"Why am I here?"
Jack looked around and couldn't help but notice that he was once again at the intersection which splitted in three corridors.
"Well this will save me some time to walk back, time to go right I guess."
While Jack was walking through the right corridor he noticed something.
"Yeah, this corridor is the most simple. I guess the materials are the same, so it would still be more luxurious than any corridor from the Immortal Mansion but it is too empty. No portraits, no paintings, not even sculptures... So weird, I wonder if everything was on the other corridor and on the main hall."
Jack found so strange that the corridor was so empty, that he had all his senses on high alert just in case he had to act fast against any danger.
"That's the end..."
Jack looked ahead and could finally see the end of the corridor. A giant black door with beautiful engravings was everything that stood in his path.
Jack's vision blurred for a second and he muttered under his breath. "Are those elven runes? Or is that the language of the fairies? No... That's the language of the nymphs."
Jacks vision returned to normal before a slight headache hit him and he rubbed his head.
"How do I know that?"
Nymphs, a race formed by beautiful nature spirits. It was said that nymphs were if not the most, one of the most beautiful races in the world. All nymphs had the looks of young and beautiful maidens. Though not immortal (at least not all of them), they lived much longer than humans. Associated with nature, different types of nymphs existed. The Meliae, the Dryad, the Naiads, the Nereids, and the Oreads were the most know subgroups. But who knew if there were more subgroups of nymphs.
It was told that many centuries ago, with no one knowing the exact date and time, many strong and lustful men entered the many natural regions of the world in search of nymphs, trying to hunt them down and turn them to slaves.
Those men were part of one of the greatest empires humanity ever had, and the greatest empire of the old era. An empire whose name only the wisest remember, since its fall was one of the most shameful events in all human history.
A story known to everyone it was. No matter if child, adult, or old everyone knew the story of how one of the biggest empires humanity ever had fell in the time it took crops to grow.
The story talked about a great emperor. Strong, brave, confident... The pride of humanity, undefeated in battle. The old era was a great era. Humans created many artifacts and made a lot of great discoveries during that time. Humans thought they were getting close in potential to all the other races who had inborn capabilities since the moment they came to the world. It was true, that humans couldn't craft as good as dwarves, neither were they so skilled with element magic, runes or the bow as elves. They didn't live for eternity either, but they had numbers, they had limited time on life, so they should make use of that time they had to improve, advance, and close the gap.
For a dragon 1000 years was said to be just a nap. But for humans, 1000 years were many generation's work and knowledge. And humans felt that they would continue to advance under the flag of that emperor.
Every other human empire respected him, be it the other emperors or the common people from the other empires, and a rumor was told, that said emperor had come to touch some divinity. But rumors are rumors in the end.
One day of a very hot summer, the emperor decided to explore the Mystic Woods along with some soldiers. He started to get more ambitious and the Mystic Woods were the first stone on his path of conquest. It was said that the emperor explored a great part of the woods along his soldiers, and they had slayed many beasts during the exploration. At one time, the emperor decided to call for a break, seeing his soldiers a bit tired he decided to give them some rest and continue the exploration the next day.
The emperor went to take a bath to a near lake and the sight bewitched him. He saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen taking a bath. A beautiful woman with beautiful green hair, and beautiful brown eyes that showed innocence, and a smile that seemed to suck your soul. The water of the lake and the trees around it seemed to gain color and life with her every move. The emperor felt like he fell under the effects of a spell and he stumbled a bit. Hearing a noise, the beautiful woman turned her head quickly and saw a human looking at her with his dirty eyes like he was an idiot.
She furrowed her brows and chanted something under her breath just before a beautiful yellow dress wrapped around her as she exited the lake.
She turned around and walked to the trees, deep in the woods, never to be seen again.
The emperor seemed to come back to life the moment the woman left.
He shook his head and came back to where his soldiers were resting.
"Your highness, is something wrong?" One of the soldiers asked the emperor, since the emperor seemed like he was not himself, and he was still wearing the same clothes he was wearing before leaving for the lake.
"We are going back to the empire. We will continue the exploration on a later date."
The soldiers did not understand what happened to the emperor, but they complied and rode back.
For 6 months the emperor isolated himself, and no one knew what he was doing during that time, the only thing people knew, was that the emperor was reading many books.
After 6 months of isolation, a big laugh could be heard coming deep from the castle.
"Hahahaha, so nymphs. So she was a nymph, and I thought she was a fairy, but no, she was a nymph."
News came quick to every human, the emperor had fallen for a nymph from the Mystic Woods. He asked his men to bring the nymph from the woods to him, and that any nymph they found should be hunted to turn them to slaves. Many didn't know why or how all of this started, but everyone understood once they found some nymphs on the woods. Nymphs could be considered one of the most beautiful races, only comparable to high noble elves.
Nymphs were difficult to track and capture, they were on their terrain, and nature was their friend, so no human could catch not even a hair of a nymph.
But one day something changed, something that brought the doom of the empire. A hunter was walking the woods as he caught glimpse of a nymph. The nymph seemed to not be on alert and he decided to follow her. How lucky he was, as he managed to get to the home of the nymphs. He managed to remain hidden, and kidnapped the nymph the emperor had fallen for.
He went back to the empire and brought the nymph to the emperor untouched, expecting to receive the great bounty that was promised.
The emperor looked at the nymph and could recognize her perfectly. Not even one day had passed without remembering her, but the look she gave him at that moment made him want to subdue her.
"You did a great job, and you will be heavily rewarded for that. Those nymphs are tricky, nature helps them to hide and run. So catching them it's too difficult of a task, but since we know now where they gather, we can hunt them all we want."
The emperor looked again at the nymph kneeling on the ground looking at him with that hateful look and he couldn't help but raise his hand in annoyance to try and hit her.
"I will teach you good manners, seems like nymphs are not well behaved."
Just when the emperor was gonna hit the nymph a big tremor shook the palace. And then a second tremor took place. Screams were being heard outside the palace and the floor started to shake wildly.
"What the hell is happening outsi-"
Just before he could finish his sentence the ground splitted and giant vines appeared from under the ground and grabbed the nymph.
"Nature should be respected, the world is nature, we nymphs are nature, so you going against nymphs is like going against nature itself, and that means going against the world itself. Don't forget this saying. And maybe in your next life you will be more lucky."
The emperor saw the view outside the palace, all buildings were falling, the ground was being split, and giant vines and trees were covering all the capital not even allowing the sun to enter. Many nymphs could be seen, and just like that, a big empire fell.
And from that day on all races came to know. That nature should be respected, and by extension, nymphs should be too.
Jack came back to his senses after the short recollection, and he didn't know why but he thought he could picture that event clearly in his mind. An empire in ruins, and beautiful spirits just going around.
"Humans greed... It would be more lust than greed in this case but still, an empire falling just because the emperor turned to an idiot for a woman, sigh..."
"Still, I don't know why but when I thought about that story I never heard before, I could see it so clearly... Nymphs are truly beautiful, and that nymph the emperor fell for... Was not a normal nymph."
Jack looked again at the door and grinned. "Let's see what secrets you hide."