The Tale of Xenosa

Dark Nymphs

Cheska's POV:

I ran as fast as I could to the direction of the sound we heard. It sounded like Lacresia. Well, I do think it's her. No, I'm sure it's her. There's no doubt about it. There's only one person who can scream like that. I was running so fast my surrounding became blurry to me. The animals seemed to understand that I was in a hurry because there were non who blocked my way. When I got there I saw Cresia captured. It looked her hands were tied using rope like vines. She was struggling to get out. The wings on her back tried to break free, but the vines were too strong. The other nymphs she was with had started to cry already, some turned back to a flower and some just wept on the sides. I then called Cresia's direction so that she'll know I was here, "Cresia hey!" "Oh my gosh Ches c'mon help me, I can't break free from the vines. Don't bother using your powers they won't work. The nymphs had tried already" she hurriedly said. I then nodded at her and pulled the punyal, my knife, from my boot. I jumped into the water and slowly walked towards Cresia. As I was walking I noticed how the water had a different feel to it. Something changed, but I can't figure what it is yet. The water before was calming and had a clean magical feel to it. You know how you get all giddy and happy every time you eat ice cream? Yeah that's how it was supposed to feel. It's supposed to make you less stress, wary and just you know carry all the bad and negative stuff away. The river now had a darker feel to it. It's not as refreshing, it's as if something foul has dipped into it. I can feel that it carried so much negativity in it. I was now near enough to Cresia that I could s***h her ties apart. I don't know why but once I touched the rope like vines some sort of energy repelled me from it. I can't get close to it without using some kind of force. The only thing that I could do now was to fight against the friction in order to set Cresia free. Basic science, when two objects rub against each other, friction is produced, Now after, friction happens those two surfaces will never be the same again. Technically speaking it would cause a brand new surface to occur since the two surfaces had destroyed the older one. Do you get what I mean? Well it goes like this, let me explain some more, each object is composed of atoms right? So every time that those atoms comes in contact with another set of molecules some parts of it chip off. Thus creating a brand new surface. I don't know if I what I was doing is right but then I remembered that when faced with a situation wherein friction is greater than the force being applied to it then the simple solution is to lessen the amount of friction. But how? I then remembered a couple of months ago when Nana told me to push a cart that was quite too heavy for me. What I did there was that I added oil to the cart's wheels and hinges, so that when I pushed the cart again it would take a lesser amount of force from me to move. In other words, I lubricated it. This results to creating a lesser amount of friction.I was physically having trouble with it as not only did this rope like vines energy repelled me back but the current in the river became stronger as well. I had to find some oil or something. But I didn't had any as of the moment. I was about to give up when suddenly a voice in my head whispered, "use the water." Of course! How could I be so dumb? But I wonder if water will work to lubricate it, but then again this was magic not carts and wheels. I then scooped water from the river by my hand and applied it to Cresia's ties. Once the water was poured, I tried to cut the rope ties again. It worked! I didn't really had much of faith in that but it was a success so it was quite the surprise. Satisfied a smile appeared upon my lips. I then cut Cresia's ties. Her wrists were red and swollen, she had gashes every where. "Cres what happened?" I asked once we got out of the river. She wrapped herself with a towel and said, "I don't know. I mean I'm not sure what happened really. All I knew was that I was swimming with the other nymphs and then suddenly the water felt different. It felt cold and dark. You did feel that didn't you?" I nodded my head at her and beckoned her to continues. "As I was saying I was just swimming you know relaxing and having fun when suddenly the water changed and that's when I felt the vines grow from underneath. That's when I screamed. The nymphs had started to get away from the river, but some remained to help but they just can't. They were shaking in fear, what ever just happened I'm sure they know of it." she said. Every thing happened to fast I was just talking to Rita and suddenly the nymphs got attacked? I looked around to see if anyone else needed saving, but nobody was in the river any more. Maybe all the nymphs got out in time. "Ches, we have to go. I don't think it's safe for us to stay here, Heck I don't think it's safe for the nymphs for us to be here. Maybe we attracted too much attention or maybe it was because of our scents?" I grabbed her by both arms and made a firm gesture on her shoulders, "Cres calm down. I'm sure the nymphs know what just happened. And we can't just leave them. If we were the reason why they were attacked then maybe we should help them." I said to her. I then saw Rita approaching the river banks. I think she was looking down on her reflection that showed on the river. I then stood up and ran to where she was at "Rita what just happened? Is it because of us?" I asked her. I then noticed that she wasn't looking at her reflection. There was something else down there, it looked like mummified nymphs. But but aren't nymphs immortal? Or do they grow old super slow? It it's either of that then the image I'm seeing right now isn't making any sense. It looked like a nymph but it was dehydrated. All the nymphs we've seen weren't old either. Even Rita looked young, if you'd look at us right now you'd think that she was just a few years older than us. Have you ever seen a raisin? Now imagine a grape in the process of becoming a raisin, will all the cripples and dryness. That's the image you'll see when you look down on the river. To say that I was frightened is an understatement. I was completely horrified. How did that happen? I was just in the water a couple of minutes ago and I swear I didn't see anything as bizarre as that. I then tried to remember what I saw when I tried to set Lacresia free, it was only then that I realized how foggy that water seemed. I wonder why I hadn't realized that before. But I knew something was off adn I was right. Some thing foul did really get dumped on the river, the bodies of their sisters, the nymphs. Rita then shook her head, as if to say no. "Those were the tenebris nymphae" she said. Dark nymphs huh, I didn't what they were and I didn't really want to judge them by their name but I guess what I'm seeing right now is enough evidence to conclude that they aren't very friendly. "What did they want from us? Why did they attack? And why did they do that?" I asked. Rita sighed and answered, "Do you know why nymphs become dark nymphs Cheska?" Rita asked. "Uh I'm not familiar with the term. It's actually the first time that I've heard about it." I answered. She turned her head to the side, I could tell she was uncomfortable with this, And whatever it was it had to be bad. "Dark nymphs were once just ordinary nymphs. They turned dark because of the influence of dark forces. They become greedy, they become too possessive with their territories to the point that they no longer let other nymphs near them. They become aggressive and one or another they acquire powers. With their new found powers they threaten to kill their sisters." she started. I then motioned to Cresia to come and sit beside me. We needed to hear this. " A nymphs power is equated to how clean and big their territory is. For dark nymphs their territories become rotten, and even poisonous. Their greediness causes their territories to turn vile and just dead. And because they draw their powers from the places they have they also become them." a glanced at Rita's eyes and saw sorrow and guilt. "Over the years their numbers had tripled, to our world it became a normal thing for nymphs to succumb to the influence of the dark forces. A hundred years ago, the water that flows on this rives wan't pure. In fact until this day we nymphs work hard to get the purity of this river back. This is because, the water that flows here is the original waters of the dark nymphs. They are naturally attracted to this place. Magbabaya the god of the sea became concerned at what this place had become and so he striked this place with his mightiest waves to over throw the cursed creatures. Legend says he used his trident to purify the waters here. He then gave this river to us as a gift. Since then the dark nymphs come back every now and then to try and this place from us. And every time they do, they use their powers to turn us into that," she said while pointing at the bodies of her dead sisters and with a sad look on her face. I could tell Rita was not enjoying this and so were we. I was about to say something but she caught me off, "There's a legend that says the daughter of the skies and the daughter of the sea shall bring peace to our kind. The truth is we're hoping that you and your friend has found us for this reason," she said sounding hopeful. I looked over Cresia and saw that she had the same expression I had. Wide eyes and a wide open mouth. Its monster nymph butt kicking time.