Born to Fly

Part 33

The shiny, black spider led Sannis and Malicus to the throne room. The large room was lit by a combination of a few wall candles and sunlight that poured in through the windows. There were marble sculptures of various spiders in every corner. The walls were engraved with the intricate designs of orb-woven webs. The most noticeable attraction was the big man who sat atop a massive web-covered throne. He wore a long black coat and a black cowboy hat on his head. Sannis did not doubt that the man sitting on the throne was Teraphon. The man spoke with a deep and somewhat frighteningly calm voice when they entered the throne room.

"Rubax, I see you've brought me the wolf. Thank you."

"No problem, Tear."

Teraphon stood up and walked towards Sannis.

"Greetings. I'm Teraphon. The ruler of Zitonia. May I ask what your name is?"

"I am Sannis."

"What brings you to Zitonia, Sannis? And why are you taking our slaves?"

"I've come to tear down your entire civilization and build a new world while liberating the Zitonian spora in the process. I'm going to see too it that all of this land and domain bullshit comes to an end."

Teraphon smiled and said, "Unbelievable. You and a bunch of spora want to take down both continents so you can create some type of utopian society. That sure is one tall order. Listen, Sannis. This isn't a game. This is war. Even if you're a respectable fighter, you're putting a lot of people in danger for something that's impossible. I'm allowing all of you the chance to leave Zitonia, at once, so you can stay out of this mess."

"I appreciate your concern and offer, but our intentions still stand," said Sannis.

"That's too bad. Your vision doesn't align with mine. Therefore, that makes us enemies, and I must defeat all enemies in order to reclaim what is ours."

"The slaves. Do you still intend to kill them?"

"I never planned on killing them," Teraphon answered. "I just said that to lure you here. It wouldn't be wise to recklessly destroy Zitonian property."

"Property? They're humans who deserve their rights and freedom."

"We treat the slaves kindly and provide them with many necessities. Now, enough of this nonsense. Are your friends outside going to surrender easily, or did you instruct them to fight back?"

"No one in Sporadical is going down without a fight."

"So this is what it's come to. Rubax, send the attack signal to the army."

"As you wish, Tear."

Rubax lifted his right hand and shot a web beam through a window from his palm. In moments, the sounds of screams and clashing weapons could be heard. 

Teraphon removed his hat and coat. His tarantula legs appeared from his back. Once his transformation was complete, he placed his right hand on one of the legs and then said, "I didn't want to have to do this but you've left me with no choice."

"Malicus, get down!" Sannis shouted as he pulled him down by his wing. Teraphon quickly slid his hand forward and launched dozens of sharp hairs in their direction. They were barely able to dodge the urticating hair attack. A bunch of sharp hairs were lodged into the stone wall behind them. Sannis charged towards Teraphon and Malicus flew to Rubax. The tag-team match in the big throne room had begun.