The Rains of Sichuan {Choose Your Own Adventure} // Wattys 2019

Chapter Three

You have decided it would be better to talk to She Miao Bao alone and understand what's going on.

As soon as the old man declares the meeting over, you thread your way through the throng toward the dais. He is standing there, waiting for you as you climb the three steps to the platform. Once up, you salute him. He smiles sadly at you and motions for you to come sit with him on the stools arranged at the back of the dais.

As you sit, he follows suit with a sigh.

"I know you have questions," he murmurs. "I am sorry to send you and not an older, wiser man or woman, but for this, we need youth. We need strength and adaptability. This is a situation unheard of, and I have a feeling in these old bones that young inexperience will do better than an older mind set in its ways."

"What did you mean, the dragon's cave?" you ask quietly. Bao raises his eyebrows at you and scoffs.

"My my, did your mother not read to you as a child, young one?" He crosses his arms, sticking his hands into his sleeves, and looks up to the skies. "Dragons are the reason we have rain. Every spring, when the dark clouds gather, the dragons of the land awaken in their lairs and launch into the sky. There, their flight pierces the thick clouds and the rain falls from them onto us. If the dragon does not awaken..." He chuckles. "But until recently, a dragon not making rain was a thing of legend."

You mull things over in your head. Indeed, if Bao is right, then the rain will never come if no-one goes looking for it. It is time to reach the Sichuan dragon and find out what is going on. Bao's withered hand comes to rest over your own.

"Child, I ask you this: be careful on the roads and with the creature. Dragons are vain, beautiful beasts, and they rarely tolerate our brutish, mortal ways. What's more, I have an inkling that this is no simple matter. Dragons are mighty spirits. It takes much to hamper one. I fear I am sending you into a world of trouble."

You smile and assure him that you will be ready for anything that comes. He nods at you and sends you on your way.

You cross the village again and reach your home. Once inside, you grab a bag into which you stuff some dried food and the last of your water in a water skin. At last, you grab your gear and leave.

The dragon's lair is in the mountain east of your village. To reach it, you can either follow the road up the hills and come to it from the North, or take the smaller road down the canyon and walk up from the South.

To take the road North, go to Chapter Five.

To take the road South, go to Chapter Eight.