Though Juri had imagined that she would be thrown into the gauntlet as soon as she was healthy enough, Larosha was wise to disregard the trial by fire ideology. She and her kin allowed the wounded young woman to rest, recover, come to terms with her loss and then, once she was ready for it, they put her to work. At first it was training. Larosha put Juri through arduous regimens to help strengthen her body and enhance her stamina. On some days the young woman had to complete various sets, workout until fatigue set in, bloody her knuckles on wood and stone and much more while on the off days she was encouraged to familiarize herself with the various tunnels and caves of Larosha's domain.
With Juri's body being strengthened and tempered like fine steel, Larosha made sure that she didn't forget to sharpen her mind. Ebony Spiders were large and powerful creatures that none wanted to meet in the darkness, yet raw strength wasn't what they were known for. Juri needed to emulate their cleverness and patience. To the Ebony Queen's delight, Juri proved herself to be a quick study. Her trauma, personality, and affinity for spiders fueled Juri's most defining characteristic, that being her cruelty. She had yet to kill another human being and she hadn't dared to extensively harm one of Larosha's kin, yet the queen could sense the anger burning in Juri's eye and the violence that she was capable of.
In hindsight, it helped when Larosha sent Juri back to the ruins of Soulsca on scavenging runs. The spiders had no use for wood, stone and other goods manufactured by humans, but Juri did. For many months she made the trek up to where she once lived and gathered as many building and crafting materials as she and the few spiders that came with her could carry. Though the fires had burned so much to the ground, there were still books, clothing, food and water to collect if one had an eye for detail like Juri did. Originally the young woman was overcome with grief when she gazed upon the ruins of her city, but as time passed and as she made subsequent scavenging runs the grief turned to seething rage. Every step she took in that dead city only helped to strengthen her desire for revenge.
And so for many years Juri would study like a scholar in Larosha's sanctum, build herself a stable house in one of the ancient stone huts from Soulsca's bones and push her body to the limit and beyond. Her only friends and confidants came in the form of the various spiders that scuttled about while she sharpened her tongue and wit on the very few that were capable of speaking and abstract thought. Larosha, in particular, possessed a hefty amount of ancient knowledge and was learned in philosophy, among other things. She imparted much of what she knew upon Juri and almost always told the truth no matter how painful or hard it was to swallow. The Ebony Queen, though a spider, treated Juri like she was her own daughter instead of a disposable tool.
And then came the day the Han family's sole survivor was given her first mission and her first taste of blood.
There had been a time when Larosha and her kin controlled much more territory than those dank caverns, caves and tunnels they resided in. When other races moved onto the continent and set up shop, many sought diplomatic solutions and, for the most part, were allowed to settle in lands that had little use to the Ebony Spiders. But people, especially humans, were greedy and ambitious, and in due time they banded together to drive the wretched, eight-legged abominations back to their dens. Some communities outright obliterated entire colonies of spiders, even those that posed no threat to them. Larosha desired to rebuild her kin's territory by any means necessary, and so Juri was put up to the task.
The young woman was sent to a faraway port city notorious for being a hive of scum and villainy. Pirates, marauders, murderers and degenerates of every stripe threw their weight around in Batumi while the everyday people sat on their hands in silent resignation. Juri, when she looked upon these people, had no sympathy for them. They were no more innocent than the scum they protected via inaction. Juri's task was a terrible one, but it was made easier when she was performing it against terrible people. She blended in with common travelers, kept her mouth shut and her eye open and never strayed from the package she carried with her in a knapsack on her back.
"The people of Batumi are so used to fending off outside threats," Larosha purred within Juri's mind. "None will suspect what the night will bring. Begin, Juri. Show them how their ill-gotten society crumbles from within."
Juri would never forget her first kill. She marked a target, a marauder that she remembered from the burning carcass of Soulsca, and tracked him to a tavern. Posing as a lady of the night, she lured the detestable man into a private room and overpowered him as soon as his hands reached for her hips. Her fury ran as deep as the blows she inflicted upon his body until a blade to his neck dropped him down to the floor. Juri stared for several minutes as the life drained from his eyes; a sight that would haunt the woman for years to come, yet excite her for even more. In her exhilaration, she almost forgot what her task was. Almost.
Using the same blade that had ended the marauder's life, Juri cut into her kill right down to the viscera and left a parting gift: a single spider egg blessed by Larosha herself.
That night more bodies fell to the ground by Juri's hand. Most of them deserved their sentence while others were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The killings became easier and easier as Juri continued on while sticking to the shadows like a spider. This was not to say that she didn't hesitate or feel remorse for her actions, yet such feelings dimmed through the night until they no longer surfaced. Instead, Juri discovered that she was enjoying all of this from the fighting, the pain, and especially the killing. She took more eggs out of her knapsack and decorated the corpses she left behind until she had run through all that Larosha had given her.
As a reward for a job well done, Larosha allowed Juri to stay in Batumi for a while and savor the fruits of her labor.
In a literal case of death feeding new life the eggs Juri had left behind were nurtured by her kills and, once midnight struck Batumi, they hatched into powerful spider warriors. Over twenty of the ebony abominations writhed and screeched into the night as Larosha's blessing amplified their strength, cunning and depravity while at the same time promoting extreme growth. In the span of minutes the tiny monsters grew to become twice the size of the largest tigers known to man. All within Batumi were caught off guard by this sudden infestation, and by the time the locals banded together to ward off the twenty or so spiders ripping and tearing them apart it was already too late.
By morning Batumi was reduced to a smoldering graveyard with Larosha's army serving as carrion crows. Juri looked over all that she had done, made peace with herself and then returned with a smile on her face and blood on her hands.
After Juri returned Larosha took her aside and told her that it was time to finally unlock her inner power. The power went by many names. Ki, chi, lifeforce; it was all magic in the end, and it was this magic that Juri would put to use. Hungry for power and the opportunities it could bring, Juri accepted Larosha's offer without hesitation. Barely over the age of 21, Juri's body had matured into one as shapely as her late mother, but not quite as tall. Her muscles were well-defined from countless trials and years of training while her reflexes were honed and as sharp as ever. There was always room for improvement, but Juri figured she was ready for whatever gauntlet Larosha could throw her way.
While unlocking this power did require some physical training and scholarship, Juri discovered that it was her soul that was on the line this time. She followed Larosha's advice and embarked on a series of trials that tested her resolve, bonds and much more. At times she was at odds with physical forces trying to kill her, and at others she was at odds with herself. She needed to rid herself of any and all guilt if she was to advance. Along the way Larosha encouraged her to imbibe a variety of odd and dangerous substances, such as toxins and specially made mutagenic compounds, that served to both enhance her body and leave her teetering on the edge of death only to bounce back feeling more powerful than ever before.
In the span of two to three years Juri's power steadily increased until she reached the pinnacle of what was possible for a human being. Entertained by martial arts and predisposed towards it because of her upbringing Juri discarded any and all weapons she acquired working for Larosha and chose to rely solely on her own power, both physical and internal. Her one, dark violet eye glimmered with energy while faint purple embers swirled around her body whenever she was excited or agitated. Now, to be struck by one of her limbs submerged in dark violent energy was sure to spell certain doom.
By the time Juri turned 25 she had plenty of accolades under her belt. After Batumi was reclaimed Juri was sent to Kliinsburg, Yansuro, Gugurmi, Florsbrook and other nearby points of civilization to do the same thing she had done before. Some cities did not yield as expected to being consumed from within and had to be attacked directly while others were found abandoned with only a few stragglers hurriedly packing carts and wagons with all that they owned. Though Juri did enjoy all the killing, she wasn't a merciless mass murderer. She allowed many citizens of sacked cities to escape and expressed restraint when she came across travelers, peacekeepers and the everyday person just looking to survive.
And so, in the span of ten years Juri had reclaimed all of Larosha's previous territory to the point where the Ebony Spiders were settled and in complete control of over a fifth of the continent. She had tracked down every single marauder that had a hand in Soulsca's destruction and was in Bison's employ at the time and got her revenge, but still she was not sated. Bison was still at large somewhere on the continent, and until he was dead and buried, no-one was safe. In her quest for revenge against a monster who killed her family and destroyed all that she had ever known, Juri remained oblivious to the fact that she herself had become a monster.
The figurative soon became literal.
"Larosha? Laroooooshaaaaa!" Juri paced the new tunnels carved under the foundation of Soulsca and shouted out over the scuttling, squeaking, screeching and scratching. A large brute of a spider came skittering past her only to be grabbed by the head and directed towards the woman's face. "Hey, do you know where Larosha is?" she asked. The spider, capable of bisecting men in two with a simple swipe of its legs, chittered at Juri until she let it go free. "Huh? But I was just there! Alright, well, thanks anyway."
The brute offered Juri its version of a shrug and waddled away.
Once the grief and painful memories of Soulsca washed away, Juri gave Larosha her blessing to start excavating and settling beneath her ruined hometown. The Ebony Queen had plans to do so from the very beginning, so Juri's blessing was sweet yet unnecessary like a garnish to a meal. When the work started, however, Larosha was nowhere to be seen. One of the many things Juri respected about the spider was that she oversaw the tasks she delegated to her minions and was always around to provide some sage advice or some disgusting, corrosive concoction for tough rocks. For weeks on end Juri kept her distance and assumed that the Ebony Queen needed to rest as she periodically did, but this time her absence had begun to make even Juri, a woman who had been conditioned to deaden her 'weaker emotions', concerned.
"She had better not be avoiding me," Juri grumbled as she picked at her nails. "Oh, you're not ready to fight Bison yet. Listen here you big, eight-legged freak. I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Stop pussyfooting about; you know where he is." The violet-eyed woman glowered at that. "Riiiiiiight. That's right, you do. You must."
Juri turned on her heel and went back the way she came. The most expansive cave networks dug out by the spiders were connected via a series of large hubs that branched off to various rooms such as nurseries and food stores. Travel between said hubs was quick and efficient for the skittering spiders, but for a human, it took some time. Juri bypassed the inconveniences by either utilizing her agility to the point where she was leaping to and fro like the smaller spiders or by hitching a ride upon those who didn't mind carrying her. She went with the latter.
Though it was difficult to near-impossible to determine what the time of day was whilst underground, Juri was certain that the sun had set. Magical flames that adorned the walls of the tunnels and caves seemed to pulse and grow brighter because of it. Juri reached her destination, Larosha's private sanctum, and hopped off of her mount to investigate. Normally so bright and bustling with activity, the Ebony Queen's sanctum was pitch black and silent. Juri snapped her fingers and willed forth a plume of violet energy to light her way as she trekked down a set of rough-hewn stairs to the large, smooth stone slab in the middle of the area. This was where she had first met Larosha and where the Ebony Queen frequented, and so Juri figured the giant spider had to be here somewhere.
"Larosha?" Juri called out as she glanced about with her one good eye piercing through the darkness. "Hey! Quit skulking about. It's been over a month now; I think I deserve an explanation here." Silence, then a sigh. "Either you show yourself or I'll start knocking down some columns."
"That… That will not be necessary."
"Then get down here!"
After a brief and unpleasant silence Larosha finally descended from the ceiling. Being so massive and powerful, not to mention ancient, Juri expected to feel the impact as the spider queen landed in front of her as she usually did. But Juri was aghast to know that Larosha came down with all the grace of an animal in its death throes. The giant crumpled to the floor as if too tired or too weak to remain poised while the carapace that covered her body looked chipped, weak and dull. The pitch-black color had faded to a grayish one, yet it still retained those ancient markings here and there. Even more concerning were Larosha's many eyes which looked misty or glazed over.
The diagnosis did not look good for the Ebony Queen.
"You uh, you don't too good," Juri remarked as she downplayed her concern. She used her flame to get a better look at the creature before dispelling the energy. "What in the world? What happened to you?"
"This, Juri, is natural. You know that I am old. Perhaps far older than the first settlement established on this continent. The years have slipped by so quickly and, for the most part, have been so uneventful that I've lost count of just how old I really am." The spider's mystical voice was soft now as she angled her head to look over Juri's form. "I am dying."
"Dying of old age?" Juri scoffed. "I don't believe you. I saw you a month ago and you looked fine. Stuffy and aloof, but fine."
Like thunder, a low rumble came from Larosha's belly.
"Fufufu… Perceptive as usual. Very well, I fed you a half-truth. I am indeed old and slowly dying, as should be natural, yet the process has been accelerated by two forces."
Juri's eyebrows arched in morbid curiosity.
"You have risen above and beyond my wildest expectations, Juri. In ten years you have helped my kin and I reclaim our ancient territory, and you've bolstered the forces sitting on our borders with your determination and unwavering dedication. Many are eager to expand our territory and have asked for you personally to help pave the way as you have done so many times before." The markings upon Larsoha's carapace glowed ever so slightly as she dipped into a fraction of her power. A shallow deposit of water near Juri began to bubble up and shift about as Larosha worked on turning it into a scrying pool. "However, your actions have not gone unnoticed. Nevermind the peacemakers who pray in their temples for deliverance; the foe you have been opposing for so long has traded in his charisma and influence for power. A terrible, sinister power." A series of dull pops echoed throughout the sanctuary as Larosha moved her many legs to overlook her work and the woman gazing down into it. "You have forced his hand."
Within the water Juri could see a man dressed in blood-red armor with a dark cape draped around his shoulders. Virulent violet energy warped around his figure like a second skin while his soulless white eyes gazed out into the distance for a moment before they whipped up to focus on Juri's face. Then, he smiled. No, it was a disgusting, evil grin that made fear and rage bubble up inside Juri's body. The vision dissipated and soon the water was back to normal, though now showing one of Bison's many victims staring back at herself.
"He, Bison, has cursed me," Larosha explained. "And for that you should feel proud, for this means that we are his quarry, that we have shaken the continent with such righteous fury that even the tremors have made him cautious."
"I feel so honored to have his attention," Juri replied, sarcastic even with venom lacing her tone. "But now because of me, Bison's killing you."
"No… That would be too kind. This curse will leave me broken and lame; too weak to move or think logically. Bison wants me to suffer, and for my children to wither away before he remembers the concept of mercy and exterminates us all."
"I'm not going to let that happen." Juri rolled her shoulders and clenched her fists. "These spiders are the only family I've got now." She turned back to Larosha and gave an inquisitive nod of her head. "So? What's the other force out to get you? Holy warriors, maybe?"
"A force of my own creation," Larosha explained. "I will not go out with a whimper, and I will not leave my children without someone to lead them. Someone strong must take my place, and with it, my power."
The two powerhouses shared a look between each other in silence before Juri's eye widened as realization swept through her. Taking Larosha's place had never been toyed with before, and while Juri did fantasize about the possibilities of having her power and influence, she knew that the whole thing wouldn't work out. The most glaring issue at hand was that Larosha was a giant, ancient spider and that Juri was a human. It was akin to asking a cat to take the place of the mightiest tiger that had ever walked the lands.
"Me? What? No, that's just crazy," Juri replied as she started to glance around the sanctuary. Unfortunately for her, there was no-one else around to put into the spotlight. "I'm hardly qualified to lead. What's wrong with Arania, Riju or Jorōgumo?"
"Those three are not you," Larosha replied matter-of-factly. "They are too ingrained in our traditions and too instilled with the desire to preserve our lineage to take the reins and lead. Jorōgumo in particular, thanks to your subtle directing, has become one of our finest nursers. I desire one who is ambitious, one whose goals are both selfish and selfless. You, who wants to destroy Bison and those who flock to his banner, have reestablished our long-lost territories." The spider chuckled again. "Someone with ambition such as yours is hard to find and very valuable to me."
"You do know that I'm not the kind of woman to stay still, right? Directing things from the comfort of a dark, cozy cave just isn't my style." Juri placed her hands on her hips and leaned in. "But the most glaring thing here, Larosha, is that… well, you're a spider. An Ebony Spider. Unless you've been a shapeshifter this entire time, I see no way that I could ever take your place. Besides… ugh, laying eggs? No thank you."
"Ohohoho, no," Larosha laughed with some difficulty. "I stopped laying eggs thousands of years ago. The process of procreation; I've left that to the breeders, and you've seen just how spoiled they are." The markings upon Larosha's carapace started to glow again as the spider's eyes shimmered with power. "The transferring of power, for us, is not hereditary. It is voluntary. Had I not been cursed and you weren't here, I would have passed my power onto the strongest female here. But you are here today, and you are stronger than my fiercest warriors. From the moment I was first cursed, I started to pool my power here… and it was my hope that you would become the vessel for it all."
Between Larosha and Juri a magical sigil rose from the stone floor. Circular in design and sporting a few intricate flourishes here and there along with ancient glyphs that Juri couldn't decipher, the sigil wasn't something out of the pages of some novice scholar's magical basics book. The lines of the sigil glowed a pale cyan with bits of violet here and there while energy rose from them like steam from a hot spring. The Ebony Queen's markings continued to glow in tune with the pulsing from the sigil, even as she limped a little closer.
"If you accept my offer, I will die, but you will be reborn. You will possess great power; power that can move worlds. Such a thing will surely be able to tear Bison asunder, as well as anything else that stands in your way." Larosha paused and, as if her weakness was drawing out emotion, she dipped into a solemn tone. "My only wish is that you will protect my kin and see them into a new age."
The raven-haired woman clutched at her eyepatch as she thought this through.
"You're really serious about all of this, aren't you? And I wager you're going to keep pushing this towards me…" Juri looked down to the circle, then back up at Larosha and sighed. "Alright. I accept. I'd be lying to myself if I said that I didn't want this." She took a few steps forward and crossed the sigil's threshold to stand right in the center. "Tell me what I need to do."
A wave of silence passed over the two. Usually one could hear the bubbling, trickling of groundwater or the faint scuttling of spiders passing through the various corridors and caves, but all was silent. All that Juri could hear was her own heartbeat as it thumped away in her chest.
"Leave everything to me," Larosha cooed. "And Juri… Thank you."
Juri would have replied if not for the rumbling under her feet. Alarmed, she looked down and saw five jagged stone posts shoot out from the sigil's outer limits and curl towards her like talons. They were tipped with sharp obsidian points that could rend flesh and bone, and said tips shot down and into Juri's body from various angles. Two cut into her shoulders and held her down while two others shot into her hips. Juri howled and squirmed in agony as the obsidian dug deeper with her blood spilling onto the sigil below. Her cries of pain were soon silenced by the final post as it surged into her stomach from the front and slid up through her ribs to her heart.
Her one eye grew dark as she stood there impaled within the sigil. Larosha loomed over Juri like a predator would their hapless prey, but in the spider's darkening eyes there was anything but ill will. Larosha sank her legs into the stone around Juri and curled her body over the woman as she spoke like a mother would to a sick child.
"Sleep, Juri… Sleep..."
In the shadow of the colossus, bleeding out and so close to death, Juri could only oblige by slipping into unconsciousness.
It was unknown how long it took. Hours, days, a month or so. It felt like eons to Juri as she drifted through an indescribable abyss. All was darkness until the air, more like liquid, began to glow around her. Energy swirled around her frame and pierced her body to make changes while power seeped into her veins and strengthened her soul. Air filled her lungs and encouraged her to start breathing. Her heart, previously ruptured, reformed and began to beat with all the intensity of a war drum. Magic coursed through her figure and stimulated her nerves with such efficiency that not even the most potent of drugs or chemicals could compare.
In time Juri was brought back to the land of the living.
When she awoke, Juri found herself back where it had all began. The stone floor beneath her body was coated in slime and liquids while a strange shell unfolded all around her. She coughed and heaved until her airways were clear before lifting her head to take a look around. Larosha's sanctuary, and it was much brighter than it had ever been before. Ebony Spiders of all shapes and sizes clung to the walls, ceiling and other surfaces as they observed the woman on the stone slab. They had been waiting for her, for such a long time.
"Muh… W-what happened… Larosha?" Juri reached out with her hands to prop herself up, yet she stopped as soon as she noticed she was looming over a clear deposit of water. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "..."
Staring back at Juri was a woman with two dark violet eyes. She reached up to touch her left eye socket and gasped when she realized that her eye had been restored, and somehow it felt magical. Subtle markings, like the ones upon Larosha's carapace, adorned her iris. But the new eye wasn't the biggest change to Juri's appearance. Her limbs were coated with a thin yet impossibly sturdy black carapace that looked very similar to demonic armor. On closer inspection the material seemed to pulse as if alive, as if it was a second skin.
Juri got onto her knees and ran her hands down her figure to continue her discovery. Her nails were dangerously sharp whilst covered by that black carapace, yet as she focused on it the carapace upon her hands retracted and slid down to her wrists to reveal the pale, creamy-white skin underneath. Her torso was covered with the carapace as well, but only so much as modesty was concerned. It was as if she was wearing a dudou from her native land. Juri slid her fingers along her bare midriff and trailed further down before she came to the realization that her entire body was covered with the same sturdy material that comprised Larosha's carapace.
In a sense, she was wearing nothing at all, yet was still covered up. A dark and sensual part of Juri shivered at the observation and found it liberating. She looked back down at her reflection and admired how her raven-colored hair had been left alone, save for it being put in a sinister, spider-fang style that hung behind her head. But this wasn't even the most glaring change to Juri's body. As she went to stand she realized that there was a new weight upon her back and, being curious, the woman turned to examine it.
Four spindly and jagged limbs jutted out from Juri's back like spider legs. Like her new nails, the points were tipped with sharp obsidian that cut into flesh as if it was paper, and Juri knew this firsthand. She winced as her curious fingers came back with fresh cuts before humming in intrigue as those same cuts healed in the blink of an eye. The spider limbs recoiled at Juri's thoughts and emotions for she could surely control them. Once she had her fill with testing out those new limbs Juri breathed a sigh of relief when all four of them folded in on themselves and pressed themselves tightly against her back as if they were a part of her armor.
"Larosha! Larosha you…" Juri glanced around the area and searched the spiders gathered, but none of them resembled Larosha at all. The only thing that had anything similar to the giant was the shell of a cocoon that Juri had risen out of, which seemed to be the same shape and size as Larosha's swollen abdomen. "I see. So this is what you meant." The woman- hardly a human anymore- looked down at her hands in thought. "Hehehe… Your power is mine now. There's so much of it that… that frankly, it's intoxicating. The things I can do now will be recorded in all the history books for centuries to come!"
She then gazed over at the few pieces of Larosha's carapace that now adorned her limbs.
"Larosha. I won't promise to uphold all of your tenets, but I will see to it that your kind will live on. You're owed that much and more." Juri spun on her heel and walked out towards the gathered spiders seeking an audience. Many spiders recoiled in awe and respect when she approached them. "Now listen! Hear me and obey! You are a powerful, cunning lot, and it's time that the surface remembered that. They pray to their apathetic gods and sit on their hands while monsters like Bison destroy their lands and slaughter their people. Ha! And they demonize us and seek to exterminate us all instead of turning their attention to their greatest threat! I have no sympathy for any of them," Juri growled through gritted teeth. "We've spent enough time skulking about in the shadows. I say we reclaim what is rightfully ours! It's time to show the world just what kind of monsters we are!"
The Ebony Spiders began to chitter and squeak with Juri's words, and to her glee, she realized that she could understand each and every single one of them. They were eager to fight, and if necessary, they were eager to die for their queen. Juri felt the limbs on her back unfurl as she swept her hand over her new subjects. This was it. This was the beginning of their enemy's reckoning!
"We're gonna throw one hell of a party! Ahahahaha!"
END