My reflection in the glassy surface caught my next breath.

  At first, she looked like some long-lost sister. But that was only for a fleeting moment, before the details set in. That same porcelain-pale skin I’d seen on my limbs. Black lips and delicate lines like precision-made scars ran down her chin and across her cheeks. Bright red eyes seemed to almost glow, pupils barely visible as crimson dots. Four of them—no, eight. Two pairs were stacked uncannily, and four smaller, lidless-looking eyes framed the sides like twisted birthmarks.

  She yelped, showing a flash of very inhuman, needle-like teeth as strong arms dragged her back to a standing position. And then she was me again. Or the body I was living in now.

  “You alright?”

  Numbly, I nodded. “No.”

  “What do you hate the most?”

  What an odd question? “Eyes. Wait, no… mouth. It’s strange.”

  “That's it?”

  I blinked, and the sensation was odd. Each set blinked with a slight delay, and I acutely felt that my smaller eyes did in fact have eyelids. “What do you mean?”

  “Just the monster-ey bits?”

  “Uh, well those are certainly the most concerning. But it’s not my face.”

  Azalea frowned. “Right. Then we’ll find a way to get your real face back in all its stoic, ‘I’m better than you’ glory!”

  “Hey!” That insult really stung, and I didn’t know why.

  “But if we’re gonna do that and all the other stuff, I can’t carry you there. Or, well, I don’t wanna. So!” She whirled and pointed a finger at me. “Figure out your spider legs!”

  I glared at her, but she was right. And the first step to figuring out what I had would be to—

  I froze, back half-turned to face the lake’s surface. My robes were a shredded mess of blackened, dried blood, and the back had completely burst open. Lining either side of my spine and decidedly feeling very attached to it, were four charcoal-colored, chitinous legs. In a panic, I felt for the key. My clothes were shredded, most of my hidden weapons gone somewhere back down in there, but miraculously the key was snug in a deep pocket.

  I held it and breathed a sigh of relief. “I didn’t lose it.”

  “Lose what?”

  “The key to the prison.”

  “Okay, but what about your legs?”

  I shifted two down and pulled my body away with them. I swayed, and barely caught myself with two more on one side.

  “This was easier in my Garden,” I muttered.

  Azalea cocked her head to one side. “Garden?”

  “Demons don’t have Divine Trees.” I managed to land on four legs, my feet dangling just above the ground.

  “But they do have gardens?” Azalea poked one of my legs.

  “...Yes.” I resisted the urge to swat her away as her finger ticked the hairs by a joint.

  The lavender-haired menace giggled, drills bouncing. “So demons are like old ladies, always tending to their gardens?”

  “No!” I hissed. “Plenty of people garden; Mother tends to our gardens on occasion!”

  “Right. So young ladies too?”

  “Yes.”

  She smiled at me uncannily.

  “And men,” I added.

  “And men!” she finished. “Like…”

  “Like…” I stopped myself. “This is stupid. Be quiet and let me practice!”

  Azalea giggled, but dutifully stepped aside with an exaggerated bow.

  I took the chance to really inspect my limbs in daylight and outside of my Garden. Each was dotted with bristle-like hairs, concentrated near the ends, and ended in a pair of forward-facing claws. When I focused, it was like a numb limb coming back to life; I suddenly felt a whole lot of sensations. The legs were each a little longer than I was tall, as I found by stretching one out. They also had two “knees” each, or places where they could articulate at least. And they seemed plenty capable of a wide range of motion.

  My new, spider-like limbs seemed to want to move in a group, or a pattern, but if I focused I could single one out. Were I still human, I probably would have had a headache trying to figure them out with my low cultivation level. I also certainly would have been more disturbed—as I was now, I couldn’t really say whether I liked them or hated them.

  They just were.

  Carefully, I lowered the bottom pair and pushed myself up on them again, focusing on staying stable. The ends were far too narrow to balance on without practice, so I tumbled forward, catching myself with the next pair up, but more cleanly this time. My body pitched forward at an odd angle and ended up face to face with Azalea, halfheartedly stifling a fit of giggles with her hand.

  “I’d like to see you try this!” I hissed, but there wasn’t any venom in my words.

  For her part, Azalea burst out laughing. “And how do you expect me to do that?”

  I glared at her, feeling just a tiny bit of satisfaction at being able to narrow four eyes.

  Surprisingly, she just laughed harder, sucking in several deep breaths before saying, “You’re actually pouting!”

  I slapped both hands over my face and dropped down to my human feet, feeling acutely the dirt and gravel. Somewhere along the way my sandals had been lost, but I didn’t mind too much. It wasn’t like whatever I was now would get hurt feet from walking around.

  “There’s a cave on the other side of the mountain we can use,” I said after some thought. “We should go there quickly and take stock of what we have.”

  She looked me up and down. “If you want to wash up or change first—”

  “No!” I said with enough force that I startled myself. “I, uh… this lake’s too cold and exposed. There’s a pool by the cave we can use. It’s spring-fed and should be warmer.”

  “We?” Azalea raised an eyebrow.

  “I! I meant ‘I!’... and we’ll need it for drinking water too, upstream anyway.”

  “Sure.” She shrugged. “Lead the way then.”

  “I will!” Holding my chin up high. I swiftly re-packed what was left of my belongings and took off back down the path. With my spider legs where they were, I had to hold the bag in front of me, and the familiar weight and canvas were a comfort.

  Not thirty paces later, Azalea jogged past me. “Do you really want to walk around with all that gunk on you? Come on, let’s run there!” And she promptly took off without knowing the direction.

  For the briefest of moments, I considered leaving her. But… she was the only one who could help me. And I’d be very lonely out here without her. So I picked up the pace.

  Surprisingly, I caught up easily.

  Not that she was running full tilt, but I felt my vitae suffusing me as I ran, weaving between trees as we left one trail and headed for another. The feeling was different now. Instead of originating from my divine tree and flowing mostly along the single branch I’d developed, my demonic vitae didn’t seem to have a discrete origin point. It was like I’d been soaked in it, and my body was drawing from what my garden had and the very air of this once-sacred mountain.

  Instinctively, I could also feel that I was still gaining vitae. How much I could absorb, I didn’t know. I didn’t know how any of this worked. To that end, I should have felt fear.

  I can’t wait to figure out how this works!

  It was like a new puzzle, one with so many pieces. I wasn’t bound to a single tree; I could have the forest. And all it would take would be some diligent groundskeeping and a lot of vitae.

  “You’re smiling!” Azalea said cheerily when we stopped at the entrance to the cave.

  Was I? For some reason, I was, so I quickly wiped the expression away.

  This place was a prime spot for meditation once, and I’d spent my last attempt at Divine cultivation there. How small and weak I’d been, not to notice the remnants of worn-away runes or the smooth patches of stone where countless ancestors had rested. I didn’t linger long, and headed inside.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Azalea frowned and opened my pack like it was hers. “You go get cleaned up. I’m going to get a fire started and we can talk food when you get back. I don’t know much about demons but with a mouth like yours you sure as shit aren’t a herbivore.”

  “Hand me the robe that’s in there, then.”

  “Catch.” She’d already fished it out and tossed the dull gray garment at me.

  I caught it with one black-nailed hand, and the thick wool felt heavy already. “I think you’re about the same height as before, so just punch some holes in it for your spider legs and you should be good.”

  Not wanting to waste time on a comment, I walked back outside the shallow cave to the pond. This river was spring-fed, so it would be warmer than the glacier-fed lake. And this side of the mountain was far, far different than that awful prison. Up above, the moon was full and bright. Really bright—I had no trouble seeing at all, even without a technique to enhance my vision.

  Shedding my ruined robes involved a fair bit more tearing than I’d have expected. When I ducked down into the pond, a plume of reddish-brown drifted away. The water was cold, but the chill felt distant, so I found a rock to sit on and looked up at the moon.

  In part because if I looked down, I’d see my breasts. Yes, I’d felt them myself, but outside of my Garden was… different. Thankfully, unless I thought about it, I didn’t notice any weight or feel any discomfort. Same with what was—and wasn’t—between my legs. I’d never had the time for that sort of thing, and those sorts of carnal pleasures would have both risked my standing and compromised my studies. If I had questions, Azalea would certainly provide answers. She was more than crass enough not to take offense.

  Without soap, I couldn’t do much more than run black-nailed hands down bizarrely smooth skin and wring my hair out after soaking it thoroughly. I’d always kept my hair long, and its familiar dark shade and damp weight settled my heart as I waited to dry, acutely aware of just how little I felt the cold.

  Waiting also gave me some time to try to puzzle out the set of robes. It wouldn’t do to tear them haphazardly, and my spider legs were far too long to simply cut eight holes for. For lack of a better option, I used my newly sharp nails to cut out the back. With a little trial and error, I managed to get it on.

  By the time I returned to the cave, Azalea had gotten a fire going, smoke funneling up and out to smear against the clear night sky. She watched me as I threw my ruined robes to one side and sat down.

  “What are you looking at?” It didn’t come out with as much venom as I intended. Certainly because I was trying not to think about my monstrous mouth.

  “It’s not fair,” she mumbled.

  “What?”

  Azalea leaned back and groaned at the ceiling. “All you nobles are so damn attractive! It’s unnatural! You’re even hot as a genderbent spider demon lady!”

  “As a what?” I sputtered, understanding only half of the words she’d just said.

  “Just… never mind okay. Did you figure anything out about your body?”

  “Yes, but not related to any techniques. I’m exhausted.”

  Azalea tilted her head forward and looked at me askance. “...Did you just make a joke?”

  “Am I not allowed to?”

  “No… well I mean I still don’t expect it.” She frowned. “So… how was that? How do you feel about”—she gestured at me, up and down—“all that. And not the spider bits.”

  I shrugged. “It’s different.”

  “That’s all?”

  I nodded.

  Azalea’s jaw dropped, and she mumbled something I couldn’t hear.

  “Why are you smiling like that?” I asked.

  “Oh, just found out a secret, that’s all.”

  “If it’s something important, it would behoove you to tell me.”

  “You wouldn’t get it.”

  “Azalea,” I warned.

  “My Lord, please drop it,” she pleaded, suddenly formal.

  Her words stung in a way I couldn’t place, but she was being formal, so I let her go with a glare. “I should sleep.”

  “What about earlier?”

  “I was unconscious, not asleep. I need proper rest if I’m to figure out a way forward. Unless I can convincingly pass for my old self, any planning will be for naught. Why are you frowning?”

  “Noth—just a long day.”

  “Very well. I will be using my bedroll tonight. I wish you luck with the cave floor.”

  My spider legs didn’t fit inside. And despite fatigue tugging at the corners of my vision, it felt like sleep wouldn’t come so easily. I stared into the fire’s embers and held my knees to my chest. Like I used to do as a child, but the legs that curled around me were certainly different.

  Cozy in my bedroll—I wasn’t about to see it go unused—Azalea mumbled something in her sleep. I caught the word sister, but nothing else. She turned restlessly, but didn’t wake, and all I could think to do was sit there and watch.

  Three weeks to figure out a way to find a way to make me appear as I was. Demons did stranger things yes, but in three weeks and with no instruction? I was doomed, plain and simple.

  Eventually, the embers had died down to barely glowing coals and I quietly stood up. Legs folded behind my back, I walked outside and climbed a tree like I’d grown up doing. In the crook of a big branch, I watched the moon through the trees and tried to think about anything else besides the life I’d carelessly thrown away.

  Nothing would be the same again, but it wasn’t in the Graystone blood to give in to insurmountable odds. Though times were peaceful now, we’d stood in the past as the Empire’s bastion against the demons of the far north, and come out triumphant.

  If there was a way, I would find it.

  Before I realized it, I’d drifted off to sleep in the crook of the branch.

  ***

  “Now!” Azalea shouted.

  I rolled, spider limbs stopping the motion as quickly as it started, launching me back to my feet. Three pebbles thrown by Azalea whipped past me. Including the one she’d thrown to catch me out, which I evaded with an impossible-for-a-human bend.

  Truthfully, after a night’s rest, I’d woken with a much greater awareness of my body. Like the dormant garden that was my demonic cultivation came alive for a joyous spring.

  And just like that, at the edges of my mind, half-formed techniques yearned for use. The dense vitae of this mountain was like nothing I’d ever felt, and I had more energy than could even be used for my own growth.

  Focusing on my vitae, I made to move it from my tree’s trunk to my arms… and nothing happened. Except for a pebble striking me squarely in the forehead.

  “You can’t stumble like that in a real fight!” Azalea shouted. “Remember, I’m the big bad demon suppression squad who lost their weapons in a tragic accident!”

  I didn’t reply. Instead, I felt for my vitae. I knew that demons worked differently, but I couldn’t find where it was concentrated.

  Another pebble hit me.

  “You alright?”

  “Fine,” I hissed. “Figuring something out.”

  She hit me with another pebble. How dare you!

  Half on instinct, I lashed one spider leg and felt my vitae take form. The feeling was like pushing out a piece of myself, not like that would make sense to someone who never cultivated. The feeling was alien, but felt right.

  There was no trunk, no guiding branch, no bloom outward to escape the confines of the body. My vitae just appeared, and I felt a small numbness in the tip of the limb. Just a fraction of a fraction of a moment, something I doubted I’d have been able to notice if I’d not spent my whole life working on my divine cultivation.

  A thin, gleaming strand shot forward and wrapped around Azalea’s throwing arm. One twitch of my leg, and she tumbled forward onto the ground. Immediately, she tugged, but my silk—I knew it was silk—wouldn’t break so easily.

  She drew a blade and swiped through it. Once, twice, and it cut. When she staggered to her feet, she was clawing at her arm, and I saw lines of red welling up where my silk had wrapped around her. Even though the vitae she concentrated on the area made me salivate, seeing my fr—acquaintance hurt was enough to snap me out of my reverie and I ran forward, launching off my lowest legs in a leap that crossed half the distance.

  I stopped next to her. “Are you alright?”

  She hissed, working the string out from her flesh. “I’ll be fine. Should’ve known not to pull like I did, but damn. This is thinner than the wires I’ve seen other disciples at the sect use.”

  I had to look away from her blood and vitae, but I kept a side-eye on her face. She was holding back tears.

  “We should take a break. I have some herbs we can make into a poultice in my pack.”

  “I’m—” she hissed as she pulled out the deepest wire, and blood started to drip audibly onto the hard-packed ground. “I think I’ll, hsss, take you up on that.”

  “Understood.” Before she could complain, I swept her up into a carry, using my spider limbs to support her legs.

  She flushed red and looked away—and was oddly silent until we reached the cave.

  “Thanks,” she said as she applied the poultice to her wound with another hiss.

  “I was the one who hurt you. It is only right that I do my utmost to see you healed.”

  “Still, that was kind, you know?”

  “I suppose.”

  She looked up at me from her position half-sprawled on my bedroll. “Take the gratitude, My Lord. Please.”

  I glared at her for her sudden formality. “Fine.”

  “So,” she continued with an infuriating half smile, “that was definitely an external technique. Did you figure out how you did it?”

  I nodded. “It’s very different from divine cultivation, and I’m still working out the details.”

  “Lay ‘em on me then.” She patted the ground next to her. “No offense, but I think I’m done with the physical training until my arm’s back in one piece.”

  I glanced at her injured limb and suppressed both a wince and a pang of hunger. “It’s difficult to describe. Like my entire body is suffused with vitae. When I want to push some into a technique, it’s nearly instantaneous.”

  “Whole body, huh? Don’t demons live on vitae?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then no offense, but that seems obvious.”

  I sat down and glared at her. “If it’s so obvious, then how do you kill a demon?”

  “Cut off the head and destroy the heart,” she answered easily. “Or run them out of vitae.”

  I felt my four main eyes widen. “Yes, that’s correct—mostly. Where did you learn that?”

  “The sect library.”

  I narrowed my eyes again. “I don’t recall you spending much time there.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “Well it would make sense as you’re not quite right. Running a demon out of vitae just makes them dormant, and it is then a simple matter to decapitate them and destroy their heart.”

  “And how do you know that, my lord?”

  Two of my eyes twitched and I stood up. “Stop calling me that. And I know because my family has personally killed demons in the past.” Except the one in the cave, a small voice in my head continued.

  Azalea nodded sagely. “The Duchy of Graystone is well known for such acts, guarding the mountains and all.”

  “Do not mock me.”

  She threw up her hands in surrender. “I’m not trying to! It just hurts and… never mind. Look, you want to inherit the duchy and…?”

  I blinked. “And what?”

  Azalea furrowed her brow. “Four eyes look… no. Anyway! And what else? You know, grand ambitions, more power just in case there’s… you know…?” She stumbled over her words.

  “I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I know my place and my station, and my obligation to lead my people.”

  “And that’s it?”

  I hissed involuntarily. “Why do you keep asking as if it’s not enough!”

  “No, it’s not that, I just… this could be a chance to change some things. Still lead the duchy and all that, but do you really want to change nothing?”

  I stood up, feeling a headache brewing. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Azalea. The only change I need to push for is already happening amongst the common folk.”

  “But—”

  “Stop. Get some rest; I’m going to continue my training, see if I can’t intuit a technique to regain my old appearance. After all, I must find a way to prevent myself from being added to the list of slain demons.”

  Without waiting for Azalea’s reply, I swept out of the cave and into the late autumn morning.