Chapter 118 - First Monster

It was quite surprising how far the wall of vines extended. It took about thirty seconds before we were finally out at the other side of the wall of vines. I imagined the thickness of the vines to be possibly more than seventy feet. Nature could not have just grown this herself. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the nature magic of the Driads.

“Dragons, I humbly welcome you to Asfora, one of our enclaves,” the Driad said, giving us a flourish with her hands, which I noticed were also covered in those strange, black markings.

Fascinating—that word echoed through my mind and roused my curiosity.

Before me were structures made entirely out of wood, growing from the sides of the enormous trees. These structures were houses that could have made nice abodes for a family of humans with plenty to spare. Furthermore, there were layers upon layers of these houses, interconnected to each other with wooden bridges from one enormous tree to another. Below, there was also a huge lake where small flying insects glowed on its surface with a soft, yellow light.

Up at the very top, the canopies of the tree were also spaced out strategically, allowing light to enter. It created a display of reflective lights, brightening up the places which needed the glow of the sunlight.

“As usual, I am impressed every time I come here,” Elder Kronos said from beside me. “The nature illusion magic with the wall of vines is also quite impressive.”

Somehow, I knew that those words were directed at our group, perhaps even me specifically. I had not sense any magic from the wall of vines, and Elder Kronos was informing me of the magic which he had called nature illusion.

I suppose it made sense. There was just simply no way that a complex community such as this Driad's Enclave could have been behind the wall of vines, not to mention the large lake below us—we were standing on a tree platform near the lower middle of an enormous tree. In front of us was a bridge that led to the community of tree houses that grew around the sides of the trees.

“Did you notice the nature illusion magic the first time you came here?” I asked Eden.

“Of course I did,” Eden declared proudly. At that, Kiara gave an amused look toward her. “Fine, I didn't,” Eden admitted.

“Neither did I the first time I came here,” Kiara added.

I felt a small tap on my shoulder from behind. Turning my head to look around, I saw the other female dragon of our team. If Elder Kronos was to be believed, the third female teammate was called Aria, and was a blue colored dragon. Her appearance was short, perhaps about five feet and a half tall with light, blue hair, and eyes of a soft yellow color. She was pointing a finger toward my front.

“Follow,” she said in a soft voice, almost a whisper.

“Aria, correct?” I asked.

She nodded, before saying, “Follow,” again.

I proceeded to catch up to Elder Kronos who was already halfway across the bridge which extended outward, connecting the tree we were at to the complex community of tree houses growing around the other trees.

Hovering to the side of Elder Kronos was Xalanth. He had still not woken up, but his injuries had stopped bleeding. Dragons were fast healers, and we could quickly heal all but the most serious wounds in just a few hours.

As for me, the light wounds on my face had stopped bleeding, but they were still far from completely healed. There were also some heavy, but not serious wounds on my arms. The only serious injury I had sustained were to my wings, which had been completely torn apart by Xalanth's earth magic. I was in my human form without wings, and had I transformed my wings out, they would still look torn apart.

It was somewhat logical, I suppose. Transformation magic could not heal your wounds. It would still be carried over.

Crossing the bridge, I saw the many Driads, both males and females, looking at us from the floors above and from the floors down below. From my observations, all of them seemed to have black markings on their mostly half-naked bodies. The males, interestingly enough, had larger antlers than the females. Almost all of them wore clothing which seemed to have been weaved from leaves, most likely using some sort of magic.

It took a few minutes of crossing tree bridges before the Driad guiding us finally stopped before a door. Unlike most of the tree houses that extended outward from the sides of the tree, this door seemed to lead to a home that was probably a hollowed out section of the enormous tree.

“We have arrived,” the Driad called out. “Please follow me inside, Elder Kronos and the rest.”

We followed the Driad in and arrived at what seemed to be a living room. Inside the room was an old Driad with a scraggly white beard. His antlers, unlike the other brown antlers, were of a pure white color. The old Driad was standing before a wooden table with a frown on his face, while mixing some sort of concoction, which I could smell all the way from here.

“Grandfather!” our guide Driad shouted out, running toward the old Driad with a jump.

“Oh, Mareivea, you are back,” the old Driad said, quickly hiding the concoction behind him with one hand.

“Don't even think you can hide that from me, Grandfather! I can just tell from the smell alone.”

“Looks like you caught me, Mareivea. I guess I will just have to go outside for a while and get rid of this.”

“Oh no you don't. Just quietly hand that over to me, and I shall be the one to dispose of it.” Our guide Driad, Mareivea she was called, it seemed to me, had an impatient and somewhat angry look.

The Grandfather Driad let out a sigh, handing over the bowl of heavy-smelling concoction over to Mareivea.

“Seriously, Grandfather, you should stop trying to make these antler-enlargement potions. They just do not work as you prescribe them to be. In fact, they only make breasts grow larger regardless of gender.”

I was curious. “Could I see that bowl for a while?” I asked.

Eden jabbed her elbow toward my right kidney, but I quickly blocked it. From my other side, Kiara also simultaneously jabbed her elbow at me—that, I had not expected, and could only take the blow.

“What was that for?”

“It seemed like the right moment to do so,” Kiara said.

“I was irritated,” Eden only said.

I sighed a little to myself inwardly. Seriously, these dragons were beginning to act like some of the human women I had known in the past. It was somewhat startling.

Elder Kronos turned around to glare at us, as if to say, “Stop making such an unsightly display.”

“I shall go dispose of this and Grandfather can begin healing you,” Mareivea said, going past us and out the door, while holding the bowl in one hand.

“Ah, Elder Kronos, welcome, welcome to my humble abode.” Mareivea's Grandfather said in a warm voice, a large smile on his somewhat wrinkled face. He was taller than Elder Kronos, that is, if you counted his antlers, which added about a foot to his height.

“Elder Jarukir,” Kronos greeted back, a small smile displayed on his face.

“Haha, there you go again, calling me an elder, when I am but a child compared to you.”

“Nonetheless, I only accord you the respect you deserve,” Elder Kronos said with the hint of a smile still on his face.

It made me think that they were old friends that went a long way back. Perhaps dragons were not so bad, after all? Not that I was one to speak with my blood-stained hands.

Xalanth's body floated toward Elder Jarukir. “Could you heal this dragon here?” Elder Kronos asked.

“Of course, of course. You need not even ask.”

With his hands only slightly away from Xalanth's body, a white-colored magic began emanating from his hands, traveling toward Xalanth's body and surrounding it like a protective sphere. Half a minute passed and the result was startling.