Eryi looked at his rosy fingers and had a hard time unclenching them. As soon as he left he noticed that the once dry gravel road was covered with a thin blanket of snow. The world had once again fallen victim to the cold, and there was nothing to do about it. At first Eryi welcomed the crisp air, as it frosted over his burning soul, but after ten minutes he came to hate it. He didn’t have a jacket on, only a thin hoodie. Luckily it was almost mid morning, so the businesses were opening. With his eyes tunnel visioned on an open sign, Eryi ran inside a random building. He found himself in a dark place with little lighting. There was a TV that was on in a corner of the studio and it showed his own face. Not only his own face, but the faces of Andri and Alba as well. The world buzzed around him and then he noticed the worker eyeing him down.

“Hey, you’re one of the Spiders, aren’t you?!”

Eryi’s hair raised on his arms and he backed up to the door, but the worker nearly threw themself at him.

“I love what you’ve been doing!”

Eryi felt like a hundred pounds dropped on his head.

He muttered, “You do?”

The worker took Eryi’s hands and shook them up and down.

“My name is Freya! What’s your name?”

Eryi didn’t want to answer, but Freya insisted.

“Come on, tell me, tell me! Say, if I give you a free piercing will you tell me?!”

Eryi asked, “Why do you want to know so badly?”

Freya said with a smile, “If we exchange names we will automatically know each other, won’t we? Right now we are nothing more than strangers, and I want to be more than that.”

“Uh.”

Eryi couldn’t say anymore, Freya dragged him into her studio and plopped him down on the seat.

“So, what do you want? Or can I go wild?”

Eryi was still very confused and he sat up.

“I don’t want a piercing,” he said.

“Aw, but why not?”

Eryi paused. Why didn’t he? Didn’t Lumi say it would attract Andri’s attention. Then again, he didn’t get permission from Andri to get a piercing. He was already on thin ice with Andri, what if the piercing pushed him into the deep?

“I wouldn’t want to upset my friend,” he said.

“Hm? Your friend? Are they one of the Spiders?”

Eryi was starting to get really annoyed.

“Why do you care?”

Freya leaned in close and said, “Because you’ve always intrigued me. Whenever I saw you on the news I would think, ‘why is such a cute boy killing people?’”

Eryi’s confusion reached its max.

“Cute?! Anyone would think I’m far creepier than cute.”

“Ha! Well, you are a little creepy looking, but that’s cute in itself.”

“I don’t get it,” Eryi mumbled.

He hadn’t been complimented by a stranger before, let alone called cute. Something was itching in his heart, a sense of longing. If Andri would call him cute, he would probably fall to his knees.

“Anyway, will you let me pierce you now?”

Her desperation overwhelmed Eryi and eventually he gave in, saying, “Fine.”

She then examined his face, pushing his bangs out of the way and then moved to his lips, where she started fondling them.

Eryi asked with disgust, “What are you doing?”

She hummed, not answering him, and moved to get her needle and Eryi endured as she stabbed him twice. His attention focused on her, as she seemed to be enjoying herself thoroughly, far more than he ever anticipated.

Freya cheered, “Finished!”

She picked up a mirror and showed him what she had done.

“It’s called a spider bite piercing,” she said.

Eryi felt dizzy standing up and he couldn’t help but poke at them. Eryi followed Freya to the front where she gave him cleaning supplies and instructed him on how to use them and when he should. He nodded, afraid that speaking would somehow mess them up. He could already feel his lip swelling, and he feared that Andri’s expression wouldn’t be anything less than fury that he dared do something on his own.

“So, what’s your name?”

“It’s Eryi,” he said, unwillingly.

Eryi turned around to leave, but a hand landed on his neck, causing him to jump. He turned around, holding his neck with a face full of bewilderment.

“What happened? How did you get that burn scar?”

Eryi felt the rage within him grow and he said before storming out, “Stop asking questions to people who clearly are uncomfortable answering them!”

After he left a huge man appeared next to Freya. He was wearing a suite with metals adorned on the left side of his chest.

“What do you think, is it safe to capture them?”

Freya looked up at the man and said, “Definitely, lieutenant general, despite how quick they bite, they are still children.”

The lieutenant general of the Snow Military patted the head of his soldier and stated, “I will return to headquarters later on this evening, I trust you will be able to lead our men in order to capture these Spiders.”

Freya bowed and said, “I will.”

Then as she rose she pondered and said, “It is pretty lucky for me though. Out of all the soldiers on this street, he just happened to come to my station.”