The Dragon’s Eye

The brothers walked back from where they had come from towards their hometown, and continued walking further. As the spring breeze brushed upon their bodies through the forest path, they would eventually stand on the outer edge of where the trees had ended. Below was the coastline that was east of where they went on their first day of adventure. The clouds gently moved, as if responding to the giant stone dragon that glided in place in the distance. It did not make a noise, but it did have a powerful presence. It flapped its wings gracefully as people below stood on the beach, and others walked across its sturdy stone back. Lines carrying flags and offerings cascaded down from the tips of its wings to the other end of where it flew.

In reality, it was the bridge close to their humble town, leading to an island across the water that led to a park families would often go to. They held hands and walked down the hill and towards the concrete ramp that led to the bridge. Several families walked back and forth between the two areas, the flags and paper lamps dancing in the wind, attached by the rope.

When they made it to the other side, they searched along the surface. They didn’t find anything that looked like a ‘dragon’s eye’ so far. They looked at each other and decided to search every spot along the bridge. They spent minutes, then an hour, and then another. They lay against the concrete support and looked at the sky, wondering where it could be. They both saw a glimmer in the sky, and it came from one of the lamps! It swished back and forth in the sky, as if taunting the two brothers.

The brothers looked at each other and nodded, rushing to the rope that held the lamp. Sota shook the rope, trying to get whatever was inside free. He shook it more and more, ignoring the people looking at him passing by. “Come on! You got it!” Sota cheered.

Yuto felt embarrassed but kept going. Eventually the object would fall out...and right off the bridge. Both the boys groaned.

“Okay, let’s...try to get it.” Yuto sulked. Sota shrugged. “It’s fine! Who cares about getting a little wet?”

Yuto gave him a look of annoyance. “Yeah, but you’re saying it to the one who is going to get wet.”

“Yeah, but you should be used to that already thanks to my special wake-up technique-OW!” Sota yelped after Sota flicked him in the head. “What did you do that for?”

“Are you really asking me that question?”

“Jerk.”

“Brat.”

They both glared at each other before smiling and slightly laughing.

Making their way across the bridge, Yuto went down the slope to the support pillars near the ocean and placed the backpack onto the sand. He then took off his shirt, shoes, and socks. He breathed in, and then out.

“Just go in already, Yuto.”
“Shut up.”

Visibly annoyed, Sota waded through the water before eventually diving in. Yuto crouched down with his hands on his cheeks, humming to himself.

Yuto searched for the object, the salt water burning his eyes. He couldn’t find it and tried digging through the wet sand. But he still couldn’t find it. He kept going until it was too hard to hold his breath, and he swam up for air and gasped. “I can’t find it!” he yelled.

Sota frowned, and a familiar gleam made him wince slightly. A yellow glow dimly lit his face. He reached down and picked up a yellow marble. “Found it.”

“ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!” screamed Yuto.

Sota ignored his brother’s watery rampage and inspected the marble. It wasn’t like any other marble, as it lacked the familiar indentation most have. He smiled. “Wooooah… hey, Yuto!”

“WHAT?!” Yuto screamed again.

“Check this out! This thing is really cool!”

Yuto sighed and hit the water before moving slowly back to the sand. He bent down and looked at the marble. His frown soon turned into a look of surprise. “Wow...I’ve never seen a marble with a shape like that.”

The marble Yuto held did not have the similar indentation that most marbles held. Most had a curved shape inside, but this yellow marble had lines that formed a slit. It looked like an actual dragon’s eye, as if staring back at them.

“Well...okay. We found the dragon’s eye. What next?” Asked Yuto.

Yuto reached into the backpack while Sota put his clothes back on. He pulled out the book with the missing pages and all the notes they had collected so far. They connected each of the lines that intersected with one another, with the second-to-last page in the book providing a starting line. When they shifted the lines together, they formed a symbol.

園.

The last page had a rectangle for the symbol to fit into.

“Oh, I think that means... park?” Yuto muttered.

They looked toward where the park was. They put the objects back into the backpack and climbed their way back up.