Chapter 40
Zora and the others followed in silence, the mood having turned grim. Leaves crunched under their boots, but no one said a word.
Zora slowed her pace to match Lena's. "You okay, Lena?" she asked gently.
Lena didn't look at her. She just kept her eyes forward. "I almost died, Zora… and there was nothing I could do about it."
Zora opened her mouth, then closed it. Nothing came. What could she possibly say to that?
She sighed instead. "What about you three?" she called to Tori, Ivory, and Paul.
They each looked back with the same haunted expression—drained, ashamed. Zora's chest tightened at the sight.
Taking a deep breath, she jogged ahead to catch up with Archie, who was stomping through the woods with a spring in his step and a half-empty bottle in hand.
"Hey, Archie?" she called.
"Ello, dear," he replied cheerfully, not even turning to look. "Ow's everyone holdin' up?"
Zora stared at the bottle as he took another swig. Does that thing ever run out?
"I don't know, Archie," she said. "They all seem so... defeated."
Archie let out a quiet laugh—not one of mockery, but something more like a teacher humoring a student.
Taking another drink, he asked, "What do you know about Europe?"
Zora blinked. "Huh?"
He turned over his shoulder and called to the others, "Catch up! We're abou' t' 'ave a talk!"
They jogged forward, forming a rough circle behind him.
"Naw, back t' me question," Archie said, his voice more serious now. "Wot d'yer all know abou' Europe these days?"
The team looked at each other in confusion. No one answered.
Archie sighed and took another swig. "Jee-zus, they really don' tell you kiddies anyfink, do they?"
Zora shrugged.
"There ain' no big camps like t' one yer got back there." he said, jerking a thumb toward where they came from. "They awl got wip'd oot. Seconds."
He glanced up toward the blue sky, eyes distant. "Tha UK—whe' I'm from—is a battleground. Every damn day we figh'. Every day we lose mo' people… not tha' we 'ad many t' begin wi'."
His laugh this time was dry. Bitter. Not drunk.
Zora listened closely. For once, Archie wasn't rambling—he was remembering.
"Th' Witch o' th' Black Flame from th' West… an' th' Harrowed Countess from th' North." he said. "They fight over th' land daily. Sendin' minions, Abhorrents—you name it."
He came to a stop.
"An' we're caught right in th' middle o' it."
Archie shook his head and turned to face them.
""Y' wonder why yer so weak?" he asked, his tone colder now. "You 'ave walls. Yer well 'idden. Workin' water. Special rooms."
He looked down at the bottle in his hand, swirling the liquid inside.
"T's terrible—leadin' people t' their deaths every day. An' it's even worse doin' it sober."
He took a long drink, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and let out a breath.
"Eidolons change, evolve, an' grow stronger through undastandin'. Through 'ardship. They don' grow 'cause someone gave ye a title or a bunk bed."
Zora shifted uneasily.
Archie turned and began walking again. "Cept" he added, "When there's an arte-fact involved."
Zora's eyes narrowed. "Artifact?"
Before he could elaborate, something moved in the trees.
Zora instinctively reached for her cane, but Archie extended a hand and shushed her.
His smile widened.
"Looks like we've got a good trainin' partner showin' up." he said calmly. "Le's show yer wot I mean."
He disappeared instantly—one moment standing before them, the next leaving only cracked earth and a swirl of dust in his place.
A beat later, he reappeared.
This time, he was holding a spider the size of a small car by its thorax, like it weighed nothing at all.
Zora's eyes widened. She turned to the others—Tori, Paul, Ivory, Lena—and saw the same stunned expression on all their faces.
Archie adjusted his grip on the creature and gave them a crooked smile.
"Now, from wot I understan'," he said, "Now, from wot I understan', we don' 'ave long before more creepy crawlies show up. Since, well… we've been found" He added the last part with a joking tone, as if trying to lighten the mood.
He took a slow drink from his bottle.
"Growth," he continued, "comes throo' 'ardship—and near-death 'speriences."
The ground began to tremble.
Zora turned her head slowly, dreading what was coming.
A low rumble vibrated through the forest floor. Branches shook. Dirt cracked. And then the sound came—the horrific, synchronized skittering of a million legs.
"They're coming," Paul muttered, eyes wide.
"Try an' survive fuh ten min-its," Archie said casually, slamming the spider into the ground. The creature screeched once before being silenced in a spray of ichor.
"You seriously can't expect us to—" Tori started.
But Archie vanished again before she could finish.
"Uh… guys?" Paul's voice broke the silence. He pointed toward the forest.
Zora followed his gaze—and her breath caught.
A black tidal wave of spiders surged toward them. Countless legs. Countless fangs. The forest darkened as their bodies blotted out the light.
"If yer die 'ere, then yer die!" Archie's voice echoed from somewhere in the trees.
"Ten min-its starts now!"
Lena dropped to her knees.
"Oh shit… oh shit…" she whispered, her breathing sharp and shallow, chest heaving as panic took full control.
Tori stumbled backward, eyes wide. Paul and Ivory stood frozen—statues with no answers, no plans—just vacant terror painted across their faces.
The tidal wave of spiders drew closer, the ground quaking beneath their monstrous march.
"Archie, that's enough!" Zora yelled out into the trees.
No response.
Nothing.
Fuck. You're the leader. Do something!
Her thoughts screamed louder than her voice. But the truth clawed at her chest.
She didn't know what to do.
The panic gripped her. The weight of her team's fear crushed any thoughts of strategy or escape. Her heart pounded like a war drum, slamming against her ribs.
So she did the only thing she could think to do—the one instinct that never failed.
She ran.