sifting through ruins

the sun dawns bright across a cloudless sky as Spider shuffles into the open, a blanket strewn across their shoulders and a steaming mug cupped between their forepaws. the first notes of birdsong ring through the morning air, and pillars of stone jut out of the earth, their sharp peaks piercing the sky like the gaping maw of some great stone beast. it’s beautiful. Spider imagines it the skeleton of a noble kingdom, long felled, and they find themselves itching to record it. it’d be nice to have a keepsake from their time here when they return home. for a moment, they wish they had Ignita’s drawing prowess - but her memory curdles in their gut, and they chase it down with a sip of scalding tea. out here, it’s easy to think of other things; it’s as though the rest of the world can’t touch them.

"Araneae Fatalis"