Cool Waters (Kakuma/Private)

Elyx was walking over to the Guild hall this time, there was something about these bracelets that the boy still wanted to know about. The Dragon Bones, he never took them off, ever since Kakuma told him to put them on, but why would she give him the task if he already had hit A rank, yet nothing happened to him. Elyx had yet to give the Myosotis flowers to the Guildmaster anyways, so what he planned to do was give the flowers that she wanted to her, than ask about the bracelets. Hopefully there was a reason being them, they were not the most comfortable of things to wear, but Elyx was willing to tolerate it. It was an order after all, and he was just too obedient to just simply take them off. The boy was alone, he did not need Ignite to be screwing up something so important, which is why he decided to let her sleep rather than wake her up. It was noon, but Ignite had always been waking up early to force the Violinist to go on jobs, this was just the final result of it. It put a smile on his face to know that he would have a nice quiet walk instead of a party that would end up haunting him. Still though, Ignite was able to make any situation a party, and he could not complain, without her, he would probably be bored many times. He would not even be where he is at because of all of the jobs she takes him on, he has the ability to pay plenty of rent and have some jewels left over to do some festive things as well. Just this once though, he needed to leave her behind so that he could talk to Kakuma privately.

Entering the Guild Hall was rare to the boy, after all, it was Ignite who got the jobs. The boy looked inside, then had to track down Kakuma's office. There was going to be a talk. The boy held the Myosotis Flowers in his right hand, nothing in his left. He had his regular clothing, a Short-sleeved T-Shirt with a White Jacket covering over it. Long Black pants as usual with the brown boots locked in place. A white knapsack was on his back, in which it carried his Violin and water bottles, but not chocolate bars this time. After searching, he remembered which door unlocked into her room, in which Elyx knocked on the door. Kakuma! I need to talk to you about the letter! Elyx said as he continued to knock.

Kakuma was busy doing some cleaning when Elyx knocked, she barely heard him. For a few second didn't think about it, when she did she called out to him. "Come in!" Kakuma as busy picking up from he last experiment that had failed, when the door opened she turned to face Elyx. "Hello have a seat i have to change clothes." She then walked over to her dresser, unclasping her dress as she did. She let if fall to the floor as she began digging around for another dress. "So did you get what.... I asked for?" Kakuma asked Elyx while looked around for her dress. "Damn i could have swore i had washed the other one." Kakuma remarked out loud. Little to her knowledge, Sophie had taken it for REAL cleaning, not what Kakuma did to clean them. She dug around a bit before giving up and pulling out a more... Regal dress. "Huh... This is... gonna be a pain to put on." clearly modesty was something Kakuma had in short supply, here she was standing stark naked in front of one of her guild mates, and she didn't care. Kakuma got the dress about half way on when she needed help getting it on. "Er... Elyx i need help getting this stupid thing on." She turned around so he could have access to the ribbons that secured the dress. She would not continue until he had done so.

The Dress:

Thank you. Elyx said as he then walked into the office. When Kakuma told him to take a seat, his light brown eyes scanned the room to see where a seat was. They then locked onto a seat and the boy sat down onto it, he having the flowers still at hand. Yes, I have the flowers in my hand right here. Elyx announced as he then opened his palm. Meanwhile, Kakuma had something else of concern.The boy then nodded his head when Kakuma said she needed to change into a dress, just for the boy to nod. What he didn't remember was the fact that he was in Kakuma's room, it was a mix between her room and office. The fact was then injected into his head while his Guildmaster was getting changed... Right in front of his eyes. K-Kakuma... You're... You're... The boy stuttered as his face began to burn, the red was burning like a fire. Damn it Kakuma... I know you're a wolf... But come on! The boy thought to himself, he was not really one to be seeing this sort of thing and desperately watching. What made things a little bit worse was the fact that ever since he joined Black Rose, this was the second time he saw a woman naked in front of his eyes. Not even Ignite went so low. That was when Kakuma then asked for a little help from Elyx, causing the boy to shoot his eyes wide open. What, but if I screw up... I'd... But she is my Guildmaster... I can't exactly say no now can I... The boy thought to himself before nodding his head slowly.

Elyx stood up and walked over to Kakuma slowly, as if there were landmines in the room. He grabbed a part of the dress and looked around to see where it went, sort of like a puzzle. A weird, adult-like puzzle... Some people may say Elyx was lucky, but that was not how he liked to see himself in this sort of situation. Finally, he got one pieces of the dress on from behind her, his hands shaking as he placed it on. So far, he didn't seem to miss. In the meantime, he tried to change the subject. Er... Kakuma... I also have another question of concern. It was during my Exam when I got to B rank... About these Bone Bracelets. The Violinist said, losing half focus on the dress, but had enough to continue this puzzle.

Hello Jin. Elyx greeted as he felt a bit of relief, and excuse to stop doing this. The Bone Bracelets could wait until a more proper sort of approach occurred... Not this sort of thing. If only Ignite were here, that would at least help his case. He dropped the dress pieces that he was holding and walked away from the Guildmaster, he did not want to give off that sort of reputation to the guild. He slumped the knapsack over his right shoulder and walked out of the office, a neutral face on instead of his usual grin. It was too weird of a day so far as it was, in fact, the only thing that has happened so far was the fact that he was able to unload the flowers onto the desk of Kakuma. At least that was cleared out, but now he was going to deal with an awkward moment bruning in his head for probably... The rest of his life. Ignite would probably help him out at first, then smack him for agreeing to help. I needed to know about the Bone Bracelets. Regardless, it's over now. The boy thought to himself as he the began to walk to the portal that had been opened up. It lead him to the anywhere but the Guild Hall, away from Kakuma's room. That was an easy transportation, at least he didn't have to zip on his way there like he did when Ignite kept pounding on his head. Elyx locked his light brown eyes onto the portal and walked through it without any hesitation, he currently needed a little bit of distance from Kakuma's office.

On the other side of the portal, the Runi Sanctuary was located there. He nodded his head to himself as he made it there, but there was nothing that he felt he should ask. What did he have to say? This was the Runi Sanctuary, and he was needed it seemed. That was when he grinned, remembering how he once looked so formal while talking to a student of his, in this exact location. Not he was like a student, the tables turned on him. But at least as a student, he wasn't sarcastic and didn't have tension. Elyx reminded himself as he then shuddered at the thought of her constantly hitting him to get up in the morning and go on the job, maybe that was what the student felt. She even broke down the door one time because of it. Regardless, he was now at the Sanctuary.

According to what I have studied in the library, I shouldn't even be here. I'm not a Dryad, and I'm certainly nor going to bec- Elyx thought to himself before his light brown eyes opened wide. If he were in his Chidori's Keep form, the White Speckles would show what he was thinking. These were theories, but the book back at the library told him what was going to happen to him... He was not sure about being a tree for the rest of his life. And how the hell would they be able to do it anyways, he was pure flesh and blood last he checked. Then again, how would Jin even have a portal in the Runi Sanctuary in the first place, if he didn't have access to it, he wouldn't have a portal. But... He did, he had access to this place. What happened, how is he able to walk through here? He was just as human as Elyx last time he checked. That was when Jin explained that this was going to be like a challenge he never faced before, as if battling a so called "god" was not hard enough. Powerful does not make you worthy of the title. But that was when Jin revealed... A Dryad marking. What the... No way... What the hell happened!? Elyx exclaimed, but he full well knew the answer. Jin said it himself, he had gone through the ritual. To be bound to the Earth, like hell would the boy do that out of all things! And again, how would that even work!? I would prefer not to be known as a plant! The boy thought to himself once again, bottling up what he was thinking.

The mark was shown to Elyx, the boy saw it for a few seconds before looking away. This is what one had to do in order to conduct the ritual. Jin continued to talk as if this was something normal, which was clearly not. The Dryad marking means Earth. Not the world, but the ground that humans have been walking on for quite a while. Other than that, they are no different from us human. Elyx replied before looking at one of the guards of the sanctuary, who seemed to be looking back at him as well. It was like a staring contest. Elyx lost. The boy then turned away, they were just like people, but some seem to be giving him a little bit more attention than he wanted.

So the guild was dedicated to the ground, Black Rose. The Earth, that is why the Dryads fought alongside the guild, they were treated properly instead of abused like regular humans would do. Elyx had respected nature, even Ignite did as well, and she was supposed to destroy it with her fire. But the truth was, she was like the animals that lived in the forests, she wad a Phoenix Bird after all, that was just supposed to be part of her nature. So whenever someone would try to take advantage of that, the boy would instantly strike at the one who would do such a thing to her. It was not a held back one either, three times he had to do that, 2 of those times he knocked them out for a few hours. I have fought for the Guild in many ways, many times. Nothing has stood in my way, I don't just live here. I want to give my best to the place that took me in when nowhere else would. Elyx explained before looking at his right palm. He knew that he dedicated himself to the guild, but that did not mean he dedicated himself to the Earth on the ground. The Dryads though, they seemed to be taking a liking to him for just being in Black Rose. Did he help them in some way that he did not recall? Elyx ever took down a few evil mages that were Geomancers, which needed the Earth to destroy. But regardless, he kept on listening before he made his question. So the mark bounds you to the guild, that's nice. That's honestly no problem, I have nowhere else to go anyways. But what's the hard part?

A Dryad!? Elyx exclaimed, only to cover his own mouth. It was not a good idea to sound so surprised in front of the Runi Sanctuary guards. But did he seem like the ground? He personally liked being human, if he were a Dryad, does that mean that he was no longer classified as a human? What about Adrelissa? If he ever found her again, would he ever be able to see her and start over again? The boy looked as his clothing, he refused to go so far as to remove any of them. Sadly, he knew that the water was sacred and that he should not be messing with it, therefore, he can't push the water away with his wind. Did Jin forget that Elyx was fearful of water? The good thing was that he had Internal Struggle on him. The boy placed his hand over his necklace shaped like a crown, it glowed with gray light, and the emotions of the boy began to shatter. The water was not a problem anymore, but he also did not care to take off any clothing. Just for the whole ceremony, he took off his jackets, then his shirt. However, he kept his black denim pants on before walking into the water. There were plenty of clothes back at his place, but he was not going to go back right now. For one thing, he did not know where his home was from here. Second, the boy could not care less about his clothes being wet, currently, he did not have any fear of the ocean, lake, or any big body of water. Like I said before, I have nowhere else to go. If I were done with Black Rose, I was done with life anyways. Enlighten me though, how will the mark be placed?

From there, there was a trigger statement that caused Elyx's emotions to suddenly return, the fear of water was still gone, but now he was not so careless of his surroundings. The boys eyes shot wide open, there wads a fine line that was crossed... Marriage!? To become a Dryad, you have to get married, to who? One of the-... No... Way... Did Jin seriously get married to one of them? And did he expect Elyx to do the same? This was absurd, he should not be forced to do such a thing in order to do the ritual, there had to be some other way. Whatever the hell Kakuma was thinking, she was going to have the rule defied, and Elyx was going to be the one to speak out against it. As he walked out of the water, the robe was placed around his body, covering the upper half of him that was exposed while the soaking jeans were covered as well. He didn't mind it, they were not going to drown him. The boy needed to time this sort of thing correctly, there was no way he was getting married. It was not the fact that it was a Dryad, he was sure there were some nice ones as well. But the truth was, he wouldn't do it if it were a human, this was not how he wanted his marriage to work out. For one thing, he did not even plan to get married until he found Adrelissa again, and if he never did, then that was just wishful thinking.

And that was when Elyx let out his statement that he wanted to say. Was this supposed to be it? Forced marriage? This is what it take to be a Dryad? Elyx asked as he hung his head down, his dark brown hair covering his face with a shade. This allowed the boy to hide his face. I don't think I should be doing that, haven't I proven my loyalty already? I'm willing to even accept the mark that puts me to eternal sleep if otherwise, so why should I even marry? What is the ultimate goal in doing so?

Elyx looked up once again, the Dryads were thinking that he was crazy. That's fine, they were craxzy to have him even make him go through this. Nothing in the world would make him do this, of there was no alternative, he was going to have to resign from the ritual. If that means he does not get to go any higher in the guild, then that was going to be unfortunate. He and Kakuma would have a long talk about this if that were the case, Elyx was not going to accept this as his fate. I'm not going to marry, I would have let Nimpha down if I did, especially in such a way as this. The boy thought to himself. He could not care less about the judgment that he would receive, he had plenty of pride and confidence in himself. Two options were given to him, and whatever the choice was, he was going to have to say it in front of the Dryads. This mark was going to be on Elyx, and the choice was finally made, he was not going to back down from what he had started now. The Dryads could hate him forever if they feel, he knew that there were some that were more than excited for marriage, but he just couldn't bring himself to feel enough guilt for them. So instead, he looked around once, then folded one arm over the other, crossing them. My choice remains firm, I will go with the second. But I will not go with marriage in such an instant. And if I just so happen to never marry, at least I can smile knowing that I have been given liberation.

For Adrelissa and Nimpha... I won't let either of them down. I know Adrelissa is not dead... Until I can say to her face we're done, I can't just simply marry someone else. No amount of pain would cover the amount she would feel if I find her while married. Elyx thought to himself. The boy was not going to marry until she was found, and that would probably be years to come. If they no longer had feelings for each other, then that was that. Adrelissa would like Black Rose, she would like Ignite, she would like everything about the guild. With both of their Lerale abilities, they would be able to do many things. This tattoo that his hand had now was trying to make him change his mind. For as long as Elyx lived though, provided he is not married, he will continue telling the world that he was a human. He was a stubborn one, but that was something he full well took pride in. The Dryads looked at him with worry, but the boy did not mind the pain. If there was something that would hurt him more, it would be breaking his promises that he made a long while ago. They were the only things that made him feel like someone rather than a no one. As for you Jin, I know you don't like this choice either that I made. You chose to marry a Dryad... You just simply rushed into it... Why... Elyx thought before he then took the robe off in front of the Dryads, his upper body showing. It was too restricting on his movement. He folded it neatly into his knapsack, then walked away from the scene. The ritual was done.