Nidar was fine. No cuts, no bruises, no black eye. The girl was in the pit, no longer frightened, and eyeing us closely. I needed answers.
"Nidar, tell me what is happening. Why did the twins disappear? Why did those demons disappear? What was that, posing as Jacob? And where is he? And who is that lovely girl?" I asked. Morphing back into my original self. It no longer made me sore to do so.
"Indeed, young man! You passed the test with flying colors! Although, I am saddened by the twins, or Gertrude to be exact. You see, they were not really twin behemoths as you thought they were. They were one. That one was Gertrude, an 86-year-old woman from Lancaster. I found her years ago and helped her develop her powers. By disintegrating one of the "twins", you in fact weakened her considerably, and since she is elderly, I do not think she will be able to recover. She had a long tenure for me. A true hero! I think she needs her rest now anyway."
"I see. Now I feel bad about holding such contempt for them, or her, I guess. What about Jacob? And who is that pretty girl?"
"I'm Bada. And you must be Druk. I've heard of you. Normally I would greet you more formally. Under the circumstances, I cannot. I need answers!" the lovely young girl said after she used her water cannons, or hands, to create jets to bring her up to the ledge. Such beauty she truly was! In a cute, innocent way, with great strength and character etched in her dark eyes.
"Bada! You did fabulously as well! Let me explain everything as we walk to the road a few meters in his direction. Come. Ralph is there waiting to bring us back." Nidar said.
"Yes, please do! Druk, after you." She said bowing with a sarcastic edge to her countenance. I loved her already!
"Now then, you two have met and we can discuss our future plans. Let me give you a bit more of an explanation. Bada, you know of Druk already as I have filled you in before of who he may be, which is now proven as true. Druk, this is Bada, who holds the spirit of the kindest and most reverent sea-dragon of all from Korea, the Imoogi. I have been training her for months now. Since my previous plans with you, Druk, had been altered, and now you know what you are, and accept it, we can move forward. I need you both, to go to Minsk, Belarus. Currently, there is no protector there, and the people will need your help. I have a contact, who will train you further, with no tricks, and you both may do a world of good for those suffering there.
"No tricks? Are you sure? I wish you to be honest with me … I mean … us I suppose." My old self returning for sure! "You still haven't told me of those demons, or of Jacob." I had grown weary of all this nonsense. I wanted answers. The spirit of the dragon inside me was now leaking out little by little as it quickly cut off my usual timidness and released itself with a glare uncharacteristic of my usual self.
"Yes, Nidar. With all due respect. I was supposed to be doing a training exercise and instead ended up cowering in a corner from fake demons! Demon illusions and an illusion of a man with powers? What is this?" Bada added.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha, you two make a great match, indeed! Well, Bada, you have it right. They were, of course, illusions. Created by another you have not met, nor will you. He stays hidden, and wants nothing to do with others; only helping me occasionally for a small fee. This is our business arrangement. The man you mention, or Jacob as known by Druk, is a 'minor' hero, and back in his home safely as we speak. Worry not. He is human, with abilities, and serves the Order of Honor, led by a fascinating woman, who you Druk, I believe have probably met already in your dreams; Liba. For she is a dream traveler and dream maker. Trapped in a lifetime coma since a tragic accident as a young adult, she is able to sense those of you with powers and can communicate with you through dreams. She can also create beautiful dreams, or nightmares, for those with little or no power to stop her. I had the illusions of Jacob and demons made to test you both; test your resolve, test your courage, and test your abilities. You both passed famously! Ah! Here we are. Let's get into the limo. You will be heading straight to the airport. Your effects will await you in Minsk."
"Sir, I have the flight prepared." Said Ralph while glancing an evil eye my way.
"Ralph, I apologize for before. I hope I didn't cause you too much trouble." I spoke.
"No, young man, the trouble is all YOURS!" he shouted and opened his mouth as wide as he could. A kind of power stream was ejected, and hit me in the face, with a hot, burning acid sizzling on my face! I heard Bada yell out, then silence. As I wiped the goo from my eyes, I could see Nidar was on the ground, with multiple streams being shot at him, while he rolled back and forth barely dodging each one.
My eyes started to glow. Yes, I could use my power in the "real" world. This was amazing!
Bada was unconscious on the ground, with no goo on her, which was a relief I noticed as I glanced her way first. Ralph, oh Ralph. As an older cousin of mine used to say from playing an arcade game in Thimphu,
"It's on like Donkey Kong!"
One-shot. That's all it took. I didn't want to destroy him or even hurt him; too badly. I wanted to know why he was doing this! I shot a smaller, less hot fire blast on his legs, burning his pants up to the crouch, and frightening him to no end! It seemed I could control intensity now.
"Ahhhhh! What!? Wait! Wait! Don't! I didn't know you could use your power in the real world! Please, wait! Don't kill me!" he called out after his legs were slightly scorched and he fell on his rear-end.
"Tell me, why I shouldn't!" I demanded, "You attack us, thinking we are defenseless!" my voice, as deep and roaring as it was, frightened myself, my human self-deep in my mind.
"Your, your, your … your face isn't even hurt! Since you grew that, I mean, those …."
"Scales, yes!" Nidar responded while standing up and moving to Bada to check her out. She seemed to be okay. "You actually struck this girl with your hands! How brutish!"
"Again, I will ask and I will only ask one more time," I said, "What were you trying to prove?"
My hands flamed up, and I aimed right towards his face.
"After you tricked me! Bought me that booze! I passed out, and you got away! I never failed Nidar before! He was livid! Told me he was looking for a replacement! I wanted revenge! You, a silly little foreign boy with all this power! Ridiculous!" he shouted.
Bada, now conscience with a bruised temple, used a taekwondo kick, more what I would call a tornado kick, and blasted Ralph in the face! He was unconscious now.
"Now we're even. You just got knocked out by a 'little foreign girl' you racist slob!" She said, looking at me as I began to morph back to my regular human form. changing her tone. "It is true. You have no marks from his venomous vomit! Turning like that, into a partial dragon, well, it heals you doesn't it!?"
"It seems so," I responded.
"Well, I have had all the excitement I need for one day. I guess I will hire a new driver. Let us just leave him here. He is no threat to us now." Nidar said while brushing the dirt off of his expensive Armani suit. "It seems when your scales come out, your bodily wounds indeed heal. Be warry though. I'm sure if you were injured internally no healing would transpire. And if you were injured while in the dragon-man form, the reverse would take place. Your injuries would be more severe once you transformed back into a full human. You must find a way to control that, and stay in your 'super' form longer if such a thing happens."
"I understand. And I'm sorry, I don't drive." I replied.
"Neither do I actually," Nidar said.
"Worry not. I can. Let's go! I'm ready to get on a plane, have a cocktail, and then sleep for hours and hours!" Bada said as she retied her long black hair in a ponytail, took the keys out of Ralph's pocket, and climbed in the driver's seat.
Nidar opened the door, cleared his throat to get my attention away from staring at Bada, and said with a slight smirk,
"Shall we?"
"Of course. I'm ready to go as well." I said. "I just wish I could say goodbye to Jacob."
We climbed in the car and Nidar, as soon as he sat down, was snoozing. I wanted to ask Bada if she could actually drive that huge car, or knew where she was going. I thought better of that though. She was in no mood for chit-chat or questions, I could tell. I remained quiet while she spun the tires and took off. Fascinating girl!
We left Ralph laying unconscious on the ground. I guess he was truly fired now.
Soon after, we reached the airport, got checked in, and went to our plane; a private jet with the name NIDAR written on the side of it. Nidar himself arranged a new driver to come and take him home after saying his farewells to us. Our new mentor would meet us at the airport in Belarus. Bada was in higher spirits once she had a mixed drink and relaxed a bit. Although, we didn't talk much from being too tired and both needed our space. We just met, and somehow could understand each other immediately. But every so often, our eyes would meet, as we sat across from each other, and a slight smile would overtake both of our faces. Magic!
I closed my eyes, feeling much better now, and fell into a deep sleep.
"Druk! Wake-up! You are in danger!" a woman's voice yelled out in my head. It was Liba.
My eyes opened immediately. The gas masks were hanging from the overhead and the emergency lights flashed with incessant beeping ringing my ears. Bada was wearing a mask and motioned for me to grab mine, which I did. She pointed at my window, and I lifted the cover and looked out. We were being dragged down by some sort of flying ogre who had hold of the wing in its monstrous beaked mouth!