Haunted Spider: Steem Monsters Character Card Contest Entry

I offer the following story as my contest entry to the fifth Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest.

Image from the contest announcement page.

An ordinary spider, my lot was to keep my master's garden clear of pests. I did my job well. I ate every nasty bug that attacked each flower, each petal, each fruit or vegetable. I never missed a meal, and I never missed a bug. My master's garden was the best garden in the land.

At first, Zintar was good to me. I was free to roam the garden and had my pick of the proteins among it. I could even come and go as I wished. When I wanted more diversity in my diet, or something the garden didn't offer, I'd crawl away, climb a tree, or trek my way around Splinter Lake and feast on bugs and pests native to another region. Zintar would always welcome me home with a smile and open arms.

Then one day, out of nowhere it seems, he turned. His demeanor took on a sour facade. He became angry, twisted, consumed with death.

It frightened me. I think that is the right word. I was afraid for myself, for the garden, and for any of Zintar's friends who might cross him that day. In fact, I was so startled out of my wits that I let a few of the pests get away. To my shame.

Zintar questioned me. He had never so much as even taken notice as to whether I was so thorough in my duty. I guess he assumed as much. But this one day he was quite penetrating in his interrogations. And I came out wonting. I could not help, being such an honest creature, to admit that I had indeed let one or two little pests escape my little pincers.

It came out of nowhere. A grunt. A screech so loud it crawled through my skin and into my brain. And a stomp. I was flattened, suffocated. I was so distraught I cannot even describe how it felt. But I was done.

Then, in a flash, I became a new creature. I do not know how, and I couldn't describe it adequately if I did. But suddenly, even more so it seems than the boom that had been lowered just moments before, something within me exploded. I burst into a glowing purplish-black flicker of ecstatic energy, a quiver from another dimension. And I could feel myself expand into my original shape and form, but larger. And larger I grew. Larger still, I grew, until I was the size of the giant rock on the other side of Splinter Lake.

I am still at Zintar's mercy. If I do not obey his every command, I am afraid of what he may do. He is no longer the humble master I once obeyed out of love and duty. He is the taskmaster who sends me to haunt and bid his will whether I care to or not. I serve, not dutifully, but fearfully, and I know it will never be the same as it was. When I feast upon my prey, it is not joy that I feel, not pride, not love, but death. I feast because if I don't, it will be my ultimate end, and I crave the blood and flesh that keeps me in Zintar's service until by his good will he decides otherwise.

Review Me, Please

I hope you'll do me the honor of checking out these other Steem Monsters tales written by me, none of which, though fun to write, have been selected to be official canon:

• Feral Spirit
• Feet of Clay, Heart of Flesh
• The Ballad of the Crustacean King
• How Magic Was Born
• Enkidu the Fire Beetle

And these audio recordings I used to audition for a Steem Monsters voice actor position:

• Feral Spirit
• Twisted Jester

And while you're here, you might as well check out some of my poetry:

• We All Sing America Now
• Cigar
• Music
• The Ballad of the Crustacean King
• Nocturne: Battlefield Sonnet
• Tattoo
• 20 Acres
• The Journeymaker's First and Last Hope
• Old Goth

And weird fiction:

• Shopping for Feelings
• The Saddest Tale Ever Told
• What the Frack is Weird Fiction?
• Memorandum of the Ministry of Silly Putty
• My Secret Life as a Garden Gnome

And the backside 5 (my latest five posts):

• Poetry Sunday: We All Sing America Now
• Review Me, Please
• Weird Fiction: Shopping for Feelings
• Even Crypto Relationships Require a Lot of Freaking Work
• The Saddest Tale Ever Told

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Animation By @zord189

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