Living on Borealis-9: The Story Of A Reincarnated Human

Chapter 4, Part 2: The Great Tree

I honestly didn't have very high expectations of the Dryads. Call it prejudice, or just personal bias, but I expected the inside of the tree to be kind of planty, very natural vine walkways and all sorts of hippie/vegan accommodations inside, like flax blankets, or bead doorways. Think sort of like the inside of that giant tree from 'Avatar'. Just kind of...You know, natural decorations, minimal interference from the people who lived inside. However, I was quickly blown away by the inside of the giant tree.

For one, the roots were actually arranged in a way that made a staircase from the stone, with heavy erosion on the walls and steps to shape them, then thousands of small roots growing over the stone to protect it from further erosion. The sides were perfect from the running rivers to my sides, which originated from a raised up lake above us. The raised lake was contained within a gigantic bowl-like basin, also eroded over countless centuries. These waterfalls were not loud or intrusive, but rather uniform and quiet, making a constant running-water sound reminiscent of a meditation garden.

As we went up the stairs, I was met by a giant hollow, with several more of the stairs going up to the levels above. In the centre of the hollow, a pool going down towards a lake stood, with the floor being replaced by titanic lilly pads. I doubted they could hold our weight, but as soon as I stepped on one, it seemed to...harden, so to say, to hold us all up. Interesting...and impressive of these Dryads!

Pointing in seven directions, on seven pillars, there were statues of different-looking Dryads, each seemingly holding up the roof above us. In the centre of the roof, there was a giant hanging statue of a woman made from a tree, with her arms and legs fused to the trunk, leaving only her torso and head free to move and do stuff. It seemed a bit morbid, until I looked higher at her, and saw that her horns were actually the canopy of the tree, holding the upper levels of this treehome above us with great might. But, from where we stood, I could see that each horn actually held forests, oceans, volcanos, blighted and fertile fields, and all sorts of other biomes. It reminded me a bit of Yggdrasil, the Norse World Tree.

"I see you take interest in our statue of Our Mother. Impressive, is it not?" One of the Dryads said to my right.

"Sod off, Meredith. He's mine." Luna said, hugging my arm. Even if it was a ruse, I kinda liked how Luna was holding me.

"Please, Luna. I'm not a Sylvan-Bitch." Meredith said. That sounded like an insult. If I understood the terms correctly, Sylvan is a way to describe all Fae creatures. And Bitch is the name of a female dog who gives birth. So...Mother of a Fay?

"Er...I'd actually kind of like to know a bit about 'Our Mother'. Mind telling me?"

"See, Luna? Have you ever asked your boyfriend here what he wants? Bah..." Meredith said, turning towards me. "Yes. Well, that is a statue, grand and true, that is dedicated to Our Mother, Gaia. Our Projenerator. Gaia, Deity of The World, sculpted us from clay when the world was young. We live to protect the wilds, to make sure that her visions are not tarnished. We, Dryads, are all her daughters."

"So there's a finite number of you?" I asked, drinking in all of the details. Any form of information would be extremely helpful, and I'm not about to pass up an opportunity to learn information!

"No. When a Dryad grows old, she returns to our mother as a part of her masterpiece, by merging into her tree. She then bears seeds, which drop down onto the ground. We take the seed and put it into the ground, where Gaia takes it and creates another Dryad as her daughter."

"So do you track family trees, then?" I asked. I also chuckled internally at 'Family Trees'. I'm guessing the term is a lot more literal in this instance.

"What? We let young Dryads visit their trees and pay respect to those who came before..."

"No, I mean...heritage, family lines?"