The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Planet Eleron)

(Main Campus- The Regal Theatre)

"We must die together!" the female student cried out as she clutched her heart with her hands and an expression of anguish flashed across her face.

"Are you crazy?!" the student holding the spear immediately dropped his weapon and turned to face his beloved with disbelief clearly visible in his gaze.

Sophie leaned forward in her seat to get a better look. She didn't expect to be treated to such a drama filled play but…

She wasn't going to complain!

"Hendrix my love… parting is such a sweet sorrow… I do not wish for us to be separated whether in this life or the next," the female student explained gently.

Madness surfaced briefly in her eyes as the passionate emotions that surged in her heart threatened to overwhelm the thin threads of sanity holding her mind together.

"Juliana! Please cease this nonsense at once!" Hendrix begged desperately as he got up from the ground and rushed towards his lover.

He wrapped his arms around the girl and drew her in close for a tight embrace. The pair stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like an eternity.

"Your idea…" Hendrix finally broke the silence and a contemplative look flashed across his face.

"Is not bad… but I think that we don't need to really kill ourselves. My friend Mercury knows a way to put us in a state of suspended animation."

"All we need to do is fake our deaths and then we can run away and be together forever!"

"Oh, my love!" Juliana exclaimed happily as she grabbed Hendrix by the scruff of his neck and pulled him in for a passionate kiss.

"NEXT SCENE!" a muscular man sitting in a high-rise chair yelled loudly.

There was a shuffling around of movement and then purple curtains slowly lowered until the stage completely disappeared.

Sophie placed her hands together and clapped softly. She checked her wrist communicator and saw that she still had some time left before class.

Well… it didn't hurt to look some more.

"Excuse me…" a soft voice called out.

Sophie turned in the direction of the sound and saw a skinny young woman with dark brown skin nervously staring at her.

"The director wanted to know if you would like to sit in one of the rows further to the front," the young woman stuttered slightly as she spoke.

"No thank you," Sophie politely declined and flashed the nervous woman a friendly smile.

"I wouldn't want to be a distraction to the actors and I can see quite fine from here."

The young woman nodded and then quickly walked away as if she was being chased by something terrible.

Sophie internally laughed since it had been quite some time since she had gotten a scared reaction from a stranger.

It almost felt nostalgic… in a really fucked up kind of way.

"Alright we are now going to practice Act Three- Scene Seven!" the director shouted as he reached for a glass of water and took a small sip.

"We only have two weeks until opening night, so I want everyone to take this seriously! Is that understood?"

"YES BOSS!" a few students yelled good-naturedly.

Sophie leaned  back against the chair and was suddenly struck with the urge to join a club or extracurricular activity.

She was in second year now and honestly her typical days at university were pleasant but… slightly uneventful.

Head to class. Go back home. Train. Cultivate.

It was all the same routine.

Maybe joining one of the clubs around campus would be an interesting experience.

At the very least she would be able to expand her network.please visit

Sophie rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she accessed the school's website on her wrist communicator and looked up the clubs with available spaces.

The bounty hunter club? Err… nah… she already took missions every once in awhile…

Hmm… the idol club?

Sophie closed her eyes and imagined herself wearing an elegant white uniform and dancing vigorously to a popular beat.

Nope.

What was another option? Sophie flicked through the list and stopped at one that she thought was pretty interesting.

The Videogame Club.

Sophie did enjoy occasionally playing virtual reality games so maybe hanging out with people who thought the same would be fun.

The hybrid girl saved the information about the club on her wrist communicator and then added a note to her daily calendar as a reminder.

"Alright…. Action!" a loud yell interrupted the relative silence of the theatre.

Sophie powered off her wrist communicator and turned her attention back to the stage. She was eager to find out what would happen next in the story.

The curtains slowly lifted upwards to reveal the scene of a grand funeral.

Two wooden caskets had been placed in the centre of the stage, a row of chairs had been placed in front of the caskets and there was also a large carpet covering the floor.

Dozens of people wearing dark coloured clothing sat down in the seats and watched the funeral while sobbing or cursing softly under their breath.

Two bodies lay inside the caskets.

The one on the right belonged to Juliana while the much larger one on the left had the body of Hendrix inside.

"My baby! Your little bitch convinced him to die!" an angry middle-aged woman roared as she rushed towards two sharply dressed elderly men.

The woman had to be restrained by members of her family and dragged out of the funeral before she did something that she would regret.

The two elderly men did not say a word the entire time but their gazes would frequently land on the body of Juliana.

One of the men opened his mouth to speak but choked back his words. A single teardrop ran down the side of his face.

His daughter… was gone.

The other man placed an arm around his shoulder and comforted him silently. Neither man had the courage to speak.

A woman dressed a pure white robe entered the funeral holding what appeared to be a golden lantern in her right palm.

The people sitting down on the chairs all stood up at once and the funeral took on an even more somber atmosphere than before.

The woman wearing white slowly walked up to the caskets and placed the lantern on the ground in front of her feet.

She took in a deep breath and exhaled softly. The light inside the lantern flickered a few times and then went out.

"Dear guests… we are gathered here today to mourn the loss of two young people," the woman opened her mouth and spoke solemnly.

"Juliana of House Corselian and Hendrix of House Leion. A pair who had so much to live for and were gone too soon."

"Standing here today and seeing the crowd that has gathered… I can tell that they both touched the lives of so many."

"They may have departed from this mortal plane, but they will live on in the memories, emotions and feelings in our hearts."

Muffled sobs and cries of anguish could be heard coming from the crowd as some still could not believe what had happened.

Juliana and Hendrix had both committed suicide… it was a tragic end to a love that was forbidden by their families.

One woman in particular seemed especially distraught. Lady August of House Valena… Juliana's best friend.

She constantly had to wipe away the tears running down her face and could not even look at the casket where her dear friend was currently resting.