sparkle to them that would later be erased as he aged and grew more aware of how cruel the world was. I guess you could say he still had his innocence.

The pub was empty with a couple empty mugs lying around, waiting to be cleaned up later on in the day when the boys were working just before their parents opened up shop for the day. The walls were painted a nice, cold mint color with a couple of pictures of well known Arachnians hanging on the walls for the customers to look at while eating and drinking. He crossed through the empty rooms towards the kitchen, his smile growing as the noise his brothers were making grew louder and louder with every step.

Before he could open the door and take a peak in though, two older boys came tumbling out, their hands wrapped around each other's throats and screaming loudly at each other. They were followed closely by a woman trying to separate them and failing. Like Igneous, this woman had the same light green eyes although her hair was short and stopped just below her ears and was a light, mango color. While the boys rolled around on the floor, not listening to a single word she shouted at her, Igneous watched with a semi-amused smirk for a couple minutes.

"What set them off this time?" The small child asked the woman, reaching out to tug on her dress and get her attention. "Did Doyle eat the last biscuit again?"

"Oh, Igneous." The woman, his mother, said with a small smile, ruffling her youngest child's hair as she did every morning when he awoke. "It's nothing you need to concern yourself about angel. Your brothers are just..." She sighed, opting to take her eyes off of her older two children at the moment. "...They're just being themselves. Go have some breakfast, okay? Your dad wants to talk to you about something."

"Okay mom." Igneous said with a smile, although he remained lingering in the room at her side for a few minutes, wanting to see how his brothers would settle this little fight. Last time it ended with Doyle shoving Tolkin's face into a snowbank! The two were always coming up with fun ways to settle their differences. Unfortunately for young Igneous this wasn't one of those fun times. Instead, their mother was able to pry the older two boys apart.

He walked into the kitchen and sat down in the same place he sat every morning, right across from where his father always sat. When compared to both of his parents, it was no competition that Igneous took after his father. Their hair was the same dark, navy blue and their cheekbones and jawlines were the same, they had the same nose and grin...whenever you looked at Igenous, you could see his father. He was currently enjoying a piece of bread, listening to the racket his older sons were making in the other room as he ate.

"Good morning dad." Igneous greeted him, trying to keep eye-contact although it was rather hard. His eyes kept falling on the device around his father's wrist. It was a weird looking object but yet an interesting one. A spider rider's manacle. He'd already learned in school that manacles were rare and each was different but his father's was one that was considerably pleasant to the eye. It was a dark shade of aqua, with a dark, blood red crystal and two small yellow lines. For some reason he couldn't quite explain, Igneous was obsessed with the manacle. It gave him this weird feeling in his chest whenever he looked at it...like it was important somehow...he wouldn't tell anyone else about this though. They'd all think it was crazy.

His father gave him a small nod in response. "Morning son." He finished eating his piece of bread and smiled warmly at his kid. "Has your mother talked to you yet or were Tolkin and Doyle distracting her?"

"No..." The youngest of three replied with a small shrug of his shoulders. "She said that you wanted to talk to me but she didn't say what about. I'm not in trouble am I cause if I am I can pretty much guarantee that it was actually somehow Doyle's fault..."

"You're not in trouble Igneous and neither are your brothers." His father assured him, "I wanted to properly introduce you to a good friend of mine and then show you boys something I learned a couple years back. As you know, for many years I was a spider rider in Arachna but I retired and now I'm too old. But you three aren't. I wanted to show you some of the things you'd be doing if you decided to join the spider riders, although there's no pressure to run off and sign up today! If you want to stay here in the pub or do something else like become a merchant that's fine as well! Me and your mother just thought you might like to see what you'd be getting into."

Igneous nodded although he didn't quite understand what his father meant. Of course he'd like to be a spider rider! They were the bravest heroes! They defeated all of those nasty invectids and saved the day! Once he was old enough, Igneous was going to go off and become one of the best spider riders in all of Arachna!

Sometime later, once they had settled their little scuffle, Tolkin and Doyle entered the kitchen with their heads hung in defeat. They shuffled over to the table and sat down, mumbling insults directed towards each other as they ate. Their father rolled his eyes and took a long drink of water. Sibling rivalry was quite common but the older boys were taking it a bit too far.

"When are you leaving?" Their mother asked, reentering the kitchen and sitting down at the remaining empty seat. "And where are you going to go? I don't want you all going to the forest by the mountain edge, okay? Some of the spider riders from Arachna castle told me that they saw some invectids down there when they were passing through."

"There's no Invectids this close to the village, love, and even if there are we aren't going that far." Their father assured her with a charming smile, "I'm just going to take the boys up to the cliff and show them one of the moves me and Flame have been perfecting over the years. Ain't that right Flame?"

His manacle lit up in response although the spider inside didn't say anything. Flame didn't speak much. He was more of the strong and silent type although he would talk if he needed to. Igneous had never heard him speak yet in the short time he'd been alive but it was only a matter of time. It would happen sooner or later. His father chuckled, patted his manacle and took another drink.

"...Just don't kill our boys or else I will have to push you off the roof." Their mother instructed them, "I'm going to go open up. We're supposed to have another group of riders coming in here tonight. Be sure to be back in time to help out."

"I know better than to let something like that happen." Their father assured her and stood up. "Come on then boys, you heard your mother. Let's get back here as quickly as possible so we don't have to something as long brow as tossing out drunks or cleaning vomit." There was always one spider rider in every group that thought he or she could hold their liquor only to upchuck a couple mugs in. No one liked having to deal with that.

Hearing this made all three boys groan. Drunk spider riders were the most in-your-face kind of people in the world. They wouldn't shut up about all of their battles, they'd practically beg for more beer even when it was obvious that they couldn't handle it and they'd do the stupidest things. One day one particular rider tried to fly by jumping off the roof and would have ended up a splatter on the ground if it hadn't been for Flame and their father.

The three brother stood up and followed them out of the kitchen and towards the door. If they kept walking and didn't stop, it wouldn't be long before they got to the cliff and then they'd be able to return home and be spared the wrath of their mother.

"You guys remember that cool trick Igneous was able to do with Flame? Where he'd jump from high up and have Flame catch his feet with spinnerets and pull him back up while doing a couple of flips? That was the trick their dad had perfected with Flame over the years. He really wanted wanted to teach his sons that and on this day that's what he did." Slate couldn't help but smile sadly as he remembered the next part of the story. "It was learning this trick that saved Igneous's life. That and his stubbornness."

The boys' father spent the next couple of hours teaching the boys how to do his signature trick. He took them to the edge of the cliff, a straight drop off with a nearby waterfall that crashed down into a lake below. There was another small village located a couple of miles outwards. One by one, the would jump off as the spider known as Flame caught them and yanked them back up to safety. They'd do a flip, land and go off to the sidelines to watch the others. Well...that's how it went for their father and Tolkin. Doyle and Igneous' experiences were slightly different.

Doyle's first attempt ended with him bashing his head into the side of the cliff while during Igneous' first attempt one of the spinnerets snapped and he came a little too close to becoming a pancake. After being pulled up to safety and embraced by his father who was pleading for him not to tell their mother and be more careful, young Igneous decided he didn't want to die that way or experience something like that ever again. He wanted to get away from the cliff, however, he also wanted to learn his father's trick.

"Dad?" He asked shyly, as most children would when asking for something they wanted. "...Could we maybe go around to the lower cliffs on the other side of the village?" At least there it wasn't as far to the ground.

"Of course." His father replied, understanding the obvious reasons why his youngest child would have issues being high up. "We'll go to the lower cliffs and practice a little bit more-"

"Actually, dad, I think I have this down." Tolkin piped up, "Plus mom probably wants some help back at the pub. It's getting close to lunch time, the crowd's bound to be heading over soon."

"Good idea. Your mom can't take care of everyone by herself. You go on ahead and we'll be back to help out as soon as we finish up." Their father said with the charming smile he'd been known for a spider rider. He picked Igneous up and put him on his shoulders and they walked back through town with the others, in front of their place Tolkin left the group and went inside while the others continued on wards. They had no idea that Igneous's little request, his simple request, was what would spare them if only for the time being.

The three of them let time slip away as they continued to practice this silly little trick on the small cliffs, on the opposite side of the small village they called home. Flame was quiet and stoic, not saying a word as he helped the three boys jump and not brake their necks, although he was happy then. You could tell that he was enjoying the time he spent with his rider and his kids. They spent the while day there, just having fun doing simple things and enjoying each other's company. Igneous, Doyle and their father were a like in many ways other than appearance and this was just another bonding experience between them. Tolkin, on the other hand, was more like their mother and looked more like her too.

Hours passed and it wasn't until they saw the first explosion and heard the first rounds of screams did they realize how long they'd been gone.

Igneous froze, having been in the middle of a drop when he heard the loud, booming, thundering sound coming from the village and saw the flames and thick smoke. He let out a small, strangled gasp and was quickly yanked upwards, into the arms of his waiting father.

"Invectids!" The man hissed with a fierce passion. "Probably the ones those spider riders saw! They're invading!"

"Mama..." Doyle murmured weakly, his eyes, the same green ones as Igneous and their mother, as wide as sauce plates. "...She and Tolkin are at home! Dad we have to go get them! They could be in Dange-"

"No!" Their father insisted, setting Igneous back down on the ground and anxiously looking at the fire spreading threw the village. "Take your brother and head down the mountains, I'll go back and get your mom and your brother and anyone else, and then we'll all go hide in that nearby place. Okay?!"

Unable to speak, Doyle and Igneous both nodded weakly, each still having trouble comprehending what was going on. They heard stories all the time of villages being wiped out by invectids, of people loosing all of their families in horrible, fiery attacks. Spider riders came through all the time talking about places like that, their father told them stories like that but they had no idea that it would ever happen to them! They never, ever thought it would!

"You know that, that uh, old oak tree over by the entrance to the forest? I want you two to wait for all of us there and if we don't come, I want the both of you to run as fast as you can possibly go to the nearest town for help and never look back! Okay!? Do you both understand that?!"

Neither boy had ever seen their father look so panicked before. There was something in his eyes, something wild, pure fear. Neither would ever realize that it wasn't the fear of running to fight the invectids after years of sitting on the sidelines but the fear of loosing either of them, or their other brother or mother or Flame that night. If something happened to any of them...Fitz wouldn't have been strong enough to handle it. He could fight off invectids until the cows came home but he'd never be brave enough to deal with the death of a loved one.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT!?" He repeated, screaming and shaking Doyle's shoulders. The older boy nodded, more anxiety settling in his chest by this erratic behavior. Their father was really scared.

Having finally gotten an answer from his children, their father stood up and looked grimly at the village, an unsettling feeling worming it's way into his chest. He looked down at Flame. "You ready to fight off evil again pal?"

Not being a talky sort, even in a situation as dark as this one, Flame just nodded.

Doyle grabbed Igneous hand and the two started running one way, away from the dangers lurking in their village, while their father and Flame turned and ran the other, straight into it.

"...That was the last time Igneous ever saw his father alive."

It had been hours since the last time the two brothers had seen their parents. They sat around under the old oak tree their father spoke about, lazily waiting and trying to kill as much time as possible. They should have run on to the nearest village already but neither was willing to admit what that would have implied. That would have implied that the rest of their family had been killed and that was simply not possible in their eyes.

Finally, after three hours, Igneous couldn't take it anymore. "That's it!" He declared to his older brother, "I'm going back to see what's happening! I can't take just lying around here, hoping and waiting! I want to see them okay!"

"You're right!" Doyle exclaimed, "Something has to have happened! I mean, there has to be a reason why they're not here yet!"

The two took off running back towards their village, trying not to trip over their own two feet as they struggled to get to the place they once called home. Thick clouds of smoke still rolled out over the tops of trees and buildings as they got closer to their home. Everywhere they looked they could hear the sounds of crackling flames, smell ash and hear the cries of suffering people. They tried not to listen to them. It only made them feel worse about not being able to help them out.

They kept running, not looking back, with their eyes directed solely on the roof of the building they called home. Neither took in their surroundings, looked at the bodies of both invectids and humans, at least not until they attempted to round one corner and the lifeless corpse resting against one of the burning buildings caught their attention. Doyle let out a horrified gasp while a loud, horrifying screech was the noise his brother produced. They saw before them, the cold and lifeless body of their father, lying in a pool of his own blood with his eyes opened in a final stare.

"Dad..." Doyle said weakly. "...Dad...I...I..."

"Daddy..." Igneous mumbled, feeling utterly pathetic and alone. He hadn't called his father 'daddy' since he was four years old but there he was, standing there with horrible tears forming in his eyes as he was unable to do anything but stare at what had once been his father. He threw himself at the ground, unable to control or hold back the sobs. "...Ple-please come back..."

Doyle said nothing. He simply sat down on the unforgiving ground beside his brother and their dad's corpse, wiping away his own tears on his arm and feeling bad for every bad thing he'd ever done in his entire existence. "...Dad..."

"Plea-please come back..." Igneous begged, his voice fragile and braking on almost every word as he struggled to speak through his tears, as viscous sobs jerked his body. "Please don't leave us..."

There was no reply, no sounds, except for the crackling of the nearby flames.

"Come on kids." A voice, gruff but smooth, hushed the two of them. "You two and I both know that your dad wouldn't want you to sob and cry like this. If you keep it up, you're going to make yourselves sick."

"Wh-Who said that?" Doyle asked, managing to get the tears to stop although his face was still red and puffy with small amounts of tears still clinging to his face.

"I did." The voice replied. "I'm not surprised you don't recognize me but you should at least have a small clue who I am. I've only known you for your entire lives, silly boys."

"...Fl-Flame?" Igneous asked, trying to keep his voice steady as he spoke and make the sobs stop. Whoever this person was, they were making a good point. Seeing either boys in this state would have ruined their father. "Is that you...?"

Sure enough, the manacle their father owned for years, lit up in response. "Yeah, it's me. Hello boys. I'm sorry to see you here, considering the circumstances."

"What happened here?" Doyle asked. "Why did the invectids attack here! We haven't done anything to hurt them or offend them! Why did they..." He choked, his eyes wandering over to his father's body. "Why'd they kill him...?"

"They heard that this place is where all the spider riders come to relax and decided to try and wipe out all of the spiders. This way, it would only be humans against invectids and they would have the advantage..." Flame paused, "...Your dad...was my best friend and he died saving my life. Without him...I would have been killed like all of the others."

This offered the boys some comfort. At least this way they knew their dad went out as a hero. Slowly, Doyle reached out and took the manacle from their father's wrist, placing it around his brother's instead. "...Dad wouldn't have wanted us to leave him here...and he would have wanted you to have it."

Igneous found himself unable to say anything in response. He just nodded and looked down at the device now on his arm.

Doyle forced a smile, for his little brother's sake. "Come on. We should get out of here before anyone comes looking for other spiders."

"Okay..." Igneous said softly, getting up off the ground and going to his brother's side. "...Do you think mom and Tolkin are okay?"

His older brother didn't have the heart to tell him what probably had happened. "...Sure." He lied.

They kept walking, not sure which way they were heading or what they were going to do when they got there. Everywhere they turned there were the lifeless bodies of their friends and neighbors, just lying there. Eventually, Doyle decided to cover his brother's eyes until they left the smoldering remains of their former home. Some how, they ended up only a couple feet away from the very cliff where they'd been this morning along with their father and Tolkin.

"...Where are we going to go?" Igneous asked finally, after they continued on in silence for some time. It hadn't taken Flame long enough to fall back into his usual habit of not saying a word and neither brother had the strength to say anything. "...If we can't find mom-" They had no other family and if their mom was gone, which, judging from the amount of unidentifiable bodies and lack of other survivors, was most likely true, than they were orphans now.

"Don't know." Doyle said with a shrug, "We'll keep walking. I think that the village nearby might take in some survivor-" He trailed off. His eyes widened in a mix of shock and horror as he felt a powerful, overwhelming surge of pain jolt through his body. He looked down and let out a loud, terrified shriek. There, stabbing his heart through his back with the end sticking out from his ribcage, was a large, sharp, bloody invectid blade.

"DOYLE!" Igneous shouted in alarm, looking around wildly for his brother's attackers. Sure enough, he was able to catch sight of a couple menacing shadows lurking nearby in the bushes.

"R-Ru-Run..." Doyle struggled to say, choking on this simple word. "Ple-please run..." He collapsed to the ground, his heart slowly down to a halt as soon as his body hit the grass beneath his feet. Doyle died of a mix of bloodless, pain, shock and a hole in his heart.

Igneous took off sprinting, running as fast as his young legs could carry him, towards the edge of the cliff. He had to get away from the invectids. They wanted to kill Flame just like they'd killed Doyle and his father! Once the spider was out of the picture, they'd do away with him too!

"On that night, when he was running for his life from an unseen but very there pack of invectids, Igneous decided one thing. He wasn't going to let the invectids kill anyone else like they killed his family. If it cost him his life, Igneous was going to make sure every invectid living in Arachna died at the end of his blade. "

He kept running, only stopping for a minute when he reached the end of the cliff and the waterfall. He had no where else to turn, no one left to help him out and the invectids that had killed Doyle were still close behind him. It was literally one way of death over the other. An invectid stepped out of the bushes, menacingly holding one blade, exactly like the one that had impaled Doyle in his hand. Igneous made his choice then. He jumped.

"Woah...so...Igneous was now..."

"A seven year old orphan who witnessed the death of his older brother, stumbled across the corpse of his loving father and was forced to leap to what he believed would be his death off of one of the highest cliffs in Arachna into the freezing, icy cold water below? Yes."

"Hunter...I'm beginning to wish you hand't wanted to know these things..."

"So where do you come into this Slate?"

"I'm just getting to my part."

A couple hours after the destruction of their neighboring village, everyone from the smaller, less populated village located at the bottom of the mountain were out looking for survivors and the injured, hoping to patch them up and send them on their way. They were a friendly group of people, the ones who'd walk three hours to attend an event that was important to a friend and smile the whole time. The Grey family were no exception.

Monnie and Stony Grey, along with their young son Slate, were farmers who lived on the closest land to the lake and forest located just under the waterfall. They weren't the richest family in town but they certainly weren't the poorest and were able to make do with what they had. Monnie was chipper and rather upbeat, a very loving wife and mother, as well as one of the best farmers in Arachna. Her husband Stony, a man who'd been rejected from the Arachnian army for numerous health problems, was cheery despite his situation and worked as hard as he could along with help from Monnie. Their son, their only child due to more health complicated health problems between the couple, Slate was handsome, strong, athletic with a good sense of humor and great people skills. He was determined to someday make his parents proud, not knowing that they were already intensely proud of him. When he'd been born with no health conditions, they had been able to breath easy.

"Anyways, getting back to the story."

Like the others in their village, after the destruction of their neighboring community, Monnie, Stony and Slate were poking around the nearby area for any sign of survivors. While Monnie was checking around the woods, Stony and Slate were searching for survivors near the lake. It was a long shot but there may have been some poor folks, forced to jump in order to survive.

Fearing the state of the survivors, Stony decided it might not have been best for his nine year old son to see one until their wounds were bandaged up. "Why don't you go swim in the lake while I look around?" He suggested to his son, who nodded eagerly and ran happily into the water. Slate might have been a friendly, fun young boy but he was a little odd.

While his parents looked around for survivors, the young boy splashed and swam from side to side until something nearby in the reeds caught his eye. Something shiny. Curiosity got the better of him and he swam over to see what it was.

Slate certainly wasn't prepared for what he found.

"H-Hey dad," He called to his father who was knee-deep in the water himself, still searching. "...I found someone!"

Wow. Originally this was supposed to be the entire back story but it was too big and taking too long for this one chapter! So, it's going to be split up into two and the other half will be included in the third and final part of the story!

Thanks to TL-chan for the review and the advice, including what to do about a possible pairing between Slate/Igneous since there is no fics about them as a couple and it's annoying. Anyways, this won't be a serious romantic story, just a simple crush that one boy has on the other, you know? Deep buried feelings of love that are never going to surface due to the bad love-lives of spider riders (Unless I desire to write more.)

Anyways, thanks for reading!