Chapter Text
When my father said he brought back a surprise from the Underdark, I wasn't expecting a tiny drider egg sac. He told me he couldn’t help himself. The sac had been discarded. Apparently, driders will abandon their egg sacs if there’s a defect. Tiny driders weren’t supposed to exist.
I told him to keep it away from me. I had never been a fan of bugs or creepy creatures.
my father wasn't home when it hatched. I had been working in his office. Reorganizing books, filing papers, helping out as a very underpaid assistant to all of his findings as an adventurer.
The small drow and spider hybrid hissed as it clawed its way out of its sac. I only noticed when I heard an odd noise. I nearly screamed when I turned to see its long limbs poking out of the silk.
My father’s instructions went through my mind. ‘Make sure when it hatches that it needs to be taken outside to eat.’ I gagged a little at the thought of picking the Gods damned thing up. I could taste my breakfast coming back up. Of course my dad couldn't be here for the birth of the anomaly that was a drider to begin with.
As it emerged I was shocked to see that it had a male face. Shoulder length silver hair. Its eyes were horrifying. Black sclera with burnt orange pupils. Why did they need so many eyes and legs?! Unnecessary. They were mostly on the left side of its face. It tilted its head up to look at me.
“M-Majesty.” My eyes went wide. My hand went up to my mouth as it fell open. I had a horrifying thought of the thing crawling into my mouth.
I knew I was a drow, but not that kind of drow. My family didn’t follow Lolth. We followed Eilistraee. We lived on the surface. We had special rings to walk out in the sun. My father was an adventurer and powerful wizard. My mother was a bard. I was still practicing magic as a sorceress, but I still needed a lot more time before I was ready. Wild magic is hard. I was in shock. Before I could say anything, the creature spoke again.
“Kar’niss.” My father did say they name themselves. Was that its name?
“Kar'niss?” I repeated. It crawled closer to me. I was thankful for the glass case it was in. My whole body shuddered as it moved towards me.
“Majesty.” It's hands pressed against the glass. ‘Sweet Dark Maiden. Please protect me from the drider.” I prayed to Eilistraee.
“You just stay there. I'll be right back.” I nearly jumped down the flight of stairs and sprinted into the living room. My mother was practicing her lute, I scared her as I ran in.
“Good Gods, Milvi!” She paused. “Oh no… did your magic do anything to your father's work?”
“No…” I took a deep breath. “The drider hatched and it's calling me Majesty.” My mother proceeded to cackle at me. “Mama.”
“I'm sorry sweetie, but that means it thinks you're his Goddess. He's gonna be stuck to you.” The thought of the drider crawling on me or constructing a sticky web onto my skin made me cry. Fat tears rolled down my cheeks.
“I don't want him.” My mother came over to hug me. She tried to comfort me. We heard loud hissing and tapping on glass.
“I'm sorry, but you need to go take care of that. Your father said it would be a long day with his guild.” I sobbed again. I begrudgingly broke her hug and went back upstairs.
Kar'niss was tapping his hands and some of his legs on the glass. I swallowed down my fear as I opened the case. I stuck my hands inside, palms up, trembling and praying that it wouldn't bite me. The drider climbed into my hands. My body went rigid.
“Majesty.” I carefully lifted it out of the case. Kar'niss wrapped his little arms around one of my thumbs. He rubbed his head against my fingertip. It was a sweet gesture, but he scared the hells out of me.
I carried him down the stairs as gently and carefully as I could. My mother had gotten out an umbrella.
“He's going to be sensitive to the light. Take him out to the garden. I'm sure there will be plenty for him to feed on there.”
“Don't make me do this alone.” My mother took a few steps towards us. Kar'niss held up his front legs and hissed at my mother. “Hey. Don't do that. That is my mother.” Kar'niss lowered his legs and bowed.
“Sorry your majesty.” My mother's eyes filled with love.
“He is precious.”
“Yes. Precious.”
My mother followed me outside, holding the umbrella over my hands and shading the little drider from the bright morning sun. Kar'niss was making an odd noise. A series of clicks and an odd purr along with tapping his legs. I nearly cried. It was an odd display that made me feel uneasy.
The garden was in the shade still from the fence and a large tree. I lowered my hands as we stood in the shadows. Kar’niss took a long look at me. It was as if he was asking for permission.
“Go ahead. Go hunt and eat.” Kar'niss scurried from my hands. I wiped them on my robes to try to wipe away the feeling of the drider's legs.
Mum and I stood there in wait. We didn't know how long it would take for Kar'niss to get his fill. We ended up taking a seat in the grass.
“How is the magic coming along?”
“I've been trying to control it, but it's hard. I did learn a new spell though.”
“That's good news. Pretty soon you'll be joining your father on adventures.” My heart skipped several beats at the thought of joining my father on adventures. I didn't know if I was cut out for that life.
“Yeah… it would be great to be in battle and have wild magic polymorph us all into animals.”
“That happened once at your birthday when you were showing off a spell.”
“It only needed to happen the one time for me to consider not using my magic near people.”
“Oh Milvi… You’re being overdramatic.”
“I AM NOT OVER DRAMATIC. I TURNED A WHOLE ROOM OF PEOPLE INTO FROGS.” With my raised voice, Kar’niss came scurrying out of the tomato vines with his teeth bared.
“Your Majesty?! Is there trouble?!” I rubbed my temples.
“No, please keep eating.” Kar’niss slowly backed into the plants. I could see a couple of his legs sticking out from behind a large cabbage. He was watching to make sure I was okay. I giggled. I elbowed my mom and whispered to her. She saw him and giggled with me.
We spent most of the afternoon in the garden. Watching Kar’niss explore. He would bring us little pebbles and sticks. He asked what everything’s name was. We took turns teaching him.
When a small toad got close, Kar’niss bit it. It promptly fell over paralyzed. My eyes went wide enough for them to fall from my skull. Kar’niss started spinning the poor creature into a web. My mother and I shared an awe struck glance.
My father called out for us. We could hear him inside, but we were now paralyzed with watching the tiny drider. He wandered out into the garden. He came over to see what we were watching. He made a gleeful noise to which Kar’niss took his angry stance towards him.
“It’s fine Kar’niss. That’s my father.” He nodded and went back to wrapping the toad in his silk.
“He is a fine specimen. I can't wait for the guild to dissect him.” My head whipped around to look at my father. I had an overwhelming maternal instinct to protect the tiny drider.
“Don't you touch him!” My father had a surprised look on his face. He knew my disdain for any creepy creatures.
“Milvi… this is what I do. This is how we learn about them.”
“No. Final answer.” Kar'niss wasn't done with wrapping his next meal, but I scooped him up and walked back towards the house. I walked awkwardly to shade Kar'niss from the sunlight. “You can tell the bastards at your guild that he didn't hatch.”
I closed the backdoor with my foot. Slamming it harder than I anticipated. Kar'niss shivered in my hands.
“Majesty?” The poor thing looked upset. I just didn't want to take a chance of my father convincing me that the guild needed Kar'niss. He had swayed my opinions before. I didn't want anything to happen to the little drider.
“I'm sorry, Kar'niss. I'm not mad at you.” Kar’niss rubbed his head against my fingers.
I cried as I walked upstairs to my room. This poor, sweet, terrifying creature was mine to protect. I would defend him with everything I had and I would never let my father's guild take him.