The Spider Queen

(Zrudread University- Hidden Location)

(Archmage Hollystorm's Mage Tower)

"Astrid… this is definitely a bad idea," Qiana whispered softly as she nervously glanced around the room.

"Nah it'll be fine… the archmage isn't coming back until tomorrow… so we have the tower all to ourselves!" Astrid happily exclaimed as she wrapped her furry paw around her girlfriend.

Today was a special day.

Her mentor had to visit his colleagues at Mer University, so he had given her some essays to write in the tower's library.

Astrid had finished writing the papers early so she decided to invite Qiana over to spend the rest of the day with her in the tower.

Okay… so the archmage didn't know that she had invited a guest over but… he wouldn't find out since he wasn't coming back until tomorrow!

"Why did I let you talk me into this?" Qiana groaned as she was led up a long and winding stairway towards an unknown location.

"Oh, don't be such a worrywart! I'll protect you from the wards and defensive runes," Astrid proudly spoke as she snapped her fingers.

A blue light emerged from her fingertips and merged into Qiana's body.

It was the master key rune to prevent the wards inside the tower from recognising her girlfriend as an intruder.

Astrid hummed happily as she led her girlfriend up the stairs and towards a special room that she thought that Qiana would enjoy.

The space inside a mage's tower was often… peculiar.

Especially in the case of Archmage Hollystorm's tower since he specialised in spatial magic.

The staircase seemed to go on forever and one would eventually find themselves walking upside down, sideways, and even backwards.

Astrid was used to the odd nature of the house, but Qiana was finding it difficult to adapt to the sudden shifts in gravity.

Spatial mages were particularly difficult opponents for assassins because it was hard to get a lock on their location.

Plus, magic in general was a bit tricky to deal with.

Qiana held her girlfriend's paw tightly since she was afraid that if she let go then she would be forever trapped in this strange place.

The pair eventually arrived at a set of magnificent glass doors with intricate bluish-green runes carved onto its outer surface.

These runes hummed with power and the air crackled with electricity. Astrid felt a small tingle run down her spine and she took in a deep breath.

The air was filled with pure mana.

It was hard to describe what that felt like. For a mage being able to breathe in mana was a familiar yet still oddly pleasant sensation.

"Aperi tibi ostium," Astrid chanted as she placed her hand on the door and channeled the mana inside her heart.

The glass doors slowly slid open to reveal a large open space. Qiana followed her girlfriend into the room, and it was like she had stepped into another world.

The large space beyond the door was actually a forest with trees that spread out endless towards the infinite horizon.

A bright blue light burned brightly in the sky and Qiana could not tell what exactly the source of light was.

It looked like an ordinary star but as her eyes focused on its shape… something was off about its appearance.

Unfortunately, she could not tell what the discrepancy was.

The air was hot and humid which caused beads of sweat to run down the young woman's brow which she wiped off using her hand.

Soft yellowish grass crunched beneath her feet and there was a nice smell in the air of fresh herbs and earth.

"What is this place?" Qiana asked curiously.

"This my dear is one of the pocket dimensions inside the tower!" Astrid nonchalantly spoke as if this wasn't a big deal.

After spending so much time with an archmage, Astrid's common sense had been warped somewhat and she genuinely believed that it was no big deal to possess a pocket dimension.

"Do I have to be careful of anything here?" Qiana asked softly as she approached one of the trees.

"No. This place is completely safe… but just handle the trees with care. They don't like it when you play with them too roughly," Astrid warned seriously.

"Play?" Qiana raised an eyebrow and asked.

Astrid simply shook her head and then gestured towards the tree.

Qiana knew that there was something that her girlfriend wasn't telling her, but her natural curiosity made her want to discover what that was.

She slowly stretched out her hand toward a nearby tree and to her surprise a wooden hand that had an identical appearance to her own emerged from the trunk of the tree.

The hand grabbed her palm before she could react and shook her hand up and down with vigorous motions.

Qiana finally managed to wrestle her hand out of the firm handshake and the tree began to shudder as if it was crying.

One of the trees next to it stretched out a branch and wrapped it around its companion as if it was comforting it.

"Astrid… what the hell was that?" Qiana exclaimed in shock as she back away and turned to her girlfriend for an explanation.

"Magic!" Astrid happily replied as she shook her paws from side to side with a silly expression on her face.

Qiana was not amused by the Mendolesa girl's teasing and patiently waited to hear a proper explanation.

"Alright… alright…" Astrid raised up her paws in mock surrender.

"The archmage picked up these plants from a hidden planet in the Andromeda system. Apparently, they are highly intelligent almost on the level of type four civilisations."

"But how? How could trees develop intelligence? Do they have brains?" Qiana was now fascinated by the peculiar nature of the plants inside the pocket dimension.

"Not sure… my mentor studied them a few decades ago but all his research notes are somewhere in the library," Astrid thoughtfully replied.

"I come down here every now and then just to say hello, but they can't really have a conversation with me."

"Or maybe they can, and I just don't understand their language."

Qiana glanced back at the trees and saw that they had now resumed their original positions as if nothing had just happened.

This place was really weird.

Qiana knew that dating a girl who was into magic was going to be an… interesting experience but man… this was something else.

Living trees? Pocket dimensions? Endless staircases?

She could only hope that when Astrid became an official archmage that she would design a relatively ordinary mage tower with none of these surprises.

"Shall we continue our tour?" Astrid suddenly spoke and interrupted Qiana's train of thought.

"Sure… where are we going to next?" Qiana asked softly.

"It's a surprise," Astrid grinned wolfishly and winked at her girlfriend as she led her out of the pocket dimension room.

The pair did not notice that several of the trees extended out of their branches and shook them slightly as if waving goodbye.

Astrid's tail wagged furiously as she walked up the stairs while wrapping her paws around Qiana's waist.

Her girlfriend rolled her eyes at the sudden display of affection, but a secret red flush began to spread up her cheeks.

Qiana would never admit it, but Astrid's joyful nature was one of the main reasons that she had fallen in love with her.

It was impossible to stay angry or upset when spending time in the company of a sweet ball of sunshine.

Especially one that was so cute in both her normal and human form.