DRAGON PEARL - The long-awaited message

Monik stared at the tinny bracelet on her left hand and went through its engraved symbols with her fingers. She was thinking about what would it feel like to have the Green dragon’s full power - when her bones suck that power inside them and she also gets the dragon’s memories. Now, every single piece of her body was literally tingling from that small portion of power, that she got… and the things she could do... how she can manipulate the power of the plants... it was playing with her senses and she was exceedingly enjoying the last few days of training.

Moonlight entered through the kitchen window in the dark room - she was sitting at the table. Her mind wandered to Ren’s world, trying to imagine what awaits her and she did not know, whether she is excited or terrified of it. After a while, she stopped thinking and held up her hand over Lucy's carnivorous plant, that thanks to her power, came to life. Its flowers, which reminded little mouths, began to move furiously looking for their prey. Monik thought it was exceedingly funny, but when she saw Ren in the door, she sharply withdrawn her hand and the plant went back to its rigid state.

"What are you doing?" he asked her severely. He did not like it, when she used her power for playing. He already noticed, that the Green dragon’s power added a lot to her self confidence and he feared, that it affected her more than she realized.

"Nothing," she snorted, got up and went to Lucy's room.

The next day Monik woke up in a chilly Saturday, but  a wide smile appeared on her face. She was supposed to meet with her friends for lunch in a pizzeria near their school. Her training went so well, that Tomen suggested a day off. Monik was very pleased - finally, she could get rid of Ren and his strict looks, and enjoy her college social life.

In the pizzeria, she met with Peter, Kate and Vero. All of them were her classmates from university who she could also call her friends. Peter a Kate were from Slovakia and despite the fact, that Kate was from Monik’s hometown, they met just in college.

Peter told them stories from the lab, where he began to work on his bachelor thesis and the girls also discussed their dreams about what research would they like to do in the future. Subsequently, the conversation turned to some gossip about their other classmates.

"... I heard that she started dating someone new. Or not?" and Kate looked at Vero.

"Not officially. They were out only twice, but Kamila really likes him,” grinned the girl with short black hair.

"What about that one..." Peter looked at Monik, because he couldn’t remember his name.

"Ren?" added Monik.

"Yeah. What about Ren, why did it not work out?" he asked Vero and Monik also sharpened her ears. Ren refused to tell her anything about his date with Kamila. He didn’t even tell his DATE COORDINATOR, Lucy, what happened.

"Because he hit her in the face, when she wanted to kiss him."

"What?!" said Monik in surprise and the others were also shocked.

"Are you serious? What happened?” turned to her Kate.

"Well, he didn’t do it on purpose... So, first they went to that restaurant. Ren was a little tense and he did not speak much, but Kamila didn’t mind.”

Of course she didn’t mind, she spoke for both of them, thought Monik.

"After the meal, they went to the park for a walk. When they sat down on a bench, at sunset, it was the perfect time for romance. Kamila tried to indicate Ren, that he should kiss her, but he somehow misunderstood and they bumped heads. It ruined Kamila’s plan for the perfect first kiss, so she stood up. Ren probably thought, that she wanted to leave, because he looked pretty sad... I do not know, he seems to me, that he is generally pretty weird. But, Kamila didn’t want him to feel bad, so she decided to give him at least a kiss on the cheek. She went behind the bench and when she bent down to kiss him, he hit her! He said it was a reflex... terrible fiasco! Kamila’s nose was bleeding! It was a complete disaster! Although he apologized, she didn’t want him anymore.”

Poor Ren, and he was trying so hard. No wonder, that he did not want to talk about it, thought Monik, while the others felt sorry for Kamila.

After that, they discussed some other love lives, especially Peters, because the girls liked to provoke him. Monik, on her way home, was passing next to her school, when she saw a  little boy sitting on the stairs at the entrance.

"Tomen?" she asked wonderingly, while she stopped in front of him.

"Hi Moni," he smiled at her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was waiting for you," he said seriously.

"Yes? And why? You didn’t want to practice today," she said not understanding his presence.

"Did you enjoy lunch with your friends?" he asked intrigued, thus avoiding Monik´s question.

"Yes, it was great. From the beginning of this school year, I did not enjoy myself as much," she answered honestly with a broad smile on her face.

"I'm glad," muttered Tomen.

Monik still did not understand what was going on, but he looked quite troubled, so she sat down next to him. She said nothing, just waited. She knew Tomen only for about a week, but she quite liked the little guy. He was always in a good mood and he enjoyed life as a small child. If she wouldn't know that he comes from a powerful race of Bai, who protect the balance between worlds and he is almost half a century old, she would say that he is just a cute boy full of life. But now, when he sat beside her staring despondently into the ground, his face grew old.

"A moment ago, Ren received a message about his brother's captivity," after he said those words the blood in Monik´s body stiffened. The long-awaited moment had come, she will have to go to another world and give the Green dragon´s power to its rightful heir. She felt terrified, so Tomen grabbed her hand.

"I should not tell you this, but you'll be fine," smiled the boy at her. Monik took a deep breath and when she saw the consolation in his eyes, she felt a bit calmer.

Tomen jumped off the stairs and bowed to her: "Your training was successful, you were my best student... the only one, but still."

Monika smiled bitterly, because she got the feeling, that he was saying goodbye.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"A hard road awaits you, but know this, you can handle everything and you will return to this world. The person who will need you the most is Ren, although he will not want to admit it. Do as you see fit... I cannot tell you any more, but we will see each other once again," and with a wave of his hand the boy disappeared.

On Monik´s face a sad smile appeared. She remained sitting on the stairs for a short time, then she stood up and looked at the path leading to Albertov stairs. It occurred to her, that this time, they will lead her somewhere, where no one from her world has ever been before...

When she arrived at her apartment, she immediately began to pack, although she had no idea, what will she need in this other world, but she prepared like for a hike. After she was packed, Lucy entered her room. When she saw her backpack, she immediately realized, what was happening. The girls hugged each other without any words and they both had some tears in their eyes.

"I'll be back," said Monik quietly.

"I hope so, it would be quite difficult to explain your parents that you went to fight in another world."

Monika laughed and said: "Don’t worry, Tomen assured me about it."

"Yea, that is totally reassuring, when a little brat tells you something like this," she wispered ironically and wiped her tears. Monik also wiped her eyes and then, in the hallway, they hugged once more for the a last goodbye. The girls did not belong among friends who show their affection in this way, but they knew each other almost for five years and Monik considered Lucy as a sister. When she hugged her, she thought about her parents, to whom she could not say goodbye, because they would suspect, that there is something wrong, and then, it would be hard for Lucy to cover for her through social media.

After the last tears fell as a goodbye, Monik went to the place where it all began, to Mr. Long´s restaurant.

She barely walked through the back door, she almost bumped into Ren.

He was surprised to see her: "What are you doing here? I was just about to go get you..."

"I thought so," she said calmly. "Tomen told me, that the news about your brother came. I'm ready to leave."

Ren was slightly shocked, he nodded and showed her to go with him down to the cellar.

"Long will be right down, he will bring you the decoction from the tears of the fairies from forest Niú. I will get ready, till he returns,” and he disappeared in the back of the cellar, where the light of the one light bulb from the ceiling did not reach.

The room was quiet, the only thing, that could be heard, was how Ren rummaged boxes in the back. Monik sat down on the cellar stairs and she was looking at a fly that was bumping into the light bulb. Her heart was racing, and her legs were screaming for escape, but her mind remained calm - she felt ready.

After a moment, Ren stepped out of the darkness in brown pants and a leather jacket, under which he had a shirt with long sleeves. Now, he did not look as dangerous like when she saw him for the first time - his modern hairstyle from Lucy was messing it up for him. But his weapons, which he had fastened on his back were impressive. Plus his long stick with a huge blade on its end, that he was holding in his hand, was saying that you should be afraid of him.

Mr. Long came to the cellar just in time.

"Oh, you're here already?" he said surprised and he joined them. Monik stood next to Ren and Mr. Long gave her a small vial.

"Your decoction, when you drink it, you will be able to communicate on the other side. But drink it just after you pass through," he instructed Monik and she put the vial into her pocket.

"We will go to the other world, through the iron dragon," said Ren, while tucking a little knife behind his belt. "Long linked this object to the shrine in my village, thus it serves as a bridge between our worlds. Transition without it would be very difficult and you never know exactly, where you find yourself."

Monik nodded, not taking her eyes of the iron dragon. Ren was amused by her focused face and smiled to himself, then he grabbed her hand. The girl looked at him with shock and she blushed.

Ren nodded to Mr. Long and the old man began mumbling in a language Monik did not understand. After a while, the wall behind the dragon lit up with bright colors and the young man put his hand on the mouth of the dragon,... the world under their feet rotated one hundred and eighty degrees. 

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