Disclaimer: I don't own the DCMK characters.

Moon Over Eventide

21: City of Ancients

Where was she?

Kazuha blinked slowly. She felt like she was adrift on a hazy sea. She couldn't feel her body, and even her thoughts were shapeless and distant.

"Follow the light."

The words echoed in her head. They alone were clear and crisp. But what were they talking about?

As soon as the question crossed her mind, she could see.

No, wait. She had been looking at it all along, but the sight had not registered until those words had drawn her attention to it.

She was surrounded by light. It was a rich, deep, honey-colored light that pulsed slow and even. That liquid light flowed past her, twisting through the darkness and off into the distance: a river of pure, liquid radiance.

The sight of it took her breath away. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She felt like she could fall into it at any moment, and it would sweep her away into a realm of soft sunsets and endless, starry galaxies that would never, ever end.

"Do you see the light?"

"Yes," she breathed, that one word so saturated with wonder that it slid over her tongue like silk and honey.

"Good," the voice said again. And its approval made her feel pleased, like she had accomplished something. "Follow it."

And she did. She wasn't sure how. Was she walking? Flying? Swimming? Whatever the case, she was there in the light, experiencing its power and its warmth, and, really, she couldn't do anything but follow it.

What lay at the heart of its breathtaking pulse, she didn't know. All she knew was that it was calling out to her. She had to answer.

X

Neither Shinichi nor Kaito could say for sure how far down they had traveled or how long it had been since they had set out. The root system of the Millennial Tree didn't offer much in the way of landmarks. The fact that the roots twisted and turned, rising and falling and doubling back on themselves constantly, only added to the confusion.

They had gone so far down by now that Shinichi wouldn't have been surprised if they were below sea level. Not that there was any way to check. They were just beginning to wonder if they had made a mistake in choosing to walk this way when they saw light up ahead.

Their steps slowed to a more cautious pace.

The light was coming from an arched opening in the root's living wall. It was a soft, yellow green glow like sunlight shining through a forest canopy.

"It can't be morning already," Shinichi said with a frown.

"Maybe we've gone all the way through to the other side of the planet," Kaito suggested with a grin.

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "You can't honestly believe that."

"Hey, you never know. This is a magical tree after all." Despite his blithe manner, Kaito insisted that he be the first to step outside, a fireball cradled in one hand in case of danger.

"Whoa, Shin-chan, you've got to see this."

Taking the exclamation as an all clear, Shinichi stepped outside.

His breath caught in his throat.

They were standing on the outskirts of a sprawling city. Ornate buildings stood silent and empty along deserted streets, their dark windows like hollow eyes gazing yearningly into the past. Though a surprising number of buildings were intact, just as many had become entangled with the roots of the Millennial Tree. Manmade structures and living wood had twisted themselves together, shifting and evolving until they had become one. And above it all, a high, arching dome of what appeared to be a luminous moss filled the streets with false sunlight.

There was something hauntingly beautiful about the place, ruined though it was, Shinichi thought. The invading roots had preserved the place, wrapping it up in the tree's protective embrace and tucking it away here far from prying eyes.

"This architecture," Kaito murmured, indigo eyes drinking in the panorama before them. "It's definitely from the early empire. But I've never even heard of a piece of the ruins being found inside the tree."

"It looks like the tree just grew over it somehow," said Shinichi. It sounded impossible, but the proof lay right there before their eyes.

"Man, even if we don't find the Source, this is an incredible discovery."

They spent another moment just gazing in wonder upon the empty city before Shinichi remembered that they had a job to do. "We should hurry."

"One moment." Kaito snapped his fingers. In a flash, his outfit changed, transforming into a white suit from the human world complete with a billowing cape.

Shinichi arched an eyebrow at the rather dramatic ensemble. It was a ridiculously bright white for wearing into 'battle', and it definitely wasn't going to have anything to do with stealth. But it was also so very Kaito that he had to smile.

"What's with the cape?" he asked.

"Capes are cool," the magician declared, looking rather proud of himself. "And besides, this is the land of our great, great ancestors. We should show them some respect by dressing for the part."

"And what part would that be?"

"The heroes here to rescue the fair maiden from her kidnappers and save the world, of course," Kaito quipped. "Would you like a cape? I can conjure one for you."

"…No thanks."

"You're missing out~."

Ignoring Kaito's antics, Shinichi made a beeline for the largest building in the ruins.

The closer they got to the building, the more obvious it became that it was a grand palace. Even Kaito had to pause and marvel at its majesty.

"People always did say that the palace in the ruins of the capital weren't as luxurious as you'd expect from a mighty empire," he mused. "I guess this means they had another palace all along. A much grander one here in this city. Can you imagine the kinds of treasure we might find in there?"

"We're not going inside. We're going around."

Bemused but having faith in his detective's blossoming senses, Kaito followed Shinichi around to the back of the palace where the remnants of the gardens lay.

It was an odd garden. It had been built in levels. The garden on the ground level sported a long dead lawn. At the far edge of it, a staircase fell away into a second garden then a third and on down. Each descending level became larger and more complex until they reached the floor of the seventh level, which was not a garden but a sprawling ballroom.

Kaito raised a hand. A ball of white light popped up above his palm. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the magical light high into the air where it hung like a miniature sun.

The walls were covered in dragons. Their golden scales and gemstone eyes gleamed in an eerie facsimile of life. The tiles on the ballroom floor formed a lovely mosaic depicting a peony blossom. Its luscious petals spiraled out from the center of the dance floor in a whirl of deep maroons and pale, pastel pinks.

"It looks like a dead end," Kaito said. His words echoed in the vast emptiness of the ballroom. "Maybe we took a wrong turn somewhere?"

The detective frowned. "Maybe… But the power we've been following is definitely directly below us."

"So either there's another way down or we have to start digging."

"There might be a hidden door somewhere," Shinichi suggested. "It's really close. I can feel it."

Kaito hummed in thought as he walked across the dance floor.

The architecture here was truly stunning. And the colors! The dry atmosphere and complete lack of sunlight had preserved every vivid shade. Talk about an amazing archeological find.

"Kai!"

Drawn from his admittedly distracted thoughts, Kaito found Shinichi standing at the very edge of the ballroom. He jogged over to join the detective.

"Did you find something?"

"Look." Turning, Shinichi pointed to the center of the floor. "The way it's shaded is strange."

Puzzled, Kaito looked. "Well, now that you mention it, the image does come across as a bit squashed in. A peony should poof out, but this one caves in like a bowl."

"Or a stairwell," Shinichi murmured, eyes widening.

Kaito considered the mosaic of petals for a minute longer then shrugged. "I guess I can see it. But we've been walking all over it. I'm pretty sure it's a flat floor. And there aren't any seams or locking spells."

Shinichi couldn't really argue with that. "It still seems like it has to have been intentional. Maybe if we follow it…" He began walking as he talked, circling the ballroom floor. Kaito followed close behind him, senses alert for any signs of danger. It struck the magician as strange that they had yet to catch up to their quarry—provided they really had gone the right way. If they didn't find Kazuha, they couldn't call this venture a true success.

So either the girl and her captors were still ahead of them or they had somehow managed to pass their quarry by and gotten ahead. There was also the possibility that Spider's group was taking a different route or that they had elected to flee with a hostage as protection and not to try and find the Source before they could be caught.

Turning his attention back to Shinichi, he let out an uncharacteristic cry of shock.

Shinichi halted in his tracks and looked up. "What's wrong? Did you find something?"

"You…could say that." The corners of the magician's lips curled upward. "Shin-chan, look down."

Confused, Shinichi looked down. He would deny for the rest of his life that he screamed, but he would admit that he leapt up. With the sudden motion, his legs slid out of the floor and his shoes were now resting on the mosaic tiles once again.

"How did—?!" he started, heart racing as he stared at the ground he had literally been walking down through.

"It's a special spatial spell," Kaito explained. His indigo eyes were bright with fascinated excitement. "If you walk on it normally, it's just a ballroom floor. But if you walk on it like you're walking down stairs, it's different."

"You mean like this?" More purposefully this time, Shinichi stepped onto one large, pale petal. Then he stepped onto the next, slightly darker petal. One by one, he descended the stairs, his gaze focused only on each petal step. It was growing progressively easier to think about then as steps and not art.

With an abruptness that was almost a physical shock, Shinichi realized that he really was walking down a flight of steps. They were wide, stone steps, to be exact, each curved oddly to emulate the essence if not the exact shape of peony petals. When he looked up, he saw a spiraling staircase leading back up to a clear ceiling etched with tile patterns.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Kaito piped up from right behind him, making Shinichi jump. The detective could only nod. It felt like they were standing at the bottom of a well and looking up through the water at the world beyond.

"This space…" Shinichi murmured. "It's…not the same."

"It feels like another dimension, almost," Kaito said, brows knitting in thought. "But at the same time, it's not. It feels like we've been shifted a step sideways."

"What does that mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything really. It just is. Though it does mean that this place, wherever it is, might not actually be under that ballroom floor. We might be somewhere else entirely."

"Oh," Shinichi murmured, distracted. Walking in this space felt like walking through liquid air. It was dense, almost suffocating, and yet not. He could breathe just fine, but all sounds were muted and the sense of touch numbed. Maybe they weren't all of them here, he thought absently. Perhaps this space or dimension or whatever allowed only parts of you to pass into its odd domain.

Here, age was something you could feel in the air. He felt like he was walking through time, feeling it thicken all around him, dragging him back even as it pulled him forward. The light too. There was a soft, pure radiance in the darkness. It glittered there on the very edges of his senses, teasing at his thoughts. It was a radiance without a source, and he could sense that it was calling to him.

It was a breath of fresh air in this still and cloying darkness.

"Shin-chan," Kaito breathed as he placed a hand on Shinichi's shoulder. "Look."

The comment was unnecessary for the two of them stood there, gazing in wonder at a vision right out of the past thousands of years ago.

They had found a temple. That was the only way they could describe the place.

The stairs they had just descended spiraled down all the way to the floor of the massive cathedral. Here, elaborate pillars rose high to a ceiling painted with the most beautiful and intricate paintings either Kaito or Shinichi had ever seen. It felt like they were standing in the heart of an ancient and powerful place—a place that demanded kings and respect and power. It was the kind of place where you spoke with low voices and hushed whispers, wondering why you, so small and insignificant as you were, had been allowed to tread through these haloed halls.

There were twelve pillars in all. Each pillar set equidistance apart from one another so that they formed a loose ring around the chamber. The curving walls behind them was a single sweep of paintings and carvings.

"It's a story," Shinichi breathed.

TBC