The Dryad - Chapter 104

“Let me know when you want to go back to your pit,” I said while walking away.

The fire sprite screamed wordlessly. Then suddenly she rushed through the mushroom wasteland, swinging her fist back to hit me. Turning to face her, I raised my arm to block. I was startled by the strength of her fist. It was much stronger than any of the humans I had ever fought. I had to take several steps back to avoid falling over from the force. I pushed back, HARD, and sent her flying a few feet away. Searing pain radiated along my arm from where her blow landed. While she struggled to recover her balance, I looked at my arm and saw a blackened circle where she struck me.

I was not given any time to think about what just happened. She was back on her feet. My block did nothing to stop her rush and she continued to chase after me. She was much faster than I was. The only thing I could do was continue to backpedal trying to avoid her. But no matter how hard I tried, I was not able to get any distance from her again.

The heat from her punches was searing my arm, carbonizing my skin. I had never felt this pain before. I wanted to lash out with my spirit. A voice inside me was telling me to rip her soul to shreds. That voice was so appealing. I wanted to listen to it. She was attacking me and destroying my home. She seemed to feel patronized when I didn’t use this ability earlier. She probably WANTED me to end her, here and now. She knew I could.

The captivation this voice wrought on my heart was scary. A small part of me fought back, knowing that even using this power in such a way once would enthral me. But the voice of power was louder. She was not supposed to be here. She could just be erased and things would go back to normal. I could make everything right. Not just in my woods, but the whole world.

The fire spirit punched, kicked, and seared me with flaming limbs. I could not keep up with her for speed. Every time I moved my scorched limbs, the pain screamed through my mind. But the voice telling me to give in grew louder with the pain. The more tricks she threw at me, the closer I was to losing myself. My conviction wavered.

She was hurting me as badly as she could.

She didn’t WANT me to hold back.

She didn’t WANT to be here.

And I didn’t want her here!!

For the second time in a day, I opened my spiritual sight. Her inner pathways were blazing with hot energy, swirling with dizzying speed at her core. I reached toward her spiritual circuits, full of anger. I was ready to dash her to pieces. I grabbed hold of the part of her spirit that brought in the spiritual energy from the flames around her, ready to crush it. As I started to squeeze the fire spirits eyes shot open wide as she railed on me even harder.

Suddenly something echoed in my being. Freezing, I realized it was Ivy. It was a comforting feeling. Mist had made it back to the pond and was doing fine. The faces of Mist, Ivy, Faun, even Leafy and the others flashed through my mind. What would they think if they saw the monster I was about to become? It shook me. I was so weak.

Ivy’s message was about to leave me as the fire spirit continued to hammer on me. I did not want to lose myself. I didn’t want to be a monster that scared everyone. I closed my eyes and focused on what I could not lose. I did not need to use my power over spirits to win this.

Opening my eyes, I grew bark thick and rough like a black cherry to resist the ravages of her flaming fists. The thick bark stopped the flames of her punches from searing my skin.
for visiting.

Even after her punches were no longer effective, she was not going to stop on her own. This was more than her just venting frustration. She was very much enraged at me. I threw a few punches at her but they all failed to connect as she swiftly moved out of the path of my fist. This continued, with her no longer doing me any damage as my frustration grew at not being able to counter. I sent a kick out trying to catch her off guard. She jumped to the side just out of reach of my leg. However my leg still connected to something solid. A log as long as several people flew through the air dozens of paces. There was fear in the fire spirit’s eyes seeing the log snap as it crashed into the trunk of a tree. It was clear who had more physical strength between us but it was doing me no good since I could not connect.

I had left my right open with the kick. My side was soon pummeled by punches as she recovered faster than I was able to correct my stance. I had grown the bark over most of my body so her punches did not cause much damage, but I needed to find a way to stop her. I could not compete with physical abilities alone, but that was far from all I had. There were a few plants that were able to move faster than any animal or her flames.

She was still on my right side wailing on me. Instead of turning to face her I kept trying to block with my one arm. This did not work well, but it left my other side free for alterations.

On my left hand my fingers fused together and my thumb splayed out forming two halves of a great leaf.

Feeling the change was complete, I sent another kick out to the side causing her to jump back. I then turned to face her, keeping my left arm hanging at my side. She did not seem to notice anything was different as she quickly rushed at me again. She first punched at me with her right fist which I blocked with my own right arm but as she was this close she did not notice my left arm was starting to raise higher. Soon her left fist came in a hook across my body. Straining my plantish body to move as fast as it could I stepped back to avoid her blow. But instead of letting it pass by harmlessly, I caught it with the open ‘palm’ of my left hand.

In an instant the two halves of my left hand snapped closed around her fist. She blinked a few times at this sudden change of events and tried to pull her arm back, but she could not fight against my strength. She then smiled and started a fire to rage in her fist. I was ready for that. My hand was already coated with a thick layer of bark which was crawling its way up her arm. The bark blocked the air from getting to her flames, smothering them.

Seeing that she was firmly in my grasp, I said, “Will you calm down and stay in this grove and wait for me to return, or should I just escort you to your pit now?”

“I will never go back to that place!” she said in a panic. Her corporeal hand inside my fist quickly vanished into a wisp of flame as her body turned and ran away from me. It was my turn to blink a few times. I should not have been surprised by it, but her being able to turn her body into flames just like I can turn mine into plants never crossed my mind.

By the time I regained my focus the fire spirit was over a hundred steps away and moving quickly. I did my best to follow after her but she was much faster than I was. She only had so far to go before she ran out of forest, so I was not worried about catching her. I was about halfway through the grove when she reached the far side. But she did not stop there and ran off into the burnt waste she left in her rampaging the last few days. I then realized another mistake I had made today. She was no longer a sprite bound to a fire but a fully formed fire spirit that could travel many miles on the energy she had inside herself. My little ring of rot surrounding her must have seemed to her like a sick joke. But instead of fleeing into the virgin forest around her, she flew to where the fires were already burning.

At least that was one less fire to deal with. That was the one good thing that happened today. In the end, this was not one of my best days, I thought, looking over the once vibrant forest and seeing only ash and rot. The bleakness of this void resonated within me, leaving me feeling tainted. Giving up pursuit of the fire spirit for now, I turned toward the pond and Mist.