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whoo unedited bc i don't really like this chapter and prime empire is starting to suck the soul of of meeeeee 🎉
also school started
🙃
"We must stay together," Okino said firmly. "The Maze of the Red Dragon has many twists and turns."
"Pfft! No problem," Jay dismissed him. "I'm great at mazes."
"This might be harder than the ones you're used to on the backs of cereal boxes," Cole pointed out, earning a scowl from the lightning ninja.
The group turned into a corridor with walls lined with eerily familiar statues. The sculptures were figures of life-sized angels, complete with delicately decorated wings and perpetually closed eyes.
"Huh. Those statues look familiar," commented Cole, squinting at the stone creatures.
"He's right," Nya agreed. "Those are just like the statues we saw at Dyer Island!"
"Oh, yeah!" Cole realized. "The ones that shot lasers at us-" Y/n grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back just as the statue tried blasting him with beams from its eyes.
One by one, the statues began to awaken. Their marble eyes glowed scarlet. The ninja quickly summoned their weapons to deflect the angels' attacks.
"Go! Quickly!" urged Okino.
They charged through the passageway, expertly blocking shots and chopping down statues as they ran. Y/n slashed a laser out of the sky and lunged forward to stab the angel that'd fired it at her. It shattered into cubic chunks of stone, then disintegrated.
Jay took down the final statue. "Gotcha!"
Okino sheathed his katana, signally that the coast was clear for the time being. "There are many traps here," he warned. "You must always be aware of your surroundings."
Y/n was beginning to miss how the wind would conveniently notify her of any and every threat. As much as she'd learned to resent her element in the past weeks, it still felt as though she'd parted with an old friend. At least she was on the road to recovering her faith in it.
"Good safety tip," Lloyd noted. "Right, guys?" The ninja nodded. Lloyd went to continue walking deeper into the maze, but Okino held out an arm to stop him.
The samurai tapped the tile Lloyd had been about to step on. Instantly, a panel of person-sized spikes shot up from the ground. Lloyd winced at the sight of them, imagining the gruesome death he'd just been spared from. "Thanks, Okino."
"That . . . was close," Nya said nervously. The group cautiously tiptoed around the rigged tiles, but Jay simply leapt over them. "Jay . . ." Nya chided him.
He chuckled sheepishly, then turned back to the ninja. "Which way now?"
"Uh, Okino, any ideas?" Cole asked. "Left or right?"
