Nymphs

"A guest has arrived! A guest has arrived!"

"Has arrived! Has arrived!"

"A guest came! A guest came!"

Delicate and soft hands touched the human who had just arrived.

"So young! Still young for marriage!"

"For marriage!"

"The new guest is young and delicate."

Cheerful and hypnotizing, their voices echoed throughout the forest, attracting more.

"She has blue hair like that of that of a river."

"No! No! More like that of the sea."

"That cannot be! Those ones are so salty! This one seems to be sweet and clean like that of a spring!"

"A spring! A spring!"

Full of life is what Vailyn could describe these beautiful girls. The tunics they wore were white and spotless. Their tunics gently swayed as these girls danced around Vailyn.

Flutes started to be played. Vailyn could see several of these girls dancing as they played the flute in their mouths.

Dozens, perhaps even a hundred pretty girls, danced and performed around Vailyn. The sight pleasant and innocent.

Vailyn didn't know when, but she was already dancing and giggling with these girls.

Her body and heart were light and content, as Vailyn didn't even notice her wand being taken away or that her clothes vanished and were replaced by the same tunics these girls wore.

"It seems that our new guest is frail and weak."

"So pitiful. So weak."

"Weak! Weak!"

When Vailyn collapsed in the soft green grass of the forest, the sounds of the flutes were still echoing . Panting and with a flushed face, Vailyn struggled to even breathe.

After all, dancing and playing around for hours was too much for her. The giggling and lively voices, however, could still be heard. They were everywhere. From the trees to the surface of the nearby river, dozens of girls danced and giggled.

Vailyn looked around her. She saw her wand in the hands of the girl, who repeated the last words of a sentence.

"This cannot do, let's take her to my cave."

"You mean our cave."

"Cave! Cave!"

Of the hundred of girls, three clung around Vailyn, and as if the others understood something, they left the three alone with Vailyn and continued playing with themselves. Instead, they waved and smiled at the three as they carried Vailyn to their dwelling.

However, the moment Vailyn passed thought the entrance of the cave, instead of being dark and cold, the inside of the cave was illuminated and warm.

Surprisingly, inside the cave there was another forest with an abundant amount of rivers, ponds and springs, and consequently an also abundant amount of fauna and flora. Every single plant and animal inside this cave could be considered a magical creature. They exuded an even higher amount of mana compared to Vailyn, who seemed a tiny pebble in front of these rocks.

Vailyn gazed upwards. There was just a ceiling up there, but at the same time Vailyn couldn't see anything that could clearly illuminate the entire cave. The cave seemed to not be illuminated by any torches. Maybe it was due to an artifact.

In the eyes of an alchemist, everything inside the cave was an ingredient that ranged between that of a rare and uncommon rarity. For Vailyn, however, this place was nothing but danger. For the time being these girls seemed to not have any ill-intentions towards her, and so Vailyn wanted to close her eyes and rest.

Vailyn unintentionally released an 'Ah' as the three girls gently released her. Before Vailyn could do anything, her head was placed into something soft.

"Here you won't be disturbed by the other [Nymphs]. Rest, our guest, we will go play again once you recuperate." With a soothing voice, the girl caressed Vailyn's hair. Vailyn connected this actions similar to that of Alicia.

Vailyn could see a resemblance in these girls to the personalities of Alicia, Cordelia and Morgana.

The kind and affectionate one resembled that of Alicia. The one that repeated the last words of a sentence resembled Morgana. The last one, that seemed indifferent and cold to everyone resembled Cordelia.

The three girls started to talk among themselves, but at that point Vailyn was already asleep. Normally, she should still be alert towards these three girls, but the exhaustion and the strange resemblance to Alicia made Vailyn unable to do so.

"Calypso, have you truly decided? Other than her low affinity I cannot see anything worthy in her."

The nymph touched the forehead of Vailyn, "She doesn't have that much of potential as a mage."

"I am."

"But she isn't anything near our past-"

"Egery. We've been already forgotten, our names already wiped clean by time itself, and our existence only supported by the subconcious of the world."

"Then are you going to offer her your blessings like you did with that man?"

"No." Calypso lowered her voice as she remembered the visage of a man. She could barely suppress her anger just at the thought of that man. The trees seemed to tremble, the light that illuminated the cave flickered, and the creatures that inhabited the cave distanced themselves from where the three nymphs where. But Vailyn being in her lap made her rapidly extinguish such anger, and so everything returned to normal.

The other two were unfazed by such occurance.

"No? No?"

"I won't be leaving with her, Echo."

"Then if you are not going to offer your blessings to her and neither going to leave, what are your intentions in keeping her?"

Calypso smiled, "Who knows."

"What?"

"What?"

The two other nymphs were dumbfounded.

"Can't you see how her vital force is so low? She can't even give birth to a child or else she might perish with how weak her body is." Calypso's hand neared the cheeks of Vailyn, but in the end didn't touch them. "For the time being I plan to let her drink the water from my spring."

Echo and Egery watched the odd smile Calypso wore, and they knew she was planning something else for the guest.

Vailyn wasn't the only one who entered the inner part of the Forest of Dreams. Cordelia followed suit after she threw Vailyn inside.

They were fortunate that they put themselves in the safest place of the storm that appeared without notice just moments after.

The moment Cordelia left the outer part of the forest, the ground trembled. It was as if an earthquake had arrived.

In the forest, the foliage of the sea of trees started to dance erratically and thousands if not millions of roots lifted entire trees. In their trunks, several cavities appeared and acted as if they were alive by closing and opening like eyes. There was no need for a plant to have a mouth, for that would only make them terrifying. The other smaller sea that was that of grass wriggled like worms, they meaninglessly attempted to do like the trees. However, their acts made it only appear as if the forest itself was breathing.

These trees didn't become a black puddle when they took a root outside what was believed to be the Forest of Dreams.

Gradually, the leaves in these trees fell into the ground and withered, before they could be trampled by the roots, they instantly became black puddles. The barks shriveled up and a black substance oozed out from the cavities that had just appeared. One could smell a mixture of a metallic and sweet scent from this substance, but no one at that time knew the consequences of making physical contact with that substance.

...

A melodious voice rung inside Vailyn's ears as her consciousness slowly woke up.

"Guest? Are you awake?" The words were familiar. Despite being gentle and filled with affection, it was a voice Vailyn was unfamiliar with.

Vailyn immediately sobered up from the grogginess that came after waking up.

"..." Vailyn attempted to distance herself from the unknown girl, but her back just made contact with a tree.

"How about we talk? I don't have any intentions to hurt you." The girl calmly said. While she looked at Vailyn, she didn't make any movements that alerted Vailyn. Seeing that Vailyn remained vigilant, the girl smiled and continued, "We really were excited to see a new face after so much time. We couldn't help but want to warmly welcome a visitor from the surface."

"Surface? What do you mean?"

"Mmh? What other than stating fact?" The girl spoke with sincerity. There wasn't a single trace of deceit or dishonesty.

It took several seconds of silence for that last word to reach Vailyn. "That cannot be. That is impossible." Vailyn was so shocked that she didn't react when the girl arrived in front of her and held her hands.

"Guest, I can see your confusion and wariness in an unknown place. But I ask you to not panic and to not do anything reckless." Vailyn lowered her eyes and they landed at the pair of hands holding her own pair of hands. The voice speaking was indeed from someone she didn't know, but the kindness and affection within it were genuine.

Vailyn slightly nodded, which the girl took as her understanding of what she had just said. "My name is Calypso. This is a place that accomodates all nymphs and only accepts as visitors untainted young maidens."

Calypso's smile brightened when she saw that she had piqued Vailyn's interest. The surroundings seemed to also brighten along with Calypso's mood, but such a thing was not noticed by Vailyn.

"It is extremely rare for someone to reach this place. After all, this place is situated in the dephts of the world, and the people that explore places that deep tend to be either already tainted or old enough to be rejected by the will of this place."

"But then how did I reach this place? The Forest of Dreams-" Vailyn suddenly stopped. She herself didn't know entirely about the Forest of Dreams. The person in front of her might know more than her.

"The Forest of Dreams, huh? Its name remained after all this time, but it seems that its true worth was lost to time." Calypso closed her eyes. "Guest, like this place accepts only untainted young maidens the Forest of Dreams only accepts young ones that are fated to change the world, and consequently help them by providing them knowledge and experience."

"You mean that the Forest of Dreams sent me here?"

"Yes, that's right. Obviously, those who enter without satisfying the requirements are punished by the Forest of Dreams. By stepping into the dark forest, you shall prevail the darkness and strive towards greatness."

"Dark forest?" Vailyn tilted her head.

"Yes, didn't you enter yourself? One can distinguish the forest just by its nightmarish features."

"Strange..."

"What is strange?"

"Doesn't the Forest of Dreams have dream-like features?"

"Dream-like features? You mean with weird shapes and accompanied with different colors?"

"Um, roughly like that."

"Anyway, " Calypso changed subject by picking something that should interest Vailyn. "What you'll be getting here will be mainly knowledge."

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