Beneath the earth lies a beautiful civilisation. Its inhabitants are kind, cultured, affectionate—and they eat human flesh.

When Timothy Pane and his lifelong friend Reese Thorne venture into a secluded forest, they encounter two extraordinary women whose captivating beauty conceals a horrifying secret. Before they can escape, both men are captured and dragged into a world from which no human has ever returned.

Deep beneath an abandoned church lies Sylmar, an ancient subterranean village inhabited by the Arachne: creatures with the upper bodies of beautiful women and the enormous lower bodies of spiders.

Within its magnificent stone halls, music flourishes, friendships endure, and families celebrate their lives together. Yet beneath this seemingly idyllic society lies a terrible truth.

To the Arachne, humanity exists for two purposes: reproduction and consumption.

As Timothy struggles against his captivity, he discovers that his captors are neither mindless monsters nor sadistic tyrants. They are capable of genuine tenderness, devotion and love—while remaining utterly incapable of understanding why their human possessions should desire freedom.

And as the years pass, survival becomes something far more complicated than escape.

For in Sylmar, even the deepest affection cannot change what a human ultimately is.

A haunting tale of captivity, forbidden freedom and the terrifying cruelty of a civilisation that believes itself entirely benevolent.

Some monsters do not need to hate you to destroy you.