The forest no longer seemed empty. It lived, breathed, and changed. The ice crunched underfoot like glass, and clumps of frozen fog dripped from the branches. Kalen could feel confident footsteps behind him. His guards.
Seventeen ice spiders. Different in size and shape. Some with white markings on their carapaces, like ancient runes. One with an abnormally swollen chest, with fangs pointing inward. They didn't speak. But they felt.
Ward was silent, but Kalen knew that the shadow was watching.
"You're not just a human anymore. You're something else."
The spiders surrounded the clearing when Kalen felt... someone else's breath.
They emerged from the thick fog.
A race that he had only read about in ancient manuscripts.
"The Snowy Mirrae," he breathed.
They were about human height. Their skin was almost transparent, with blue veins. Their eyes had no pupils. They had ice-like bones and long, sickle-like fingers. And they bowed.
One of them, slightly larger than the others, approached.
"You are... the one we have been waiting for," he said. His voice was like the sound of freezing water. "The King of the Void. The Overlord."
Kallen sighed. The fatigue was biting into his bones, but... it was a pleasant feeling.
He stood up straight. He raised his head. And he took a step forward.
— Do you recognize me?"
Silence.
"Do you recognize me as your king?"
The icy creatures knelt. One, the very first, touched his forehead to the snow.
- yes.
Kalen felt the shadow pulsating in his back, spreading from the tattoo along his ribs.
And then he raised his hand, and concentrated, and summoned three more spiders from the icy cover of the earth. They came out from under the snow, like warriors who had long been waiting for a signal.
— Serve. Follow. Don't ask questions.
"They won't. These are yours. These... you're leading now."
Ward stepped out of the shadows and stood beside him. No words. No looks. Only strength. The shadow behind the king.
The snow crunches under their boots. A light, cold mist lingers at their feet. The spiders are arranged in a semicircle. Mirrae stands with her head bowed, like a guardian of an ancient cult.
But Kalen was only looking at him.
A huge ice spider, twice the size of a human. Its shell was cracked with white lines, like frozen lava. Its eyes were nine crystals, glowing with a dim blue light. Its breath was quiet... but its strength was like the weight of a skull in your hand.
While the others were bowing, he stood. Straight. Proud.
Kalen approached. Without fear.
"You're... different," he said. "You've been in this forest longer than anyone else. I can feel it."
Spider shook his head slightly.
"The strongest do not bow. They must be named."
It was Ward. The shadow whispered a thought.
Kalen nodded slowly.
He reached out, casually but firmly:
"From now on, you'll be called Thirk."
The spiders froze. The silence struck like a thunderclap.
Tar-Xir bowed slowly. His eight legs bent. His head almost touched Kallen's feet. And for the first time, he spoke, his voice as rasping as a broken tree:
"I am... Tirk. The King's First Claw."
The other spiders fluttered. The shadow pulsed. They whispered in their harsh language.
Kalen just smiled.