Through the Mirror

by D C Tullis

  His words were comforting at first, yet as we continued on into the dense grey jungle beneath the mountains the sky only grew darker. Within seconds it felt like we had entered an infinite black void. Branches, roots, and fallen trees sprung out of every crevice in an effort to knock us off our vehicles.

  “Turn on night vision,” Irithril called out.

  There was no resistance to that order. Suddenly, I could see again. Our environment was similar to what I had sensed in the dark. Tree branches sticking out in every direction, grey vines hanging down from the brush above, and an unwavering discomfort at the absolute lack of natural light.

  “We must follow this stream. It leads to the other side of this forest,” Eldevui called out over the comm link.

  The stream he was referring to was a three foot wide crevice that seemed to stretch on forever.

  “Do not, I repeat, do not get separated. Although my previous travels through here were safe and unobstructed, I have heard many tales of this place,” Eldevui added.

  “Tales? What kind of tales? Kid friendly tales?” Ellie asked in a sudden rush of panic.

  I felt a small sliver of Ellie’s panic. Something about that place stitched icy shivers down my spine.

  “Tales, Eldevui? What are you going on about?” Khail asked with an edge of alertness in his voice.

  “It does not matter, just stick together,” Eldevui replied as we continued to snake through the passages of jungle trees.

  The further we moved, the more our environment seemed to tighten around us whilst still twisting and zig-zagging in the natural patterns of neglect. It wasn’t beautiful like the environments we had passed through to get here, rather it was quite anxiety provoking. The tight, leafy walls spun closer and closer into a chaotic mesh of jungle. Even the stream itself seemed to be working in cahoots with the rest of the forest to throw us off as it began to curve and diverge from its focus.

  “We’re losing a straight path here,” I called to Eldevui.

  “It matters not, keep going,” he replied.

  And so we did. We raced through the forest, desperately trying to stay with the stream for nearly ten minutes. Eventually, our luck seemed to turn for the better.

  “There is a blip of light directly ahead,” Irithril pointed out.

  “Still pretty far off though,” Ellie added. “Wait, have you guys realized that the stream is gone now?”

  I was just about to add my thoughts to the conversation when I heard a faint skittering overhead. I listened for a moment, but heard nothing more. Looking up just to make sure that there weren’t any lurking Eldritch, I was relieved to find nothing. Must have been my imagination. Who knows, I mean, it seemed rather easy to gain a sense of paranoia after spending enough time within these suffocating, organic walls.

  The light was gradually getting closer after all, so I decided to focus on that. I was eager to finally get the hell out of this place. I wondered what the gate would look like or where it would take us back to on Earth. I hadn’t really considered it before. Even if we got back to Earth, it wouldn’t help us very much if we landed in the remote jungles of India.

  God, that would be a morbid turn of events. Escape this shithole of a planet only to die by malaria, starvation, or rabid tiger attack in the middle of nowhere. At that moment, I realized just how tired I really was. How long had I been awake? In the end, all I wanted was to just get back to my bed and lay down. Actually, no that wasn’t what I really wanted. I wanted Ellie there with me. And so, for a moment I became consumed with the thought of lying on my bed with her, the subtle scent of strawberry lingering in her hair, and the gentle warmth of her breath on my neck. I glanced at her and even in that environment with all of her fear she smiled back. I began to feel less tense and loosen up my guard until I heard the skittering yet again. However, this time something was different. This time it was louder. And when I did finally look up, I really wished I hadn’t.

  “What is that?” I shouted as I glanced at near twenty crimson eyes staring at us from the tree branches above. “Up, up, look the fuck up!”

  My sudden shouting surprised Irithril with a jolt that nearly landed us into a tree. Khail and herself looked up at the same time.

  “Oh, those tales fail to matter, he says. What in the blasted abyss of an Jao-khan’s carcass did those tales describe, Eldevui?” Khail shouted his question over the comm link.

  “Well, to make it simple for these humans here, they are similar to what you call spiders. Ten legs, six eyes, an unwavering lust for flesh. To be fair, I had always assumed them to simply be superstition,” Eldevui sheepishly replied.

  “Bugs, why did it have to be fucking bugs?” Ellie wailed.

  “Old one, if we escape with our lives I am going to personally deliver your head to a squadron of Eldritch,” Khail angrily shouted back.

  Ellie turned to me and spoke, although it almost looked as if she was talking to herself, and she readied her new rifle, “Bugs… of all my phobias. Spiders even…”

  I followed her lead and readied my gun too as more red eyes began to glow from the brush far above us.

  “We are reaching the light, so just remain calm,” Eldevui announced over the comm link.

  None of us were calm. The light however stretched out to us as a beacon of sorts, promising escape from this claustrophobic nightmare. Irithril guided us between branches and vines at the maximum speed the gliders could go. Unfortunately for us, that wasn’t all too fast. Despite the sleek, and futuristic design of the vehicles, the top speed must have only been around twenty miles per hour now that we were dodging trees and overgrown roots. The speed was even slower for Eldevui who began to fall behind as we sped up. His craft was carrying the crew served gun and our other supplies after all.

  As if things weren’t bad enough, the skittering above us began to grow much louder as we glided towards the light. It was all around us now. Behind every damn tree, and underneath every strange looking shrubbery. It was a violent and menacing sound. Like knives slicing back against each other at a rapid pace mixed with the brutal serenade of bones being crushed to dust. Even in the basement of the laboratory I hadn’t been as terrified as I was now.

  It was something to do with the lack of sight. When you can see what’s probably planning to eat you, you can accept its appearance and think of ways to kill it or at least escape from it. However, when you haven’t the slightest idea of what your predator looks like beyond what your adrenaline amped brain deems the appearance of a ten legged, six eyed giant alien spider that wants to make a human souffle of your bone marrow, and when you realize that there are an army of them around you, you naturally start to panic a bit. Just a bit.

  “We are closing in on the light, Eldevui, I hope for the both of us that this really is an exit,” Khail declared as we made the final push into a large illuminated tunnel that had appeared to be the exit of forest.

  In the next moment, I really, really wished I had just been laying in my bed and had fallen asleep to haunting dreams. Unfortunately, this was not the case. We had somehow stumbled into a massive hive. This hive took the shape of an enormous forest clearing with walls of bark and web and no clear exit in sight. The light which had guided us here was emitted by a humongous tree standing mightily in the center of the cavern-like forest clearing. The tree, though otherwise entirely withered, held several crystals of the brightest golden yellow jutting out where branches should have been. Furthermore, it was wrapped head to base in webbing of a slightly phosphorous green hue. These skittering beasts clambered up and down the tree now completely exposed to view. Thick, spiky hair grew from every inch of their massive bodies. Each individual creature must have been at least six by six feet in length. Each had six eyes beaming back at us in different angles of crimson colored terror. Their ten legs dexterously scaled the web-coated walls as they feasted on their captured prey hanging from the forested ceiling. A few Fae, Eldritch, and even wild creatures remained partially exposed through the hanging
web sacs. It put new meaning to the words feeding ground. Our gliders slowed to a crawl with no exit in sight.

  “Arachyns… I thought they were but myths,” Enell mumbled in a state of awe.

  “Arachyns... why does that sound so familiar?” Khail asked himself over the comm link as we drifted through the first ten yards of the monstrous cavern. His face suddenly showed fear. “These creatures… my father read me many stories as a child. Several ancient tales spoke of vicious long legged beasts lurking in the innermost folds of nature. Creatures that appeared only under the shadows of the night-time sky. Arachyns.”

  “Okay, well storytime is over. How about we turn around and get the hell out of here. The long way around the forest is absolutely dreamy, haven’t you heard?” Ellie shouted between panicked breaths.

  “I agr…,” I began to say as I turned around to notice that our entrance way no longer existed. In its place stood a wall of salivating Arachyns who all looked particularly enticed by the thought of a four course flesh feast.

  “Go,” I shouted desperately to Irithril who was already piloting the glider as quickly as she could.

  “Fucking, go!” Ellie added as she turned around too, tracing my vision.

  We kicked up to maybe thirty miles per hour but that had never felt so slow.

  We tried our best to race the gliders through the hive and onto the other side of the tree. There wasn’t another opening on our side, but I was desperately hoping there was another opening on the other side. The Arachyns quickly began to chase us, moving at speeds quicker than our gliders.

  “Guns, guns, we are going to have to use them now!” Khail shouted.

  I looked towards Ellie and we both nodded. We shouldered our rifles and immediately began firing. Casings flew left and right as we blasted away at our pursuers. I don’t know if Arachyns have noses or ears, but I can tell you that we’d alerted the previously otherwise occupied Arachyns and many were now descending from the ceiling to get a piece of this fleshy family dinner.

  Our entire party were unloading our magazines into the Arachyns in all directions, behind, in front and above. No matter how many we blasted, there always seemed to be more dropping around us. The only good news was that we had a full load out of more than ten magazines apiece.

  Our gliders kept moving forward as swiftly as they could, with Irithril, Eldevui, and now Enell steering. Khail had relinquished control of his vehicle to support us with additional firepower. As a group we must have slain eight or nine Arachyns within the first minute of sliding across that massive clearing of skittering slaughter.

  “These creatures are quite a scientific curiosity, it is truly a shame we will never have a chance to study such beasts,” Eldevui announced over the comm link.

  “Oh, truly, an absolute shame,” Khail shouted caustically as the head of another Arachyn exploded under his fire.

  Fortunately, we had plenty of magazines acquired from the armory, and the Arachyns for all of their hairy, fanged, smelly nastiness were no match for our firepower. We eventually passed beyond their main force then slowed into a defensive position as they continued their relentless attack.

  “Why won’t these fuckers die?” shouted Ellie as one abruptly dropped in front of Irithril. With split second reaction time, Irithril narrowly managed to swerve the glider to the left and avoid the impact. I blasted the bastard in the head as soon as he fell into my sights.

  Khail shouted, “Keep firing!” and then jacked a grenade into his grenade launcher attachment and fired it, and then once again in quick succession. Chunks of Arachyn launched through the air and splattered our entire party. It almost seemed the perfect time to make a joke, but focusing on not being eaten by terrifying alien spiders seemed a little higher on my list of priorities.

  As more and more hairy bodies began to twitch, spasm, and snap under our barrage of bullets it became too much for the Arachyns to handle and they began to scurry back into the trees, leaving behind their half consumed meals to hang.

  It was then that we finally cleared past the massive glowing tree of death, for lack of a better way to put it.

  “I think I see it,” called Irithril over the comm link.

  “See what?” Khail asked still scanning the clearing for another ambush.

  “Our exit,” she added. “My visor has identified a path and I see a few smaller exits… and… oh fellmirin…”

  “What? That fellmirin bit doesn’t sound very good,” I inquired over the comm link.

  “Well… it is just that we happen to have company, and it certainly does not appear to be the pleasant sort,” Irithril responded.

  “Out with it already,” Ellie said now revitalized with panic.

  “Well, there is a massive set of legs pulling itself out from beyond the… oh dear, we are indisputably in trouble,” Irithril announced.

  I didn’t even need to enhance my vision as within a number of seconds a deafening inhuman squeal radiated through the forest.

  “Yep, we’re screwed,” Ellie said angrily. “Jason,” She turned to me as she spoke.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You are so buying me dinner after this,” she declared.

  Even with the pressing situation and all, her request brought a bit of a smile back to my face.

  “Well, we’re gonna have to survive this first,” I rattled back.

  “Will you…,” Khail began to speak before another squeal burst through the clearing. However, this time it was much closer. And then we saw it…

  I once read that in many species of spider the mother is known to eat the male before, during, or after sex. While disregarding how fucked up that is, it just goes to show you that the mother spider is something that is in your best interest to avoid. In this case, we had special reasons to avoid the queen spider. Like her being twenty feet tall and us having just shredded a fair number of her young. She didn’t look happy. Scratch that, she looked fucking furious.

  Moments later, she was scurrying across the battlefield and brutally with a sweep of one leg knocked Irithril, Ellie, and I off our glider entirely. The glider spun wildly out of balance and nearly crashed into Eldevui. The glider was thrown several feet away where it began spitting sparks as it was split against a large tree. And let me tell you, that blow hurt. Not only due to the impact, but also due to the fact that her hair felt like spikes. We probably would not have survived a blow like that without the armor we were wearing. Luckily, Ellie and I had strongly held onto our guns, so the second we were on our feet we were firing at the queen. Khail shot forward a bit trying to race around her legs and get underneath her, but she was too quick and Khail, Enell, and Anairen received the same treatment we had earlier. Their glider too was thrown, but not before the queen slammed her leg through it creating a massive hole and damaging it beyond use. She actually knew what she was doing.

  Eldevui, observing the impossibility of simply passing her, glided over towards Enell and Anairen and set down his glider beside them.

  “What is the plan?” Irithril asked the rest of us.

  “Die?” I asked.

  “Not funny,” Ellie said as she punched me in the arm.

  “I may have an idea, but it depends on the queen not deciding to run over and eat us now, which… she is,” Eldevui said.

  I turned just in time to watch the queen charge us and try to pick up Irithril with her pincers. Irithril quickly rolled aside and shouted, “Man the heavy weapon!”

  Enell and Anairen raced to Eldevui’s glider, and dismounted the heavy gun. As Enell set up the crew served weapon, Anairen retrieved a railgun magazine. While Irithril distracted the queen’s swipes, the brother sister duo had aimed the weapon and locked onto its grotesque face. If I were in his position, I would have used this moment to say something cool, but alas I was not. In fact, Enell did the practical thing in a situation like this. He fired the weapon. And then he fired it again, and again, blasting huge craters into the beast’s body until it was but a cavern of loose fl
esh.

  Khail loaded a grenade into the grenade launcher under his rifle. Shouldering it he fired right into the face of the spider beast. Another grenade quickly followed suit.

  Screeching, the queen Arachyn began retreating; clearly it had not anticipated the power of big fucking Fae guns. It began to stumble as its torn and gore-strewn legs criss-crossed in front of each other, desperately reaching for something to balance its tangled weight. The firepower from the Fae crew served weapon had torn right through it.

  The queen Arachyn finally crumpled to ground, twitching and thrashing as it succumbed to its wounds.

  Eldevui approached the body, and producing a device from his belt swept it back and forth over the creature. “Fascinating,” he declared. “If we take but a moment to rest, I can study and catalogue this creature’s complex neurological structure.”

  “Screw that!” shouted Ellie. “We’ve gotta get out of here before those ‘things’ come back again!”

  “I am with her,” called Khail as he began jogging to his damaged glider.

  They were right. Those spider-things would probably be back any second looking to finish off their meal and while we did have more ammunition it certainly wasn’t infinite. Unfortunately for us though, another problem remained. Khail seemed keen on illuminating that exact problem when he began flagrantly cursing a moment later.

  “Eldevui, you son of a harlot,” he called as he began to kick his completely dead glider. He removed his helmet in a fury of rage and mindlessly threw it at Eldevui.

  “Khail, come on now. There was absolutely no way I could have known those tales were true,” Eldevui mumbled in response.

  “You just failed to mention that giant bugs might be waiting for us? Of course you did! But, do you want to know what is worse? We are stranded. In their lair nonetheless!” Khail’s face was brighter than a raspberry as he ended his rant.

  “Relax, Khail,” Irithril called. She moved over to the glider we’d shared earlier and murmured something to herself before addressing the group. “Ours is also useless now too, but Eldevui’s is in suitable condition for use. It will be safer for all of us if we put aside our emotions and figure something out.”