Before leaving the island with the three Divine tribulation trees, he did harvest their fruits and this time they were fully ripe. They were much more expensive compared to the beast cores, but giving away one to the pretty lady to get out of an embarrassing situation was not the worst idea.
With this thought Leo put both palms in front of his chest, deeply bowed, but a moment later he was already holding a small, but beautiful fruit of a purple color.
“It’s quite rare.” He said, “But you’ll find it very tasty.”
Everyone, including the high dryad had the same reaction. They furrowed their brows in confusion looking at the pretty thing in Leo’s palms.
Seeing her hesitate, Leo added, “But you probably don’t want to wait for too long. It’ll get bad quickly.”
Suddenly the high dryad’s expression changed. Without saying a word she grabbed the fruit and rushed inside one of the huts. A couple of elderly dryads followed and for a while the baffled people outside heard only whispers and the sound of pieces of wood clattering.
After a while the trio came out and the high dryad directly asked Leo, “Where did you get it?”
“I plucked it.” Leo honestly said with a shrug, but seeing her expression darken added, “From a lightning tree. If you don’t want it, it’s fine. I’ll eat it myself. They’re quite good.”
“From which tree?” The high dryad asked and the two elderly dryads showed two wooden planks each with a tree drawn on them.
Leo threw a glance on them and grinned, “Why all this testing? It’s just a fruit … and it didn’t come from any of those.”
The high dryad looked deep in Leo’s eyes and it didn’t take long for the youth to start feeling uncomfortable. The rest were also silent as if waiting for the verdict of a judge.
“What is your name?” She finally asked and Leo could finally have a breather.
“Leo.” He said.
“Where are you from?” Was the next question.
“Uhmm … from around the Dryad mountain.” He awkwardly said.
Since most people assumed he was local, he was already used to play that role. Of course, when directly asked about it by the highest authority, he did feel uncomfortable to lie.
“How old are you?” The high dryad asked the next question.
“Eighteen … I think …” Leo said, scratching the back of his head.
From the time he was left alone on the ship he had hard time tracking own age, but he honestly gave the best estimate. The high dryad’s reaction surprised him though.
“Alright!” She said, “You’ll do. This is my choice. The ceremony shall commence!”
For some reason the expressions of the other two men changed into ones of bitter disappointment and without saying anything they slightly bowed towards the high dryad and left. The rest of the ladies quickly carried the six unconscious men to a side and Leo was brought to the middle of the ring he earlier thought was the arena.
A moment later he realized he was suddenly alone with a bunch of middle aged and elderly women and his alarm instantly went off – the rule number one! Women are dangerous!
They were not aggressive and they were regular people, not cultivators, but for some reason Leo didn’t feel comfortable one bit. Even when all of them began to sing another sweet tune, he felt something bad was about to happen … and then it did – they began to take off the rest of his clothes while the high dryad curiously watched.
Fortunately they knew their limits. When one of the dryads intended to touch Leo’s amulet a short and strict ‘no’ made everyone clear there were things they could not touch … but for the next part he was touched all over. They thoroughly washed him over and over as if trying to scrub off the top layer of his skin. It looked like they had never done this before because as a professional in this field Leo could easily recognize a sloppy work.
Meanwhile the high dryad contently watched the process and sang along. If she was the one washing him, according to Leo’s understanding, it would be more or less fine, but no matter how he looked at it, he felt it would be the best if he was the one washing her.
When another elderly dryad began to scrupulously abuse his privates, Leo had enough.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He smacked away all the wrinkled hands and said to the high dryad, “Haven’t you had enough fun for your bachelorette party? Good luck in your marriage, but I’m sorry, I need to go!”
At first it was amusing, but the longer the ‘ceremony’ lasted, the more uncomfortable he felt.
Surprisingly the high dryad didn’t take his reaction to the heart. She walked over and stopped only inches from Leo, who almost got dazed by her flowery fragrance. Once again she looked deep into his eyes, then took him by the hand and pulled towards the arches and the trail leading towards the top of the mountain.
All this time the dryads never stopped singing and followed the pair up the trail. Leo’s mind was a complete mess when he had to follow barefooted and naked the blond lady with weird fetishes. He couldn’t make up his mind if this was another nightmare or whether he should make a run for it, but it was probably the soothing song the dryads sang in soft voices that had some kind of tranquilizing effect.
Leo was still in daze when they arrived at the mountain top.
The high dryad finally stopped and said with a mysterious smile, “Leo, this is where you’ll fulfill your destiny!”
‘Destiny, shmestiny!’ Leo was somewhat upset, but the beautiful sunset he hadn’t seen for so long made him forget the curses he was about to spout.
Above the island with the tree Divine tribulation trees the sky was clear and he could see the sun every day, but the ‘sunset’ for him always happened in the early afternoon when the sun hid in the mist. While spending days in the treetops, be it in the wild or in the Dryad mountain city, it was even worse – one could barely discern the sun’s disc through the mist. It was enough to tell the cardinal direction, but for a person who had enjoyed the warmth of the sun Greenland seemed like a gloomy place.
Now, on the other hand, Leo could fully enjoy the beauty of the celestial object he missed the most.
‘How come every realm, even the immortal one has similar sun and moon?’ He suddenly thought, ‘Are the stars also the same?’
Of course, the questions were rhetorical and he didn’t expect to think of an answer, but the soft singing in the background returned Leo to reality.
“This is where I live.” The high dryad said in soft voice, “The place is completely different from what you have experienced in your short life and it’ll take some time to for you to adjust. Unfortunately, while you could get used to living here, I can’t go down to where the people live. I can’t even stay for too long with dryads otherwise my body gets tainted.”
Clearly she was speaking about the toxic environment below, but apart from the blond hair her features resembled those of other locals. Leo couldn’t fully understand what made her different, but, truth to be said, it didn’t matter much.
“Don’t worry!” She continued, “You’ll be able to continue your life after the ceremony like you’ve been used to. I’ve been told that this place is unique and no one is ever able to forget the beautiful sunset or sunrise … so … I guess you should enjoy it …”
“Sounds good!” Leo smiled back, but then pointed at the small dryad crowd that still continued to sing, “But can we do something about your entourage? I feel quite awkward them staring at me all the time … and … I’d like to borrow some clothes …”
The high dryad furrowed brows in confusion and said, “The dryads have always overseen the ritual. It’s been that way since the ancient times.”
“Ok, listen … uhmm … what is your name?” Leo asked, realizing everyone was calling this woman ‘high dryad’ and never addressed by name even though the regular dryads had ones.
For some reason the high dryad suddenly blushed and whispered, “Izel … My name is Izel …”
“A pretty name.” Leo honestly said with a nod, “Listen, Izel. If you want to hang or even if you want me to wash you, it’s fine, but it’s not fine for me to run around naked in front of elderly ladies. I come from a good family, you know?”
The high dryad fell in thought and only after a long while said in somewhat concerned voice, “Will you be able to perform properly if they are not singing the sacred song?”
“Me washing you will go much smoother if no envious eyes are around!” Leo smiled back, obviously misunderstanding her question.
“Hmm, alright! But the cleansing part of the ritual still has to be done properly.” Izel said, “It’s very important.”
“Good!” Leo grinned remembering how he actually took the detoxifying bath here more than a year ago, “I like being clean.”
The high dryad looked him in the eyes and once again Leo began to feel uncomfortable. Even standing naked in front of a bunch of old ladies didn’t make him feel so awkward. It almost seemed Izel used some kind of a technique to mind control him. In fact, that might be the only logical explanation for his own strange behavior!
“Come!” She said and brought Leo to the pool he already recognized from afar, “This is the Sacred pool – the purest waters in the world. When the full moon rises, we’ll complete the ceremony here. Now wait!”
She went over to the two storey pavilion she apparently lived in and returned a short while later with a large wooden box in her hands.
‘Heavens!’ Leo suddenly had a horrifying thought when the rest of the dryads held their breaths seeing what she carried, ‘Please, please tell me it’s not a sacrificial dagger or something similar!’
It was not. After putting the box on a rock at the pool, Izel dropped her clothes and to his great surprise Leo realized that the beauty of her body was not far behind Anna’s. In fact, because she was not as slim made her in a way even more pleasant to the eye.
“Continue!” She ordered the dryad choir which immediately resumed the singing, but one could not miss the trembling of their voices.
The she opened the box and took out a small, round stone, a bit larger than a hazelnut. It was mostly white with few thick, gray lines crisscrossing it, like a glass ball that was about to break.
“This is a moonstone.” She explained to Leo, “It’s a magical item, a wonder … it has the ability to remove all filth ... When a high dryad is born, a moonstone is born alongside her … And for centuries it has been this way … The task of the high dryad, my task, is to cleanse the world, but unfortunately it gets more and more tainted thus the task is always inherited by the next high dryad …”
Leo stared at the round stone in her hand with similarly round eyes and didn’t even hear a word she said in her sweet and pleasant voice. He even forgot about her nakedness!
When he was up here the last time he heard the master, obviously Izel, mention ‘the moonstone’ and how by ‘the power of the Moon’ she cleansed the pool he had used as a detox bath. But only now it registered in his brain that all this time she was holding the item he was actually sent to Greenland to acquire! This was the f*cking poison pearl!