The Spider Queen

(Planet Caorn- Elysium Archipelago)

(St. Lucia\'s Island)

"Ow… fuck… my… head…" Sophie moaned in pain as her eyelids fluttered. She felt as though she had just been run over by a truck.

Sharp bursts of pain flooded her body if she even made the slightest bit of movement. It felt as though her body was being slowly pierced by dozens of needles.

Sophie curled up her fingers into a tight fist and with a great deal of effort she finally managed to open her eyes.

She found herself staring at the trunk of a large towering tree. What had happened?

Why was she lying down on the ground?

Then it hit her.

No… no… it must have been a mistake.

She must have seen the wrong headline. Her father dead? That was impossible!

He was the youngest god stage cultivator in the history of the Earth Federation.

He was invincible. He was her protector.

Sophie gritted her teeth and fought down the pain as she used her blade-like appendages to lift herself off the ground.

She tilted her arm upwards and stared at the screen of her wrist communicator. Clearly, she must have experienced a bad dream after the pain attack caused her to faint.

Her dad dying in battle? Ridiculous!

Sophie glanced at the screen and her heart dropped.

She stared at the lines of text over and over again as if she could somehow force them to change through sheer force of will.

[DUKE PETERLOR\'S DEATH! WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO HIS TERRITORIES?]

[FORMER MEMBERS OF THE IMPERIAL ARMY SPEAK OUT ABOUT THEIR BELOVED EX- COMMANDER]

["THE GREATEST LOSS FOR HUMANITY"- FORMER MENTOR OF THE DUKE SPEAKS OUT ABOUT HIS YOUNG PROTÉGÉ\'S POTENTIAL]

She stopped breathing.

Sophie grabbed on to the trunk of a nearby tree to steady her body. She felt as though her world was collapsing before her very eyes.

"Stop… stop… joking…" Sophie muttered in disbelief as her eyes began to flicker from one colour to the next.

Golden… then red… then pink… then white.

As if responding to her mood, her powers began to run haywire. Sophie gripped her chest and began to hyperventilate.

"Breathe…I need to… breathe… BREATHE…" Sophie whispered desperately as she lowered her head and vomited on the ground.

A thick green bile stained the sand near her feet and the unpleasant smell from the vomit lingered in the air.

Sophie closed her eyes and began to silently count to ten.

She could not collapse… she could not shut down… she could not show weakness.

She needed to return to the hotel suite and immediately contact Katarina and the rest of her father\'s employees and servants.

The hybrid girl stood frozen in place for several long minutes all the while she felt as though her body was on the verge of collapse.

Finally she opened her eyes and they had returned to their normal golden hue although a faint crimson tinge could be seen lingering around her pupils.

Sophie checked the time on her wrist communicator and discovered that seventeen minutes had passed since she had left the arena.

She had fainted for ten and then taken another seven minutes to recover.

If there was one silver lining to the situation it was that the livestreaming devices only showed the battles not the aftermath.

When she left the arena there were no recording devices following her, so no one saw her collapse on the ground.

Sophie shuddered to imagine what kind of articles would be written if someone had recorded her fainting.

She slammed one of her blade-like appendages on the ground and used it almost like a cane to help her to walk.

She began to slowly move towards the shoreline while trying her best not to be affected by the white-hot pain tearing through her body.

The entire time only one thought ran through Sophie\'s mind no matter how hard she tried to bury it away.

(My father is dead.)

(Stop thinking about it.)

(My father is dead.)

(Stop it.)

(My father…)

(Please…shut up….)

The journey back to the shore could have taken just a few minutes or perhaps it had been several hours.

Sophie could no longer tell.

She found herself in a trance-like state where time itself had no meaning. She hadn\'t even had time to dwell on the implications of her father\'s passing.

As the heiress to House Peterlor, the right of succession belonged to her. She was going to be known as Duchess Peterlor.

No… that sounded wrong.

She didn\'t deserve that title. Not when her father was…

(HE\'S DEAD!)

Sophie staggered and it was only the quick reaction of her body that prevented her from taking another fall to the ground.

She could see the ocean only a few hundred metres away and a small one person sized boat floating gently on the waves.

She just needed to make it back to the hotel.

Sophie\'s eyes drifted to her wrist communicator and saw more messages appear in her inbox.

She didn\'t even recognise some of the names.

The hybrid girl let out a heavy sigh and then quickly tapped out a message and sent it to Katarina.

Sophie: [Returning to my hotel room now… we will talk in 45 minutes. Arrange a meeting with the planet administrators later this evening]

She powered off her wrist communicator and did not even bother to wait for a reply. It was not a smart thing to do but right now…

She couldn\'t even stare at the screen for a moment longer.

If she didn\'t look at the screen, then maybe her father would still be alive.

A stupid thought but Sophie was not in the right state of mind to realise how foolish she was being.

The boat\'s engine roared loudly, and the seafaring vessel approached the shore.

Sophie waded into the water and approached the boat. She easily hopped onto the deck and then sat down in a cross-legged position.

The boat began to automatically move in the direction of Jasimin Island. Sophie leaned against the side of the boat and watched the clear blue sky.

The pain in her body was gradually fading away and now all she could feel was the gentle rocking of the ship as it glided over the waves.

"Do not panic… maybe… this is all a mistake…" Sophie whispered quietly to herself although her words sounded hollow to her ears.

Her father was in no uncertain terms… her world.

For the longest time, he was the only one who stood by her.

He refused to marry another noblewoman and stayed loyal to her mom even though he thought that she betrayed him.

He made her the successor to House Peterlor even though most of the other aristocrats didn\'t believe that a hybrid was worthy of becoming an upper ranked noble.

And more importantly than all the wealth, status, and training… he was her parent.

He had acted as both a father and a mother to her as long as Sophie could remember. No matter what she did… he never stopped loving her.

Sophie wrapped her arms around her body as she felt a cold chill run down her spine. She felt lost… alone and confused.

Her joy after passing the second stage of the tournament as the first placed student was now long gone.

What was the point of this stupid competition?

One of the reasons why she wanted to participate was to follow her in her father\'s footsteps but did it even matter if he could no longer see the results?

"Hunter goddess… is my father alive?" Sophie asked softly.

There was no response from the otherworldly entity.

Sophie placed her face in her hands and fought back the tears that were threatening to spill out from her eyes.

Why? Why?

No one answered her silent question.