[WP] You are walking in your local forest when you see a strange sapling; wilted, half-eaten, its roots exposed but still alive. You take it back home as the sun sets in hopes of studying it in the morning, but wake up to find a wounded forest spirit instead.
[WP]"I didn't have a choice, if I didn't become the villain I would have been a weapon or a lab rat. Even if you save them, it won't be long before they wonder how to use you" Even if you hate to admit it, they were right.
Life in the woods wasn’t all bad, or so Byron thought. If he stumbled upon anything strange, he would bring it back to his cottage to inspect the item. Oftentimes he brought home more plants to add to his now flourishing garden. At times he would bring home some new items when he would go to town to sell most of his produce but that was all there was to his life since he moved to his isolated cottage.
He used to live in the village along with everyone else. Since his parents perished… they never treated him the same. Perhaps his parent’s shadows were too dark for him to step out of or perhaps the villagers just didn’t approve of his ways. Either way, a year since his parents passed from poisoning, he fled their home and decided to move into the forest where he was isolated. And where no gaze fell upon him except when he had to sell his items.
On his way back after a day of successful trade, a plant, a sapling caught his eye. It was a different kind. One that probably didn’t grow in their forest. Yet for a pretty unnoticed plant, it was in bad shape. It was probably just dumped there because the roots weren’t settled in that deep. It was also wilting and had a few leaves chewed off, probably by bunnies. There was no way he would be passing the opportunity up so he dug up the plant and carried it back to his cottage with his bare hands.
“I’ll make sure you grow nicely so we can see what kind of plant you are” he muttered to himself and to the plant as he made his way deeper into the forest.
He wanted to study the plant a bit more, and maybe confide in his botany books to see if the plant was something he might have overlooked, but when a yawn escaped him, Byron knew he would have to forgo everything in his mind for a well-deserved sleep. As soon as his head hit the pillow, his heavy lids remained shut, and deep breaths were the only noises that filled the room.
Morning came in an instant and had it not been for the bright rays beaming down on him, he would have stayed in bed longer, but that wasn’t the case. No matter, he had his new plant to look forward to. He kicked the blanket off then he rushed to his kitchen to see how the plant was. What greeted him was definitely not the plant. A pale, injured woman had managed her way into his home. And what more was that she was still sound asleep.
“Who could this be… she is different…” He inched closer. He couldn’t dare pry his gaze off the beautiful creature for some reason.
He really wanted to examine the creature more while she slept, but when she turned to her side, a wince escaped her and before he even got the chance to back away, she was already wide awake. He wasn’t even her main focus, what she focused on was what looked like a wound on her side.
“A-are you okay?”
The creature’s gaze immediately stopped on him. She sat up abruptly, causing her to hiss in pain. She looked at him with a hint of fear as she backed up into a corner “Please-- stay away from me!” her dress grew redder on the side “Don’t harm me!”
Byron wasn’t even sure how he should approach the creature but he could clearly see that whatever injury she had was opening up. And judging from her expression. They were quite drastic ones.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I merely want to help” Slowly, he inched closer to her again. “Please, let me inspect your injuries” He reached for the medical equipment he kept nearby and showed her, hoping that she would recognize the things in the box.
“That’s what they all said to our kind too… but we were lied to!” the memory might have aggregated her instead as Byron watched the fear in her eyes turn to one of pure rage. And without much consideration for what he had to say, she summoned forth strong gusts of winds that shattered the glass windows. Her eyes glowed a blinding white as the gusts grew stronger. The cottage shook with the wind she managed to create. It was terrifying but it didn’t last long. In a matter of minutes since her rampage, she again fell on the kitchen counter.
Luckily Byron hadn’t been thrown back that far, but the mess he had to clean up… he heaved a heavy sigh and told himself to clean it up later. He first had to tend to the small creature.
She was carried to his bed. Once she seemed comfortable enough, he left her there to rest so that he could clean up what he could manage.
Hours passed and Byron really thought he had cleaned up enough. He was next planning on harvesting some crops for supper but a small head popped out from his room.
“I’m glad you’ve calmed down”
The bandaged creature soon came out, her gaze was downcast as she approached him “I’m sorry for the scene earlier” Was all she managed to say before she retreated a few steps back
“It’s alright. Would you like to help me gather materials for supper? Or would you like to rest more?”
She looked hesitant for a while, quite unsure of what to do but when Byron already had a foot out the door, she just followed suit.
“So were you the plant I found?”
She froze in her tracks, looking at him cautiously before nodding slowly. “I needed to recover my strength… and I was in a mission to look for people”
He raised a brow, curiosity had gotten the best of him yet again. “Who are you looking for? It might be someone I know”
“Do you happen to know the family of Greames?”
It was his turn to stop in his tracks, he… was a Greames. What did he have to do with enchanted creatures? Was it why his parents disappeared?
I'll just keep this short. but ngl. I really liked this prompt
How did I not see this??!! Nice nice, going to read part two now 🤗