The Hidden Temple

They all submerged into the water with the Drakon in a hot pursuit, as the bodies of the Drakons dived into the water, they all shrieked loudly. To them, it felt like their skins were eaten alive by a highly concentrated acid.

Little by little, they disintegrated in the water producing steam which rose up into the air that surrounded the entire village. The trio within the water became dumfounded by the phenomenon that occured right in front of their eyes, they were unsure if it was safe to rise back up to the surface given the numbers of Drakon that desired their flesh.

Staring downwards underneath their feet, Renji strained his eyes and saw something unnatural. It was hard to notice but in truth the depths of the river became the surface of another river due to the light he perceived from the depths. It was a complicated process he could not explain.

Pointing at the depths of the river, Renji led Hinata and Reo deeper into the river as the Drakons were being roasted alive. Arriving at the depths, Renji stretched his right hand forward to confirm if what he truly saw, the roots of a palm tree, was a mirage.

As he touched what seemed to be the bedrock of the river, his hand passed right through it. Riddled with disbelief, they all stared at each other before going through the bedrock of the river.

As their bodies completely passed through the bedrock, they emerged out of another river. "What!?" Hinata exclaimed with disbelief as her eyes were laid upon what looked like a fantasy. In front of them stood a beautifully erected temple surrounded by multiple tall trees.

"What... is this?" Reo uttered, greatly baffled by the scenery he laid his eyes upon. "Is this magic?" He added.

"Hmph." Renji chuckled, he was just as curious and baffled as both of them but if there was one thing he learnt bitterly from his experience as a ninja. It was to expect the unexpected, trying to solve a puzzle from limited sizes will only end up creating more puzzles, every possibility had to be considered.

"Who knows? Maybe? I'm not an expert on magic but I guess if this truly is magic, it must be from someone or something very powerful." He said, making his way towards dry land.

"Obviously." Hinata grunted, still upset at him for throwing her into the river.

"Just when I thought we've solved a mystery another one more heinous appears." Renji sighed, expressing the feeling of tiredness he felt in solving this mysteries.

"So the fog really is created from the Drakons, but not because of the transfiguration but the disintegration." Reo said aloud as they realized what it meant.

"That means, the Drakons aren't actually humans? Then..." Hinata added, her original assumption was they needed to save those poor souls. But now that the truth was out.

"Yeah, they are entirely different creatures who appears to have an ambition. Whatever they are searching for seems to be down here." Renji concluded as they came out of the waters and onto dry land. Examining his environment, he found the footprints of a human leading from the shore of the river and into the forest. This appeared troubling to him.

"Is it safe to assume that the magical properties of the river that is highly beneficial to humans, is the exact opposite for them?" Reo asked, Renji didn't look like it but to him he appeared highly knowledgeable, majorly because of his deduction capabilities.

"Probably, who knows. Clearly whoever built this temple had expected something like this and prepared every possible contingencies." Renji said, rotating his left pinkie in his ears to get rid of the water that had entered into it.

"If that's true, and the Drakons really aren't humans how are we ever going to get rid of them?" Reo asked, slowly losing his sense of hope. Initially they thought they could stop the Drakons once and for all by destroying the source of their transfiguration, unfortunately that wasn't the case at all.

"What could they possibly be searching for down here?" Hinata said, trying to wrap her head around the mysteries that clouded them.

"Who knows? But the answer to that." Renji said, raising his head to face the temple. "Lies within that temple." He added.

More mysteries that demanded further investigations rose to the surface, they couldn't go back up at the moment given the number of Drakons that chased them down into the river so there was only one thing to do.

"Let's check out that temple." Renji declared, it was the only way to get to the bottom of everything.

Simultaneously nodding in affirmation, they all made their way into the forest with Reo in front of them. Holding Hinata by her shoulder, he stopped her from moving as Reo advanced forward.

"Huh?" She was about losing her cool until she saw the sudden change in his facial expression, his eye brows were furrowed displaying a high sense of intensity and suspicion. "What is it?"

"Remember when we met old man Tunlop for the first time? And how his clothes were drenched?" He asked in a low tune to avoid attracting Reo's attention.

"Yeah, now that you mentioned it, I do remember his clothes slightly soaked. What about it?" She replied recalling their first encounter with the village chief.

"In an environment infested by reptiles why would he be wet when he was just hoping for mages to come?" He imposed a thought-provoking question. "And those footprints from back then, it just doesn't add up." He added.

"He's been down here." Hinata said as her eyes widened upon the sudden realization.

"And he knows those reptiles were never human, he knows what's down here and what they are after." Renji stated, shedding light on another mystery that rose to the surface.

"So he has been lying to us this entire time?"

"Are you guys coming?" Reo said aloud as he realized that they were way behind him.

"We're right behind you." Renji replied, signalling to Hinata with his eyes to keep this discovery from Reo.