Rune struggled against the webs, muscles straining as he tried to force even an inch of movement. The more he fought, the tighter they became, crystal strands constricting and digging in, cutting into circulation.
The matriarch approached him slowly.
One of her legs speared forward, punching through his shoulder. The blow tore through armor and enhanced flesh alike, driving clean through before she withdrew it again.
Blood spilled, then slowed as his accessory activated, flesh knitting back together while the armor's green core nature crawled over the damage, repairing the weave.
She watched it happen.
Then she did it again.
Not to kill him. Just enough to hurt.
A spider playing with prey.
"ARRRGH… memories of the world…" Rune gasped through clenched teeth. "I have triggered you before. I just need a trigger…I need power."
Something stirred near his heart, where the essence of his element resided. A pull. A pressure. As if something was calling out, waiting for him to answer.
"I need companions I can trust. Anything… anything to get me out of here."
[Memories of the World Activating…]
"It worked…thank the gods, it really worked."
Rune exhaled shakily as the pain continued to scream through his body. The chamber faded from view, the present slipping away as memory took hold.
"Ambrel. What are you doing? I heard from Aurea that you want to give the races of this world access to element."
Once again, Rune found himself inside the body of the creator.
The one who had planted the world tree.
And now he knew the name.
Ambrel. God of the cycle. God of creation.
"Yes," Ambrel replied calmly. "I want them to have a power that will grow with them. Aid them."
"None of our kind has ever given their creations that much power. Element is the power of the gods. For the gods. Pieces of our souls made manifest."
Ambrel did not turn. "It will be pieces of their souls as well. Just like us. They will be able to give form to what they are inside."
He paused.
"But do not worry, brother. I will be leaving out the most important part."
Ambrel lifted a hand and pressed it against his chest, fingers resting over his heart.
"They will not know the true nature of element. That breaking off even a small piece of the soul means creating something alive."
"So they will not know how to call it out?"
"Exactly. Unless they are told, they will never learn that their element is alive, or that it can take tangible form."
Ambrel's hand remained over his heart.
"And even if someone told them it was possible, it would not be enough. They would need to know what form it could take. Every fragment is unique to its host."
The memory shifted again, this time to a fire burning in the center of a great hall. A dozen children of the giant race sat in a wide circle, their shadows stretching long across the stone.
At the center sat an elder of immense stature, his posture straight despite his age. Regal garments hung from his shoulders, and the tattoos across his skin flowed and changed with every hue imaginable.
"Chief Chief! Tell us the story of the eternal hunt!"
The old giant sat back. "That is a favorite amongst you children, huh?"
"Yes, Chief Thranir, please, please."
His voice came deep, slow, and certain.
"Before mountains formed and learned to stand still," he said, "before the sky knew which way to turn, there were already two wolves in this empty world."
The children leaned closer.
"One chases the sun," the elder continued. "Not to catch it. To keep it running. If the sun were ever allowed to rest, the world would burn beneath its gaze."
He lifted one massive hand, palm glowing faintly.
"The other follows the moon. She hunts it through the dark so it never forgets to rise again. If the moon were ever lost, shadows would swallow the land whole."
The fire crackled, sending sparks spiraling upward.
"The wolves do not hate one another. They are companions. They run their endless paths together, keeping the sky in motion, keeping time alive."
One of the children finally spoke. "What happens if they stop?"
The elder did not answer immediately.
"Then the world would never move forward," he said at last. "The turning would fail, and the cycle would end."
A murmur spread through the hall.
"But do not fear," he continued, his voice steady. "They do not stop. They only hunt."
He leaned forward, and the stone beneath him groaned softly under his weight.
"Yet even eternal hunters can be angered."
His tone shifted, becoming a lesson taught.
"Never curse the coming of the next day," he said. "And never grieve too deeply when a good day ends. Day must yield to night, and night must return the world to morning."
The fire crackled as his gaze swept over the children.
"For the two wolves of the eternal hunt hear such words," he said quietly, "and they remember those who speak with contempt for the turning of the world."
Silence filled the hall.
The elder straightened once more.
"Remember this," he said. "We are strong. We are long lived. But even giants are only moments, compared to wolves who run the sky."
The fire flared, and the memory dissolved.
Rune came back into himself.
The moment awareness returned, he felt it. The element within him swelling, responding now that he understood the truth.
Element was not just power.
It was the authority of the gods, granted by the creator to those he shaped, meant to grow alongside them, to aid them on their paths.
And it was alive.
Rune reached inward and called to it, not commanding, but asking. Asking it to take form.
He called for it to take the only form it could take. Pieces of his soul made manifest.
Two clouds of element poured out of his body, spiraling around him in tight, violent arcs. Wherever they passed, the crystal webbing vanished, devoured strand by strand as if it had never existed.
The pressure released all at once. Rune dropped to the ground, breath ragged, limbs trembling.
The two clouds drifted to either side of him.
Then they began to change. Shape forming within motion.
Two wolves took shape beside him, each as tall as Rune himself.
One was formed of flowing white fur, light gathering and slipping across its frame. The other was the purest black, its presence deep and quiet, as if it drank in everything around it.
They looked at him, like companions who had been waiting a very long time.
[Elemental Beast Manifestation Remembered…]
[Element Power increasing… +20]
"Sol. Luna. It is so good to see you again."
The words left Rune before he had time to think about them.
He did not remember them in the way memories were supposed to work. There were no clear scenes, no ordered past to pull from. And yet, something deep inside him knew.
He had walked with these two before.
Fought beside them. Traveled with them. Trusted them.
And now, reunited at last, he knew with the same quiet certainty that there were still many adventures ahead of them.
Rune looked up at the spider matriarch.
"Time to hunt."