DRAGON PEARL - Sleepless night

Monik put her mobile on the commode by the door and she looked at Ren. She saw, that he was broken inside, when he went and sat down on the chair by her desk. Her heart was pounding, she didn't know what to say to him. What he did for Lucy,… she couldn´t find the right words…

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After a while, she turned on her heel and went out to the corridor, where she took the first aid kit from one of the closets there. She felt a little uneasy, but she went back to her room and sat down to the end of the double-bed, so she can be close to Ren.

"Give me your hand," she said, distracting his troubled thoughts. When she took down the bloody tissues from his wound, Ren was already looking out of the window again. Monik was surprised, the wound on his hand wasn't bleeding anymore and it was almost closed.

He is healing faster, than a normal human, concluded Monik and she took out some disinfection and cotton wool from the first aid kit. When she started to clean his wound, his hand moved, but there was no painful reaction on his face.

Outside it was already dark. The window was open on a crack and a cold wind was sneaking into the room. Monik looked at Ren´s pain veiled face. His semi-long messy brown hair fell into his manly face with slight stubble. He had small eyes, but his glance was still very appealing. Fortunately he didn't realize, that Monik was staring at him, but when she realized it, she blushed and turned her attention back to his hand, where she put a patch on the wound.

After she took care of it, she took the first aid kit back to the closed in the corridor. She stopped for a moment and recalled Ren´s face again. Her heart skipped a beat. Till now, he was treating her with such condescension and she didn´t realize, that he is actually a very attractive man. She shook her head to get rid of that thought and she went back to the room, where she threw herself on the bean bag, on which she usually studied. It was under the window, between the bed and the balcony door.

Monik looked at Lucy, who was lying motionless on the bed. She was concerned for her. After Ren slammed her head into the wall, she could have had a concussion, but they couldn't take her to a hospital. If the curse is still active, she could hurt somebody… Nevertheless, what would they tell the paramedics now? Another fell from the stairs? It would be suspicious…

She briefly looked at Ren, he was completely consumed by his thoughts. Surely he was thinking about his brother and that other world… Mr. Long told her something about that world, but what? All this time she was trying to forget that incident, but now, she needed to know…

She sighed uneasily and focused on the wall… First her throat clenched, when she thought about the green fog, which was choking her in that cellar, but then she cleared her head again. She moved in her mind to the time, when she went for her jacked. She knew, that Mr. Long showed her the iron dragon, there was something about other worlds, the pearl, and that they will come for her,… after a while, she remembered everything…

***

Monik obediently followed Mr. Long down to the dark cellar. She had goosebumps from that place. Why did she even go there with two boys, who she didn't even know as well? Yes, they were out in the city a few times, but still,… she had to be very drunk, when she thought it was a good idea.

"I see that you had fun last night,…" said Mr. Long when he saw the strewn boxes all over the cellar. Monik blushed from shame, but in the light of that one light bulb, which was hanging from the ceiling, it wasn't visible.

"I know what Jacky will do, when he comes back from school,… you can look around,…" he showed at some open boxes and Monik nodded avoiding eye contact.

While she was looking for her jacket, Mr. Long was staring at the mighty iron dragon, which she uncovered last night.

"Miss Monik," said the old man after a while and he pointed at the Chinese dragon, in front which he was standing. "Were you also admiring this beautiful piece of work? It details… I am not surprised that he chose it as a refuge…"

Monik looked at him with confusion in her eyes: "Refuge? I don't understand…"

"Behind this world, that you know, there are many others. In the one, which is closest, there rule four tribes of dragon descendants. The rulers draw power directly from their forefathers, dragons, who don´t have their material bodies anymore. Thanks to a recent conflict, the Green dragon´s power handover ceremony was interrupted… To protect his power from falling into wrong hands the Green dragon put his power into a pearl and he transferred it to this world,… to this dragon…"

Monik was stunned, she didn't realize, that he was talking seriously. She thought that it was just some fairy tale, maybe a commercial, that he will use to promote his restaurant, but then he looked at her with a deep look. It was hypnotic and after a while, she realized, that she couldn´t move…

"I came here, to choose someone from this world, to help me take back the power of the Green dragon, to the world which it belongs. It should have been Jacky and not you,… but for some reason, the pearl appeared just to you,…" he slowly approached her.

Monik's heart was pounding, she felt like in a bad dream. She couldn't move, what was happening?!

"They will send for that power creatures, that can cross over the barrier of this world,… that´s why I chose Jacky, he would have been able to defend himself… I don't know why the Green dragon wants you…" In that moment, when Mr. Long´s interrupted their eye contact, Monik could move again and she ran away without hesitation. As she was on her way out from the cellar, she heard how Mr. Long yelled after her, that they will come for that power, but she wasn't interested in any of that nonsense…

***

Monik looked at Ren, now she remembered everything, but she didn't have all the answers.

"Why do they want to kill your brother?"

Ren turned to her and answered with a cold tone: "Because the power, that should be his, is still inside you…"

His answer was like a slap on the face to Monik, she didn't expect that. Ren looked at her with his scornful expression and continued: "If you wouldn´t ran away from the old man in the beginning, it wouldn't be a problem, that the Green dragon chose you and not that boy… You would have gone to the other world and gave the power to the successor, to my brother, and he would not be in danger right now… " Ren then despondently got up and he went into the other room.

Feelings of uncertainty and fear accumulated in him and he was more exhausted that in a fight. He approached the window in Lucy´s room and he looked at the moon…

He thought about his village, on all of the eastern tribes, that his brother cannot protect without the Green dragon´s power. From the ceremony, two phases of the moon have passed… and for that long his brother was on the run. How long can he hold on? And Samelin´s curse on the hand of that girl? Was that another trap? And that Monik,… why did the Green dragon choose her? There was Long´s grandson,… a capable fighter,… although earthly, who didn't face any real danger in his life, but still… Why did he have to complicate it for him with this girl?

Ren was so taken by the stream of his thoughts, that he was up all night thinking, but he didn't get any closer to the truth.

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