I had been riding on the panther for at least an hour and it didn't look like we were going to stop any time soon. While siting on the panthers back I noticed we were actually heading further into the forest, in fact, we had already passed the depth of the old castle, judging by the minuscule amount of light that got through the thick foliage.
Even though I didn't want to go this deep into the forest the panther didn't give me a choice in the matter, as a fall at the speed we were going was bound to break at least a few bones, leaving me unable to properly defend myself from the dangers that lurk around the shadows of the trees. All I could do at that moment was trust that the panther new what he was doing and hope for the best.
An unknown amount of time had passed and we finally stopped. The first reason I didn't know how much time had passed was, that I couldn't really rely on my sense of time, considering it wasn't working as it should, highly likely due to me passing out. The second reason was, that not long after the initial hour of riding, the forest was shrouded in almost complete darkness and the only way I could actually see my surroundings was to use magic sight, so no judging the time with the sun.
Since I tried to use magic sight sparingly I only used it once during the ride, when something big roared too close for my comfort and I wanted to be sure, that we weren't going to be attacked. Now that we had finally arrived I once again used magic sight and almost fainted from the amount of magic something in front of me was radiating.
The panther put me on the ground, where I then just sat for a few minutes with closed eyes, taking deep breaths. After finally gaining enough courage to open my eyes again I made the right choice of shutting off magic sight. I could now see millions of fireflies gathered in groups, slowly lighting up the clearing the panther brought me to. I carefully looked around trying to spot the one who had that absurd amount of magic, before my eyes fell on a tree in the middle of the clearing.
It looked completely different from the trees that surrounded the glade, while those ones had crooked trunks with many tumors and long twisting branches with something between a dark brown and sickly black coloration, the one in front of me was a beautiful light brown tree. It looked thousands of years old but was healthier and higher than the other trees. It's trunk was to thick that even 5 grown up humans wouldn't be able to hug it. It's branches made beautiful patterns as they covered the whole clearing and beyond, it's crown alone the cause of the complete darkness before the fireflies lit everything up. That tree was truly the mightiest in the forest.
As I stared at that behemoth of a tree I suddenly heard a voice, that was like a whisper yet still carried through the forest, like all of the trees in it were repeating it: "Come closer child." I was immediately put on guard with the child comment. Then I remembered that I was in a body of a child, yet I still didn't throw away the option that the one who said that thought of him or herself, couldn't really tell from the voice, as superior, thus calling everyone else children. The theory was supported by the fact that the person who spoke, hadn't come out, thus never specifying where I should go.
It only took about 30 seconds for the voice to again reverberate through the forest: "Come on child, I won't hurt you."
Just that told me two things. The being, whatever it was, was highly impatient and very likely to hurt me if angered. When it spoke I turned on magic sight and tried with all my might to ignore the insane amounts of magic the tree was putting out. I could just barely make out the magic in every sound and coming from the tree, then I started to feel dizzy, meaning I was probably absorbing too much magic, so I decided to release some in the same way the tree was doing.
I answered: "Why should I come closer when I can't even see you?" I started feeling a burning sensation on my tongue, as I poured magic into my words, but ignored it for the moment as it wasn't terribly painful.
The tree seemed put off by my opposition to it's request. Then it started laughing. It took a while, but finally it calmed down, and a humanoid shape pealed off the tree and started walking towards me. Soon I could clearly see the person in front of me.
She, judging by her bosom, looked like she was made out of wood with several kinds of leaves in place for her hair with the occasional flower among them. Covering her back and hips were woven grass clothes that left her front exposed. Her privates were just barely hidden from sight by a thick layer of moss. I forced myself to look away from her exposed thighs and towards her face. Her eyes were, in complete contrast to the rest of her, a bright violet. She wore a necklace with a leaf shaped green material at the end.
It took me a bit to remember what mythological creature she looked like, but I finally recalled. A dryad. A being known for seducing men into giving it their life energy through sex.
If I wasn't entirely on guard before I was in full panic mode now. Judging by the amount of magical energy I saw before, she could easily overpower me and I could hardly do anything about it. There were two ways of me getting out of the situation. Either I try talking to her and hope she won't take me as prey since I am now female, or I run and hope that the rule of a dryad not being able to go too far from it's tree is true.
I decided with the one that was less likely to get me killed, but the moment I turned around to run I was stopped with a tall wall made from wood. I slowly looked at the dryad behind me and she just smiled at me. I fully turned towards her and put myself in a battle ready stance, like Zero thought me. Then I asked: "What do you want?"
Her smile widened and she answered: "I want... you."