Chapter 239: The Explanation You Wanted
Baruk was silent for a long time. Its chelicerae opened and closed without sound.
All eight legs bent slightly, its center of gravity sinking, as though it were replaying the experience, struggling to organize the strangeness into words.
A string of low, halting clicks emerged, thick with uncertainty.
"Strange... the light... when it hit me... something in my head just... buzzed..." Baruk's voice was thinner than Aragog's, pitched higher, but it carried the same friction-textured quality unique to spiders.
"Then... I just felt... like everyone around me... why were they so slow? So stupid? Father Aragog... didn't seem like much either? I... I could do better... I was better than all of them..."
The more it spoke, the more confused it became. Its chelicerae ground against each other, forelegs tapping the ground in scattered bursts. Click-click-click-click.
"But those weren't my thoughts... I know they weren't... except right then, they were just there... and they felt real..."
Baruk continued: "I... I could do better... I was better than all of them... I should be the one leading..."
Aragog's massive head swung toward Regulus. All eight eyes brimmed with shock, doubt, and something deeper. A gravity that hadn't been there before.