Esteria: The World of Life

Chapter 5 | Nym's Shrinking Hat

After hearing Eliona's conversation with her subordinates, Skeet decided to just sleep the night away and fixed his makeshift bed. Upon lying down, the words which her subordinates had blabbered about still rings in his head.

"Argh!" he messed his hair out of annoyance, hoping for those flashbacks to disappear. Him not being an Ester never bothered him before. He doesn't even care about it. After all, does it even change the fact that he'll become an offering by those picky elves? No. But, were they actually right about their claim that he is a human and not an Ester? Not wanting to brood any further, he just lied down and slept.

....

While Skeet is asleep, faint glowing lights of brown, red and blue flashed near him, causing him to wake up only to see three orbs in front of him.

"Ah!" he screamed, trying to crawl backwards, but reaches to the end of the bed instead. The orbs didn't seem to make a reaction of his doing, rather it waits for Skeet to touch them. Curious as he becomes, he reached out for the orbs, but the surrounding changed into a beautiful place where a enormous tree stands in front of their vision and the orbs just disappeared out of the blue. Skeet is no longer sitting down on a wooden bed, but now standing in front of a huge tree that seemed to have a way inside the tree.

"What's that? Such a huge tree indeed..." Skeet thought. Looking left and right, there seems to be no other option but to go inside the tree. Upon entering, he was a little surprised to see how its structure was similar to the Oracle's Chambers at Nymphae, except for the flooring that seemed to be made of marble and the centerpiece of the said tree is a huge stump, which one would think of it as a podium for rituals. Moreover, what awaited him was one of the orbs— the brown colored orb. Smiling, he raced towards it when he suddenly heard Eliona's voice, repeating what she once said at the castle courtyard.

"When you take care of nature, nature also takes care of you."

...

*ting*

"AH!!" Skeet hurriedly rose up on his bed, as if he was reaching onto something, only to realize that it was just a dream, and that one of Eliona's subordinates have awaken the sleepyhead Skeet, with a triangle on hand and a small metal rod on the other.

"You sure are a sleepyhead, aren't you?" the subordinate asked uninterestingly. "Get up. The oracle was waiting for you earlier, but she already went ahead to the Tree of Life without you."

He rubbed his eyes and fixed himself when the subordinate added, "Get yourself a fix and don't ever be a shame to the oracle, human!" He could hear her mumbling "sucks to be you" as she leaves.

"Wow..." he commented. "Sucks to be you too." He even blew a raspberry at the door before leaving the bed.

After fixing himself, he looked around the surroundings of Nymphae. It's all green and the air that gently blows in the area seemed to be endless. Perhaps living here isn't as bad as he thought. If an offer becomes one of them after the ceremony, perhaps this place isn't a bad idea for a new home. However, thinking about the kitsuneko that he would leave behind kind of bothered him. Of course, he'd miss the inn. That's his home, after all.

The people around seemed nice to Skeet, after all. Maybe because it wasn't that obvious that he is a human, or maybe not all Oreads, as they call themselves, as mean as that one who woke him up. After a small walk around the wooden community, he was greeted by two of Eliona's subordinates.

"We've been looking for you!" One of them greeted with a worried look.

"Why? Something's the matter?" Skeet asked.

The other subordinate replied, "The oracle went to the Tree of Life alone, but..."

"But?" he raised an eyebrow. "Did someone happen to her?"

"That's the thing! We don't know if something happened or not..."

"...but the oracle is not at the Tree of Life! No one from the said place knew where she went!" Skeet's eyes widened when he found out that the oracle went missing. "H-how so? She can't go far from Fantacia, right?"

Both of her subordinates nodded.

"Do you perhaps have any idea where she might go?" The two subordinates looked at each other before confronting Skeet once more.

"Actually..." they looked at each other one more time. "...We don't know either."

"But you can ask our Mother Nymph! She should be able to answer your question!"

"Mother Nymph??" he scratched his head.

"She's the elder of our little community. She's also known to be the wisest of the elves here. Every sector of Fantacia has their own Mother Nymph that rules their respective sector." the second one replied.

"I see then. So, where can I find this Mother Nymph?"

One of them replied, "From here, you'll need to head west until you find a wooden signage that leads you to her. If you want, we'll assist you as you go there."

"Uh, no need. Thanks—"

"WE INSIST." Both of them replied. "You are still a stranger in these woods, and thus may not be permitted to talk to her."

Skeet nodded. "Good point, actually." he thought.

"Well, if that's the case, show me the way to this Mother Nymph so that I can talk to her about the oracle." Without even wasting a second, both of the subordinates have dragged him along to the path where the Mother Nymph stays.

...

-Western Portion of Nymphae, Fantacia-

On the western portion of Nymphae, where the sight of the Tree of Life becomes bigger the closer it is situates a small anthill. It may at first seem like a normal ant hill, but this is none other than the Oread Sanctuary, where the Mother Nymph is said to be found.

However, Skeet being unknown of the said lands, looked at the horizon from left to right in search of any weird structures where the Mother Nymph could possibly stay.

"Hey! Over here!" A tiny voice called him, but he couldn't see whoever called him.

"Below you!" He finally fixed his sights at the subordinates who have already shrunk in size, like of a dwarf.

"Ah! W-what happened to you both?!" Skeet uttered in shock.

"We're Oread, remember? We can transform ourselves into dwarves, if not a fairy!" The first subordinate replied. "Now come on! Transform yourself into one too!"

Holding her friend's arm, the second subordinate halted, "Hold on there, you forgot that we're with a human." The first subordinate looked at her friend and looked down.

"I almost forgot..." Way to burst her bubble. "Our Mother Nymph lies beyond this anthill. If you cannot get in here, you wouldn't get to talk to her..."

"There should be a way..." Skeet thought. After all, neither of the three would dare to just sit back and wait for the oracle to return. But out of the blue he spread his hands onto the anthill as if he's about to destroy the anthill open to get the Mother Nymph.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, HUMAN!?! STOP!!!" Not hearing the subordinates' pleas, he continued on what he planned until one of the subordinates went back into her original size to pull the human off the anthill, throwing him off the meadow.

"Ow...! You... You almost broke a bone!" Skeet complained while holding his now sprained left arm.

"I would've done it worse if you truly had laid a finger on our precious anthill!" the second subordinate grunted as she raised her right fist, ready to punch Skeet.

"Fine, fine! I'm not doing it anymore!" Skeet tilted his head, unwillingly claiming that he's not trying to destroy the anthill anymore. "But what now? Can't you guys call the Mother Nymph out?"

"No can do." The first subordinate flew towards him. "We're not even the only ones who are in need of her help, so it's impossible for her to come up for whatever reason it is."

With a look of defeat, Skeet lied down and looked at the sky, "What do we do now?"

The two subordinates looked at each other. "You know what, we have an idea!"

....

-Nymphae, Fantacia-

Returning back to Nymphae, the two fairies seem to be rushing, which Skeet tried to catch up.

"Hey! Can't you guys slow down?!" Skeet pants as he tries to catch up with the fairies.

"Hurry up!!" one of them replied.

While they were on a chase for whatever it is, some Oread were surprised to see them running about, trying to give them way, "Excuse us!!" the other subordinate called out. It took them quite a while to run until they stopped at one of the wooden houses around Nymphae.

"So, is this it?" Skeet panted badly, trying to catch his breath before looking at the house. It's just a common wood elf house, so what gives?

"Nym's Hat and Accessories" the second subordinate read the signage, "Yep, this is it. Human, knock the door for us."

Skeet gave the subordinates a surpised glare while holding his left arm. "What? After you sprained my arm and all, you think I can knock and such?"

The second subordinate transformed back into its dryad form and slapped the injured arm. "Ow!" grunted Skeet. "Seriously, what's that for?!"

The second subordinate replied, "I healed your arm. Now go and knock for us. After all, it's you who needed help, not us." Still glaring at the subordinate, he replied, "Fine." and then knocked on the door, which subsequently opened on its own.

"Come in, come in." It was of a manly voice who responded from the now opened door. "Don't get creeped out by the door that opens on its own. There's no magic behind it, so come in." Hearing that, Skeet and the two subordinates stepped in, one at a time. Upon entering the said house greets a normal male Oread, with his work in progress scattering about on his desk.

"Oh, an Ester! Been a while since I last saw one!" he greeted until he looks at Skeet's ear. "Wait, you're not one?"

"Unfortunately, not." the second subordinate replied to the man, "We don't even know why the Oracle sent a human here."

"But kid," the man looked at Skeet, "You do live in the Mainland, yes?"

Skeet nodded.

"Knew it. I can't ever be mistaken by that clothing of yours. Anyhow, what can I do for you?" the man stopped for a bit, "That sounded wrong..." he pondered.

"Nym, the human needs one of your hats. You know, the one that can shrink into dwarves but then we laughed on it because it's not even useful here?" the second subordinate replied.

"Ah. Wait, lemme take a look at it. Hope that I haven't thrown it away yet." Nym stood up and looked at on his collection of items from one of the treasure chests laying about on his house. His house is quite a mess, if Skeet would say so.

"Perfect. Good thing I haven't tidied up this one clutter of a house. My bad, human." he chuckled, "Anyway, here. Why don't you give it a try to see if it still works? Just don it to shrink, then doff it to return to original size. Simple as that." Nodding, Skeet tried on the hat made by Nym, and he instantly felt his entire body shrink into a dwarf-size human. Realizing that he's been on the upper ground, he screamed before falling helplessly onto the floor.

"Ow..." Surprisingly, the impact wasn't even as much as he thought, but one thing is certain: Nym's table is already twice or thrice as big as how big Teria Mist Inn is.

"Well, how do you like it, kid?" Nym's voice echoed out ther area for the fact that Nym is as big as he used to be.

"Uh—" Skeet stopped speaking when he realized even his voice came out different than the usual. He certainly do feel like a kid again. "This is awkward." The Oread laughed at his expense.

"Well, well, you'll get used to it. Now doff it now so that you wouldn't feel so awkward." Skeet took off the hat and returned back to his original form.

"Well, that's 5 Clover Leaves for that." Skeet was caught off-guard when he heard the currency he asked for.

"But," he paused, "I only have Rias with me." He began to look for his pouch filled with Rias. Good thing he always have them handy, which made Nym laugh.

"Boy, you surely do remind me of my old days! I'll take that as well! Maybe 25 Rias would do?" He then opened his palm to receive the payment. Skeet took out a few coins— two gold and one silver at that, and gave it to Nym.

"Thanks a whole lot, kid! Have fun using my hat!" He smiled as he clenched the 25 Rias on his hand.

"Thanks a lot too!" Skeet replied before he and the subordinates left for the anthill by the meadow. As Skeet closed the door, Nym looked outside the window and thought, "Look how coincidence brought two people from the Mainland together. He surely does look familiar, though. But where?" Shaking his head, Nym decided to continue on working with his hats.

END OF CHAPTER 5