Inside, Arthur deduced from the cinnabar within that the area was, in reality, an ancient, dormant volcano, but it didn't matter because they were destroying the temple. Lourdes and Arthur were chased by the two leopard spirits and they escaped into the temple.
Suddenly, the earthquakes became the footsteps and roars of the guardian spirits of the temple, two large, growling snow leopards, like the ones in the Ashkiri myth, and crackling with mystical energy. Arthur had known about the way to open the temple from his prior knowledge, and that it required two people to open, so he had Lourdes help him open the temple while acting as if it was a lucky guess. They located the temple's entrance before the League, causing a small earthquake to split the ground in several locations nearby, including Ra's al Ghul's camp, inadvertently delaying the assassins from catching up with them at the temple. The following morning, Lourdes and Arthur left the truck with Ibadan, who insisted on staying behind as his wound would only slow them down. Without any way to contact the Hidden Headquarters for backup, they decided to go to the temple and attempt to reach it before the League, since they have inevitably been informed of the temple's location by Darius and they plan on taking advantage of what is within the temple, with the injured Ibadan hiding his realization of Arthur's true motives. The three of them realised that the disappeared Darius was a traitor, a double agent for the League of Assassins and he caused the explosion. Arthur helped fix it, telling Ibadan that even though pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. After she came to, the two of them found Ibadan, who had a twisted leg. Arthur was injured but he went straight to check on Lourdes, who had also survived but had been knocked out. However, they were interrupted by a sudden explosion that destroyed most of the Hidden camp. Hunting humans killed the latter one, he explained, so darkness began to overtake the light around the world, however, the corpse of the leopard goddess gave birth to a new light goddess to balance the dark and light, and the world was fixed.įrom Arthur's reaction to this, Ibadan realized he already knew about it, was lying, his membership of the Hidden was a ruse to rob the treasures of the temple, and that therefore Arthur must have a personal airplane somewhere nearby to escape at a moment's notice with what he would steal from the temple. Ibadan showed Arthur an Ashkiri bestiary, since they worshipped animals, and he explained their belief that everything began with two snow leopard twins, the god of darkness and the goddess of light. However, Arthur stayed with Ibadan to ask him about what he knew of the temple and its contents, acting as if he had never heard of the Ashkiri before he joined the Hidden.
With Ibadan and Darius agreeing with Arthur, the decision to continue was made and Darius and Lourdes were dismissed. When Lourdes expressed hesitation in continuing the mission as it might lead the League to the location of the temple, Arthur insisted on proceeding with their plan, pretending to care to keep the temple's secrets from the warring tribes and the League while really just seeking the treasures of the temple for himself. Arthur was the one who informed Ibadan of the League tracing them and the location of the temple.
From this and their knowledge of the Ashkiri beliefs, they deduced where the temple was located, and they returned to the Hidden base camp at the edge of the mountains to inform Ibadan of this discovery. They had no luck until, just as the sun was setting, Arthur climbed up higher in the mountains and realized that the topography below him was the marker they were looking for. The following day, the trio set out to search for the stone marker. Soon, the storm passed and the League horsemen charged towards Darius and Arthur, but Lourdes had been earlier sent by Ibadan to help them and she arrived just in time to take down the assassins.
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