Túeth’s POV
Túeth did not know what to think when Nymph came down and told her someone was coming up to break into the second floor and take the girls. Her mind had simply frozen at that moment. It was likely more accurate to say that she stopped thinking. A second later, Nymph told her the man just broke through the window and was already in the room. This finally got her moving.
Túeth’s body seemed to move on its own at this point. For the past couple weeks in this house, she had only gone up to that room to bring the boys their food and to bring out and wash their chamber pot. She was afraid of even this interaction though. Lately, every time she tried to go up there, one of the girls would try to approach her. She was not so good at telling them apart yet, but she had reason to suspect it was always the same one. From what she had heard about them, it was most likely Aerien.
Aerien had started calling her “mother.” When she had come down the stairs, looking worried about her after she was in a particularly vulnerable moment, she had called her “mother.” That child... Eirlathion was exactly right about her. Túeth had not even been in her life at all until very recently, and yet she had called her mother all the same.
Túeth had hoped she could push the girls away. She could just be the master’s apprentice who took care of them sometimes, not their mother. The master could be their father, she could be nothing at all to them, and one day they would just remember her as something of an older sister and never know. This did not happen. Somehow, a mere little girl of not even a year old had recognized her mother immediately. Not only that, she tried to do everything she could to be close to her every single time she was in the room.
This was the reason why... she simply could not go into that room. The master had offered her a bed on the other side of his lab if she didn’t want to sleep in the room with the girls, but even that would require her to enter the second floor two additional times during the day. This is why she had her bed down here. She could stay down here and only have to go up there the absolute minimum number of times. So long as she left the humans’ food near the stairs and didn’t go toward them, and drew a wide angle around them as she went to collect the chamber pot, she could take advantage of the fact that Aerien still did not move that quickly as she tried to crawl in her direction.
When Aerien had noticed this is what she was doing, she stopped trying to approach her. Instead, she started just calling out to her. She would ask her why she didn’t want to be with her. Why she always ran away. Why did she hate her daughters. She would say... she knew she didn’t hate them... so why does she keep running away. Invariably, it would always end with Aerien crying loudly as she was walking down the stairs. It had gotten to a point where Túeth absolutely dreaded going up to that room. Every time she did, she would have to face that child again.
Why... why couldn’t that child see that.. she couldn’t be their mother? That child... it was exactly like the master had said. She was so intelligent that it was terrifying. How was it that such a small child always seemed to know exaxtly the right words to get to her in just the few moments she spent in that room? How did she know... the best ways to make this so incredibly difficult? She was shaken every time she had gone up there. Half the time, as soon as the stairs were closed, she simply broke down and cried herself as Aerien’s crying that she seemed to be intentionally trying to make as loud as possible could be heard still coming from above.
That child should stop. That child should hate me! I am the mother who wanted them dead! I have no right to be around them! How could she possibly yearn for such a disgusting mother that much!?
As Túeth climbed the dreaded stairs yet again, she began to feel like she was no longer in control of her own body. She felt like an observer, watching from the back of her mind as someone else controlled her actions. She felt... completely numb even as her heart rate began to build and there was a prickling feeling in the back of her mind.
“-et e go!”Túeth heard the powerful and determined voice of an infant. Before she even laid eyes on the situation, she knew that could only be Aerien! A second later, she saw an adult man struggling to keep a small infant in his arms as she seemed to be punching him in the chest repeatedly with one arm while actually clinging to his chest with the other for leverage. A baby’s punches shouldn’t have an effect on an adult, but somehow, it looked like he had a look of genuine pain on his face.
“What’s going on!?” Túeth demanded as soon as she entered the room. He started talking at this point, but Túeth could not hear the words he said. Her mind at this point was completely on that child, Aerien, who he was holding. And then, she heard THAT word. Grey elves. The very second she heard that word, the last shred of caution was gone from her as that word shook her to her very core. “Let her go!” The words erupted from Túeth’s body.
Somehow, she had crossed the distance between them. She didn’t even remember taking the three or so steps that had previously separated them. However, he had easily intercepted her and had a hand on her shoulder. He managed to shove her to the ground without even budging an inch despite her mad charge. The cultivation he had gained as a hunter showed as he had that kind of power to freely receive a full charge that Túeth had literally put her entire being into.
No, he had not fully received it. As Túeth fell to the ground, he also went stumbling backward off his feet until he hit a wall and slumped to the floor. Maybe his power was not as great as she had thought? He seemed genuinely surprised as well to have been forced back. As Túeth tried to scramble back to her feet though, she saw Aerien get up and throw a punch straight up that seemed to miss his head, going past his left ear. To Túeth’s surprise though, he actually screamed in shock and pain as Aerien’s hand went past him.
She managed to escape from him after that. He struggled with Aerien a little more and then she rolled away from him. Good! It looks like she has escaped somehow. As soon as Aerien was clear, Túeth pounced on the man viciously. “Leave my daughter alone!” She yelled with all the venom she cold muster. She didn’t even realize she was saying it, but somehow the words also felt so right and they made her feel powerful. She shook the hunter by the shoulders and hit his head against the wall as he raised his bloody left hand to join the right one on his neck.
Wait... blood!? Túeth had only just now realized it for the first time. The man seemed to be covered in bloody wounds. Were those there before when she first saw him? She didn’t have the time to really think to hard about all of this, because a second later she heard the sound of Aerien behind her, screaming louder than she had ever heard her scream.
Túeth’s panicked brain managed to jump gears as she heard this. She turned around and rushed to her side. The child was thrashing about on the ground next to a bloody knife. The girl was covered in blood herself. It was all over her hands, there was some of it on her face, but most frightening of all it seemed to completely soak the entire left side of her dress. Realization dawned on her. That man... he must have stabbed her! He came here planning to kill the girls right here and now! Aerien was still alive, but she had to get her help!
Túeth scooped her up, holding the thrashing child tightly to her chest as she ran back down the stairs. She arrived at the front entry way and began channeling mana to tell Nymph to open, but... for some reason, nothing happened. Why wasn’t Nymph responding? Why now!? Túeth could hear the entire tree groaning around her, but the door wouldn’t open.
-
Nymph’s POV
The elf was coming toward Aerien, the babie who made the most mana and spirit energy. This made nymph very very angry.
Nymph could not do anything. Not without someone’s spirit energy coming directly to them to tell them what to do. Even if Nymph had the extra mana from Aeirein, it was useless without spirit energy that knew what they wanted it to do. But maybe, if this elf had any magic and could see nymph then maybe they could do something. Nymph tried to get in the elf’s face, but the elf did not seem to notice them.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Nymph could feel Aerien’s energies doing something weird. They quickly became much weaker, but also seemed to become more stable. It felt like something was changing. Nymph did not know what was happening, but after they noticed this Aerien started doing something really stupid, but it was what a baby did so Nymph knew it was not her fault. But, what Aerien did was she walked straight to the elf after fighting with the human who was trying to take her away like Nymph had told them. The elf picked up Aerien, and then nymph felt the weird thing going on in Aerien’s energies grow stronger.
Aerien’s energies started to feel really really different. It was a little like what Nymph felt when they were trying to use mana and spirit energy to grow. Nymph had never felt this coming from an elf before. The master had said that his “cultivating” is a lot like when nymph was trying to use the energy to grow, but the master’s energy felt very very different from what Nymph was feeling from Aerien right now.
Nymph was distracted though. They tried to start thinking of something else they could do. The master’s apprentice came and ran at the elf, and they pushed each other over. After this, Aerien stood up and started struggling with the elf. Nymph could see Aerien was covered in animal sap. Nymph knew this was called blood because of master, but animal sap was what all the other tree spirits called it so Nymph called it the same thing.
Aerien had a lot of it all over one side of her, but then Nymph saw that Aerien hit the elf’s hand as he tried to reach for her and saw his hand start to bleed his sap as well. Nymph also saw the elf’s chest where he was holding Aerien. It was also completely covered in the elf’s sap. When the elf pulled back his hand, that was when Nymph saw the knife Aerien had in her hand. Nymph was confused. When did Aerien get that knife?
Nymph realized that Aerien was fighting against the elf, and doing a good job. She stapped him in the knee. After that, she got away from him and dropped the knife next to her when she stopped. After this, she looked up to the window. Nymph had been paying a lot of attention to what was going on inside, but as soon as Aerien looked outside Nymph looked outside as well. Two more elves were climbing up the vine to the window. This is bad, they still needed to close the window.
This is when Nymph felt a lot of mana. Not just the normal mana, a WHOLE lot of mana. There was also a whole lot of spirit energy attached to it.
“HELP ME!!” The message sent through Aerien’s spirit energy was incredibly loud. It was much much louder than even the strongest spirit energy command Nymph had ever received. Nymph felt themself completely overflowing. Aerien’s mana and spirit both penetrated the entire tree. “HELP! IT HURTS!!”
The incredible spirit energy continued to pour in. The words from Aerien were not the only thing carried with this spirit energy though. They were powerful, but they were not the thing making Nymph go crazy. It was like nothing Nymph had ever felt before. Aerien’s spirit energy had a lot of intelligence behind it. Nymph was filled with knowledge beyond anything they had ever learned from master. It was knowledge that seemed to come from way outside, millions of voices and memories were rushing into Nymph with this spirit energy.
As the mana permiated the tree, it started to cause the tree to grow. It grew very fast. Nymph cast their eyes outside. They saw the two elfs climbing the vine fell when Nymph’s tree started to grow. At the same time, the spirit flowed into Nymph. The spirit energy made Nymph feel stronger and smarter than Nymph had ever felt.
Nymph could feel a transformation starting. They could feel their spirit growing as rapidly as the tree. Nymph’s spirit projection vanished, entering the tree once again in order to better form this power that was surging into them.
Nymph found suddenly that they could see everything. Their consciousness spread out to the entire area, everywhere, it was not just inside the tree anymore. Nymph could see all the way out far beyond the spirit trees that were where the other tree spirits lived. All of the tree spirits, both the nature spirits and the other nymph all started to come toward Nymph’s tree. Nymph could feel all the others combining with them.
Nymph understood what was happening now. They had heard about this before. When a plant spirit becomes powerful enough, it gains consciousness and becomes a nymph. At this time, all the other plant spirits around combine with it and make it into a nymph. Nymph did not remember this happening to them, but it must have happened. Now, all the nymph in the entire grove, and also all the spirits were coming to combine witn Nymph. Nymph was going to become the next form of a tree spirit, a dryad.
Nymph… no, Dryad, knew what they had to do now. Dryad had to protect Aerien. Aerien’s spirit message said “Help me.” She want’s Dryad to make all of the people causing her problems to go away. It was that fey dragon who brought all the elves here. It was HIS fault! A Dryad was supposed to be able to act without needing spirit energy from others anymore, but Aerien’s spirit was just so strong there was no ignoring it. Also, Dryad didn’t WANT to ignore it! It was his fault! He attacked master’s house, and he tried to hurt the babies! But first, Dryad would deal with the one who had come inside and attacked them.
That one, Dryad hated that one even more! That one had violated them and attacked those they were keeping safe. Now that Dryad could do something about it with their own will, they would. They pulled the intruder into the very wall he was leaning against, encasing him on every side with wood. After he was away from where everyone could see him, Dryad crushed his body until his mana could no longer be felt.
Now, it was time to direct their attention back outside. Now that Dryad wasn’t just a Nymph anymore, Dryad understood everything about what that dragon had wanted to do. The elves are afraid of grey elves. They are afraid of grey elves because the corrupted elves always try to go where they are to kill them. So, the elves always kill the grey elves first before that can happen. That’s what he was trying to do to Aerien.
Nymph knew that the elves would kill the babies, but this was only because the master had said so. Now, Dryad knew a whole lot more. Dryad knew the stuff that came from Aerien’s spirit, and Dryad also had the memories of all the other nymph who had fused to give Dryad power. Now Nymph knew exactly what it was that fey dragon had said and exactly what they had planned.
“The mages are important to help protect the village, and Eirlation is the strongest. It would not be wise to cross him. He will become uncooperative if we act against him. However, we do not want to take the risk of them really being grey elves. He will probably lie if we were to question him. So, bring the children to me while he is out today. I will make my judgement once I have seen them for myself.”
That was what he had said. And, the girls really were grey elves too. There is only one thing he would have done when he saw they really were grey elves. But, why was he doing this when the tainted ones were already in the forrest? There was no need for it! It was obvious, the reason he couldn’t let this one alone was because of foolish tradition! He was going to kill Aerien and Gaerien over that absolute foolishness!
It made Dryad sick with anger when they put all of the pieces together. They had never been able to feel emotions this deep or this strong before. But, now that they understood so much more, it had awakened a new level of capacity to feel hatred within them that went far beyond the petty forms of anger they had felt before.
Dryad had finished their evolution now. It had gone incredibly fast. Aerien’s power flooding into and overflowing the entire grove of all the trees in the area had attracted all the spirits so quickly that Dryad was fully evolved in mere seconds. So, it was time to go out and make that dragon pay!
Dryad manifested themself, and all the elves looked up to see their new spirit form that was as big as all of them. Dryad understood now that what they had become is something all the elves look up to and respect on a level every single bit as high as the fey dragons. No, higher even. While the powers of a dryad and a fey dragon are roughly equal, this is only to say that the weakest dryad is equal to the weakest dragon, and the same logic works at the upper end as well. There is actually a world of difference in power between any dryad and dragon depending on their age and how much power they had accumulated.
Dryad had only just become a dryad. Normally, it should be completely impossible for them to win against that dragon. However, right now, Dryad felt the overwhelming power coming from Aerien still coming in, and it just kept making Dryad feel stronger and stronger the longer it flowed. Dryad knew. They just knew that they could win this!
“YOU DID THIS! YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE!!!” Dryad shouted. They could have said more. With Dryad’s newfound intelligence, they could have easily explained exatly what they had done, but Dryad’s hatred would not allow for it. And besides that, Dryad knew something from what they had learned from Aerien’s spirit energy now. They understood that simply shouting a battle cry would unnerve their opponent and leave them more vulnerable to attack.
Dryad felt all the trees. The entire area had turned into Dryad’s body, and because Dryad was made from the consciousness of all the nymph who inhabited the trees in this place before, Dryad had the ability to split their attention and move every limb of every tree individually to do their will. Dryad moved the tree directly behind the fey dragon, bashing him over the head. He had escaped too much damage by reacting quickly, and he was trying to fly away, but Dryad would not let him!
Dryad moved all the ivy vines in the area. They quickly captured the fleeing dragon. The dragon began trying to burn the vines in order to escape, but those vines were not normal now that they were part of Dryad’s body. The mana that flowed through them now would protect them from the flames. However, Dryad could tell those flames were extremely hot. Just the protection the mana already flowing through those vines was likely not enough. So, they knew they would have to add more.
Dryad pulled into the power Aerien was dumping into their tree and bid it all to come out. If Aerien was still giving all of this power, then it was in Dryad’s nature to use all of it. The mana was so strong that the tree and the vines both began to glow, visible for everyone to see. The vines were now absolutely protected from everything the dragon could do. More than that though, they were also far strongher now, and Dryad could coil them tighter. Dryad kept making the vines pull harder and harder until it pulled the dragon’s wing right off.
“NO! IT HUUUURTS!!!”
Suddenly, Aerien’s thoughts of pain grew even stronger. They now dominated the previous cry for help that she had made. It was so powerful now that Dryad could feel all the pain as well. It all echoed through Dryad’s body, and as Dryad was in their spirit projection they could feel all the parts of Aerien’s body where it hurt. The pain was so far beyond anything Dryad had ever known. Dryad had hardly known any pain, but there were a lot of memories of pain coming from all the memories Dryad had gained from Aerien’s spirit energy. In all those memories though, there were very few that had experienced something that could be comparable to this pain.
It was a pain on the level of those who were being tortured to their death. The bitter memories of those who had died in such overwhelming pain. That was the only thing that even came close. It was only now that Dryad had realized the significance of such memories existing within the information Aerien had given. Dryad was too blinded by hate before. They could not stop to think about it now though, the pain had overtaken them to a point they could no longer function.