11-11-2020, 08:22 PM
<center><table style="border-color: #3b2c26; border-width: 0px; border-style: solid; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: -55px; margin-left: -40px;" cellspacing=25 cellpadding=25 width=550><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/NMChHYPN/9-F4-B4-E98-99-B4-4-E41-81-BB-B6-C60-E53-FDDC.png"> <tr><td><font face=georgia><font style=font-size:8pt;line-height:12pt;letter-spacing:1px><p align=justify><center><font style=font-size:10pt;line-height:16pt;letter-spacing:6px><i> a r a c h n a </i> </font></center><p align=justify>
There is a curl of fear that constricts around her heart when the others disappear.
She thinks, for a moment, that perhaps she had chosen wrong. That <i>this</i> was the trick and there was no treat after all. She struggles to suppress the shiver that seems to start at her hooves and rattles her all the way to the tips of her ears. But it was very evident that the only way was forward, because she was <i>not</i> going to stay here alone.
And if she was being perfectly honest, she wanted the treat at the end of the tunnel.
She took one hesitant step in the direction of her prize.
Then another.
But on her third step she recoiled.
She had assumed it was a mist that had blanched the path of its colors. But it wasn’t a mist at all. The entire path was obscured by <i>webs</i>. Intricate webs of all sizes. Some yielded immediately, but others - others clung to fetlocks and threatened to hold her in place. Again, the coil of fear tightens, but she grits her teeth. She is young, but she <i>knows</i> she can do this.
She has to.
So she launches herself forward, fighting her way through the maze of webs. Sweat beads on her coat as she struggles forward. And in her struggle she has given absolutely no thought to what could have spun this labyrinth.
Until she hears <i>something</i>. Legs. Lots of legs.
She can still see the treat at the end of the tunnel, but when she looks back over her shoulder the shadows are <i>moving</i>. Panic drives her baby-legs faster. She scrambles over webs and obstacles alike - leaping over fallen trees and ducking beneath the webs that threaten to entrap her permanently. And she has absolutely no intention of being someone or something’s dinner.
The sounds and shadows draw closer - close enough that she can see the spiders of all shapes and sizes - moving like one large undulating wall of darkness. She presses herself faster - faster than she’s ever run before. The girl refuses to be deterred. Not when her prize is so close.
So close she can almost reach out and <i>touch</i> it.
And then with one last leap she bursts through a wall of web and into the clear night air, falling into a heap before the gift she had requested. She looks back, instinctively, but the labyrinth and the spiders were gone.
</font></font><p align=right><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/ameameridian">lineart</a> | <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/the-renegade">design</a></font>
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There is a curl of fear that constricts around her heart when the others disappear.
She thinks, for a moment, that perhaps she had chosen wrong. That <i>this</i> was the trick and there was no treat after all. She struggles to suppress the shiver that seems to start at her hooves and rattles her all the way to the tips of her ears. But it was very evident that the only way was forward, because she was <i>not</i> going to stay here alone.
And if she was being perfectly honest, she wanted the treat at the end of the tunnel.
She took one hesitant step in the direction of her prize.
Then another.
But on her third step she recoiled.
She had assumed it was a mist that had blanched the path of its colors. But it wasn’t a mist at all. The entire path was obscured by <i>webs</i>. Intricate webs of all sizes. Some yielded immediately, but others - others clung to fetlocks and threatened to hold her in place. Again, the coil of fear tightens, but she grits her teeth. She is young, but she <i>knows</i> she can do this.
She has to.
So she launches herself forward, fighting her way through the maze of webs. Sweat beads on her coat as she struggles forward. And in her struggle she has given absolutely no thought to what could have spun this labyrinth.
Until she hears <i>something</i>. Legs. Lots of legs.
She can still see the treat at the end of the tunnel, but when she looks back over her shoulder the shadows are <i>moving</i>. Panic drives her baby-legs faster. She scrambles over webs and obstacles alike - leaping over fallen trees and ducking beneath the webs that threaten to entrap her permanently. And she has absolutely no intention of being someone or something’s dinner.
The sounds and shadows draw closer - close enough that she can see the spiders of all shapes and sizes - moving like one large undulating wall of darkness. She presses herself faster - faster than she’s ever run before. The girl refuses to be deterred. Not when her prize is so close.
So close she can almost reach out and <i>touch</i> it.
And then with one last leap she bursts through a wall of web and into the clear night air, falling into a heap before the gift she had requested. She looks back, instinctively, but the labyrinth and the spiders were gone.
</font></font><p align=right><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/ameameridian">lineart</a> | <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/the-renegade">design</a></font>
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