His fingers finally brushed the inside of his pocket. For a second, he touched nothing but the thin material of his pants.
'Please.'
Then he finally felt it, cold, jagged metal.
The relief was so intense, Xaden almost whispered a prayer of thanks to whichever god had helped him. Almost...
Xaden knew that there were no gods here, only himself, his newly found tool, and the creature coming for him.
Another tremor ran through the web, more intense this time. The creature was close. A darkness stretched above him.
'Don'tpanic', he told himself, 'notyet.'
He flexed his fingers around the shard; it was smaller than he remembered. His fingers tightened around it anyway.
Xaden forced his arm back up, once again ignoring the agony coming from his shoulder, sharp enough to bring dark spots to his vision, and he placed the pain in a small box at the back of his mind.
Now's not the time.
He brought the shard up and began to work. The shard scraped against the webbing. Nothing happened at first. The strands were thicker than they looked, thicker than woolen cloth
"Come on… come on…" he breathed.
Another tremor.
Something heavy shifted somewhere above him. Dust fell from the darkness. The web tightened slightly, as if reacting to the movement. Specifically to his movement.
Xaden pressed the shard.
The strand gave just a little, not much. Just enough for hope to sing and steal his breath away.
He dragged the metal edge across the thread again. This time it cut deeper. The strand snapped with a faint, dry sound. His arm dropped, tired from the sheer effort, although one side of his body sagged slightly where the web had loosened.
Then he heard the shrill sound again, followed by low, wet breathing. His heart stopped.
'Shit...'
He continued to saw through the web. The tightened strand eventually began to thin. Then it began to tremble again.
Xaden held his breath.
He didn't want to look.
He looked anyway.
The darkness above him was still empty. For a moment, nothing existed aside from strands of white stretching into the darkness.
Xaden's fingers tightened around the shard without him realizing it, and he began to feel a warm liquid where his palms met the shard.
A strand moved. Then another. Something was slowly walking toward him.
Deliberately.
Approaching, calm and steady, like it was sure its dinner was not going anywhere.
The creature finally slid out of the darkness, and Xaden instantly wished it hadn't.
It was enormous.
A massive body covered in dark, uneven hair, thick enough to look like it had been dragged through years of dust and decay. Each of its eight crooked legs was long, jointed, and horribly steady as it approached him one strand at a time. The web, trembling slightly as it drew near.
Its multiple eyes were a deep shade of red, almost glowing in the darkness as the creature itself blocked out the small stream of sunlight seeping through its den.
It tilted slightly, the thick hairs along its legs shifting as it adjusted its weight. One leg moved forward slowly and pressed into the web beside Xaden's shoulder. The strand tightened, pulling painfully at his arm.
Xaden's heart pounded so fast he was certain the creature could feel it through the web.
It took another lazy step towards him
'Move,' Xaden screamed at himself, biting back his apprehension. The shard trembled in his bleeding hand as he summoned all the strength he could to press it harder against the strand wrapped across his side. The thread had now begun to tear. From where his pockets were, he bent his arm cruelly to tear across his chest and upward, masochistically thankful for his dislocated shoulder.
The spider moved again.
To it, Xaden was already done for.
Xaden dragged the shard across the strand in one desperate motion.
The web gave way. Xaden's body tilted so he was hanging upside down from below his knees. The spider monster seemed taken aback at first, then its legs began to move, and it hastened its steps towards him.
For a horrible moment, Xaden wondered if he was going to die hanging upside down. Then he felt the strands begin to shift. He stared at the vast expanse of spider webs and darkness, and realized he had no plan for what to do from there.
The webs finally let go.
Xaden fell.
Instinct took over instantly. His left hand shot out blindly and caught a single thread. It stretched violently under his weight; he held it with everything he had as his body jerked to a stop midair.
'Ha! Not this time.' Xaden triumphed in his head. He really was getting tired of plummeting to his death.
The spider monster once again let out its shrill cry as though upset that its meal had gotten away. But for how long? He wasn't exactly home sweet home. It was only a matter of time till he was once again within its reach.
Xaden dragged himself up, teeth gritted, ignoring the searing pain in his side. The thread shuddered under his weight, but he couldn't stop. He needed a plan. He needed… something.
The light at the top of the cavern dimmed slightly; it was nearing dusk. He wondered if he could climb through the webs and reach it...
His right shoulder screamed in protest, hanging at an impossible angle. Every move sent a jolt of white-hot agony racing down his arm. He cursed under his breath.
Xaden knew what he had to do. It wasn't exactly the first time he had to fix a broken part of himself.
He twisted, gritting his teeth, and found a sturdy knot in the web above his head. With one fluid motion, he hooked his right arm over it, letting gravity pull the dislocated joint downward. Pain exploded like fire, but he bit it back, placed it in an even bigger box at the most distant, darkest part of his mind, then jerked his arm.
A wet, sickening pop echoed in the cavern. He froze for a heartbeat, teeth clenched. It was back. Functional. Just barely well enough. He flexed it cautiously, testing the tendon and bone. Not perfect, but it had to be enough.
Above him, red eyes gleamed, massive and unblinking, reflecting the light from the crack. The spider advanced, faster now, its hairy legs scraping across its webs.
Xaden sucked in a ragged breath, tightened his grip, and began to climb, reaching towards one white strand at a time. He moved as fast as he could, also remembering not to move in a straight line so the beast wouldn't reach him. If there was one advantage he had, it was the fact that he was small enough to be surprisingly nimble, enabling him to outmaneuver the beast in its own web.
The strands were dense enough for Xaden to move with not too much difficulty. Then he heard it. The spider-beast let out a shrill sound, this time louder than he had heard it make before. Xaden managed to sneak a look behind him. A choice he regretted instantly.
The beast was closer than ever. This time, more rabid, like it had finally had enough of his nonsense.
'Right back at ya.'
He felt his heart beat quicken as even more adrenaline flooded his bloodstream. He finally crawled out of the web, then continued to crawl through the small tunnel that led to the outside. Crossing over just before one of the spider's legs pierced his foot with force.
Xaden continued to crawl away, then turned back to see the beast trying to force its way through. But try as it may, it was to no avail.
Xaden let out a sigh of relief. He turned towards the beast again, this time with a small smile on his face.
"Fat-ass." He chuckled breathlessly.
He lay on the ground for a moment, the terror seeping out of his bones, and for just a while, he rested a bit. His body was still in pain. He knew there was one more climb that needed to be done.