Dryad's Forest

"Cool, yeah, can you give me back my companion, we have to be somewhere," I say as I try walking past her, hoping to find Venus in the village behind her. She suddenly grabbed me by the hand with incredible strength.

"Before I show you where your companion is, we need to ask you some questions." She said with an intense yet seductive voice as she pulled me towards what seemed to be the biggest house in the village. As we kept walking I noticed all the dryads in the area staring at us and bowing as we walked by. The village reminded me of a medieval village, with the dryads carrying water and building houses, the difference in technology was huge.

We got into the house and I was seated, two guards stood behind me to make sure I couldn't run away. The Dryad in front of me sat down on her seat and smiled at me.

"Umm, so, what did you want to ask me?" I said, being cautious of my surroundings.

"Before, let me introduce myself, I am Iris, the head of this village."

"Um, I'm Oliver, a human?"

"How did you enter this place," she swiftly asked after I introduced myself.

"Um, I found the barrier, I pushed on it and it went BOOP BOOP and turned green, and then I just fell in." I said, questioning why that was such an unbelievable occurrence

"How is this possible?" she whispered to herself, then she noticed the charm I wore around my neck.

"What is that, around your neck?" She said pointing at the charm.

I wasn't sure if I was allowed to tell her so I responded with "Just a charm my mother gave me before passing away, the water inside is to remind me that she will always be with me." I said hoping to fool her, and hoping she couldn't sense the magic coming from the charm.

"Hmmm, I sense something coming from the charm, how about you let me borrow it?" She said as she slowly walked towards me in a very seductive manner.

"Ummm, I think I am just going to go, haha," I said as I got up, but was instantly forced back into my seat by roots that appeared from the ground. The roots cuffed my hands behind my back, I tried breaking out of it but they were too strong.

She soon stood in front of me and mounted me, moving her face close to mine.

"Come on, give me the charm," she whispered in my ears. I suddenly felt compelled to give her the charm, my arm started moving on my own as I grabbed the charm. Right as I touched the charm, I came back to my senses.

"OI, GET OFF ME," I yelled as I shook her off me.

"Ow," she said as she fell to the floor, the guards behind me got into a fighting position. "Huh, that always works," she said as she pouted and slowly stood back up.

*Sigh* "You are free to go." The roots spiralled off my hand and the guards parted out of my way as I left the house. I calmed myself down after being suddenly aroused, and I started to look around the village to find Venus.

"HUMAN," I heard a woman yell behind me as I walked away from the house. I turned around to see a Dryad that looked like Iris, but almost more innocent looking. She had black flowers all around her with light green hair and charming red eyes.

"Um, yes?" I responded confused to why she would be calling out to me.

"U-um, sorry about my mother, she can be very "weird" if she wants something." She said in a cute yet nervous voice. Her voice was slightly high pitched but sounded almost breathy.

"No, don't worry about it. Understandably, every race has their manners and ways of doing things." I instinctively said. In a second, I realized that knowing she was the daughter of this evidently significant person, she could likely help.

"Can you tell me where my companion is?" I said nervously as I scratched my head.

"Y-y-yeahhh, I know where she is, follow me?" She said as she avoided eye contact with me and nervously walked away. As I followed behind she hesitantly asked me questions.

"W-w-hat is it like, outside the forest?" She said with immense curiosity.

"I am not the best person to ask, since the only place I've really ever seen is The Kingdom of Harpania, but it's beautiful, seductive almost." I said as I recalled the sunset I saw with Venus.

"WOOOOW, that sounds AMAZING." She said endless excitement forgetting about how nervous she was. Realizing her sudden outburst she got shy again and turned around avoiding eye contact with me.

"I would love to go outside, to meet more races, to go to different kingdoms." She said looking at the sky, imagining what it would be like outside of the forest.

"Why don't you go then?"

"I can't, mother won't let me. Other Dryads can leave the barrier surrounding this forest, but I can't." She said slowly, as it looked like she would break into tears.

"Ummmm, don't worrrry, it isn't that good outside, lots of monsters and death and really annoying people, plus you can't turn your back on family can you, haha." I said in panic as I tried comforting her.

She led me to a house next to a waterfall at the edge of the forest, she stayed silent the entire time.

"H-h-here is where your companion is." She spoke with a gentle tone.

"I-i hope we can meet again." She said as she ran off before I could say anything.

As I looked at the house, I noticed how secluded it was from the village, the waterfall next to the house drowned out most of the noise. I went to the door and knocked.

"Hello?, anyone here?" As soon as the door opened I saw Venus laying in a bed, the sparks had fully gone, but she was still sweating profusely and had no consciousness.

"VENUS!" I ran into the room and went to her side, her heartbeat was still incredibly fast, but was slower than before.

"Be gentle with her, she is suffering a great Spark Sickness." I look to my left to meet the origin of this coarse yet gentle voice and see a dryad, the dryad looked very old, their leaves and flowers wilting and their voice crackled.

"You'll have to excuse me, but I haven't properly cranked out the ol' humanian in decades." she prefaced in an oddly unbroken humanian.

"What magic was she using, when she fell ill." The dryad asked with a tone of importance.

"I think she called it the Lightning step." I said unsure about what the spell was called..

"Ah, I see, she must have gone over and used her magic."

"What causes Spark sickness."

"Spark sickness happens when someone uses lightning magic too much. To be more specific there are certain lighting magic's that use sparks to engulf the user to boost their psychical ability. In the case of lighting steps, it is to boost their agility by a great amount. Spark sickness happens when you stay engulfed in sparks for too long causing your body to go haywire." He explained to me as he cleaned the sweat off of Venus's body.

"Is that why her heart was beating so fast?"

"Yes, of course, there is nothing to worry about, she should be okay by morning."

"Thank god." I said as I sighed in relief. I held Venus's hand as I looked at her struggling. I soon start to fall asleep, tired by today's journey.

"I guess this is what it means to go on an adventure," I say as I fall asleep.