Chapter 1105: For How Long Can You Resist?
Chapter 1105: For How Long Can You Resist?
As she battled her drowsiness, Arachne recalled her life so far, as she heard what Maria had to say. The sole concept of not being tied by the sin of Sloth anymore was something she had dreamed about so many times already, but that she never truly considered something real.
Why? It wasn't because she was just a child that had no idea about anything, but it was because of her very existence. Her birth, her very being, her everything...
Although some Calamities are chosen after growing up by the Calamity Seed, or have it transferred from another, deceased Calamity, there are also Calamities that are born to be them.
Arachne was one of them, the Sin of Sloth shaped her to become her vessel the moment she was born. She never knew something else, nor she knew any better.
Since she was nothing but a little spider inside an egg, that the Sin of Sloth made her its vessel, transforming her, and giving her the appearance she had.
She looked so different than the rest of the Arachnea, a race of giant spider monsters for this very reason. Because of this, she always felt excluded, even when her kindred took care of her.
They groomed her, feed her, and even used their spiderwebs to craft her all matter of items to help her in her daily life, they truly cared for her.
But their cold, big eyes, their giant bodies... it created a sense of strangeness to her, something she often hid by just sleeping, and sleeping, and sleeping.
She knew she was smarter than her kindred, she knew they were like drones, obeying her very whim and helping her in everything.
And because of this lack of sense of individuality between them, she couldn't make friends, and she couldn't see them as individual family members like a mother, or a father, or a sibling.
She felt lonely, even as she developed, she felt trapped, suffocating inside of the depths of her dungeon.
Until a little snake suddenly appeared, it was Maria.
Back then she didn't know who it was, or what it wanted, but it was playful and nice, perhaps the first ever little critter she kept that didn't die instantly to her powerful, demonic presence.
For many months, and over a year, she spent time with the spider, and slowly learned her true identity, as Maria.
After getting to know her, Maria manifested a phantasmal form there, one that little Arachne loved, she was not just a friend, but her motherly attitude quickly made her feel more like a big sister, and then a mother.
It didn't take too long for Arachne to start calling her "mama", because she was perhaps the first ever motherly figure in her entire life, the Arachneia were too cold and distant for her to ever call any of them her mom.
And although one of them laid the egg where she hatched, none of them ever revealed who it was, they were all indeed just drones, lacking individualism.
But Maria was different, a ghost or not, a snake or not, she was her mama...
Maria taught her many things, how to speak better, how to read, she slowly softened her heart, and made her act less cold as well.
She did this mostly because she didn't want a being as powerful as Arachne to grow up spiteful and aggressive against the world.
She raised her carefully, teaching her the good and bad things about the world, but always making emphasis in the good ones.
Maria was still unexperienced with children back then, but she ended doing a wonderful job. A being born to become a Calamity, whom Loki had specifically created so she would eventually destroy the Continent of Midgard, ended becoming Maria's adopted daughter. Arachne didn't know what the God of Mischief and Chaos looked like, or who he was. He had never ever showed himself to her, nor ever talked to her either.
To him she was but a tool, but that tool was slowly shaped into an actual person. Maria could've guessed already, back then, that Loki was probably rather frustrated... But she didn't really care, the girl deserved a different life, even if she was created to be a monster, even if she was destined to be a Calamity that would destroy Midgard.
She wouldn't let Loki get away with that!
Yet... What did Arachne think about this through this entire time?
Maria was always careful and delicate of how she talked with her, she didn't want to provoke her or make her angered, so she often never asked all these questions.
But after seeing how she had grown so much and developed a strong individuality; she asked that question.
Arachne honestly felt conflicted.
For one part, she wanted to be freed from her shackles, to finally do as she pleases, and to not be cursed to sleep almost every time, for days and days.
She was honestly happy as she was, even if she couldn't join the adventures all the time... But if she could actually wake up and be awake for hours like everyone else, and sleep normally and not for months or weeks, she would give away everything for that.
But something deep down within her own instincts told her that rejecting her very being as a Calamity was something she simply couldn't do. It was anti-natural, it was going against the laws of the world, and even of the god that granted her these powers and created her.
Even as much as she had resisted these urges, as she evolved, she felt them stronger than ever.
Destroy the mortals.
Bring calamity to the continent of Midgard!
Fill the continent with your spiders and devour everyone's souls.
These weren't just orders; these were instincts surging from the depths of her very being.
And only thanks to Maria and everyone here, was she able to fight against them.
But for how long?
For how long would Arachne be able to resist, before the bonds she had made with everyone here no longer meant anything, as her instincts would take over and force her to destroy
everything?
Such was the fate of a True Calamity...
Yet Maria was not going to let that happen.
"Arachne..."
She held her adoptive daughter's hand gently.
"Tell me what you really want."
"I..."Nôv(el)B\\jnn