Chapter Eleven

Tygra gains her powers and retrieves her weapon.� She finds an interesting trick with her new powers...

    Out in the distance, Tygra could see a vast temple of roman architecture once she entered through her door. There was a central dome surrounded by four smaller domes, each with a connecting corridor to the central dome.

    Her eyes then fell onto the walls behind the temple of her surroundings. She turned, gazing all around the area. Each wall had water rushing down, splashing into the water that surrounded the outskirts of the ground she and the temple were standing upon. This is when she found that what she was standing on what resembled an island, with nothing but water as far as the eye could see.

    She turned behind her towards the direction in which she had come, only to find the door in which she had entered from, had now vanished beneath a blanket of rushing water. Shaking her head in quiet disbelief, she turned back toward the limestone temple in the distance and shrugged. "I guess I can only go forward for now."

    As she walked towards her destination, she came upon a pathway leading in the same direction of the temple. Either sides of the pathway were lined with pillars only tall enough to reach up to her waist. Each pillar had a figure of a metallic bowl on top with water overflowing from its edges onto the ground below.

    "This is a little eerie." She commented as she continued down the path.

Before long, she was at the temple's entrance; a sturdy iron gate was blocking her way. "Is this where I should go?" She questioned as she looked around once more before turning back to the gate.

    She reached out and touched the gates icy bars. Slowly, the gate moved from her finger tips as it came open before her. She took a step back, peering into the dimly lit temple. In the center of the room was a large pillar, much like the smaller ones lining the pathway leading to the temple. Water poured from its bowl, just as the others had, and gathered within a surrounding pond.

    There seemed to be no one around. "Hello?" She called as she studied the room once again. After a moment, she walked through the gate. "Hello?"

    The gate slammed shut behind her, causing her to jump. But as she turned back to see who had closed the gate, she found she was still alone. She sighed taking one last lingering look at the gate before turning back towards the pond. "This place is freaking creepy. Huh?" She walked cautiously around the pillar as something had caught her eye. "A door?" She went over to the door, turning the glass knob slowly to the right and felt it click open.

    Tygra took one last look around the room. There were other doors on either sides, but she felt that there was no need to check them. She looked back to the door with the glass knob. Yes, this was definitely where she had to go. Though there was no reason for her to believe this was the right way, she couldn't help but follow this luring feeling which seemed to come just from beyond that door. She pulled back on the handle, opening the door with ease. Behind the door was a set of stairs, dimly lit by torches lining the walls.

    She took her first step cautiously then hurried down the stairway. Once she reached the last few steps she could see a long hallway with a single door at the end. "This has to be where I got to go."

    She soon reached the end of the corridor and stood in front of the door placing her hand upon its handle and pulled it open. As she walked into the wall, she could hear the sounds of water rushing as it gushed from the ceiling and down the walls; once again Tygra was surrounded by her element's natural form.

    Turning to her left, she could see a lake surrounded by flat, smooth rocks. She walked towards the lake and bent over its aqua blue surface as she studied the water. It was so dark she couldn't even see the bottom of the lake.

    "Finally you are here. I have been waiting for you."

Startled, Tygra quickly spun around, but due to the slick surface, she slipped and fell backward into the lake. She gasped, taking in a lung full of air before being able to cover her mouth. I can't breath!    The longer she remained in the water; however, she realized something was strange. That lung full of water she had taken had no effect on her whatsoever. Tygra floated within the cool liquid for a short while before swimming up towards the surface. Once she had emerged from within the depths of the lake, she swam towards one of the flat rocks at the edge of the lake. Pulling herself up she climbed onto it, standing on her hands and knees, facing the wall. 

    "A little clumsy aren't we?"

    "Who are you?" Tygra exclaimed her gaze now set on the ceiling.

    "I don't really have a name but you may call me Ice." The voice answered. "I am the Spirit of Water. I am here to help you gain your true power."

    "True power?" Tygra asked puzzled. "You mean the weapons?"

Ice laughed slightly. "Yes, In order to defeat this evil, you need those weapons, the Weapons of the Guardians."

    Tygra stood to her feet, taking in a deep breath. Her eyes then narrowed. "How is it possible for me to breath under water like that?"

    "Definitely something you didn't expect is it?" Ice cooed. "Now that you are apart of the water element your body has adapted to the hindrance of needing oxygen underwater."

    "How so?"

    "Your skin cells now act as gills, filtering the water and taking in the oxygen and releasing all of the unnecessary components, allowing you to breathe."

    Tygra began to ring her hair free of water. "I guess that makes sense" she could hear the water from her hair splash down onto the floor as she squeezed it tight before pushing it back behind her shoulders. She scratched her neck around the chocker. "Damn this thing gets in the way."

    "But without it, you would not even have those powers."

    She lowered her hand to her side. "How are we able to bring forth our powers with these stones?"

    "Long ago, a woman had come to us, the Spirit of the Elements, and asked for our help against a horrific tyrant." Tygra remained silent; hadn't Katrina said something about this? "We then took as much of our energy as possible and compressed them into the very stones each of you girls wear around your necks."

    "Ok, I think I understand a little better now." Tygra said as she gazed around the room. "Now, where is the weapon I need?"

    "Just beneath your feet."

    Tygra looked to the floor, seeing nothing, then turned back to the lake. "In the water?"

    "That's right." The voice said calmly.

    Tygra sighed as she turned back to the water. Placing her hands on her knees, she bent down, peering into the water again and just as before, nothing could be seen besides the dark aqua of the water. "How will I know where to go? It's too dark in there."

    "Once you dive in, you will be one with the water once again. Everything will become visible to you."

    Tygra let out a long breath again. "If you say so…" she then dived into the lake.

    At first, she kept her eyes closed as she felt herself plummet into the water before she began to slow down and begin to float. Once she remained afloat within the water, no longer moving down or up, she opened her eyes and found that the spirit was right. She could see the structure behind her of the floor. However, that is all she could see. There seemed to be no end to the water around her.

    She began to swim forward. That's all I can do for now. After a moment she saw something in the distance, further down beneath her.

    As she swam closer, she noted that the figure she saw was another building constructed of the same stone as the one she had previously entered. It seemed to loom over her as she swam closer. No way! Another temple was inside this one? She studied the structure in astonishment. On the one side of the building which she believed to be the front, was a set of double doors. Pillars lined the outside walls of the temple. How could something so massive be under this temple? Wouldn't the structure of the one above collapse from the lack of support by the water?   

    She swam down to the door and reached for the handle and stopped. Will this even open? She studied the hinges on the door. they look alright…but will the water pressure let me… she pulled hard on the door and ended up being thrown back with the door as it swung open. Holy crap! That scared the hell out of me! She placed a hand to her chest as she swam to the now opened door and took a look inside. I don't see anything…    She gave herself a mental shake as she swam inside. This temple seemed much like the other from the surface, except where the large pillar was before, there was a large statue of a woman. Her face was blank of emotion as she looked up to the ceiling above. Tygra followed the statues gaze; there was a small hole within the ceiling. She swam towards the hole, seeing that it didn't return back to the outside of the water temple, but led to another path. What I came here for…it's through here. She swam through the hole and down the pathway; still without reason for her to follow nothing but this luring feeling within her. 

    She had reached the end of the pathway as it entered into another room. Beneath her was a stone altar with a large pillow lain atop. As she came closer, she could see yet another object lain on top of the royal blue pillow.

    Once the object came into view, she could see it was a black whip with a dark blue handle the length of her forearm. Along the sleek leather of the whip were silver spikes the size of rose thorns. The water element was etched into the handle, just beneath a two sided-clip, which she believed to hold the whip while allowing her to clip the backside to her belt buckle. 

    Awsome.  Tygra thought approvingly as she remained afloat before her weapon.  She reached out for the weapon, placing a tight grip around the handle before picking it up. 

    At the surface of the water, a whirlpool began to form, causing the water to be pushed to either side of the lake. She slowly rose up as the water beneath her feet pushed her towards the surface. Once high enough, she jumped from the scaling water, down onto the stone floor in front of the door. Behind her, she could hear the rush of water as it moved back in place.

    She looked to the sleek black whip within her hand, paying no mind to the small thorns as they dug into her flesh. Huh? She focused her attention onto the handle; it felt loose within her grip. Curious, she tugged on the handle, pulling it easily off the end of the whip, revealing a hidden dagger. She smiled down at the blade, seeing her reflection clearly within ice cold metal before placing the hilt back over the blade. Twisting it slightly she heard the hilt click in place so that it was no longer loose from the rest of the whip, locking away the hidden blade once again.

    "With this," she began as she raveled the whip up and clipped it to her belt. "I can get Drake back."

    "You really are in love with that boy, aren't you?"

    Tygra felt her face grow hot. She had completely forgotten about the spirit for a second. "I…I-"

    Ice seemed to giggle. "You are not as harsh as you set out to be. Though, that should help you with your Heart of Ice."

    "Heart of Ice?" Tygra questioned offended. "Are you trying to say I have no feelings now?"

    "You will find out what I mean soon enough. For right now, you need to be getting back to your friends."

    "How do I do that?" She asked with a quick look around. "There are no doors and the one I came through vanished once I entered."

    "Simple. All I need you to do is close your eyes."

    Tygra narrowed her brows at the spirits request but did not ask any questions. She did what she was told and after a few seconds, she felt her body become cool as a blue light surrounded her, taking her from the temple's secret room.