The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Lunar Colony Renoran)

(Northern Region- Unknown Location)

"Do you know what is happening?" Qiana softly spoke as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the mysterious ring.

She did not receive an answer as the ring remained silent and she could feel its warmth against her skin.

Clearly the mysterious entity linked to the ring was not going to help her unless she agreed to becoming its vessel.

Useless…

Qiana let out a heavy sigh and placed the ring back in her pocket.

She would try to put it back in her storage bag but clearly it was able to somehow escape so what was the point?

The sun was gradually beginning to peak over the horizon and warm orange rays of light washed across the desert.

Qiana was in no mood to appreciate the beautiful sight as she gripped the steering wheel of the hovercraft and drove towards the coordinates of the spaceport.

She needed to get off this moon and fast.

Something very dangerous was happening and she wanted no part of it.

Assassins were not suicide warriors. Qiana did not usually take fights with unknown conditions or factors involved.

Perhaps one could consider her mentality a bit cowardly, but she did not care. You only got one life in this world and Qiana had no plans to die anytime soon.

She reached into her storage bag and pulled out a nutrient vial. The young woman pulled off the stopper and poured its contents into her mouth.

She needed to keep up her energy since there were several hours to go before, she would arrive at the spaceport.

The endless sea of sand dunes made it difficult to tell how long it would take by just her eyesight alone since the scenery did not change.

Qiana glanced out of the window, and she could swear that a hooded figure was standing on a large sand dune in the distance.

When she blinked her eyes… the figure disappeared.

No… clearly, she was seeing things… unless?

Qiana set the hovercraft on autopilot mode and stared in the direction where she had just seen the hooded figure.

Nothing.

There were no footsteps on the ground or traces that someone had been there just moments ago.

Was she going insane?

Qiana furrowed her brows as she turned around with an expression of resignation on her face… and then immediately glanced back to look for a second time.

There!

A hooded man wearing a long black cloak stood silently on top of a massive sand dune holding what appeared to be a long silverly staff in his right hand.

It was impossible to see his facial features under the long hood, but Qiana got the impression that his eyes met her gaze.

The man raised up his staff above his head and threw back the hood that concealed his features.

Qiana's eyes widened in shock as she saw what lay beneath the hood.

Instead of a face… the man's head was a mess of long black tendrils that wriggled eerily from side to side.

He waved the staff in the air and somehow words began to flow out of multiple mouths that were attached to the end of the tendrils.

Nope.

Nope.

Fuck this.

Qiana lowered the window and pointed her blaster rifle in the direction of the strange being. Her finger wrapped around the trigger, and she gently pulled.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three plasma shots flew out from the tip of her rifle and accurately shot the monster's head cleanly off his body.

The creature screamed in pain and then went silent as the staff slowly fell from his grasp. It landed on the hard desert ground and lay motionless amidst the grains of sand.

Qiana did not know if the creature was a friend or a foe but either way, she was currently in a mood of shoot first and ask questions later.

The rest of the journey to the spaceport was relatively uneventful but rather than relax, Qiana was still extremely tensed.

After experiencing such horrors one after the other… her nerves were shot. She saw yellow eyes in the shadows of every sand dune.

The memory of the headless corpses running towards her while their heads lay on the ground with expressions of hatred…

What the hell was going on?

Qiana let out a sigh of relief as she saw a large complex appear a few hundred meters away.

Several tall buildings could be seen around the spaceport along with numerous spacecrafts that landed or took off from the airfields nearby.

Everything appeared to be normal at least at first glance.

There were people moving to and from the spaceport and the starships were clearly able to leave the atmosphere.

Qiana checked her storage bag and pulled out her back up wrist communicator. She synched up the device with her account and then checked the status of the Virtual Net.

She was connected and able to send messages!

The heiress to House Abazin drove the hovercraft into the spaceport's parking lot and then got out of the vehicle.

She closed the door behind her and then glanced back at the desert. There were no more strange sights.

She walked towards the nearest building and the glass doors that blocked the entrance automatically slid open.

"Good morning young miss…  to what do I owe the pleasure?" a middle-aged man standing behind the counter respectfully spoke.

"I will be returned to Planet Rexone today… book me a spot on the next flight off this lunar colony as soon as possible," Qiana ordered calmly.

The middle-aged man nodded and then checked the monitor on his desk. He looked at the list of flights and then opened his mouth to reply,

"There is a starship scheduled to take off in about thirty minutes and planet Rexone is on its route... let me just message the captain and see…"

Qiana nodded and then waited patiently as the middle-aged man messaged the starship's captain to negotiate having an extra passenger onboard their spacecraft.

There were starships in the spaceport that belonged to House Abazin, but they were scheduled to leave later in the day.

Qiana wanted to get off this lunar colony immediately even if the danger appeared to have disappeared.

"Fantastic news young miss!" the middle-aged man excitedly spoke as he looked up from behind the screen.

"The captain is willing to drop you off on Planet Rexone and will only require a basic passenger fee since the planet is on the way to his destination anyway."

"Good… which gate should I go to?" Qiana curiously asked.

"Gate seven. The captain will send someone to meet you and then the departure time is within the next thirty minutes," the middle-aged man replied.

Qiana thanked him briefly for his assistance and then followed the signs that pointed her in a direction that led deeper into the spaceport complex.

Since Qiana's back was turned, she failed to see that the middle-aged man behind the desk had a twisted grin on his face.

And his eyes… were yellow.