Manning

I felt someone enter my domain. This would not be so strange, were it not the fact that they entered from the sky, completely bypassing my forest trail. The intruder spiked straight towards the new pear tree I'd planted in the clearing, impacting it at a breakneck speed and disappearing so quickly that I doubted they'd ever been there.

"Ash, did you feel that?"

Ash did not respond right away but I knew she had felt it too based on the thoughtful look on her face as she gazed in the direction of the hill.

"I'm going to go check it out."

I bent the path so that Ash could get to the hill as fast as possible. Thankfully the town members did not venture into the forest after dark so Ash was safe, and I always had time to recover. I was unsure if this would still be the case when the town grew in size, but I knew it was in my best interests to find a way to discourage night time ventures. That was a thought for another time, I focused back on Ash as she entered the hill and walked straight up to the pear tree. She closed her eyes and put her hands on the trunk to commune with the tree, just like the druid did when he first entered my domain.

When she opened her eyes again she just sat down, with tears in her eyes.

"What is it Ash? Are you okay?"

She sniffled and wiped her tears away before replying, "Yeah it’s okay Manning don't worry. It's a Sylva."

I was about to ask what that was, because obviously I had no clue, but Ash just took a deep breath before continuing.

"A sylva is the lowest form of a nature spirit, one that can take many paths for evolution. The sapients just call them fairies, but in reality they are so much more than that. If a sylva decided to make their home here, it means we are doing something right Manning. Depending on her pattern of growth, she can become anything from a sprite to another dryad. I never thought I'd be able to see a sylva Manning. They are the purest form of a nature spirit. Once they evolve to a new species, they cannot make more sylvas. A dryad can only birth more dryads for example, so sylva are a very rare sight."

"That’s neat, but why are you crying? I get that it is something rare to see, but why is it making you so happy that you cry?"

"Because it means I will have a people to lead Manning. I am currently just a Dryad. I cannot become a matriarch of the forest without at least one other fairy to rule over."

"What about Brick? He's a fairy."

Ash's smile only got wider. "Brick doesn't really count. He is a brownie and they are attached to households. I am still not really sure how he managed to bind himself to a dungeon, but he is not a fae of the forest."

This opened up a world of opportunities for me. It seemed like I'd just lucked into a sapient that was natural. Not only natural, but the most natural. I did not want to make them fight for me, but I'd already started thinking up grand plans for a civilization of them living within the forest for me to farm mana from.

"How do the sylva reproduce?"

"I don’t exactly remember, but I believe that they have the ability to make another tree bloom. It awakens the tree's spirit as a sylva, and spawns a second one that leaves to find another tree to bind itself to. I do not know how often this happens, or what makes the sylva want to awaken the tree."

"Don't worry about that, I will just order the sylva to awaken all the trees in the forest. We will have a forest filled with fairies in no time."

"It doesn't work like that Manning, the sylva will be a dungeon resident you can't just order her to do what you want."

Ash had mentioned something about a dungeon resident in the past, but I did not really ask for more details because it didn't seem important at the time. Obviously that had changed, so I asked for a quick refresher.

"There are four types of dungeon creatures, two for sapients and two for others. For the non-sapients the creature is either Dungeon Spawned or Dungeon Born. Spawned is exactly what it sounds like, it means that you created them. The spawned have a lower ceiling for their power and a harder time evolving to a more powerful creature. Dungeon born are regular beasts and plants that are born within the dungeon from other creatures, they will naturally evolve or mutate as if they lived in the wild, but are generally more powerful than the Spawned.

"For sapients within the dungeon you have either Dungeon Bonded or Dungeon Residents. Once again they are kind of self-explanatory. The dungeon bonded, like Brick and I, voluntarily give our services over to the dungeon and bind ourselves to your will. Dungeon residents just live within the dungeon, but maintain their free will until they choose to bond themselves or leave the dungeon. I was born a resident in my last dungeon for example, and chose to leave and find my own core to bind to. They still have magical laws that prevent themselves from intentionally harming the dungeon until they choose to forsake their status as a resident, and you can still communicate with them but it is their choice to listen or not. You will also be able to evict dungeon residents, which just removes their status and allows the other dungeon creatures to become hostile toward them, as if they were an intruder."

"What about the troglodytes? Cara seems to be able to control them well enough and I do not think she is allowing them free will until they... civilize themselves."

Ash was visible uncomfortable at this question, and squinted at the moon for a few moments before replying. "What Cara is doing isn't exactly good. She dominated the Troglodytes against their will, forcibly bonding themselves to her but with less rights. She enslaved their kind, and that is generally looked down upon. Luckily for her, they seem to be a sub-sapient and I do not think any of the sapients out in the world will think of it as distastefully as they should. They will just see another breed of monster, not a real sapient creature.

"When they breed, so long as one of the parents is a slave, the child will be born into captivity. It is a sad fate for any sapient, even ones as disgusting and dark as those creatures."

It was a lot to digest, even if it was not the first time I was hearing this. I watched as Ash shimmied closer to the trunk of the pear tree and placed her back against it, holding her knees to her chest with both arms. I enveloped her in a thicker layer of my aura to simulate a hug, and she seemed to appreciate it. Before long she had gone to sleep with her back and head leaning against the tree of the currently-dormant sylva.

A new sapient that I will have to reason with, one that I cannot just control and boss around. Once again the thought of an uncontrollable variable in my forest made me a bit uneasy. Thankfully, I was sure that the sylva would be easier to reason with than a willow tree that cannot communicate with me yet. Honestly I understood why Cara would choose to enslave the troglodytes. Not only were they disgusting creatures with disgusting habits, but I already knew how annoying it was to have a creature not follow my commands.

Not follow my commands...

I expanded my senses until I found the hedgehog hybrid who had unwittingly popped to the front of my forethought. It was currently at the edge of the clearing Ash was sleeping at, banging a coppernut against the trunk of a tree. Once it felt me snap my attention to it, the hybrid froze mid-action. With a nut held high over its head, it slowly turned to look towards the pear tree with wide eyes.

It couldn't be.

I watched the hybrid slowly set down the nut and tilt his head slightly left, as if waiting for me to say something or asking me why I was focusing upon it.

Shit.