Far Away From Home

    Patches of dark clouds hung as if suspended by the fingers of an emerging, crescent moon.

Drums, throbbing in the heart of the land,a cast of round thatched abodes crowned with unexplainable symbols of peace, but with the impressions of horror.

  Pradai laid offshore,with the winds of the earth blowing like whistles, making a rhythm of no life. The young girl only knew what her mission was and was only concerned with the fact that she had accomplished her mission.

 But then what? How does she get out of the unknown place? she doesn't even know where her journey had brought her to.

All she could remember was getting down the mountains after taking the book of the santacas, and of course one which was still with her, but right there on the island she knew not of how she got there, perhaps it must have been the mystic power she had just obtained—she concluded.

   She couldn't sense nor seem to know where the road to home led,"I am certainly lost in this wilderness" Pradai said trying to get up from her laying spot, thinking that it was all a dream and when she got up she would be coming out of her illusion.

She didn't believe that she had left her home, peaceful and full of life, to an obsolete island, more or less a deserted village. 

Her thought of defeat brought along a realization that something was wrong. There was no way she could finish the finals. Poor girl—couldn't even feel herself. 

"I must be going insane, perhaps I should look around to see if I could get anything for a shelter first,and wait for the morning light before tracing my way back home" 

She strolled around in search of woods and materials of shelter and warmth, for the night seemed to be dominated with the mocking and ruling of the Queen Moon which mocked the warmth of the night.

   A few steps away, and she seemed to have realised something peculiar, yet weird. The moon was just some meters away from the land!,

"ummm this must be a dream, certainly, what in the world is this? How come the moon is just some meters above my head,wait,this is not the world I know, whoa,is this an enchanted place?" 

   Pradai yelled her dog's name as she became frightened, even if it was an enchanted place, she failed to acknowledge that. For all that rung in her head was danger. 

"I am dead! No way this is the land of the dead, or is this heaven?" She remembered what she heard about death.

When someone died they were either going to hell or heaven, but in her case it doesn't seem to be heaven nor hell, and for a moment of silence she thought that she was in the "upper universe".

"No, that's insane, yes, yes, I am going crazy and crazier right now,God are you there!!!??, Someone answer me... huh? Yes? No? Okay cool this is certainly a joke, but…I remember clearly leaving home, meeting the monk, getting to the mountain, and taking the book of santacas…oh wait did the cave beasts kill me? Maybe they did, but I left the mountain safely with the book,and then here is making sense now, this is a curse!"

   Pradai took off swiftly and without consciousness, like a bear who had just heard her cub scream for help in the face of danger, as she ran deeply into the village, just as if she had been hearing sounds but didn't recognize and bother to know what sound it was, the drums throbbing in a distance seemed to be close and more audible, she stopped to observe and listen with her ear instead of continual running and panting.

   She sighted series of small thatched houses, each separated with fire that didn't harm, but burned like a glowing diamond.

Everything was visible and she didn't have to strain her vision or move closer for the queen moon seemed to be her guide and not just staying and being static, everywhere, all the parts were dominated with the lights from the moon.

It only took a moment of favourable doubt and a touch of fact to realise that the moon was not just some meters above the ground but also lit her path and unrelentlessly followed her lead and covered her track. 

"I will be better off waking up,I swear I will never have to go into a fight that I know very well defeat is on, by the way where are the beings playing the drums, oh another nightmare,or is the universe playing tricks on me, if I am dead, straight up i should know, and not making my soul miserable here!, perhaps it will be wise to go check things out myself".

   Although she had gathered enough courage to go in to check things out in the empty but filled and enchanted territory, she entertained doubts, but something else kept pushing her back, but still, it seemed that another entity, yet stronger than the former, was calling her through just like a magnet.

   Pradai went on limping as if her leg had been damaged in a fight, and taking one step at a time… she then noticed she had been going unwillingly, and all the time something else was pushing her there! 

"Oh Terrible! Why do I feel like ….not normal?......" Just before she could finish her statement, wandering and talking to herself all through, a voice a bit similar to hers, but with a different tone, missed with double voices spoke to her

"Because you're not normal right now, hahahahaha" …with all the energy she could muster up, Pradai began to run, not looking back and not giving consideration on where the voice came from, or whether it was someone who had been following her, because certainly, she was in a different world, but still within the earth she knew, but another dimension– she deemed it worthy of belief.

She could be totally wrong, but with her recent encounters she knew she was in danger, and insane indeed!, Because if not she wouldn't be hearing voices from different people– she thought. 

   As she wagered her way through the bush and leafy trees, tall grasses and tall high shrubs, she couldn't stop running even though everything had changed from the time she started running. 

Not only that she didn't see the bush when she was hiding and surveying the whole village surroundings, what she thought she had been seeing very clearly and closely had suddenly disappeared.

No, there was no village with thatched roofs, nor was there any with fires raging and glittering like diamonds and the beats of drums. But were they illusions or something that had just disappeared from existence just in a moment, or was she really dreaming?

"A whole enchanted world is this really, thank Goodness, no weird voices again" as she stopped in the middle of the green bush to take a rest

she could clearly hear her heart beat like the drums of ancient China, as if she'd been inside the biggest empire drum and the drummer continued hitting the drum with his mighty logs with all might and strength, and it was all going directly to her body and to her heart. 

   She held her chest as it made loud sounds “gbu ghumm, gbu ghumm, gbu gbhumm” She thought of ripping open her chest and taking her heart away so she could finally rest in peace.

She bent down to get a view of where she might be running to, but nothing except tons of another green bush. She cheered up, for the first time, since the run. 

   She felt peace and life, finally it was like she had seen hope. If she was dead her heart wouldn't be beating. She was alive.

And as she wandered on it, the voice that had seemed to depart her came once again "welcome Pradai, we have been waiting for you" she gasped in surprise and held her breath for an adrenaline rush, another voice, so tinted and smooth came intruding "His spirit and blood is in you" 

   Pradai was overwhelmed, not even with the fact that she wasn't alone, but who was "He"? What are they talking about?, how did they even get to know her name “Pradai ''' as it was the name her Grandmother called her, and only her Grandmother used the name.

  As she debated on this, The third voice came in, more masculine and spoke with energy, strength and power as if it had been battling for ages unconquered. 

   3rd voice: Hmmm This thing? How so, just look at her! Look how she is,not even afraid of me?!!!!

1st voice: hold on mistos, take it easy, everything mustn't be fought. She is the one we have been waiting for, for ages yes, I can smell it. The blood and spirit of the Lord Papire, the great conqueror and leader of the Guardians! He lives, the time has come.

2nd voice:yes, but how could the spirit choose someone from her dimension, A breeder, and not even a man, hahahahahaha, do we have any chance of winning?

3rd: Noooo!! So this is what we have been waiting for since centuries, is this a joke.

   1st voice: calm down defenders of the realm, how clever of lord papire to cast the great spirit on her, she have been preserved and no way are the enemies ever going to know who she is, for they have been restless working tirelessly for the soul of the Guardian, we are indeed blessed to have found her first, but she must hurry, time is not on our side no longer, she must be prepared, and taught in the ways of the Guardians.

   3rd voice: and what are you? You have no power to do that, there's no time! If she's the Guardian,then she doesn't need to be trained, does she ?look! She already has the Book of the santacas!, But… 

1st voice: Yes indeed, she is the one! No one can survive the mountain, not even the beast except the true masters, although they have been wiped out a long time ago, but she was a true blood! I sense her Guardian aura is so strong! ... 

   As if Pradai had heard enough of their "No-sense" she interrupted their "conversation" as she thought that the realm defenders were talking to themselves.

But she would know what and who they truly were, their work and importance in time. 

"Everything will be revealed in time guardian" said the first defender as they turned away to depart to their different portals, Pradai raised her voice in astonishment and hope as if someone who had just been bolted with a strong life current

"Ermmm I don't know what you are talking about? What are you? And what do you mean by "Pradai Monk"? And guardians? 

   Voices together "with time it will all be revealed,your journey have begun, this is your destiny"

"Okay fine alright, right now I just want to go home, that's my destiny to finish off a business and a fight,so where do I begin my journey? Mmmm you can do me good by pointing me in the right direction as your "Guardian" ehh? Then when I get home I can think about…..all ...all the ... whatever it is you were saying...Mmmm? Deal?

   At that point the defenders became irritated with her attitude, and manners, they became annoyed, but of course she didn't care.

All she wanted to know was the road to home, but the answer she got wasn't the answer she expected, not even in her dreams.

   Voices together:"Don't be a fool! Home is far from reality hahahaha"

They laughed at her foolishness and stupidity as they went their separate cardinals, Pradai was left shocked and shaken and in awe, not because she wasn't going home soon, but because she was in another world, a world far from reality?

"Ohhh that didn't go well,I'm really lost,all I have with me is this …..this book that stays dumb and dormant, how did the monk even chose a book? Awful, awful he must be in tears in the land of the dead..." She paused. "Really? Is he? Should he be in tears or should I be?"

   Pradai threw herself gently on the ground, she knew that she had no choice. And no, no miracle was going to happen out here, she was all alone in a strange land.

She became emotional, and thought about home, and her friends although she didn't have much but the few she had, she had a deep connection with them.

   She thought if she hadn't left or even thought of fighting, she wouldn't had landed herself into a big mess, she mostly blamed her parents for leaving her at a tender age out of the cold world alone, she could remember bit of faces, but her complete basic reference was the photos she looked at and in here, unfortunately no pictures of Mom and Dad to hold on to.

   She felt the loneliness deep in her soul and spirit, the frustration and disappointment, but everything happened for a reason, the fight, the idea, the mountain and these she never planned any of it.

    "I should have stayed my ass down, prolly doing some good Jobs and getting cool cash right now and not this, but …I never planned any of this, oh how did I even get the idea of going to a monastery, wow! This is a setup? Someone is playing with my mind! Or ….what they said might be true,"

   She stood firmly and cleaned her eyes, suddenly a rush of energy empowered her, it was as if she had finally learned the truth… 

 "Oh Pradai, you are no Guardian, you are just lost, and it is all in your head"

  She sat back again. She just haven't believed anything yet, perhaps she was looking for a better proof, she found a resting place to keep her head as she was overwhelmed with the ecstasy of sleep. 

   She had gathered enough courage and strength and agreed to explore where she was– if only a morning would come…