"I never imagined that Witch Fuwaa would come here," remarked Kyle as we stood outside his hilltop cabin. In the distance, Rose was building a little shack in the trunk of a Living Tree.

I had just finished evicting Morthal and Dante from my tower, and was now resting. Morthal settled into the room above Marco, while Dante, oddly enough, was content to live in the bathroom above Morthal.

"Guild trainees gossip about adventurers, hoping they'll get assigned to their favorites," explained Kyle. "Fuwaa was a rising star when Jack left for Corundia. She liked to team up with that one explorer... Twiffily."

Twiffily. Now, that was a name I knew of, from my birth world. She was an explorer who retreated into the jungle almost a year ago, not long before the Lizahrd clans first appeared. Everyone assumed the jungles swallowed her, one way or another.

I later joined Rose to assist her construction. The interior was normal lumber, while the exterior was seamless Living Wood. At the time, my tower's first and third floors were designed the same way.

Then came the gorge between the Living Trees. Though it was pretty, the gorge was also quite steep and difficult to cross. So while Rose finished decorating her house, I built a long bridge of platforms to span the gorge.

Rosw took one look at the bridge and shook her head. "Are you kidding me?" she sighed. "Platforms are so... unstylish."

Much, much later, I would return to find the bridge replaced by a long coil of rope. After I confronted her, Rose grudgingly rebuilt the bridge, adding some boreal supports to it as well.

It also seemed that Rose found my desert cottage. After finding the bridge missing, I would discover a row fenceposts nailed to the cactus roof. Suffice to say, I would tear them down.

As far as the present went, however, I was still inclined to trust Rose. After she finished her house, Rose unceremoniously dumped her loot in the building materials chest and descended into the tunnels again.

I spent an hour or so reorganizing my chests, by which time Rose returned with more loot, including several gold-plated chests. I replaced the third-floor chests with the gold chests.

After exploring the tunnels, I reluctantly hung up my spear. Kyle had rated the spear as "strong," and my silver sword as "agile," but the sword was also stronger than my spear. As fun as my spear was to use, it simply wasn't good enough.

I also stored my money in a chest. Whether I died and was resurrected as Rose claimed, or simply was rescued by an invisible hand, half my money always vanished once I blacked out. This seemed like a good way to protect it.

I climbed up to the patio to find Rose laying stone slabs around the fire. "Wait, what are you doing?" I demanded.

"Stone slabs are twice as efficient than gray bricks," replied Rose. "I built you a heavy workbench downstairs, by the way."

I sighed, but it wans't her fault, this time. She didn't know I'd been playing with stone slabs earlier. "I didn't like how the stone slabs looked." And so, I removed the slabs.

Night was falling. I felt the hairs on my skin rise again: the Eye's gaze was on me, burning through me. Alarmed, I looked back at Rose. "That's right!" she cooed. "Once the Eye finds a world without resistance, it lurks there night after night, until it's driven away."

Oh, lord.

The safest place for the villagers, I decided, was their own homes. This would leave the rooftops clear for battle. "Good luck," said Kyle, patting my shoulder on his way up the hill.

On the top floor, I watched and stared as the Eye emerged from the darkness, like a falling moon with a dark pupil and trailing red tendrils. Next to me, Rose was holding an ornate staff with a emerald tip.

At the Eye's first snarl, Rose leapt up, bouncing off the air with a burst of white mist. Green energy bolts shot from her emerald staff as my shurikens flew from her fingertips, striking the Eye repeatedly

The Eye's minions flew at me, falling on my silver sword. Every blow rang against my lead armor, echoing from gauntlets to greaves. Grimacing, I tried to keep up my assault.

More shurikens, more shrieking eyeballs. From bridge to bridge I scrambled, trying to land blows on the Eye at each opportunity while Rose's deadly skill rained down from above.

I was growing exhausted. I couldn't keep this up forever.

Another snarl rumbled through the village as a well-aimed shuriken sliced across the Eye's cornea. The eye bulged; then, it split open into a pair of fanged jaws, bits of iris and cornea falling to the ground.

Bellowing, the Eye of Cthulu dove at Rose as shurikens sliced apsrt its mouth, landing between its teeth. Gasping, I scrambled up the tower, slashing at the Eye furiously.

My sword sank into the white flesh as if it were a hard-boiled egg. The Eye screamed, its veins hulging furiously. Then, tendrils flapping wildly, the Eye of Cthulhu collapsed into a mass of bloody white chunks.

A shower of hearts and glowing red ore rained down on Rose. There was silence.

Around the village, the villagers were staring at us. Exhausted, I sat down next to Rose. "Good fight," I gasped, collapsing against the wall.

Her attention wasn't on me, but on a handful of tiny seeds in her hand. "The sinister growth of Cthulhu's vile blood," she purred, her eyes aglow. "Yes, this will be very useful in my experiments... heehee..."

The next morning, I set to work on repairing the damage left by the Eye of Cthulhu, filling in gaps with living wood. "Has my wand served you well, young one?" called a gentle voice from above.

On top of the grass-cave, just outside Alfred's house, I saw a girl with light-green hair, garbed in leaves. "You're a dryad," I whispered. And not just any dryad. The one who made my wand. The one who tended to me in Minaria.

Gracefully, she leapt down from the hill, moving with a limber ease beyond any human's ability. Though she resembled a human, her face looked unfamiliar, almost alien. "I am Faye of Minaria," said the dryad, spreading her hands, palms upright in an unfamiliar gesture. "I've been watching you for some time, Scheil."

I stared at my living wood wand, at the flowers rising around Faye's feet. Somehow, her smile made her seem more alien. And yet... had she been protecting me? "Are you the one who carries me back to the grass-cave?" I asked finally.

She smiled and closed her eyes. "Am I your guardian, you wonder? Perhaps, and perhaps not. I come on the forest winds, on vine and briar, on wood and leaf. I come, so that you might help turn the tide against darkness."

I was stunned. Why would a dryad want my help? I had seen many wonders over the last few days, wonders beyond my skill to find, wonders I had only seen with Rose's aid. "You came for... me?"

"Regardless of who helped you, the Eye of Cthulhu has been banished from this world," said Faye firmly, her eyes solidifying, sharpening. "Death's grip has been weakened, even if only by a fraction. You have been deemed a survivor, if nothing else."

Placing a hand on my shoulder, the dryad led me inside. "Come on; I wish to see your village. We have grave matters to discuss..."

Alfred was alarmed when he saw Faye. "Don't be fooled by her pretty looks! She's really 400 years old, or something," he warned us, eyeing the dryad suspiciously.

Kyle, however, looked both relieved and pleased by her prescence. "At last, the wheels can start turning," murmured the guide.

As for Rose, she was delighted. "Ah! A dryad, a leaf-weaver," she exclaimed, bounding around Faye eagerly, almost like a bunny. "I would like to buy some grass walls, please?"

Worried, I looked to Faye, but she wasn't insulted; in fact, she looked eager. "Flower walls? Yes, I can provide you with those," said the dryad. Taking a small clump of grass, she breathed on it gently, and it began to swell with leafy growth, a mesh of grass, stems, and vines.

"Thank you!" Handing her a fistful of coins, Rose took the growing ball of biomass from Faye and bounded outside, where the others stared at her.

The atmosphere in the room darkened. Faye's expression grew serious, perhaps even grim. "All right, what brings a dryad here?" asked Alfred gruffly.

Nodding, Faye strode over to the back door. "I'll get to that in a moment," she told us. "For now, the four of us ought to take a walk."

Outside, we all stared as Rose danced around the village, surrounding it with walls of leafy growth, spreading them from the grass-cave to Ahirom's house. "Hey! Careful with those," shouted Marco from his front door, shaking a paintbrush at her. "This coat's still drying!"

We stopped at the foot of the east hlll, on a space across the tunnels from Ahirom's house. "I'd like to see your house-building skills," said Faye, pointing at the ground and looking at me. "Here, if you would."

Using the wand she had left for me to find, all that time ago, I built Faye a small house from living wood. "I hope you don't mind that I took your furniture," I said nervously as I installed the door.

She waved my words aside. "That is fine," she told me, running her palm along the vine-twined door's surface, as if greeting an old friend. "I abandoned my home in Minaria for a reason, after all. Thank you, for bringing them back with you."

"Hey," called a voice. We turned around to see Rose, umbrella in hand. Past her, I saw thick, flowering hedges that rose up around my tower and overshadowed most of the houses. I stared at the village, shocked.

"I'm just gonna head out to explore the desert," said Rose cheerfully, twirling her umbrella. "See ya!" And she took off down the tunnel under the east hill, skipping all the way.

Alfred and Kyle exchanged irritated glances, then looked to Faye, who was scanning her new home. "This is a decent home, but it's a bit cramped for all of us to talk," she said finally.

So we took the conversation to Kyle's cabin on top of the hill. "Make yourselves at home," Kyle told us as we entered, fetching mugs for us.

The four of us sat around Kyle's table, drinking ale. "Now, to answer your question," said Faye, setting her mug down. "Alfred, Kyle; you two both know the true nature of Living Trees, yes?"

Alfred and Kyle nodded. I stared at them. The true nature of Living Trees? What was going on?

Faye strode over to the window. "You look rather perplexed," she said. "My apologies, Scheil. I briefly forgot that you're not from these parts."

In my hometown of Vaile, we often told stories of dryads and of massive trees, yet never had the fortune to see either of those. It was only natural for me to be curious.

The dryad's smile was different from before; it was almost human. "Let's begin with Living Trees. You saw the giant tree in Minaria where I lived, and you have seen the giant trees to the east of this village. You have seen them, towering above the landscapes. Those tall, majestic trees are what we call Living Trees."

She turned and looked straight at me. "Terraria is not a single world, but an infinite collective of many worlds. There is no core, no central point that you could call its heart. Terraria expands from itself, continuously expanding."

"Like I said when you found the life crystals, living energy flows throughout Terraria," said Kyle, rising to his feet. "The Living Trees are the source of this energy. Energy resonates from tree to tree, causing surrounding worlds to flourish."

"What does this energy do?"

"Many things," said Alfred gruffly. "It places rocks in the dirt, and dirt in the rocks. It spreads grass over barren soil and raises trees from lush fields, from frigid tundra, from jungle loam and salty beaches."

He got up, pacing around the room. "It's responsible for flowers and vines, for everything from dayblooms to glowing mushrooms. Without this energy, Terraria would be inhospitable."

I stared down at the floor. "That... sounds pretty important." I didn't know what else to say.

"Briming with this energy, the Living Trees eventually bear the fruits of new worlds," said Faye solemnly. "We, the dryads, were responsible for protecting the Living Trees from harm."

I frowned. Something was amiss. "But there's Living Trees here," I said slowly. "How come there wasn't a dryad in Corundia until you came?"

Kyle sharply looked at Faye, who sighed sadly. "Because there aren't as many dryads as there used to be," she said quietly. "Though the Living Trees are the source of Terraria's power, it's the grass and the normal trees which amplify this power, which allow a world to truly flourish. And we need Terraria to flourish, because our hearts are intertwined with Terraria."

"Then Terraria isn't flourishing?" I uttered.

"Remember the Corruption, Scheil?" said Kyle. He looked as grim as Faye, now. "The power of Living Trees spreads life, but the Corruption spreads death. As it chokes out forests, it stifles the energy of the Living Trees, causing the dryads to wither and die."

Faye's eyes narrowed. "Long, long ago, demons appeared in Terraria," said the dryad, gazing out across the hills. "Though hideous in appearance, we thought them harmless, and allowed them to stay. But little did we realize how the shadow magic in their veins could distort the pure energy of Terraria. One fateful day, the demons cursed the fruit of a Living Tree, transforming it into a shadow orb. And when the orb was planted like any other fruit, the Corruption burst from it, and the forests began to rot."

At first, it must've seemed like a natural part of the ecosystem, similar to mushrooms," said Kyle. "But soon, the rot began to spread, contaminating Terraria's pure energy, swallowing entire lands."

Alfred, who had been silent for awhile, spoke up. "When I was a boy, I lived in a small jungle village," he whispered. "But the Corruption destroyed the jungle. It sapped away the moisture in the soil, choking out the wildflowers and shrubs, leaving only purple grass. And as the earth rotted, my village... my family, my friends... all collapsed into the ebonstone chasms—swallowed by the Corruption."

I stared at the floor numbly. "I'm sorry, Alfred."

Faye massaged her forehead. "We could not determine whether the demons had done this by design, or by accident," she said solemnly. "But regardless, we could not allow them to roam freely any longer. Dryads across Terraria combined their powers to call forth the Hallow, an ancient magic to equal the Corruption. Using the Hallow, we fought the demons and banished them to the Underworld."

"But it was too late," growled Alfred. "The Corruption had already spread across Terraria, propogating itself in the same manner that Terraria does. And with each new world born from Living Trees, the Corruption seeds itself, consuming the earth, deteriorating it. Such is the cancer in Terraria that we call Corruption."

I leapt up. "Why doesn't everyone know this?" I cried. "If the Corruption is so dangerous... if everyone is in such great peril every day... Why doesn't everyone know about this?"

There was a long silence. Faye looked at me sadly, while Alfred turned away. "Everyone knows the Corruption exists," explained Kyle. "The dryads, like Faye, have seen to that. But people don't want to know how fragile their existence is. They don't want to hear how quickly the Corruption could sweep from coast to coast."

"It's adventurers like you who hold back the Corruption," said Alfred. "Adventurers who delve into the unkown, who master their surroundings, who tame nature and endure its perils."

Faye pointed at me. "On behalf of Terraria, on behalf of Lady Elysia, I charge you with this duty: To purge the darkness from this world. To guard Corundia's Living Trees with your life. To ensure that Terraria's cycle of life and death will continue. Can you do this?"

All eyes were on me. "I... I accept," I whispered. "I won't let the Corruption swallow my world." I felt as if I was kneeling before a throne, about to be knighted...

Without warning, a horrible chill ran down my spine, and my heart began to pound heavily. Shuddering, I looked around the cabin frantically, but my sight had become distorted. My vision was peppered with tiny red flashes. "What is this?" I whispered, now very afraid. "Is this… Corruption?"

Alfred and Kyle both looked to Faye, whose face had gone pale. "No, it's not the Corruption," she whispered.. "But certainly, something terrible... perhaps more terrible..."

I burst out of the cabin, gasping for breath. My vision was returning to normal, but I felt wet and sticky, as if coated with blood. And overhead, in the distance, I saw a blazing light fall from the sky.