Legends: The Emerald World

The woman sat like a cat, her head looking up with a curious gaze. She could see the tiny spider on the old wet ceiling, the rancid air of the room couldn't possibly mask the scent of blood from the sharp nose of a cat. Neither could darkness stunt her vision.

The woman's eyes were fixed on the tiny spider-like curious cat. She wasn't blinking, and her upper lips twitched. This was the first time that the emperor noticed that the cat woman was missing her whiskers, she probably lost them in the scramble with the guards.

But, one thing was clear. She wasn't fully asleep earlier and had felt the spider's fight with the large spider on the ceiling. In this dead silent room, the sound of the large spider getting squashed had woken up the beast.

Under the sharp glare of the beast, the spider started to get nervous. To her, that woman was a titanic monster. 'Oi! House…this one is scaring me.' The spider called back to the emperor and he replied with a worried voice, 'Don't make any sudden moves, you'll only trigger her instincts to attack.'

While beasts can look more human than monsters, their instinct remains sharp. He isn't doubting that this woman can speak, write, and act like any other human without a problem. It's just that they also never lose their wild instincts, instead, they incorporate them into their lives.

'I know that…' The spider could feel it, the threatening glare of the cat woman. One wrong move and she'll die. If cats can even catch flies, a slow spider should be an easy target.

The spider almost wanted to curse her life, it was clear she was too small of a prey to be worth the woman's time. 'I'm not even worth a tenth of a bite…why…' She cried into the emperor's mind.

'Cat doesn't only hunt for food, they can hunt for fun.' The emperor explained and the spider could feel her legs getting weaker. She always stayed away from humans and large beings like mice and rats, and now she's terrified to face such a deadly foe for the first time.

'Calm down a bit. With my strength and your lightweight body, you should be able to move even faster than you normally could.' The emperor started thinking of a way to communicate with the cat woman. He can't tame beasts through a tamed beast, no, taming her would be impossible either way due to how strong and intelligent she is.

The goal was to free her, so she could come and free him. Hopefully not dying to the coming tyrant.

The emperor growled in his cell, he could've performed a slightly long ritual with the spider to communicate with the cat woman through the spider, but in this situation, he can't even have the spider write something on the walls for her to read.

The moment his spider moves is when the fight starts, and he is certain they'll lose in a direct confrontation. A cat's reflexes are just not something a bug can deal with.

Suddenly, the cat woman lunged up at the spider without a warning. She was an intelligent beast, not a cat, she's aware that this would be an easy win to the point she didn't even need to wait for an opening to attack. What they were facing wasn't a cat with a human body, but a human in a body with the abilities of a cat.

'WOOOW!' The spider dodged the attack at the last moment and swung away with her threads. 'If she can jump this high, why didn't she escape?' The spider's thoughts rushed into the emperor's head as she ran away to the ceiling, avoiding one claw attack after another. The cat woman wasn't hunting, she was playing around like a cat, allowing the spider to escape so she could keep chasing her.

'That place is designed with humans in mind, the ceiling itself is angled into a conic shape with the entering hole at the highest point in the middle, she can't reach that.' The emperor could see everything the spider was seeing, but unlike her, he was more knowledgeable than her. She might be using his brain, but that only helps her understand what is a thing once he refers to it. 'It might be hard, but she might be able to escape using her claws if I could just show her how.'

Only if he could make the cat woman use her claws to latch onto the ceiling and jump from one side of the cone to another, she could climb to the entrance hole. A bit of acrobatic, but with a cat's reflexes and powerful muscles it shouldn't be impossible with a few tries.

The emperor knew well that if she was to run now, the guards would most likely kill her on sight. Catching her must've been a tedious job and they would not be willing to chase her across the whole fortress. For that reason, her escape must be timed seconds before the tyrant's attack so the guards would be busy. Going too early or too late will lead to everyone's death.

'Flesh house! Hurry up, can I run away? She won't be able to chase me if I go back to the entrance.' The spider cried the only thing she could see was the woman's claws and glowing eyes coming after her. 'How did they even get her here?'

'They throw the prisoners down, some break their legs or hips upon falling, but this is a place they are sent to die slowly, not relax.' The emperor replied, 'Lucky, she's a cat and could survive the fall without getting injured.'

The spider barely managed to escape the cat woman's claws for another half a minute as the emperor thought of a plan. 'Run as I tell you. She's as intelligent as humans, she should understand with enough hints.'

The emperor decided to divide the main goal into several smaller ones.

Spider is strange⇒spider is intelligent⇒talking with the spider{The emperor} ⇒ Finally the cat escapes with a plan.

The first stage is making sure the cat woman thinks the spider is as strange and different from other spiders as possible.

Following the emperor's orders, the spider swung from one wall to another, sliding on the cat woman's arms and back as she barely escaped a swat from her tail. Using her threads, she swung up to the entrance where the cat woman couldn't reach her.

Seeing that the spider was too high for her to reach by jumps, the cat woman sat back on the ground and curled into a ball to continue her sleep.

The spider looked down with a relieved face, her life was safe for now. 'She's back to sleep.'

'I can see that. Now go down and taunt her again.' The emperor gave his orders and the spider gasped, 'You want to torture me, cruel house! I'll let you know; your arms aren't worth the risk. I can build my web on any place!'

'Calm down. That woman is intelligent, she's bound to notice that you aren't a normal spider if you keep calling her out. Make it seem like you want her to follow you, approach, get her attention, and then move to the entrance.' The emperor smiled. 'Once she's willing to listen, we'll show her how to escape.'

'I don't want to do it…but orders are orders…' The spider sighed, sneaking on the wall and making sure the cat woman wouldn't notice her return.

She managed to reach the ground safely, and then using her limb and the emperor's human power, she punched the water and splashed it toward the cat woman, startling her.

As the cat woman looked back, she saw the tiny spider dancing while waving her arms, almost mockingly, this would've gotten her enraged if it was anyone else, but it was a spider. They shouldn't be able to do that.