The woman before me was definitely not human. She wasn't tall, about 2 heads shorter than me - Even then, I could look eye to eye with most men these days - Much to my embarrassment her body was bare before me, her thin figure had the complexion of dark oak and in her pose filled with bravado I noticed a distinctive lack of genitalia and belly button.
I quickly focused on her head as I felt myself flushing, she was pretty, if sickly looking.
Her face was heart-shaped, with pouty lips and a button nose; but her gaunt cheeks and her noticeably pale features made me concerned.
Her vivid green eyes narrowed at me, I couldn’t help but wonder what I had gotten myself into.
“And you are?” She asked.
“Alexandria, nice to meet you? I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage.”
“A polite human? How novel, your kind usually doesn’t bother with such things…” Her gaze starts to wander a bit before refocusing on me, “You are quite far from your settlement little fox, tell me what brings you so close to my grove?”
“I was collecting firewood. I was just about finished when you… ambushed me, as you can surmise by the sticks all around us.” I said sheepishly while waving my hand over the ground. This’ll be a pain to pick up.
“Firewood.” She repeated the word with skepticism, “Are you sure you’re no hedge witch? I presume you didn’t notice but you passed through quite the powerful barrier and that’s not something any random girl can do.”
“I’m not, sorry. Magic isn’t an art I have any familiarity with I'm afraid. A sensible explanation would be that my mother is a nymph?” I hoped that it was enough of a reason for her because I was utterly lost on this subject.
She grunted at that
“That explains the look at least but even most spirits would be affected by it, it was specifically set to confuse the mind, subtle work.” She muses for a moment before turning around, “Follow me we’re not safe here.”
I hurried behind her, not really sure what else to do.
“What do you mean by that? Is it related to your appearance?”
“Yes, as you might have guessed I am a dryad, and the owner of this parcel of land.”
And to prove her point the underbrush ahead of us came alive in her presence, moving away as if servants unfolded a carpet of dirt and leaves for their master. It was a sight that awed the childish part of me that still dreamt of going into epic and fantastical adventures.
“I was taught that dryads are connected to a tree that represents their power. Is something wrong with yours?” I asked, I could barely imagine what matter of being or thing that could turn something as powerful as a dryad to this state. And guessing by her manner of speech she must have been quite old.
At my question she visibly bristled, as in literal thorns grew out of her long emerald hair and her arms. She took a deep breath before retracting them slowly, I assumed this took more effort than her usual.
“You could say that yes, not long ago I met a band of satyrs trespassing on my territory, to my luck they turned out to be part of the grape god’s cult and found my tree’s essence to be an excellent ingredient for their brew. Their leader cut off my link with it and I could only flee impotently lest they decided to succumb to their baser instincts.” She grimaced at that, and I could only sympathise, “And now here I am slowly wilting, I don’t see myself lasting much longer now. It’s fortunate that I found you first, you were heading straight towards them.”
As she finished her explanation we arrived at a foothill, the trees parted to make way for the entrance of a cave. Its interior was small but left enough room for the booths of us, giant roots were jutting out of the walls and served as seats for us.
Kyrillē sat with exertion, her mask of confidence fading to make way for the bone deep exhaustion she must have felt this whole time and she said, “You should stay here for at least a few hours, this place is safe ad should throw off any attempt to find us, I made sure of that.”
I sat awkwardly next to her, and was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the root was; It felt like a soft cushion that perfectly fit my behind. My enjoyment of it must have been visible because she chuckled right after.
“Thank you for saving me. I guess I’m in your debt.” I said while smiling wryly,
“Oh don’t worry about it, I couldn’t live with myself knowing I let a young woman fall into their clutches.” We fell into silence after that.
The laboured sound of her breathing made me very much aware of the fact that she was on borrowed time, her life slowly getting snuffed away by the acts of selfish assholes who wouldn’t blink at the thought of killing someone for a drink. I couldn’t fathom the internal logic needed for that but I imagined it was why satyrs were so disliked by my father. ‘Spirits aren’t human, but they can represent the extremes of what humanity can produce’, is what he used to say when he taught me about the world. Satyrs were creatures of the wild, symbols of male fertility in all of its aspects, and usually for ill from what I gathered.
“Can anything be done to fix this?” I couldn’t help but ask.
She furrowed her brows, frustration oozing out of her.
“There might have been a way if there were any other dryad in the surroundings, sharing a tree has been done before.” She uttered dispassionately, “But there’s no one of that sort around here and going too far from my territory would kill me as it is the only thing stymieing my decay. Teaches me to choose solitude in this backwater.”
I raised an eyebrow at that last part.
“No offence but it is. Being so far away from Olympus, Pylos is peaceful for a reason.”
“Can’t argue against that,” I sighed
What would he have done in this situation… Oh, I know
“I’ll help you.” I announced, cutting off the silence.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I’ll help you take back your tree, I can’t sit still knowing that you’re dying.”
My statement was met with immediate doubt.
“You do know that I managed to capture you even in this weakened state, what chance would we have against 4 of them?”
“You ambushed me! And I’ll admit that I’m not really used to fighting anything but stationary targets, but I’m plenty strong myself!” And to prove my point I flexed my bicep, showing toned muscles that spoke for themselves.
And I wasn’t lying, since I was young I always was stronger than the other kids, hell it was probably a factor for my isolation. Hard to bully someone who could lift you up with an arm. These days I could take down most grown men if I ever got into a fight and I could manhandle our ram with ease. This level of physical strength did concern my dad for a time but we concluded that it was a perk from mom’s side of the genealogical tree and left it at that.
From her expression this seemed to reassure her little but she took a pensive look at me.
“You do exude an unnatural amount of vitality now I take a proper look at you.” She hummed, “What was your mother exactly?”
“A sea nymph from what I was told, not that I feel that close to the sea anyway.”
“It doesn’t give us much to work with but it’ll have to do.” She said before leaning towards me, placing her hands on my cheeks.
“And what are you doing exactly?” I asked, bewildered.
“Gambling. Bypassing my protections made me guess there was something special about you, and your stores of essence confirm this theory. Your ancestry doesn’t explain it because powerful Naiads never bother courting anyone that isn’t of import but there’s a chance I can trigger something that might tip the scale in our favour.”
“It’s that simple?”
“Well no but it’s either that or I’ll wait for my death, some people happen to be born special, maybe you’re one of them.” She shrugs, “Now lay down.”
As she said that, the root I was sitting on slowly stretched out.
I wasn’t sure if it was the best course of action but with a sigh I did as she said.
“Are you sure we can’t take them by surprise? Attack them while they’re drowsy or something like that, pretty sure it’s a common occurrence for their cult.”
“Having great strength is nice but your weaponry is pretty much useless, most creatures have tough skin, including satyrs.”
Kyrillē scrunched her eyes for a moment, and I saw a purple flower sprout out of hair.
She plucked it, presenting it to me.
I was astonished to see it change colours suddenly, passing from a deep purple and yellow to a faint pink.
"This is an iris, and as you might have guessed it this is a symbol of the goddess sharing its name. You will have to eat it," I grimaced at that, "and I will then use it to link my essence to yours thanks to its ties with the concept of messages, essentially opening the gate locking away your potential… a part of it at least."
Well that was more esoteric theory than I thought I would ever learn in my life.
"And it's a common thing? this magical potential you're talking about." I asked, extremely curious.
"About 1 in a 1000 humans possesses something similar from what I gathered, whether it's a special ability or talent. But traditionally, it is slowly unlocked over time thanks to a variety of factors like battle or studying. We're cheating a bit I must admit."
I took the flower from her, it changed to a soft brown this time.
To think it was the first time being the odd one out helped me in any tangible way.
I took a deep breath
"Let's do it."
Kyrillē had a hesitant look on her face.
"You can still refuse if you wish to, I certainly wouldn't blame you for doing so."
I looked at her before refocusing on the flower, it was red.
"I was always told to do the right thing if I ever had the occasion, I am seizing it right now."
I put the flower in my mouth before swallowing, it was way smoother than I thought it would be.
She put a hand on my forehead.
"Thank you Alexandria, let's hope this won't be for nothing."
Motes of green light gathered over her hands before slowly sinking in my skin, the warmth they left behind made me increasingly aware of the fact that I was potentially leaving behind my mundane life, I… I was conflicted about it.
My vision blacked out, it felt like I was staring at something but I saw nothing but the cold indifferent void. I waited for a moment before realising that nothing was going to happen.
Am I actually disappointed?
The abyss didn't respond to me, as expected.
Here I am working myself over to actually do something out of myself and obviously I fail, how will I be able to face K-
It was then that the world turned white, a gigantic tree of pure snow overtook my sight, and with it my consciousness.