ROTU: Chapter Twenty-Two

A newfound commitment rose within Jalena as she hung up the phone and began to train. She wanted to fulfill her reason for coming to Earth, but now she also desired to protect the humans that she had come to care for. Resilience solidified within her during training as she put to use all the abilities, both spells and combat maneuvers, she had acquired to exercise her point of focus and expand the power she now harbored.

Her light energy amplified to a greater level, shaking the walls of the facility as she countered the attacks of her enemies. She smiled as her light unleashed from within. Taking several deep breaths, she opened her Reserve. The energy that had been dormant for years burst through as she came face to face with two simulated Javen.

Kana's voice carried through the blasts within the simulation. "Your power has reached a critical state, Master Jalena. I must upgrade the system again to be able to withstand the energy or the shields will not hold. It is much greater than Sir Lyons anticipated."

"Okay, Kana. Let's take a break."

Jalena calmed her energy as the Javen before her disappeared, and the light of her Reserve began to fade.

Yield to love, Jalena.

Jalena stopped in her tracks as the voice repeated the words just before it shut completely. Gyan? Her heart jumped. She debated the idea of re-opening her Reserve just to hear his voice again when Kana interrupted her thoughts.

"A human male with an aura of energy that I do not comprehend with my current programming has arrived."

A projection of Shakou standing in front of the steel doors appeared in front of Jalena. She raced from the room.

Shakou's laughter heightened as the steel doors burst open and she flew into his arms.

"Easy now, Okami-chan," he said as he returned her embrace. "You are much stronger than the last time you grabbed me."

He released her and gave her appearance a once over and then returned his eyes to her face. "So, this is your true form." He grabbed the tip of her ear lightly. "Nice."

Jalena laughed and pushed him back. "I'm not the only one with a changed appearance," she said as she studied his face. She brushed her hand gently at his temple near the edge of his yellow-rimmed, turquoise eyes. "You have the dragon energy within your gaze."

He nodded.

"When did they change?"

"They did gradually as I became attuned to the new energy. It started about a week after you last left Japan."

She smiled. "Come, I will show you around and then we can eat."

Shakou followed her through the facility and put his bag in Shamira's room.

Jalena could not help but smile at the idea that someone who truly knew and supported her, human or warrior, was with her at the facility once more. She was even more pleased that it was Shakou.

"My real name is Jalena, by the way. It was the name the man in my vision—my father—spoke when you first began teaching me."

"You will always be Okami-chan to me," Shakou said as he squeezed her hand.

She laughed. "I am ready for you to cook for me again."

He smiled. "Of course."

"I have missed you," said Shakou, mirroring her thoughts as the two sat down across from each other in the kitchen a short time later.

"And I, you."

He eyed the small dragon charm hanging around her neck. "You still wear the necklace. It is how I know."

"And I shall wear it every day." Her expression turned serious. "I believe you are the reason I did not get lost completely in my pain, Shakou, and for that, I am indebted to you. But, more importantly, you helped to change my mind."

"How so?"

"I wanted my life to end with this mission. This desire was likely what contributed to me forgetting who I was. Before coming to Earth, I had vowed that it would be my last quest. Then, I met you and Ryu. I saw how you are only a few and now one of your kind. You live life as the dragon messenger but still walk your path with commitment. Because of learning from you, I found my conviction to continue to lead others, even beyond my mission here. I realized how much they rely on me for greater things. They still deserve to have a leader who will not abandon them no matter the pain of my past."

"You are mistaken in that it was I who changed your mind. You are the one who brought us together. Even in a dormant state, your power to attract what is needed for you at the right time is a force that extends even into the realm of the dragons. You, somewhat with the help of Oyaji and I, changed your own mind." Tears sprung to Shakou's eyes. "But, you have done much more for me. After knowing you in your weakest state and then seeing what you represent through the eyes of the dragons now, I am honored to share this experience with you. You are and will remain, my heart."

Jalena's eyes widened as she stopped chewing her food and stared at Shakou in silence.

He chuckled. "Okami-chan, do not look at me like that," he said as he wiped away an escaped tear. "I am not making a pass at you, although I would be lying if I did not ponder it many nights when I was younger."

Jalena swallowed as she dropped her gaze and blushed.

"I know I am meant to walk my path unbound to another in that way. I have not ever desired to be with another except you and am satisfied with the companionship of our years together. Now that my power has awakened fully, I do not seek what is outside my duty. My heart is fulfilled by the path I walk now, just as I know that you are soul-bound to another."

"How do you know about—?"

Shakou gave her a big grin. "I am dragon messenger, Okami-chan. Did you forget? Besides, what I feel for you and what you feel for me is something much more important and goes beyond that. There is something unbreakable in the love between those on your team. I may not be from your planet or a light warrior like you, but I am still your family. Your wizard guide said to make sure you know that I will not abandon you. Our bond is forever. My commitment to you shall not fade, even when you fly off again into space. What can I say? I have been designed to love you."

Jalena grasped his hand as her breath caught. She closed her eyes tightly. "Say no more," she whispered fiercely, "or my heart may burst."

"Then as I suspected, there is no need to convince you." He leaned in closer. "But, I cannot promise you that I won't unleash my charm upon you if you give me enough sake. I am even more attracted to your alien appearance."

Jalena shook her head. "You are too much."

Shakou's eyes glinted mischievously. "Besides, you would not be able to resist." He leaned in closer and lifted an eyebrow. "After all, there is no girl alive that is not in love with her dragon."

"Shakou!" she exclaimed as her face reddened more.

Shakou laughed loudly. "What I am truthfully interested in now though, is to see how the power of a light warrior measures against that of a dragon messenger."

"What I am truthfully interested in now though, is to see how the power of a light warrior measures against that of a dragon messenger."

Jalena smirked. "You may regret it."

Shakou chuckled. "I hope so. For all the harsh training I put you through in hopes of unlocking your power, I am sure I deserve it." He reached into his robe and pulled a small bag from an inside pocket. "I made this for you."

She smiled as she loosened the string on the bag and pulled out a silver bracelet with small iridescent jewels laced through the twine.

"It is actually more powerful than it looks," said Shakou. "It is to mask your appearance when you are out searching for the Earth warriors you need."

"How did you know what to use—? Nevermind." She dismissed her statement with a wave of her hand. "I keep forgetting that you have access to multiple avenues of information."

Shakou smiled and nodded. "Your star wizard guide told me how to make it."

Later that evening after the two had sparred several rounds, Shakou dropped down next to Jalena in front of the simulated Tran Ceiabré with a groan. He winced in pain. "I know you were going easy on me, Okami-chan, but I am sore from our sparring for the first time since I met you."

Jalena laughed. "My power has amplified from the time I was on Elsaria. Sir Malik, the star wizard who appears to you, said that it was due to my energy being suppressed all those years. I won't use the entirety of my power until I face one in particular."

"Your enemy?"

"Drasúl. He is a Javen. To explain it in human terms, he is essentially a star wizard gone to the dark side."

"You will defeat him," Shakou said without hesitation. "The dragons will not reveal what is to come of this, because certain events must unfold without hurried influence. Yet, I do not have to access the information of the realms to know of your victory." He gestured to the falls. "This comes from your world?"

She nodded. "This type of landscape is common in all of Elsaria. I miss it more than I can convey."

"I think I should visit."

Jalena chuckled. "You must."

The two sat for a short time in comfortable silence as they watched the falls.

"Tell me what it was that unlocked your light, Okami-chan. It had to be a strong emotional trigger."

She shrugged. "Probably just timing."

"Perhaps, but there had to be something more. If you do not tell me, I will find out through my abilities."

Jalena rolled her eyes and sighed. "I met someone that reminded me of my soul twin from long ago…and don't say anything about it!" she added quickly when she saw a teasing glint enter Shakou's eye.

"Ahhh," Shakou smiled, "Okami-chan! When you lived as a human, you unknowingly longed for the love of a warrior and now that you remember you are warrior, you love a human!" Shakou slapped his knee and laughed loudly.

"I do not love him!" Jalena scowled. "I don't even know who he is!"

Shakou laughed harder. "Your emotion for him was enough to unleash your power. That is something." He poked her playfully in the shoulder.

"It was just the similarities between them." She got up. "I'm going to get a glass of wine while we wait on Lyons. Kana said he is on his way."

"Give me sake too, please," Shakou said as he started to stand. "I will be your substitute lover until you find your human again."

Jalena put a hand over Shakou's face and pushed him back down. "What is wrong with you?" She shook her head as she walked quickly away.

"Wait for me!" He laughed again and moved to follow her as fast as his sore limbs would allow.

When Lyons still had not arrived, Jalena woke in the middle of the night and reentered the simulation room to train. She ran the length of the Ceiabré forest and then continued along the shores of the Green Sea, passing the area where she had last spoken to Gyan's mother, Sahdika, and beyond to the spot where she and Gyan had first made love. It was there that she dropped to the sand and watched the simulation of the Elsarian day stars sink into the horizon.

A longing to see Gyan rose within her, causing her chest to tighten as it had so long ago when he appeared in her thoughts.

She inhaled and exhaled deeply, yielding to the memories of him as Ryu had taught her to do, and the tightness in her chest dissipated. She rested against the comfort of the sand and let more memories surface without restriction…

"Mark Lyons has just arrived," Kana voiced, moments later.

"Thank you, Kana," replied Jalena as she stood and exited the simulation room.

Foregoing the greeting, Lyons strode past her down the hall, a briefcase at his side. "I have to show you something, Jalena. Follow me." He did a double-take when he saw her confused expression. "What is it?"

"Your age—I just didn't think about it before—you look so much older than when I last saw you…and taller!"

"Twenty years, Jalena—twenty fucking years since I've heard from you! You met me when I was eighteen! Got married since then, had some kids—blah blah." He stopped and turned his chin to give Jalena a profile view. "But, I still look good though, yeah?"

Jalena chuckled. "Yeah."

He wrinkled his nose. "I knew you thought so." He continued down the hall and entered their large office with Jalena following close behind. "And you—what the hell—haven't even aged. You're lucky I don't steal some of that alien DNA of yours and sneak it to the government in return for a big fat check." He sat his briefcase on a long, rectangular table and opened it to reveal a laptop.

Jalena smiled. "I thought you didn't like money."

"Yeah, because they don't let you out of their sight when they know you have it. I'd be on the radar even more than I am now. So, all of mine is stored in a desert bunker."

She raised an eyebrow as Lyons attached his equipment to Kana's mainframe, not entirely sure he was joking.

"Okay, so while you went on warrior vacation, I tried to find you, so I could be the hero that saved you from the dark forces that I thought had kidnapped you. To do this, I created this grid that detects fluxes in certain types of energy."

"You kept working even though we lost contact?"

"The queen of the light warriors…really Jalena? That's not someone I want to be responsible for losing." He shook his head. "Besides, hunting you gave me purpose—challenging the unknown is how I roll. I knew you were still alive because of the activity in your bank account after you returned to Colorado, but the galactic forces told me to leave you alone until Kana contacted me again with news of your return, just like they said to with Shamira."

Jalena smirked. "You missed us."

"Only because humans are boring." He rolled his eyes. "Okay, yes, I did, but enough of this deep stuff."

Lyons suddenly jumped in surprise as he glanced behind him. "Holy hell!" He put a hand over his chest when he noticed Shakou leaning against the doorframe. "Intruder, Kana!"

He squinted as he stared at Shakou. "Or ghost—ghost intruder! Can you not even sense him, Kana?" he yelled. "I'm going to have to completely redo—"

"Lyons," Jalena interrupted with a laugh as Shakou raised an eyebrow.

Shakou continued to watch Lyons with an amused expression as Jalena assured him that Shakou was not an intruder or a ghost.

"Lyons, this is Shakou—my friend that I stayed with while in Japan. He is helping me on the mission, and I would trust him with my life."

"Jeez, well he certainly has the stealth skills to match yours."

Shakou bowed in greeting. "Pleased to meet you, Lyon-san."

Lyons smiled and gave him a small wave with a quick stiff bow. "I like that…Lyon-san—like I'm a ninja or—"

"Lyons," Jalena said again.

"Okay, right." Lyons pressed a button and a large holographic map of the Earth projected across the length of a table before the two. "Like I said, one of the things I was working on was a grid that reads different types of energy. Now, I had to figure out what was an energy surge due to nature, like the vortexes of the planet that appear at different points on the grid." He pointed to the flashes of green light on the map. "I discovered if it was human energy, it would flitter and then disappear, as it does here." He pointed to a glittering stream of white light. "Now everyone has the flittering light and when people are happier or passionate, it is brighter. But, people that carry a different type, like you, have a different color that blends with the white."

"Had enough coffee?" Jalena asked as Lyons paused and took a breath.

"Just a little—I couldn't sleep as it is. I'm excited you finally showed up, what can I say? Anyway, when foreign or—we'll just say—warrior light is activated there is indigo and sometimes green that appears with the white. It lingers longer than the human energy. I learned this by tracking you and Shamira through the watches before you went full human."

Jalena peered at the map. "Can you detect elemental energy with the grid?"

"Only vaguely. It appears in brown and green smears and fades in and out more quickly than human energy. The Elementals are good at remaining hidden from our realm if they want to be. Their light is more concentrated near the forests, mountains, and near water."

"I still wouldn't know where to go exactly," Jalena mumbled as she took note of the multiple spots of elemental energy along the map.

"What are you looking for?" asked Lyons.

"The entrance to the Glisayan domain."

"Well, I don't know what the hell Glisayans are, but what I would do when wondering about any elemental energy is find a local witch who's crazy about the Earth and ask her—just to see where it leads."

Jalena stared at Lyons for several seconds in silence, her thoughts racing. She recalled a conversation she had heard on the streets near her gallery just a couple of weeks ago.

"You should go to the apothecary in that dusty old shop on the edge of town," a woman had told her friend. "I know people say that the woman is a blind old witch, but I don't care, she knows what she is talking about. I had a rash on my arm that cleared up in two hours because of the stuff she made for me after I tried everything else."

Lyons caught Jalena's gaze. "Why are you staring at me like you just had a wonderful thought about our future? I told you already, I'm married. You shouldn't have been gone so long—it's too late now…besides, Amber would hunt me down and kill me, so you wouldn't get to enjoy me for very long..."

Jalena pushed him in the shoulder. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for the insight."

Lyons blushed as he touched his cheek. "Yeah, eh, well, can't help it—" he cleared his throat and tossed his head back so that his hair danced, "—genius brain and all. Why do you need to find the Glisayan realm or whatever?" he asked.

"I need to see if they and the fairies will help in the fight with Drasúl."

"I wanna see the fairies!"

Jalena smiled at the childlike excitement in Lyons's eyes.

"Trust me, you don't. They aren't too fond of most humans and won't hesitate to show you their darker nature." She eyed his hair. "Although you do look kinda like you belong in the wild, so they might like you."

Lyons rolled his eyes. "Ha ha, very funny."

"Don't worry. I'll be in touch soon." She turned to Shakou. "You coming?"

He shook his head. "You are to go this one alone, Okami-chan. I have work of my own to do. I will leave for a short time to get affairs in order then will meet you back here."

"Wait!" Lyons said. "You're not leaving until you take the new tracking band I made for you."

"Not a watch?"

"No, this one is more compact and less destructible. It has a sharper sensor also, so if your energy is overly heightened, a warning will sound."

"Thanks," Jalena said as Lyons snapped the band around her wrist.

"Don't go AWOL on me again!" he called out after she said her goodbyes to Shakou. "I get bored with…" he sighed "…human work."

"I won't." Jalena retrieved her coat and gave a sharp whistle as the metal doors of the facility opened to reveal a pink, yellow, and orange sunrise.

Haku darted to her side.

"Good omen don't you think, Haku?" she said as she watched the sky.

Haku gave her a quick lick on the ear, and the two made their way back into town.