This all began years ago when a spirit followed me home. Who is this spirit and is she the one that has given me these visions? That and many more questions do I wonder. At first I only saw them in my sleep and they did not come in any order. Is what I am about to write here a true tale or am I mad like the Dragon Dancer? This story is a tragedy that haunts my life. I cannot keep it to myself. I hope that you can bare it better than I.

I must begin with the first vision. In it I was someone else. A stronger leaner man with long thick black hair. He was the tallest of the ten men that walked with him. He wore the title of Dragon Keeper. That title was given to the only human allowed on the Council of Dragons. It was his plans and strategies that brought the war between the Dragons and the Dryads to a standstill.

Telling this is quite awkward. I am not the Dragon Keeper, but in this dream or vision I see and experience everything as if I am him. What he knows and understands is not the same as me. And yet I am experiencing both as if I am him and I am me at the same time.

I feel his strength. He is not only strong in body, but also in mind. Even though he is from a time long ago, I can tell that he is a much smarter man than I am. I can feel the comfort he has with the men that follow him. They are the best and bravest men in the Dragon army and he considers each one a friend. That includes the one walking beside him. An archer, who years ago did something that should have gotten him killed. An offense that would have been considered by many to be something that the Dragon Keeper should never forgive.

Even after having this vision a few times, I did not really know what a Dryad was. I had to go find out. Most people believe they are the spirits that live in trees. Many call them Tree Sprites. Most descriptions that I found did not do justice to these people. They could become spirit like and join a tree of their kinship. But if you killed a dryad, the tree would not die. Or if you chopped down a tree, it would not kill a dryad. They did this joining with trees as a form of communion with nature. This meant they could also hide within a tree. But they could not take and hide metal within a tree. So if a sword or shield was next to a tree, it was a good assumption that a dryad was within. They could also gain strength from trees, but they did not live within them. They could also enter one tree and if the branches or roots were touching another tree of the same species, then they could pass from one to the next in just an instant.