Volume one sneak peek

Prologue 

The Dungeon Flame 

Syuntaday, 25th of Fyris, 2024 era of malice, present day. 

Confused, she awoke inside a dingy, dirty dungeon, located inside the human capital city of Primordia in the country of Duratia. The tanned woman’s hair was long-flowing, graduating from scarlet orange to sunny yellow, but despite this it seemed dull. Her distinctive eyes burn orange yellow like the dying sparks of a fire, reflecting the colours of her hair. She is named Hikari Machizuki and as the grogginess from her sickening slumber subsides, she has only one thing on her mind. “Where am I?” she asks herself. 

Hikari, dressed in her silver knight armour with a white and gold trim, complimented with a crystal sun necklace, scans around the cold, damp cell, looking for a way out, only to find nothing but a faint, golden light beyond thick pillars of steel that keep her confined to her tiny cell. 

On the other side of the cell bars, stand two tall assertive guards, clad in a brown military uniform with a green and orange trim, paired with blue cotton trousers and brown heavy-duty boots. 

“Finally, you’re awake!” says one of the guards impatiently as he notices Hikari rummaging around her cell. 

“E-Excuse me, where am I? Why am I locked behind bars?” Hikari questions, fearfully. 

“That’s because you’re too dangerous to be left unchecked,” a voice echoes throughout the hallway. 

As the two guards turn and stand to attention, a small thin man wearing the same military uniform, with shaggy sapphire and icy-blue ombre coloured hair ending in drill-like curls, emerges from the shadows and reveals himself to Hikari. 

“Who are you?” Hikari inquires, feeling slightly intimidated. 

“I am Major General Osafumi Seiwa, Primordia’s Head of Interrogation, but you may call me Osa for short,” Osafumi states with a calm dominance. 

“Interrogation? What am I being interrogated for? I haven’t done anything wrong, I swear!” Hikari panics, her fight or flight response taking over  

“Oh, we’ll soon get to the bottom of that, you arsonist!” Osafumi replies. 

“Arsonist!? W-who, me?” Hikari asks confused. 

“Yes you, I know you were the one who set fire to the angels’ refuge. You did it with your ability to command fire; don’t even try to deny it, your hair and eye colour are a dead giveaway,” Osafumi says bluntly. 

“N-no, I couldn’t have. I wouldn’t have, would I? I love Miyako and all the others, they’re like family to me, I’m sure of it, and I can’t control fire, that’s physically impossible,” Hikari says as visions of herself collapsed in the rubble of a burning orphanage play through her mind like a short snuff film. Screams of children and panicked adults intrusively overtake her hearing as they beg for the pain to stop, a mercy that never came for them. 

“Feign ignorance all you want, but I can see right through you. I have the power to see through all the lies a person tells me, and not to mention you were the only survivor of the incident, despite being covered in flames yourself!” Osafumi explains. 

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about!” Hikari says defensively, her memory inexplicably hazy, with strong feelings of guilt rising to the surface. “And what did you mean about my hair and eyes being a dead giveaway?” she adds, trying to change the subject.  

As Hikari is blurting out her poor attempt at a distraction, one of the guards hands Osafumi a goblet of water at the behest of a single finger snap. 

“My, you’re a stubborn one, aren’t you? Well, if what you’re saying is true and you don’t possess the fire primordial fragment in your body, you wouldn’t mind having a nice, refreshing drink of water now, would you? After all, you were unconscious for a full day and I would hate for you to grow evermore dehydrated,” says Osafumi with calm, assertive confidence. He slowly approaches Hikari with the goblet of water, swirling it around like a noble partaking in a wine tasting. 

“W-what are you doing? Please don’t come any closer!” Hikari shouts in fear as she subconsciously backs away slowly. 

“Where has this fear come from? It’s just water, it can’t hurt me, maybe I’m just on edge because I don’t know where I am right now.” Hikari tries to justify to herself. 

While she is distracted, Osafumi flings the goblet of water at Hikari, sending its contents hurling towards her, catching her off guard as she instinctively blocks the flying water with her hands. 

The water lands on Hikari’s hands, making a hissing sound as steam begins to emit from them. She begins to scream in pain, the water eating away at her skin like glutinous acid. 

“Now I have irrefutable evidence that you are a style user, your body’s reaction to the water proves everything! Now, tell me why did you burn down the orphanage!? Where did you procure your primordial fragment from!? And how did you know how to bond with it!?” Osafumi demands, bombarding Hikari with questions as she endures the pain of her sustained injury, the steam vanishing as the top few layers of her skin are burnt away. 

Not having an excuse but also not wanting to break a promise she made long ago to her father, Hikari stares intensely at Osafumi, her eyes burning with fear and determination. She uncharacteristically stands her ground in silence, her mind racing at what lengths Osafumi will go to, to extract the information from her. 

“Not willing to play ball, are we? Fine then, we’ll have to take a more unorthodox approach,” Osafumi says as he is handed another goblet of water. 

Hikari shudders in anticipation of the water being thrown at her, her legs shaking uncontrollably in fear as the muscles spasm with instability, in response to the threatening painful stimulus that approaches her.  

“P-please, stop this! I don’t know anything you’re asking me.” Hikari pleas.  

Osafumi approaches the cell and raises the goblet up to his mouth and sips the water from it. 

“Give it up already, I told you, I have the power to see through all lies and deception. I will ask you one final time, out of courtesy, are you going to cooperate and tell me everything? Or will I have to resort to even more drastic measures?” Osafumi inquires as he twirls the half empty goblet in his hand. 

“I’m telling you, I don’t know anything, I can’t even remember how I got here,” Hikari lies. 

Osafumi sighs. “I see, that’s disappointing, I was hoping you would cooperate. Very well then, you’ve forced my hand,” he says disappointedly. “It seems that we’re going to have to become intimately related, like two best friends at a sleepover,” he adds as he stares at her sadistically. 

“Wh-what are you going to do to me?” Hikari says nervously as she takes a step back in fear, her back now fully pressed against the far wall in the cell. 

“Chizuru my dear, please come here and immobilise the prisoner for me,” Osafumi says sweetly, as a tiny, thin, young lady, wearing a grey chain necklace with padlock pendant, steps out from the shadows. She is dressed in the same military uniform with her dark grey and dark ocean-blue ombre coloured hair tied up in a long ponytail, complimented with bangs that cover her left eye. 

“Y-y-yes, Sir! Right away, Sir!” Chizuru says with nervous enthusiasm, hoping not to mess up in front of her superior. 

“I-I’m really s-sorry. Miss, b-but I-I have t-to restrain you now!” Chizuru says nervously as she fidgets with her hands while the cell door is unlocked by the other guards. 

“This is my chance! With their overconfidence, I can run past them and quickly escape. I’ve just got to time it right,” Hikari cunningly thinks as she readies herself to run. 

The cell doors slowly swing open with a prolonged creak and a subtle thud as they hit the faded stone dungeon wall. 

Chizuru apprehensively enters the cell with the help of a gentle, encouraging push from Osafumi. 

As Chizuru positions herself in the middle of the cell, Hikari begins to sprint, prepared to flatten anything in her way to make her escape as she charges through the cell. 

“Sorry, but I can’t stay locked up here, I have people who need me,” Hikari thinks to herself as she rushes towards Chizuru like a stampeding rhino. 

Suddenly, a grey aura surrounds Chizuru as she closes her eyes and invocation casts, “Secure style, swords of imprisonment,” in a calm enigmatic voice holding her right arm outstretched, pointing at Hikari with her palm open. 

Suddenly, five beautiful grey energy swords majestically materialise from thin air and launch themselves forwards on Chizuru’s command, impaling Hikari in her knees, shoulders, and chest as they pin her against the wall. 

“W-what the? I can’t move, how am I still alive?” Hikari thinks to herself. 

As Chizuru steps back, Osafumi enters the cell. 

“Good work as always Chizuru,” says Osafumi, proud of Chizuru’s performance as he pats her head. 

“T-thank you, S-Sir,” Chizuru says shyly, blushing from the compliment she received. 

“Now then, let’s get intimately acquainted, shall we?” Osafumi says, his sweet expression turning sour and serious. 

“What are you going to do to me?” Hikari probes nervously. 

“We’re going to start by becoming best friends, and everyone knows that best friends share secrets with one another,” Osafumi says smugly, as he leans into Hikari’s personal space to make her nervous. 

“So, this is how it’s going to work. Since I’ve told you one of my biggest secrets, you’re going to tell me everything I want to know. Sounds fair?” Osafumi says in a friendly manner. 

“No thank you!” Hikari protests  

“I wasn’t asking, I was telling you,” Osafumi says, flipping between two different personas like a switch being flicked back and forth, as a fiery sapphire aura surrounds him. 

“Order style, candour confession,” he invocation casts as the aura crawls from Osafumi to Hikari, inflicting her with the effects of his spell. “It feels so much better getting to know people, don’t you think? Personally, I think the world would be a better place if there were no secrets,” says Osafumi cheerfully. 

“So, tell me, my new best friend, what’s your story? What is your name? How long have you been in Primordia? And how did you obtain your primordial fragment? I want to know it all,” Osafumi interrogates. 

Hikari tries her absolute hardest to resist the effects of Osafumi’s spell, but her entire life story begins to flood out of her mouth, like lava flowing out of an erupting volcano. 

With tears in her eyes a single thought comes into Hikari’s mind, “I’m sorry, Dad, I’ve let you down,” filling her with great shame and disappointment 

———————————————————— 

Chapter 1 

Firebloom and Spider 

Hikari’s story begins ten years ago on her eleventh birthday, on the 24th of Fyris 2014. 

Hikari and her father, Kaseya Machizuki live inside a small, cosy log cabin in a small village known as Firebloom Village, located several miles to the east of the human capital city of Primordia. 

In her room, a young Hikari wearing a pale pink dress with long blonde hair and sunny yellow eyes is getting dressed as she puts in her moon-blue crescent moon earrings 

“Hikari, it’s time to head out now,” her father calls from downstairs softly. 

“Coming Daddy,” Hikari responds as she frantically rushes around her room looking for her boots. After finding her boots and putting them on, Hikari runs downstairs to meet with her dad. 

“Are you ready to leave? Have you got your flowers for your mother’s grave?” he asks patiently, hiding his sadness. 

“I’ve got them right here, Daddy,” says Hikari, a little less chipper, sensing her dad’s sadness as she presents her father a bouquet of dazzling fiery flowers that look like the sun if it were attached to a stem. 

“Fireblooms, your mom loved these, they were the first gift I gave to her when we were dating. It’s one of the main reasons why we decided to settle down here,” he says reminiscing. 

“Come on, let’s go,” he says, trying to remain upbeat. 

The two leave the log cabin and head towards the forest with a bouquet of fireblooms in hand. 

As the two make their way through the serene village to the entrance of the forest, they run into Kaseya’s best friend who is stationed on guard there. 

“There he is, looking as rough and rugged as always!” the guard teases. 

“You’re as high spirited as ever, Hiroto,” Kaseya replies. 

“Cheer up pal, are you worried your age is finally catching up to you? You usually always have something to say,” Hiroto says. “Oh, it’s because you’re with the little one, sorry little miss, I didn’t see you there. Are those flowers for me?” 

“Actually Hiroto, we’re going to visit Michiharu’s grave,” Kaseya says gloomily. 

“Ah I see…my bad man, I didn’t realise… please give my respects too, she was the best of the best,” Hiroto says respectfully. 

“Thank you, I’ll be sure to do that,” Kaseya says kindly. 

“So, that must mean that it’s little Hikari’s birthday today, happy birthday little one,” Hiroto says as he kneels down to Hikari’s eye level. 

“I’m not little anymore! I’m eleven years old; I’m a big girl now!” Hikari says as she cutely tries to act mature. 

“You’re right, my mistake, I’m sure you’re as strong as your old man now, haha!” Hiroto laughs as he jokes around with her. 

“That’s right! Me and Daddy train every day, he’s even been starting to teach me how to use a sword!” Hikari says proudly. 

“Really? That’s great! I’m sure you’ll become a great adventurer just like him one day, as long as you keep putting in the hard work,” Hiroto says to Hikari. 

“She sure will, she hasn’t tried a real sword yet but she’s starting to get the hang of the wooden practice swords,” Kaseya says. 

“Well, if it ever gets too much for you, whenever I’m off duty I don’t mind coming around to lend a hand and show her a trick or two,” Hiroto offers. 

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Kaseya says as he humbly accepts. 

“You know, Kaseya, now that she’s older, would you be able to leave Hikari at home and join me in the guard squad? We could really use someone as skilled as you, even if you are a fossil,” Hiroto says. 

“Sorry Hiroto, my answer’s still no. We had some great times working together as adventurers but Hikari’s my priority. Michiharu would roll in her grave if I left her alone,” Kaseya replies. 

Hiroto sighs. “I thought that would be your answer, it was worth a shot,” he says. 

“Well, Hiroto, we best be off, daylight’s burning and this little one’s getting impatient,” says Kaseya as he and Hikari head towards the forest entrance. 

“Oh Kaseya, be careful making your way through the forest, there’s been reports of increased mana beast activity. It should be no problem for you being a veteran adventurer and all, but a lot of people have been going missing lately so watch your back when you’re out there. It’s gotten that bad that civilians have been banned from leaving the village grounds,” Hiroto says, concerned for the pair’s safety. 

“Will do, thanks for the heads up. I might be old but I’m still one of the best adventurers out there. We’ll keep an eye out for people and spread the word whilst we’re out there,” says Kaseya confidently. 

“Thank you, man, that’d be a huge help, we’re spread thin as it is! Safe travels you two,” Hiroto says cheerfully as he waves them off. 

Hikari and Kaseya venture forth into the forest. As they make their way through the forest, Kaseya’s sharply honed instincts kick in as he senses danger. 

“Hikari, stay close to me, we’re being watched,” he says dominantly as he gently pulls Hikari to his side. 

As Kaseya holds Hikari tightly, he scans his surroundings as bushes rustle and the screeching howls of mana beasts can be heard. Without a word, Kaseya snatches Hikari from the ground and runs towards the graveyard. 

“What’s going on Daddy? I’m scared,” Hikari says as she clings to him. 

“Don’t worry about it my ray of sunshine. I just want us to get there faster so we have more time with your mother,” Kaseya says, shielding Hikari from reality. 

As Kaseya races through the forest, the rummaging of bushes and twigs snapping can be heard following them, as the scrambled muffled padding of the pursing hordes’ feet can be heard closely behind. 

After running for a short amount of time, the pair emerge from the forest into a wide, open field, the landscape dotted with a handful of graves. After walking a short distance, the pair arrive at a well maintained gravestone that reads: “Here lies Michiharu Machizuki, 15th of Solra, 1978-2012. Loving mother, devoted wife, indomitable warrior, and a wavering light in the darkest of nights.” 

The two lay a picnic blanket down in front of the grave and sit on their knees and both pay their respects, praying to Hikari’s mom. 

As the two finish their prayer, they sit around the grave and carefully place the firebloom bouquet in a beautiful ceramic vase that sits on the grave.  

.  

“Happy eleventh birthday Hikari,” Kaseya says to her warmly as he hands her a small black box. 

“Really!? For me Daddy!?” Hikari says as she opens the box carefully. 

As she lifts the lid, Hikari sees that the box contains a beautiful necklace with a pendant in the shape of a small crystal sun that glows with a faint orange hue in the sunlight. 

“Thank you, Daddy! It’s beautiful! I love it! It will go amazing with my moon earrings!” she says overjoyed as she hugs her dad. 

“I’m glad you like it; it was originally your mother’s but I want you to have it,” Kaseya says. 

“Can you put it on me please Daddy?” Hikari asks politely. 

“Sure I can, my little ray of sunshine,” Kaseya responds warmly as he puts the pendant around her neck. “Now that you have this pendant, I recognise you as a beacon of hope that lights the way for others, just like your mother,” Kaseya says proudly, as if he is passing Michiharu’s legacy to her. 

“I love you, Daddy, thank you for my present! One day, I’ll become strong like you and Mommy and help as many people as I can, no matter what!’’ Hikari says as she buries her face in his chest and hugs her dad, with tears streaming down her face. 

“I love you too Hikari, I’m sure your mother is looking down on you smiling wherever she is,” Kaseya responds as a small light veil of steam floats around the pair. 

The two sit around Michiharu’s grave as they idly talk and eat food together. 

“Daddy, how did Mommy die?” Hikari asks. 

“She…it’s complicated,” Kaseya says sadly. 

“Can you tell me please? I’m a big girl now! I can handle it,” Hikari insists. 

“I’ll tell you about it when you’re older, but for now, just know that your mother died so everyone could carry on living,” Kaseya says. “Come on, we need to say goodbye to your mother and be on our way, it’s already 4 pm and we need to collect your birthday cake from the bakery,” Kaseya says, changing the subject as he glances at his pocket watch. 

“Okay Daddy, goodbye Mommy, we’ll see you again soon, thank you for my present!” Hikari says gloomily as she hugs her mother’s gravestone. 

The two depart and make their way back through the forest, when suddenly Kaseya abruptly stops dead in his tracks as he stands in front of Hikari in a protective stance.  

“Hikari, stay behind me, something’s coming,” Kaseya says, a worried expression on his face. 

The sound of rustling bushes and twigs snapping can be heard as the same screeching howls from earlier can be heard once more. 

“What is it Daddy? I’m scared,” Hikari says as she clings to his leg. 

Kaseya stays stone cold silent, his laser focus engaged solely on the oncoming threat as he and his precious daughter could be in grave danger. 

“It’s coming! Hikari, stand back,” Kaseya barks. 

Suddenly, a pack of fangweavers jump out from the shadows, each of them snarling and drooling with evil aggression. Hikari falls down backwards, petrified of the giant wolf-like spiders. 

Before the pair, stand a pack of wolf-sized spiders.  

The creepy creatures have the head and jaw of a wolf with the chelicerae face fangs of a spider, paired with eight wolf legs and eight spider eyes, attached to the torso of a spider. 

The fangweavers begin to gauge Kaseya’s strength with the weakest one pouncing at him recklessly. Kaseya blocks the fangweaver’s venomous bite with his greatsword, ripping his sword away from its powerful bite and simultaneously lacerating the walls of the beast’s mouth.  

Instinctively, Kaseya repels the insectoid mongrel by following up with a strong kick to the underside of its chin, lifting the monster’s head up and knocking it away as blood spills from its mouth, causing it to retreat up a tree. 

The rest of the fangweavers circle around the two as they search for an opening in Kaseya’s tight defence. Kaseya stands his ground, poised to strike at the first sign of aggression as he patiently waits for the wolves’ next strike. 

Two of the fangweavers move in from both sides, attempting a pincer attack as a distraction while a third pounces from the trees above, targeting Hikari. 

“Stay away from my daughter you bastard,” Kaseya roars with fierce determination as he rushes to protect Hikari, turning his back on the other wolves. 

As he swings his greatsword at the fangweaver that is attempting to pounce at Hikari, his sword rends its head clean from its shoulder as blood rains down from above. The wolf’s lifeless carcass continues to travel through the air as it lands behind Hikari and slides across the floor, leaving a trail of blood, scaring Hikari as the blood continues to spurt from its headless husk. 

As Hikari and Kaseya are showered in a fountain of blood, the two other fangweavers knock Kaseya to the ground, pinning him down as they sink their venomous fangs and chelicerae into both his shoulders, with his face being planted and held down into the ground. Boiling hot blood spurts from his wounds as the fangweavers’ heads shake from side to side, trying to tear Kaseya’s arms off from his shoulders. 

As their fangs sink deeper into Kaseya’s flesh, the bubbling blood spills into the mouths of the assailing fangweavers, causing them to wince in pain as Kaseya’s blood scolds their mouths. 

Kaseya muffles in pain as his face is forced further into the dirty woodland ground as the wolves stubbornly double down on their assault. 

The rest of the fangweaver pack pounces on Kaseya, going in for the kill as the alpha emerges from the back of the pack and begins to spray him with a liquid web from its mouth that begins to harden as it reacts with the air. 

Hikari scrapes herself backwards across the floor until she is backed up against the corpse of the dead fangweaver, terrified of what she is witnessing. Tears stream down her face and she shakes in hopeless terror, as she sits in a pool of blood. 

Suddenly, the muffled words, “fire style, phoenix pillar,” can be heard as a pillar of orange and yellow hope erupts from Kaseya’s mauled body, killing the fangweavers on top of him and incinerating the spider silk from the alpha as the fire climbs the silk bridge connected to the alpha fangweaver’s mouth and burns it. 

Kaseya staggers to his feet with the help of his sword as he is engulfed in orange-yellow flames, like a phoenix rising from the ashes. 

The fangweavers that had pinned him down are now nothing but ash, blowing in the wind, as the alpha fangweaver screeches in pain and writhes in agony from the burn wound inside its mouth. It tries to spit the burning silk out of its mouth. The alpha fangweaver, sensing it can no longer win, flees from the battle as it has now lost all its confidence without its pack to back it up. 

Kaseya looks at the fleeing spider with absolute revulsion and shouts at it, “Where do you think you’re going!?” 

He then cocks his arm back as if he’s about to put all of his energy into pushing something, directing it at the fleeing fangweaver. 

“Fire style, searing stream!” Kaseya invocation casts with flaming passion as he goes through a pushing motion with his right arm. 

As his arm locks out, a huge flamethrower-like spout of fire shoots from Kaseya’s palm as it races through the forest and swallows the fangweaver in its entirety, reducing it to nothing more than a pile of ash, as it lets out a bloodcurdling, screeching howl of misery. 

After turning to see if Hikari is safe, Kaseya passes out from the venom coursing through his body and the fire surrounding him disperses. He collapses onto the ground and the soft, mossy soil cushions his fall. 

“Daddy? Daddy?! Wake up! Please wake up Daddy,” Hikari cries with tears streaming down her face, as she tries to drag her dad home but is unable to move him. The forest around them is now ablaze from Kaseya’s magic.  

“Daddy! Please get up, the forest is on fire, we’ve got to go!” Hikari says, growing increasingly more anxious by the second as the fire grows in size. 

Suddenly, Hiroto arrives after seeing the pillar of fire from earlier, accompanied by a fire suppression team and a handful of guards.  

“We’re getting you both out of here! Are you hurt?” Hiroto says to Hikari, alarmed. 

Hikari sniffles. “I’m okay but my daddy, he got bitten when we were attacked,” Hikari sobs as she wipes her tears from her eyes. 

“Everything’s going to be okay, let’s get you both out of here, we can talk more when you’re both safe,” Hiroto asserts. 

The other guards and a couple of members from the village’s fire suppression team carry Kaseya back to the village with the utmost haste.  

The team gets Hikari and her father back to the village safely, however, Hikari can’t shake the feeling that she is still being watched by someone or something. 

“You’re a brave girl, Hikari, your dad’s going to be fine, can you tell me who attacked you? Was it goblins?” Hiroto questions. 

“No, it was giant spider doggies,” Hikari says. 

“Are you absolutely certain? What did they look like?” Hiroto asks. 

“They had eight legs and a big spider body and the face of a doggy with eight eyes,” Hikari says. 

“I see, thank you, we’ll be able to help your dad and it’s all thanks to your bravery,” Hiroto says as he pats her head. “Take him to the medical clinic immediately! It sounds like he’s been bitten by fangweavers,” Hiroto orders the rest of the squad. 

“Come on, let’s get you home,” says Hiroto with a warm smile as he gently takes Hikari’s hand. 

“No! I wanna stay with my daddy!” Hikari protests. 

Hiroto, realising that she would be better supervised and protected at the clinic, agrees and gives in to Hikari’s demands. The two then proceed to walk to the village clinic where Kaseya’s wounds and poison are being treated. 

“You’ll be safe now Hikari, we’re going to see you both through this,” Hiroto says, kneeling down to Hikari’s eye level with a warm smile as they both arrive outside the clinic. 

Hikari sniffles. “O-okay,” Hikari says, missing her dad and worrying about his well-being. 

“Don’t worry about your dad, he’s with the best doctor the village has to offer,” says Hiroto encouragingly. 

Hikari and Hiroto swiftly enter the clinic as Hikari cannot wait any longer to see her dad. She races through the warm clinic, to find him. 

“Hold on Hikari, we can’t go in there yet,” says Hiroto sternly. 

“But I need to see my daddy!” Hikari protests. 

“I know how you feel, but he’s currently being treated, and the doctors need quiet so they can safely administer treatments to him,” Hiroto says, trying to balance compassion and authority. 

“But, but,” Hikari further protests with logic and emotion playing tug of war in her mind. 

“No buts, if you want your dad to get better, you’ll have to wait quietly in the waiting room,” Hiroto says leaning more into authority. 

“Okay then,” Hikari responds with gloom written all over her face.  

Hiroto then turns to the receptionist and asks, “Can you please watch over her? I need to report this incident to the village chief.” 

“Certainly, it won’t be any problem at all,” says the receptionist with a cheerful smile. 

“Thank you so much,” Hiroto responds with relief. He then turns to Hikari and kneels down to meet her eye level. “I need to get back to work, Hikari, but the nice lady at the desk is going to look after you now,” Hiroto says kindly. 

“No! I want you to stay with me!” Hikari protests stubbornly. 

“I wish I could, Hikari, but I’ve got grown up stuff to do to make sure no one else ends up like your dad,” Hiroto says trying to resist Hikari’s pleas. 

The kind receptionist makes eye contact with Hikari and gives her a warm smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll look after you until your dad’s all better,” says the receptionist kindly. 

Hikari looks at Hiroto for approval to see if he thinks the receptionist is trustworthy, to which he responds with a gentle nod. Hikari relaxes and lets Hiroto go, putting her faith in the receptionist to keep her safe. 

“Hikari, your dad will be okay, stay strong,” says Hiroto as he leaves the clinic waving goodbye. 

Later that evening, at around 6 pm, a half-asleep Hikari feels a gentle hand placed on her shoulder as it rocks her back and forth to get her attention; she can hear a soothing voice. “Hikari, Hikari, wake up, we have some good news,” the soothing voice says. 

Hikari fully wakes up, alert and ready to receive the good news she was promised. Standing by her side is the kind receptionist who kept an eye on her and a nurse who had assisted in treating her father. 

“We’ve administered antivenom to your father and tended to his wounds, he will make a full recovery with a little rest,” says the nurse cheerfully. 

“So my daddy’s going to be okay!?” Hikari says chipperly, as she breathes a sigh of relief.  

“Yes he will, although he does have an extremely high fever so he’ll need to stay here until it passes,” the nurse informs her. 

“Can you please take me to him? I really want to see him!” Hikari demands eagerly. 

“Of course you can, please follow me,” the nurse says as she softly holds Hikari’s hand to guide her. 

“Thank you for watching over me,” Hikari says to the receptionist before she leaves. 

“It was my pleasure. I hope your dad gets better soon, please take care,” the receptionist says with a warm smile as she bows in respect. 

Hikari waves goodbye to the receptionist and ventures further into the clinic with the nurse. After walking through the creaky clinic hallways and entering the medical facility, blood curdling screams of terror, paired with the screeching howls of fangweavers, can be heard riding the wind. 

“What’s going on!?” says the nurse as she looks out of the window to investigate. 

The nurse gasps in terror as she bears witness to unspeakable horrors, and throws up into a nearby plant pot, revolted by the massacre she has just witnessed. 

“Wh-what’s wrong, miss?” Hikari inquires anxiously as she approaches the window slowly to see what is happening. 

“STAY AWAY FROM THE WINDOW!” the nurse shouts as she stands up, recovering from her sickness. 

“Let’s hurry, we need to take refu-” the nurse tries to explain as her sentence is cut short. 

A fangweaver catches the scent of her vomit and notices her standing in the window. The horrible beast smashes its way through the window, taking her by surprise as it clamps its strong jaws around her delicate, pretty neck. 

As the beast’s razor-sharp fangs and chelicerae pierce her arteries, the nurse’s life trickles down her neck in a stream of dark crimson liquid. 

“Wh-what?” Hikari says as she begins to panic. The events of earlier come flooding back into her mind like a nightmare turning to reality. 

The fangweaver puts all its force into clamping its jaw down as the nurse says with her last dying, gasping breath: “R-run.” 

As her neck is crushed by the impressive bite force of the fangweaver, the nurse’s blood squirts everywhere like an unpeeled orange being squeezed. The cracking and snapping of bones can be heard, painting the clinic’s walls red. 

The lucky nurse’s life is brought to a swift, merciful end in comparison to what fate has in store for the others who were captured. 

Hikari falls back into a seated position, paralysed in terror as the fangweaver shakes the nurse around like a chew toy before tossing her aside. The fangweaver with its full belly is now just killing for sport, its mouth covered in blood and its teeth dripping with venomous saliva as it bares its fangs at Hikari. 

“Please, no, please, Daddy! save me!” Hikari screams as she begs for salvation. 

The fangweaver inches closer to Hikari as it begins to prepare to pounce. 

Hikari’s screams are cut short as the fangweaver sprays her with spider fluid and wraps her up into a cocoon and she is spirited away.