Legend Reborn

Chapter 11: Bear Temple

Things begin to get hectic before we even walk into the next room. Feli starts screaming his head off and running around the circular room in a panic.

"Waaaaaahhhh! There's a big scary bear in here! Help!"

I pull my spear off my pack and extend it to its full length. "Is this another test?" I yell to anyone that's listening.

True to Feli's words, a large bear with dark gold fur comes lumbering after us. I take a defensive stance to prepare for an oncoming attack. The attack never comes though because Ludwig gets between me and the bear.

"Ludwig! Watch out! Are you crazy?" I shout as the bear stops right in front of the younger Beilschmidt.

"It's okay, Elizabeta," Ludwig says calmly. "This is just Germany."

"Germany?" I repeat. "Is he your spirit animal?"

"Yes," Ludwig answers. "There's no need to be frightened."

The large bear stands up on its hind legs, which makes it taller than Ludwig, and holds out a paw. Ludwig presses his palm against the gold bear's clawed limb, and it fades away with a soft glow.

"We were talking while we waited for you to arrive," Ludwig explains. "He must have dozed off while we opened the door and had just woken up." The tall Bear turns to Feli. "I'm surprised you didn't notice him earlier, Feliciano."

"I-I was too busy listening t-to everyone talk. You s-sure have a sc-cary animal, Ludwig," the frightened Wolf stutters out.

"Are you done back there?" Lovino calls from the door. "Some of us would like to get moving!"

"We're coming!" I shout back. I revert my spear back to its shortened form and strap it to my pack.

The three of us catch up to the other three standing in the doorway, and resume walking to the next room. We go through a narrow hall, which opens to a huge room with a high ceiling. It looks more like a cave than a room. Stalactites hang from the dimly lit ceiling, and some fuse together with stalagmites growing from the floor.

The entrance to the cave like room opens to a rocky ledge before dropping off into darkness. It's impossible to gauge how deep the chasm is, and I'm sure no one feels like finding out any time soon. Stone columns rise from the depth of the chasm and create platforms to the ledge on the other side of the gap. The only way across seems to be jumping from column to column.

"Do we jump?" I ask hesitantly. I'm afraid of what the answer will be.

"No," Lovino answers with a flourish of his dark, speckled wings. "We fly, idiot."

I could've slapped myself for being so stupid. Of course flying would be easier, and safer. The rest of us extend our wings to take to the air. With a powerful jump, we all take off for the other side of the cave. This must have been anticipated because as soon as we get off the ground stalactites begin to rain down on us from the cave's ceiling.

"Back to the ledge!" Ludwig yells. We all manage to make it back safely.

"What the heck was that?" Lovino asks. "Who builds a temple with a room like this in it?"

"Who did build the Temples?" I ask curiously.

"I think the legends say the original members of our clans did," Kiku tells me. "That explains why they are filled with mysterious magic."

"Well how are we supposed to get across then? Do we have to jump?" Gilbert asks.

"Looks like it," I say with a sigh. "Unless anyone wants to try flying around sharp rocks."