doravg

A merchant stumbles on a grotto, lost. He eats his last apple. The merchant plants the seeds the next day to provide food for future lost travelers. 

And so, the nymph Theanore is born.

She would grow from a tiny seed to a splendid apple tree. She would meet many friends. Theanore will try her hand at being a merchant like her father. And she will get to know her lifetime companion, the merman Marinus.

But as every farmer can tell you, apple trees live only for about 150 years and so, with her tree dried up, so will Theanore die.

 But before that, she will live.

The Apple Grotto Nymph (Dungeon Core Fairy Tale)

Grandpa Thinker sized up the mermaid chief as the woman gripped her spear tighter.

She was the veteran of many a battle, but he was a force to be reckoned with. She knew this, and so the spear remained by her side.

"Wise Lady, surely you don't want to take out your wrath on a child? The dungeon core is not a dungeon core anymore. Simply let it go," grandpa Thinker said, magic sizzling around him in a show of force and Grandma Thinker sitting on a chair next to him.

Her presence, a reassuring support as it had always been.

"We would have given the murderous core a trial. Then this youngling spirited it away," the chief said.

"Him. I helped him get away. His name is Luca, and he is not a thing, Wise Woman."

"Quiet, Marinus! Let the adults speak," grandma Thinker said, a hand shooting out to tug at Marinus' ear.

Chapter 75: The deal