Thothaga's eyes had always been sensitive to light, but this was the first time they became overwhelmed and blinded. Her vision did not return completely until what seemed like ages, but when it did, Thothaga finally crept from her corner, relieved that it was not permeant.

Thothaga shuffled through the debris and found the orb again. She wondered if she should try again. It would be useful to have something to light up the dark parts of the cave. Thothaga bent down and picked it back up with her fangs. If it should spark again, it would be underneath her where she could not see it.

Careful... give it light.
But nothing happened...

Thothaga let it drop to the ground, feeling somewhat disappointed. I will try again later. She rolled the orb back towards her abdomen and wrapped it in silk with her back legs. She stuck it to fur on her back as she continued digging through the piles of scrap metal. From the vision the orb gave her, Thothaga was beginning to wonder if this "trash" where perhaps relics of the past.

What stories could they hold?

"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.

The vision replayed in her head, two giant scaled monsters- or perhaps gembounds, entangle in a vicious duel. Over what? She could not tell. Thothaga practically felt the entire tunnel shake beneath their enormous weight. The orb was lucky to have not been smashed, and had laid there, untouched for countless ages until she came along.

Thothaga peered down at the rusted pieces of scrap metal. There were so many, she did not know which one to touch first. Her leg hovered the unpolished relics. She wished she could peer into all of them at once. She want to know everything about the past that once used them. Finally, Thothaga pressed her claw against a rusted breastplate. To the spider, it looked like large, metallic scale from a beast, perhaps the one from her vision.

There was only one way to find out.


"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.

The armor told her of a rebellion. The fate of its original owner was unclear, but from the mounds of bones in Canis, probably not good. The scaled beasts and the warring factions, they all happened in long before her, and lost to time. The caves have seen their far share of blood, and Thothaga wondered if it would happen again.

The breastplate belonged on a body part she not posses, at least not in that form. Still, she wrapped web the piece and tied it around her abdomen. I will find it another purpose. It had a useful shape, she could carry things on it, or use it like a protective shield. The spider shuffled through the old, rusting relics, wondering how many were used in that rebellion.

As she crossed through the tunnel, one of her legs knocked over a metal scap, and revealed something shiny underneath. Thothaga stepped back, its glimmer catching her sensitive eyes. It was gemstone.

"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.

Thothaga rolled the stone closer to her. It did not feel as energized as her own gem, but it was very beautiful.Perhaps it belonged to a rebellion gembound. She thought. Thothaga had no to urge to revive it, but she did pick it up with her fangs. It was not every day she found a gemstone still beautiful. It would be a decoration, for now.

Oliver's baubled shard swayed as she tilted downward. Its soft light washed over the shadows cast beneath the twisted armor pieces and something glinted underneath.
"Hmm? Another?" Thothaga pushed the metal pieces aside and found, indeed, another stone.

"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.