Fate of Pandora - Book II

The Other Side Of The Bridge

"Another dimension? Like in the God's realm? Is that possible?"

Kairi began waving her tails enthusiastically as she took the lead. "I think that's it. Hurry!" The cat rushed ahead of the two humans, wanting to reach the other side of the bridge as fast as possible.

"Wa-wait! You think this is the place?" Ayame called as she tried to follow the nekomata, breaking into a cold sweat whenever a wooden board would cringe under her weight.

"The kamikas have been guarding the treasure in order to keep it out of reach from people with ill intentions, right? Thus, they were probably moving the box from place to place so Pandora would never find it." Kairi reminded them what they had learned from Luna's ancestor's notes.

"I suppose the story could be referring to something like this," Coalt agreed. "And the last ones who had hidden the item must have been Japanese. But something happened to them and the information about the box's location was lost."

"What we don't know is how the box was hidden and what is necessary to reach it," Kairi pointed out. "If you don't want ordinary people to accidentally find it, you would hide it in a way that only someone possessing a magical ring could reach. For example, a different dimension that requires God's powers to cross." The demon cat jumped back to the trail and lighted their path by casting two blue-flame orbs.

"So, because our rings reacted before, could that mean we are on the correct path now? Is the box hidden somewhere in this forest?" asked Ayame, relieved to set her foot on firm ground. She understood what Kairi was talking about, but the girl was skeptical.

Kairi shrugged. "The rings are attracted to the box and it may have influenced you and your families to move to Tokyo. They might be used as keys to reach the box, not necessarily distinguishing between the people who hold them. Why else would the insane trio hunting us have a collection of rings? It is an attempt to track down the box's location and have the best chance to reach it."

"But what if this is another trick by Kira?" Coalt was having a hard time believing that they finally found the hidden passage – luck was never on their side, after all. "Karina was a fan of illusions, wasn't she? Let's stay alert, and stay toge–"

Before he could finish, the nekomata sprinted ahead of them, taking the blue flames with her. She was following the trail into the forest, where a clearing was visible at the end of it. "Come on!"

"Wait! Don't leave us behind!" Ayame and Coalt ran after the cat.

Dense trees covered the short route in the middle of the forest, making the way seem like a tunnel, and Kairi's blue flames were their only guidance. There was no moon or stars in the sky, but somehow, the clearing in front of them was bathed with a bluish, soft light.

Standing alone in the clearing were five human-sized statues. Positioned in a circle were a red bird that looked like a phoenix; a big black turtle with a snake wrapped around it; a white tiger with long canines and small horns; and a blue, serpentine dragon. In the center of all the four creatures was a second golden dragon. It was so large that only its head was emerging from the ground, and it was still taller than all the others. Coalt and Ayame were amazed by this monument in the middle of nowhere – a nowhere from another dimension could indeed be a good place to hide something so important, and their hesitation was slowly changing to hope.

"I think I have seen those before." Coalt thought the animals looked familiar, but he wasn't sure how he knew them.

"Those are the four holy beasts," Kairi explained. "They are connected with the constellations; each one represents a direction, an element, and even a season. The azure dragon of the East is Seiryu, the vermilion bird of the South is Suzaku, the white tiger of the East is Byakko, and the black turtle of the North is Genbu. "The holy beasts are present in many countries." Kairi moved closer, and her blue flames danced off the statues. "There are slight differences between one country and the next, but they are mostly the same. The Chinese beasts have human names, for example. In others, Byakko is a qilin, not a tiger. Sometimes the turtle is shown as a warrior."