Over two thousand years ago, there was once a young dryad that was unlike anyone else of her species. While dryads normaly chooses to bond with a tree in order to get stronger, this particular dryad did not.
"Why would I bind myself to one place when I can walk around however I wish?" she would answer when asked why. The dryad loved her freedom and was determined to keep it. She spent her days strolling around in the forest, seducing people that happened upon her and playing with the fairys. Happy with her life, she never thought it would change. But life is unpredictable and the dryad would soon learn this lesson.
One day while walking around in the forest, just like normal, the dryad met a group of adventurers. She had seen plenty of their kind before and therefore approached them without fear. But these particular adventurers had darkness in their hearts. A dryad without a tree is weak and vulnarable and would sell good on the market. So they tricked her into following them into the city, promising her that they would teach her about humans and show her the world. As naive as she was, the dryad believed and followed them.
But the moment they arrived at the city the adventurers revealed their true intentions by putting a slave collar on the dryad, cutting of the little power she had. Confused, the dryad asked what they were doing. To this the adventurers laughed.
"Ain't it obvious?" one of them said mockingly. "We are going to sell you!". Even thou the dryad didn't know much about humans she did know whatthe adventurer meant and tried to flee, but to no avail. Without a tree dryads are nearly completely defenseless so she was easily stopped.
The adventurers dragged her to the slave market, ignoring her pleads and screams for mercy, for their hearts were as cold as ice and full of greed. When she arrived at the slave market the dryad saw the true nature of man for the first time. Rows of people standing like cattle ready for slaughter, without any hope in their eyes. Abused, badmouthed and treated like dirt, just because they were a little bit different. Just because they had animal ears and tails.
The dryad could not comprehend what she saw. Why would they do this? Why would they treat each other so badly, just because they are different?
The slave auction soon started and she was forced to watch as lives were sold of and traded, as if they were nothing but objects. Eventually it was her turn, her turn to go up on the stage and sold off.
When she stepped up the crowd gasped, staring at the being in front of them. Dryads are something you rarely see so everyone got excited when they saw her. The bidding began. The price rose to tremendous hights until one finally bested the others. A rich noble had bought her to be one of his many playthings. She got transported to the nobles mansion where he started to abuse her.
The dryad had seduced plenty of people in her life, cause that is the nature of a dryad, but what the noble mad her experience was something else. It was rough and unloving and she didn't like it. But when she tried to resist she would get punished in the cruelest of ways that I can't even mention without causing chivers to be sent down my spine.
She wasn't the only slave the noble had purchased. No, there were plenty of young men and women, all with dead eyes. Seeing this sorry state she would turn into if she remained she tried to escape multiple times but she never succeded. The noble would not let his new toy escape.
Multiple days and nights passed and the dryad lost more and more hope but she never gave up. She refused to become a mere shell of a being, once proud and free.
Luckily the dryad wasn't the only one that despised the noble. His cruelty was known throughout the land and he have gained a lot of enemies. Even the people he reigned over hated him. So one day his subjects rebelled with the help of another noble. They stormed the nobles mansion and killed him, setting the mansion on fire in the process.
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Seeing her chance the dryad escaped but she got wounded on her way out by a confused rebell. She headed deep into the forest, the only place where she ever felt safe. She ran the entire night before finally collapsing because of her untreated wounds. The dryad started to weep, all the emotions she had held inside of her poured out. In her moment of despair, a voice called out.
"Why are you crying?" the voice asked. The dryad, afraid it was another human, crept up against a tree, making herself as small as possible. "There's no need to be afraid, I won't hurt you" the voice said with a kind tone. This time the dryad noticed the source of the voice. It was the tree.
"Wh-who are you?" she asked, her body still shaking.
"I am a friend, the tree responded but seeing the dryads doubting expression he continued. "I have no name but I can promise this; I am not someone that seeks to harm you". Hearing the trees kind voice the dryad decided to trust him, for she had talked with trees before and they did not tend to lie.
"May I ask for your name?" the tree asked.
"Just like you I have no name" the dryad answered, staring down into the ground. Only dryads that have bonded with a tree have names. Suddenly the dryad felt an immense pain.
"You're hurt!" the tree exclaimed with clear panic in it's voice. The dryad, unable to answer because of her injuries, felt a little happy hearing this. She was happy because someone cared about her, even if it was in her dying moments. Closing her eyes, finally feeling at peace, the dryad felt happy at last.
She found herself floating around in absolute darkness. It was cold and silent. Fear filled her as she fully realized the meaning of death.
"No! I don't want this!" the dryad shouted but there was no one that could hear her deperate calls. "I want to live! I want to see the sun and feel the breeze on my skin again!" She started to search for a way out of the darkness when she saw it. A ray of ligth. Seeing this the dryad started fighting for her life, running towards the light. But the more she ran the further away the light seemed to be. All felt hopless until a voice suddenky resounded.
"You can do it! You can live!" it shouted. The dryad recognized the voice for she had heard it moments before; it was the tree. Its voice filled her with new strength and courage and once again she charged towards the light. She got closer and closer until... she reached it. Light enveloped her and when she opened her eyes she was met with a pink sky and the branches of the tree.
"You did it!" the tree exclaimed happily, with a voice full of delight. In that instant the dryad fell in love. The tree had saved her from death and it had made her sad heart skip a beat. All of her blood rushed to her head, causing her to blush and feel whimsy. She had never felt like that before.
Not entirely sure what to do the dryad embraced the tree. The rough bark against her bare skin felt good, almost natural, and she could feel the life pulsating underneath it. At that moment she knew what she had to do.
"Oh tree, please accept and allow me to bond with you!" she exclaimed. For a moment the tree was silent and the dryad was afraid that it would reject her. But then...
"When I first saw you I was enchanted by your beauty and when I saw you cry the only thing I wanted to do was to make you smile" the tree said causing the dryad to get stunned by the sincerity of its words. "The moment you stopped breathing it felt as if I was going to die myself" the tree continued, "and when you opened your eyes it was if the entire world seemed brighter. So, if you could settle with a tree like me then I would be more then happy to say yes".
Hearing this the dryad started to cry. The beauty and sincerity of the words just spoken made it's heart tremble like never before. Gently she kissed the tree.
"From this day on until the end of our lives we will never separate..." she said, knowing the right words by instinct. "Our lives are one, our minds united and destinies linked. Your name shall be Florent and mine Esther... Do you accept?"
"I do". The moment those words were uttered the wheels of fate started to turn and little did they know that they would become known through history as the strongest pair. It was first 300 years later that they met Orethon and joined his cause, but that is a tale for another day.