Steem Monsters Tales - "Haunted Spider"

Evening, Steemworld!

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Here's my submission to the #steemmonsters weekly Common Card Fantasy Contest for the Haunted Spider. Let's get right to it, shall we?

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The death of a spider is quite a natural thing. Their long legs and fragile bodies set them up for all manner of destructive catastrophe. A surprising number of spiders meet their end by drowning, disproving the old adage. When up came the sun that dried up all the rain, the itsy bitsy spider could not in fact climb up the spout again, because it was dead. Many spiders are taken by a gust of wind and smashed into a rock, basically exploding them instantly. Some lucky spiders even live long happy lives and die of old age, but their supremely boring existence is no matter for this story.

Thanks to their unending and unexplained war against spiderkind, humans are responsible for a staggering number of spider deaths. Generally killing out of fear, humans smash, crush and squish spiders on sight. These spiders, the ones killed by humans, are the chosen. They will live on in eternal death, in a different place, haunted by the memories of their earthly destruction. And they will have their revenge.

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In the dark heart of the Black Splinter there is a cave.

It is a cave of mystery and wonder, and few living creatures have beheld the strange secrets within. A great many of the monsters of death can be traced back to this vast cave, with its countless chambers, its endless twists and turns. It is from the mouth of this cave that the Haunted Spiders emerge.

Though no human eyes have witnessed it, the Spider Stone sits in the deepest, darkest chamber of the cave. Creative tales are wildly speculated about the Spider Stone, but the simple fact is It’s where the Haunted Spiders come from. The Stone is said to glow with Darkness, though few can begin to understand what that means. It is the one and only gateway through which the Spiders arrive from the other place.

In the other place, when spiders are destroyed through hatred, anger or fear, they are not destroyed at all.

They are simply "processed" through the Spider stone, for lack of a better term. In the other place, the spiders are quite small, comparatively speaking. When the Spider stone brings them to the Splinterlands, however, they are considerably larger.

As the spirits of the destroyed spiders from the other place are harvested somewhere in between, the hulk of the Haunted Spider grows inside the Spider Stone. When the spirits of a thousand spiders are accumulated, the dark Stone begins to flow, gradually pushing the new Spider toward its undulating surface.

The darkest, oldest, and most mysterious Magic in the land gives life to the Haunted Spiders. Life into death, then death into life eternal, the Haunted Spiders each carry a battalion of spirits. Though they are made up of many consciousnesses, the Spiders share a common goal: the Destruction of Humanity.

As each new Spider is born through the Spider Stone, revenge is its primary objective. This burning desire for revenge against the Humans who destroyed them in the other place, combined with the dark Magic of the Stone, fills the new Spiders with strength and vigor. One by one in an unending chain, the Haunted Spiders emerge from the cave, spreading themselves about the land. Perhaps now they will be the ones doing the smashing.

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HERE is the post to the contest! You still have a couple days I believe.