This story is meant to be fairly wholesome and for most viewers. However…
*It contains numerous LGBTQ characters.
*Depictions of xenophobia can be found.

Book of the Dryads – Chapter 8
Ancient Animosity

It wasn’t hard for Skyla to find Emily. Her cries had been echoing throughout the canyon. They calmed as Skyla got closer to the source. Still, it was surprising to see another dryad, Amy, cradling Emily, trying to calm her.

It made some sense, as Amy had the dryad’s heartsight ability, but it didn’t explain everything… Could she be the mysterious dryad girl Emily had been gushing over lately?

“E-Emily…?” Skyla called out hesitantly.

“M-mom…” Emily squeaked out. She started crying some more.

“Sshhhh… It’s okay,” Amy whispered reassuringly. “We’ll get through this…”

“Amy… Thank you,” said Skyla to her. She sat down next to them. She hugged Emily.

“So, I’m assuming you didn’t know either, Skyla?” Amy asked.

Skyla shook her head. “You’ve been here longer than me. Just by a little.”

“But you and Emily… Neither of you knew, and you both worked so closely with Lilac.”

“It just never came up until now. And I’ll be honest, putting aside how livid I am about how much my daughter is hurting over this, I’m also furious about this hate we saw. That kitsune came to us wounded badly, and he didn’t even ask for help! That was the most selfless display I’ve ever seen…”

“But I can feel it; we’re not the only ones. That’s how much is in the air right now; I can feel it all even here. And here I thought my ability only worked through touch, but it’s been getting stronger over the years… Anyway, any dryad younger than five centuries is furious with Lilac right now, as well as every human between here and Grovewall that saw that. And the resentment is only growing.”

“Can you get a feel on Lilac?”

Amy shook her head. “Even if she has some intense feelings right now, we’re talking about a storm of emotions. Everything is overwhelming right now. Quite frankly, I’d rather be here with one person than be near all that. I might throw up. I have a headache right now, it’s that intense…”

Skyla sighed. “Lilac is likely going to have to work overtime to fix this. And that’s if anyone considers her the elder anymore by the end of the day…”

=== The edge of the dryad village. ===

In some unused tree hollow space at the edge of the village, a cage of grown roots was set up around the kitsune.  There was a dryad standing guard, but it looked like he could care less. Only a handful of dryads were old enough to remember the incidents that drove the dryads to hate kitsunes so much. Lilac was one of them.

The guard noticed her come near. “Elder Lilac?” he asked hesitantly.

“I need some time with the kitsune. Alone. Please.”

The guard was struck by her tone. It sounded like she was filled with sorrow. “Alright. Just communicate in some way if you need help.” He walked out, leaving her with the kitsune man.

She looked at him. His fur was nearly the same color as her skin. His hair and two tails were purple, not unlike the flowers that grew from her scalp. He was awake now, sitting calmly, but looking at the floor. She could tell he was sad.

“Hello. I am Lilac. I am the elder of this village.”

“Victor. Or Vic. Either works. Just a lost kitsune who made some bad decisions…”

“You’re not the only one.”

“Huh?”

“You are in this cage because of me. I couldn’t leave my animosity behind and had you treated as something lesser than me. And now, everyone is furious at me, and some of the people I trusted the most no longer trust me.” Lilac pressed her back to the wall and slid down. “I’ve made a huge mess. I’m supposed to be wise; my centuries of life being used to guide my people. And I might have just broken it all because I can’t let go of the past...”

“What happened to make you hate my kind so much?”

“Many hundreds of years ago, kitsunes opened a gateway into one of our sanctums – the one I lived in. From it, magic from your world spilled into ours. Life in our swamp took to the magic, reflecting the life of your world. We found, to our horror, that this new plant life didn’t obey our magic properly. We tried to tend to our land, but the plants changed by your world’s magic were unmanageable by our magic. In time, they died out, and we couldn’t replace them quickly enough. The entire system of life collapsed, and the magic that drew us to the place vanished. Our village collapsed as a result, and we fled to other lands…”

“Yeah, I feel the magic around here, and Alimia made it sound like these places help dryads heal from the worst illnesses and injuries. Will she…?”

“She’s recovering, slowly.”

Victor breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. But if I may, it sounds like that was an unethical use of portals. That can’t have happened more than once if my kind got wind of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had to read up on portal creation, law, and ethics just to get over here myself. There are two kinds of portals: short and long. Short ones link worlds more directly, meaning things can spill over that you don’t intend, magic being one of them. If you’re going to use a short portal, you MUST do reconnaissance first to make sure you aren’t disrupting anything by opening a portal there. It’s been this way for millennia. If this happened in the past three thousand years, it’s likely the kitsunes who caused that were punished. Although there are probably few kitsunes, if any, alive who know for sure.”

Lilac looked down. “And I was there to witness it all, without understanding the kitsune side of it. I was just furious with them for it, because it was such a slow and painful death for my original home. We spread the word, and although this is one of the last places left for dryads on this side of the planet, those of us who lived at the time remember what they did…”

“Well, you might not have to deal with our world much longer. I’m here because it’s dying.”

Lilac’s eyes darted up. “What?”

“Something about an evil djinn that cursed our world to a slow decay. I don’t know, it’s just something we were taught in school. Happened about three hundred years ago, I think. But we’re really feeling the effects now, with whole swaths of continents reduced to dry, sandy deserts. The Hallow is dying, and even with truly massive amounts of divine help, we haven’t been able to rid ourselves of this. The Hallow will die.”

“Just like my home…”

Victor nodded. “But on a much more massive scale. We might be able to revive the planet, but only after the curse runs its course. Until then, we have to find a place to live. Most are retreating time and again to areas still teeming with life. I got tired of it, especially after the curse claimed all of my friends and family.”

“I thought it was just for the planet?”

“It is, but places where you get surrounded by the cursed energy emanating from the planet, such as deep canyons or caves, can cause you to be inundated with the curse. And… It’s horrifying to watch someone go through that…” His eyes started to water. “To see them suffering in excruciating pain for days as they fall apart before your eyes… E-even their skeletons, writhing in pain, still alive until they finally disintegrate away…” Victor recounted, tears forming as the memories of those suffering flooded his mind.

“Mother Earth…”

“So I decided, for any faults it might have, Earth just had to be better. I couldn’t keep running and losing everything. But it seems some humans are on a power trip, and the magic people we heard about don’t have it easy over here either… I’ve been shot at and stabbed so many times. I don’t know why I keep going sometimes…”

Lilac stood up and commanded the branches surrounding Victor to retreat into the ground. “You don’t deserve any of this, nor my treatment of you. I am so sorry…”

“It’s alright. I think I can understand your pain in a way.” Victor stood up. “I’ll just be leav-“

“No. I see enough that I know you will not be safe out there. You even just described humans on a power trip…”

“Yeah. They called themselves the Department of Magical Resources. Sometimes the DMR for short. It sounds like they were formed in the last ten years or something, but they’re a force to be reckoned with. They’re all over this country… They want magic. They want to exploit it, and if anyone uses magic that doesn’t have their permission…”

Lilac remembered some official-sounding agents snooping around Grovewall recently, giving dryads trouble before. They’ve been chased out every time, but clearly, they’re a more serious threat than she realized. “We’ve so far had the protection of our natural barriers and the town beyond them – Grovewall – to shield us. I’ve been able to trust humans. I should have been able to trust you. Please, stay here, if you need a home.”

Victor was shocked. “Are you serious!?”

“I am. I’ll have to talk to our oldest villagers about it, to make sure they don’t give you any trouble, but if they’re younger than five centuries, they don’t likely know anything about it. And that’s most of our people. Aside from a handful, you likely won't have any trouble.”

“Th-thank you…”

Lilac offered her hand. “Please, if you could come with me…”

=== Dryad village center. ===

It had been several hours since it all started. Emily, Skyla, and Amy heard about some announcement Lilac was going to make. Hesitantly, they joined the rest of the people to hear about it. But Emily’s worst expectations crumbled when she saw the kitsune man standing beside Lilac.

Lilac noticed the three and smiled. But it was clear a lot was on her mind. “Emily, Skyla, Amy… It’s good to have you here.” She walked up to them. “Skyla, you still have Emily’s book, correct?”

Skyla nodded and handed the book over to Lilac.

Lilac looked at it. “Emily, when you first started this, you said you had every intent to paint us in a better picture than we had been in the past, a sentiment I appreciated. But your words earlier were a wake-up call I needed. We’re not perfect. So please…” She handed the book to Emily. “Capture that too. Not just the best of our culture. But our flaws too. And maybe, we can keep changing for the better by having someone point it out to us…”

Emily took it and nodded. There wasn’t much she could say right now, her eyes puffy and her throat sore from crying and screaming earlier.

Lilac returned to the kitsune and put a hand on his shoulder. “I shouldn’t have treated the kitsunes with such contempt. I carried a pain from my past and blamed their kind for it. And the one time was much as what humans have done to us time and again. And yet, I didn’t let myself forgive the kitsunes as I did humans…” She looked down. “I made a huge mistake today, one unworthy of my position.”

She turned back to everyone. “So as one of my last acts as the elder of our grove, I ask that you treat Victor here with all the respect you would give another of our kinds. He fled a dying world to start anew. He carried a dryad on his shoulders and carried her to a place she could heal, expecting nothing in return. He is a hero, and I am ashamed that I couldn’t see that earlier…”

“Wait, one of your last acts as elder!?” Skyla asked, shocked.

Lilac nodded. “Although I could have lasted for many years more, I need to step down. It’s clear I’m not worthy of leading right now, in a changing world and grove, as I thought I was. Actually… Skyla, you and your daughter have shown a true commitment to making this place better for us all. It would be unprecedented for a dryad as young as you to lead, but I think you have what it takes to lead us through the world to come.”

“E-even though I was once-“

“That doesn’t matter. You actually wouldn’t be the first former human to lead a dryad colony, so I’ve heard. Only your age here is what makes you different. You’ve acted as the elder several times during the winters, so you already have experience. But I will admit, perhaps your fresher understanding of the world is needed in these times… Skyla, will you accept the eldership of our grove?”

Skyla stood up straight. She nodded. “Lilac, thank you for trusting me.”

Emily hugged her mom in support.

Lilac nodded, her eyes closed. “You’re welcome, Skyla. The grove is in your hands now. As for me… I have something I must do now.”

“What’s that?” Emily asked.

“Victor has taught me how the gateways – or portals, they call them – work between our worlds. I must see this land of the Hallow for myself and meet the kitsunes there. I need to do this, so perhaps I can let go of my animosity towards them for good,” Lilac explained.

“Will we see you again?” asked Amy.

“As long as I don’t succumb to some unforeseen event, I will return one day. It may be a few years, though. It sounds like, even if I get to the Hallow, the kitsunes are in dire need of help. I want to see what I can do…”

“That’s noble, Lilac. Safe travels, my friend…” Skyla said with a bow.

Lilac bowed back, and as the crowd dispersed, Lilac made her way to the village exit.

Victor walked up to Skyla and offered his hand. “So, you’re Skyla? It’s nice to meet you, new elder!”

Skyla blushed as she took his clawed hand. “Thank you! Rest assured, I have no qualms about you whatsoever. You’re welcome to stay in this village as long as you want or need!”

“Thank you. It’s nice to be assured of that by the new leadership!” He turned to Emily. “So, you’re writing about these people, huh?”

“Yeah. Skyla is my mom. The dryads helped her with much more than human society would have. I felt I owed them a debt of gratitude for it, but…”

“You saw how Lilac treated me. She clearly trusts you a lot if seeing your reaction to her treatment of me got her to try to change. It’s remarkable, really.”

“Thank you…”

“Oh, I should probably formally introduce myself to the both of you: I am Victor Arden, a kitsune metallist from the Hallow.”

“Metallist?” Emily asked.

“I can control, warp, and change metals with my magic. Kitsune magic manifests itself in all sorts of random ways. That’s how mine manifests. If you want… Seeing as kitsunes and the dryads have a history I didn’t know about, I can tell you about my people – at least, what I know,” Victor suggested.

“I think I might want to get that history first, and seeing as Lilac just left…” Emily explained.

“Ah, yes, fair. But if you are in need of my abilities, don’t hesitate to ask. Otherwise… Where might Alimia be? I want to be there for her as she heals…”

Skyla smiled and pointed him to a part of the village behind him. “We marked the medical areas with red leaves. You should be able to find her in one of the places over there.”

He nodded. “Thank you!” He departed for the trees in question.

Skyla sighed.

“What is it?” Emily asked.

“I know it’s not going to be easy, but being granted full eldership… It’s an honor.”

“For someone who has fought and worked so hard for those she cares about, you deserve it, mom…” Emily assured her as she rested her head against Skyla’s side, hugging her.

Skyla rubbed Emily’s head and smiled. She looked at the dryad village, one that now had a magical fox being from another world. And humans. And infrastructure linking it to a human settlement. The grove was changing, and she was now the one to lead it into a new future…

She was ready for the monumental task ahead of her.

CHAPTER 8 END.

By CrystalSeaDragon44