DRAGON PEARL - The iron dragon

Monik had a lump in her throat. She didn't want Ren to kill that man, but she couldn't make a sound. Then she saw, that they were again in park Folimanka, which she knows - full of colors. She looked up to the treetops, so she will not think about what Ren is doing. She was glad, that it was over, but she didn´t know how wrong she was…

The second kidnapper was watching them from afar and then he returned to his master.
"My lady, everything went according to the plan. Ren was also with them, like you expected and we managed to infect her friend before they came…"
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***

Monik looked away from the trees, when Lucy went down from the hill stroking her wrist, where the rope tore her skin. She wanted to go after her, but her legs froze. What could she tell her? She was so sorry, that she dragged her into this, but she couldn't undo it,… an apology wouldn't solve anything.
Ren´s voice ripped her out of her thoughts: "Now it's your turn, we will go after the old man and he will explain to you, how we will cross to my world…"
"And what about Lucy?" said Monik with a broken voice looking at her friend.
"Take her with you, I will not save her again…"
She looked at him with an angry look and then she went after her friend.

Lucy was sitting on one of the benches on the concrete hill and nevertheless, that she was looking somewhere else, she saw how Monik was approaching from afar.
"Can you explain, what is going on here?" and she looked strictly at Monik, when she was near enough.
"Oukej, maybe you have the right for some explanation…"
"Maybe? Really? You think so?"
"Fine, fine,… you know, how I came to Prague earlier this semester, because of my exams… I told you about my trip with EC train… How I had a reservation ticket into a compartment full of Taiwanese guys and one of them started to talk to me after I almost fall on him, when I was taking out my drink from the bag, which I had over my head."
"Yes, I remember… That Jacky?"
"Yes, him. We started to talk,… he was very sweet… He told me how he and his friends are going to study on Charles University on Erasmus… How he will live near I.P.Pavlova metro station over the restaurant of his grandfather… It was such a coincident, that we met! We exchanged Facebook contacts and then I went with him and one of his friends to the town…"
"Yea, I know all of this, but what does this have to do with what happened today?"

Monik sighed and continued: "Well, I was with them also on that Erasmus welcome party and overnight we somehow got into his grandfather's restaurant's cellar, where we were smoking a water pipe… They got hold of something strong, I don't know what it was, but we were totally stoned. We were doing some crazy stuff with the things in the boxes, which were there… simply, we were having fun. When Jacky went to the bathroom and the other one fall asleep, I was wondering around all those antiquities.
I found something big and I pulled the sheet from it. It was a Chinese iron dragon. I remember that I was admiring it, when I heard that something was rolling. I looked at the floor and I had some ball by my feet. It was quite big… it fit right in my palm. I picked it up, because I was curious… First it was just a transparent ball, but after a while, a green fog was forming inside and I saw something… like a saurian… I got scared and that thing slipped out of my hands. I heard how it ruptured and the fog from it attacked me! I stepped back, so I wouldn't breathe it in, but I couldn´t ran away,… it was in my nose and mouth, I was suffocating…"

Monik then paused, her throat clenched, when she thought about that unpleasant experience. "Then I know just that Jacky put his hand on my shoulder and that ball wasn't on the floor anymore… I thought that it was all a crazy hallucination and I went to our apartment.
The next day I had to go back for my jacket. Jacky wrote me, that he prepared it for me and his grandfather will give it to me, because he was already in school. But Mr. Long claimed, that Jacky didn't give him anything, but I could go downstairs to the cellar with him and look for it. When we were downstairs, he showed me that big Chinese dragon, which I uncovered the day before. He started to explain something to me about other worlds, Dragon pearl with enormous power… First his story was interesting, but I didn't realize, that what he was saying, he meant seriously… he frightened me and I ran away. Withal, I heard how he was jelling after me, that they will come for me because of that power."

Lucy sighed after she heard her friend´s story and Monik sat next to her on the bench, burrowing her face into her palms.
"Sorry, that I didn't tell you this sooner,… I didn't know that it was real and I didn't even think that you could get caught up in this mess."
"And why did they even take me?"
"I think, that they wanted to force me to cross into their world, where this power comes from, which I supposedly have inside me…"
"You always get into such bizarre situations," said Lucy and they both smiled. "And who is that guy, that came with you?"

Monik then raised her head and she looked at het hill, where Ren was standing leaning to the bridge´s pillar.
"Honestly,… I don't even know... Mr. Long sent him with me. His name is Ren." Monik couldn't know it, because she was looking up to the hill, but when she said that name, on Lucy´s wrist, where the skin was torn, an odd writhing appeared for a moment.
"So you have a bodyguard?"
"No. His help was just this one time and not very voluntary… I had to make a deal with him, that when he helps me rescue you, I will go with him into his world."
"What?!" turned Lucy to her with a horrified look. "And do you even know something about this other world? If there are men like those, who abducted me, then it is not such a good idea…"
"I don't really have a choice. I gave him my word and besides, just after I cross to the other side I can get rid of that power and everything will go back to normal…"
"So what do you want to do now?"
"Ren wants to go after Mr. Long, so he can explain…" but she didn't finish, because she felt how her pocket was vibrating. She pulled out her phone, from her trousers and with astonishment on her face, she looked at the screen - Lucy CZ tel.
"Haló?" picked up Monik with uncertainty in her voice.
"Monik! Where did you go?! How could you left me here in this condition?! Lucy was abducted and I know that you know something! Come back and we will call the police,…" but rather than answering him, she gave the phone to Lucy.
"Your boyfriend, he wants to call the police."
"That took him quite a time…" she shook her head and then took the phone from Monik. Jaro was very happy, when he heard Lucy´s voice. He said to her, that he probably had a concussion and after Monik left him there, he lost consciousness. When he was lucid again, he called from Lucy´s phone, which could have been two hours after the abduction.

Monik told Ren, that they have to go to the apartment, because Jaro could cause them problems with the police. So after twenty minutes, they were already in the flat. Jaro was very confused. The tone of his voice changed, he wasn't sure, what happened. Lucy rather called him an ambulance and she told the paramedics, that he fall of the stairs, to explain his injuries. Since it was almost night-time, she didn't accompany him to the hospital, because she would have to turn around again, because of the visiting hours. But she promised him, that she will visit him in the morning.

After all what happened, Lucy felt really tired. The abduction, Monik´s crazy explanation,… it was too much for her in one day and she didn't even realize, but the whispering voice in her head was getting stronger. When she was waiting for the boiling water in the kitchen, she got into an apathetic state and she clearly heard two words - kill him - and she knew, that she couldn't let Ren leave the apartment alive.


Comments

  1. Wow, really good imagery and descriptions :) I also like the use of specific places in Prague because it makes me feel like I am still there even though I don't know when I'll get to go back!

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  2. [1]: Thank you for reading the story. I hope you will come visit Prague again next time so we can play badminton again - maybe with a better racket.

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  3. I think just I.P. Pavlova! I don't recall the other[2]:

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