Phoenix once more

It has certainly been a while. A strangely nostalgic feeling filled the girl's body as her small boat slowly approached the Phoenix island that towered in front of her. She took this journey once already. Back then, she had absolutely no idea what she was getting into. A weak guildless mage that was just wandering about, trying to explore new areas that she has not yet visited. And in a sense, this time was not that much different. She had no idea what would await her on the land, especially after everything that had happened. Her fall into darkness and sacrifice that followed. Jiyu surely told everyone that the Eden's goddess had died. And she did, but now she was back through power of miracles. She was given a second chance and she would grab it tightly, never let go ever again! It was only thanks to that mindset of hers that she was able to sail her tiny boat towards the island with a smile on her face.

"Really... it doesn't even feel real. I joined this guild so long ago and only because Elyx promised me a bunch of jewels. Hah, it feels like I was a completely different person back then. I wonder what you would think of me now... father."

Letting her body fall onto it's back, she covered her eyes with the midnight blue cloth of her armor as her arm rested across her face for a moment. It was already evening and the sun appeared almost orange and golden in color, giant ball that was falling into the watery horizont. It was a beautiful sight for sure, even further enhanced by the flickering lights on the mass of land that was steadily growing closer. The magical phoenixes that guarded this land and entrance to the underwater city that was the guild's home. When she saw it all first, she had pretty hard time believing it all. Thinking about it all, along with the motion of her boat gently rocking on the small waves was almost like a lullaby.

Eventually, that stopped too. The boat was washed ashore slightly as it reached it's destination. Now she could only get up, stretch, and set her feet on the grassy ground. But only few more steps forward and the flaming birds were already surrounding the poor girl, preventing her from walking any further. She could only sigh and place her arms behind her head as she eyed them all. "Ah, right... even though my body was restored, the mark disappeared. So I guess I'm no longer an official member and thus not welcomed... how mean." She laughed and looked up at the mountains of this place. For some reason, she half expected Elyx to jump down from there just like he did when she joined for the very first time.

The scariest dreams... are the predictable ones.

Apparently, he expected company at the moment. It came like a hunch in the beginning, but as Shen eyed the flying birds approach some location near the shores of the island, then his curiosity made up every possible reason for that. The most reasonable explanation would be that they had guests, in which he kind of wanted to meet whoever found their way to the sacred land. Just like he, himself, took on a long journey to find this hidden map location, he was adventurous as well as aiming for every challenge back then, and the flame of youth disappointed him not. Now that he had settled within the guild, become a part of the gang, and overall growing up, he felt like as if it was his responsibility to take care of the newcomers… or intruders…

With that thought behind his head, he wielded both his kwan dao and the collapsible silversword while advancing into the woods. The hair spike blew back by the push of the wind that passed by, growing a little stronger as he approached the same place. Friend… or foe?, he thought. It could, honestly, be anything; perhaps even a small child who had got lost and, unfortunately, crossed paths with the overprotective phoenixes. Heck, he was a phoenix as well, but a more humanistic one. And now that he expected the meeting, he sensed the figure of another lady beneath the branches, in which he braked up and looked down at her with his arms crossed. Given by his memories, he had no knowledge of her, nor did he recall her being her before, in which he spoke from the branch: “-And what is your request, if I may ask..?” His left, blood-red eye glared down at her with an usual, cold look that had no time in playing around, but the Golden Phoenix Guild Tattoo was clearly visible on his shoulder for her to spot. A true Golden Phoenix mage, though with little information about the girl’s reunion with these areas…

Made by Salrynn from FTRP

Rustling of leaves and general sounds of a movement. The girl was experienced and sensed this person, whoever they were, coming in advance. Not that experience like that was really useful in this situation. After all, she was here to join the guild that she pretty much already was part of. Though it was indeed a long while, which was why the guardian phoenixes did not remember her in the slightest. Leaving the hands behind her head as a support, she would slightly bend her back back and direct her gaze upwards to see who was there, seemingly to greet her. Although they did not have the most pleasant of looks at her from this position. It was a boy who she did not recognize at all. A recent arrival perhaps? Yes, that was most likely it. The silver haired maiden would smile brightly at him in welcoming manner, as if she was the one who was home here and not him.

"Hey there! Sitting up there is dangerous, boy. The branches of these old trees could snap at any moment and who's to say what would happen if you were to hit your head on the stones here. The mountain was littered with sharp ones the last time I checked."

Words like that were probably not what he expected. After all, he asked what was he request here and she did not quite answer that. Honestly, she was teasing him on purpose. It was so long since she was here, she felt like she was home already! All those feelings that she bottled up inside of her, she finally felt like she could let them out and be free in this place. Be herself, far away from the sometimes bothersome, yet exciting world filled with adventure. Far away from the darkness that once consumed her and forced her to sacrifice her own life. She couldn't help it but have the biggest grin on her face right now! At least until she heard a familiar voice for change. One that she did not hear for quite a while indeed. Even her hands fell straight along her body as if the girl lost all strength in them, her crystal blue eyes now directed on a large man standing nearby.

And just like that, tears started running down her cheeks. But it was not that she was crying. She didn't even properly realize that she was crying in fact. It was an automatic response of her body to all the emotions that were running through her body right now. And if she could, she would probably sprint to him and give him the biggest hug ever. Shame that some guardian birds were still around and somewhat wary of the female's presence. But she could not fault them for being careful. Guild like this, focusing on hunting down treasure? Surely it would become target of many other organisations that would try to steal it's riches. But in the end, Leila could only continue smiling as the transparent liquid adored her rosy cheeks a bit, one of her hands doing a waving gesture.

"Yeah, death was really boring so I decided to come back! I'm home!!"

There were a few things that still needed to be settled… the guild master room was a strange place to hold herself in, but it was there for a reason. This was where Elyx used to be all the time and for a young lady like herself to be a Guild Master of a guild where she was taken care of… it was quite difficult to digest. Well, on the bright side, she wasn’t exactly alone. She was going to be a Guild Master along with Ami, which made her rather excited to say the least, she remembered their first time being together on their own, they went to a fabulous party in a whole different world… and now the two of them were going to work together.

Sighing softly, Summer told Stella, her pet star, to stay where she was and Summer then walked out of the guild hall with some stride in her step… maybe walking out for some clear air was a good idea, yes, a great idea indeed! It was always good to go outside when you needed to de-stress, of course there were other ways to clear your mind, but Summer only had the idea of being outside for some general air and a clearer head, nothing else to it, nothing less to it.

Making her way through the corridors and to the guild hall itself, Summer walked through that door and then headed outside, letting the cool breeze hit her on the face in its typical fashion. “Maybe going for a walk is a good idea… oh, never mind… I wonder what sensei is doing…” Summer wandered over to the tallest man in Golden Phoenix and grinned, trying to keep up a smile to try show that there was absolutely nothing wrong at all.

“Ni Hao!” Summer greeted, smiling and grinning… she then looked to Leila and her mind connected the dots. The fireworks expert was clearly disturbing something, but then again, since when did she not disturb anything. She even stalked Astrid once (that was never good) “Welcome to Golden Phoenix!”

HP: 440
MP: 100%

Words: 330
Total Words: 330/2150

Spells/Abilities:
Dangerous Games - 25% Damage Increase.
Zodiac Auras - 30m sensing presences unless they are undead/cyborgs/robots.
Zodiac Calm Affinity - Everyone within 25m of Summer feels much calmer and is less susceptible to attack her.
Zodiac’s Call - Damage cut by a quarter.

Items/weapons/armour:
https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t25505-zodiac-s-necklace#276449
https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t26660-performers-garter#286261
https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t25903-graceful-ring-blade#279543

[color=#42f483] Summer - [color=#930d0d] Laysha - [color=#daa520] Stella - [color=#fcb8b8] Priscilla

The scariest dreams... are the predictable ones.

… The answer came unexpected for Shen who suddenly felt raised by his mother all over again. She was right; the branches beneath his foothold could break at any time, in which he definitely cared not. In fact, now that she mentioned it, he was eager to show her just how independent that he was when it came to mere branches; they didn’t break down yet, though, in which he simply responded with a widened eye. “Uhm… so..?” he mumbled to her, before suddenly noticing a picture that he saw in the guild hall’s texts, “… You look familiar.” Obviously, he never met her before in his entire life, so what made him say such thing? Shen had taken his time learning the names of all the guild members in his time here, but now that he remembered it, there was this one guildmate whose absence shocked everyone… could it, by any chance, be this returning person?

Her smile was rather childish, but Shen didn’t mind that if she was really having a reunion with the guild’s home and all. However, her body was about to collapse by the arrival of an Ace of Golden Phoenix, Hero. Shen slowly turned towards him. “Old friend…,” he mumbled in realization. It was Leila, an old guildmate that Shen never got the chance to meet before due to an inevitable fate. However, did she trick death? Was this fate as well? Oh well, even Summer-senpai who showed up just now didn’t show any signs of knowing Leila as well, given by her greeting ‘welcome to Golden Phoenix!’. After greeting back with a quick 'Ni Hao', he began holding his chin with his thumb and index finger as Shen put all the puzzles together and spoke: “I see. You’ve resurrected… good job.” Just to show a little friendliness to her, a small smile spread across his face, his ruby eye showing no hostility towards one who wasn’t a newcomer, but simply a returner.

Astrid, another guildmate and co-Guildmaster along with Summer-senpai, reacted quite differently; it was as if she rejected the view that was right in front of her, even testing out if Leila even stood there for real. It, somehow, struck Shen’s feelings with compassion, in which he without any facial expression leapt off from the branch that was about to break, landing softly with a hand on Astrid’s shoulder. It was to symbolically tell her that it was the truth, because his contact with her didn’t change the view in front by itself or anything like that. Just to calm her seemingly confused soul…

Made by Salrynn from FTRP

Well, all of this was certainly unexpected. When she first came here, it was only Elyx who was present, who noticed her being and greeted her. The two souls alone would talk and ride the phoenixes to the top of this mountain-covered island. There, he would simply guide her through the portal to their underwater city, showing her the treasure room that was quite filled at the time. He convinced her to join their guild, to begin a new chapter of her life. She remembered those times fondly and hoped she could relive them somewhat now. But instead, she got almost the opposite, where many different members of the guild suddenly showed up to greet her. Even the process of getting her the guild mark was completely different. As back then, she had to use a magical device to do so. Perhaps that was because she already was marked, but it was hidden until now. With a single flick of magic, the phoenix mark was back at her left leg, just visible beneath the skirt she was wearing. Though there was something little bit different... it's color. In the past, it used to be azure blue, color that reflected the nature in Gardens of Eden. But now the mark was golden. A true Golden Phoenix. And as Hero turned around, Leila could only smile at him too.

"I don't think we're quite at the point of calling one another old friend, partner. You never were all that talkative."

That's right. Even if he showed her his back and was leaving now, it was only matter of time before they would meet again. They were both still alive and ready to move forward, claw their way through everything life would throw at them. She was not yet ready to give up, to die just like that. Even though back then, she thought that sacrificing herself for one person was the right thing to do... it clearly wasn't. Because even if she made another person happy by doing so, there were others that mourned her. It was wrong to abandon everyone like that. But now she was back and ready to fix everything, live her life to the fullest and do her damn best to make others happy as well! As the titan started to leave the scene, two more joined in. Summer and Astrid. She knew them both quite well, although she didn't quite interact with them as much as she did with Hero. Something that she wanted to change as well. For now, she could only chuckle as the firework mage spoke out and Astrid move in to check if Leila was truly there.

"Hey, Summer! You say those words like I'm some newcomer, but there's a good chance I was here for longer than you!"

She said those words teasingly and then turned her compassionate gaze onto the girl who was poking her. It has been far too long since the two of them interacted last and she could just not stop herself from using the other hand to pat the white haired Ace. Or was her position different now? Leila had a lot to catch up to, that was for sure. Her eyes would turn to Shen as well when he landed next to them.

"Thank you. Being dead was no fun, so I did my best to claw back out of that hole and seize the light once more!"