The trembling slowed.
Dust floated down like soft snowflakes. The cavern's soft glow dimmed to a hush — flickering across ancient roots, worn stone, and hushed whispers of time.
Jimmy took a slow step back, his boots crunching faintly on the gravel. Luna lay nearby, her breath shallow, body dimly glowing from the inside — a fading rhythm of pale light pulsing beneath her soaked fur. She had eaten nearly all the remaining fruits, her tongue moving sluggishly as she cast healing light across her own limbs, struggling to restore herself after hours of selfless effort.
And then…
A breeze.
Not from the entrance.
Not from any crack in the ceiling.
It came from within the cave.
It was impossibly gentle, cool and fragrant — a breeze that carried no dust, only the scent of moonlight and flowers that had no name.
From the far wall — woven with roots, vines, and jagged stone — the shadows began to shift. They didn't crack or crumble. They stepped aside.
And she entered.
A being unlike any other.
She was tall — the size of a full-grown human — and walked not on eight, but sixteen slender legs, each one tipped with needle-like claws that barely touched the ground. Her exoskeleton shimmered in shades of pale jade and silvery violet. A crown — small but unmistakable — rested atop her head, woven from ancient amber threads and fossilized petals. Behind her, translucent wings curled like folded veils of glass.
A single spike, elegant but dangerous, protruded from the end of her body — more like a scepter than a weapon. And above her head, two luminous antennae waved gently, trailing soft sparkles through the air.
She was more than a spider.
More than a Whisp.
She was Ravelleth, once whispered in old field scrolls as the Silken Matriarch. A general-class guardian who had long vanished from all known Codex archives.
Jimmy froze.
Luna, though exhausted, raised her head and stared, breath caught.
The other spiders — the playful, twitchy ones that had crowded the healing — went still. Then slowly, solemnly…
They knelt in full submission.
Jimmy blinked. His fingers twitched instinctively toward Luna, but her paw touched his wrist — firm and calm.
Then the small Velvynox, the one they'd healed earlier — smaller than the rest, bright-eyed — stepped forward hesitantly. His voice trembled.
"C-Can you heal her also?" he asked, glancing from Luna to the towering Ravelleth.
Luna coughed lightly after seeing her body size, then said, "Wait… I need to regain my strength."
Ravelleth tilted her crowned head slightly. Her antennae shimmered, and the air vibrated softly with an inaudible tone.
"Pkill pkkill... you can't see or talk. I think."
Her words came not in speech, but in sensation.
Luna blinked, translating softly. Jimmy simply nodded. His face was calm, unreadable.
Ravelleth said no more. She turned and settled quietly near a stone outcropping, her long legs folding beneath her like a queen resting on an invisible throne. The other spiders dispersed gradually, flowing back beneath the deeper parts of the cave, like the tide pulling away at dusk.
Only one remained — the little one who had asked for healing. He waited beside them, watching Luna with silent loyalty.
Five minutes passed.
Luna's breathing steadied. Her fur brightened, sparks returning faintly to her limbs. But Jimmy, ever-attuned, knew it wasn't enough. She wasn't at full power — not yet.
He turned to the small spider. "Is there a pond nearby? Or… an electric field?"
The spider nodded quickly and clicked in understanding.
"Good," Jimmy said. "Take us there."
The spider queen, her 16 legs barely touched the ground, each step echoing a faint hum in the rock. The small spider, Velvynox, chirped and waved its antennae, nudging Luna forward while glancing at Jimmy. Jimmy gave a small nod and followed. The path they took didn't feel like one recently made — it was old. Worn.
Jimmy noticed it first. The moss underfoot was pressed in certain places… The terrain shifted subtly. Trees of stone and vines wrapped in crystal light bent overhead like arches. Velvynox moved forward, stopping every few meters to glance behind as if ensuring they were still safe. Or still real.
Fifteen minutes passed. Then—
The shrine.
The same one.
Stone arches, engraved with circular glyphs. A small stone table. Scattered fruits.
A figure sat beside the shrine — the Old Man. His white beard brushed the ground, and his eyes were covered by a strip of cloth. His skin, once pale, now shimmered faintly with runes that pulsed in sequence, as if whispering something to the shrine. Despite his frailty, an air of ageless strength radiated from him. He was humming. Wordless, but powerful.
Beside him:
A tiger pup Whisp, curled up with its tail wrapped around itself, fur glowing faintly with twilight orange streaks. Its name whispered itself into Jimmy's thoughts: Shaoran.
Above, circling slowly in lazy spirals, a feathered Whisp drifted in the air — Cirayl. Its wings left trails of shimmering echoes, like brushstrokes painted on the wind itself.
The Old Man looked up with a smile — as if he had known all along.
"Oh? You again. Come, sit here," he said with a smile that felt far too familiar.
Jimmy walked forward, cautious but calm.
......................................
Luna looked at him once, then followed Velvynox and toward the pond.
The pond shimmered under moonlight, despite there being no moon. When Luna stepped into it, she instantly shivered. It carried static. Lightning. A low charge that tickled her fur and reawakened something deep in her evolved cells. it rippled outward like a silent gong. Sparks of blue electricity crackled gently across its surface. It was both water and power — a perfect place for her to restore what she had spent.
Jimmy took a step forward, worried.
But the old man raised a hand calmly. "Don't worry. It won't harm her. The pond is as old as me. The rest…" he chuckled, "is up to her."
Jimmy looked back, unsure and asked "How did you know she has electric power?"
The old man smiled "I have seen you two at crossing the river and running from that jungle. There you used it."
The old man patted the stone seat beside him. "Come now. Sit. Company an old wanderer for a moment."
Reluctantly, Jimmy sat.
Shaoran blinked sleepily and nudged Jimmy's foot with its soft paw. Cirayl swooped low, letting a single glowing feather drift down between them.
For a moment, silence.
Then the shrine pulsed. The ribbons on the tree fluttered harder, the rotating stones of the circle slowed.
Something in the shrine was waking.
From the river's reflection, Jimmy saw it first — a shape forming not above or beside, but within the tree itself. A light — no, a pulse — with a sound that resembled a heartbeat wrapped in wind and thunder.
The Old Man stared at the tree. "Not yet," he whispered. "Not yet."
Something was rising.
Was it good or bad?
Something was rising.
Was it good or bad?
Was it them or...?
No one knew.
Only that it stirred again.
To be continued…