Lake Manalight, as I had dubbed it, was fairly elliptical in shape. On the side that abutted the mountain glaciers, the lake was fed by the waterfall of glacial melt. On the southern narrower end, the river flowed out of the mountains and off towards the forests that we had ascended from. On the northern narrow end, the thickest section of the forest came right to the water’s edge. Now the lake had a new feature that had not been there yesterday.

“It’s really big,” Anna said in wonder, staring.

“The biggest I’ve ever seen,” Clara commented.

It was a tree. A massive tree. A massive tree that in no way could have manifested overnight without us noticing, and yet it did. It sat there in the lake’s center.

The tree had a large root system that jutted out of the water, like a mangrove tree. Its thick trunk rose over thirty meters into the sky. Willow-like branches hung off the trunk, some reaching the water’s surface, and provided a curtain of foliage.

“Shall we go check it out?” I asked.

The girls agreed and we set about preparing for a miniature expedition to the tree. Mostly, this was grabbing our weapons and the tougher hides I’d refined to basic sturdy leather armor. After all, we had no idea how the tree might react to us, as it could be a treant.

Without further ado, we dove into the lake. While cool, the water was not unbearable, so we managed. Living next to a lake gives one plenty of opportunities to practice swimming, so we had no issue going the distance.

Pulling ourselves out of the water and onto the tangled mess of roots, the girls started stripping off their wet clothes. Noticing, I turned away and did the same. We were still kids technically, which was probably why the girls didn’t mind undressing for now. That would probably end sooner than expected.

Once our clothes were semi-dry, we clambered up the roots, through the curtain of branches, and found ourselves at the trunk. There was a large knot-hole at the base, almost as though someone had carved it into the tree.

"Shall we?"

The girls nodded.

Passing through the opening, I received an alert.

Now Entering: World Tree Dungeon

World Tree Dungeon? This is starting to sound even more like… no, don't think about things that try and dredge up distant memories. Focus on what is in front of you.

"Dungeon?" Anna asked.

"You got that too?"

"Yeah."

"What is it?" Clara pressed.

"Sounds like a challenge thing," I answered.

It hadn't existed before yesterday, how much trouble could it be? But then, trees don't grow this big overnight either. And who knew what kind of capabilities a dungeon had.

We proceeded cautiously because of the unknown. I took the lead, with Anna behind me, and Clara covering the rear.

The tunnel we followed twisted and turned so much that were it not a single pathway, we would surely have been disoriented. It quickly became obvious to me there was some sort of spacial magics expanding the inside of a dungeon from the confines of its external appearance. The pathway eventually opened to a sort of chamber.

"Ew," said Anna.

Inside the chamber was a wriggling mound of insects. Termites if I had to guess. Several nearby turned towards us, sensing our presence, and started squirming to approach.

"This infestation can't be good for the tree. Let's clear these out," I said.

Clara moved next to me so we would take the brunt of the termites attacks, leaving Anna to cover our openings. It was quickly a slaughter.

Even these monstrous termites were negligible for us young kids. They seemed to rely on their bulk to intimidate, but only had their jaws to attack with. There were even some that came at us by leaping and gliding on wings, but their speed was slow.

The fight dragged on as more and more termites approached. They were unimpeded by their slain brethren as the corpses disappeared upon their death. I was growing more concerned that we would run out of energy before finishing the termites. We had to have defeated the number we saw within the chamber.

"Anna? Cover my side for a moment," I said.

"Got it!"

I stepped back and traded places with her. I took a breath to calm myself, then leapt to look over our enemies. It was brief glance, but I had an answer.

There was the queen, previously hidden underneath its minions, that was continuously producing more. In order to end this, she had to be taken out.

"We have to push through. There's a queen just making more. We take her out, it's over."

"About time," Clara growled with eagerness.

With a wider clearing sweep, Clara and I gave us all a moment.

"Let's go."

I led the charge, focusing mostly on the termites from the left as I pushed forward. Each of my spear thrusts was a killing blow. I gave no quarter as I continued.

After only a few moments, I found myself at the queen. She offered no resistance herself, being too bloated as she constantly produced new larvae. In a moment of pity, I nearly withheld landing a killing blow on her, but the situation would not end otherwise.

It so happened that Anna and Clara’s blows struck simultaneously with mine. A pathetic chittering screech echoed around the chamber as the queen died. It didn’t end the swarm of other termites, but those were mopped up quickly.

Finally, there was calm in the chamber. It was unfortunate that the termites corpses didn’t stick around, since there was no loot to be found. Not even the queen’s corpse remained. However, there was one thing at the center of the chamber that had been hidden under the queen.

Partially embedded in the floor was a bluish-green colored orb. It glowed from within and seemed to pulse with energy. Curious, I bent down to examine it closer. Looking at it revealed no new information though. I started to reach for it, then thought better about touching it with my hand. Instead I brought out my dagger and poked the orb with the tip. There was a soft tink, as though the orb were made of glass, when the dagger made contact.

The energy within the orb started to swirl, making a noticeable pattern on its surface. The glow started to pulse in time with the swirl, growing brighter and brighter with each pulse. Eventually, I couldn’t see the orb anymore and backed away. Just as suddenly as the swirling energy and glowing pulse began, it ended.

Standing in the center of the chamber was now a woman. She had long blue-green hair that draped down to the floor. Her skin was a muddy brown hue that was smooth and almost seemed to glow. I didn’t notice much else, as I averted my eyes. She was naked after all.

“Greetings,” said an unfamiliar voice, which I guessed belonged to the woman.

“Hi!” Anna replied enthusiastically.

“Why do you avert your gaze?” the woman asked, clearly directed at me.

“Oh, um… Well… It’s just… You are a little… naked,” I stammered out.

I could feel the heat coming from my face as I flushed with embarrassment.

“We’ve been naked around you before…,” Anna started, trailing off before finishing that thought.

My internal temperature jumped a few more degrees, or at least felt like it.

“I see. How about this then?” the woman stated, “You may look now.”

I really didn’t want to, given my mental state, but this mystery woman seemed alright with it. I slowly turned back. It looked as though leaves and vines had been woven together to form a dress in a similar style to that which Anna and Clara typically had on. It was passable enough for me.

“Thank you,” I managed to squeak out.

“You are quite welcome. I wish to thank you as well.”

I must have looked confused by her appreciation, so she continued.

“I am a dryad. There are only a few of us at any one time. I had been searching for a new home, but my sickness had grown too great before I moved. I had just found the lake here when I could carry on no further. I felt I would perish there on the shore. Then you appeared and threw me into the lake.”

“So you were the treant? And the light that went into the seed was you?”

“I suppose you could classify it as such. I have little memory of last night.”

“You mentioned you were sick,” Clara interjected.

“Yes. The parasite you have just removed fed on my essence. But it is now gone. If you had not done so, I would surely have died.”

So the termites were tenacious enough to threaten our new dryad friend.

“What should we call you?” I asked.

“Please, call me Trillia,” the dryad replied.

“Can you leave the dungeon?” I asked.

“Dungeon?” Trillia replied.

World Tree Dungeon has been eliminated.

Oh so now the system acknowledges our clearing of the dungeon. Convenient.

“Nevermind. Will you be staying here?”

“I find this lake to be to my liking.”

“Then please stay. We shall be returning to our home on the shore,” I said.

“No! Please, stay here with me. I owe you my life!” Trillia practically cried.

“But we can’t live within you. There isn’t enough space. Even more so, it would be intrusive.”

“I do not mind. And I will make it so that you can live here.”

Trillia answered my objections, and I didn’t feel that we could take on a dryad. We were left with little choice.

“Okay, thank you.”

Trillia smiled. Perhaps it was a good thing to have a powerful new ally.