The Little Spider That Saw The Horizon (Prequel to Adriana's Magical Bookshop/Omake)

The Little Spider That Saw The Horizon 01

An omake and prequel for Adriana’s Magical Bookshop, written by HiddenMaster and commissioned by Sonata.

 

~~~~

Spiderling

 

“Adriana,” Mama said.

 

She knew Mama was Mama because who else would it be? She fed her, played coochie coochie coo, and more with her, and she smelled nice. Like Mama, so she was Mama.

 

But Mama kept saying Adriana.

 

What was Adriana? Was it food? She hoped Adriana wasn’t the green stuff. That had been no good.

 

”Addie!” Mama thing said, scratching her nose. She sneezed at the touch. Then there was Addie. What was Addie? Was it her block?

 

She hoped it was her block. She liked her block.

 

Mama sighed, legs shuffling. Why was Mama sad? Mama shouldn’t be sad, she should be a happy Mama!

 

“Honey? She doesn’t seem to know I’m telling her what her own name is…” Mama said, making her scrunch up.

 

Honey was Dad! But what were all the other words? She was figuring that stuff out.

 

“Let me try,” Dad who was also Honey to Mama said.

 

He leaned over her silk nest, eyes squinting at her. She reached up for him, wanting to be held and fly up like he did the… the… before! Yeah.

 

“Adriana,” he said, point at her with a long, black chitin covered finger. Then he pointed back at himself. “Daddy.”

 

She stared. Daddy was daddy. But was Adriana behind her? But she was laying down! That was the crib.

 

Dad did it again, repeating his name like a silly and then the mystery word. Then, he slowly took her comparatively tiny and soft hand, and patted her face with her own hand, saying, “Adriana. Adriana, Adriana…”

 

“Are… are you making our child hit herself?!” Mama made noises.

 

“No, I’m using physical contact and repetition to try and teach her. Can’t hurt?” Daddy said.

 

“I was doing that, you know,” Mama said, tone dry.

 

“You’re just saying it. I’m making it real for her,” Daddy said, continuing to pat her with her own hand.

 

She liked her hand. They could move and had lots of little things on them! But why was he saying Adriana—

 

!!!!

 

She had a spark. Adriana wasn’t something else. It was her! She was Adriana!

 

Adriana giggled. Her dad stopped patting her. Slowly, she patted her face. “Aderaba?” she tried. Words were hard.

 

Mama dropped her cup. “You have got to be kidding me…” she said.

 

Daddy clapped and whooped.

 

Adriana joined in because Daddy was happy. Yay! Learning was fun.

 

~~~~

 

Adriana was now Adriana. Daddy had shown her that. For some reason Mama seemed pouty at him.

 

Which was wrong. They should play with her!

 

But…

 

They’d left her in the nursery. It was nice and soft and silky, with the floor harder but still bouncy. They expected her to nap, she knew. They’d even pressed the light-y thingy growth thing on the wall and it went all dark.

 

Yet, she wanted to play!

 

Maybe, maybe, she could have napped. Naps were nice when she was sleepy. But she saw something.

 

The door was slightly open.

 

Adriana had never been outside before. What was out there!? She had to know.

 

Escaping her crib was easy. She climbed right up, all eight legs finding purchase easily enough. Oh no! The crib! It was slippery and tried to keep her in there. But the wall behind the crib, that she got on, by throwing her blankie over the crib, and that way she got a grip!

 

She was about to go to the floor when a thought occurred.

 

They’d see her.

 

Mama and Daddy always looked down, and they never wanted her out of the nursery. But… if she could climb the wall, could she keep going all the way up? She’d never been on the ceiling before, but was it really any different from the floor?

 

The answer was no!

 

Adriana carefully did not giggle as she carefully moved on the ceiling, each leg testing for purchase and stickiness before moving onward, but gradually, she found her rhythm and sped up.

 

The light in the door beckoned her, like a secret she had to know. Slowly, she got to the door and, with all her might, managed to just nudge it open.

 

Gasp!

 

There was more room beyond her nursery! Long room, with more silk. She crept along the top, stopping as she heard voices from an open doorway.

 

“You sure she’s sleepy? She seemed rather energetic to me,” Mama said.

 

“Trust me, she’s been at this for hours. Moment the light was out she was too. Gives us some time alone, eh?” Daddy said.

 

“That it does…” Mama admitted, before they walked away.

 

Huh, weird, Adriana thought. Maybe they were going to go play? Oh well, she had exploring to do.

 

With her parents safely away, she continued her exploration, finding a great big cozy room with giant furniture for grownups, a place that smelled good with food but was all locked up, and finally… a door.

 

Adriana had to really carefully manage the door. She’d seen her parents open her nursery’s door, and this looked about the same, but it wouldn’t open, even after she balanced on the wall and twisted the handle.

 

Pouting, Adriana just started poking things, and eventually grabbed hold of a bronze colored shiny thing and twisted it. She froze as something clicked. Did that do something?

 

She tried the handle and opened the door, before scurrying outside only to freeze, stunned.

 

The world was so much bigger than she’d imagined. Strange blue, purple, and even red lights from growths filled the world with different hues. She saw people who weren’t Mama or Daddy scurrying about, going up walls, down the street. The ceiling was way overhead, so far up she didn’t even know if she’d be able to touch it from Daddy’s shoulders. How long would it take to climb up there!?

 

Adriana didn’t know, but she knew one thing. She wanted to explore more. Sure, it was a little scary, and a passing biiiig box sliding down a string nearly made her jump back inside, but it was all so interesting.

 

Tentatively, step by step, she emerged from her home and into the world, oohing and awing only to—

 

“Young lady! How did you get out? Sleepy my thorax, you’re wide awake you little escape artist,” Mama said, holding her up.

 

Adriana cringed, feeling the judgmental stare, but Mama soon relented, rubbing her cheek against her own with a big hug. “You are definitely going back in the Nursery and we are playing some more games so you can sleep,” Mama grumbled.

 

Adriana pouted slightly. She was still expected to sleep! But the mention of games made her perk up as Mama took her back into the house.

 

Yet, the young spiderling couldn’t forget, not entirely, the things she’d seen outside the front door, just how big the world seemed.

 

Surely it couldn’t get any bigger, right?

 

~~~~

 

Childhood

 

Adriana was vibrating in place so much her legs were tippy tapping the floor. She was so excited.

 

She double checked her desk, checked her charcoal pencil was sharp, adjusted its position, and then sat back down.

 

Why was she so excited, an invisible observer might ask? Why, today was school day.

 

She wasn’t quite old enough to go to school on her own, but her Mom took time every week to teach her and today was the day!

 

Adriana tried to still herself, to be serious. Learning was super serious business and good students didn’t vibrate at their desk!

 

…

 

Her legs were tippy-tapping again within thirty seconds.

 

Adriana’s pout at her own inability to reign in her excitement was curtailed when her Mom came in, flicking long hair out of her eyes to smile at Adriana, books in hand.

 

“I see someone’s excited,” Mama said with a smile.

 

“C’mon, I wanna get started!” Adriana whined, leaning forward. “What are we doing today? Numbers? Letters?” She gasped. “Are we gonna read more stories! Oh I’m so excited c’mon let’s start!”

 

Mama laughed. “Yes, to all of the above! We’ll start your numbers and math, practice your letters, and then read a bit together. Sound good?”

 

“YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!” Adriana squealed.

 

“Then let the learning commence!” Mama said dramatically, putting her books down.

 

~~~~

 

“Now, if a diver clan fisher has eight fish, but want to give two to two of his friends each, how many would he have left?” Mama asked, holding up a drawing of a silly Drider holding way too many fish looking at his friends.

 

“Hmm…” Adriana said, twirling her pencil like she’d seen Mama do it. She wasn’t very good though. Mama could make her pencils spin and even do tricks with them, while she had to do them slowly or else she’d drop them.

 

“If there’s two friends who want two fish… two plus two is four,” Adriana said, counting her legs on her left side. “Then there’s four left!” she said excitedly.

 

“Very good!” Mama said, smiling, and pulled a small rock candy out and tossing to Adriana who jumped up, catching it and immediately tossing it in her mouth.

 

“So sweet!” Adriana gushed.

 

Lessons were fun.

 

~~~~

 

Adriana stuck her tongue out, focusing.

 

Letters were fun and mysterious. They meant words, but could be physical, too. Like, Mama or Daddy could write something down, and she could read their voices later!

 

“No, that spelling’s wrong, like this,” Mama said, showing her the correct way

 

Adriana oohed, internalizing the lesson before finishing her sentence.

 

“I am a silly spider!” she wrote, showing it off to her Mom who giggled.

 

~~~~

 

Finally, her letters and numbers were done. Now it was story time.

 

“What to read, what to read?” Mama said, hands tracing along books in their bookcase.

 

“I wanna read about Princess Mara!” Adriana demanded.

 

“Oh? We read that one yesterday,” Mama said, hands going  past the book.

 

“But I like it and wanna try something!” Adriana retorted.

 

“Really now? And what is that?”” Mama asked.

 

“Secret!” Adriana said, ready to pout if her Mama didn’t get the book or inquired further.

 

But it was not necessary. Mama smiled and grabbed the book, and picked Adriana up to go curl up in the reading corner, Adriana nestled up against her mother’s warmth.

 

Mama opened the first page, to read about how Princess Mara was lost in the deep, deep dark, but Adriana interrupted her.

“I’m gonna read to you instead,” she said, matter of factly. “Once upon a t-time, there was a princess named Mara, and she—”

 

“Oh my, I get to listen instead today?” Mama asked.

 

“Shh! I’m reading to you,” Adriana said, continuing the story.

 

…

 

She never let her Mama know she’d memorized the story and couldn’t actually read most of it.

 

Yet.

 

~~~~

 

“Get your deep cabbage, fresh deep cabbage, only three Obsidian chips!”

“Glowshrooms on sale! Two for five chips, only!”

“Best clothing in the Chasm, Steel Clan silk made and tested! Undergarments, shirts, cloaks? We have it all!”

 

Adriana had come to the bazar with her Mom for some shopping, and it was loud. Driders of all shapes and sizes were scattered around. Sure, some were like her Mama, moderate, slim, but others were huge and even muscular, like Tarantula Clan, while others hawking blind cave fish were shorter but no less refined like Diving clan.

 

“Ooh, that’s a good deal for deep cabbage,” Mama said, tugging on Adriana’s hand.

 

“Yuck,” Adriana made a face.

 

“It’s good for you,” Mama said, taking her along and ignoring her protests.

 

It was the end of the week, and that meant shopping. Used to, Adriana might be dropped off with a Aunt Meredith, but now that her legs were stronger over long distances, Mama took her with her.

 

“Can I ride on your back?” Adriana asked.

 

“Sure,” Mama said absently, still looking over the yucky deep cabbages before tossing Adriana on her back.

 

Mama’s back was cozy and fuzzy and warm, and from it Adriana had a good vantage point to see the bazar.

 

It always had nice and interesting things. Yucky ones too, but often interesting. Adriana drooled a bit at seeing a nearby stand with sizzling dark worm on a stick.

 

“Mama? Can I?” she began, pointing at the vendor.

 

Mama turned, looked at it, and shook her head. “No, would spoil your dinner. Just wait, okay?” she said, before turning back to the cabbage.

 

Adriana pouted. Dinner was definitely going to involve more deep cabbage stew. It didn’t matter to Adriana that there was other stuff in there, it had deep cabbage and that made it yucky.

 

Still, there was no arguing, and Adriana didn’t like throwing tantrums because it made her Mama all stressed out and that was sad, so she didn’t. Instead, she settled in to just watch and wait.

 

Mama went from stall to stall, buying this and that and Adriana was getting boooooooooored.

 

“Can I walk again?” she asked.

 

“What? You just asked to be carried?” Mama said with confusion, twisting back to face Adriana over her shoulder.

 

“But that was five minutes ago. I wanna walk now,” Adriana reasonably argued.

 

“Fine,” Mama agreed, putting her down.

 

Adriana briefly contemplated asking to be put back up because now she couldn’t see as well, but didn’t as she’d done that before and that would annoy Mama.

 

“Ooh, is that outsider spices? Gimme!” Mama said, dragging Adriana to a spicy smelling stand with lots of strange and colorful dried red and dark red things. Her nose kinda burned, smelling them, but her Mama seemed to really like them and started haggling with the merchant, another Jumping clan Drider who evidently traveled a lot.

 

Adriana absently whirled her arms back and forth, click clacking on the hardened ground as she looked around when suddenly something caught her eye.

 

The light in the Chasm was always dim, more from the glowshrooms and fungi than anything else, but for a brief second, she’d seen something…

 

Bright.

 

She didn’t really have a good word for it. ‘Bright’ didn’t seem like enough. The brief glimpse was all consuming.

 

…

 

She wanted to see it again.

 

No one seemed to respond to the impossibly bright thing she’d glimpsed. They treated it kinda normally. Some averted their eyes briefly, but otherwise didn’t, well, freak out. It was normal.

 

But Adriana didn’t know what it was.

 

Glancing at her mama and seeing her engrossed in haggling, Adriana just… slipped away.

 

It was a bit of an art. She couldn’t directly walk off as that would tip Mama off who Adriana swore had eyes in the back of her heads. Instead, it was more a shuffle.

 

Bit by bit, she edged away, before breaking line of sight at a stall. Then, Adriana was free.

 

She moved upward, following the direction of the light she’d seen. Part of her was wondering if it was even real, as it felt too… brilliant, but she knew she’d seen it, she’d seen Driders shielding their eyes briefly.

 

Eventually, she found herself at some sort of… gate? It looked like a big gate. It even had big Tarantula clan guarding it. She hid in the shadows of a pillar and watched.

 

There was no way she was sneaking in. Adriana knew she could be sneaky, but she wasn’t, and there weren’t many places to hide outside her current place in the shadows and that was nowhere near close enough to make it through the gate.

 

Yet, her solution came right to her.

 

A Field Trip.

 

Other Drider kids were led by a teacher in green robes, chattering. “Now class, remember, the Surface is bright, so close your eyes as soon as the gate opens and give yourselves time to adjust,” the teacher was vaguely familiar. Adriana seemed to remember her visiting her Mama, but that was about it. She seemed tired. Which was perfect.

 

Adriana slipped in behind the line of students. They were a bit older and bigger than her, but she fit in and no adult really gave her a second look.

 

They waited, many students excited. One older girl gave her a look and mouthed, ‘You’re not supposed to be here’, but did not tell the teacher.

 

“It’s opening! Close your eyes and only open them when I say so,” the teacher said.

 

Adriana screwed her eyes shut, following the order.

 

Then it got bright.

 

It was so, so bright even through her closed eyes it almost hurt. The other kids seemed to feel the same, shuffling.

 

The teacher repeated her warning a few times. One or two kids didn’t listen and shrieked about being blind, but not Adriana. She kept her eyes tightly closed.

 

Gradually, the brightness didn’t so much fade as it felt like she adjusted to it.

 

“Now class, it’s been a few minutes. Your eyes will hurt, a little, but you’ve had a chance to adjust. Open your eyes and behold the day,” the teacher said, voice oddly upbeat.

 

Adriana did so and—

 

Light.

 

It was so, so bright. The brightness she had before felt like nothing to this, but if she’d gone from the dark of the Chasm she wouldn’t have been able to see at all. Still,  Adriana had spots in her eyes, from trying to open them. Gradually, though, her eyes adjusted, and she was able to see again.

 

Shielding her eyes, she squinted, and about the same time as most of the other Drider kids, gasped.

 

The world they knew, the world she knew was defined by rooms, chambers. Even the great levels of the Chasm had tops and bottoms to them, stuff any Drider could climb if they wanted to, even if they would probably get yelled at by someone.

 

Yet what she saw was mind boggling. There was no ceiling. In fact, the ‘up’ stretched into a beautiful, impossible blue forever. Her head swerved and she saw the bright thing and—-

 

“Ow!” Adriana cried, cringing from the light. Even now it burned, too bright to look at even for a second. It was nothing like the gentle glow of the luminescent fungi in the Chasm, but…

 

It felt magnificent, like nothing she had ever seen. Turning away, her vision returning, she just sat, and watched the infinite sky that stretched to an unfamiliar horizon like the world just stopped, but so much bigger than anything she’d ever seen in the Chasm.

 

“Adriana? Is that you? Oh goodness your Mom is going to kill me, how did you even get up here?” the teacher asked her suddenly, and then was checking her over and making sure she was okay.

 

Eventually, the teacher, whose name Adriana found out was Mrs. Izzy! Took her down below again. They found her Mom who was… Adriana wouldn’t lie, upset.

 

But she didn’t get a spanking, like she feared.

 

“Addie, baby, how do you keep doing this?” Mama said, voice tired and fatigued.

 

“I’m sorry Mama, I just wanted to see the light,” Adriana said.

 

Mom sighed whimsically. “It really is something… I was wishing I could show you the sky myself, but, well, you got a sneak peak, didn’t you?”

 

Adriana tilted her head. “Sky?”

 

Mama smiled. “Yes Addie, that place you saw? That’s the sky.”

 

Adriana imprinted the word into her memory, still thinking of that infinite blue.

 

Sky.

 

~~~~

Adolescence

 

Adriana was feeling a little bit bored lately.

 

The world that had seemed so big when she was little was feeling… smaller, now that she was a teenager. Oh, she still had more things to learn, history to find, but where every day was once an adventure, lot had begun to feel the same, to her. Sometimes class showed her new things, but more often she already knew and her classmates were catching up. Even her Mama wasn’t able to teach her as many new things anymore because Adriana had already learned them.

 

Since she was often ahead in her class, she was left with a lot of free time. Technically, she could go help her dad, but…

 

Construction didn’t really appeal to her. It was hot, sweaty work most of the time, and getting all the thread needed was a job and a half that left her spinnerets sore. It was an important job, true, one that kept the Great Chasm working, but Adriana really felt it wasn’t for her if she could help it.

 

So, with free time and no pressing chores or assignments, the teenage spider went to the surface.

 

Most of the Chasm was practically made or carved by Driders, or supported with enormous sheets of steel like silk, but the surface was different. There was bare rock there, no web, and plants. Not even mushrooms or fungi, but green things and even colorful flowers that smelled good. It was so weird.

 

But, most of all, Adriana liked looking at the sky. Sunrise, sunset, the moon, the stars, it was all fascinating to her. Moreover, the sky never stopped feeling massive. It gave her the same feeling it had as a child when she first saw it, of this infinite forever that just kept going and going.

 

She liked looking at bits of sky, particularly stars, and imagining what they were like. Were they spirits like some said, or maybe they were giant explosions firing off perpetually and were so bright because they burned hotter than anything in the Chasm?

 

Adriana liked that latter explanation.

 

Still, today she passed through the gates around sunset, so the stars hadn’t come out yet. The guards gave familiar nods to her, having recognized her from past and by this point routine visits.

 

Passing through to the surface was always fun because of the change in smells. Down below you had the scent of fungi, of rock, of water, of silk, and more, but up here there was more earth, plants, and other things she still struggled to name.

 

Adriana did intend to settle in to watch the sunset go from orange to soft and beautiful reds, but something caught her eye.

 

A person.

 

But not just any person, a weird person.

 

He was sat by the Outsider depot, a place outsiders often stopped in to trade with the Chasm. So that already made him weird as, like so many others, he only had two totally not spider legs.

 

So strange!

 

But what was even stranger was the lack of any other animal features. His ears were small, he had no tail, and his skin looked pretty weathered. Furthermore, he looked old. His beard was gray flecked with white, and his blue cloak looked tattered, if with traces of what she knew had to be super elaborate imagery before. Some sort of shapes?

 

Still, he was another biped. Odd, but Adriana was feeling in a bit of a sunset watching mood at the moment. Yet, what he did next made her gaze snap back to him.

 

Sat at a campfire with a cup, he pointed at the inert wood with a single finger and hung his cup by the side of the fire to warm it. A bolt of fire came out, igniting the whole thing. No flint and steel, no rubbing sticks, just…

 

Fire.

 

She had to know more. But she had to be subtle. Mama and Daddy had told her to not just go up and blurt out questions to strangers; it sometimes freaked them out.

 

She could be subtle. Even sneaky!

 

…

 

“Hey I’m Adriana. Can you tell me how you shoot fire out of your finger like whoosh!” she asked the man out of nowhere after approaching.

 

He spat his tea over the fire. “Where the heck did you come from?”

 

Adriana pointed back at the Chasm gates. “Home. How did you make fire?”

 

He stared for a bit before laughing. “You’re a very curious sort, aren’t you? Seen many humans?” he asked.

 

Adriana frowned. He wasn’t answering her question! But she should answer. “One,” she said.

 

“Really now? Not too many this far out and trust me, I’ve traveled a long way. Who was it?” he asked, cradling his cup to take another sip.

 

Adriana pointed at him.

 

It took him a second, but he laughed and didn’t manage to waste his tea this time, so Adriana considered it progress. “Fair enough, child. I am Robert the Teacher, no surname anymore, I’m afraid,” he said with a dry chuckle.

 

“Why not?” she asked.

 

“Taken from me by the place I used to call home, far to the west, but that’s a sad story I’d rather not get into. I believe you were curious about my, what did you call it? ‘Whoosh!’ I think you said?”

 

Adriana nodded excitedly, ponytail bouncing.

 

He smiled. “Why, with magic, of course,” Robert said, opening his hand to summon a small flame.

 

“How are you doing that!? I can’t do that,” Adriana said, opening her hand only to see no flame.

 

“It’s a skill, one you learn over time. Would you like to learn?” he asked.

 

“Yes!” Adriana learned instantly. That would be so handy!

 

“Been a while since I taught the basics… well, I have nothing but time,” he said, patting the space next to his fire. Adriana eagerly climbed over and settled in to listen.

 

“Magic is like an energy in the world, something you can harness, make and do. Kinda like how you eat food and then can move and do stuff. You understand?” he asked.

 

Adriana nodded, gaze fixed on him and his words.

 

“Magic’s a little trickier. Some people are born with it, but sometimes they don’t feel it at all. You’d know if you were born with it, so I’m guessing you haven’t had it before?”

 

Adriana shook her head.

 

He nodded. “Then, give me your hand, please. This will feel odd, but I am going to awaken your magic and from here on it’d be something you can practice and work with.”

 

Hesitantly, she gave him her hand. Robert focused. A glow, not like the flame but close, spread over his hand, but it didn’t burn. Slowly, it spread to her and…

 

It was the most profoundly weird thing she’d ever experienced. It was like waking up to a new limb, or a 9th leg, or extra body section.

 

She looked at her glowing hand, and then tried shaking the light off. When it didn’t turn off, she panicked, shaking her hand even more only for the glow to spread up.

 

Adriana only stopped because of the laughter from Robert. “Ho, haven’t had that in a while. Seems you took to it well. Magic is all about shaping that new feeling you had, using your will to impose it on the world. Don’t worry about having it down yet, but if you want, you can make your own light. Try focusing, thinking of a perfectly lit candle, held in the palm of your hand.”

 

Adriana did so, focusing, even sticking her tongue out as she really thought. The image of her mom’s candles she liked to set for dinner came to mind, the ones that smelled sweet and spicy, and gradually, the new… feeling, her magic, seemed to condense. It was hard, it kept wanting to wiggle away from her, but gradually it shaped in her hand, and…

 

Light.

 

A small, gentle flame was in her hand. It didn’t burn, it was near identical to her Mom’s candle, but instead of wax and wick, it was in her hand.

 

“Well done!” Robert said, smiling. “Not all spells are that intuitive, but that’s a great one to start with. Try making that over the next few days and—-“

 

“I’m going to go show this to my mama and daddy!” she exclaimed, skittering off as fast as her legs would propel her away, holding the little light close to her chest.

 

At least she tried to. The light went out halfway back to the gates, and the sudden wave of exhaustion saw her trip and roll a few meters.

 

Groaning, she just laid there, wondering what had even happened, until steps came up to her. She looked up, seeing Robert offering her a hand.

 

“I was trying to get to that. Magic is draining, and you are brand new. It’s like a muscle you have to train. You overdid it, so you should go back home. I’ll be here a few days if you want to talk a bit more,” he said, helping her to her feet.

 

She nodded, tired and wanting nothing more than bed in that moment.

 

~~~~

 

The next day and a good sleep later, Adriana had a question for her parents at dinner.

 

“Mama? Daddy? What is magic? Why haven’t I seen it here?” she asked.

 

Both her parents were quiet a long moment, the previous conversation dying down. “Where did you hear that word, Addie?” her mama asked.

 

“The surface. I met an old man. His name is Robert. He lit a campfire and showed how to do this,” Adriana said, holding a hand up to focus, gathering her magic to form her candle light.

 

Daddy started choking almost instantly, pounding his chest while Mama’s eyes went wide. Fortunately, her daddy was fine, but he smiled weakly at her. “Sorry, was not expecting that…”

 

“To answer your question, Addie, I don’t really know. It’s more an outsider term,” Daddy said. “Lysandra?” he asked, looking to Mama.

 

She nodded. “It’s a thing for… techniques, I think some are called. Steel clan can weave impossibly strong threads sometimes…”

“I’ve seen Tarantula clan who can lift even more stuff than the next five Driders combined, even other Tarantula clan,” Daddy commented.

 

“Yeah. But it’s like, being better at things we can already do. Not, that. My, it’s remarkable,” Mama said, still staring at the light in Adriana’s hand.

 

“It sure is…” Daddy commented, similarly wide eyed.

 

“But you don’t know anything else about it?” Adriana asked.

 

Both of her parents shook their heads.

 

The teenage spider frowned.

 

It was thrilling to have something new, something strange and wondrous of her own to explore, but…

 

Neither of her parents knew it.

 

Finding out they knew nothing made everything in her home suddenly feel… smaller, than it used to be.

 

She didn’t know what to think about that.

 

~~~~

 

“Not surprised your parents knew little about magic. In all my travels, my people are the only ones who have seriously studied magic. There’s modest practitioners, tricks, knowledge passed down from mother to daughter, father to son, master to apprentice, but formalized study? That’s something only the Tower has accomplished,” Robert informed me over his campfire the next night.

 

“The Tower?” Adriana asked.

 

“The stronghold of the mages, rulers of Humanity. Not that they care about dealing with the day to day and most never so much as see a farmer in their life if they can help it. They leave that ‘busywork’ to the nobles. Only time they care to make public appearances from their Tower is if someone’s rocking their boat and their answer to that is to call down fire and lightning on the ‘annoyance’.” His voice was just like Mom’s describing her more problematic students.

 

Adriana raised her hand.

 

He smiled widely at her. “You don’t have to, it’s just me and you out here. What’s on your mind Adriana?”

 

“What’s a boat?” she inquired.

 

Robert started, before laughing long and hard.

 

Adriana went to bed that night thinking of a far off tower, one so tall it could pierce the clouds.

 

~~~~

 

“See, the secret to magic and capacity to do magic is practice. Oh, knowledge, finesse, the technique to make the spells, all help, a lot,  but you can have all the knowledge in the world and lack the ability to actually cast a spell. Saw this first hand back at the Tower. Big, pompous mage named Jonathan, believed he was a gift to the world, came up with a new spell said to be so powerful it could level an army. But when he tried to demonstrate it he knocked himself out and the spell only fizzled out. Turned out he’d overestimated his reserves by nearly ten thousand percent,” Robert chuckled, holding his hand out.

 

“So don’t be like Jonathan. Actually practice your magic and don’t just keep your head in the clouds, like so,” the older mage said, holding his hand up. Magic gathered in his palm before he shot it off into the air. “Simple force bolt, about as basic a combat application as they come, but useful. If you ever master a single spell, let it be this one as you can scale it up for more oomph, or rapid fire. Nice to improve your reserves too, just firing it over and over again.

 

Adriana bit her lip, focusing on her own outstretched hand. Light was easier as magic wanted to glow, to be seen naturally, but she had to shove the magic in the right direction. Still, gradually, she repeated Robert’s movements and…

 

A bolt, significantly smaller than Robert’s, shot off into the air, but Adriana didn’t care.

 

Her eight legs went tippy tappy on the rocky ground she stood on before she bounced in the air in pure excitement. “I did it!” she cried.

 

“Well done!” Robert said, applauding. “Now do it a hundred more times.” His grin was wicked.

 

Adriana paled and realized this might be harder than she thought.

 

~~~~

Adriana hummed, walking down the Great Chasm to an undeveloped cavern. Robert was busy, but she didn’t want to skip magic practice, so she went off on her own today.

 

Along the way, she passed a great new bit of construction. Workers scurried over the great silk flooring, adding onto it, reinforcing it.

 

She waved at them. One of them whistled at her.

 

Adriana blinked. What did a whistle mean?

 

“You silkheads, that’s my daughter!” her father roared, making the other Drider workers scream and panic as he chased them with a prybar.

 

Adriana giggled. Her dad was so silly.

 

Still, she reached the cavern soon enough. Maybe it’d develop into a fungal garden, or more residences. She didn’t know, but that was a while off and would take the silk workers a while to catch up.

 

She closed her eyes, held out her arm, and focused on her energies, gathering her magic before sending it forward with force. She kept it a bit weak, not wanting to destabilize the cavern. But…

 

“One,” she counted.

 

Adriana fired another. “Two.”

 

And on it went.

 

She got to three hundred before she had to go home and take a nap.

 

~~~~

 

“You’re leaving?” Adriana asked, voice small and vulnerable.

 

Robert looked up from where he was packing. “Yes, I already stayed weeks longer than I intended to train you a bit more, but you’re at a point I think you won’t hurt yourself. Plus, I always intended to continue my journey.”

 

Adriana swallowed. “But, there’s so much more you can teach me! Do you have to go?”

 

“I could,” Robert admitted, getting her hopes up only to dash them. “But, I think it’s better for you to learn on your own. I’ve given you the fundamentals. I wouldn’t want to harm your development with my own way of doing things.”

 

Adriana opened her mouth only for him to shh her.

 

“I’m old, Addie. I don’t have much time left, but… I am glad to have taught you, to have met you. You are a better legacy than anything I could have asked for. Don’t let go of your curiosity, Addie. Always keep learning, till you’re as old, hells, even older than I am!” Robert laughed. “You have the smarts, the capability, and drive. You’ll go far,” he said, hefting his bag over his shoulder.

 

“I’ll miss you,” she whispered, eyes wet.

 

He smiled at her, sadly but with real warmth. “You were a delight to know, Adriana. Live well. Be better than I was, and never let the world take your hope from you,” Robert spoke, hand gently on her shoulder but a moment.

 

Then? He was out of the Great Chasm, and out of her life forever, lost beneath infinite blue skies.

 

~~~~

Childhood’s End

 

The cave was isolated, a fair few turns from the main chasm and since abandoned after the copper vein had proven smaller than expected.

 

Said cave was also home to a bizarre mismatch of destruction, creation, and other effects. One part of the wall was studded with obsidian spikes. Another had superheated to the point of glowing. Opposite that was a layer of ice that had cracked the rock itself.

 

That was just the destroyed side of the cave. The other half had myriad ‘creations’. A rough stone spider was molded, as was one made of clay. The clay had survived, while the stone one had a few legs snap. Parts of the wall just looked unlike the others, almost like they’d been imbued with a rainbow of colors. Then there was the giant smiley face.

 

Adriana took all this in and frowned. She went to take a note. Unfortunately, she found it a little dry to properly inscribe Drider sigils, so she wove a spell. A little rain cloud formed, just above the clay, and rained briefly, just enough to wet it.

 

She waved the cloud away, letting the magic dissipate and resumed taking her notes, but slowly came to a stop.

 

“I’m not learning anything new anymore, huh?” she said aloud to no one in particular.

 

Robert the Teacher, the strange but wonderful bipedal mentor who’d come and long since left her life, had given her the gift of magic.

 

But, as he had wished, she’d studied it on her own past the basics. She’d learned to work with stone, conjure flames, freeze water and manipulate ice, even mess with miniature weather patterns like the rain cloud she’d made from the ambient moisture. But that was all very…

 

Elemental, in nature. It was stuff that, on thinking of it, almost anyone in the Chasm could have done without magic, just through physical and maybe unnecessary effort. Enough fire could heat the walls as she had, Tarantula clan could throw stone spikes, waiting for a cold night with a bucket of water could freeze walls, and half a dozen stone carvers she knew of could have made a better spider sculpture than she had with their bare hands.

 

It was all very interesting, but…

 

Adriana felt like she was hitting a wall. Every exploration led to the same basic things. Manipulate earth, fire, or water, maybe a bit of air even. There were lots of combinations, but Adriana was finding more and more it felt like variations on things she’d already mastered.

 

But…

 

What else could she do?

 

It’s not like she had others to really speak with about magic.

 

The other Driders just weren’t that interested in magic. Oh sure, there was some curiosity, but most didn’t want to invest the time it took to really learn it, especially when Adriana told them how much training it’d taken to get to where she was.

 

Instead, they all had… jobs. Responsibilities. Someone needed to catch the fish, someone needed to manage the fungus fields, take care of the cave grubs, maintain the webbing making the Chasm livable, and more and more.

 

The only thing she’d really been able to get a lot of Driders interested in had been how to make fire without a friction stick or the rarer flint and steel that required outsider iron and trade.

 

That, at least, had gotten a ton of people interested. Adriana had at first thought she’d finally found a way to get her people interested. Lots of the bronze and copper smiths had come to her, as well as tons of people who wanted to learn how to make fires easier.

 

It’d taken effort, but she’d shown them how and…and…

 

That was it. Lots of Driders technically knew how to make sparks and small flames now, but they just used it to replace the older methods. They weren’t interested in taking it further, exploring the sheer potential of magic in the world…

 

Adriana had found herself just…

 

Lost, as almost everyone left her second class when she started laying down ways to learn and expand magic.

 

It wasn’t that they were stupid, they just…

 

The drive, the spark to learn, to always find out more, wasn’t there. They had their daily lives and Adriana found she felt so alone, standing in that cavernous room as almost everyone left but her parents.

 

What made it so bewildering is that Adriana knew there was an entire society of mages out there studying, learning with a drive to match her own. If only she could go there to learn from them…

 

It was in this moment, thinking back, looking over her handiwork, that Adriana had an epiphany that struck her like a thunderous cave in.

 

Why couldn’t she just leave?

 

Adriana was an adult. There was nothing saying you couldn’t leave the Chasm, and a few did!

 

Adriana felt her heartbeat pick up.

 

She scurried back to her home. It was time to plan.

 

~~~~

 

The hug was strong enough to hurt. But Adriana didn’t turn it away. Instead, she hugged her mom and dad back twice as hard.

 

After all, it might be a while before she could hug them again.

 

“Are you sure about this, Adriana? You still have a place here, we still want you here,” her father said, his voice heavy with emotion.

 

“Dear… our baby needs this, I think,” her mom said, leaning back. Her voice was more composed, but there were tears in her eyes.

 

“If… if you’re sure,” her dad said.

 

Adriana barely held back tears of her own. “I am. I love you both, I love the Chasm, but… I want to explore the world, learn more about magic, while I’m out there.”

 

The Drider mother wiped her eyes. “Always figured you would head up to the surface, you were so curious. But to go so far? I’m scared for you, my little spider, but I also am so, so proud.”

 

“We’ll keep your room nice and tidy for you, okay? If you ever need a break, or just want to come back, our door is open, you hear?” her dad said.

 

Overcome with emotion, Adriana hugged both her parents again, drawing surprised oofs before the hug was returned two fold.

 

But, all goodbyes end, and eventually Adriana’s did too.

 

They accompanied her to the surface. Her mother adjusted a bit quicker having brought students up before, but her father had to blink away tears. Or maybe he was just crying.

 

“Goodbye, Adriana. I’ll see if I can’t get some of the younger kids interested in magic so you can have a whole lot of curios students in the future when you get back, okay?” her mom said.

 

Adriana smiled. “That sounds wonderful, Mom.”

 

“Take care out there, and anyone tries something with you, hit em back three times as hard,” her father said with a punch and stomp of his legs.

 

Adriana smirked and mimed a punch in the air before turning off.

 

She looked back a few times, and saw her parents still there, waving when they saw. But eventually, the Chasm was out of sight, and behind her.

 

Just like that, Adriana left the only home she’d ever known.

 

~~~~

 

Months later, Adriana came to a stop on a dusty road, tilting her head.

 

There was a basic sign. Its language was a little different but familiar, the writing more… elaborate, than she was used to.

 

To the east, the road led to a Catkin village. To the west led to a human village, the first she’d seen.

 

A small part of her considered flipping a coin.

 

She snorted.

 

Maybe later she would visit the Catkin, but for now? She had magic to learn.

 

Adriana went west, heart full of hope and mind settled on endless possibilities of a Tower she’d only heard of filled with magic…

 

~~~~

AN:

 

HiddenMaster: Behold, an omake that rivals or exceeds the main chapters in length.

 

Spood aka Sonata wanted to see what led to Adriana’s love of magic and what led her to the human kingdom of Epheas, and, well, I got carried away.

 

Got to say though, I loved writing Adriana here as she went from childhood to a young adult departing on her journey. Baby Adriana was an absolute little gremlin and I am so happy with how those segments came out.

 

Sonata: The amount of times I melted during the writing of this is within the triple digits. No kidding young Addie was so cute and adorable I find myself going back every time I feel down.

 

Anyway we explore things about the Chasm and Addies motivation further explored in Adriana’s Magical Library and Bookshop. Little Addie is going out in the wide world that is even greater than the chasm with its own problems and Politics (yuck).

 

Check it out if you like to see where little Addie skitters next!

 

HiddenMaster: Indeed, although this is probably going to be posted in the threads or as independent chapters, depending on place.

 

Now if you would like to support me so I can keep writing wonderful words for you lovely readers, check out my other work, advance chapters, or commission a story of your own, please check out my carrd below:

 

HiddenMaster’s Archive: https://hiddenmasterarchive.carrd.co/

 

Also, we have published work! We got the first arc of A Kitsune’s Ascent Published!

 

https://books2read.com/u/mqYYY1

(Sneaky Amazon link here!)

 

You can also check out HiddenMaster’s original story, Catgirl Isekai Gone Wrong Arcs 1 and 2, down below!

 

Catgirl Isekai Gone Wrong Arc 1

https://books2read.com/u/mZzzGy

 

(Amazon link here!)

 

Catgirl Isekai Gone Wrong Arc 2!

 

https://books2read.com/u/ml1DW7

 

(Amazon link here!)