Kaldalis wasn’t sure how to interpret what he was seeing. He knew he was seeing an incomplete picture here, but the parts visible to him were extremely strange. When he had been put into this world, he had not been given the choice to be a Lataxinan or a Jormongumo. While that made sense for the Lataxinans - as they had been killed off by the Calamity - it didn’t make sense for the Jormonguo. While they were treated as monsters by the system in some ways, they were clearly people in others.

Other monsters seemed to just spawn as needed. Despite all the adventurers killing Irritators and Daemonraptors and Grizzled Dragons, bringing back their loot in giant piles, there were always more. The populations were never driven out of the area, except when the surrounding region was updated by a camp growing into a town. From Ara’s words, though, the Jormongumo needed to mate to replenish their numbers - when their numbers weren’t being sustained by strange magic.

The only reasonable conclusion he could reach was that Monsoon was behind it. They had remade this world with stupid videogame logic. Perhaps they had modified an existing race to be femme fatal fetish fuel, and then determined afterwards that they weren’t suitable for all audiences and discarded them.

“Wait,” Kaldalis said, blinking for a moment. “What did you just say?”

“I asked you to save us from extinction,” Ara said. “To face your destiny. I hope-”

“No, no, no. Before that,” Kaldalis said. The gears in his head were spinning wildly, trying to find traction. “The last time there was a threat like this…?”

“The Calamity?” Ara asked, brow furrowed in confusion.

“In your memory,” Kaldalis said, snapping his fingers and pointing at her. The gears in his head caught and suddenly he had a complete thought. “You were around for the Calamity?”

“Yes,” Ara said. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back. “I was here when our kind lost the ability to yield male offspring. When the prophecies were written. When the Lataxinans were scoured from the islands. When the Horde came and only the Prophet could shield us from their ravages.”

Kaldalis stared at her.

A part of his brain urged him to tell her that she looked pretty good for someone a few centuries old, but he shut that part up pretty fast before it could access his vocal chords.

She was alive during the Calamity.

He had dismissed working with them when Balrim suggested it, but now…

What if she knew something? What if she had the lead he needed to make things right?

“What can you-” Kaldalis began.

He was interrupted by the approach of three Jormongumo from down the hall. They were in their monstrous forms, and Kaldalis flinched at their sudden appearance and obvious aggressive intent.

“We have had enough of your games,” the leader of the group hissed at Ara. “Will you face the consequences of what you’ve done to us, or do you need more of our blood on your hands before you lose your grip on your fantasies and face reality?”

Kaldalis had no idea what was going on, but their attention was fixed on Ara alone, and so he took the opportunity to step deeper into the tablet room. He didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire if things escalated.

“Enough of this, Sala,” Ara snapped with a decisive gesture. “We have the savior in hand. By the prophecy, he will-”

“She still speaks of prophecy,” one of the others interrupted. “Even after she violated them against her own word. She warned us against this new camp. Said this one was foretold by the prophet to stay. And then she decides that we attack this camp, once it has already grown beyond our ability to destroy.”

“And now she is surprised,” the third one said, “when her own promised doom comes to us, awakened by her own hand. She begs for the prophecies that doomed us to save us.”

“Enough!” Ara repeated. Her voice was far louder, and Kaldalis saw her extra eyes snap open. The other three flinched almost as much as Kaldalis did. “The prophecies are as they are. They foretold doom, and doom has come. It would have whether or not I hastened it. But so too did the prophecy foretell our rescue. And our savior has come.”

“The prophecy speaks of a sacrifice,” the first aggressor said, though Ara’s forceful yell had apparently cowed her greatly.

“I will have no more talk of sacrifice,” Ara snapped. “Not when we have lost so much already. What sacrifice comes will come. You cannot break the word of prophecy, even if you try. What has been foretold will come. Do not try to force prophecy to its end before its time has come.”

The other two started to slither away at that. The one who had led the trio lingered for a moment more - just long enough to fix Kaldalis with a glare - before leaving as well.

“I didn’t agree to help,” Kaldalis said.

“You will,” Ara said confidently, her voice loud and clear for the others to hear as they left. “The prophecy says that you will.”

“What is this prophecy?” Kaldalis demanded. “What sacrifice were they talking about? What the fuck do you want from me?”

“I want you to save us,” Ara said. When the other three Jormongumo were out of sight around the corner, she finally relaxed, forcing her extra eyes closed before facing Kaldalis again. “As I said, we face extinction, and we need your aid to survive.”

“It’s a prophecy, though,” Kaldalis argued. “You just said that you can’t break the word of prophecy. If the prophecy says I’m going to save you, then I’m going to no matter what either of us do, right? So you could just let me go.”

Ara pressed her lips together in clear aggravation. She obviously wanted to protest, but she couldn’t if there was a chance that her detractors were just around the corner, listening in. It probably helped his case that there wasn’t any explicit fault in his logic.

“Because I have a date tonight,” Kaldalis said, “and if you’d seen this woman’s biceps, you’d know it’s in both of our best interests for me to be there on time. If she has to come out here to get me, whoever is pestering you from the jungle is going to be the least of your worries.”

Kaldalis wasn’t completely sure if he was bluffing or not. He didn’t know if the musculature of Heluna’s frame would translate into combat prowess, especially not since Myrin couldn’t be physically stopped by Kaldalis and Balrim together, despite being no more visibly muscular than she’d been when they’d met. But he remembered in the fight at Panbu, how she had been on the front lines when Garyung had come to save the day. She had even been the one to beat sense into Garyung to get him there.

If she knew he was in danger, she might raise an army again to get him back.

“Perhaps that could be motivation for you to come to your senses sooner rather than later,” Ara said. “Because you can’t break the word of prophecy. If you are going to save us, then you’re going to no matter what either of us do, right?” She grinned. “So I can just put you back in your cell.”

Kaldalis couldn’t find fault in her logic. That was probably the most irritating part, even as she grabbed his arm with an iron grip and led him out of the tablet chamber.

He wanted to try and break her grip and run, but he was honestly afraid of where that might lead. Kaldalis didn’t want to be wrapped up in her many, many arms again. And despite their humanoid appearance, the Jormongumo were predators. It was possible that if he struggled, he might activate some underlying hunting instinct.

Next might not just be arms then, but coils. And fangs.

His desire to no longer be her prisoner was dramatically outweighed by his desire to not become her prey.

“I just want it on record,” Kaldalis said as she led him back through the ruins towards the makeshift prison. “This is not endearing you to me at all.”

“Consider it recorded,” Ara said quickly. “Though you might want to know for your own records that this could be much less pleasant. We have mouths to feed, after all.”

“Oh yeah, good plan,” Kaldalis snapped. “Threaten to eat me. That’ll make me want to help you.”

He was about to try to launch himself out of her grip with an Augmented Jump when a distant horn began to blow. As soon as the sound game, the Jormongumo citizens around him rushed inside the ruined buildings to hide. All of those with armor and weapons rushed towards the sound of the horn.

What frightened Kaldalis the most, though, was the way Ara’s face paled. She stopped in her tracks and turned towards the sound, all the blood drained from her face.

“I need to get there,” Ara said. She took a step towards the prison. “I need to get you secure and I need to-”

“Wait,” Kaldalis said, pulling against her grip. As much as their mutual antagonism had him questioning his choices, the look on her face at the warning horn tugged at his heartstrings again, just the way the broken tone in her voice had gotten to him at first. “Take me with you. Show me what you’re facing. Maybe I can end this with words. But if you want me to do that, I need to know who.”

Ara’s expression was conflicted. She clearly expected him to try to escape, but she clearly didn’t want to waste time locking him up. If he wanted to secure a hasty escape, this was the way to do it. But if she could keep a grip on him, she could have it both ways.

She might be able to have her cake and-

No. There was no way Kaldalis was going to mentally finish that metaphor.

Not when he was the cake.

Instead of forcing him to make further arguments, she came to a decision on her own.

Ara turned towards the sound of the horn and ran, dragging Kaldalis bodily behind.