Ellen sat quietly on her bed, hugging a pillow close to her chest. The room was dim, softly lit by the crimson glow of spider silk that stretched across the walls and ceiling like delicate lace. In the far corner, the arachness rested silently in her web, her eyes shimmering faintly in the low light.
Ellen opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling for a long moment before turning her head toward the spider woman. "Hey... what's your name?" she asked softly. "I can't just keep calling you 'Spider' or 'Arachnid.' That feels wrong."
The arachness looked at Ellen for a moment, her red eyes blinking in quiet contemplation. Then she spoke, her voice low and smooth.
Evelyne.
Ellen nodded slowly, a faint smile brushing her lips. "That's a beautiful name," she said genuinely.
A comfortable silence fell between them again. The only sound in the room was the subtle weaving of threads as the spider woman constructed a mini dome around herself—a soft, oval-shaped cocoon of webbing that glowed like red starlight.
Ellen closed her eyes once more, her arms still wrapped around the pillow. Sound began to fade from the world, slowly draining into silence. All feeling, all sensation slipped away like the tide receding from the shore. It felt like she was underwater.
Then something shifted in her arms.
Her eyes fluttered open.
It wasn't the pillow she held anymore. It was IX.
The being lay still in her arms, their form ethereal and serene. Around them, the world had changed—black flowers spread endlessly, their petals shimmering like stars in an ocean of dark water. The ground beneath Ellen rippled like a calm lake, distorting gently beneath her.
Ellen felt empty. Calm. Like she was dreaming within a dream. "How long has it been... since we last saw each other?" she asked the silent being cradled in her arms.
As always, there was no answer.
But then, carried on the hush of a breeze that shouldn't exist, came a whisper—so faint it could have been imagined:
"...I was looking for you."
Ellen's breath caught. For a moment, she didn't know if it was real. But it didn't matter.
In the stillness, surrounded by star-born flowers and shadowy waves, she held the presence of Nihility close, and listened for the echo of a voice in the void.
IX continues to speak after a long, weighty silence. The void between words stretches, yet their presence is undeniable, suffocating even. Finally, the words drift out like mist in the wind:
"You are mine now, Ellen. My champion. My echo. There is but one last step before you become a true part of me."
IX lifts a hand, cold and unreal, and gently presses it to the space just above Ellen's heart. Though their fingers do not seem corporeal, Ellen feels something wrench deep within her—the touch doesn't graze her flesh, it bypasses it entirely and clutches her soul.
Ellen's soul unfurls before her vision, something no mortal should ever see. It is ethereal, shaped like a twisted flame. At its center lies a tightly coiled rose of thorns—an embodiment of the Empress, ever-watching, ever-binding. Around it churns a thick mist, shadowy and suffocating, the very essence of Nihility. This mist reaches out like countless hands, grasping, pulling, whispering forgotten names and lost memories. And then, it begins.
The mist coils tighter, like a serpent crushing bone. The first cracks appear on Ellen's soul, fragile and glass-like, veins of red crawling through it like poisoned roots. Each fracture brings pain Ellen cannot comprehend—not pain of flesh or bone, but the undoing of her very being. Her thoughts fray at the edges. Her memories blur and fade. Faces she once cherished dissolve into nothing.
She tries to resist. Her trembling voice calls out through the dreamscape of dark waters and black flowers. "Empress... please... help me..."
A pulse answers her plea.
From above, the Dharmachakra ignites—blazing like a sun formed from divine iron, its spinning with force and grace. It materializes above Ellen's head with a choir of deafening chimes that shake the foundations of this soul-bound realm. It halts the decay—but only momentarily.
The wheel burns away the creeping mist, slowing the destruction of her soul. But the agony—oh, the agony—is magnified tenfold. The very process of survival becomes torture. It is like a molten hook searing into her chest and slowly tearing her apart, piece by spiritual piece. Her body convulses in this astral plane, her mouth open in a scream no sound can escape. She cannot breathe. Her vision flickers like a dying flame.
Black tears pour from her glowing white eyes, endlessly cascading like a silent waterfall across her cheeks. Still, IX does not relent.
They reach with their other hand, wrapping their fingers around the divine wheel. With one smooth motion, they crush it. The wheel screams in celestial tones, sparking light before vanishing into dust.
The last line of defense is gone.
Ellen's soul shatters. Shards break off into oblivion. The thorns of the Empress are the last to be torn apart, unraveling into strands of fading red light. There is no final scream—just silence. Total, infinite silence. Her body collapses inward, folding into herself.
Her mind, her being—gone.
The final thing Ellen sees as darkness closes in around her is IX, staring with an expression that almost resembles a smile.
A smile of satisfaction. Of triumph. Of possession.
Acheron stood in front of Ellen's room door, her expression unreadable but her instincts humming with quiet alarm. Ellen hadn't come out since she'd gone to check on the spider girl. While Acheron doubted the spider could pose any real threat to someone like Ellen, something still felt wrong. Off. Heavy.
She raised a hand to knock, but as she took a step forward, her boot splashed softly. She glanced down. A puddle of inky darkness had seeped out from under the door, glistening like oil and reflecting no light.
That's all the confirmation Acheron needed.
She reacted fast, pushing the door open and stepping inside.
The room before her looked like a scene torn from the heart of a horror film. Thick webs coated in that same dark fluid stretched across every surface. The walls. The ceiling. The floor. From each strand, droplets of shadowy liquid dripped, pooling into sluggish rivers beneath her boots.
In the corner, the spider girl sat in her web, body trembling. Her human face was stricken with blank terror, eyes void-black, weeping trails of viscous black tears. Between the joints of her spider half, dark fluid pulsed like blood.
Then Acheron saw Ellen.
On the bed, Ellen lay with her back slightly arched, arms limp, her face tilted toward the ceiling. Her expression was serene—but wrong. Her eyes were open and empty, twin voids leaking endless black tears that streaked down her cheeks. She didn't respond. Didn't blink. Didn't breathe.
The world tilted.
Reality shifted like a curtain being yanked away.
Suddenly, Acheron wasn't in Ellen's room anymore.
She stood in a dead world.
Mountains of jagged rock encircled her, their peaks twisted and sharp like broken blades. Rivers and seas of thick, blood-red liquid churned slowly through the canyons below. Bones—countless bones—littered the land. Some were human. Others... were not. Creatures of unspeakable shapes and impossible sizes. A black sun loomed high above, its glow an oppressive weight that crushed color and warmth from the air.
Acheron felt it then.
A shift within herself.
Her body changed.
Her once indigo hair was now silver, long and smooth, flowing past her thighs like a waterfall of moonlight. Her skin turned porcelain white, and her crimson eyes burned bright with white pupils. Her outfit had transformed, now a trinity of red, white, and black. Tattoo-like crimson markings coiled along her neck, torso, and thighs like creeping vines. Adenium Obesum flowers—blooms of poison—adorned her shoulders, arms, and chest. Twin crimson horns curled from her head, regal and lethal.
She stood still, watching.
Far ahead, amidst the dead landscape, she spotted a figure. On their knees, alone in a puddle of that same red liquid, unmoving.
Ellen.
Acheron began to walk.
Each step splashed through the strange liquid, the echoes lost to the oppressive silence. The sky churned. The bones groaned. And the black sun watched, unblinking.
----------------------------------------------------
Major Announcement! I have been thinking for the past week and I came to a decision that will disappoint you. Now this isn't the last chapter nor I'm putting this on hold despite my recent complaints I'm going to finish this story just not in the way you expect. Yesterday, our Dev team of Zenless Zone Zero released the trailer for Season 2 and I came to the realization. I can't keep up and this is my fault I worn myself out by letting my imagination run wild and did a whole lot of things that burned me out. Adding Honkai: Star Rail to the mix for example I could have kept this out but I thought I would be able to handle it but I see now that isn't the case.
So the plan is that POSSIBLY I'll end this fanfic in 30+ chapters or less. While some of you will say I could just restart from scratch which is a good idea it just feels wrong to me. Despite how kinda tiresome writing this fanfic became I don't want to erase all my hard work so I see this as the best solution. I hope you can understand and if you got questions feel free to ask whether it has to deal with the lore for this fanfic or future project's.
Also, like I said last chapter I have two stories I want to make which is Roblox: Pressure and a story where it's Re:Zero x Hollow Knight. Depending on how I and you guys feel I'll start working on one of them when this fanfic ends.