Long long ago, when this planet was nothing but a giant empty sphere, the Goddess came step foot and created nine elements as the fundamentals of magic and energy.
It was honestly a good start for the Earth, sadly that was everything the Goddess ever gave to her.
As silent and lonely as it was, the Goddess decided to humor Herself with a presence of a man and created an entity based on Herself as a reference.
Like how he was intended to be, the man fulfilled his duty to accompany her here on the giant empty planet. But, with how handsome She made him, even She grow distracted and forgot about the sole reason why She’s here in the first place.
As time went on, the Goddess become too lazy to do anything and just let the man spoil Her every single day. Therefore to help him serve her better, She blessed gave the power of creation and creativity. With this blessing, he painted all kinds of stuff on this blank earth in order to satisfy the needs of his Goddess.
At the same time, the Elements saw potential in this man and decided to band together to seduce him. They offered him something even greater than being a tool of entertainment for that Woman. A power to rule.
Now with the guidance of the Nine Elements, he began to fill the earth with mountains and oceans, grow forests on the land and under the sea, lives to live on each side.
However, with all these agendas he now has, he became too focused on his work and abandoned the Goddess that he was supposed to serve.
This made Her furious, even prohibited him to create any more creation. The man pleaded with sincerity in his heart, asking for forgiveness from the Goddess for neglecting Her.
However... he did not ask for forgiveness for what he created. He grew too fond of this earth and was completely invested in the idea of making it perfect.
The Goddess is a loving being and gladly accepted his apologies. Although she realized there’s no more place for Her to be on his heart or this planet.
As punishment, She split his soul into ten pieces and took away one of them with her, and left. The rest of the pieces were later known as the [Nine Essences].
Her departure saddened him. Even as a creator he still has the desire to serve Her. The elements tried to cheer him up, then the Element of Nature came up with a suggestion to give him a title to hold even further power on nature itself.
Nature made him their Champion.
Being crowned the Champion of Nature, he was struck with the idea of making other champions for each element. This marked the start of humanoid creation.
With all this inspiration he created eight champions, which are dragonkin for the fire, naiad (freshwater nymph) for the water, human for the ice, elf for the wind, beast folk for the lightning, dwarf for the earth, angel for the light, and demon for the darkness.
All of them came out as a child, and he himself was the one who watched them grow and educated them throughout the beginning of the Humanoid Era.
Although when they were still a couple of days old, he decided that it is unfair for nature to not have their very own signature being, and he can’t use his kind as one, since he’s based on the Goddess herself.
So he created another nymph called a dryad. This first dryad was me, and he named me Isergia (the first spirit). But unlike the rest of the children, I’m not a champion, but I still possess a tremendous power of nature, given by the element themself.
The nine of us later become friends and play along in the first forest of his creation, which is known today as the Fatherwood Forest.
But as time goes, we also grew to adulthood. He then decided that each of us was to become the leader of our own nation.
And so he created more of our races and taught us the idea of growing our numbers.
There are a few changes though. Since both nature and water elements were led by a nymph, he altered the water signature race to be of merfolk. Yet, he kept the Champion of Water to be the same naiad.
However, a huge problem came across his plans. Even with all this power to create he possessed, he is not a god, there are limits on how much he can make since he used his life force as a fuel to create.
To face this, he chose to imbue each piece of his soul with the power of the element. From then, the word essence replaced the naming of his soul pieces.
He used each essence to complete each region for the champions to lead. That includes altering the soil, air, temperature, crops, and so on.
The essence gave him so much power to help him with his creation. Yet it didn’t change his fate to lose his life force each time he used the power.
Years passed and he finally achieved what he called a Completed World. The earth can now run on its own without needing him to create any more stuff to make balance.
And as the creation time came to an end, so does his life. He had used every life force he has, his body couldn’t even be used to do something as simple as breathing.
He has suffered too much to accomplish his dream of perfection. Now is the time for his rest, and he lied down his body at the center tree of the Spirit Grove, with all the champions present to witness his departure.
With him gone, the [Nine Essences] were split among the champions. The eight suggest I took the [Nature Essence], but I humbly refused.
I’m not a champion, nor do I have the power to contain such a powerful thing inside my body.
Since no one was able to claim the [Nature Essence], it quickly created a vessel to contain itself. This vessel was a nymph, based on our creator as a reference.
The vessel then continued to take care of his body, through more than a thousand years. But as she’s just a vessel created without his life force, she’s unable to hold the sheer power the essence had.
Because of this, the vessel died every couple of years then reincarnated herself every time to re-contain the essence. I can’t ever bear myself to watch her as it was almost as painful as seeing the creator suffer throughout his time creating this world.
But now her time as a vessel has finally come to an end. She has fulfilled her duty. She can now continue to live her life without having to endure the pain of having such powerful thing inside her.
“I’m sure you already get who’s the vessel is right, Staas?” Isergia’s question marked the end of her story.
“Gytha? So does that mean!?” Just thinking of the idea left Staas in pure shock.
“That’s right, your real name is Nymfrik, the Champion of Nature, the King of Nymph, the All-father of all things on earth.” Isergia’s voice rose, she had that proud look on her face, yet it’s also painted with worries.
“Then what will happen to Gytha? Will she be alright?” Staas asked. Right now his desire cared more about her well-being than anything else.
“You need to worry not My King, even if she’s killed, her life won’t come to an end,” Isergia replied, with a weak painful smile on her lips. As her words finished, the first elder sat back on her throne, looking a bit tired. “Like all nymphs, Gytha is bound to something, and that something… is you. As long as you persist, and so does the girl.”
“By the way Staa— Uhm, King Nymfrik, I just realized something, a stripe of your white hair has turned green. Is that a sign that you have acquired back your [Nature Essence]?” Asked the third elder as she came back from the Room of Beginning.
Hearing that, Staas quickly pulled the hair on his upper left head, “Ah! You’re right… wait… does that mean I can contain all the remaining essence?” The boy was struck with hope.
“No! Nonono… no!” Isergia’s face turned blue, she knew exactly what Staas thinking right now.
“Is that what came to your mind before? For me to grab the [Fire Essence] and melt the ice that prisoned the nymphs?” He sought answers from the first elder.
“No! Do you know how much suffering you went through in your old days from using all those essences to create life!? I will not let you go through that again!” Isergia went furious, she quickly stood on her feet to scold the boy.
“I need them to restore my family, Elder Isergia…” Staas retorted in a low voice, trying to be understanding with her so she would also understand his intentions.
“Do you know how painful it is to see you in pain!? I can’t! You ca—” Suddenly Isergia stopped. Staas hold her tightly to calm her down, it was a hug filled with warmth and sincerity. It somehow occurred to his mind to do that, something that his body remembered to do.
“Relax, Elder Isergia… no matter what happened… everything will be fine.”
Tears started streaming out of her eyes as soon as she heard the last sentence. It quickly reminded her of the time she spent with the old Nymfrik when she was just a sprout.
To her, he is more than just a father she always loves. He is the one who sent away all her fear and loneliness. He is the sun who always colors and brightens her day. He is… her everything.
“Promise?” With a tiny voice, she requested him. Like a little girl she once was.
“Promise.”
". . ." Gytha found herself awake with her head lying to a solid bed at the center tree of the Spirit Grove. Before her, he saw Nymfrik's body lying down motionless above it, falling in his deep slumber. "Ah... of course." The girl let out a weak smile filled with sadness. "Oh All-father, I just had the sweetest dream a girl could ask." She stood with her arms raised high, going all excited. "It felt so real! you were awake and we spend so much time together! learning... playing..." "I should've known better..." She sat next to him on his bed, glumly looking at his face. "I wish... we could meet soon..." Tears started dripping down. "I miss you... I wanna play with you just like how we did in my dream!" She can contain herself no longer, her face was wetter than rainy days. Then in her sobs, a warm hand suddenly wiped the tear away from her eyes. "Huh...!?" He saw Nymfrik warmly smile at her while gently caressing her red cheek. <
"So… mister All-Father the Mighty King of Nymph, how are we gonna go to Songmire?" Asked Gytha as soon as the both of them left the Garden of Time through the ever so mysterious covered in vines gate. "We are not going to Songmire yet," Staas replied, walking his way to Northwest just like Isergia suggested. "Eh!? Then to where first?" The girl was suddenly struck with confusion. "The place where they plant thingy." From the gate, it took a couple of hours for them until the sight of where they were headed finally appear since Staas chose to walk instead of just running like the wind while carrying his nymph. On the way, Staas kept playing with vines and branches created by his magic. They were small compared to all the trunks and roots he used against the knights. He even did so while he was talking with Gytha. Then since she felt as if she was being ignored with how Staas eyes never went to her face, the girl proceeded to ask, "What
From the very front of the entrance, the chief brought the two into the center of the hall. There lay a giant round table with nothing on top of it, not even a tablecloth. “Right here, Your Grace, we’ll be planning on handling the matter at hand with the invading humans.” Said the chief from the top side of the table, while Staas and Gytha stood right across him. Gytha realized what they were about to do or discuss. She quickly walked to the chief to tell him a couple of advice. “Mr. Chief, I know this is a strategy meeting… but can you please make your words easier to understand? Staas isn’t fully recovered yet, and he has as much vocabulary as a child. Although his understanding is somewhat amazing.” She said with a low voice so Staas won’t hear it and get offended. He probably won’t. “Understood, I’ll try to not make it complicated.” Replied Nightfall as he grasp the situation. “Thank you~” The girl then went back to Staas’ side with a smil
“Your Grace! Your Grace!” Along with a couple of aggressive pounding at the door, a sound of a panicked man shouting from the outside.“Ugh... why do people always wake me up early…” Fully uneager, Staas stood from his bed, quickly grabbed the top piece of his adventurer clothing on top of his bedside drawer. “Coming!”The boy walked toward the door, leaving Gytha who was still lying on his bed like a log. With sleepy eyes, he opened that very door, and there he found a fae, pale as a ghost, grasping heavily to air around him.“The humans… they’ve arrived!”Hearing that exhausted words Staas' eyes turned open wide. He immediately ran to have Gytha awake from her slumber then dressed fully to meet the chief that might already be waiting for his arrival. He also did not forget to bring the stolen spear along with him.The thing with Staas... he doesn’t really follow the basic r
*Tchk!* *Tchk!* *Tchk!* The wet sounds of knights’ footsteps polluted the air. They ran from every direction, and every single knight turned their gaze towards Staas as if he is the only enemy on this vast battlefield. Although looking at the state of the fae right now... it was the complete right attitude. The muddy soil of the farm fields made their movement quite impeded, yet their desperation to overthrow the terrifying entity in the center of their formation did not fade in the slightest. Staas who’ve been jumping around the dry road of these farm fields then decided that it’ll only be fair if he’s also get dirtied by the mud. Although, if he stood on the higher ground it would be more advantageous for him since his short body will be more parallel with those knights' heads. *Splash!* And jump he went to the watery field, with the splashing muds waved into the nearby knights’ helmets, ruining their vision for a glance. However, it was eno
“Leaving already, Your Grace?” Nicely asked the north side gatekeeper, as Staas and Gytha walked past through the gate with their luggage (stolen spear and hammer, which both are carried by plant vines attached to Staas’ back).It was such a calm and lovely morning. The birds chirping along with the sounds of faeries rebuilding their broken town walls, the air painted with soothing fog, and the breeze felt cool blowing in your skin.Well if you ask, isn’t rebuilding a damaged building would be noisy? You’re not wrong, but that’s only if you use construction tools like a hammer. The fae use nature magic to heal their wall which is made out of living trees. The noises they made are pretty similar to sparkling water.“Yup! We still have adventure waiting for us!” Staas enthusiastically answered.“Adventure eh? Already have next destination in mind?” The gatekeeper got curious.“Songmire
“Open the gate!” Shouted one of the Mer on the top side of the wall. Staas and Gytha who were completely steady on their boat glared at those things that are about to behold before them. *Craaaank…* The gate which was made out of solid iron bars was slowly raised, all the way till it’s fully hidden inside the stone wall, away from the wetness of the waterway under it. “Praise the All-father! That’s— that's gorgeous…” Gytha was fully mesmerized by the view presented beyond her eyes. It was a sight to behold, a city inhabited by the noblest of all mer. The glorious giant fountain of Songmire was the first thing that caught their eyes. It was located at the center of this city, and behind it is the enchanted palace, covered by streams of water dancing around its walls. While the building itself is huge and towering onto the sky. Neither of them could see its peak from where they sat. “Why are you praising me, Gytha?” Asked Staas, a bit co
“Have fun meeting the Naiad, you two~” Leena the mermaid waves herself goodbye and hopped back swimming through the waterway.“That… female fish is pretty wild…” Said Staas, glancing at her leaving them at the stairs which headed straight to the front door of the palace.“I hate speed.” Gytha could feel the dizziness caused by the harsh ride given by the mermaid, even though it's only but a moment.But they both then shrug it off and continue their steps, slowly walking from one staircase to another. The front door is a giant double door in which height is times the size of Staas, with tons of ornament resembling the shape of sea waves, and they were carved beautifully out of shimmering silvery stones.Before the door, stand guard two fully armored mer with a long trident on their hand. Each of them stared at the weapons—spear and hammer—carried on Staas’ back by nothing but plant vines a