She stood still, as if she was frozen, her huge grey body among grey rocks, one of the most formidable fighters in the whole universe.

Before she died her sister had helped her bury their eggs deep, so deep, in the planet’s core: nothing bar total annihilation could now reach them, their future, their eternity: she knew one day, far down in the flow of time, her descendants would rise again, supreme in the immensity of space.

Now she could sense them, a host of dark vessels, full of the hideous creatures, the plague of all sentient beings, evil incarnated, approaching, though they would not reach the trap for several days.

She was dreaming, of happier days with her sisters, and Mother, who begot them all, fierce and beautiful: she was pride of their achievements, before and after the humans had succombed to the devils, still longing for that time, before the fall, when giant spiders and humans had worked together, here, on this world.

But mankind had left her a priceless legacy, and she gently caressed the small pentagon: that that would unleash the megatons once the devil armies had surrounded her, her ultimate sacrifice, her pride: she would release the fires of a million hells on the devils, once and for all ridding the universe of the plague.

First published as Sacrifice on October 5, 2012