Omega's Rebirth

~Forest Tajmaé; Nymph Terrain Far East Of Keep Skies~

"Come again?!" Dante asked with a raised brow as he stared incredulously at the group of nymphs who had knocked him unconscious. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The words the nymph had just said made Dante completely forget his rage at awakening to find himself cuffed to a tree with a sack over his head.

Only for the sack to be taken off and Dante’s captors, five strangers stood around him and stared down at him with large, unsettling smiles.

At first, Dante had thought he was abducted by fairies, however he had quickly realized his captors were missing the obvious appendage for flight.

Dante knew many fairies and the only thing they all had in common were those spectral wings and this group had nothing of such, yet they smelled identical to fairies.

The fae race encompassed a vast diversity of species, from nymphs to dryads, the fae even ruled over the lesser species like the centaurs and pixies...all of whom were tributary races under the Asvarian stronghold.

Other than the Asvarian beasts, the fae race could be considered the next greatest race and they most certainly were far greater in number than the dragons.

In the absence of wings and with an appearance so similar to that of humans, there was only one other of the fae kind it could be and that was the nymphs.

Dante had not realized they had come so close to nymph territory which was not at all in their travel path.

It was only now it became clear to Dante that travelling by flight and on land were much too different.

Dante had gone by the route to Keep Skies many times, but never had he gone by on land and while Dante tried to convince himself he knew exactly where they were headed...it seemed he had gotten them lost.

Getting them lost was one thing but letting himself get abducted by nymphs and leaving Estelle by herself was another thing entirely.

But at this point, those were even the least of Dante’s concerns. The greatest of which were the words the leader of these group of nymphs had just said.

"Tis blooming season for we nymphs, we come beyond forest borders to hunt for the prize for the High Maiden."

"Our party finds you suited to be the prize, hence you shall be offered as our tribute. Tis a great honor to serve the High Maiden." The male nymph explained again, in slower words and a louder tone as though Dante was hard of hearing.

Now, there were many things the nymph had just said that did not sit right with Dante but amongst these things were the mention of the words ’blooming season’...and prize.

Dante was wide read, it was required of a dragon lord to be conversant with the nature and culture of all races under the rule of the stronghold, especially a dragon lord from Dante’s lineage.

Dante had studied each race intensively and so he had more than the basic knowledge on all the races in the Asvarian stronghold.

Hence the words blooming season struck Dante as deeply familiar, Dante was certain he had read of it once before.

And it only took him a moment to recall just where he had read of it and just what those words meant.

"Blooming season... like mating season...?" Dante asked warily, hoping his memory served him wrong and blooming season was all about flowers.

"Aye!" Another of the nymphs exclaimed immediately, visibly excited that Dante was finally getting an understanding of things, only that he wasn’t.

Dante took another moment to ponder over what exactly the word ’prize’ meant when put in the same context as blooming season and a yelp of horror escaped him when he did figure it out.

"You want me to be a mate to one of you nymphs?!" Dante exclaimed in horror, completely tossing aside his composure as a noble dragon lord as it dawned on him just why he had been captured.

When blooming season came, the nymphs held a festival and a hunt was declared where the unmated nymphs could seek potential mates beyond their forest barriers.

It was only that what the nymphs termed as ’seek’ was essentially capturing whoever caught their fancy and taking them back to nymph settlement.

"Aye!" The male nymph was the one to approve this time and Dante’s eyes widened as he jumped to his feet, completely forgetting the cuffs that had been cast on his limbs.

The invisible cuffs immediately became visible at Dante’s resistance, glowing a dim gray, Dante was tugged back down to his original position right after a searing pain shot through him.

"Scales!" Dante exclaimed as all the places the enchanted cuff was in contact with stung painfully, a warning that Dante could not move beyond what the cuffs allowed.

Dante lifted a furious gaze up to the nymphs who had bound them, rage surging within him...he could not believe he had to deal with this.

Dante was a noble blooded lord dragon! Soon to be Lord of the great Fort Scabbard.

Back in his Fort, no one dared breath wrongly in Dante’s presence! He was not someone the nymphs could abduct and cuff at will...

"You will let me go this instant or your entire clan will answer for this!" Dante snarled furiously.

The nymphs exchanged looks at Dante’s threats before they broke into laughter.

"How shall you achieve that? We nymphs fear no one and we only observe our cultures, you trespassed our hunting grounds in blooming season... this be your own fault." The male nymph countered with a scoff.

Dante growled low, his eyes narrowing in rage.

"To hell with your blooming season! I will have no part this! Not in a thousand years! Let me go this instant!" Dante growled out.

"Three blooming seasons and we finally find one suitable to the maiden’s taste, we take you back to the maiden as soon as we break camp." The male nymph continued as though he could not hear Dante’s words.

"Arggh!" Dante’s scream of rage shook the forest...yet the forest was vast enough hence there was only so far his scream could go...