Chapter Six: The Lotus Shrine

Author's Note:

Today is the final day to complete Lotus Legends #4: Beyond The Looking Glass. The remaining three chapters from yesterday will be a part of today's schedule. I didn't have much time to work on them yesterday. I had to go to Maple Ridge, and I live in Coquitlam. It's about an hour drive, and we had to exchange the new computer system from Best Buy. We left for Maple Ridge at 6 o'clock, and we came back by 7 o'clock. Anyway, here's the first of the final chapters, Chapter Six: The Lotus Shrine. The website is now finished! You can check it out now! It's brand new! ;-)

-CelestialTime93

"That was one scary stunt." Miriam muttered as the Lotus Guardians ventured through the Lotus Shrine.

"Promise me you will never do anything like that again!" Jonathan scolded.

"I promise!" Miriam answered relieved, "I am never gonna do a stunt like that again!"

"Could someone tell me what part of the Lotus Shrine we are in?" Kiara asked, now in her young form.

"I would say the main foyer." Rumiko answered, looking at the stone walls, with carvings from the ancestors of time.

"Uh-oh." Jonathan stopped infront of three doorways.

"Which way?" Miriam wondered out loud.

"I do not know." Kiara answered.

The Lotus Guardians glanced down at their treasures, and studied the scratch marks and scuffs on the doorways.

One door had scratch marks from a knife or a sharp blade. The other had scuffs and marks, as if something bashed into them. The final one has thinner scratch marks than the first door.

"You don't think..." Miriam wondered out loud.

"Maybe..." Jonathan answered.

"A huge possibility..." Kiara answered.

"It could be possible..." Rumiko added.

"Think we should check it out?" Miriam asked.

"We should split up." Rumiko suggested.

"Miriam, you take Kiara." Jonathan directed, "And Bravery, you can go with Rumiko this time. I'll go by myself. Don't worry, I have the Lotus Blade to protect me."

"You'd better be right." Rumiko muttered.

"If I find you dead on the ground," Miriam threatened, "You are so gonna get a scold from me and Kimberly Ann."

"I'll be careful." Jonathan reassured.

That was when the three Lotus Guardians took seperate paths.

Miriam wandered through the torch lit halls of the doorway that she might think is the Bamboo Bow and Arrow's keep.

"Are you sure about this?" Kim asked from the back of Miriam's mind.

"Don't worry, Kimberly Ann." Miriam reassured, "We know what we're doing. If the scuff marks mean what I think, then we're on the right track."

"Hope so..." Kiara muttered.

"Jonathan, I have a bad feeling about this..." Ron muttered from the back of Jonathan's mind.

"Could you at least try to be a little confident?" Jonathan replied, "We're going to see if the hallways lead to the Lotus Blade's keep."

"That's what I'm afraid of..." Ron groaned.

Bravery began to chitter wildly on Rumiko's shoulder.

"What is wrong, Bravery?" Rumiko asked.

Bravery continued to chitter as the sound of footsteps came from ahead.

"Intruders?" Yori asked Rumiko from the back of her mind.

"I doubt..." Rumiko replied, "Brace yourself, Yori-san."

"Eeep! Eeep!" Bravery chittered, as Rumiko opened her Dragon Fan and ran down the hallways.

"Can't you hurry up?" Kiara called to Miriam who was in close behind her.

"You think it's easy after I just got coughed up by a skeleton beast?" Miriam retorted.

"Do we really have to do this?" Ron asked Jonathan.

"Do you want others to perish within darkness and secrets or not?" Jonathan scolded.

"Ha! Huh?"

The three Lotus Guardians blinked dubiously as they still held their weapons steady. They were facing each other.

"What in the world is going on?" Miriam wondered out loud, lowering her bow and arrow.

"Is this a type of illusion, or am I just dreaming?" Jonathan asked, sheathing his Lotus Blade.

"It is real." Rumiko answered, folding her fan, "The pathways lead to the same place: the Lotus Treasures' Keep."

"But, why use seperate ways to lead to the same area?" Miriam wondered out loud.

"That is something that we will never discover." Rumiko answered.

Bravery looked the opposite way of the Lotus Guardians, and began to chitter wildly.

"What is it, Bravery?" Jonathan asked, as Bravery leaped onto Jonathan's shoulder. He pointed wildly at another opening. A fourth one.

"A fourth opening?" Rumiko wondered out loud.

"The Lotus Shrine is well known for it's surprises." Kiara muttered, "C'mon. It must lead to the altar."