"AWESOME!"
Po's awed cry echoed across the massive city that stood before them, nestled perfectly in the valley surrounded by mountains tall enough to touch the stars.
To the eyes of a narrow minded person, it would have looked like any ordinary city, but with magnificently stone buildings of a similar architecture to the fortress decorated with carvings of mountainous environments connected with wide sturdy bridges that looked longer than the Gongmen River, stretching high above a misty greyish black abyss. The city appeared to be arranged in a circular shape: the small to regular sized buildings, plus several larger buildings that looked important, all seemed to circle a single massive building that stood on an island above the abyss in the very center of the city. But it wasn't this that had left both Po and Tigress in complete awe. It was the lush vegetation that was consuming the entire city. It didn't look overgrown. It looked green. Green as in fresh and bright and dotted with white and crimson flowers shaped like stars. It was as if someone had initially decided to build a city of stone, but then changed their minds and turned it into a garden. Not even the Wudan Mountains and their green forests and fields could compare to its beauty.
"Talk about wonders of the world." Tigress whispered.
"Yeah…" Po replied. "Come on, let's go check it out!"
"Po!" Tigress grabbed him before he could even try to run off. "What did Shifu tell you about thinking before you act?"
"To think before you act."
"Po, we need to be careful. We have no idea what condition the city is in now, and there's no guarantee that it's uninhabited."
"But we're still checking it out, right?"
"Right. But keep your voice down until we're positive that there's no-one here. Got it?"
"Got it." Po whispered softly.
"You don't have to whisper, just don't shout."
"Okay."
Tigress pinched her nose.
"Can we just stop talking and get down there?" She demanded.
Po nodded, and began walking down the stone steps that led down to one of the many bridges. Actually, he tip-toed down, as if he was worried that one of the bricks would dislodge beneath his feet.
"For god sakes…" Tigress stormed down the steps past him, and spent the next few minutes standing at the bottom, arms folded, waiting impatiently for the panda to reach her. When he did, she turned to face the bridge in front of them. Her gaze travelled upwards.
"Hey, Po." She said softly. "Look at the sky."
Po followed her gaze.
"The storm's still raging above us. I see it."
"But look at the snow." Tigress replied. "It's just blowing right past this valley. Why isn't it reaching us?"
"Hey, you're right." Po said suddenly. "It looks like something's keeping the storm from touching this place. Weird…"
Tigress lowered her gaze back to the bridge. It looked more than a little sturdy, but after the little incident in the crevasse she wasn't taking any chances.
"We'll go one at a time." She said. "I'll go first, and then you follow when I give the all clear."
Po nodded. Tigress cautiously stepped onto the bridge. In less than a minute she was across, and nothing had happened. She motioned for Po to follow. He was soon at her side.
"Great, it looks like the bridges are gonna hold us!" Po said cheerfully. "So, which way now?"
They were now standing at a three pronged fork in the road. The left and right bridges led deeper into the city, while the bridge in the middle led to another set of stairs that led up to what appeared to be a bell tower.
"Let's take the stairs." Tigress said. "I want to get a lay of the land."
"Good idea." Po said. For a moment Tigress was confused that Po hadn't agreed with his usual cheer… but then she realized exactly how many steps there were.
"Come on, Po. It's just three hundred steps. That's not even a third of the ten thousand steps."
This seemed to cheer Po up a little, and he started walking up the steps. Tigress followed, and five minutes later Po was at the top, leaning forward on his knees and panting like a hot dog.
While he regained his breath Tigress marveled at the massive bell hanging in the middle of the small open building that sat at the top. It was decorated with ordinary crystals rather than precious gems, but was still beautiful all the same.
"Hey, Tigress…" Po panted. "What did… Crane say this place… was called?"
"Shambhala."
"Shambhala?"
"Yes." Tigress said. "Some people believe it to be a sort of paradise."
"Huh." Po straightened up, now more or less recovered. "You know, it does kinda look like a paradise."
Tigress looked over the green, red and white of the foliage covering the place, and nodded in agreement.
"This kind of reminds me of something Oogway once told me about while he was teaching me how to write." Tigress said. Po gave her an odd look. "I didn't get to learn much at the orphanage." She quickly explained. "Anyway, when I was a little girl Oogway used to cheer me up by telling me stories of the world-wide journey he had made before settling in China. One of the things he mentioned was something called 'the Hanging Gardens.' I don't remember much about it, it was a long time ago."
"The Hanging Gardens? Sounds awesome." Po said. "Do you think this is a Hanging Garden?"
"It's beautiful enough to be one." Tigress said. "I can't imagine what it looked like before everyone disappeared."
"Yeah." Po had a fleeting image of a bustling stone city full of people peacefully tending to the flowers that covered their home, and it made him grin. "Hey, Tigress. Do you think these flowers are pretty?"
"They're very beautiful, yes."
While Tigress was still examining the bell, Po quietly plucked a red flower from the vegetation covering a pillar and tucked it beneath his coat.
"Po! Look over there!"
"What?!" Po yelped.
"There's smoke coming from one of the chimneys!"
Po followed Tigress's finger, and saw the steady black stream rising up from one of the bigger buildings.
"It's too big compared to the others to be normal building." Tigress said. "It might be a factory of some sort."
"A fireworks factory?"
"Perhaps. Let's check it out. And keep quiet. It's pretty likely that there's someone over there."
"What if it's the Yeti?"
"Then we get the hell out of here." Tigress said. Po's jaw dropped in disbelief. "I know, it's incredible that I'm actually trying to avoid a fight, but that creature is too strong for our kung fu to be effective! If we try to fight it, we're dead!"
Po gulped.
"Alright, then." He said. "Guess it's time to turn on my stealth mode."
He began walking back down the stairs… and by walking it really meant that he was literally moving at a snail's pace. It took five seconds for him to put one foot on the stairs… and another five seconds to put his other foot next to it.
Tigress gave him one look and then gave him a shove.
Footprints.
The moment the Yeti found the two rapidly fading sets of footprints leading in the general direction of his cave, he knew something was about to happen that he didn't want. The main entrance to the city had been blocked off long ago, but if the intruders were to discover the secret back door…
The Yeti steeled itself against the blizzard and started running.
"Tigress, it's okay. You didn't know my belt was old."
Tigress's plan had been to give Po a shove, and then grab him before he could tumble down the stairs as usual, so the panda would be shocked into moving a little faster. She hadn't counted on grabbing him by the belt being a very, very bad idea. And now, as they walked through the deserted streets of the lost city, Po was busying himself with stitching his belt together with needle and thread while his coat was tied around his lower half like a loin cloth. Tigress, meanwhile, was smirking and blushing like an idiot, while at the same time taking in the black and white shirt she had not expected Po to be wearing under his coat.
"Isn't that the shirt Princess Haoxin made you?" She eventually asked.
"Yeah." Po said. He snapped the thread once he was finished sowing. "There, all done. Tigress, could you cover your eyes?"
Tigress covered her eyes. One minute of rustling fabric later, he told Tigress to open them. He was now wearing his coat properly and bearing patched pants once more.
"I really am sorry, Po." Tigress said.
"Nah, it's okay." Po replied. "I kinda had it coming."
Tigress was about to respond when the street opened up and they found themselves in a square courtyard that looked more like a garden. In the middle of the square was the large building emanating smoke. It was the only building not covered in flowers. Tigress looked at the sign above the entrance doors.
"It's not a factory. It's a foundry." She said. "Incredible. This place must have been abandoned for centuries, yet looks like it's still in working condition."
"Huh. More like decades."
Tigress turned her head to look at Po.
"Decades?"
"Yeah. This place reminds me of an abandoned house just outside the village. No-one had lived there for thirty years, but it was still in okay condition. Just some peeling paint, dust everywhere, stuff like that."
Tigress examined the buildings surrounding them, and realized that Po had a point. None of the buildings looked particularly dilapidated, despite it being obvious that no-one had inhabited them for a long time. In fact, if the city had in fact been abandoned for centuries, it would have been a crumbling ruin by now.
And why exactly had it been abandoned? If there had been an invasion or some other disaster, there would have been structural damage and certain remains in the streets. But there was nothing like that here. Only empty buildings, as if everyone had just gotten up and left overnight.
What had happened here?
What connection did this place have with the fortress?
And why was the Yeti so determined to protect it?
"Hey, are we gonna check this place out or not?" Po asked, snapping Tigress out of her troubling thoughts.
"Yes, but we're not barging in through the front door." Tigress pointed to a high window. "That's our way in."
"Great. More climbing." Po mumbled.
In the wind and rapidly falling snow, the footprints disappeared completely as the Yeti raced across the wasteland. The Yeti cursed. Now he would have no way of knowing if the warriors were going to find his cave or not.
But that wouldn't stop him from checking, he realized.
He shook off the snow that had collected on his fur and resumed running.
"Wow." Po said as he and Tigress gazed at the massive vat in the room emanating intense heat and a bright orange glow. "That's even bigger than the one in Gongmen City."
The vat looked like it was the only working thing in the building. All the other sophisticated machinery was still and cold. And there was no-one home.
But it did confirm Tigress's suspicions that the place wasn't entirely abandoned.
"Po, we should leave." She said. "I have a feeling the Yeti is behind this, and it's smart enough to not leave a giant vat of molten metal unattended for too long."
"Where are we gonna go then?" Po asked.
"We'll hide somewhere in the other side of the city, as far away from the foundry as possible." Tigress said. "But first there is one more place I want to check out."
"Where?"
"That temple in the center of this city. I have a feeling that there is something important to find there."
Half an hour later, Tigress was sitting on a stone rail at the top of the thousand steps, patiently waiting for her black and white comrade. She shivered and tugged her coat tighter around herself. With the storm, it was even colder than usual.
"Hah!" Po's black paw emerged. "Hah!" Po's other paw appeared a second later. "Haaaaah…" Po pulled himself up onto the stone floor before Tigress. "One of these days… I will defeat you, stairs!"
Tigress got up and pulled Po to his feet.
"Come on, I want to be in there and out in five minutes." She said.
"Okay…" Po was still gasping. "Just give me… one extra minute… to regain control of my lungs…"
"Fine. You wait here while I check the place out." Tigress said impatiently.
"No!" Po suddenly straightened up. "No, I'll come with you! You shouldn't go in there by yourself!"
Before Tigress could reply Po walked up to the large front doors of the temple, grabbed one of the silver rings and pulled. And pulled.
"You can't open it?"
"Hang on, I've got it…" Po grunted as he pulled in vain at the door.
"You can't open it."
"Tigress, I've been weight training for months." Po pulled. "I can lift three times my own bodyweight, and considering my bodyweight that's impressive." And pulled. "In terms of upper body strength I'm second only to you, and could you give me a hand please?"
Tigress smirked as she grabbed the ring and pulled along with Po. With some effort, they were able to pull the door open wide enough for them to slip through.
"Po, there's no light in here." Tigress said. "Where's that lantern?"
A second later Po was holding up the lantern once more, and as the light filled the room they realized that they were standing in an entrance chamber, one at least half the size of the chamber back in the fortress of White Fortitude. The walls were crimson and decorated with paintings of green mountains and mulit-colored flowers. The pillars had slender dragons twisted around them like vines. Three doors, one leading to the left, one leading to the right, and one leading straight forward, were illuminated in the lamplight.
"Awesome…" Po murmured. "So, which way do we go?"
Tigress gave him a glance of reassurance.
"When in doubt…" She took the lantern from Po. "Head left."
The left hand door led to a small library with red walls and dozens of small paintings.
"Whoa, another library!" Po exclaimed. These guys sure like to read!"
There were two small wooden doors in the room, both locked. Neither of them were willing to attempt breaking them down. After all, they were inside what was very likely a sacred temple. It would be wrong to desecrate it. Instead they turned their attention to the scrolls.
"I wonder if they have secret kung fu secrets in here!" Po grabbed a scroll and unrolled it. His excited expression turned to a frown. "Aw man. It's just a scroll about the construction of that foundry we went to earlier."
Tigress raised an eyebrow and took a scroll from a different shelf. It turned out to be a general's oath of allegiance to someone called the Dragon Empress. The general mentioned the Empress's name. Ember.
"Ember…" Tigress whispered.
"Ember?" Po asked. "Isn't that what Su had said when she was sleepwalking?"
"Yes." Tigress said. "Whoever this Ember is must have been the ruler of this city. Why would Su mention her?"
"Obviously she had something to do with the fortress." Tigress said. "Po, I think this library holds all the records of the major events that happen in this city. Let's look for the more recent ones."
"Why?"
"So we can figure out what happened here."
"Jeez, how many mysteries are there?" Po moaned, but all the same searched the shelves. It soon became apparent that there were labels concealed beneath the dust, and once they were rubbed clean it became a lot more easier to find the more recent scrolls. After two minutes Po found what they were looking for.
"Hey, listen to this!" He said. "According to this scroll, the Dragon Empress had been the keeper of this important artifact called the 'Eternal Ember'. But something really bad happened and the Eternal Ember became badly damaged. Its keeper was also injured pretty badly, and died a little while after."
"What sort of disaster?"
"Don't know. There's blood covering that part so I can't read it. Yuck."
"Anything else?"
"Yeah. Apparently this organization called the 'order' had been behind the attack, and fearing an invasion everyone evacuated this place. It doesn't say where they went."
"So that's why this place is deserted. Does it mention anything about our Yeti friend?"
"Nope. That's it. There's no other scroll about what happened."
"Well at least it answers a question or two." Tigress said. "Let's check out the rest of this place. I don't want to stay too long."
They returned to the entrance hall and walked across to the door on the right. What they found behind it made their spines tingle.
It looked like a large office for some important individual. However, all the office furniture had been shoved messily towards the sides, and a single bare bed stood in the middle, covered in brown stains. At its side was a little table covered in what appeared to be bottles of medicine and medical instruments. All the instruments were bloodstained.
"Woah." Po said. "This place is going to give me nightmares."
He spotted a small scroll amongst the bottles. He picked it up, glanced at the bed, and began to read.
"Diagnosis: Third degree burns covering 85% of her body. Single stab wound to stomach. The Empress's spiritual power has kept the damage from spreading to her internal organs. However, the injuries show no sign of healing quickly, and the patient is comatose. It is unlikely that she will survive the night.
The fortress will be a good place to lay her to rest once she passes. If we ever find the monsters who did this, we will make them burn in hell."
Po looked at the bed again, suddenly feeling sick.
"My god…" He whispered.