The main question now was – what in the world was he supposed to do? The ladies here, including the pretty naked one were not that strong and Leo could easily knock everyone out and leave unhindered. But the people here were pure and honest. Yes, they were a bit weird, but the weirdness was because of his own misconceptions and ignorance of the local traditions.
“… it might feel slightly itchy, but it’s a good sign.” Izel brought Leo back to reality when she began to touch his body with the moonstone.
First it was the forehead, then the nose, then she slowly rolled it down the right hand. Leo did feel the itch she was mentioning, but in all honesty he wouldn’t have noticed it otherwise. He would have noticed his fingernails becoming pink again though. This was quicker and more effective than taking the cleansing bath or even swimming in the lightning waters!
Izel was surprised when the moonstone touched Leo’s amulet and there was no reaction. Normally even things brought from below had high toxicity in them, but since it was only an amulet she allowed him to keep it thinking it was an important keepsake from parents or something similar. The fact that it was pure despite the black color made her furrow her brows, but then she decided she had cleansed it earlier and not noticed, and quickly forgot about it.
“You do this often?” Leo asked, trying to make himself feel less awkward.
Apparently he was the only one who felt that way, because the dryads kept singing, but their master meticulously rolled the stone over Leo’s body as if she was a doctor looking for symptoms of a rare disease.
“No, I don’t need to.” Izel seriously said, “Look at me – my body is completely pure. Even if I occasionally visit dryads, the rays of the sun are enough to purify me. But if I went to the base of the mountain, I’d probably die.”
“Aren’t you lonely up here?” He asked, but then realized he probably shouldn't have.
Fortunately Izel was too focused on the job at hand and didn’t get emotional.
She said, “My duty is to remain here and teach the next high dryad.”
“Oh?” Leo looked around in surprise, “Where is she?”
“She’s not here yet.” Izel said with mysterious smile and then turned to the dryad choir, “This should be enough for now. You can leave.”
“But master … are you sure you want to … you’ll be alone …” The oldest dryad was clearly concerned, but in Leo’s presence she didn’t want to directly accuse him of having evil intentions, “And if he … the moonstone …”
“Do you really think anyone here could stop him?” Izel said Leo’s exact thoughts. Then looked at the stone in her palm that had almost lost all its luster and sighed, “And the moonstone is good for another two, maybe three uses. Fortunately it’ll be enough to cleanse the child.”
“The child? The next high dryad?” Leo curiously asked.
“Mhm.” Izel nodded and looked up at the sky where the first stars began to appear, “You can sit here and watch the sky – it’s incredibly beautiful at night. We’ll continue after the full moon rises. The rest of you – go home. I’ll be fine.”
Few moments later Leo was left alone at the sacred pool. The dryads were finally gone and Izel brought the box with the poison pearl back inside the pavilion. For now Leo decided to not bother himself with ethical conundrums about stealing the ‘moonstone’ and followed her advice to watch the stars.
Once again his thoughts returned to the question whether the celestial bodies of every realm were the same and if they were, what it meant. He wished he could recognize any star constellations to compare the night sky back in the sect and here, but unfortunately all he saw was flickering lights. Now, after stepping into the Core formation stage, his vision was incomparable with what he had a year ago and it felt as if he saw many more stars than usual. Be as it may, he was certain he’ll find all the answers to the difficult questions in the Golden city. The only thing that he needed was to get there.
Leo’s train of thought was interrupted by a distant singing. He immediately recognized the voice – he heard it when he used the sacred pool as a cleansing bath over a year ago. Back then he thought it was a voice of an angel, but as it turns out it was the beautiful Izel, either waking up early or staying up late.
‘I wonder if she was also naked back then.’ Leo thought observing her coming out of the pavilion.
The moon was just rising and Leo remembered Izel mentioning something about helping her to complete the ritual. If it was about washing her, he was fully confident in his skills. Even in the darkness of the nigh and even with his eyes closed he could wash any lady – he was certain of that.
Izel slowly approached the sacred pool and softly said, “The moon is rising. Are you ready?”
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“Sure!” Leo smiled back, not noticing her voice tremble a little, “How would you like me to wash you? Do we both climb inside?”
“Yes?” The high dryad answered, slightly confused by the question.
Her mother had explained her how the procedure went and assured that any strong man she chose definitely knew what to do. And the more powerful the man was, the better at the ritual he was supposed to be – that’s how things had worked for centuries. Izel was surprised by Leo’s young age, but him being able to defeat half a dozen others in a blink of an eye and the scarring from fighting so many mata fakas was clearly a sign of incredible strength. Surely below the mountain many women were willing to be his, that is why she earlier paid extra attention in purifying his lower parts – who knows what they had seen during the owner’s short, but adventurous life.
Surprisingly the clueless ‘winner of the competition’ decided to meticulously wash her first. It did feel pleasant though. The old dryads had done it before, but a man’s touch was completely different. In addition, this one knew how to be gentle and, according to mother’s stories, Izel had clearly made the right choice.
The young man, named Leo, also seemed to be enjoying the process and it was even a better sign. One of the main rules for giving birth to a promising offspring was for both parents to enjoy the ritual and so far everything looked promising.
“Alright! Looks like we’re done here!” Leo said with a wide smile, admiring his own work under the moonlight.
Her wet body sparkled and the sweet fragrance made him nostalgic of the times he washed Anna. But even though he washed Izel for the first time and for some reason she seemed nervous, but the youth was certain she had to be satisfied with his performance.
“Done?” She was confused, “The ritual is done?”
There was clearly something wrong about all of this – no promised touching, no kissing … and for some reason even the thing between the young man’s legs didn’t grow. But mother clearly stated that it will triple or even quadruple in size before the ritual even began! Or did he misunderstood something and performed some other ritual she didn’t know about?
“What’s up with you all and the rituals? What are you talking about?” Leo was no less confused than her.
Didn’t he do the job correctly or was she expecting something else? People in Greenland washed the same way they did in the other realms, at least Maya did.
Unfortunately no one, including Leo, knew that when he was first captured by Lana’s commandos, because of the ‘questioning’ they performed which included smacking him between legs few times, they managed to break something and from then on he almost never got hard. That was also the reason he was able to survive in Dreadlands, because if he pointed his erected thing at anyone in the squad, including Anna, it was highly likely it would get cut off. The only exception was the brief period he taught Anna how to swim, but to hide his erected parts he kept trousers on at all times and it is possible that because of the anxiousness and stress of that time he got even more mental blocks.
It all led to him getting used to naked female bodies and appreciate them for their natural beauty, without dirty thoughts. Even in his dreams he continued to meticulously wash them instead of doing dirty things like any normal youth dreamt of.
Now though, the poor high dryad expected the ‘matrimonial ritual’ according to her mother’s teachings, but instead got a bath. She was certain she did everything right – thus the problem clearly lie in him! The guy was simply clueless! Who could’ve thought that the strongest man around was a complete moron!
‘Wait!’ Izel suddenly had a revelation, ‘What if he respects me too much? Or maybe is even intimidated by my status? I’m the high dryad after all! In that case ...’
“It’s fine!” She smiled and stepped closer to him.
They both stood naked and clean in the sacred pool under the moonlight – it was not that bad! The matrimonial ceremony could be saved.
“But now let’s take the next step.” This time she whispered and leaned closer to him.
Their bodies touched and she could feel his breathing quicken up – it was a good sign, right? But for some reason he kept looking at her and smiling.
For the first time in her life Izel felt angry, but managed to hold back the natural impulse to hit the guy in the spot that was supposed to do the most important work. Instead she took the thing in both palms and started rubbing.
“Do you know what we need to do during the matrimonial ceremony?” She whispered, but Leo’s head was a mess.
Natural instincts, old trauma, his own rules and the survival instinct were battling each other and he simply felt paralyzed. Fortunately he had cultivated Qi long enough and at his level physically he was more than fine. It didn’t take long for the woman’s gentle touch to awaken what should’ve been alive naturally and suddenly Izel’s eyes widened in surprise, feeling the transformation in her hands.
Leo also finally had a good guess what all the fuss was about and that he somehow after practicing new techniques for a couple of days unwillingly had become a groom. But looking at the beauty so close to him he thought that maybe it was not all bad.
Sadly what came after ruined everything and the romantic scene nor the full moon could save the night.
Leo’s understanding of the intercourse concept was limited to what he had seen while living with the apes and the two occasions he unwillingly witnessed – one in the old Voodoo sect with Bimpo, Onataka and Runamata, and the second in the Oceandesert realm from the distance seeing the last moments of Brandon and senior sister Barbra.
Thus, trusting his gut and acting according to the memories, he turned the high dryad around, made her bend over and after a couple of clumsy attempts, entered. What was even worse – he was done after few thrusts and, imitating the silverback patriarch, patted Izel’s back and sat to the side. That was it.
The poor woman was so shocked she barely made it back to her pavilion and for the rest of the night couldn’t close an eye, contrary to the young ‘hero’ who immediately fell asleep after getting out of the sacred pool, right there on the lawn.
When the sun came up Izel still couldn’t believe how something that started so great could turn out so badly. All the expectations and preparations of the last decade went into smoke and what’s left was only a bitter disappointment. And just when she thought things couldn’t get worse, after stepping out the pavilion cheery voice greeted her.
“Good morning! Did you sleep well?”
This guy … no matter how strong he was … was a clueless moron.