It was too much. They were too much. These… humans would not see.

Selene had thought that once. She had taken drastic measures. And she had been punished for it.

Now she was no longer like them. She knew the world for what it truly was. She could feel everything around her. Everything that moved within her webs.

Her children scuttled around silently. Some of them were sapient but she treated them no different than those with less understanding. They were still better than those dullards.

Her threads carried the stack of paper into the light. Something brought by an outsider. Had it been a human, she would have fed it to her children. But it was not. It was a bird. An owl. An evolved species called sgiathan dorcha. Something that lived in the darkness just like her.

The research it had asked her to look at was not its own. But it was not from humans. And it seemed interesting. Thaumaturgy brought to bear on weave. Clothes were the intention but she had no need for such.

Still, she would consider it. If only to honour the trade. The owl had brought her a Thaumonomicon and metals. Two things she could not get on her own. The metals… were already used up. It had not been much to trade for a few crystals. At least the spider now had thaumium. And she had an idea.

Vibrations ran through the webs and within moments her children gathered close. They used their webs to pull the thaumium into position. Terra, vitreus and aqua were their aspects. And they combined to metallum and vitium. They could go further towards herba but spiders had no need for plants.

Those aspects were now put to bear. Her children took it upon themselves to thread the thaumium into fine lines. It was woven with their silk. Soon, Selene had what she wished for. Magical silk to replace parts of her web. She would have loved to make an infusion altar but there was no way for her to get an eldritch pearl. There was a reason those altars were usually passed down from master to student. Maybe the owl had one? She felt like a capable thaumaturge. One who had a deep understanding of the world.

Pushing the thought aside, Selene continued her work. Soon, the webs were set up. Thaumium threads spiralled around a centre. Had someone from a different world seen it, they would have likened it to a galaxy. But Selene did not know that word.

The spider positioned herself close to the centre of the new formation. After a few minutes, she had confirmed everything to be set up properly. She started to produce her silk. Slowly at first, as she observed the vis flowing through the web. The node was fuelling part of it, her children adding what else she needed.

Hours later, she was finally done. Selene had woven her silk into a blanket infused with vis along the way. It vibrated with energy. And yet, it was faulty. Small parts were unevenly thick and she could spot two holes. This would not do. Again. Tomorrow.

The spider had to take a break during the storm. She always made sure her home would not be harmed. Not by the water. Not by the wyverns. Not by the vis rising in its wake. This was why she had settled here. The Stormbringer was travelling along the world. It would pass over the mountains twice a year, though Selene suspected they were different. How else could one bring water and the other snow? It made no sense to her.

The primitive thaumic weave broke apart under the energies. She observed what happened but could not come to any conclusion. It was frustrating. She needed to know more. She needed more thaumium. More brass. More aspects. More!

No.

Calm.

Selene settled her mind. The web stopped vibrating. Her children chittered. The smarter ones brought her something to eat. Soon, she was back to her own mind.

She could get more. She just needed to be patient. The owl would return. She could ask for trade. It would be easy. She had many crystals. And knowledge.

Her mind returned to a moment she could never forget.

The human woman stood before her peers. They were sneering at her.

“You do not know what you are saying, moron!”, they said.

“You have never peered beyond the veil!”, they shouted. As if they had.

“Your mind is too warped, Selene”, she said. The woman in her grey armour. A red cloth was hung over her shoulders covering the front and back. It held the symbol of the Crimson Knights. The paladins sworn to protect all humans.

“You need to slow down.”

The woman would not stop berating her. Selene could never accept the words of a knight. They knew not. They could not know. And so she left. She found her node. She became a [Node Guardian]. And then she evolved.

Back in the present, the spider scanned her nest. The humans may have taken the wrong approach but maybe others would understand her. Like the owl. She could not wait for her to return.