Lyra Bella and The Ruby Stone

Through the Temple of the Emperor's Tomb

“Well,”

Lyra said grinning to herself with pride

“This going to be as easy as pie…”

But as she took another step in the Temple’s hallway, the tile sank into the floor and started shaking.

“On second thought… maybe not…”

She began running through the hall as spikes came through the holes in the floor, and arrows started shooting out of the walls. Left, right, jump, duck. Every move Lyra could do to survive the hall from trembling on her.

She looked ahead to see an open doorway.

“Yes! A way out!”

But as she got closer, a stone door started lowering into the doorway.

“Drat!”  She yelled

She couldn’t focus. Other avoiding floor spikes stabbing her feet and arrows going through her head, she sprinted towards the door and slid on her back as the stone door was about to close. She made it under, then grabbed her black bow that fell off her head and zipped her hand out from under the door.

She dusted off her bow and herself, and got up. But then again, the floor started shaking as the Temple started trembling little pebbles. Turns out, she was sitting on the same tile trap as before

 Lyra groaned as she went through the whole arrow and spike dodging once more. After she slid under the second door safely. This time, her bow was on her head, but with arrows in them.

She took the arrows out carefully, and continued on… With a strange feeling coming from the shadows, as if she knew someone was there…

But as Lyra went forward, a female silhouette with fox ears and a tail stepped out of the shadows.

 Oh where are my manners? I didn’t even introduce her yet! She went by the name Rose, Serena ‘Sunset’ Rose. Young Faunus, fighter, thief, and enemy of Lyra…

“Perfect…”

She said twirling her rosy red and sunny yellow hair.

“I’m coming for you, Lyra Bella McBride…”

She followed behind Lyra’s shadow as silently as she can be. And soon she found herself and Lyra in the main room they were looking for.

Serena stepped back into the shadows and watched Lyra from a distance.

Lyra’s yellow eyes glittered as she saw her prized target…

“The Ruby Stone of the Emperor’s Tomb…”

She said with amazement

“It’s even rarer than I thought…”

Serena whispered as her sea foam green eyes sparkled with an evil grin.

But before Lyra could take another step, her senses tingled and she felt something was wrong…

She rolled a stone onto the animal patterned floor, and it set off something in the temple, and flaming arrows zoomed past Lyra and shot onto the opposite wall.

“Phew! That was close!”

“Darn! Now this is going to be harder than I thought…”

Then Serena noticed something strange and climbed up to the ceiling to examine the floor with Lyra.

Lyra got on her knees and looked closely at the animal patterned floor.

“Let’s see…”

She said with a curious face

“What they all have in common are…”

“I don’t see why she’s taking her time!”

Serena scoffed

“The animals printed on the tiles are each a tiger, a puma, a wildcat. They’re all predators! Except for mice… I wonder…”

“A wildcat, a puma, a tiger- They’re all predators… Except… for mice!”

“But of course! Smart, for a traitor…”

Serena stayed put on the ceiling as Lyra took a step on the tile with a mouse pattern. Nothing happened.

Lyra smiled with relief. She saw the next mouse tile about 12 footsteps away. But she knew what she had to do…

BALLERINA JUMPS!

She jumped to tile to tile, all across the room. Soon as she got across the room, Serena swung from the vines at the Temple ceiling, and hung from above as she saw Lyra try to get the gem they both wanted.

Lyra panicked, then she narrowed her eyes, licked her lips, she even started sweating a bit…

After a few minutes, she snapped back into the real world, she just groaned and the Ruby Stone off the post, wrapped it gently with a cloth, and put it in her belt bag.

But before she could put it in her bag, the post the gem was on sank into the ground and set off another trap and the Temple started corrupting.

The columns that held up the ceiling became ruble as the tiled floor became lava and started rising up to where Lyra was.

Quickly, Lyra shove the stone in her bag and started running on the tilted columns that were against the wall. Jumping column to column, ledge to ledge, she avoided the lava that was after her.

While Lyra was running for her life and trying to escape, she found an opening at the top of the Temple. Apparently a few bricks of the old thing fell out when it started shaking. Serena was following right behind Lyra trying to get to the same opening at the top of the Temple. But it seemed quite impossible for that to happen while being unseen by her enemy. So Serena had no choice. But to disappear into the shadows, and reappeared outside the crumbling Temple.

Meanwhile Lyra was about to lose her life, she saw one tile that didn’t sink into the lava… yet.

Lyra did all she could, and flipped backwards landing her hands on the tiles, then she used all her force, and pushed off the tile, getting to the ledge right below the opening of the Temple.

She flung herself through the opening, slid down the side of the Temple, and landed safely outside while the Temple behind her sunk into the ground.