Chapter 21

The term ‘Class‘, while originating in the adventurer field, has been expanded to regular use in many fields of work. Mages of any class can find work in many fields that don’t involve combat. Individuals with martial classes often find work in law enforcement or security careers. Additionally, the list of classes has been greatly expanded over the ages. Many classes, such as the Arsenal martial class and Mechanist mage class, are among the more recent additions. There is also the third general class type called Hybrids. Hybrid classes use a combination of martial skills and magical abilities to become a truly lethal threat. While a hybrid will never be as skilled in either field as a martial or a mage, they seamlessly blend the two to devastating effect.

While I was unconscious, I dreamt. The details are unclear to me, but I remember it wasn’t pleasant. Blood, darkness, screams, flashing fangs and claws, and worst of all, a deep hunger that could not be sated. I couldn’t tell you if I was on the receiving end of the terror or if I was the one causing it. As I started floating back up into the real world, I heard something. As I fully came back to the world of the living, I recognized the sound as a feminine voice humming the tune to a lullaby. I knew the lullaby as The King’s Ninth Cat. It’s a simple nursery song about a king who lost all nine lives of eight pet cats to tragedy and how he assigned his royal guard to his ninth cat. It was a strange story that I never really understood.

Right before I opened my eyes, I realized that my head was propped up on something hard and rough. When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring up at Nennel, holding my head in her lap as she hummed the tune. While Nel quietly hummed, she held a damp rag against my brow.

I shot up into the sitting position in a panic, remembering what had occurred before I lost consciousness. As I rose with elastic speed, I looked around, checking for both Ferris and any threats. We were in a small office space that was left mostly untouched other than the standard wear of time and a thick coating of dust. Nennel had her back propped against the rear wall opposite the door. The door was closed and blocked with a thick office desk, an old computer terminal still attached to the face. To my left was a bookshelf that held what were once books but were now moldering piles of pulp. Against the wall to my right was a table piled high with nude magazines made from a plastic material. Ferris's and my supply packs lay on the floor in front of the table. Ferris was sitting between that table and the door, lounging in an office chair that must’ve been older than any of us. The sharp-toothed Elf flipped through a magazine and absentmindedly played with a toothpick.

The room, while devoid of claw marks, signs of nesting, or murder, was still thick with the scent of the moldering books and the carpet of dust. My jarring motion sent up a thick cloud of dust from the surrounding floor. My violent movement caused a wave of nausea to climb up my throat. But when I started coughing from the dust, that nausea developed into gagging. On hands and knees, I threw myself into the corner farthest from the other two and readied to wretch up my guts. The only outcome was a severe case of dry-heaving. While I heaved and shuddered from the reflex, Nennel came over and started rubbing my back in small, gentle circles.

“Easy there Ives’. You were in a bad state when we brought you in here. You were banged all to hell and bleeding pretty bad.” Nennel commented in a soothing tone.

Ferris spoke up from his seat in a less soothing voice, “Yeah. Couple all that with a minor case of myst poisoning, chemical burns, and likely damaged lungs from inhaling those fumes. You looked like you’d ran through hell in the nude and wound up getting shat out by a dragon with digestive problems.”

I took steadying breaths while Nennel chewed out Ferris. “Come on, Fer. Don’t be an ass.”

“Excuse me, Nel, but who was the one that had to strip him out of his nasty clothes and give him a sponge bath while you patched him up? That’s right. Me. I got to see more of Iver than I ever planned on witnessing.”

“Oh, quit your bitching, Elf-boy. I haven’t given you any trouble for what you’ve been reading. Aren’t naked girls supposed to act like mind bleach for you Y chromosome apes?”

“Wait.” I wheezed out as I turned away from the corner. “You guys had to strip me?”

Ferris looked up from his magazine to make eye contact with me. “Damn right we did. While you looked like a disaster that crawled out of an apocalypse horror flick, your clothes were pretty much rags that smelled like a sewage station.”

I looked down at myself to find that I was wearing a clean pair of green cargo pants and a plain black T-shirt, but nothing else.

I felt heat rise in my cheeks at the thought. Those two were not the first people my age I wanted to see me stripped bare. “I-uh. Sorry. Sorry, you had to see that.”

“See what?” Ferris asked. “You mean your dangley bits? While I wasn’t a fan of that, I had more issue with the scars.”

My eyes went wide as I closed in on myself in shame.

“S-sorry.” I repeated.

Nennel stepped in front of me, where I sat huddled on the floor and pressed a metal fist gently against the top of my head. “Don’t stress it, Ives’. You’re not the first guy I’ve seen naked. I’ve got a brother, after all. And if I’m lucky in romance, you won’t be the last. I don’t care about that… But your scars…”

I pressed my face into my knees as I muttered, “I know they’re ugly and gross.”

After a long moment of silence, I looked up to see the other two glaring at me, and I retreated back into my knees.

“Iver Maverick. You stupid moron.” Nennel scolded. “We aren’t grossed out by them. What we are is angry about them.”

If I could’ve curled up smaller, I would have. “I know. I screw up a lot. I cause problems. The scars are just a sign of how bad at life I am.”

I heard a magazine drop and a chair shifting before heavy, storming steps marched up to me. A narrow fist sharply worked its way past my face to grip the collar of my shirt, and it yanked me to my feet with vicious force. My feet held none of my weight, dangling limply like a pair of vestigial noodles.

The next thing I knew, I was panicking and staring into a raging pair of eyes with jade green irises and amethyst sclera. “Don’t you say that. Don’t you fucking say that about yourself.” Ferris snarled between clenched triangular teeth. “You got those scars and those thoughts from your sociopathic, sadistic, lunatic uncle. You, are not a screwup. You, do not cause problems. I can count three times since we got to the city that you’ve saved my life, and one of those times was only a few hours ago. I’ve seen you piece Nennel back together after rescuing her from those Cy-Skav monsters. I will NOT let you talk shit about yourself after you risked your life, I don’t know how many times, to get us all to safety.”

My panic rose with Ferris’s hostile tone. While part of me was aware of what he was saying, another part was already arguing each comment, and yet another part was spiraling into instability. I couldn’t catch my breath. My chest was tight, and my heart pounded a machinegun staccato rhythm. My chest stung with each inhale and heartbeat, and my head swam as I couldn’t stop the tears from coming.

A mechanical female hand rested on Ferris’s arm as Nennel stepped up. With gentle pressure, she made Ferris release me. I fell to the floor like a pile of dirty laundry. Laying on my side on the floor, I curled into the fetal position and quietly sobbed.

“Ferris,” Nennel muttered to the Elf. “We don’t know what happened to him when we were separated. You saw the state he was in. I would love to blame all of that damage on the ghouls. But you saw those wounds. All of the gashes match his claws. You also saw the condition of his legs. He must’ve ruptured dozens of blood vessels and torn plenty of muscle. Between those two, the bruises that I think he caused by accident, and the myst poisoning, which only he could have caused… I think he pushed himself to breaking. Honestly, I think he pushed himself far past the breaking point.”

“So you’re saying we just let him beat himself mentally into a lump of more trauma?” Ferris demanded. “We both know that he’s not as worthless as he thinks he is. You’ve heard him shit-talk himself as much as I have. I’m tired of it. That guy,” I could almost hear him pointing at me. “is a madman. He is a lunatic saint who pulls off the impossible time and again. Then he turns around and beats himself up for any slight mistake. We can’t let him keep this masochistic act up.”

“Ferris, do you really think that snapping at him and demanding he feel better will help at all?” Nennel gently chided.

“You heard what Thrasher said, Nel. The Mystagogue has heard him crying in his room a dozen times while he was at the manor. Both Thrasher and Navor told us to keep an eye on him and cut off any self-abuse as soon as it starts.”

“I think I have an idea of what happened.” Nennel said before there was another long moment of silence. The next thing I knew, Nennel was squatting next to me, resting a hand on my shoulder. “Iver, does your medication contain myst?”

I gave a slight nod without looking up.

“Does it feel like your medication is working right now?”

I took in a deep, shuddering breath and held it as I did my best to look for the signs of whether my medication working or not. In answer, I gave a shake of the head before falling back into sobs.

“Then that’s what’s going on. Give me a second to find your medication.” Nennel said as she stood and moved away.

“What’s going on?” Ferris asked, sounding much calmer than before.

I could hear Nennel rummaging through my bag as she explained. “Iver’s medication makes sure that he has a constant amount of tailored Mind Myst in his system while the medication is active, to help keep him stable. Because of that, he’ll reach myst poisoning quicker than if he didn’t have the medication. When your body suffers from myst poisoning, it tries to dump all the myst affecting your body. His body trying to expel the myst is why his veins were glowing, but that also means that his body was pushing out the stabilizing Mind Myst. My best guess is that tailored myst casts as a catalyst to make sure the other components have the needed effects. So, no catalyst in his system means no anti-crazy effects. Either that or maybe his body is also trying to push out every part of the medication because of how much damage he had.”

“I guess that makes sense. Before he was medicated, he was a bit unhinged if things didn’t go as planned.” Ferris commented.

“Crap.” Nennel curse.

“What?” Ferris asked. “Did he not pack his meds?”

“No, he did. But they’re behind a biometric lock.” Nennel was beside me again, only seconds later. “Iver, I’m going to borrow your hand so I can get your meds. Okay?”

After I gave a single nod, I let go of my legs with my right hand. Nennel carefully took my hand and pressed my thumb against the scanner of the box. I heard the familiar beep and click of the box opening. I recognized the sound of Nennel checking the contents of the box before slotting a new vial into the hypo-jector and attaching a fresh needle tip.

“Damn, Nel. You have experience with this kind of thing?” Ferris asked in an impressed tone.

“Kinda. My little sister was diagnosed Type 1 Diabetic when she was still really little. Everyone in the house had to go through a course that taught all of the mechanics to keep her blood sugar under control. My parents were out of the house a lot. And after my brother left to join the military, I was in charge of counting Serra’s carbs and managing her insulin doses until she was old enough to manage on her own. This seems relatively similar, and I don’t have to worry about a wrong dosage because it’s marked on the vials. I just don’t know where to inject.” Nennel put a hand on my shoulder again as she asked, “Where do I need to poke you, Iver?”

Unable to form cohesive words, I simply shifted my top shoulder toward Nennel, and she got the message. She rolled up my sleeve and stuck me in the upper arm with the exposed needle. A squeak of discomfort slipped from my lips at the prick, followed by a hiss as I felt the fluid enter my body. Once she gave me the full dose, Nennel stepped back and set to putting the supplies away as she told Ferris to give me some time to let the medication take effect.

It only took a few minutes for the medication to start correcting my brain chemistry and calming me down to a more stable state. While my sobs quieted and my breathing slowed, I still found my thoughts weighed down with dark emotions. I lay there on the floor, gathering myself. With the torrent of negative emotions quelled, my thoughts were clearer and less tinged with negativity. I had a firmer grip on who I was. Mostly, I just felt shame at the breakdown in front of Nel and Ferris. I knew I shouldn’t have felt so stupid about it. They had witnessed me unmedicated for the majority of the year before. But somehow, knowing that my reactions and thoughts were brought on because my mind was broken made it embarrassing.

I’m going to take a second here to say something to anyone reading this who has a mental condition. Having something wrong with your brain chemistry or psyche DOES NOT MAKE YOU BROKEN! My perspective of my anxiety-meat being damaged goods was caused by years of trauma and abuse. And, yes, I refer to the brain of any sapient species as anxiety-meat. 

As I sit here now with Tave, I need to remind you that it’s perfectly okay for someone to need medication and/or therapy to remain functional. We no longer live in an age where mental conditions are blamed on evil spirits. We are also well past the era when having a condition got you strapped to a table and zapped till you were “fixed”. I’m willing to bet a fair amount of clat that even some of your heroes and idles need mental help. Hells, if you’re reading this, then you likely are at least partly a fan of a least one of my many monikers. Even Heroes and augmented super troopers need help after the shit they’ve seen. So stop being stupid and feel better about yourself.

When I finally pulled out of my ball on the floor, Nennel was reading a book, and Ferris was still flipping through nude mags. “Feel better?” Nennel asked without looking up.

“I, uh, yeah. Sorry about that.” I apologize as I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment.

Something light slapped against my face, causing me to flinch. “Stop apologizing, horn-head.” Ferris rebuked. “We all have problems. And if you think that we’re going to have an issue with helping you with yours, I swear I’ll keep throwing nude mags at you till I get it through your head.”

I only barely stopped from apologizing again. But when I looked down at the magazine he had thrown at me, I decided to start slinging glass his way. “So, Fer, I didn’t realize you were into muscle mommies.” I said with a smirk.

“What?!” Ferris yelped. “No, I’m not!”

I picked up the magazine in front of me to display the cover. The cover displayed a Gredgore Orc woman in a very tiny black bikini, striking a sultry pose. Her green skin glistened with oil, and her tied-back ponytail was caught in mid-swing, reaching down to her hips. Behind the woman was a plain red background, and printed above her head in bold black block font was the title. “Seductive Sturdy Gals: Miss Muscle Madam Edition.” As I read out the title, my smirk warped into a completely mirthful grin as I tried to hold back a snicker and failed. I watched a furious blush rise in Ferris’s cheeks, and the snicker broke out into chuckling.

“Don’t give him shit, Iver.” came Nennel from behind her book in a distracted voice. “He’s been flipping through those magazines for a few hours, and there’s a wide range of genres.”

Ferris let out a relieved sigh at Nennel’s defense. But then she continued.

“If you want to give him shit, it should be over the she-male magazine he picked up without realizing while you were unconscious.”

“Hey!” Ferris snapped at Nennel. “I didn’t know!”

My chuckling flew into uncontrolled cackling as I fell back on the floor. Ferris then spent the next three minutes throwing magazines at me until I could finally stop laughing. I sat up, breathing hard and wiping tears from my eyes. “Okay, have you guys eaten yet?”

“Nope.” Nennel said

“We were waiting for you, trog-face.” Ferris said with a pout.

I crawled to my feet and stepped over to my bag to sort through my supplies while I continued. “I’m guessing we didn’t manage to salvage Nel’s pack.”

“Yeah.” she said in a dejected tone.

“We also lost most of the rope attached to Nel’s hook.” Ferris commented as he pushed himself from his seat to join me, going through his own bag. I pulled out two REMs and tossed one to Nennel, who caught the meal pack in one hand even as she set down her book. I turned back to my bag to pull free a pair of drinks.

“The rope’s not a big deal. I’ve got a spare coil.” I said as I walked over to Nel a can of strawberry juice. I lowered myself down to sit beside her. “By the way, Nel, is that my book?” I asked, pointing to the hardcover book beside her with my bottle of water.

“Yep.” Nel said with a smirk as she cracked her drink to take a sip. “I lost all three of the books I had in my pack. I found this bad boy,” she tapped the book with her free hand. “In your pack when I was looking for your clothes and that bag of healing supplies Navor gave us.”

I flashed Nel my own smirk while I was about to open my Ready to Eat Meal. Then Ferris spoke up. “Damn it! I didn’t pack any meals with actual meat.”

“What?” I asked. “You get the veggie supreme pack?”

“No. I accidentally bought the vegan synth meat meal pack. Frag it all, I was in such a hurry. All I read was meat meal pack.”

I rolled my eyes before tossing him the meal pack I had. “Trade, twit-wind.”

Ferris caught the back and examined it, reading the type out loud. “Deluxe Three-Meat Stew Pack. Hell yeah. I can get behind this.”

As we ate, we chatted. Ferris harped on me to explain how I wound up so beat to the nine hells. So I gave him a rundown, starting with his fall, explaining the ghoul chase, stink bomb, and elemental encounter. When I told the two of them the complete details of what the elemental was made from and carrying while chasing, they both made expressions of mixed revulsion and horror. After that, Nennel and I talked about the book she took from my pack. It was a historical fiction about a disowned Elven prince who was forced to become a warlord to save his people from an invading army. Nennel was fascinated with the story, but Ferris was extremely uncomfortable with the plot because its theme struck too close to home for him.

Ferris was a Quint. A half-breed between two different types of Elves. He was the child of a High Elf noblewoman and a Wild Elf war chief who raped her. Ferris was treated worse than scum by his mother and any Elf that crossed his path. This is because of his half-breed nature. Elves, as a people, have a hyper-fixation with lineage and bloodline purity. Half-Elves are disliked, but Quints are despised as abominations.

So we hopped around safer topics for a bit while we ate. After we wrapped up our meal, I slipped on a pair of socks and my cleaned Pacer Shoes and pulled out my armor set from my pack. I strapped on thigh and shin plates and arm guards made from titanium and painted with a light-absorbing black paint. I covered my torso with a plate-flex vest with the same paint job. As I armored up, Nel and Ferris did the same with similar armor pieces.

When we were all ready to depart, Venna on my arm, a sidearm at either hip and my pack on my back. I picked up the trash from our meal while Nel and Ferris moved the desk that blockaded the door. Once the entry was cleared, Nel listened with her ear to the door before slowly opening it and peering out. When the coast was clear, we moved out in a closed formation. First, I backtracked to the room with the toxic lake, with some guidance from the other two.

The moment I stepped into the room, I knew something was off. The platform on our side that I stepped onto, the one with the bridge barely holding on to it, was covered in bones. Bones that were not there when I had first landed on that platform from my jump stunt.

“Um, guys… How did these bones get here?” I asked with worry and confusion in my voice.

“What do you mean?” Ferris asked in a very unconvincing manner.

“Weren’t they always here?” Nennel asked with confusion, just as honest as my own.

“Yeah, no.” I stated, looking directly at Ferris, expecting an answer.

“They were here when you and I were pulled up by Ferris.”

“Yeah…” I trailed off as I cupped my chin between my thumb and forefinger while I thought about those moments before I passed out. “Speaking of, how did you manage to pull us both up so easily? Don’t get me wrong. I know you’re fit, but Nel’s body is solid steel, and while I may be easily a featherweight, it would still have made the action even more challenging.”

“What do you mean easily? I had a serious struggle dragging the two of you up. Besides, Iver,” Ferris put a strong emphasis on my name. “You were the one who took a suicidal swan-dive into that pool of who-knows-what.”

I stepped up to the edge and threw our trash off. We needed to dispose of any traceable evidence because we were near cannibal territory. “Oh, I know very well what it is. And there’s a reason I didn’t mention it before.”

“What?” Ferris asked.

“Iver… What the hell is that dreck?” Nel demanded.

I turned away from the edge and led the other two out of the room with a carefully toned, “Let’s leave before I tell you. The fumes are hazardous.”

As soon as we were a safe distance from the pool, I turned and explained in a low voice. “You two saw those pipes coming down from the ceiling?” They both nodded. “Those pipes are illegally connected to factories on the surface. Factories with rather dangerous waste byproducts.”

“What kind of waste?” Nennel asked in an accusing tone.

I broke eye contact with both of them and veered my eyes to the wall at my left as I nervously explained. “Oh, you know. Caustic acids, poisonous fluids, and… maybe some radioactive substances.”

“WHAT!?” Nennel exclaimed.

I cringed at the word before hissing, “Keep it down, Nel. I’d rather not get noticed by the locals.”

Nennel lowered her own voice but spoke in a hiss that was much more venomous than my own. “You’re telling me that you suicide-dived into a pool of the worst possible stuff to save me from a ghoul.” It was more of an accusation than a question. “Iver Maverick. I swear to the gods above and below that if you ever try anything that suicidal again, I will break every bone in your arm as well as your nose after I make sure that you are safe.”

I felt the blood drain from my face as my eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at the threat. I honestly didn’t put it past my unofficially adopted sister to hold up to her threat to teach me a very painful lesson. “Sorry!” I forced out in a rush in a desperate hope to calm her before she snapped me like a twig.

“Iver,” Ferris probed tentatively. “What did you mean by locals?”

I lunged at the chance to change the subject. “Only that we are near the territory of a gang of cannibals.”

When neither of them responded, I dared a glance at the two to find both of them staring at me. This time, it was their eyes that bulged. I focused on each of them in turn with a questioning brow raised. “What is it?”

“Did you just say cannibals?” Ferris demanded in a strained whisper. I could see the panic on his face.  He was clearly too scared to raise his voice.

“Yeah?” I answered with a confused note.

“How are you not scared?” He accused as much as asked.

“Because I know how to avoid them.” I said simply.

“I… what?” He asked.

“It’s not like it's a big deal.” Nennel said.

“Not a big deal?” Ferris snapped. He turned to Nennel. “I get you not being scared. You're like ninety percent tin, with oil for blood.” Nennel looked offended at the comment, but Ferris turned to me without pause to send an accusation my way. “And you, Ives’. You're some stark-raving mad dude who seems totally immune to pain because you put up with your sadist uncle for almost an entire year. Plus, you clearly have so little fear of death you literally jumped off a bridge to save Nel. You were totally willing to die from being melted and poisoned without a second thought. So, yeah, you’re schizo.”

I massaged my brow at my friend’s rant. “Ferris. Buddy. Pal. Calm your heat, and let me explain.” I forced myself to lock eyes with him and speak with systematic hand gestures. “First, I’ve done hours of research on notes from adventurers who have delved down here and checked every local hazard on our path. Two, the Cannibal gangs are pretty primitive. They don’t use any ranged weapons and have no casters, according to the notes. If we keep quiet and an eye out for traps, we should be fine. Three, I set our plotted route around the outer edge of their territory. So our likelihood of danger is as low as I could make it while keeping travel time to a minimum.”

“I... uh… okay. That does make me feel better.”

I checked the map on my therra and led the other two through several halls and down two floors. I was beyond thankful that both Nel and Ferris had trained in stealth work. We passed through several rooms that showed evidence of dangerous creature presence without issue. We also bypassed a half dozen traps set by the local cannibals without incident.

After only a few hours, we made it just outside the room that I had marked on my map as the location of our target informant. We stood inside a small room, only spanning eight feet by twelve feet, filled with not one, not two, but seven traps. I counted no less than six tripwire lasers attached to everything from a dart trap installed in the wall, to what I could only figure was a complex slag sprayer. Among the many traps, I spotted an entire patch of ground covered in lightning mines, set to release a lethal voltage to any nearby creature.

Across the trap-laden room was a door. A massive door of reinforced steel that reached up to the ten-foot ceiling and spanned almost as far across. The door looked to be several inches thick and set into a frame that was just as sturdy. Installed into the center of the door was an optical scanner lens, long and thin, with a dull blue glow.

I turned to Nennel on my right. “Think you can manage disabling the laser sights?”She gave a single nod before setting to work. Then I turned to Ferris. “Can you handle those mines?” Ferris looked nervously at the traps before audibly gulping and giving a single nod. “Fer, if you don’t think you can handle it, that’s not a problem.”

“No, no. I should be able to handle it. I’m just a little nervous.” He said with obviously feigned courage.

“Ferris,” I said gently. “All you need to do with these things is crack open the cover to the control panel without triggering the motion sensor. Just don’t move your hand directly over it. The panel is on the side. Pop it carefully and flip the switch from armed to disarmed.”

“Got it.” Ferris said nervously.

While those two went to work, I set about checking for additional triggers in any open spaces that the others might step into. Sure enough, while Nennel shut down three tripwire lasers and Ferris disarmed four mines, I spotted two other traps that would have killed them. One was a laser sensor set into the ceiling that would have sprayed something likely lethal down on whoever tripped it. That required me to stand on Ferris’s shoulders to sever a hidden wire. The second was a trap that was triggered by a caster’s aura. From what I could tell, it would’ve released a wave of negative polarity Chaos Myst that would’ve triggered all the other traps at once. 

That would’ve caused a massive kill zone that no one could’ve survived without knowing it was there and having a teleportation ability. After about thirty minutes of work and careful communication between the three of us, we cleared a safe path to the door.

I stepped up to the door and inspected it with a scrutinizing eye. Beside the door was a holographic keypad with a complete numeric and alphabetical layout, in addition to an eye and hand biometric scanner. I looked over the perimeter of each device for seams I could use. While looking the surface over with a meticulous eye, a voice came from the door.

“Well, well, well. Looks like you’re not monsters, and I’d like to think you’re not here to eat me. What do you want?” The voice was silky smooth and held on odd inflection. The speaker was clearly male, but his voice was strange. There was a hum to it that wasn’t like anything I had heard before.

I answered in as clear and strong a voice as I could manage despite having been startled by the strange voice. “We are here for information. I want to make a deal.” Even I could hear the nerves in my voice and I hated every word I spoke.

“Well, let’s see what you have to offer,” the voice replied. “But be warned. I will have turrets trained on you as soon as you enter.”

“Got it.” was all I managed to say without choking with nervousness.

Next came the sound of an air-lock seal breaking as the door swung open. As the three of us stepped back to the door spreading wide open, the first thing I noticed was nothing like I expected. First, I saw a humanoid head with four eyes displaying pitch black sclera and ghost-gray irises. The next thing I noticed was a humanoid torso with four arms, closely followed by the most startling feature of an arachnid abdomen behind it all.