Seika furrowed her brow as she was lying in bed, with Miori snuggling up to her side once again. She extended her free hand towards the ceiling, attempting to recreate the feeling which coursed through her body when she fought Neptune, but it was to no avail; she couldn’t summon the strange cloth from her arm, which summoned an animal companion to her side.

  She extended her arm over and over. Rapidly, or slowly. She stopped after she almost smacked Miori’s face with her erratic movements and let out a long sigh, rolling on the side so she could watch her girlfriend’s sleeping face.

  Miori had a powerup of her own, Seika was informed. One she could barely remember, and her attendant, Nerio, only saw vague shapes in the darkness, but it sounded to Seika’s otaku ears like Miori could wield funnels right out of a certain world-famous mecha anime series. Imagining Miori like that made Seika grin from ear to ear. Images of various Magical Girl series went through her mind, particularly one featuring mechanized Magical Girls who had to sing to activate their powers.

  I want to see her in one of their outfits!

  Miori stirred and looked at Seika with groggy eyes. Their golden shine through the little, drowsy gap in her eyelids was utterly enticing; Seika leaned in to place a kiss on Miori’s forehead.

  “Good morning.”

  “Nh… good morning, Seika.”

  Miori offered her a gentle smile, the kind which she always wore during their ‘platonic’ dates the past decade. It still made Seika’s heart flutter whenever she saw it, despite the two of them dating for almost a whole year now.

  “Mhh… got any plans today?” Seika asked with a yawn, and Miori nodded.

  “I should go to Juno and get her opinion on those strange powers I manifested.”

  “I should probably do the same with Jove,” Seika admitted. The two shared a quiet laugh together, just in time for Medusa to enter the bedroom, greeting them with a bow.

  “Ah, good morning, Michiru,” Seika greeted the attendant before she got out of bed; Miori let out a little whistle while looking at Seika’s exposed back.

  “You act like you don’t see that almost every night!” Seika responded with a laugh. Medusa appeared entirely unfazed, bowing as she waited for Miori to follow to bring both of them to the bath.

  ***

  “Hmm… you say cloth formed around your arm and it summoned something?” Jove rubbed his chin while stepping around Seika, inspecting her from all sides.

  “Yes. Minerva also woke up for an instant and said something… fate… weaver? Yes, I think it was fate weaver.”

  “She may have made that name up on the spot. She is my daughter, after all,” Jove commented with a dry chuckle. Seika could only raise a brow; there was no way she could judge Minerva for that. If she created a new ability, she wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to give it a name, either. In some ways, her fourteen-year-old self persevered, somewhere deep within her heart.

  “I do have an idea what we can do. If it’s called ‘Fateweaver’ and materialized as cloth first, then the assumption would be that it has something to do with weaving, right?”

  Jove winked at her, then he laughed. “Don’t make that face! I’m as clueless as you are, but that’s a hint worth pursuing, yes? I’ll call for a woman who might help you develop the needed skills. Until then… oh! I almost forgot.”

  He gently grabbed Seika by the shoulders and led her towards the door.

  “I have a different form of training for you until then!”

  “More training of what kind?” Seika asked, looking him in the eyes.

  “Magic. Even with a dwindling number of believers you will be more powerful the more knowledge you possess wielding it. And I know just the person to ask!”

  The two left Jove’s mansion and he faced her again, pushing a little envelope into her hands.

  “Go to this place. The resident’s a little odd, but you will find no better teacher in all things magic than them.”

  “Magic training, huh? A lot of us just trust our innate abilities and our combat prowess, but I guess you were gifted with weaving the fabric of magic itself. That’s exciting!”

  Of course, her trusty companion Pallas was by Seika’s side, as always, accompanying her with a carefree grin on her face and a spring in her step as they descended the mountain. She appeared rather excited about the prospect of meeting a teacher in the magic arts.

  “Who do you think this teacher will be?” Seika asked, and Pallas shrugged.

  “Who knows? There are a few candidates. It’s not like a thing has only one person presiding over it. Take war, for example: there’s you, Bellona, Mars, Juno…”

  “You don’t have to list them all,” Seika interrupted her with a little smile, then she looked back at the piece of parchment in her hand. It detailed the paths the two had to take down to half the elevation of the mountain. Supposedly there was a residence there, for another one of the Deogemma, though the sketch on the page looked more like a simple hut with a garden around it, rather than a temple like the other residences in Capitolium.

  “Whoever it is, they live modestly compared to the rest.”

  “Oh, most live like that among the people,” Pallas chimed in.

  “Those who live on their own, that is. I always wanted a simple house with one bedroom and one living room in the city, but grandfather insisted that I live with him in his palace. And now I live in yours.”

  “So you’re saying I simply haven’t been able to tell that Deogemma live in normal houses?”

  “That’s right. Only the most important ones have temples like yours. Though, Cousin Mars is very important, too, and prefers the simple life on his farm.”

  “Interesting,” Seika affirmed, and their target came into view a few moments later. It was a simple wooden hut, with a mossy roof, surrounded by a vast garden full of herbs and flowers Seika didn’t recognize, all encircled by a simple wooden fence.

  Smoke wafted from the chimney and the moment the two approached the garden, they were struck by an intense herbal scent that permeated everything around them. Seika already felt her head swimming as she looked at a small statue guarding the fence’s gate. It depicted a woman carrying two torches, with two more women behind her. All three of them wore high, cylindrical crowns. The two women in the back both carried a torch, and an amphora and plate in their other hands each.

  “Hecate,” Pallas spoke, and Seika turned towards her.

  “You know her?”

  “It’s three women, born from a single crystal, just like the Grey Sisters. They’re notorious for teaching even some of the mortals the art of witchcraft, if they feel like it.”

  “So, perfect for my purposes,” Seika nodded.

  The area surrounding them suddenly darkened. The hut looked like it slid away, with the ground stretching and expanding, while the garden around them transformed; weeds and herbs were replaced by mighty trees, and suddenly, Seika found herself on a forest trail at night.

  “Welcome, child of Jupiter,” three voices spoke at the same time, belonging to women in three stages of their lives: as a child, a maiden and a crone. They intermingled in beautiful and unsettling harmony.

  “We foresaw your arrival. Follow the path through the woods and we shall grant you an audience, as well as the powers you desire. However…”

  “What… what’s happening?” Seika could hear Pallas behind her. She turned around towards her friend, whose figure grew more distant as the strange, shifting environment pulled her away.

  “Minerva!” she shouted as she tried to run towards Seika, breathing heavily as it became visibly harder for her to keep up. She even launched herself off the ground and attempted to fly, but she became a small spot in the darkness and vanished, nonetheless.

  “Our powers and gifts are for you, and you alone. Your friend will wait outside.”

  Seika swallowed heavily and turned back to face the dark path ahead, with an eerily red full moon above her. One foot in front of the other, she began her walk through the darkness.

  ***

  The scent of herbs guided her, and from time to time she felt the eyes of animals on her. Particularly wild dogs and polecats poked their heads out of the thick growths framing the narrow path forward and watched her every step. A few minutes of walking in uncertainty later, Seika saw a light ahead and accelerated her steps. It turned out to be a bonfire, built at the center of a clearing, and three figures stood in front. A child, a maiden and an elderly person; they all turned around as Seika approached and smiled, surrounding her. They shared hair and eye color, though they were more vibrant than Seika had seen among the other Deogemma; their eyes and hair were the blue of the starlit night sky near the milky way, with glittering little stars to match.

  “You have come, daughter of Jupiter,” the child spoke.

  “We prepared the gift of magic for you,” the maiden continued.

  “We prepared the gift of prophecy for you,” the crone concluded.

  “““Let us see your mind, and you shall leave more powerful than you came.”””

  All three reached out for Seika’s forehead, and in a flash, she experienced her whole life again up to this point; her childhood, her encounter with Minerva, her struggle with Lethe, her intimate moments with Miori, Ayame, Minerva and Bellona; all was laid bare for the witches to see.

  “A noble warrior.”

  “A gentle soul.”

  “A passionate lover.”

  The witches gave their impressions of Seika, who fell on her knees and took a deep breath. She felt thirty-one years older after seeing everything for a second time; yet now that it was over, she finally realized that it only took a second, and the feeling faded.

  It was strange, however, how she felt comfortable with this, in contrast to her violent disgust at Lethe rummaging through her mind.

  “Now that we have seen your past, we will show you glimpses of the past and future alike,” the crone declared.

  “It will appear random, or strange. But it will make sense in due time,” the maiden added.

  “It lies in your hands to act on it,” the child finished.

  Seika looked around between the three of them and they immediately put their hands on her forehead again; everything around her grew dark, and it was like she was being pulled away from existence itself.

  0

  ***

  Everything was dark, and empty. It might have even been a mistake to use the word ‘was’. Things simply… weren’t.

  She was alone in this non-existence, barely conscious. She was, and everything else wasn’t. Not so bad of an existence, if one didn’t care much about external stimuli.

  Too bad for her that her soul yearned for exactly those things.

  She tried to move, but there was no space her limbs could occupy and relocate inside of.

  She tried to speak, but there was nothing to carry her voice.

  She tried to listen, but she didn’t even possess a heartbeat that would carry through her body, or a body in the first place.

  She couldn’t see or feel. All she could do was think.

  I wish I wasn’t so alone.

  This was the first thought. It might have been a mistake.

  ***

  Images flashed in front of her eyes. Noble civilizations, cruel extinction events, children, parents, science, religion, love, hate, the pleasures of sex, the pain of losing a loved one, the eternal wheel of birth, death and reincarnation.

  To seed life, I have to die.

  Oppression, compassion, the rule of law and the rule of the just, the screams of millions condemned to die for cruel reasons, the cheers of those led to glory.

  I don’t want to die…!

  Gods creating men, men creating gods, machines creating gods, gods residing in machines, men becoming machines.

  I have seen her face!

  Loneliness is worse than death, but death is scary nonetheless. A child crawls into the corners of a pure white hall, withdrawing from the marbles she plays with alone, cowering in fear of letting people in. People could kill her if she let them in.

  The face of the one who will kill me!

  A dragon’s hoard deep beneath the surface will bring salvation. There is no dragon, only machines. Machines and things that don’t belong. The things that don’t belong feed the machines, and the machines pull on the world fabric. It folds. It folds. It folds. It will return what was lost.

  ***

  Age of Bronze, Year 322

  ***

  Seika gasped loudly and shot upright, looking around in a panic. It was light out, and she immediately squinted her eyes.

  “She rouses from her slumber,” she heard the voice of the child and turned around. Hecate’s three bodies surrounded her, and apparently, Pallas had given her a lap pillow until now. She grinned and gave Seika a little wave, who looked around in even more confusion.

  They were back in the garden of the small, modest hut, but now the strong scent of herbs was gone.

  “What in the world happened?” she asked and looked in the eyes of the maiden.

  “We gave you visions. We unlocked your potential. What you saw in those visions is only for you. Not even we can peer into them.”

  “I have no idea what any of the things I saw mean.”

  “The noise contains truths,” the crone spoke now. “In time you will learn which was which.”

  Seika nodded and got up, looking at her hands. She felt slightly different.

  “Have you ever combined your spells?” the maiden asked.

  “I sealed my sword in its sheath with stone, then I combined fire and water to create steam and launch my sword with force. Other than that…”

  “Ah. You haven’t then,” the child continued, rubbing her chin as she regarded Seika. Then she smiled.

  “No… you have. What exactly is a ‘magic beam’, in your words?”

  “Just… a beam of pure mana.”

  “That’s it!” the crone spoke, and Seika turned her head.

  “I don’t follow,” Seika admitted and the three bodies of Hecate chuckled.

  “To speak in your Earth terms that we got from your mind… a magical beam is as if you added all the different colors of light. A pure white output. But what if you want purple?”

  “I would…” Seika blinked, then she suddenly understood. She summoned her cane sword to her side and held it outstretched.

  “Magic is composed of multicolored strands of energy from the core of the universe,” the child continued.

  “Combine them freely and you can do whatever you want,” the crone finished for her.

  “You will need these powers if you wish to stand against whatever you have seen. Nurture them and become the most formidable form of yourself,” the maiden spoke, gently touching Seika’s shoulder.

  She nodded and looked up at the mountain, at the temple structure showing through the clouds. She raised her cane into the sky and summoned icicles, which shot straight up and exploded in multicolored clouds of steam, while Pallas looked on in awe.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Fire-infused icicles?! Now I’ve seen everything.”

  “These are only parlor tricks for now, but I think I can use this as a basis to develop my magical abilities,” Seika affirmed with a smile, bowing to the three bodies of Hecate.

  “Thank you for your guidance. And… the vision. I will try to figure out what it meant.”

  As she turned around, she felt a single hand tugging on her sleeve.

  “Before you leave,” the child spoke. “Take this.”

  She held a single bottle towards Seika, with a suspiciously green fluid inside.

  “And what is that?”

  “A potion that brings a person back from the brink of death,” the maiden spoke.

  “You may have need of it soon,” the crone added.

  “But be careful: the experience will alter whoever receives it,” the child concluded.

  “Alter? Alter them how?” Seika asked, skeptically.

  “It depends,” the maiden responded.

  “A monster,” the child spoke.

  “The ideal self,” the crone concluded.

  Seika kept staring at the concoction in her hand and stowed it away.

  “I’ll be careful with it.”

  “Princess Minerva. I am your humble servant, Arachne. High King Jove requested me personally to instruct you in the art of weaving.”

  Seika stood at the gate of her mansion, receiving the guest Jove announced to her before he sent her off to receive her visions from Hecate. The woman in front of Seika was very thin; some might even call her spindly, and she appeared to be in her late forties, as deep crow’s feet framed her eyes. Her irises were dark brown, as close to black as humanly possible, and her gaze felt piercing. She gave the impression of a strict teacher and a master craftswoman who was proud of her skills, but not arrogant.

  That name sounds familiar. I can’t put my finger on it, though.

  Her staring must have been rather obvious, as Arachne cleared her throat noisily and gestured for four men behind her, who carried large wooden frames and beams into Minerva’s mansion, along with various wooden tools.

  “If it’s not too inconvenient, I would start immediately, Princess Minerva.”

  Seika nodded and followed her; she moved with purpose, to one of the larger rooms that Seika hadn’t really used until now, and she couldn’t help but wonder what the original purpose was as she looked at the various couches and tables inside, until the frames were leaned against a wall with enough space and Arachne turned her way again, that was.

  “I was told that it is enough for our purposes If I teach you the basics, Princess Minerva. Warp and weft in a single color. I think a royal purple will serve our purposes beautifully.”

  Seika didn’t know what any of those words meant, so she simply nodded along and waited for an explanation. Arachne grabbed a spool of string and held it towards Seika. As she announced, it was dyed in a royal purple, though to Seika’s eyes it was more of a vibrant red.

  “Many people were involved in getting this yarn prepared for us, Princess Minerva. Fishermen brought in thousands of rock-shells for the dye and maidens spent hundreds of hours spinning it. Let us show it the respect it deserves and not waste it.”

  She held the yarn in her palms and bowed her head before it, though her hands became a little shaky as she did so, like it was strenuous for her. Seika quietly bowed her head to the yarn, and she could see a little smile on Arachne’s face before she turned around.

  “First, we will set up the warp. I will show you how.”

  She moved to one of the two frames and gestured towards it.

  “This is a loom. A warp-weighted one to be precise, ideal to weave very wide and long fabrics, like those used for a cloak, for example.”

  Seika nodded and committed the lesson to memory. Arachne started by measuring the yarn against Seika’s body, using her height, then doubling it.

  She then approached one of the looms and pulled the strings over a beam sitting on the very top; it was loose enough that it could be turned, Seika realized, but the most important thing right now was what Arachne was doing with the yarn. After letting it fall down either side of the beam at even lengths, she produced multiple ring-shaped stones from the equipment the men brought inside and tied them to both ends of the strings. She bundled some of them up as well to avoid putting one weight on every single string.

  “This is where the name comes from, Princess Minerva. The warp yarns hang from the top beam and are pulled taut by weights on both ends. We rest the front set of warp yarns against this bottom beam, called the shed rod, and let the back ones hang free.”

  Seika nodded and followed the explanation, looking at the contraption. She was certain that they weren’t done yet, as there were two forked rods sticking out from the front. And indeed, Arachne grabbed another bar and a differently colored thread.

  “This is the heddle-bar. We will tie the warp in the back to this with loops, which will pull it exactly through the gaps in the warp in the front.”

  Seika nodded, and she watched Arachne perform the delicate task. She brought another bar which she temporarily fastened to the back of the loom, gently pushing the ‘warp’ strings in the back further forward. She then tied the new, pure white thread around the heddle-bar, leading it through the curtain of the front warp yarn and towards the back, then looped it around the bar in the back in a way it would catch on to exactly one warp thread once the bar was removed. She continued the task skillfully, until she was halfway through, when her hands started shaking again and she dropped the spool of yarn.

  She held her hand with some force, trying to calm it down again as Seika knelt down to pick up her spool and hand it back to her.

  “Thank you…” Arachne spoke quietly, clearing her throat after. Then she shooed Seika towards her own loom.

  “There, you’ve seen enough. Don’t wait for me to finish, but start on your own piece, Princess Minerva!”

  Seika nodded, though she still shot the spindly woman a glance from time to time as she walked over to her own loom.

  She put the threads over the top beam, as shown, then she attached weights, put a temporary beam at the back to push the hanging warp forward and started her work on tying half the warp to the heddle-bar.

  “Very good. Don’t rush, now. Take your time to make sure everything is correct. Once you’re done you can remove the bar, and only your threads should pull on the warp yarns.”

  Seika nodded, continuing her work while Arachne finished her own. She pulled the temporary bar out, and the warp yarns fell back into position, pulling the threads from the heddle-bar taut. She then pulled on the heddle bar to demonstrate their function. They perfectly slid through the gaps in the front row of warp.

  “This way we can guide the horizontal thread, the weft, between the warp in an alternating pattern, and change it up for the next turn,” she explained, and Seika nodded.

  Now that she had seen all of that, she felt like she could quickly apply her new knowledge. Her fingers moved swiftly, under the stern eyes of Arachne; she had to redo a few of her loops, but as her tutor noticed her mistakes quickly, she thankfully didn’t have to redo much of her work. Setting up the loom already took an awful amount of time, however, so Seika and Arachne called it a day after the heddle-bar was set up.

  ***

  “Now, after guiding the shuttle through, you can place it in the holes on the sides before you beat the weft against the already woven top. Make sure that you don’t pull it too tight, or you’ll change the shape of the finished cloth.”

  Seika followed Arachne’s guidance meticulously on the second day, while from time to time throwing glances her way. Her hands trembled occasionally, but her current task was thankfully not precision work like tying the loops was, so she appeared to manage.

  “Jove must think highly of you to personally choose you as a tutor,” Seika spoke, starting some small talk.

  “We go back some years. I’m sure the time he has known me is insignificant to him, but to me… I served him for thirty years, now. Three quarters of my life.”

  “What have you done for him during that time?” Seika kept asking.

  “Oh, this and that. I made a grand tapestry for his throne room, depicting his victory over Saturn. I never met Saturn, so I had to rely on his descriptions, too. I made the purple fabric for all his clothes, including that… what does he call it? ‘Wizard robe’?”

  Seika nodded and smiled. “Sounds like a life’s work to be proud of. I’m sure if you’re ever gone, he will keep all these pieces you made for him in a place of honor.”

  Arachne stopped and bit her lower lip, then she turned towards Seika.

  “You honor me, Princess Minerva, but the truth of the matter is… I stopped being useful way too soon. I have so many more years of life in me, but…”

  She raised her hands in front of her face; they shook again, and tears streamed down her face.

  “These hands… these useless hands! They will not allow me to make fine works of art like I used to. I am destined to only teach and make simple rolls of… regular quality cloth until the day I die!”

  Seika looked at the woman with sympathy and walked a little closer, putting a hand on Arachne’s shoulder.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have reopened that wound, if it weighs that much on you. But please: don’t sell yourself short! You made Jove’s robes! He trusts your craftsmanship so much that he wears it regularly, and that wizard robe? I’ve seen him wear it seventeen years ago! He’s hanging your work in his throne room, and he trusts you to such a degree that he sends you to educate his daughter. You have so much to be proud of, so don’t let anything drag you down!”

  Arachne took a deep breath and nodded, grabbing her right wrist with her left to calm her shaking hands down. It took a while, but after she was done, she gave Seika a little smile and a bow.

  “Thank you. But now back to your work, my student!” the stern tone she spoke with sounded more like friendly banter this time.

  “Hmm, shaking hands, Is it? Happens sometimes, often when she tries to concentrate on her tasks…”

  Sayaka rubbed her chin and looked at Seika. She appeared in the doctor’s apartment a few minutes ago, fully abusing Janus’ new loyalty towards Jove to simply open a door to her place, avoiding scrutiny from the people in the streets towards her glowing hair in the process. Sayaka, of course, gave her a tongue-lashing about using portals to hop into her clinic, as she did to Mana the last two times, but ultimately agreed to listen to her.

  “The things you’ve been describing at least don’t sound like Parkinson’s to me, just essential tremors. There’s still no cure for that either, however, only treatment, and for an old-fashioned weaver that would be a severely debilitating condition.”

  “What are the treatments?” Seika asked curiously, sitting on Sayaka’s office chair in front of her computer, fully turned towards the doctor. She had an appointment with Arachne today and sent Medusa and Pallas out into town to enjoy some free time; of course, this was just a pretext so she could slip away before her tutor’s arrival and get a diagnosis by proxy from her doctor friend. She didn’t intend to stay long, however; Minerva’s continued healing would depend on her staying in her world.

  “There’s some medication you can try, but I’d suggest a newer treatment instead: a wearable nerve stimulation wristband. She only needs to wear it twice a day for roughly an hour and it will give her nerves little jolts. If Jove cares about her that much, he could even charge it for her with his lightning powers.”

  Sayaka added that last bit with a little chuckle and cleared her throat.

  “I’ll get the medicine ready for you and will order the wristband, so don’t worry about that, alright?” she let out a long sigh and showed a little smirk.

  “…you’re too pure-hearted for your own good sometimes. But do keep it up!”

  ***

  Seika walked beside Janus through the white fog of his dimension of doors, with a rather awkward silence between them. She carried a box of pills with her; beta blockers, which were supposed to suffice until Sayaka got hold of the wristband.

  “So…” Seika broke the silence, and Janus turned one of his faces towards her, showing her a patient little smile; it was the same smile she could feel under his hood before, she realized.

  “You’re Minerva’s… great-great grand uncle, yes?”

  “In a way. If you think that Terra and I coming into existence together makes us ‘siblings’.”

  “I really don’t know how the familial relationships in that kind of situation work out,” Seika admitted.

  “Neither do I!” Janus admitted with a rather joyous laugh. “But I’m glad to accept Minerva as my niece.”

  Seika gave him a smile and blinked as they already arrived back at the door she needed to go through. The two stone columns looked inviting, but she had a strange feeling about returning now.

  “Careful, bearer of Minerva. I sense malice back at your temple,” Janus spoke, but before Seika could turn around and ask him to elaborate, he had vanished into the white fog of his dimension of doors. With only the door next to her left, she simply walked through. She didn’t like what she saw on the other side.

  ***

  The woman on the other side was a stranger, but also not. She wore Seika’s face and her glowing red hair, grinning from ear to ear as Seika stepped through the door.

  “Ah, welcome home, Princess Minerva! I just finished enacting your duties!” the stranger announced with Seika’s voice, followed by a cackle that may have sounded like Seika’s laugher, but at the same time was a sound she had never made in her life.

  “My duties?” Seika asked, summoning her cane sword to her side. She fully expected this to be a confrontation by Scotus’ minions and wouldn’t back down.

  “Oh, put that away! I’m on your side!” the woman with Seika’s face responded, before her appearance glitched and Seika’s face gave way to a much crueler expression. The woman in front of her was beautiful, in a malicious kind of way, with beautifully flowing golden hair and pure white wings, yet her appearance was marred. Her pure skin was cracked, with the gold of her hair shining through like she was a figure of light wearing a cracking, dry skin suit. Her white chiton was covered in red splatters – blood, as Seika quickly realized – of which more dripped from the whip and dagger she held in either hand.

  “Prideful Arachne saw herself as a more skilled artisan than the goddess of craftsmen and weavers, Minerva, in the flesh! She kept bragging, she wove a tapestry which shamed the goddess, and so, Minerva, in her righteous rage, beat her with her shuttle until she ran crying for the hills, seeking out a tree to hang herself from.”

  The stranger reached into a burlap sack she carried on her hip and tossed something Seika’s way. She looked at the strange objects hesitantly, before her eyes widened in horror.

  Right there in front of her were Arachne’s severed hands.

  “At least that’s the story the people will hear from Fama. In truth, I, Invidia, or Nemesis, if it pleases you, enacted just punishment for her hubris! The hubris of thinking she could teach the goddess of weavers her own art!”

  Seika saw red and rushed Invidia in front of her, drawing her blade and covering it in magical energies. Invidia’s eyes went wide, and she let out a war cry as she parried with her dagger and immediately retaliated with a powerful strike of her whip. Seika let out a yelp as she was hit, but she didn’t let up. Her mind was overtaken by avenging Arachne, until…

  “Are you sure you can afford to waste time on me, princess?” Invidia spoke in a mocking tone. “She doesn’t hang, yet!”

  Seika grimaced and pushed herself off Invidia, who did nothing to pursue her; she simply stood there, mocking her with her smile.

  “You can try to save her, or you can strike me down. Make your choice, false princess!”

  Seika froze in place, face contorted in rage and sword raised above her head, but she didn’t strike yet, even with how much Invidia’s smug expression enraged her. After long, agonizing seconds, she finally turned around, scooping Arachne’s hands off the ground before she ran, following the blood trail through the corridors of the mansion. The trail ran through almost the entirety of the mansion, and Seika accelerated, already expecting that if Arachne wasn’t going to die from hanging herself, she would do so from blood loss.

  The doors of the spare room which they used for their weaving practice stood open and Seika entered, but as she stood between the doors, she was greeted by Arachne’s swaying body.

  Irida must have prepared the noose and the chair for her, as the construction was much too intricate for a woman without hands to set up. The chair was kicked aside to allow the weaver to end her life, though judging by the spasms going through her body she only just got around to it.

  Seika acted quickly, shooting a razor-sharp gale of wind at the rope and hurrying towards Arachne to catch her.

  The weaver’s eyes and mouth moved, but the rest of her body didn’t.

  She broke her neck and crushed her throat!

  Seika gritted her teeth, tears in her eyes as she hovered a hand over the weaver; her healing magic flowed into the dying woman, whose eyes became watery.

  “Don’t bother, princess.” Invidia’s mocking voice came from behind her; Seika didn’t even want to look at her.

  “Even if you manage to keep her alive somehow, her hands are gone, her neck is broken… instead of weaving she will be confined to a bed, wetting herself, forever dependent on someone else to do even the simplest things. You’re being unfathomably cruel by keeping her in this state.”

  Arachne’s tears kept rolling freely over her cheeks and Seika bit her lower lip; she was almost about to give up as she remembered a gift she received not too long ago.

  ‘A potion that brings a person back from the brink of death.’

  ‘You may have need of it soon.’

  “What do you have there?” Invidia asked as Seika opened the bottle and carefully poured the contents into Arachne’s mouth. She hoped this would be enough to save her; otherwise, she would be utterly out of options.

  ‘But be careful. The experience will alter whoever receives it.’

  She didn’t have to wait long for her confirmation. Arachne’s body twitched and convulsed, and her eyes widened. Seika held her, but after a while she was shocked by what she witnessed.

  ‘A monster’, the words of Hecate’s child body repeated in Seika’s mind.

  Arachne’s small eyes multiplied in number until there were eight of them and her limbs split in the same manner until eight spindly legs emerged. Her mouth and nose disappeared, replaced by large mandibles, and her body changed. Her clothes ripped apart as her belly grew in size, and finally, she was in Seika’s arms as a large, dog-sized spider.

  Seika was frozen in fear; she didn’t intend for this to happen, but she had no one to blame but herself. Hecate did warn her, and she still took the plunge.

  The spider in her arms wriggled as it came to life; its large eyes scanned Seika, then Invidia, who slowly took steps backwards from them both.

  “Impossible! You should be dead! Don’t you dare go anywhere near me!” she shouted and even cracked her whip, but that only agitated the spider and spurred it into action.

  It jumped out of Seika’s arms, too quick for Idiria to defend herself with her dagger or whip; before she could react, the creature was on her and bit her. Once, then twice. Pained screams echoed through the halls of the mansion as Invidia dropped her weapons and violently shook the spider off, looking at her bleeding arms in shock.

  “What did you do?!” she screamed at the transformed Arachne. To Seika’s surprise, the creature responded.

  “I injected my venom deep into your veins. Leave, foul Nemesis, and seek the help of your brethren before it paralyzes you in full!”

  Invidia’s face contorted into an ugly sight of rage, but it became apparent that she was struggling to stay conscious.

  “A shallow victory! The masses will hear what your pity for the weaver amounted to, Minerva!” she screamed at Seika before she turned around and ran away through the hallways. The sound of her footsteps grew fainter and soon their echo died down entirely.

  Seika turned towards the transformed Arachne and fell on her knees, then she bowed entirely in front of her, with her forehead touching the floor tiles.

  “I’m so sorry, Arachne! It’s because they’re targeting me! And because I used a concoction that I didn’t understand, you ended up like this!”

  There was no answer; instead, Arachne’s spindly legs audibly clicked over the floor as she moved away from Seika, who looked at what she was doing.

  She shot a string of sticky web at the ceiling and pulled herself up in front of her loom, all eight eyes on it; even though she was a giant spider, Seika could see the concentration written across her ‘face’.

  Then she reached out with her thin, yet somewhat elegant legs… and began weaving. She was doing the same as before, but before long she pulled the started cloth off the loom and held it in front of her body. Her legs moved the warp and weft in almost hypnotically swift motions, and right there, in front of Seika’s eyes, she created exceptionally fine fabric; what she started as a human looked coarse, rough and even amateurish compared to what she created now, centimeter by centimeter.

  ‘The ideal self,’ Hecate’s crone voice repeated in Seika’s mind. She kept watching this strange spider, who was so absorbed in her work.

  ***

  “It is done,” Arachne spoke for the first time since driving Invidia away.

  Her spider legs held a roll of purple fabric, and extended them towards Seika, who grabbed it with some uncertainty. It was woven finely, almost like silk.

  “This is my gift to you, Princess Minerva. And my way of accepting your… apology. I can finally weave again, just the way I used to!”

  “But your body…” Seika started, but the spider only clicked its mandibles in return.

  “I’m a widow, so there’s no concerns with my husband’s potential disgust. My children are all adults and will understand, and if they won’t, I will keep my distance for their peace of mind. What is important to me right now, Princess Minerva, is that I can finally devote myself to the one thing I love the most again.”

  The array of beady eyes shone like the woman behind the spider’s face was becoming tearful.

  “I can weave again…”

  Seika gave her a weak little smile, sighing.

  “I was about to help you with that… with another world’s medicine.”

  “I am honored that you were about to go that far for me, princess. But no need, now,” the spider spoke and shuffled a little closer.

  “Try the fabric! Wrap some around your arm! I made it especially for you to channel your magic through its threads!”

  Seika blinked and ran her fingers over the fabric again, and indeed, she could feel the magic that naturally coursed through her body almost seamlessly pass into this material, more so as she wrapped some around her left arm. She focused, closing her eyes and bringing the lessons of Hecate back into her mind. She poured magic into the cloth, and before she knew it, it shimmered in a golden light. Images flashed across its surface, settling on the depiction of an owl, which shortly after materialized from the cloth itself, flying in a circle around Seika before it simply sat down on her head, hooting once before it dissipated again.

  “You’re right. It’s perfect,” Seika admitted with a little smile.

  “Turn it into a cloak! Carry it with you! You learned the basics of weaving, and now you can shape this magic cloth with your mind,” Arachne spoke again, and Seika nodded.

  This might become useful… maybe I can add it to Minerva’s Magical Girl form.

  “And this is why I should always be by your side, or guarding your temple, Minerva!” Pallas complained loudly. She gave Seika a stern talking-to this past hour, while Jove shot some bemused glances their way from time to time, whenever he found the time to stop his inspection of Arachne’s new body.

  “Hecate’s remedies are mysterious, indeed,” he spoke and let out a sigh. “Are you quite sure that you want to remain in this body, though, my old friend?”

  “Of course! I’ve been weaving like never before. I can serve you again, High King!”

  Jove sighed and ruffled his hair with one hand.

  “And as I told you a hundred times: you did more than enough for me. Though, after Invidia’s attack, I can see how there was no other way, with your original body having been mangled like that.”

  The spider’s body language had something self-satisfied to it, and Jove furrowed his brow at her.

  “If you ever grow tired of this new form of yours, I will talk to Hecate on your behalf and we’ll see about getting you back into a human body,” he spoke in a stern voice and the spider’s body bobbed once, signaling that she understood.

  “Good. Now for you two,” he spoke and approached Seika and Pallas.

  “What is it, uncle?” Pallas spoke up first.

  “A tournament is about to be held, to entertain the public. I know that currently any sort of public appearance might be risky, but it is custom that… new children participate to introduce themselves.”

  His eyes lingered long on Seika, who let out a long sigh.

  “Right, right. Minerva was a newborn. Seventeen years ago, at least.”

  “Quite right. And all this time she’s been doing her growing up in another world. So please, don’t embarrass her.”

  Seika nodded, and Jove returned the gesture, then he turned around, Arachne in tow.

  “Oho! I haven’t participated in one of those tournaments in ages!” Pallas spoke after he was out of earshot.

  “We’re going to aim for the win as a team, right?”

  Seika smiled and nodded, though she couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen again.

  “Of course. We’re aiming for the top. Together!”