[h3][color=598527][center]Nerine, Voice of the Forests[/center][/color][/h3]

While Kalikmo, Nefas, Kilgarrah and the other children freed themselves and made their way towards the surface, fighting the Pit Guard and the jail above, some demons were slow to wake from their imprisonment. Not all were filled with rage at their imprisonment. Some, were half dead. Without the life giving sunlight or the soft, fertile soil to sustain her or her plants...this was quite the accurate description for the inhabitants of one of the cells. Even just a sliver of light illuminating the cell would have made it so much easier on the Dryad, but no, the humans had to be cruel and add insult to injury. When she was first brought here, the soft amber light of her own life illuminated the cell dimly, but that had long since faded.

Within her cell, she had resigned herself to rotting until the end of time. Though she was in a half dazed state, she could feel her dry limbs lacking water, creaking and groaning with pain at the slightest movement. The dry, cracked bark was even devoid of the soft moss that once covered it, she was sure. She couldn't feel it on her, after all. Her glorious crown of bark and roots also had withered, and long since fallen into the ground. That's what she was now, after all. A withered husk of a once mighty, destined to simply fade away into nothing.

And then something unexpected happened.

It felt almost as if a cool breeze washed over her dehydrated, withered body. A soft amber colored glow covered the room as the spark of the forest once again lit inside of her. It was small, and barely was enough to light the entire room in its soft, warm glow, but it was there. She didn't entirely realize what was happening at first, but she could hear shouts from outside, drawing her from her stupor as little green tufts of moss began growing on her oaken body. Was...had the prison been...opened?

She attempted to move a hand, but was only greeted with the rattling of chains, restraining her movement. Right. She had been chained as well as locked away. Were the humans really that afraid of the forest? Afraid of her? She couldn't understand that. She wouldn't hurt them as long as they kept their hands out of her forests, but they would never do that, at least that's what she had convinced herself.

Not that it mattered. She somehow regained a little bit of her power, and so she must get out of here. If she lingered any longer, any life she might have might just wither away. She might be reborn again if that happens, but she rather liked living and not dying.

A small, ethereal sounding groan echoed through the iron chamber as she strained her arm against the restraints, the bark mask she wore for a face completely unmoving. There was a loud grunt of exertion as the iron chains on one of her wrists were freed, the old chain snapping and coming off. She'd have the shackles removed later, for now she had to free the rest of her body. The other chains quickly followed as she lifted her head from her chest, and rose slowly to the ground.

The entire action took quite a while, and she was likely late to whatever party was happening outside, though she could still hear the shouts and cries of the pit guards, followed by a loud [i]THOOM![/i] as something caused the entire prison to shudder slightly. Sounded angry, whoever he was. The oaken creature shambled over to the door on her Cell, and gave it an experimental push, but it didn't open.

Welp, she'd have to do this the hard way then. Now that she was moving a bit, she could feel her power returning ever so slightly. It wasn't anywhere near as powerful as she was in the past, but if the greenery growing on her form now was any indication, she was much more lively. Still, her body felt fragile and weak, so she'd have to be careful, right?

...naaah.

Although, she did have no idea what was going on out there, and chances were, there were humans. Might want to look the part, at least a little, no? She didn't much like looking like those humans unless she must, but this might call for some stealth, at least she was confident she could flirt her way out of anything. Mortals were so easy to fool and play with. Especially then men~

The bark on her body was consumed by countless numbers of dry, brown leaves. In the past, they would have been vibrant green or white, depending on the season, but now? Well, it didn't matter. As bark turned to flesh, she beat on the door...and the door blasted off it's hinges, slamming into the other side of the wall, a flurry of leaves following it.

in hindsight, that was probably a bad idea.

[color=598527]"Ow ow ow...!"[/color] She pouted a bit as she shook her right hand, trying to ignore the pain she was now feeling. Ugh, by the Great Tree! Why did that hurt so much?! Was she really that weak, now? For the love of all that was holy and green she hoped someone had invited some super fertilizer that didn't involve animal manure in the time she had been locked up. She'd have to bathe in the stuff if she wanted to reach anywhere near her former level of ability in a timely fashion!

Before she could do much else though, she noticed one thing.

It was really cold down here. They should build a fire or something. Baby little trees like her didn't like being cold. They also didn't like fire too much, but that was besides the point.

The second thing she noticed, was that pretty much every God and Demon had been freed. And here she was slightly hoping she was a special little flower, more than she already was.

Right then...so what should she do? Aside from leave before she wilted completely? If she had even bothered to check her human appearance, she would have noticed a few wrinkles on her skin along with her hair being frayed and dry to the touch, complete with dark bags under her eyes. To anyone else, it'd probably be obvious the Dryad wasn't feeling her best after being completely out of touch with her forest for so long.