Enter The Light
Part Four: Something Evil This Way Comes
Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Characters are not mine, which includes all people, digimon, etc. Plot is, although some parts borrow from the original series. Please, don't steal, don?t sue. Read on, Enjoy!
Hitoshi had found an inn that was open and serving food, and returned with enough to feed them all - including Wizarmon. It served as payment for the transportation, as he had requested. As they sat in the back of his tired-looking but reliable cart, Wizarmon explained his unorthodox request."In the past, whenever I'd managed to find work, I always spent the money on food. I need little else to get by. So I have decided that it's best to just have people give me food. More can afford my services that way."
"What types of services?" Hawkmon wanted to know.
"Anything that's asked for," the magical digimon replied. "Sometimes it's entertainment, sometimes it's assistance of some sort, sometimes, like yourselves, it's transportation that's required."
"Entertainment?" Hitoshi echoed.
Wizarmon nodded. "Magical tricks are rather entertaining to most people, and easily worth the price of a meager meal. Light shows, small levitations, making something disappear. Hardly taxing, and always fascinating to those who have seen very little magic." He finished the roll he'd been devouring. "This meal was delicious. Best I've had in weeks. Shall we go?"
The journey was slow going through the mud, even on the well-traveled road, and they had made very little progress by the time the sun went down. Wizarmon didn't mind driving through the night, but Hitoshi was reluctant, and Miyako was in no hurry to arrive. After a bit of debate, it was decided that it would be best to stop for the night.
Only an hour's journey - which would have been a half hour's journey if the mud were not there - from the village they had just left and still far from another, there was no other option but to camp.
Wizarmon halted them quite near to the road, in the driest part of the field. While he tended to the Monochromon, Hitoshi went off to gather some wood for a fire, leaving Miyako to wait. She sat in the back of the wagon, legs dangling over the edge.
The weather had warmed significantly in the late afternoon, but now that the sun had gone down, the chill was returning to the air. Miyako shoved her hands in her mittens and waited for Hitoshi to return so she could warm by the fire.
"I think I have some tea stored away somewhere in there," Wizarmon called to her. "And perhaps a teapot as well. It might be nice on a cold night like this."
"I think it would," Miyako agreed. "Should I search for it?"
A short while later, she'd retrieved both the teapot and the tea from within one of the chests that crowded the wagon. Wizarmon had many possessions, all of which were apparently contained within this wagon. Sacks and chests filled with trinkets, knick-knacks, books, and occasionally something of use littered the walls, managing to give it a homely feel.
Hitoshi returned with an arm load of firewood, and Wizarmon lit a fire with the ease of one who has become accustomed to occasionally using magic to navigate everyday situations. The carriage driver applauded at the spectacle, but Miyako only stared into the flames, lost in a memory of a completely different time and place, unaware that her silence had attracted attention.
As much of the snow was melted, it would be necessary to seek out water. Hitoshi took the teapot and headed into the forest nearby. In the deeper reaches, he explained, the sun had not reached the floor and the snow was more plentiful there. Cheerfully, whistling slightly, he trudged off into the trees.
Wizarmon had noticed Miyako's silence since he'd started the fire. She hadn't responded to Hitoshi's words with any more than a nod, and she hadn't drawn her eyes away from the flames. Curiously, the digimon sat on a rock beside the cart, a dry spot. "Something about the fire bothers you?" he questioned.
"No," Miyako answered, shaking her head. "It's just - it looks strange to me."
"Looks strange?" Wizarmon echoed, intrigued. "How so?" He turned his gaze toward the dancing flames, but they looked ordinary enough.
She pulled her eyes from the fire. "It's - difficult to explain," she answered. "The way you make fire is different, I think."
Wizarmon tilted his head to one side, amused slightly. Although his mouth wasn?t visible, Miyako was certain he was smiling. Certainly his eyes looked it. "That's an interesting way of describing it, I'd say. No one's ever said such a thing before. Usually, I hear gasps of amazement, astonishment. Nothing such as that."
Miyako shrugged slightly, uncertain of how quite to respond. Wizarmon fell silent for a few moments, then nodded.
"I see," he said then. "It doesn't astonish you, does it?" When she made to speak, he held up a hand. "No, let me guess. Does the lady know well someone with magic? Ah, but no, that would be a bad explanation for one who could tell me something about my own technique. What could you tell me?" He narrowed his eyes, questioning, interested.
Miyako shook her head, shrugging again. "Not much, really," she answered. "My knowledge is limited enough that I lack the words to describe what I see very well. Shall I tell you what I sense about you?"
"Ah, ah," Wizarmon said, nodding to himself. "Possessing of magic yourself. I ought to have guessed, yet I didn't. My guard was down. It's not often see spell-casters masquerading as young ladies. You have surprised me, then, and that doesn't happen often. But, yes, tell me what you sense. Or what you see? Can it be that you do possess the sight as well?"
"Yes, I do," she responded, nodding. "I am new to the use of magic, though. I am not sure that I could tell you much that you have not already heard."
"You could tell me quite a bit, milady," he answered. "I have spent many a year wandering through villages and meeting people who knew nothing of magic, and it's been many more years since I met one who had the sight. Please, tell me what you see and surprise me yet again."
"Digimon auras are different from human auras," Miyako stated. "I never saw a magical digimon until today. People - even those with magic - have pale auras, and so do their partners. Yours, however, is intense, more than any I have ever seen. And your magic seems to be of a completely different type than mine." She shook her head as though to clear it. "I wish Koushiro were here, he'd help me understand."
In the dim light of the campfire, Daisuke squinted at the blurred ink on the page, trying to make out the words. He felt tired, hungry, and bored, but he had promised to work at reading the book and so he read while Hikari and Yamato prepared a meal and discussed the next da'?s plans.
Somewhere within the book were prophecies, that much he was certain of, but the page he read that night was filled with spells. The words blurred before his gaze, and the mere thought of reading made him feel exhausted. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.
"The spell of enslavement thus binds the subject (afterward known as the slave) to the spell-caster. This spell can only be broken by one who possesses magic, and a slave can only be maintained by a Master who possesses the necessary magical abilities. To create such a binding...."
"Hey!" Yamato called, interrupting before he could begin to read the details of
the spell. It was time to eat.
With the morning came a new set of clouds that Hikari was certain would worry her brother greatly. She had never seen such dark clouds coming from the North. Though the sun rose, it barely seemed to be day, and the sky was darkened. A cold wind had blown during the long night, and changed all the melted snow into ice. Thus, the roads were even more dangerous than before.
"I don't like the looks of this," Yamato stated flatly when they'd packed up to begin moving not long after they'd awakened. "Something's coming, I'm certain of it."
Gabumon sniffed the air cautiously. Though his nose was not as powerful as Agumon's, it was stronger than any human's. He frowned. "I smell Bakemon."
"Bakemon?" Yamato echoed. "I don't like the sound of that. Bakemon bring evil, don't they?"
"They certainly don't bring roses and sunshine, if that's what they are," Tailmon answered. She was on edge, her big blue eyes watching the horizon, the skies, everything, for signs of movement. Her ears stood on edge. She was poised for battle.
"I wish Miyako were here," Hikari said, sighing. "This feels wrong, and I wouldn't be surprised if magic had something to do with it."
The small green caterpillar digimon sat on a dark tower, now fallen, toppled like a tree. He was waiting, quietly and patiently, for his partner to return.
There was a thin layer of snow, even here, in the early morning. The sun was peeking through distant clouds, glinting against the snow. The forest was silent but for a distant dripping - the sound of melting snow falling from the tree branches.
A figure, clad in a warm, dark-colored cloak and hood, emerged from the forest behind the fallen tower. His expression was grim; his arms were empty.
"Nothing?" asked the small green digimon.
His partner shook his head. "No," he answered solemnly. "It's been too cold."
There was a long silence. The human sat beside his partner, and for some time, neither spoke. The sun rose a bit higher, but the brightness did not increase.
"The clouds look ominous," the human half of the partnership noted, leaning backwards. "There is darkness in the air."
"Maybe we ought to leave," suggested the caterpillar, a tinge of hopefulness in his voice. They'd spent far too long in the forest.
His partner stood. "That might be best," he answered, but his eyes were focused on a spot not far from where he stood.
The hazy sunlight reflected brightly off the snow, but in one spot, the reflection seemed different. Curious, - another feeling unfelt before then - he moved closer to the spot.
The snow covered it, so he pushed that aside gently, exposing the small object to the air and his sight. Cautiously, as though afraid it might break, he lifted it, shaking off the rest of the snow. It was a small, wide, golden colored ring with various markings along the side.
Although he couldn't explain why, he felt a strange physical sensation, holding it in his hands. Not an unpleasant sensation, merely odd. He turned to the caterpillar. "Do you know what this is?"
His diminutive partner squinted through the sunlight. "I think I may have an idea, yes," he answered. "We should take it home."
"Home?" the other echoed, and lapsed into silence. He turned the object in his hands, examining it. After a long moment, he slipped it within his cloak and nodded. "Yes," he said then. "Home." He stepped back to the wreckage of the dark tower and lifted his partner in his arms. "We shall return when the snow is gone," he stated, nodding to himself. "There is still much to be done here."
Then, they were gone, and the forest was silent once more.
"Herein begins the formulae for the spells of discomfort. Varying levels of discomfort can be obtained for the object of the spell, and in various parts of the body of the subject. Intensities range from mildly ticklish to excruciatingly painful. Beware, for use of those of stronger intensity may sometimes cause unintended death.
"In general, spells of discomfort and pain can be used for both human and digimon. The level of intensity each creature needs to feel discomfort vary - obviously, higher-level digimon can tolerate much more abuse than a lower-level digimon, and usually more than the average human. An intensity which causes a baby-level digimon to almost delete will not produce more than a tickle in higher, adult-level digimon, though it may cause some pain in a human, depending, of course on the human.
"The general formulae for pain-causing follows:"
The wagon jolted abruptly to a halt, causing Daisuke to lose his place in the book and causing Yamato to shout out loud in frustration. Daisuke set the book aside and crawled to the front of the wagon in time to see Yamato leap down.
"What's happened?" he questioned.
Yamato was shouting a string of gibberish, obviously frustrated for some reason or another. The Monochromon had stopped moving, but it wasn't obvious why.
"I don't know," Hikari answered. "The Monochromon don't want to go on. They've been going slower and slower, and now they've stopped." She turned in her seat and climbed down from the wagon seat. She walked through the mud and ice mixture to the pair of Monochromon that pulled the wagon and placed her hand on the head of the one closest to her.
"Do you think they might be afraid of - of whatever's here?" Daisuke wondered.
"That's a possibility," Tailmon answered. She was still standing at alert, prepared if an attack occurred at any moment. "We should all be afraid of something."
"The smell of Bakemon in the air makes most digimon nervous," Gabumon agreed, shaking his head. "It can only mean that something bad is coming."
"Should we be out here, then?" V-mon asked. "With evil around?"
Daisuke nodded. "Miyako is out here somewhere, remember?" he reminded his partner. "We're hardly going to abandon her and go slinking back to the palace simply because it got dark out and there are Bakemon around."
Tailmon's eyes narrowed at him. "Have you seen a Bakemon, ever?" she asked.
"Once," he admitted.
"Then you must know that they're nothing to be scoffed at. Don't underestimate the ghost digimon. They're powerful, and they almost never work on their own. They're always led by something more powerful."
Hikari shivered slightly. "I wonder what's leading these Bakemon," she wondered.
By noon - although it was hard to tell the time with cloud cover such as this - they weren't far from Ichijouji Manor, but the trip threatened to be a long one. The single Monochromon was slow moving, uneager to continue at all. Wizarmon himself was nervous, Hawkmon ever watchful, and Hitoshi's Plotmon partner hid beneath some blankets and whimpered.
"There is something dark about," Wizarmon attempted to explain. "It's not safe to be about." He looked upward at the clouds and shivered.
Miyako agreed with this pronouncement. There was darkness in the air, tinting the edges of her vision and making everything appear foggy and distorted. For only the second time, she found herself mentally cursing the gift of magical sight.
"Do you hear something?" Hitoshi questioned, and scarcely had the words escaped his lips when the trees parted and Miyako caught sight of several ghostly figures she couldn't immediately recognize.
"Bakemon!" Wizarmon gasped. "Oh, it's not safe here at all."
There were two of the ghostly digimon. Hitoshi took shelter within the wagon, but despite his urges, Miyako climbed down out of the cart. Between the Bakemon appeared a small, somewhat familiar, black feline digimon.
Wizarmon stepped forward. "What do you want of us, Black Tailmon?" he questioned. "We have nothing here for you."
"Oh, but you do," purred the feline. "You have a Chosen, and she may be the one Master searches for." Her gaze turned toward Miyako. "I seek the one with the Power of Light." She stretched out a paw and, within it, Miyako could dimly make out a small object - a crest within a tag with the symbol of Hikari carved within its pink surface.
"Chosen?" Wizarmon asked, barely concealing his surprise.
"I'm not the one you want, but you won't live long enough to find what you seek," Miyako answered, eyes narrowed. She was already reaching for a familiar object within her pocket.
"Bold words," Black Tailmon murmured. "We shall see." She turned, her purple-tufted tail waving behind her, and disappeared into the darker parts of the forest.
The Bakemon moved forward to attack.
"Hawkmon!" Miyako called, raising her digivice. "Let's go! Digimental up!"
"Hawkmon armor evolve! Shurimon!"
Hitoshi and his frightened partner were stunned, both by the appearance of the ghosts and Shurimon. Miyako waved them toward the wagon. "Stay in the wagon," she ordered, and they hastened to do so quickly. When she turned toward Wizarmon however, she was surprised to see him remove a staff from some unknown place within his cape.
"You can order me to safety if you wish, milady, but I shan't obey. Magic Game!" The tip of his staff shined with light, and a massive ball of energy slammed into the nearest Bakemon, deleting it instantly.
Hikari walked in front of the Monochromon, gently patting each one and trying to coax them both forward. It was an excruciatingly slow pace that infuriated Yamato, who was debating whether to abandon the Monochromon and the cart and continue on foot.
With the scent of Bakemon still in the air, Daisuke had been forced to temporarily abandon his study of the book and watch for danger. He walked beside the cart, eyes and ears alert for any sound or sight that might signal a Bakemon attack. Strangely enough, he felt an urge to return to his reading, however.
"I see something!" V-mon called from where he was perched beside Yamato at the front of the cart. He pointed one arm to a spot not far from the road. "See? Behind that tree? It looks like it might be a carriage, doesn't it?"
Yamato halted the Monochromon - not a difficult task since they'd scarcely been moving - and climbed down from the cart, heading in the direction V-mon had pointed. Gabumon followed closely. Hikari waited on the path, patting the Monochromon, trying to reassure herself as much as them. Daisuke waited, eyes on the trees.
"It's a carriage all right," Yamato confirmed when he emerged a few moments later. "It might have been Miyako's, might not have. I can't tell just by looking at it. We'll have to go through it, see if anything was left behind. There's no one in it - seems to have been abandoned."
They left the Monochromon on the road and ventured through the surrounding trees and bushes. The vehicle appeared mostly unharmed, although the Monochromon that must have once pulled it were gone. A few small dents were in the side, much like most carriages that spent time on the road.
"If it came from the palace, it will have a mark inside to identify it," she recalled then. "Inside the door, the seal of Yagami."
Yamato hesitated a split second before he flung open the carriage door, revealing the emptied interior. A few blankets had been left on the seats, and a single lantern, long since burnt out, sat on the floor. Aside from that, the interior was vacant.
The snow at the base of the carriage had been cleared away, and then melted, significantly. In the mud below, Daisuke thought he could make out a few footprints. He began to search the area for more.
The inside of the door did indeed have the seal of Yagami embossed into its fine wood, but this proved only that the carriage had originally come from the palace. It might not have been the one that Miyako had traveled in. Hikari and Tailmon searched the inside of the carriage, seeking some sort of evidence left behind that might tell of the travelers.
Gabumon sniffed the air and the ground around the carriage, seeking a scent of some sort. He walked around the carriage several times, nose in the air. Yamato examined the outside frame to see if it had suffered any serious damage - burn marks or bad dents that might indicate it had been involved in or witness to a battle.
Hikari climbed out of the carriage, shaking her head. "They didn't leave anything behind," she reported. "No evidence at all."
Yamato emerged from the opposite side, a frown on his face. "This is an old carriage," he said, patting the frame with one hand. A hollow thump sounded. "It's traveled many journeys, but nothing extraordinary, and no recent accidents that I can tell." He turned to Gabumon, who'd given up sniffing for the moment to listen. "Any luck?"
Gabumon shook his head. "There's the scent of a recently deleted Monochromon, but I can't tell if it deleted because it was attacked and badly injured or if it simply froze to death." He sighed. "I smell humans, too, and another digimon, a small one. The scent is faint, though. I'll try inside." He entered the carriage to sniff the interior.
"If it was Miyako, Gabumon will know her scent," Yamato said reassuringly.
Hikari nodded and looked up at the sky as she thought. "There doesn't seem to be signs of a battle here," she noted optimistically. "No serious damage to the carriage, no blood, no felled trees. If this was Miyako's carriage, then she and the driver must have either survived the storm and walked to safety or are nearby."
"I can't think of why they'd stay nearby," Yamato replied, frowning in thought. "How far is it to the nearest village, do you know?" When Hikari shook her head, he thought to ask Daisuke, but he was nowhere to be seen. He was about to call out for him when Gabumon emerged from the carriage, a grin on his face.
"Definitely Miyako's," he reported triumphantly. "She was here, and in this very carriage."
"The question is - where did she go after that?" Hikari finished.
"And where did Daisuke go to?" Yamato asked, looking at the empty clearing.
Some definite foreshadowing in this one, so I hope you kept your eyes open. Stay tuned.