Miquella woke up gently, still sensing the echo of the dream journey while Trina gave him a brief summary of what had happened to his physical body. He was seated on the back of Torrent, who had settled on a thick branch of an immense tree, as if he had been waiting there for his master to wake up.
"So... I missed the spiders?" Miquella sighed with disappointment.
"Not entirely," replied Trina, whose voice sounded increasingly clear and present in the physical world. "But perhaps you should miss it... Yavanna just gave me important information. I have something to show you. You might need to sleep again."
"Alright, but let's not stray too far from the group," Miquella said, observing the nearby cobwebs that shone like silver threads under the filtered light. "I need to find the others and let them take care of me. And maybe experience what a... spiderweb bed is like. You make sure to tell my sister to come and save me."
He dismounted Torrent and made him vanish with a soft snap, moving toward a spot where several cobwebs intersected like vibrating paths. As soon as he touched them with his fingers, they instantly responded: they trembled, stretched, transmitting the message through the living network of the forest.
He didn't have to wait long. Soon, huge spiders began to approach from different angles, moving with the efficiency of silent hunters. Miquella smiled, like someone preparing for mischief, and without much thought, plunged into the void, holding onto the threads as if performing an improvised bungee jump. The webs caught him, spinning and wrapping him up.
The rest was done by the spiders: they surrounded him, covered him, and manipulated him with long, precise legs, forming a perfect cocoon. A golden membrane formed around Miquella, protecting him from harm, but he still felt the tugs, the spins, the dizzying movement... which to him felt more like a particularly exciting roller coaster than a monstrous kidnapping.
In a short time, he was taken to the spiders' lair. Now settled inside his makeshift cocoon—warm, soft, and gently swinging—Miquella closed his eyes and fell back asleep without resistance.
Not far away, Malenia was running between the trees, moving with the determination of a hurricane. Under her arm, she carried a weakly kicking hobbit. Bilbo, during the previous battle, had used the ring to hide, and although that saved him, he ended up completely lost in the forest. Luckily, he ran into Malenia... or perhaps not so lucky, considering he was now being carried like luggage.
...
Deep within the nest, the spiders were ready to feast. Those juicy, restless, noisy preys had been obtained after they had fought fiercely against their former comrades, now deformed by the Scarlet Rot.
Just as the creatures were about to sink their fangs into the promised flesh, the screeches of their siblings echoed in the distance. Something was attacking the nest.
One of the spiders, curious to see what prey their companions had brought, didn't get the chance to find out: a massive blade sliced it in half. A figure moved through the shadows with the lightness of the wind, and to the horror of the nearby spiders, it emitted the same disturbing essence as the contaminated ones. They couldn't allow that evil to spread in their lair; they had to eliminate the intruder.
The spiders, about to feast, prepared to postpone their meal once more. However, before they could advance, the nearest cocoon trembled... and from within, the tip of a sword emerged, piercing the spider guarding it.
The creatures retreated with a hiss. Before they could understand what was happening, other cocoons tore open simultaneously: blades burst from inside, wounding the nearby spiders and freeing the trapped Elden.
They had been still, listening, waiting for the moment. And now that they heard the sound of fighting once more, they knew it was time to act.
The spiders attacked them furiously, determined to reclaim their food by force. But this time they had no advantage. With the corrupted spiders of the Scarlet Rot no longer interfering, the Elden fought with absolute freedom.
Leda dropped from above, her sword flashing like a beacon. True to her title, she pierced spider after spider like a needle through cloth. The desperation to find her lord spurred her on, and nothing would stop her.
Horsent and Ansbach burst into the battle with controlled violence, while Moore, Dane, and Freya protected Thiollier and Latenna. The latter, separated from her wolf who was still imprisoned in another distant cocoon, sought support on a tree trunk. With Freya's help, she managed to climb onto a high branch, from where she began to shoot with surgical precision. Every arrow she loosed prevented a sneak attack, saving her companions from a distance.
Further away, Malenia—who had initiated the massacre by slicing her way through with her blade—advanced toward the center of the nest, joining the Elden. She moved with the effortlessness of an absolute predator; every movement was death, every turn a new corpse. With the intervention of the rest—a surprisingly efficient team—the spiders lost all hope of an advantage. Despite being in their home, they were nothing more than beasts lining up to be butchered.
While all this was happening, Bilbo, whom Malenia had dropped as soon as they arrived, began his mission discreetly. Moving with stealth—and resorting to the ring when the danger was too great—he managed to approach the cocoons where the dwarves were trapped. Slowly, with his short sword, he began freeing them.
The dwarves were not well. The Scarlet Rot was weakening them, an unknown sickness that left them feverish and agonizing. Even so, some woke up, stubborn even in their deplorable state. Their dwarven pride would never allow them to stay still while they could lift an axe. Those who could fight joined the battle, even if their usual skill was conspicuously absent.
In normal times, a single dwarf would have faced one of these beasts without hesitation; now, several had to gang up to take down a single one. The only ones who seemed to resist better were those marked with the troll rune.
Bilbo, determined to continue, advanced toward the last cocoon hanging in the distance. But his stealth failed, and a spider detected him, lunging at him.
Fortunately, Latenna, who from her elevated position had seen the hobbit free her wolf companion moments before and was now in trouble—without hesitation, one of her arrows struck the creature head-on, giving Bilbo just enough time to plunge his small sword into it and, with that, find the inspiration to name it. Though the process was somewhat different, the Elven blade earned its name: Sting.
Freed from the attack, Bilbo reached the final cocoon. But as he lifted the blade, a whistle cut the air: arrows flew from the heights, passing dangerously close to him and forcing him to cling to the tree to avoid falling.
Arrows rained down like a storm, falling upon the spiders and accelerating their extermination.
...
Miquella was in a spectral state, similar to Trina, who floated beside him. They were not strictly in the dream world, but neither did they fully belong to the mortal plane. Both existed in an intermediate point, their immaterial bodies traversing roots, stones, and currents of air as if they were golden smoke.
After a brief journey, they arrived at what would have been a beautiful lake in the middle of the forest... except the water was a deep, thick red like blood, and the surroundings were consumed by fungus, decay, and rot.
"The Scarlet Rot... and very strong," Miquella murmured.
"That's right," Trina replied. "We are looking at the source of the rot in Mirkwood."
She guided him toward the corrupted waters. Even in their spiritual states, the presence of the Rot seemed to irritate them, like a stinging burn on skin they no longer possessed.
"The Scarlet Rot arrived in this world and intends to 'give its gift,' just as it did with the Lands Between," Trina explained, as their forms sank deeper into the water. "This is one of the cores where it is developing. Yavanna showed it to me, in case we could intervene."
"I would like to be able to say that we don't work for free, but reality demands we act immediately. If we allow this Rot to contaminate the world, the cost of the final cleanup will be too high, even if we achieve victory." Miquella said, gravely assessing the possible solutions to this problem.
"Solving it isn't complicated... but it is difficult in our current state," Trina replied before stopping.
They had reached the bottom of the lake. Everything was submerged in a reddish darkness, but the lack of light did not affect them: their spiritual forms allowed them to see clearly.
There, stretched out on the putrid aquatic bed, lay a being that looked like a corpse... but both knew it wasn't. An enormous creature, an aberrant mix of centipede and scorpion, with a human skull as its head. Inert, yes, but alive in a sense that transcended the flesh. Sleeping, latent... and conscious.
"This is a manifestation of the Rot, a champion... one of that god's pieces in this grand game," Trina explained, maintaining a cautious distance so as not to wake the creature or alert its master. "If we destroy it, we will greatly weaken the Scarlet Rot's influence here. Then, with the power of your ring, you could purify the entire area," she added.
Miquella evaluated the scenario, his expression serious.
"It sounds like a good plan. But how strong is this thing? And can we face it in our current condition? I won't risk us on something we can't achieve, not now, when we haven't even established ourselves."
Trina pondered for a moment before replying:
"Perhaps it would be better to defeat Smaug first and recover strength... but there is another option. Someone who would have a natural advantage. Someone who could do it alone... with a little help." Her gaze met Miquella's, wordlessly conveying the idea.
"Sister..." he whispered, imagining Malenia fighting against that avatar of the Rot.
"Regarding the Scarlet Rot, she is our best weapon," Trina confirmed. "She has an advantage over any incarnation of this plague... but we must also think about the future... what happens with her and the Scarlet Rot..."
"I know. I thought about it before... but will we be capable? She is too important to us to risk her," Miquella said, with a solemnity that broke even his usual tone.
"In the past, it would have been difficult, but not impossible," Trina responded, resting her forehead against his. "Now you have that ring that will allow us to give her the strength she needs. I am sure we will succeed."
Embracing, they both contemplated the sleeping monster at the bottom of the lake, deciding the threads of destiny they would soon have to move. They were determined: they would triumph, and their family, true gods, would awaken in this world.
"Let's go back; we can't let the others hog all the fun," proposed Miquella with a smile.
"It's too late to join the spider fight, but you'll arrive just in time for the encounter with the Elves," Trina replied.
"Hmm... right, Tauriel and Legolas... Maybe I should try to stay asleep a little longer just to get a good view of the spectacle." Miquella gave her a mischievous smile. "It would be possible for you to..." He leaned in to whisper something to Trina.
"Easy," his other half smiled back in response, accepting the proposal.
Thus, both siblings disappeared from the bottom of the putrid lake, their encounter with the Elves already planned.