Silk Bars

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Short story • 5 minute read

Silk Bars

by Graham McNeill

Those weeks in the ocean had left Markus feeling weak and dizzy, so he was very glad to be back on dry land. The path to the basalt shore was very slippery, which made it treacherous. The twisted and crooked trees in all directions looked like blackened and miserable husks. They cried a yellowish sap where apparently some frightened animal had stuck its claws. A dim light glimmered through the trees, dancing like corpse candles, the brilliance of which drew the unwary souls of the swamp and condemned them forever. There was something like thin, dying leaves on the branches, and it took Markus a moment to realize they were cobwebs.

Starring: Elise

Lore

Those weeks in the ocean had left Markus feeling weak and dizzy, so he was very glad to be back on dry land. The path to the basalt shore was very slippery, which made it treacherous. The twisted and crooked trees in all directions looked like blackened and miserable husks. They cried a yellowish sap where apparently some frightened animal had stuck its claws. A dim light glimmered through the trees, dancing like corpse candles, the brilliance of which drew the unwary souls of the swamp and condemned them forever. There was something like thin, dying leaves on the branches, and it took Markus a moment to realize they were cobwebs.

The fern clogged the undergrowth on both sides of the path, and at times the shadow of some creature could be seen fleetingly heading into the forest. Perhaps the rats that had infested the ship had followed them even there. Markus had not seen them, at best he sensed a swift silhouette of something black and furry for an instant, or heard the sound so characteristic of claws when running on wood. He had always thought that, from the sound, they seemed to be creatures with many more legs than they were supposed to have.

The air on this island was immensely humid, and both his elegant tailored tunic and his boots were soaked. The scent ball he held to his nose was not enough to camouflage the stench of the island, and it reminded him of the dump of corpses beyond the walls of Noxus when the wind blew from the ocean. Remembering his home, he felt awkward for a moment. The adventures of the catacombs below the city had given him a pleasant sense of illicit excitement, a reward for having followed the secret symbol of the black-petaled flower. In the darkness of the tombs, he and his companions gathered, devout.

Where she awaited them.

He looked up, expecting to see the seductive woman whose words had brought so many men to this place. He saw a flash of crimson silk and the sway of hips before the figure stepped into the thick mist. Sermons on an ancient god filled him with emotion, and when he and thirty men were chosen for the pilgrimage, he was ecstatic with happiness. When they boarded at midnight and the hooded, silent helmsman looked at them, it felt like an epic adventure. However, being so far from Noxus was beginning to cloud his enthusiasm.

Markus stopped to look the way he had come. His fellow pilgrims continued to advance, pushing like cattle. What happened to them? Behind them was the helmsman, gliding down the road almost as if his feet were barely brushing the ground. His robes rippled in time with his movement, and fear crept into Markus's heart as he was close to him.

When he turned around, he came face to face with her.

— Elise… ”he said practically out of breath. His instincts urged him to push her away and run from this horrible place, but the intoxication of her dark beauty outweighed the rejection. That feeling of disgust vanished so quickly that she doubted if she had felt it.

"Markus," she replied, and the sound of his name on her lips was divine. A wave of pleasure ran up her spine. Her beauty pierced him, and he savored every detail of her perfect form. Her features were angular and sharply defined, to which was added lustrous scarlet hair like that of a highborn girl he had known in the past. Her full lips and the dark gleam of her eyes drew him further into her web with the promise of impending ecstasy. A scarlet and black cape girded with an eight-pointed clasp covered her shoulders, and it billowed even though there was no wind.

"Is there a problem, Markus?" He asked. Her voice calmed him like a balm. "I need you to be at peace." You are, aren't you, Markus?

"Yes, Elise," he said. "I am at peace."

-Well. I'd be upset to know you're not at peace now that we're so close.

The mere idea of ​​not pleasing her sent panic through Markus up and down, and the young man fell to the ground. He wrapped his arms around her legs, which, like alabaster, were pale, cold, and delicate.

"Anything for my lady," he said.

She looked down at him and smiled. For an instant Markus thought he saw something long and thin and shiny under the cloak. The movement was unnatural and nauseating, but he didn't care. Elise put one of her sharp black nails under his chin and raised him up again. A stream of blood made its way down his neck, but he ignored it and followed Elise, who had turned and was leading him forward.

He followed her, and there was no thought in his mind but to please her. The trees were getting thinner and thinner, and the path ended at a cliff. Seeing the carved symbols, Markus felt a pang. At the foot of the cliff was a cave that resembled gaping jaws, and Markus's resolve faded into fear.

Elise waved him inside, and he didn't have the strength to resist.

The inside of the cave was extremely dark and swelteringly hot. This wave of heat stank like a slaughterhouse. Inside him, a voice was screaming at him to run, to get as far away from that terrible place as he could, but his treacherous feet carried him even deeper. Suddenly he felt a drop fall from the ceiling and land on his cheek, and Markus winced in pain as it stung. He looked up and saw pale shapes like larvae, hanging and flailing. On the translucent surface of a newly woven cobweb was a human face, and the webs silenced its cries.

"What is this place?" He asked, freeing himself from the veil of deception.

"This is my temple, Markus," Elise said, releasing the eight-pointed clasp to remove her cloak. "This is the den of the  god of spiders.

His shoulders twisted, and two limbs tore through his flesh and out of his back; they were long, dark, and cutting. Elise melted into the darkness into a grotesque bloated mass. Her colossal legs bent her body forward, and the dim light from the cave entrance reflected a myriad of facets in her eyes.

The spider was a huge, hairy lump covered with slimy mutant tumors. The terror of his nightmarish appearance finally broke Markus's spell, and Markus ran toward the cave entrance with Elise's laughter ringing in his ears. The further I progressed, the more threads were sticking to him and slowing his progress. When he heard the sound of claws moving, he knew he was being pursued, and he sobbed at the thought of her touching him. He tripped over more threads of his webbing, and felt something grab him by the shoulder. Markus fell to his knees and The paralyzing poison began to take effect. He was locked up in the jail of his own body.

A shadow fell over him; it was the helmsman, stretching out his arms. Markus screamed as his robe fell to the ground and revealed that he was actually not a man, but a host of spiders grouped in the shape of a man. Thousands of spiders fell on him, and their screams drowned out as they entered his mouth, his ears, and his eyes.

Elise leaned down to watch him from the air thanks to her hind limbs. She was no longer beautiful, and even less human. His features reflected a fierce hunger that would never be sated. The menacing form of his monstrous spider god lifted Markus off the ground with razor-sharp jaws.

"Now you have to die, Markus," Elise said.

"Why ...?" He stammered with his last breath.

Elise smiled, her mouth full of needle fangs.

"So that I can live."

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References

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