Enter the Light

Part Seven: The Truth is Somewhere….

Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Characters are not mine! They belong to a bunch of suit-wearing people in Japan, where I have never been. The plot is mine (mostly) and so please don't steal it. Thank you.

It had taken quite some time and effort for Koushiro to persuade Miyako to settle down and to study the books of prophecy that he had in his possession. Since the acquisition of the forgotten books, the wizard's laboratory had become nearly packed with volumes of texts, some of great interest and magic. With some effort and a bit of assistance, he had begun to organize them into different categories. The texts regarding prophecies that he had set aside he now gave to Miyako to study.

She attacked the volumes with a vengeance at first, eager to seek out an explanation of some sort, but prophecies are vague and confusing even to the one who sets them on to the parchment, and her focus wavered and drifted.

It was nearly night, the candles within the lab having grown short during the long, dark day, when a soft tap came at the heavy door. Miyako heard the knock vaguely in the back of her mind, but was disinclined to rise and answer it. It grew louder in the back of her mind, and she pulled her focus away from the prophecy she'd been studying for the past few minutes – hours? Days? She wasn't sure.

"Tell me about Hikari," Taichi was saying to – no, demanding of – Koushiro.

As usual, the wizard was unruffled. He stepped aside as Taichi entered the small chamber and shut the door behind him.

"I haven't much time," Taichi explained. "My mother – she said that you could explain to me…."

Koushiro frowned. "There isn't much to tell, yet," he answered calmly. He turned toward Miyako. "Tell me what you see."

Miyako rubbed her eyes and peered toward the young King in the dim candlelight. She squinted in the low light and tried to make sense of the aura around him. "I see…," she began, and then shook her head. "The aura is the same as always," she reported. "Except for around the head. There is a vague darkness around the eyes."

"Hmm," he answered, nodding, and began to rummage for some bottles. "What do you think that means?"

"I don't know," she answered. "Could it be that the darkness might be affecting him?"

"That's very likely," the wizard replied, still searching through various potions on the shelf above the fireplace. "Have you felt at all odd today, sire?"

"I've had a headache since before I woke up," Taichi answered bluntly. He looked around him for a moment, and then moved aside a few books on the nearest, emptiest chair. For a moment, he hesitated, and then shrugged and sat down hard, sending up a small but significant cloud of dust.

Miyako was still squinting through the dim light. "Yes, that sounds correct. The dark blur is not only on the head, but it seems stronger there. I suppose it isn't strong enough to affect the rest."

"Or it could be that the headache is so strong I can't feel any other pain," Taichi considered. He cautiously, slowly, leaned back in the chair. "I don't understand – what do you mean the darkness is affecting me?"

"There's a great deal of darkness around, even here," Miyako replied. "It's greater out in the woods, where I could hardly see at all, the dark magic was so strong, but there's still some that penetrates the palace. It's natural that it would affect us."

Koushiro emerged from his search within the shelves, holding a small glass beaker filled with a bluish-purple liquid. It bubbled for a moment, and then settled. "Try this. It might help."

Taichi sighed. "I have had six cups of herbal tea and an equal number of potions that Jyou cooked up, so I don't suppose this will hurt either." Nevertheless, he eyed the bubbling potion with some caution before he drank it.

"It'll take a few moments to work, I expect," Koushiro said, taking the beaker back and setting in a cauldron not far from the fire that was filled with other empty beakers.

Taichi was silent a few moments, waiting for the potion to take its effect. "This isn't what I came here for, Koushiro," he said then, his expression solemn.

"We've made little progress," the wizard reported, turning away from the fire. He took a box from another shelf and opened it, revealing a fresh batch of candles. "We haven't been able to determine precisely what the prophecy means, except to say that it's most definitely about Hikari."

He sat up then, noting in some part of his mind that the pressure on his mind was a bit less. "That's not what I meant, Koushiro," he said, before the wizard could continue.

Koushiro didn't answer for a moment, but handed the box of candles to Miyako, nodding at her. "What did you mean then?" he finally questioned.

"My mother said that if I sought answers, I should ask you and you would tell me. She said that there is something about Hikari that is…different, and this difference is what the evil seeks."

The wizard nodded sagely. "What else did she tell you?"

Taichi shook his head. "Only that Hikari possesses…abilities…that ordinary people can't precisely understand. She wouldn't tell me what they are, only that I should ask you. You do know what she's talking about, don't you?"

Miyako lit the candles slowly, setting the wick of each of the shafts into the flame of the dying candle, and then setting it within its own, new candlestick. With each new flame, the room slowly grew brighter, and as it did, so did the young King's understanding of the magic. Koushiro explained as best he could the distinction between the types of magic in much the same way he had explained to Miyako at the start of the winter.

Another evening had come, which meant that another day had passed with barely a glimpse of the sun. Hikari wrapped herself in a warm robe and stood outside, not far from the palace lest danger occur, peering up at the sky in hopes of glimpsing the moon or stars. It was there that Takeru found her, shivering slightly in the cold. The snow had stopped, but the temperature had dropped low in the endless night. He returned to the castle and emerged again with a blanket.

Without bothering to comment on the insanity of freezing oneself in the cold, Takeru draped the blanket over her shoulders and said only: "There are few stars tonight, so what do you seek in the sky?"

"Answers, maybe," Hikari answered, wrapping the blanket tightly around herself. "Takeru – what's happened to Daisuke?"

He sighed quietly, turning his own gaze toward the darkness that was the sky. "I don't know," he said then. "All I know is that he wasn't there when I arrived, and I haven't seen him since."

"Do you think - ," she began.

"I think he's fine," Takeru interrupted before she could finish the sentence. "I think that Daisuke is fine. He'll be here tomorrow; maybe the day after, I'm certain of it."

Hikari shook her head. "I'm not," she answered. "I think something's happened."

Miyako awoke late the next morning after having spent most of the night awake, searching through endless volumes of spells and prophecies. The snow had ceased falling and there was none remaining on the ground. Although the temperature felt warmer, the sun had not emerged from behind the darkest of dark clouds, and it felt like night with out candles lit in her room.

She wrapped herself warmly in a robe and stood by the fire a few moments before venturing to the window to glimpse the grounds below. There were a few carriages rolling slowly through the mud and dirt, carrying people and goods between the village and the palace. The carriages were all of a similar design, carrying the seal of Yagami to indicate their point of origin. The carts containing goods were of various constructions, some covered and some uncovered, some loaded down with piles of goods, some waiting to be loaded.

Around all of the carts were people – workers mostly, dressed warm clothing, milling about and talking to each other, discussing business, haggling over prices, transacting business. The deliverymen were dressed in simple, plain coats, some with patches or frayed edges, and hats pulled low over their ears. Some wore knitted scarves wrapped about their necks, some gloves or mittens to keep their hands warm.

The administrators whose job it was to log the movement of goods in and out of the palace were all dressed in similar blue coats, with matching hats. They wore no gloves which might hamper their writing, and so their hands were smeared with ink. Nearly every one of them was followed by a smaller boy apprentice who carried the ink and spare pieces of parchment for the records, each of whom wore red or gray coats and hats and shivered in the cold as they observed the goings on.

Miyako stood for a moment, transfixed by the process, and then turned away to dress herself in warmer clothing and return to her own work in Koushiro's cold basement laboratory. As she turned, however, a glint of green and purple caught the corner of her eye and she moved her gaze back to the crowd below. At the outskirts of the plaza below was a lumbering little cart covered with a patchwork canvas and driven by a curious little creature with a tall pointed hat.

"What do you mean he isn't here?" a woman's voice was asking when Miyako emerged into the entrance hall. Jun Motomiya, wrapped tightly in a dark green cloak and hood that covered a dark purple gown, had a worried expression on her face as she removed her winter clothing. "Where is he, then?"

"Still somewhere in the forest, I presume," Iori responded, unruffled. He took her cloak gently in his arms and passed it to a servant standing nearby. "He hasn't as yet made his location known."

"Somewhere in the forest," Jun echoed. "Somewhere out in the forest, and yet no effort has been made to seek him out?"

"None that I am as yet aware of," the boy answered. "I expect you'll want answers of some sort?"

"Answers?" Jun retorted. "Answers?! Damned right I want answers! I want to know why my brother is in the middle of the woods, location unknown, and no one is out searching for him!"

Iori sighed heavily as they left the hall.

Miyako watched them leave, feeling a bit sorry for poor Iori, but sorrier for Jun, who must certainly have been confused and upset. She walked through the crowded entrance hall, filled with travelers who were permitted to rest and warm themselves by the fire, seeking the digimon to whom the misplaced cart belonged. She found Wizarmon and the driver, Hitoshi, that she'd left with him not far from the fire. Hitoshi was engaged in a spirited conversation with several of his coworkers, and Wizarmon was observing, more listening than participating in the interaction, an expression of curious amusement in his eyes.

The pointy-hat wearing digimon noticed Miyako from across the room and left the others. "I am pleased to see you made the journey safely, milady," he said politely. "It seems our paths have crossed again."

"My journey was straightforward and simple," Miyako answered. "Yours I would guess to be a bit more roundabout. You carried Jun back here?"

Wizarmon nodded. "Lady Ichijouji was ever so generous with the food," he replied. "I can't refuse such delicious forms of payment. Lady Jun was eager to return to the palace despite your message that her brother was safe. From what I've heard, though, it seems you were incorrect."

"It seems that way," she said, frowning. "Can you stay a bit? I could use some advice, and there's someone I'd like you to meet. The food here is not half bad, either."

The wizard digimon was pleased with the mention of food. "Advice is my specialty," he answered simply, "although I cannot guarantee it will be the advice you seek. Still, if there's food involved, I offer my services to the cause. A magical problem of a sort?"

"Sort of," Miyako admitted. As she spoke she began to lead the way out of the entrance hall and toward the main dining hall that only a few days before had served hundreds of cold and hungry villagers. Now it was nearly empty, as it was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. "Actually, it's a question of a prophecy we're attempting to decipher, Koushiro and I," she clarified. "It's baffling us, mostly, because it's actually a prophecy of Dark Magic."

Wizarmon paused in his steps, eyes growing wide. "A prophecy of Dark Magic…concerning the Chosen?" he asked, voice nearly a whisper. When she nodded, he said immediately: "Breakfast can wait, then. Lead me to this Koushiro of yours."

Hikari had slept badly and awoke feeling as though she might not have rested at all. She stayed in bed a bit longer than she usually did, but could not return to sleep even with a great effort put into the attempt. She moved slowly and without real desire, feeling as though the exhaustion suddenly affecting her were a great illness sapping her strength and motivation.

It was late morning before she had finally managed to dress, but she could not muster the energy to rouse herself much more. She stood by the window, feeling as though it had taken a great effort to even get that far, and nothing outside interested her in the least, so she made her way to a chair and sat, feeling exhausted.

There was a tap on the door shortly before noon, and Mimi entered, a concerned expression on her face. "I'm not sure why, but Koushiro told me you might not be feeling well and sent me with this." She held up a small glass vial holding a strange bluish-colored bubbling potion. "He says it will help."

It felt as though it took a great effort indeed to drink the potion, but Hikari did so, trusting in Mimi's story and Koushiro's judgment, not feeling the strength to ask how Koushiro knew something was wrong or even what was in the strange potion – things that ordinarily would have been an immediate concern.

She drank the potion, the bubbles tickling the inside of her throat and feeling odd as it went down. In the dim, hazy light, Mimi's concerned expression seemed difficult to make out. Hikari tried to suppress a yawn, but failed.

Wizarmon took such great interest in the prophecy that, hoping that she had not violated some pact of secrecy, Miyako led him to Koushiro's lab. Her fears evaporated the moment the wizard laid eyes upon the digimon, however.

"Wizarmon?" Koushiro said in disbelief, peering up from the volume of magic he was currently consulting. He stood, blinking several times. "I don't believe it."

The digimon peered with squinted eyes under the brim of his pointed hat. "This is your teacher, the great Koushiro?" he asked in a similar tone. "He is young to be a wizard, if what you say is true."

"He is more than he appears," Miyako replied, a slight bit of defensive pride in her voice. "Don't judge by outward eyes."

Wizarmon chuckled to himself. "Wise advice," he commented, nodding. "I thought it was I who was to give it, not to receive it."

"Come to give advice?" Koushiro asked, still blinking repetitively. "Miyako, let him be, let him insult me all he wants. If he wishes to give advice to us, I won't refuse him!"

Wizarmon peered over a few of the volumes. "My reputation precedes me, although not to the student. Haven't you taught her anything, wizard?"

"There hasn't been time for it," Koushiro replied, slightly defensively. "Can you help?"

Taichi took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. Despite Koushiro's potion, he still felt a ghost of a headache that he suspected might simply be due to stress rather than to magical influences.

Very few people would have been able to or permitted to barge their way through the palace and directly in to see the King. Jun Motomiya was one of those people – in part because she was very upset and in part because she was rather intimidating even when she wasn't upset.

"You'll just leave him for dead, then?" she demanded the moment she entered the room. Sensing approaching danger, the rest of the room cleared out.

Taichi blinked, sighed. "No, we're not leaving him for dead. Jun, I sent out a search party a few hours ago. They've not yet returned."

"And if they don't find him? What if he's injured? I need answers, Taichi. I need something to take home to my father to explain to him where my brother is. Tell me something!"

Another deep breath followed. "There isn't much to tell, Jun. I wasn't there. Yamato lost consciousness and Hikari fled. By the time Takeru and Koushiro arrived, Daisuke was gone."

Jun exhaled slowly and sank into a chair, her knees feeling week. "Then he could be dead…?"

There was a long silence. Taichi sighed.

"He could be," Hikari whispered softly, her shoeless feet having made no sound on the floor. "Let us hope not." She looked weak and pale, her hair falling limply around her face, looking thin.

"Hikari!" Taichi stood, took her arm, tried to lead her to a chair. "What's happened? Are you sick?"

Wordlessly, Hikari shook her head, paying little attention to him. "We can be assured," she said, her voice slightly stronger now, "that he will not give in, not to death."

"No," Jun answered. "I don't think he would."

"Hikari…," Taichi interrupted.

"I am not giving in either," Hikari said, addressing both her brother and Jun with the single sentence. She turned to leave, slipping through Taichi's grasp on her like a silk ribbon.

"Hikari -," Taichi began for the third time….

"I'm all right, Taichi," she finally answered. At the doorway, she paused and said, to Jun, "He isn't dead. I haven't felt him go."

Hikari had slept a restless night, filled with vivid, frightening dreams of fire and burning, of shouting and screaming and the jingle of chains and the crack of whips. She awoke just before dawn, shivering in the cool air, her skin damp with sweat. She pushed aside the blankets and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to warm up.

There was a vial of a familiar looking drink on the stand beside her bed – it was the same potion that Koushiro had sent for her the night before. For a moment, Hikari stared at it, wondering when it had been delivered to her room, what was contained within it, what its purpose was, why the wizard had sent it. Without a second thought, she drank the concoction in a few deep gulps. It was warm and smooth and strangely invigorating.

She found a warm robe and tied it around her waist, the soft material engulfing her, almost making the dreams slip away from her mind. Reflexively, she shivered at the recollection, then slipped her feet into soft, warm slippers and took the empty beaker with her out of the room.

The hallways were silent this time of day, with only the earliest of workers up and about, lighting fires and beginning to prepare breakfast. Taichi would be awake, Hikari thought, especially on a day like today, when there was so much to do and so many people to ask him to do things. The halls were dim, only a few torches and lamps lit to guide the way, but Hikari made her way through the halls without trouble – even the narrow, stone stairwell that led to Koushiro's basement workroom.

She didn't worry about disturbing the wizard. It was almost guaranteed that although Miyako would have given in to the needs of sleep, Koushiro would have remained awake, working long into the night and into the morning, catching a few minutes of sleep only when his body threatened to collapse beneath him. Hikari wasn't certain whether it was simply the way that he best functioned or if it was some magic at work, but she knew that Koushiro was rarely ever in slumber this time of the morning.

The door to his lab, a thick, heavy, wooden object, was shut tight, and no sounds came from within, but Hikari knocked loudly, certain that Koushiro was immersed deeply within some thick, deep book. She was taken completely off guard when the door was opened by a short creature in a thick, pointed hat.

"Your majesty!" the digimon gasped, removing the hat and bowing low. "It is ever an honor."

Hikari blinked, completely astonished. "Am I in the wrong place?" she wondered. "I was seeking Koushiro…."

"No, no," the other responded, hurrying to his feet and replacing his cap. "This is the place. The wizard you seek has simply slipped out quickly, momentarily, in search of a book. He said that the one he sought could be found in a room down the hall, but he's been gone for some time now and I wonder if he's been lost."

The Princess laughed softly to herself. "Lost within a book, if at all," she said.

"A common affliction amongst wizards of his kind," the magical digimon agreed. "I am Wizarmon. "

Hikari nodded, smiling to herself. "This I know," she answered. "We have met before, only under less comfortable circumstances. I do believe you had a Monochromon that didn't much appreciate the taste of hot and spicy peppers."

"Ah, so you both held secrets," Wizarmon said, nodding. "I see. Have you come seeking help? It's not often that a person knocks on the door of a wizard and doesn't need help. I am not Koushiro, but I shall do my best to help."

"Not help," Hikari answered. She moved aside a book from the emptiest of stools in the room, near the fire, and held up the glass container she'd carried from her own room. "Only questions. I want to know what was in this potion, and it was Koushiro who made it."

Wizarmon took the beaker and peered at the clear residue still left on the sides. "I might be able to answer that if you could tell me what it was for," he answered, an inquisitive expression on his face.

"I'm not sure of that, either," Hikari confessed. She took a deep breath. "Yesterday I awoke feeling very tired and weak. I thought I might be sick, and then Mimi brought me some of that, saying that Koushiro had sent it. I drank it, and instantly felt better. Today I awoke to find it already by my bedside."

"You felt tired and weak, you say?" Wizarmon echoed, still examining the beaker closely. "I wonder…it is possible that the dark magic in the air might have affected you. It's rare for one to be weakened drastically, but with things as they are right now, I suppose it could be."

"Things such as they are? How are they?"

"Very dark," the digimon answered gravely. He set the glass down atop a pile of books. "Dark enough that I can feel it down to my very core."

"The prophecy says -," Hikari began.

"I know," Wizarmon replied before she could finish. "I have been trying to determine its meaning. I think I might have heard it once before, but so long ago that I cannot remember the time nor place."

"Something is coming, I think. Daisuke said as much. I think he knew – knows what it means." She clenched her fists tightly. "If he is unhurt, he ought to return, to explain. He should have explained more to me."

There was a moment of silence before Wizarmon spoke: "Do you not know what has happened?"

Hikari shook her head. "I don't. I haven't a clue. My dreams are conflicting where at other times they were clear. I saw him die before, and yet he did not. Does this mean that he will now, that I haven't seen it?"

"It may be," the digimon responded, his voice low. "It also may be that someone does not want you to see the truth."

"If that's so – could he be all right? If he were dead, they would wish for me to see, wouldn't they?"

"I can't say. Not without knowing who it was that was blocking, or why," Wizarmon answered. "You have the strength to break the barrier, your majesty, you must simply focus."

"Focus -," Hikari echoed.

The heavy door creaked open and Koushiro himself entered, carrying not one (as Wizarmon had stated) but three heavy, thick books in his arms. "I don't know if this one will help," he said, nodding toward the top one, "but I'm certain the others will have something that will be of assistance." He sighed, setting the books atop an already towering pile. "Princess. How might I help you?"

"I want to know what's in the potion you gave me, Koushiro."

He frowned, scratched his chin. "I'm not sure I could tell you," he answered simply. "Herbs of some sort, I suppose. The recipe is around some place. I'd guess your real question is more of 'What was it supposed to do?' however."

"Yes, that, too," Hikari answered. "Why did you - ?"

Koushiro sighed again, for once, she noticed, showing his exhaustion. He leaned against a pile of books and ran a hand through his hair. "Dark magic affected your brother," he answered after a long moment of deliberation. "I thought it was likely it might affect you. I was told you had been tired and lethargic, and so I expected the potion might work on you as it did on him."

"Affected Taichi how? He seemed fine…."

"He is, because I gave him some two days ago. He complained of a vicious headache and said that none of Sora's herbal teas nor Jyou's medicines had helped. I suspected that it might be related to the magic, and Miyako confirmed my suspicions."

Hikari sighed now and was silent, lost within her own thoughts. Koushiro took the topmost book from his pile and set it upon the table in the center of the room, prepared to search through it for some sort of information. "Have you found any answers?" she asked.

"No," the wizard answered. "At least, none that make sense or seem appropriate." Again he ran a hand through his hair. "Prophecy is a difficult task, not one I'm suited for."

"Nor I," Wizarmon agreed, returning to his own book. "They speak in riddles, circles."

When Miyako rose to face the day it was nearly noon, and the dim sun was shining directly in her face. She moaned and rolled over, pulling the covers over her head.

"You can't stay in bed all day, Miyako," her sister Momoe's voice said, as cheerfully as possible. "Come now, it's late."

Reluctantly, Miyako pushed the covers from her head, still feeling groggy and exhausted from two nights and days spent reading indecipherable prophecies. "My head," she mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Come on. You're needed," Momoe urged. "The searchers have returned, and they've brought something back."

"Have they found Daisuke?" Miyako asked, opening her eyes wide.

"I don't think so," the elder sister answered. "They've summoned all the Chosen, you'd best hurry."

Um…stuff happens. Yeah. A few questions may have been answered, but not really. I hope you enjoy suspense. Heh.

I'll have more up ASAP. Stay tuned!