Bab 124: Chapter 121: Peter Parker aint got shit on me
"I love what you've done to this place…"
My words echoed throughout the cavern.
The room was as big as a cathedral, it had a few Bronze braziers of magical light, like the gods used on Mount Olympus, glowed around the circumference of the room, interspersed with gorgeous tapestries.
The room had its own light system, but it carefully hid the one person I was looking for.
The room was lit by bronze braziers of magical light. Interspersed with gorgeous tapestries. The stone floor was webbed with fissures like a sheet of ice.
The ceiling reminded me a bit of the underworld, I couldn't see the top of it. Only endless layers of spiderwebs. Strands of silk as thick as pillars ran from the ceiling all over the room, anchoring the walls and the floor like the cables of a suspension bridge.
Webs also surrounded the centerpiece of the shrine.
Seeing the shrine made me grin.
Looming over me was a forty-foot-tall statue of Athena, with luminous ivory skin and a dress of gold.
In her outstretched hand, Athena held a statue of Nike, the winged victory goddess—a statue that looked tiny from here, but was probably as tall as a real person. Athena's other hand rested on a shield as big as a billboard, with a sculpted snake peeking out from behind, as if Athena was protecting it.
Strands of silk as thick as pillars ran from the ceiling all over the room, anchoring the walls and the floor like the cables of a suspension bridge.
I immediately started summoning ice underneath the spiderwebs floor, knowing full well that if we fell down we would fell into Tartarus. And I know it from personal experience.
After 10 seconds there was a 1 feet (ca. 30 cm) thick layer ice added underneath the floor, just in case.
The statue was covered by strands of web. It was the only thing that prevented it from falling down through the floor. To me it looked like it was wrapped in bubble wrap.
All around the room hung tapestries, every single one of them looking heart touching beautiful.
They looked like an actual window instead of a tapestry.
Hazel slowly stepped towards one of them, it showed the skyline of New Rome.
"Is this New Rome?" Hazel wondered while she lowered her sword. She touched the tapestry to check if it was not a window.
"It's beautiful," Katie murmured absently while her eyes scanned the room. "But where is the one who made it?"
I pointed up, "Where the spider always is. In the middle of her web."
I guess the above mentioned spider had some sense of humor or theatrics.
Above us, in the shadows, something moved. Something big and dangerous.
"Please come down," I kindly requested.
Above us the shadow descended, revealing a humanoid figure, becoming clearer but also more horrifying. Hazel let out a yelp while Katie visibly flinched.
But that was not the only thing that happened, all over the floors and walls small spiders scuttled in the darkness. Crawling slowly into our range of view, making clear they were aware of us. But they made no attempt to attack or get closer to us. They were silently waiting for their mistress's commands.
"Who are you?" the shadowy figure asked as it descended towards the statue, her voice was croaked and dry and had such a sharp edge it was almost not recognizable as a human voice. But I recognized it as a female one, a voice filled with bitterness, hate and grief and overall sadness.
"I am Percy Jackson," I said, making sure my voice didn't quaver.
'Told you it's becoming a cliché.' Lyssa chuckled. I wisely ignored the goddess of the madness and went on.
"And I'm here for you." I finished.
The creature landed onto the statue of Athena, finally stepping into the light.
Arachne's appearance shocked me a little, I've never got a good look at her, considering that both times I've been busy with saving my ex-girlfriend.
Arachne had the body of a giant black widow, with a hairy red hourglass mark on the underside of her abdomen and a pair of oozing spinnerets. Her eight spindly legs were lined with curved barbs. I was pretty sure if you would survive a stab from her leg you would die if she pulled it out.
Her face was scary, she was once a beautiful woman but now her beautiful hair was dirty and greasy. She had two large black eyes.
Black mandibles protruded from her mouth like tusks. Her other teeth had grown into thin white needles.
She made a violent rip-rip-rip sound that might have been laughter.
"Well, you found me." Arachne said as she stepped forward and away from the cobweb covered statue. She carefully moved from strand to strand.
Her eyes fixed on us all the way, Hazel stepped back in fear while Katie and I didn't falter. I couldn't blame Hazel, seeing a monstrous half spider coming towards you was frightening.
"Arachne," I said, "The weaver."
Arachne hissed, "How'd you find me?"
"That is not important," I said quickly. Not wanting to explain my meta knowledge.
"Are you here for the statue?" Arachne hissed protectively. I knew from my past life that it had become Arachne's life quest to protect the statue and hide it from Athena. It was kind of sad.
"No," I answered, "I'm here for you."
Arachne flinched, I guess this must have surprised her. "Did Athena send you to kill me?"
As I peered into Arachne's eyes I saw she was afraid. This confused me for a second until I realized that three demigods literally walked into her lair. Also, monsters could sense the power level of a demigod, considering Hazel and I were children from the big three. Katie was also the daughter of one of the eldest Olympians, so I could understand she was afraid.
"We're not here to fight," I said, "We are here to talk."
Katie nodded encouragingly, "Yes. We come in peace."
"What do you want?" Arachne hissed.
"I'm here to lift your curse." I said quickly.
Arachne hissed in rage, "How dare you to lie!"
"I'm not lying," I said calmly, "I can alter your curse and help you."
Arachne froze on her spot, "You are lying…" she muttered.
"I swear on Chaos that I can alter your curse…"
"Alter?" Arachne asked confused.
"Your curse is deep but I can adjust it so you it's not a burden anymore."
"How can you do that?" Arachne asked skeptically, thou I detected a faint of hope in her voice.
I smiled, "I'm the champion of Hestia. Hope is a strong tool." It was not a lie, not a complete one at least.
"What about Athena?" Arachne asked warily.
I grinned, "I'll deal with her. I promise she won't bother you ever again."
"Fine." Arachne said.
"I need to hold your hand though." I said.
I saw Arachne looking at me suspiciously, though she stepped forward and offered her hand. I carefully took her hand, making sure I didn't make any suspicious moves that would make Arachne kill me within one second.
Arachne looked like she could pass out from the stress any moment, so did I. But I nonetheless took her arm and closed my eyes. I channeled power of Chaos into Arachne, and I tried to imagine her curse as something physical.
Unlike the other curses, well, except Medusa's, Arachne's curse was different. It was a lot deeper than Medusa or Charybdis' and Scylla's. Maybe it was because Arachne had been hidden from the world for so long, maybe it was because of her life long quest against Athena or maybe the fates were just laughing in my face.
However, I could alter her curse. So I did.
Soft golden flames crawled over Arachne's body and began to cover her entirely.
The cave was lit in a golden light and for a second I had the unreasonable fear that the ice underneath our feet would melt from my fire.
But the light and the flames died down and soon the monstrous spider had disappeared, instead there stood a young girl in front of me.
She appeared to be around my age, maybe one year older but it couldn't be more. She had long grey hair that looked oddly similar to cobweb, brown eyes and a mirthful smile played on her lips.
She wore a silver-grey body suit that seemed to be woven out of spider silk. She had a black skirt, but she was strangely barefooted.
The girl in front of me blinked a few times, she glanced at her body and studied her arms. Twitching each finger and twirling around her hand.
I summoned a mirror (one of Aphrodite's minor and useless powers) in front of Aphrodite.
Arachne gasped and tears began to form in her eyes. She made a small jump and spun around in front of the mirror.
"You look beautiful." Hazel murmured in awe.
Katie and I could only nod, after an awkward minute of Arachne studying herself in the mirror she finally said, "You did it."
I smiled, "Yes. I managed to change your appearance, but your curse is deeper than the others."
Arachne pouted, "What do you mean?"
"Well," I sighed, "I managed to alter your curse. I'm unable to turn you back into a human. But I managed to separate you into two forms?"
Arachne raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
"Basically, you are able to switch between this form and your previous form. And you still have your powers in this form."
Arachne frowned and turned to the statue of Athena parthenos, She raised her arm and out of her palm a web line shot towards the statue. Arachne grinned and shot another web at the statue, but this time it was more like a silk package that exploded into a spiderweb patch onto Athena's face.
A second later Arachne's appearance shimmered and the young girl was replaced by a monstrous half spider. Then she turned back into a girl and turned to me, "I could get used to this." She said smiling.
I let out a sigh of relief, I had been scared that she would be disappointed by the fact she couldn't be a human anymore. But she seemed to be okay with it.
"Thank you," Arachne said, and she suddenly gave me a hug. I gasped for air when I found out that Arachne still had her original strength.
"Thank you so much Percy." Arachna whispered in my ear as I ran out of oxygen.
"C-an't-breath," I gasped, Arachne immediately released me and muttered an apology.
"No problem," I said, catching my breath.
"I can finally have a normal life," Arachne said with awe and joy. She turned to me, "Thank you so much Percy. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Actually," I said, "If you have some spare time. Could you help me out...whenever you don't have anything to do?"
Arachne grinned, "Yes! Of course. Though, how could I help you?"
"I'm putting together a team, a team of monsters, I call it the Suicide Squad. It's a-" I began but Arachne interrupted me.
"Stop right there," Arachne said, "I'm in."
I frowned, "You are?"
Arachne nodded and grinned, "I owe you everything Percy. If you ask me, I'll help you."
She stepped forward and gave me another hug, though this time she tried not to crush me.
She stepped back and smiled. "Give me your hand." Arachne said with a smirk.
I raised an eyebrow but nonetheless I offered her my hand.
Arachne took my hand and closed her eyes, just like I had done a few seconds before.
A sharp pain flashed through my hand and I jerked my arm back, "Auuch!"
"What happened?" Katie asked concerned while she eyed Arachne suspiciously.
I followed Katie's gaze and saw Arachne had a cut in the palm of her hand. I then stared at my own hand and saw I had one too.
"What the Hades?" I muttered. It kinda hurt, though I saw that the wound was already closing up.
"A little extra," Arachne said with a mirthful smile, "A gift from me."
"You cut him?" Hazel asked, "How is that a gift?"
Arachne shook her head, "No. I gave Percy something more. Something that will help him in the future."
"What is it?" I asked, the wound on my hand had closed and there was no trace of it.
"I gave you my title," Arachne said with admiration, "I don't need it anymore. You saved me."
"What do you mean?" My friends and I asked simultaneously.
Arachne smiled, "You are now the king of spiders."
'And,' Chaos smirked. 'NEW POWERS UNLOCKED!'
A/N So here's the end of the chapter. Percy gets more powers and Arachne is the newest member of the Suicide Squad. Let's just hope Peter Parker doesn't sue Percy.
Anyway, after I read Arachne's backstory I realized that she was also still a young girl who had lost her parents, so she started to brag about her skills.
You know, the modern equivalent of her story would be; beating a toddler to dead after he started bragging about how rich his father is. And when he's dead you banish him an eternity to hell.
Just cruel, happens a lot in my neighborhood.
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