Totem

James stumbled through the forest, his heart pounding in his chest as he tried to put as much distance as he could between himself and the massive spider that was hot on his heels. The spider's huge legs pounded the ground, sending vibrations through the earth that James could feel even from several feet away.

But what was even more unnerving was the spider's voice, a deep and rumbling growl that seemed to be saying, "Embrace me." James couldn't believe it. Was the spider speaking to him?

He tried to put the thought out of his mind and focus on escaping, but the spider's voice seemed to echo through the forest, growing louder and more insistent with each passing moment. James could feel the spider's hot breath on the back of his neck and could see its enormous mandibles snapping shut just inches from his face.

Desperately, James pushed himself to run faster, his legs pumping as he tried to outpace the spider. But it was no use. The spider was too fast, too powerful. Suddenly, James felt a sharp pain in his leg and he stumbled, his body tumbling to the ground.

As he lay there, panting and gasping for breath, the spider loomed over him, its massive body blocking out the sun. And then, to James' horror, the spider reached out one of its hairy legs and wrapped it around him, pulling him closer and closer until he was trapped in its embrace.

He desperately wiggled from the tight grasp the hulking spider had on his body but every time he tried to wiggle from the grasp he was in the spider's hold only grew tighter and tighter and he could truly feel like he was going to die. The spider kept him trapped in that same grasp seemingly frozen like a statue with the low growl of "embrace me" coming from its sharp mandibles. James realized that his struggles were pointless as he wasn't going to escape the spider and it wasn't going to let him go until he embraced it.

"Okay, I'll embrace you or whatever" the words barely left his mouth before the spider dropped him to the ground. He stood back up and fixed his shirt as he did so, the spider lowered its head. James placed his hand on the hairy head of the spider before hugging the head of the spider, the hairs slightly tickled his skin but he kept the hug up for another 40 seconds before letting go. Once he let go of the spider it shrunk to about the size of a regular spider before it flashed forward and disappeared into James' chest.

Once the spider disappeared the dark forest scenery changed into a calm field of flowers and the scrapes he acquired running away from the spider faded away. He takes in a deep breath and lets out a heavy sigh.

*Sigh*

He does a double take of the field where he sees another person standing among the flowers. The other figure had long silver hair that stretched to their ankles hiding their body from the view of James.

James was extremely cautious as he wasn't sure if this person was another challenge or guardian that he needed to face. He crouched slightly tensing his body so that he could pounce on this person if they were a foe rather than a friend. He made his way over to her as slowly as possible doing his best to make no noise when...

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"Caution is good my child but If I wished to hurt you then you wouldn't be on this plane" the voice of the other figure was soft and gentle despite the thinly veiled threat she issued to James. The figure turned around to face James and he was extremely shocked at how the figure looked she was a very slender-looking woman with dark skin clad in ornate and extremely detailed robes that had many spider motifs on them on her her wrists were golden bangles and on her fingers were a few sparse gold rings, she had no shoes on her feet and it didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. She had a round face that had a soft smile that could put anyone at ease. her eyes were closed and yet they conveyed the soft smile that was etched on her lips.

James just stood there for a full minute gawking at her and she let out a soft laugh as she watched the idiotic face James was making.

Her laughs seemed to clear his head as it brought James back to the moment. 'I can't believe I lost it like that' was the one thought that went through his mind as he straightened up and got focused on the important matters at hand.

Ahem

"What is this place? Who are you? and what was up with that giant fucking spider?"

The goddess maintained her smile as she responded "First You are in an astral plane for totem bearers, second I am a being that was given many names but the one you may be the most familiar with is Anasi and third the giant spider was a manifestation of your connection to the web of life and destiny as a totem bearer".

James took in the information very slowly before he responded "Am I dead?"

The goddess pondered for a moment "you are not dead in the sense you are familiar with but you are currently not on the same plane of existence as your body so you are both alive and dead in the human sense of life and death"

"Why bring me to this plane I'm certain that I would have healed from the injuries I sustained during the fight?"

"I brought you here for two reasons, the first reason was that your essence as a totem was severely weakened after your battle with Morlun as he took quite a bit of your essence during the fight and needed to talk to you about your actions so far"

James was confused as to what he may have done to make her metaphorically call him to the principal's office.

"What have I done that has offended you?"

"You are a being that is not from this universe or even from this multiverse cluster you were transported to this multiverse by an extremely powerful ominversal existence and because of that you seem to think that the reality that you live through every day is some game and because of that you take the power you were given for granted and because of that you let that inheritor run wild in universe 616, you must realize that things aren't a game and you must use your power to it's fullest and not as a toy or a mode of transportation, From now on I am watching you so you better start taking things seriously"

Much of what Anasi was saying hit James hard as he knew that she was right, he only put in the minimum effort in training his powers and just screwed around for the rest of the time he spent in the marvel universe. He didn't care about anything and he actively did stupid reckless stuff like swinging around with no mask in broad daylight. As he admonished himself more and more Anasi appeared in front of him grabbed his forehead and kissed him on the forehead.

"As long as you're better than you were before the past doesn't matter". That was the last thing she said before his vision went black.

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How was the chapter I hope you like it and unfortunately going forward This book is going to be Patreon only so if you wanna support this story my Patreon will be in the story synopsis.

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April fools even though It's the third.