The Pearl Fox

Closer

"Get me the Book of Blue!" B'dorico requested in haste to Misha as they were inside the new refurbished library room at Centre Shire Hall. Twenty other people that were of the Blue Centre sect, asked to join B'dorico in the library to teach them wisdom, or so Misha had thought. Then Ebeshka entered the room, just to observe everyone again. This deity chose to stay in this world for reasons not clear to Misha and others. At first she was in awe with the presence of a goddess, but soon after a few days, her feelings turned into discomfort and nausea. When the priesthood of the Blue Centre ate in the dining hall, Ebeshka stood there watching them all. Whenever they all joined morning assembly for prayers, Ebeshka stood beside B'dorico, looking at every single person with those frightful eyes. The deity had two brightly pale grey eyes on her attractive human face, but countless many red eyes on her second spider's face. 

Misha lifted a heavy indigo bound book from the shelf, and carried it with both hands to Bdorico. Ebeshka studied Misha with all of those eyes now and her heart sank. She didn't like it when Ebeshka looked at her anymore. It made her feel as if something was crawling over her. As Misha tried hard not to look at Ebeshka, the corners of her eyes saw those vast drooping eight legs twitching. Misha felt sick. 

"Misha! You could at least be quick about it unless your tiny muscles have gone to mud!" said B'dorico, rubbing in more nerves. As he took the book from Misha, his breathe stank when he raised his voice at her again. "This book is sacred and you hold it carelessly!"

"Sorry," Misha muttered. 

B'dorico exchanged a look to Ebeshka and smirked, while the goddess had been staring long at Misha. Those eyes were piercing needle sharp into her brain and deep into her soul. Ebeshka smiled and showed lovely white teeth. This was a beautiful looking woman, Misha saw and realised a little bit, trying to ignore the hideous big spider growth on her head. Misha nervously smiled in order to please B'dorico and the visiting deity. Then all eight legs attached to the spider top of Ebeshka moved quickly up and down, bending and stretching. A cold shudder passed through Misha despite the muggy room and the sweltering temperatures outside. She suddenly backed away and then collided into a wooden stool. It clattered to the floor.

"Misha! Foolish woman!" yelled B'dorico. "I might get another cardinal and replace you."

Everyone looked at Misha, including the deity with the spidery appendage. It made her stammer an apology. She tasted bile in her throat, and wondered if a goddess should conjure up horrible feelings like this. A few people were allowed to leave the room, for some reason and others stayed. Misha really wanted to go. She picked up the stool, and set it down where it had been previously, and B'dorico resumed looking through the sacred big book. It was her opportunity to leave the room, and yet, she turned and quickly glanced at the shining mirror on the wall beside the way out. To her horror, she saw Ebeshka right behind her. The deity grabbed Misha's forearms and then held her tightly in a compression lock. Ebeshka's hands were so strong that her non-human fingers dug into mortal flesh. Misha felt agonising pain shooting up and all her arms, causing numbness in the joints of her elbows and wrists. She cried out and only Ebeshka held her even tighter. Something snapped inside Misha and it was the sound of her breaking ulna and radius bones while the supernatural strength of Ebeshka's hands squeezed hard. While Misha was in pain, everyone left the room, and only B'dorico remained there, observing the disabling of his weak cardinal. 

   "Please let me go! Please let me go! Please let me go!" Misha repeatedly begged and cried. Ebeshka slowly let go of Misha's arms, and then her eight spider legs moved. Misha's bladder opened and she continued to scream. "Let me go!" She cried even after Ebeshka let her go. Now Misha lost sensation in both arms that were broken and limp. B'dorico left the room, as he couldn't watch anymore. He didn't want to offend the visiting goddess with her sacrifice.

Now all was silent. Somewhere, doors banged shut in the building, and she was all alone with a nightmare.  She then saw those giant spider legs, as long as a tall man,  closing around her body. She shut her eyes from terror and her bowels opened. Liquid faeces poured out onto the floor and over her bare feet. Misha passed out, when further off in a different room, people played music and ate their lunch. She lost all sense of life when Ebeshka started to feed on her. 

Hours later, Ebeshka left the library, now it was just her room covered in cobwebs and a dead shell of a body drained of all of its fluids. The taste of Misha's body and blood had given Ebeshka new energy and a vital essence inside her, that was precious metals and jewels. This rejuvenated her into a more glowing and sparkling figure. She appeared in the dining hall, where the musicians played strings, lutes, woodwinds, cymbals and horns. B'dorico grinned like a child when he saw her.

"Our beautiful goddess has dined! Ebeshka, holy lady of the Underworld Pit, we are gled to see you enjoying our temple," B'dorico said.

"No mortal," Ebeshka responded with a human husky feminine voice. "I am of the Demonica. I'm not a goddess and my home is not a pit. There are more who want to climb out and rejoice on the surface. No need for you to assist me with helping them. You have already served me well."