I feel how my feet and toes sink into the mud in the shallow lake, as I traverse it while holding my dirty bunny slippers in my right hand. Each step scare away small shoals of dimly glowing cave fish that swim around in the lake. Even these gnats in the water start to look appetizing now...

"These fishies are not much to eat..." I complain as I am halfway through the lake. At this point my wet nightgown is starting to become dyed brown from all mud I kick up while wading. If my mom saw this she would be livid!

At the shore of the tree I see patches of grass exactly in the shapes that the sun shine through the cracks in the cave ceiling. Makes it look like the muddy ground is striped like a tiger. The tree which I am now closer to is truly huge! It looks like it is missing a lot of branches though, and the remaining ones are missing leaves at some spots. How did it ever get enough sun to grow here?

With a final push I crash into a patch of grass headfirst in front of me. I feel how my forehead is full of sweat, and my legs are now killing me with all the aching. Must had cut down on my exercise way too much after I quit my fighting lessons...

"Uhhh..." I whine as my head is planted firmly into the grass. This make me think of the time I went outside in the castle with my normal schoolwork teacher. We sat in the grass in the courtyard and he tried to teach me about grasses and roots. I was not too into it but it was enjoyable to spend time outside in the summer sun. I think he said that you can eat some roots, and he even gave me one to to try eating! Tasted like liquorice that time.

Dungeon nature oasis discovered.

Nature oasis? Wonder what the box mean with that? I should take a nap before I move any further. Moving across mud in water is very tiring! Before I fell asleep I thought I heard the sound of a distant high pitched bell. Must had been my imagination.

Health: 22/22 (32)

Further healing require: Nutrition and\or treating of wounds.

I wake up and this box showing my healthiness shows up... How long has I been asleep for? Also I can't heal any more without... Nutrition? Sounds like a tasty word. Then I hear my tummy making an incredibly loud growling noise, and I start hurting. Food. FOOD!

Then I hear the sound of tingling bells again in the distance. What is that? Then with effort I stand up and try listening for the curious sound. There it came again! Sounds like it came from behind the tree. I am hungry, but curious at the same time. I can't help checking it out.

As I sneak towards the back of the tree I put my plushie in front of me. Fluff shield, can't be too safe, you know. When I am about to turn around to find out what the noise maker is, I hear the sound again!

What I find on the other side is something beautiful... A dimly glowing green and brown dressed little girl with leafy green wings on her back. Her braided hair is brown colored which go all the way down her shoulders, and she got a daisy flower on one side in it. She looks back at me with equal amounts of curiosity as me. Who is she?

"Umm, hello?" I gently say and wave at the girl? The little girl continue to look at me as if she is judging me. She then puts a finger under her chin and then moves her head around as she looks at me from my toes to my horns.

Then she leaps up into the air from behind the tree and her wings start fluttering, making her float gracefully in the air. How can those tiny wings keep her up in the air!? She then puts her arms across her chest and glide towards me.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"First time I see your kind down here." The girl says in a cute voice and stops two arm lengths away from me.

"F- First time? Kind?" I stammer out to her. Did not expect her to be this talkative! She then pouts and put a knuckle under her chin.

"Your spirit is full of great evil and a tinge of demonic influence."

"Well... I... Don't know..."

"It is okay. Your demon kind has not caused me trouble. Yet." She sighs and puts her arms on her hips and glide around me instead.

"Demon kind?"

"You truly sound clueless. How did you even survive down here?"

"I did not come down here... On my own." She then suddenly appears in front of me upside down.

"How did you come down here then? You do not look like one of those pesky adventurers." The cheeky girl then points at my dirty nightgown and giggles.

"I got separated from my daddy by a flash of white lightning." She then flips herself so she is upright again and starts looking up into the ceiling cracks. "Then the next thing I knew I was down here."

"I see..." She then snaps down her head and look directly into my eyes. "Two cycles ago I felt a disturbance in the aura here. Must had been you then." With a great sigh she then asks me: "What is your name, demon?"

"Be'ial'ale, but you can call me Biali." As I answer her, my stomach is now rumbling again. The girl then looks with concern at me and flies toward the tree. A few seconds later she comes back with an odd looking fruit.

"You are starving." She says as she chucks the fruit at me. "My name is Arbri the Vengeful." The girl then smiles and flies back to me. "I got that name after I turned two parties of adventurers into mud after they desecrated my tree." Arbri looks very proud of her devious sounding name.

"Adventurers? Are they the same as heroes?" I ask Arbri as I start eating the fruit she gave to me. It tastes sweet and has a crunchy texture. Arbri then make a scornful look in her face and her fists start shaking.

"You could say so... Yes." Arbri then looks at me. "You see my tree? It has not always looked like this. A thousand cycles ago it used to be beautiful. Full of branches with leaves and fruits in all manner of colors!"

She then stop shaking her fists and a look of melancholy is upon her face. "Then the swarm of adventurers, or heroes as you call them arrived." The little girl then lands next to her tree and sits down while looking at me. "A lot of them tried taking my fruits and branches, but no matter how many I sent into their muddy graves, they never stopped coming." I can relate to her greatly with this.

"In the end my tree is a mockery of its former glory after being stripped of its branches, and robbed of its fruits. And for what!?" Arbri then starts sobbing. "What have I done to deserve this?" I finished eating my fruit and saw how Arbri became quiet. She then took off into the air again.

"I got a history myself with heroes..." I say and Arbri looks at me with anticipation. She then flies toward me and with great interest listen to my story about them. Arbri just kept nodding and her look of melancholy turned into anger over time. After what felt like ten minutes I was finished with my story.

"We are sisters of the same cause then." Says Arbri as she flies back to her tree with a smile on her face. She then sits on one of the remaining branches of her tree and starts humming.

Updated relation(s)

Arbri the Vengeful (Suspicious) → Arbri the Vengeful (Friendly)

"Thanks for the fruit, by the way." I say as I wave at Arbri. She just waves back and continue her humming. At least I am not feeling as hungry as before, and I got someone to talk to.

I wonder if I can get her to become my ally later, in order to push back the hero menace? She definitely hate them as much as I do! For now, I will need to find a lot more food. I will feel bad if I mooch off Arbri. That fruit though, I felt good just by eating it.

Health: 24/32

I think I now get why the heroes were after her tree. Delicious fruit which heals you. Arbri is too good, for her own good. I wonder why me, and my family get attacked back home all the time though? It is not like what we have is something you can't get elsewhere. Also what is my mommy and daddy up to? They must be worried sick about me!

Alright! I will try to see what I can do with the spells I learned during my studies. The [Lesser animate object] could be useful! I wonder if it works on my plushie? So far I only tried using it on lumps of clay and an abacus. Out of the clay did it mold itself into a tiny human which walked around, and the abacus went crazy with all the balls in it going in all directions until breaking apart!

You plushie, my faithful companion, are going to do great things together with me!