Having died, Ryan found himself in a familiar place. The artificially lit Culver's contrasted greatly with the primitive farming society he'd been living in. This time the spider god was already before him.
"Told you not to die, didn't I?" the god's fangs twitched as he laughed. "That doesn't bode well for you."
"Bode well?" Ryan said with a shrug. "Am I finally, really, truly dead this time?"
"Nope," said the god. "Though this will make things interesting. You did die, so you'll be paying a price." The god pointed a great, hairy finger at Ryan's neck. "My bite hadn't activated yet because he hadn't yet died in that world, but that's changed now."
"What do you m…!" Ryan ran over to a window to see his reflection. In the spot where the spider god had bitten him in their last encounter were two large puncture wounds. Underneath his skin, thin greenish lines branched out from the point of the bite like the legs of a spider. It was like a really freaky tattoo.
"Have fun. You'll see what I mean when you wake up."
In that instant the world of limbo, which appeared to Ryan as a Culver's, faded to black. Slowly a small fire filled the void, only to strengthen into a raging inferno. Ryan had begun to feel it's heat as though he himself were a fire. That's exactly what it felt like. Like he was on fire.
Through the vortex of flame, Ryan could barely make out the face of the greedy merchant who was counting the coins from the stolen pouch. In excruciating pain, Ryan had fallen to the ground and was writing in agony. Scarily, his senses hadn't shut down. Although every cell in his body must've been toasted at this point, the sensation of cremation wasn't lost on him.
Scrambling to his feet, Ryan rushed towards the figure of the merchant. He ran with the gracefulness of a zombie, as he frantically threw in body towards the man.
"How the hell are you still alive?" said the merchant in panic. At once, he extended both hands, extinguishing the flames that had consumed Ryan before they did the same to their master. "You're some kind of freak!"
Panting, the man looked at Ryan's face. One blood-curdling scream later and the man had gathered his folded clothes and ran for the hills. All the merchants who had watched the scene did the same; they ran as fast and as far as they could.
Now, it was only Luke and Ryan. In concern for his friend, Luke rushed from his stall to stand beside Ryan. The burn-victim felt strangely fine. Ryan had burned himself before, and the pain never ceased after the heat was removed. The white blisters and scarred skin that followed were almost as bad the burning sensation itself. He didn't feel hurt at all, although he did feel very itchy.
Luke gave a muffled yelp, as he took in Ryan's appearance.
"Ryan, come with me. You'll want to see this," Luke said.
Assisting the dazed Ryan, Luke walked him towards the edge of town, where there was a small pond. Murky though it was, Ryan was able to see himself in the water.
"That damn god," Ryan bit his tongue in anger. On the right side of his face, where once there had been one light blue eye, were four smaller eyes. Furthermore, across his body were patches of lightly sticky black hairs. The features weren't nearly as pronounced as he'd seen them before, but it was a close resemblance. Ryan had started his transformation into a spider.
"Don't worry about it. You're still welcome in our house," Luke said with a concerned grin.
"Thanks," said Ryan. "Because if our positions were reversed I'd have run away screaming."