Salias continued his trek through the forest. Taking in the vibrant colors and vivid scenery as he walked. However, this carefree stroll through the forest was interrupted as the spider on his shoulder stiffened and started looking around. Though Salias had never taken care of an animal before, his base instincts as a skeleton told him that this meant danger.

  Stopping in place, Salias re-adjusted his grip on the sword in his hands before carefully moving forward. Every step he took was made with care as he focused on his hearing. Hearing a quiet snap of a twig to the left, Salias turned towards the sound, maintaining a defensive stance. Knowing that he had been detected, Salias tried calling out to whomever, or whatever was stalking him,

  "Show your-" Salias began, interrupted by a really strong kick in the back that launched him forward.

  Landing face first in the dirt, Salias had just finished wiping his face of debris when he found himself surrounded, and at the sharp end of many spears. These people that had attacked him seemed to be human, except that all had long drooping ears and short fur that covered their forearms. Making a decision, Salias tried to speak to his attackers,

  "So... I see you all take great care of your weapons, hardly any rust visible to my eyes, and that's something I respect, just like I respect all of you guys, but as I was-" Salias began before he was cut off.

  "Shut up human, you speak when spoken to. Are we clear?" Spoke a feminine voice with clear authority from behind.

  Turning around, Salias saw the speaker, and probably leader of this troop. She had the palest skin Salias had ever seen, with white fur on her forearms and ears and deep red eyes that sat under mid-length white hair. The woman wore a deep red cloak, and dark blue tunic and trousers. In contrast to the dark coloration of the fabric, she also wore a shining steel chest plate and metal gauntlets, and in her hand was rapier of unquestionable quality, and a sharp point... that was right in front of Salias' eyes. 'Yep,' Salias thought, 'Definitely the leader. Probably a noble as well with that shiny sword.'

  "Sure thing," Salias assented, hoping not to lose his flesh the very day he got it.

  A sudden hiss drew the attention of the commander, and everyone else. From behind her, the spider was hissing and waving his front two legs in an aggressive manner that would have been threatening... if it was more than a foot tall. Salias' eyes went wide as he saw what was essentially a child facing off against a knight. The Commander scoffed,

  "What is this? A pest? Guess I'll just have to-" She began before Salias interrupted this time.

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  Throwing himself in front of the spider he said,

  "Please don't take offense, the young spider doesn't know what he is doing. Please, please have mercy upon this poor sap," Salias begged while essentially groveling at the feet of the commander.

  . . .

  Cadence was confused. No, she was extremely confused. Recollecting the moments leading up till now, she remembered leading a patrol through the forest after reports of some human entering their territory. Then, after subduing the human, who proceeded to spout nonsense that she ignored, a tiny giant spider hatchling approached them. Now that was the beginning of the strange. Why would a solo hatchling approach them? Why wasn't it the nest? Does this spider have no self-preservation instincts? All of these were valid questions that she didn't think would be answered until something even more crazy happened.

  The human lept in front of the spider. Not to attack her or anything, but to defend it. That led to where she was now, with a human groveling at her feet begging not for his own life, but that of a spider. 'What the hell?' Cadence thought, 'Humans aren't supposed to do this. Last I checked they were all greedy xenophobic liars that would rather eat gold than actual food. But what is this?! Is it an act? But to what end?' Cadence had no idea what was going on.

  Cadence looked to the other members of her unit, only, they were just as dumbfounded as she was. What was happening before her, defied all logic. Even a pacifist druidic priest would do this, let alone an armored human... knight? Upon further observation, things got even weirder. The human had been holding a large two-handed sword, but it was covered in a textured layer of rust. He was also clad in equally rusted black iron plate armor... alone. He wore nothing beneath the armor. Cadence could see his skin in between the gaps in the two pieces that made up the chest piece and when he shifted a bit she could see, in between his- Nope.

  Cadence tore her eyes away from the anomaly, blushing furiously at the thought of the thing she most definitely did not see at all whatsoever. Back to the topic at hand. Cadence knew that she had to make a decision. Cut this man down where he stands, as she was initially planning on doing, or capture him and learn more. As much as Cadence wanted to cut him down just for being a human, the bane of beastkin existence, she couldn't quite steel herself to do so. So with a sigh of resignation she spoke,

  "Alright guys, we're taking them back with us. Somebody tie this man up, along with the spider. Oh! And get him some pants or something for god's sake!" she ordered and with that, hoped she wasn't making a grave mistake.