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

Chapter Thirty-One

You stride back to your host and crouch there, looking him in the eyes. You've never been so serious.

"The sigil, the men who took Mei Mei," you state. "They work for the Monkey King. Do you have any idea why the Monkey King would be involved in all this?"

He trembles. "Sun Wukong? By all the gods, poor Mei Mei! He must have known she would be able to lead people to him!"

You place your hand on his shoulder and press on: "The Sichuan dragon - he won't wake up. What's going on?"

"You don't know?" he breathes. "The dragon's pearl is gone. It's... it's where they put their souls. Their spirits are too big for our world, you see, so they make these beautiful pearls and pour their souls into them. If you remove a dragon's pearl, you leave an empty vessel. If you break it, you kill the dragon."

You frown. "Could the Monkey King have taken the pearl?"

His eyes go wide, wider than you ever thought eyes could get. "The pearl... of course, he would have taken the pearl! The Monkey King wants power, immortality - what more powerful and immortal than a dragon's soul?" He begins to pant with the excitement and pain. "You must reach the Monkey King before he can hurt Mei Mei - and before he can figure out how to get the dragon's soul out of the pearl. Please! It's the only way the rains will fall on Sichuan again!"

You straighten up.

So that's why the dragon couldn't wake up. Without his pearl, he was just an empty husk. And now, you're pretty certain you know where the pearl went.

It's time to visit the Monkey King - and with some luck, to find the crown before that.

If you went in through the window without falling, go to Chapter Nineteen.

If you fell through the window or brought the door down, go to Chapter Twenty.