Born in apocalypse

Looking at the blind priestess in front of her, Aurora couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable. Despite a cloth acting as a barrier, she couldn’t help but feel Lyra’s gaze prying through her soul.

’What is this feeling...’ she thought, trying to understand the lady in front of her.

The more Aurora observed her, the more confused she was getting. She found that the demeanor the priestess was showing wasn’t typical for a first meeting.

Despite her excellent control over her emotions, Aurora remembered how surprised she was to see had seen Dhruv for the first time.

The thing in front of Lyra wasn’t at that level strange, yet she couldn’t help but feel some sort of familiarity from her. There wasn’t even a bit of awkwardness in her being.

She seemed too perfect for everything to be right. Lyra had too much confidence for someone during their first meeting.

After much thought, Aurora finally managed to conclude something. Looking at the priestess in a new light she opened her mouth.

"Lyra... perhaps you have some sort of future sight?" After much thinking, this was the only conclusion Aurora could come to. Only future sight could give her the confidence needed to face her.

Aurora saw Lyra’s smile brighten as she responded, "Something like that, my lady."

Listening to her words, Aurora couldn’t help but be shocked by how lucky, or perhaps unlucky, this planet was. It hadn’t even passed the third quest and already had someone with future sight and a Mutant.

Any one of them is capable of destroying everything to oblivion without having to worry about it and yet for some reason, both of them were the ones with a world’s worth of calm.

’How lucky I am...’ A smirk appeared on her face as Aurora looked at Lyra and asked how her ability worked.

At first, she didn’t expect any answer, but soon, she received a full explanation of how her ability worked. Aurora now knew things that even Dhruv wasn’t aware of.

By keeping the information, Lyra wasn’t committing any treason as her lord never asked anything about it. If he had asked, she would have been happy to explain it. But she understood and knew he wouldn’t ask—not now, perhaps not ever.

"This makes it so much easier," Aurora chuckled as she looked at her.

"Indeed My lady..." Lyra replied without any hesitation.

A person with prophet abilities in a place where there is no anti-prophet item is too powerful. They could manipulate the future to do their bidding without anyone being a stepping stone for them.

Although Aurora had called her to talk about the three children, the conversation began to divert in another direction altogether. Aurora suggested Lyra sit on the chair as both began to talk about the future of the species Asteri.

"There is nothing stopping us now..." The more she talked, the more certain Aurora was getting. It would be a little rocky, but there was no stopping them anymore.

***

While Aurora and Lyra were having a meeting, Achana was moving toward the egg she had promised. After moving for a while, she reached the area that was enclosed from all directions.

Soon she found a single door that led further into it.

Creak!

An eerie sound was produced as the door opened. Archana’s eyes adjusted to the complete darkness as she began to see in it. After moving for a few seconds, she saw what she had come for.

Twenty eggs were carefully placed in what appeared to be a net-like structure. As Archana looked, she was surprised to find that everything was done with so much care.

The proper temperature had been taken into consideration. Everything was dark inside as needed. The area looked clean of any bugs that could cause infestation.

Everything looked perfect.

Looking at the arrangements, Archana couldn’t help but have a thought, ’If someone is here with this much knowledge about keeping the eggs safe, then how were the other eggs destroyed?’

If it wasn’t done on purpose, there was no way any eggs could’ve been destroyed under these circumstances. She was about to delve into the matter but stopped as she noticed some movement ahead.

’Are they hatching...’ A smile appeared on her face as she watched the incident, which happened once in a lifetime. Not wanting to miss it she activated her ability.

Archana watched as all of the eggs began to crack open one by one. The process wasn’t slow either; everything was happening in rapid succession as if their wait was over.

Each egg, the size of half a meter, shuddered as the legs inside of them began to push against their fragile shells.

Crack!

The sound reverberated in the darkness as the first egg split with a soft crack, revealing a wriggling shape of nothing but darkness. It hadn’t even been a second before another egg burst open, followed quickly by another.

Before even the end of a minute, all twenty of them had hatched.

The newborn spider hatchlings emerged with their bodies glistening in the darkness. They stretched their soft legs, adjusting to the new surroundings they found themselves in.

"How cute..." Archana whispered as she watched the birth with so much interest.

Of course, they were cute only in her eyes. If any normal humans were to see them, they would die of horror... Then again, nobody was normal anymore.

Her voice attracted their attention, as the spiders began moving toward her with a bit of hesitation at first. But the moment they got a whiff of the familiar aura, they began running toward her fanatically.

Soon enough, all of them were rubbing their faces against Archana’s legs.

Looking at them with a proud smile, she muttered, "So... what should we do now?"

Although none of the hatchlings had the ability to speak—nor did they have the mark—Archana understood what they wanted.

"Want to eat... let’s go then... there are plenty to spare..." Whispering these words, she began moving out of the shade. Soon, all twenty of her minions began to follow her like some ducklings.

Turning back, Archana looked at them as a giggle escaped her mouth, "How cute..."

Moving toward the kitchen, she began to think about how they should choose their evolution. Being at Tier 0, they were nothing but hatchlings. From Tier I, they could have their personalized evolution.

As Archana thought of expanding her colony, she couldn’t help but look around her. A frown appeared on her face as she connected with Aurora through the mark...

[Aurora... don’t you think this place is too small for all of us?]

Archana could feel Aurora’s smile through the mark as she got the answer.

[It certainly is, Archana... it certainly is...] She couldn’t help but feel a chill running down her spine as she heard the message.