My vision went black as I tumbled over the edge. I couldn't see a thing as the still air whipped past me; the smell of it was already invading my nostrils, the cloying scent of stagnancy. As if the air here had gone undisturbed for a long time.

  The sensation of falling but without any visual cues was strange, and it left me holding my breath waiting for impact. Even from just seven or eight feet, a landing on hard stone would be enough to kill me outright if I landed wrong. Or worse, leave me paralyzed at the bottom of a hole in a pitch black cave, to die of dehydration. That was assuming there wasn't something hungry in the cave. Or several somethings.

  The breath was driven from my lungs in an explosive burst as I made contact. It wasn't hard. It was actually fairly soft, all things considered. For a moment, I lay there, eyes squeezed shut, body tense as I waited for something to happen. A moment went by, and then another. Nothing.

  An abrupt sigh of relief escaped me as I sagged back on whatever had cushioned my fall. My nerves were completely frayed after my desperate rush through the forest. Finally, I opened my eyes. My surroundings were dark to be sure, and cool, almost cold, compared to the heat outside the cave. As it turned out, it wasn't pitch black; some light made it down from the tunnel above, not much, just enough to be able to see a little bit. Vague outlines and little more.

  I attempted to pull myself up to a seated position only to find that I was unable to move. Swiveling around what I found was less than ideal. In fact, it might be described as going from the frying pan into the fire.

  If the fire was really more of a gasoline-fueled nightmare. I could see that I'd fallen about ten feet, judging by the light of the entrance above, not as bad as it could have been. The problem was that the fall had deposited me about a dozen feet from the center of what appeared to be a large web. The lines of the web glistened in the dim light of the cave; it seemed to be the usual style with lines radiating outward from a center point, lines crossing from each main branch. For a web that seemed to be at least thirty or forty feet in diameter, it seemed that the spaces between the lines were small enough that I could lie on it comfortably.

  That means whatever made this web eats things my size, no sense making a web with holes big enough the prey can escape through it.

  I gulped at the thought as I looked around the cavern. Thankfully, the chamber I found myself in seemed empty. At least for now. I couldn't rely on it staying that way, though. Half-remembered memories of nature documentaries reminded me that spiders that spun webs often had highly tuned senses where their webs were concerned. Meaning that if the owner of the web I found myself in was touching the web, the dinner bell had already been rung. I was already on a timer. As gently as I could, I began to move my arms and legs, trying to extricate myself from the web. It did not go well.

  Every move I made seemed to end up with my limbs becoming even more entangled in the sticky prison I found myself in. After several attempts, I froze. The web was trembling against my body.

  I wasn't moving.

  My calculated struggles became desperate, thrashing as I worked to free myself from the web. I couldn't see the owner of the web approaching, but I could feel the web vibrating around me; it seemed to be coming from the side of the cavern my head wasn't pointed at. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good look due to my head being just as stuck as the rest of me. I strained against the web frantically; the edge of fear and panic gave me strength, and I managed to tear my right arm free of the web. In a mad bid to escape, I tried to roll over and force myself through a gap in the web with my free arm leading the way. I could feel the web pulling at my skin and the shirt I wore, straining against the strength of my muscles.

  The web shuddered and made a sound like ripping paper, or maybe it was my shirt tearing; I couldn't be sure, but I lurched forward as the web released more of its grip on me. I Dove for the gap, trying to force my body through. Another lurch, and my heart was in my throat as I fell most of the way through the web. I groaned in pain as I felt the strain in my knee and ankle. I hung upside down from the underside of the web; that was when I got my first look at the web's resident. It was massive; to say it was the largest spider I'd ever seen before wouldn't do it justice. The main body of the thing was larger than me; it looked like it might be seven feet long and half as wide, armored in jet black chitin that glittered in the dim light. Its eight legs were covered in the same chitin, looking like eight wickedly sharp spears as the spider made its way towards me with a horrifying grace. Its black eyes seemed to be focused directly on me, and I could see its pedipalps churning one over the other like a cartoon villain rubbing their hands together. Just behind them, I could see the massive black fangs of the spider's maw.

  I struggled to free myself from the last bit of web holding me. I thrashed desperately, tried to pull myself up to reach it. It was too late; the spider was upon me. I continued to thrash in desperation, my heart thudded against my ribs, and adrenaline seared my veins. I was unwilling to give up my struggle even as the spider reached through its web to pull me up. The chitin of its legs was hard and unyielding to the touch, almost like metal; it was cold. I was dragged through the web unceremoniously despite my frantic attempts to escape. I screamed, I shouted, and flailed wildly, battering my fists and legs against the armored exterior. It was useless.

  I watched with growing horror as I exited the web and the spider's black fangs plunged towards my belly. A lance of pain burned into my gut. Then everything was on fire. I screamed and thrashed as the venom pumped into my body. It burned, and everywhere it spread, it felt as if it had been ignited, turned into an inferno of misery and pain. I screamed until my lungs were empty of air to scream with it, my face locked into a rictus of agony as my entire body spasmed. Oblivious or uncaring of my suffering, the spider began to roll me over and over. I could see the webbing coming from its spinnerets as it flexed its thorax to point directly at me. I was beyond caring already. The pain made it impossible to think; it was brutal, screaming agony, burning out my thoughts, searing my mind. All I could do was scream. Soon enough, I wouldn't even be able to do that.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  The web cocoon spread rapidly as the spider spun me round and round. Soon, my rasping screams were muffled when the cocoon covered my head. Time lost all meaning as I struggled in the cocoon, the pain of the venom scattering my mind. I could barely even scream anymore, the breath driven from my lungs, unable to get a full breath. The pain was never-ending, ever-increasing. At this rate, it would drive me mad before it ever killed me. The pain reached a crescendo, and I felt as if I was melting, as if I had been dropped into a vat of acid.

  Then something changed.

  I could see nothing but blackness from within the cocoon, yet somehow I could see that another of those strange screens had appeared before me.

  My battered mind tried to digest the words on the screen, sluggishly moving from thought to thought. Every thought was a monumental effort in the maelstrom of pain that my mind had become.

  Yes! Do it! I screamed from within the confines of my mind. Anything that could help me survive this nightmare scenario was worth doing at this point; I had precious little to lose. At that moment, I might have made a deal with any demon or devil, as long as the pain would stop.

  [Unlocking Bloodline with available catalyst.]

  For a singular moment in time, the burning pain of the venom doubled, then redoubled, as if it were a creature that sensed imminent defeat. As if it sensed its prey slipping beyond its grasp. My mind teetered on the edge of oblivion as the pain ravaged my body; there were no more thoughts. Only the urge to live. To survive.

  Suddenly, it stopped. The pain felt dull, far away, and I could feel a blessedly cool sensation begin to spread through my body. It was as if I had been on fire, burning, and then suddenly I was in water. The heat leeching away rapidly.

  It spread to cover every bit of the burning pain that lingered, surging over top of it, drowning it in the cooling sensation, and my struggles slowed, losing their desperate edge until I sagged in the cocoon, utterly exhausted.

  My breaths were ragged, coming in heaving gasps as I lay there trying to gather my scattered wits into some semblance of coherent thought. Another window appeared while I lay slumped within the cocoon.

  I stared at the new screens, utterly gobsmacked as my mind finally kicked into gear now that the pain was gone.

  This could be huge.

  The power gamer in me was practically salivating. I'd played many RPGs over the years. I knew just how powerful having extra modifiers could be from experience. Some part of me deep down knew this wasn't a game, this was reality, at least for the moment. There was something comforting about having at least somewhat relevant experience to fall back on in the midst of this insanity.

  This was not the time to get sidetracked by all my new gains; however, I set to the task of getting out of the sticky prison I was trapped in. Though as I shifted around in the cocoon, I found it wasn't nearly as sticky as it had been before. It wasn't tearing at my clothes and skin the way it was even moments ago. I managed to pull my arms up to my chest, creating a small amount of space as the web fibers stretched and gave way.

  So far. So good.

  The surprise came when I pressed my hand directly against the wall of the cocoon, and my arm up to the elbow popped right through the wall, as if I'd been able to simply slide it between all of the fibers that made up the cocoon. I pulled my arm back almost immediately and repeated the experiment, with the same results.

  I could only attribute it to my shiny new bloodline. There was nothing else that had changed.

  Shoving my arm through once again, this time up to the shoulder, it was surprisingly easy to get my other arm through as well, widening the gap made by my arm. My head followed, and soon my whole torso was free of the cocoon. I found myself hanging from the underside of the web half out of the cocoon. Down below, I could see a large pond at the bottom of the cave chamber, well, more like a small lake really. At that moment, it clicked for me that I could actually see beyond the dim impressions I had when I entered the cave via the ass over tea kettle method. My vision was crystal clear, though it was a bleached black and white version of my surroundings. Still, stumbling around in the dark would almost certainly get me killed the first time I encountered another monster. Which was something I regarded as a near certainty at this point. This newest change would help prevent that from happening.

  "Shit, Bloodline for the win," I muttered to myself as I cast my gaze around for options. There weren't many.

  Only one, really. Climbing out onto the web seemed like a terrible idea. I couldn't see its occupant around anywhere at the moment, but that didn't mean the massive spider wouldn't be back. Even if I did climb out onto the web, where would I go? There weren't any caves or tunnels I could see around the edges of the web, and I was beyond certain I couldn't scale the sheer stone walls back to the entrance I'd fallen from. Not that I'd want to anyway, too much risk of the nightmare Rex lingering in the area.

  Which left only one way out of my current predicament.

  Down.