The silhouette of the spider stood framed in the blinding blue light of the Spire. It's jagged peak reflected in her eight eyes. The source of all power in this cave, almost close enough to touch. Khloros' words never left her and she had time to ponder them. Was the Spire keeping them trapped here, doomed to repeat an endless cycle?

Who was she before she was remade? This failed creation Astraea claimed she was born from, its gem she inherited; was she a reincarnation, or daughter, or both? Was this what the horse meant by being trapped, that it was forcing them to be reborn?

She wished she could ask the Spire-Mother within- or well, she was somewhere. The afterlife, Khloros assumed. She had no intention of going there any time soon. But what she could do was touch it.

Thothaga extended a claw, daring herself to reach, inching closer and closer. Then, she withdrew it. The memory Khloros' body peeling away into Spire haunted her. It could happen to her as well.

Thothaga was not ready to take that risk yet.

"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.