The Last Goddess

Samara

The dryad's eyes watched us warily. She seemed to be coming out of a haze, and yet, that didn't stop her from being entirely aware of her surroundings. Her light brown eyes surveyed the area, watching the blooming environment before refocusing her attention on the three of us.

"Who are you?" she asked, slowly. Her eyes narrowed on mine, but then, quickly, she seemed to almost leap towards me, her leafy dress swishing with the movement. Her delicate hands gripped my chin, moving it side-to-side.

"Hey!" Aryan and Taja yelled in unison as they approached the dryad.

"Back off!" Aryan threatened, raising his talons in the air, but before he could even swipe, the dryad flicked a finger in his direction and vines came from the tree, yanking Aryan up and back. My familiar growled, hanging by his wrists as he tried to pull away.

Taja took a step too, trying to intervene, but the dryad did the same to her as she did to Aryan. Taja huffed but didn't squirm in the same way that Aryan was. Instead, she glared harshly at the dryad her hands wrapping around the vines that held her. "You are making a huge mistake there, dryad." She spat.

But the dryad just ignored her. Her full concentration on my face. She squeezed my jawline, causing me to wince. She didn't seem like she was being malevolent. If anything, I found that she appeared more curious than vindictive. Still, the way she applied pressure to my face felt like she could very easily shatter my jaw.

"What... do you... want?" I asked between gritted teeth.

"Who are you?" she emphasized. The vines that were tattooed throughout her face began to slowly sliver around—like they were being rustled by the wind. "Are you truly Izara?" her light brown eyes turned dark in an instant. "Or merely a false goddess?"

Suddenly, there was the sensation of a vine crawling up my legs, tightening like snakes. I felt a moment of panic, and my eyes drifted from Aryan who had his feet against a tree branch, pushing off to pull apart the vines that held him. And Taja who was transforming her binds into ice.

I shut my eyes, tightly. I was starting to get angry. I couldn't understand why this dryad was attacking us. Was she really such an evil creature? Was this the reason Iris couldn't speak of the tree? I just couldn't—

"My, my, Ivy." Izara spoke through me. "Are you really going to cause such a ruckus after being asleep for so long?" my hand moved to where hers laid on my skin. I felt my fingernails dig into the back of her hand a bit before twisting it off me, and simultaneously, receding all the vines that were on Aryan, Taja, and myself. "Do you need to be reeducated?"

Ivy's passive face exploded into a grin. Her first true expression since she crawled out of the tree. She didn't seem to care that Izara could have been harming her. "Milady," she spoke, breathily. "Oh, my apologies. This is not the form I am used to. How can I—"

Aryan shoved the dryad away and Taja stepped in front of him and raised her hand, icing her feet so that Ivy could not move. Swiftly, Aryan turned on his heel, his hands on my shoulders as he looked at me, eye-to-eye. "Samara?" he hesitated. "Can you hear me?"

"Are her eyes still flickering?" Taja asked him.

But he did not answer her. Instead, he squeezed my shoulders gently and whispered my name. "Samara, it's ok now." He tried to smile but it was obvious that he was concerned. "We're all ok now."

My shoulders untensed and I blinked, hard. In a single exhale, I felt this weight in my chest lighten. "I'm fine, Aryan." I replied, I reached up one of my hands to his, patting it lightly to reassure him. "But," he shifted to move beside me and Taja seemed to smile in relief. "How are we to convince Silas that she was the tree?"

"There's no need for convincing." A deep, heavy voice called from behind us. "I've seen it all, and I believe you."

We all seemed to stiffen at this ominous voice, but when we turned to discover who it was. We visibly gawked at the large, red squirrel.