There were weaknesses to exploit and Rhea knew that she could have used them. It was true that she was bound by blood to a Vampire, but she was still a spirit-type entity and even if it meant losing a portion of herself–she could have escaped.
Weakened and forgetting an essential part of herself, yes, but still free.
And so the reason why she stayed, and the reason why she had not left the young Vampire to be consumed by the very dreams that he wanted to see for himself was simple.
"W-what the–?" Lukas stirred and pulled away from the Dream Eater. He blinked a couple of times and pinched himself, but he knew that he was in a dream and thankfully he did not wake up.
Behind the ethereal and nightly figure of Rhea, Lukas saw the beginnings of the Veil Forest. He saw the coming of the new people that would take residence in this place and call it a home.
Something bubbled in his chest, like sunlight that warmed him–
Rhea slapped him in the face.
Despite being in the dream world, the excruciating pain inflicted was still real and vivid to him. He looked at her with a frown and rubbed his cheek.
"What gives?"
"You were drifting off again and getting swallowed by the Dryad's dream." Rhea shook her head and scoffed. "Amateur."
"Well, I'm sorry that I'm not as good as you at dream exploration." Lukas muttered. "I mean, that's the reason why you're here though, to help me out."
"I suppose so, but also learn how to train yourself." Rhea said. "I'm not always going to be here to bail you out."
"And how sure are you of that?"
"W-well, that's–!"
"I'll learn how to handle it better, for sure." Lukas promised. "But I'm still at a beginner's stage as you said. And unlike you, I can't just eat dreams to avoid getting consumed by them–so it's a lot harder than you think. You have your advantages."
"And you, your excuses."
"Let's just go find the Dryad and wake her up alright?"
The two seemed to have made it a point not to discuss the kiss. Instead, they slowly saw how the tree became livelier as the demihumans settled into the area and grew in its populace.
Perhaps it would have been a dream that could have caused Lukas to fall asleep again–it was a series of centuries or perhaps even longer. Either he ended up overwhelmed or he blocked it out completely by attempting to fall asleep.
Unlike Chaerin's dream which flowed from one to another, in sporadic and sometimes random ways–the Dryad's dreams were consistent and linear. Rhea slashed her hand and cut out a gap in between her dreams.
"Move quickly." Rhea told Lukas.
"I know that we're a little cramped for time," Lukas said. "But what's with the rush?"
"Similar to how your friend choked one of my companions–I believe the Dryad can also notice an intruder in her dreams. And compared to you, she probably has more power in wiping us out of here."
"I see." Lukas nodded and slipped through another passage of the Dryad's dreams. Her face seemed to start out carved from the very tree itself and was spectated upon by the demihumans.
Many different creatures passed through the lake and went to the shores of the Heart of the Forest and communed with it. A root rose out of the ground, glowing with a power that touched the demihuman's forehead.
"It seems like you were right." Rhea eyed the previous area with a purse of her lips. "The Dryad did communicate and even lend some of its powers to the people that settled here."
"And not only that, there isn't any mist at all." Lukas muttered. "It means that this probably predated the time that my kind even visited them before, since they've known it as the Veil Forest."
Another ebb of emotion flowed within Lukas–but unlike the first couple of times, he immediately chose to separate and observe it. He identified it as something that belonged to the Dryad and not to him.
Fulfillment.
Purpose.
Meaning.
For a moment, Lukas wished he could have lost himself and savored that feeling. It wasn't something that lasted long as he and Rhea approached another memory–but there had been contentment.
In all of the years that the Dryad had lived through, it found its delight in helping out those who were weaker than her. A faint memory of the Elves who first established her home reverberated to his chest.
And that was how Lukas knew that they were in the dreams of someone who could help.
Unfortunately, along the same time that the Dryad developed, so did one of its companions. The Dryad had been so focused on the people that swam to its shores for help–that it failed to see the waters stilling around it.
"Lukas…" Rhea called out to him.
"..." He didn't even have to say a word because their traded looks were enough to tell it all. This was the dream of the Dryad's but somehow, it almost felt like it was too dangerous to even speak about the water nymph.
But soon enough, it wasn't only a face that developed in the tree–the Dryad soon got itself a body and stepped out of its tree for the first time. And Lukas who oftentimes found himself distracted by the beauty of women, found himself pausing.
The Dryad had soft, beautiful green hair and yet with deep brown eyes that was both young and old, naive and wise at the same time.
Lukas had seen the Sanguise House Ancestor and she had an eerie beauty that you couldn't turn your eyes away from–like a beautiful thunderstorm with raging lightning and yet it was a contrast to the Dryad in front of him.
Even Rhea herself who found herself above most due to her nature was speechless.
She was an embodiment of life, the promise of spring and birth–and most importantly?
She was looking right at them.
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