Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

A Curse Marked Fate

16: Taste Testing

Over the past two days, Shinichi had been treated to a myriad of incredible sights ranging from beautiful forests to a stunningly realistic, festive village that could have come right out of another world, but the sight before him now took his breath away again for the umpteenth time since he had stepped into this Vision Book with Kaito.

The Temple of Living Silver was a magnificent structure that appeared to have grown right out of the cliffs. Its towering edifice was covered in an intricate pattern of sculpted vines and enormous birds frozen in mid flight. Similar vines twined up and over the stone pillars that flanked the path up to the building's front doors. And at the top of each pillar perched another great, stone bird with eyes of diamond.

The sun reached its zenith as they neared the twin pillars. On cue, the stone birds' diamond eyes flashed white.

Kaito and Shinichi stopped where they were in wary wonder. The path beyond the twin pillars was washed away under a tide of thick, white fog. In moments, the mountains all around them too had faded, leaving them and the temple standing amidst a sea of mist that thickened at their feet. Beneath that shifting mist, Shinichi thought he could detect the glimmer of water.

At the same time, the already lifelike vines and flowers upon the temple lost their stony hues. Silver green leaves rustled in a sudden gust of warm, sweetly scented wind as large, soft flower petals shone in all the shades of the rainbow. The most stunning transformation, however, occurred atop the twin pillars as the stone birds perched their gave themselves a shake, shedding their petrified state to become flesh and blood.

"State your name," the bird on the left demanded, its shining eyes on Kaito.

"Kuroba Kaito," he called back, voice ringing out clear and strong.

"And you?" the second bird inquired, lowering its head to peer more closely at Shinichi.

The young detective hesitated, just barely catching himself as he had been about to answer with his real name. "Edogawa Conan."

"For what have you come?" the first bird asked.

"We're here to re-forge the Harvest Bell," Kaito replied.

"By what right?" the second bird asked.

The two travelers traded uncertain looks. Unlike the previous questions, this one had no obvious answer, and neither of them could recall being told anything back in town that might serve as the correct answer now.

They must have taken too long thinking about it for the second bird clicked its beak impatiently, feathers ruffling. "Are you worthy?"

So fearsome did the bird's stare become that Shinichi had to fight the impulse to step back. He couldn't help but notice how sharp its curved beak and talons were.

"I don't know," he told it. "But everyone in town is relying on us. If you would tell us what we need to do to prove ourselves, we'll do our best."

The bird blinked at him, and he wondered if he'd surprised it. Either way, it seemed to find his answer acceptable for it spread its wings and launched itself from its perch. The other bird mirrored its actions. Both enormous avians circled three times in the misty white sky before spiraling down to land in front of the travelers.

"Climb on our backs," one bird instructed. "We will show you the way inside."

Kaito lifted Shinichi onto the back of one bird without being asked before leaping aboard the second himself. The moment both boys were firmly seated, the birds flapped their great, white wings, sending silver ripples through the water beneath the fog, and took off. Up and up they rose in an ever widening spiral until the twin pillars which had stood three times Kaito's height had become no bigger than toothpicks in the endless sea of mist below. Then they banked towards the temple. With a high, piercing trill, they folded their wings and dove.

Wind whistled past their ears. Shinichi thought he might have screamed, but he wasn't sure. All his attention was focused on clutching tight to handfuls of downy feathers as the towering wall of stone and twisting vines rushed to meet them. There were no openings in that wall—no a window or door, not even a crack in the stone. Yet the birds were gaining speed in their headlong dive.

Faster and faster they flew until they plunged head first into the mass of vines.

Shinichi shut his eyes, bracing for the collision.

An enormous leaf whipped past his face, nicking his cheek with its pointed tip. He jerked away from it and held his breath. Waiting.

The impact never came.

Instead, his senses were overrun with a sudden waft of sweet, floral fragrances and a warmth that could only come from sunshine.

Shinichi opened his eyes and drew in a sharp breath of wonder for they were now gliding gently down into the middle of a large, forest glade. In the distance, he could make out what appeared to be stone walls, but their heads were lost in a sky full of shifting veils of gold and silver light that hid any ceiling, if indeed there even was a ceiling, that might be behind that radiance. The glade itself was comprised of a lush expanse of grass and flowers wrapped in a crescent around a small, tranquil lake. A small waterfall tumbled over laddered steps down what he assumed was the Temple wall and into that lake.

Around the clearing stood towering trees with regal, green crowns as yet untouched by the colors of autumn.

The birds landed in the glade near the water's edge and waited patiently as their passengers disembarked.

"The path ahead is not yet open," Shinichi's bird informed them before the two departed once more. "I would advise that you take the time to rest and prepare for the challenges to come."

After their long and arduous morning hike, both boys were more than happy to do as the birds advised.

They settled down on the small lake's grassy shore and shared a hearty meal of steak, potatoes, and mixed vegetables.

"Well that hit the spot," Kaito declared, standing and stretching. "How about some dessert?"

Shinichi looked incredulous. "Your still hungry?"

Kaito laughed. "You don't eat dessert because you're hungry. You eat it because you want dessert. Besides, they say people have a second stomach just for sweets."

"Well I only have one stomach," the young detective replied. "And I couldn't eat another bite."

"A chocolate then. From that special gift box the banquet committee gave us." Not waiting for an answer, Kaito turned to their packs only to let out a yelp. "Hey! Come back here!"

Startled, Shinichi followed his gaze to see three furry animals clamber out of their packs, carrying various bundles in their mouths. They looked a little like small, white tigers, only each had different colored stripes: one sky blue, one light orange, and one Sakura pink. Apparently realizing that they'd been spotted, the feline trio turned tail and fled across the flower field.

Kaito immediately gave chase. Shinichi scrambled to his feet and followed.

Kaito's natural athleticism had him gaining ground quickly on the little critters, laden down as they were with their looted goodies, but then the tigers reached the tree line and dove into the underbrush where their small bodies had the advantage. Cursing, Kaito cast his wind walking spell again and leapt up to weave between the trees above the tangled brush, gaze fixed on the three streaks of white rushing and rattling through the brambles.

Shinichi, with his much shorter legs, arrived at the forest fringe just as Kaito and the tigers completely disappeared from view. Groaning inwardly, he weighed his options.

There was no way he was going to catch up to either the tigers, who knew their way around, or Kaito, who was using his magic to its fullest extent in pursuit of said animals. There might be three of the cats, and they might become hostile if Kaito backed them into a corner, but after seeing everything that Kaito had shown off at the Level Seven exams, Shinichi felt confident that the magician should have no trouble capturing the animals and recovering their stolen supplies. So really there was no point in Shinichi chasing after them.

Instead, he returned to their packs to look over what they had left. A quick inventory of both backpacks showed him that the thieving felines had stolen pretty much everything edible they'd had left in their packs. They had even taken the boxes of chocolates and the little stash of salt and pepper packets that Shinichi had tucked into one of his backpack's smaller pockets. At least they hadn't stolen the matches that had also been in there.

Their camping tools and sleeping bags remained undamaged, as did their extra clothes, although they did appear to have been pawed through.

Inventory completed, Shinichi wondered if he should wait for Kaito with the packs or get started on searching for the path that was supposed to open. He really wasn't the sitting around sort though, so he decided to pack Kaito's backpack with what little contents it still had into his own, grateful for the enchantments that both made everything fit into his backpack and prevented said backpack from gaining any weight. Thus prepared, he slung his pack over his shoulders and headed around the edge of the lake towards the stone wall down which the waterfall ran. If that wall was, as he'd first thought, a wall of the temple then it would be the best place to start figuring out how they were supposed to proceed from here.

As he walked, he allowed himself a moment to just take in the lovely scenery with its tranquil ambience. The air here was crisp with clean water and fragrant with fresh flowers. There were fish in the lake, he noted, and songbirds singing in the trees. Some of those trees bore fruit, though they were of no breed he had ever seen before. In shape, some resembled apples and oranges while others looked just like bunches of bananas and grapes (albeit hanging from tree branches rather than vines), but none of them were the right color. That fact made him more than a little hesitant about trying to actually eat any of them, but at least he felt they didn't have to worry about starving even if Kaito failed to capture the tigers and reclaim their supplies.

Upon reaching the foot of the waterfall, his eyes were drawn to the three stone cats seated there just far enough away to be untouched by the misty spray. He noted their similarity to the three thieves from before right away, although each statue was half again as tall as Shinichi was in his current state. Before each statue's forepaws sat a stone bowl. To the trio's right stood a stone cube inscribed with archaic runes. Etched into the sheer, rock wall behind the three cat statues was what appeared to be the outline of a towering pair of double doors also covered in runes.

Moving to stand in front of one of the tiger statues, Shinichi waited a moment before clearing his throat.

"Hello?"

He felt a little silly speaking to a sculpted rock, but the bird statues outside had come to life after all. Who was to say that these tigers wouldn't do the same?

Alas, none of the stony felines responded. They remained quite stiff even after he reached out to run his fingers over the delicately sculpted fur.

Satisfied that the cat statues were just that, statues, Shinichi moved on to examine the doors. There were no handles nor any sign of hinges. And frankly he doubted it would have made much difference either way as the doors were so large that there was no way even four fully grown men could have budged then, let alone a teenager and a little kid. If they were to be opened, it would likely have to be with a spell or according to some rite of passage as ordained by the forces in charge of the temple.

Of course, that was assuming they were actual doors and not just the likeness of doors carved into the wall as a deception.

Remembering what Kuroba Toichi had said about maps being added to their books when they entered the Temple, Shinichi pulled his map book from his pack and flipped it open. There, on a page that had once been blank, was now what appeared to be part of a floor plan. At the bottom between two small birds that must represent the bird pillars outside were the words "The White Bird Gates". Shinichi nodded to himself. That had to be the entrance they had taken. So they were now in the chamber right above that marked as the Hall of Plenty. The name probably referred to all the fruit, he thought. The lines delineated quite a large, octagonal space populated by the little lake, its flower glade and the surrounding forests. There were three little cat shaped marks at the top middle of the chamber which, he suspected, were the three statues before him now. The area was labeled as the Gate of Joy.

Sadly, the map said nothing about what lay beyond this gate or how to open it, but it was still a start.

"I guess these little guys must be part of the key to moving on from here," a voice remarked from behind Shinichi, making him jump.

Swiveling around, he found Kaito standing behind him with a furry, blue and white bundle squirming and mewing piteously in his arms. The other two tiger cubs were dogging the Sky Mage's heels, looking anxiously up at their captured sibling as they bumped at his legs and made distressed noises that tugged at Shinichi's heart strings. He was more of a dog person than a cat person, but he'd always had a soft spot for animals.

"I got most of our stuff back," Kaito explained. "But this little guy just won't let go of the chocolates." He nodded down at the tiger cub he was carrying. Clamped in its jaws was one of the boxes of specialty chocolates that they had been contemplating for their own dessert. "So I brought him along. I'm pretty sure the chocolate is enchanted. Not sure what it'd do to these guys if they ate it."

"Here. Let me try." Trotting over, Shinichi took hold of the box with one hand once Kaito had crouched down and tickled the tiger under the chin with his other hand. One of the dogs he sometimes played with at the park near the Mouri Detective Agency let go of things when rubbed under the chin. He couldn't begin to guess whether the tiger would respond the say way, but it was worth a shot. Dogs and cats shouldn't eat chocolate after all, enchanted or not.

"Come on," he murmured encouragingly. "Just let it go. We'll find you something better, all right?"

As though it understood him, the tiger abruptly let go of the chocolates and let out the most heart wrenching mew yet as it peered at him with large, soulful eyes. His stomach rumbled loudly. The sound was soon echoed by the stomachs of its two siblings.

"I guess all of you are hungry, aren't you?" He rubbed the tiger behind the ears, and it turned its head to press its furry cheek into his palm. He couldn't help but smile at the warm, furry feeling.

Watching Shinichi and the feline, Kaito had to smile. Deciding it was safe to release his captive now, he set the blue and white tiger down on the ground where it was immediately joined by its two siblings, both of whom seemed truly delighted to welcome their brother back.

"You got the sausages back, right?" Shinichi asked. "We can give them some of those."

Kaito gave an exaggerated sigh. "Well, I was looking forward to those sausages, but I guess it's for a good cause. Can't let these cute little guys starve. It'd be too cruel."

"It might also be how we open the door," Shinichi pointed out, gesturing to the stone statues with their stone bowls before their forepaws. "Maybe once they've all been fed, they'll show us how to open this gate."

"It's as good a plan as any," Kaito agreed with a grin. "Better find that collapsible frying pan."

A plate of six sausages were placed before the three tiger cubs a few minutes later. They immediately fell to sniffing at the food and making excited little mewing noises.

The white and orange cub was the first to take a bite. But the moment it swallowed, it let out an ungodly yowl as all the fur on its body stood on end and steam came pouring out of its ears in classic cartoon fashion. Still screeching, it bolted, raced all the way around the little lake then leapt straight into the water, sending up a fountain of steam. Shinichi ended up leaping into the water after it to keep the little cat from drowning.

Now both soaked through, he and the cub sat side by side next to the large fire that Kaito had started in an attempt to dry themselves off. The cub looked so miserable that Shinichi scooted closer to stroke its damp fur. This seemed to cheer the young feline as it leaned into his side and began to purr.

After seeing their sibling's reaction, the remaining two cubs had been understandably wary of trying the sausages. The pink cub sniffed at the sausages, nosed them, then turned away. Only the blue cub deigned to eat one—which became two then six. Once all the sausages were gone, the cat gave the platter a thorough licking for good measure before turning hopeful eyes up at Kaito.

Its stomach rumbled again. The sentiment was promptly echoed.

"I could make you some more sausages," Kaito told it. "But maybe we should try to find something your brothers like too, eh? Little Orange over there looked like he was about to start spewing fire."

"I'm guessing he doesn't like spicy food," Shinichi said. "Those sausages were spicy, right?"

"They certainly smell spicy."

"Do we have anything sweet that's not enchanted?"

"We have cinnamon rolls." Kaito produced a box of mini cinnamon rolls, plucked one out, and held it before the blue tiger's nose. It sniffed at the sweet then turned away, disinterested. Kaito offered the treat to the pink tiger next. This time, he got a nibble, but the tiger immediately wrinkled its nose and trotted over to the lake for a drink. The cub that the magician had dubbed Orange, however, licked the roll once then devoured the entire thing in one gulp.

Through trial and error, they discovered the Orange enjoyed sweet foods while the blue cub, whom Kaito dubbed Sky, preferred spicy, and the only edible they had on them that the pink and white Sakura would deign to touch was Shinichi's lemon bars and the pickles from inside one of the sandwiches the two humans shared as they tried to work out exactly what it was that they were supposed to be doing.

It seemed clear to them that their challenge in this chamber had something to do with feeding their three new furry friends, but it didn't seem to matter how much of their supplies they doled out. Those stomachs kept on rumbling.

"They're bottomless pits," Kaito groaned, peering into his pack and shaking his head. "We can't spare anything more if we want to have enough to tide us over until the end of our quest."

"Well, I did see a lot of fruit in the trees," Shinichi thought out loud, a hand rising to his chin. "Maybe that's the answer. If we can find the fruits that match their tastes, we may get better results. This is their natural habitat after all. Maybe it's the native food they need."

"It's worth a try," Kaito agreed. "All right then. Let's go pick us a few of everything. We'll meet back here in an hour. Keep an eye out for other edibles too like potential herbs, mushrooms, nuts and the like. This is a game after all. Anything could turn out to be a super cool ingredient."

The boys and their three feline friends spent the next hour climbing trees, crawling through the underbrush, wading around the shallow portions of the lake, and all around having a splendid time of it. It was like they were children on a treasure hunt without a care in the world.

With armfuls of purple coconuts and a small sack of silver acorns, Shinichi raced Orange all the way across the flower glade to the cat statues where a mound of fruits, vegetables, nuts and mushrooms had already grown far beyond what he had first anticipated. Sky and Sakura were clearly excited as they nosed through everything to give it all a thorough sniffing over, but Kaito had moved to stand before the stone gates and was looking up at the runes carved into its rocky face.

"Can you actually read those?" Shinichi asked, coming up to stand beside the older teen.

"It's in code," Kaito replied. "But I think I've cracked it. This is actually a list of recipes."

"Recipes?" Shinichi repeated, trying to hide his disappointment that he hadn't had the chance to solve the code for himself.

"Yep. For ways to prepare all the ingredients that grow in this chamber. There are only three recipes, but they don't list amounts or describe the ingredients named. I do believe it is up to us to decide how to identify what's what and determine the ratios. This may be rather difficult. I'm not much of a cook."

"I can cook a little," Shinichi offered. "I can follow recipes, but if they didn't list the amounts…"

"Trial and error then," the magician proclaimed. He opened his map book to a blank page and began copying down the recipes in plain writing. "Do you cook with your parents?"

Shinichi snorted. "Mom's a terrible cook. Dad's not much better. They basically live off takeout. If they have to make something themselves, it's always a sandwich. I learned from Ran. She took an interest in cooking shortly after Aunt Eri left, and she's gotten pretty good at it. And she's been teaching me too so I can help her out."

Kaito's eyes narrowed imperceptibly. "I see. Well. Here are the recipes." He turned his book around so that Shinichi could see what he'd written. "So what do you think? Any idea where to start?"

Shinichi looked over the lists, excitement sparking in his chest. This was a puzzle, and he loved puzzles.

"We should start by trying to identify the Pearlia Pears," he decided. "They appear in every recipe."

"All right." Kaito cast a critical eye over their collection. "I don't see anything particularly pear-shaped though. And frankly I'm not sure we can assume it's even one of the obvious fruits."

"Well, considering how different each of these three's tastes are, an ingredient that appears in every recipe is probably some kind of base without too much flavor of its own. And all the recipes say that the Pearlia Pears need to be ground into a fine powder. So maybe it should end up being something like flour. We can start by weeding out any ingredient that feels like it would be too wet to grind into powder."

Kaito nodded in agreement. "And we can probably rule out anything that smells strongly sweet, spicy, or sour too."

Under three pairs of eager tiger eyes, the two boys walked along the rows of assembled fruits, nuts, herbs, and mushrooms, picking each item up to give it a pinch and a sniff and weigh it in their hands. Eventually, they narrowed their selection down to a lovely black apple that shimmered with opalescent rainbows, a handful of pale, yellow flowers with thin, brittle petals, a football-shaped white melon that was cold to the touch, and a type of golden almond that radiated a soft, sunny warmth.

"Now we try grinding them and see what they're like," Shinichi said. "But we're going to need some tools."

"We can use those stone bowls." Kaito gestured at the bowls at the feet of each tiger statue. "Those sticks lying next to each bowl look like pestles."

They started with the flowers as they were already crumbling. Mashing them into powder was easy. They made a fine, dry, yellow powder. But one taste and they all knew that they'd found the salt.

"I'm guessing those were the Sun Tears," Kaito said, adding a note to his book. "They appear in every recipe too."

Next they cut open the melon, which surprised them all by being completely hollow. The two halves made excellent bowls, but all that grinding a sliver of melon shell resulted in was a dry, flat strip of melon. However, that was still a leg up from the almonds, which turned out to be nuts you could break your teeth on. When Kaito eventually resorted to smashing one of them with a handy rock, it was the rock that chipped. In the end, they decided that the Pearlia Pears had to be the black apples, which ground down into a smooth, rich powder that glittered like it was packed full of crushed gems.

"Most beautiful flour I've ever seen," Kaito marveled. "So what's next?"

They spent the better part of the afternoon identifying ingredients then experimenting with recipes, using a combination of the cooking basics that Shinichi had learned from Ran and educated guessing for the ratios. They discovered that the stone cube with the runes on it was in fact a sort of magical oven complete with a set of enchanted baking pans. There was no way to set a temperature or time, but they found they didn't have to. Once you'd placed your dough or batter inside, all you had to do was cast a fire spell at the oven. The runes etched all over its many faces would light up as the magical energy was absorbed. Then the box would emit a sound like tinkling bells, and the door would open on its own, revealing the end results of your efforts.

It took several tries, but they eventually ended up with a platter of brownies stuffed with a kind of spicy fruit, sparkling black cookies that tasted like chocolate chip, and a dark golden bread loaf that tasted strongly of oranges.

The recipes made four servings of everything, but each tiger approved of only one pastry. So Kaito and Shinichi got a cookie, a brownie, and a slice of loaf cake each. But that still left one extra portion of each of their culinary masterpieces.

"I can always eat the rest of the cookies," Kaito offered. "There's no such thing as being too full to eat chocolate."

Shinichi frowned. "I don't know. Wouldn't eating it when you're not hungry just be a waste?"

"I'd say it's not eating it that's the waste."

"What about the cats? Their appetites were voracious earlier when we were trying to feed them from our rations."

"They seem full now." Kaito waved at the three felines sleeping in a happy, furry pile on the shore of the lake. "I think they're done for the day."

"Maybe we should give them to the statues."

Kaito paused at that, following Shinichi's gaze to the stone bowls they had been using all evening and up at the cats that stood guard over them.

He hummed. "I suppose that might not be a bad idea. But let's clean these bowls out first."

With a wave and a word, he summonsed a stream of water from the lake into each bowl. The water swirled around the stone enclosure, forming a miniature whirlpool that peeled all the flour dust and bits of other ingredients into its liquid embrace. Then the liquid rose out of the now clean bowls and flew back into the lake.

"It's all organic stuff from around this habitat, so it shouldn't cause any trouble for the lake," the magician said by way of explanation. "Now for our offerings."

Picking up the last chocolate cookie, Shinichi placed it in the bowl before the tiger statue with the star pattern on its forehead as he had noticed that the pattern of stripes on Orange's forehead resembled a star. The next statue had three stripes across its forehead the way Sky did, so they put the spicy brownie in its bowl. That left the orange loaf for the statue with pink Sakura's diamond markings on its forehead.

The moment each bowl had been filled with the dessert that its representative tiger had most approved of, the bowls began to glow. The offerings vanished to be replaced by what they could only describe as liquid light. Honey in color, it glowed like late afternoon sun.

That liquid light overflowed the bowls and spread away towards the vast expanses of the chamber forest before sliding up the stone wall behind the cats, filling in the grooves of every edged rune and line so that the entire relief was shining—a tracery of honey colored brilliance against black stone.

As though in response, the shifting auroras that had filled the sky overhead all this time suddenly dimmed, taking on shades of deep blue and purple, casting the chamber into an ethereal night.

Then the door relief on the side of the mountain melted clean away to reveal a rising staircase bathed in cold, blue light.

Kaito let out a loud whoop. "We got it!"

"Should we go up then?" Shinichi asked, gazing up the very, very long flight of stairs, pleased smile still bright on his young face.

Kaito grinned and ruffled Shinichi's hair. "Whoa there. I know you love puzzles, Shin-chan, but people need to sleep, remember? I could have sworn I told you that when you came to the park all bleary eyed and nearly ran me over."

"I didn't run you over," Shinichi grumbled. "You were the one who leapt out of the bushes at me. And I was the one who fell. If anyone ran anyone over, it was you running me over."

Bingo.

"So it seems."

Something in the tone of Kaito's voice made Shinichi pause at the foot of the new stairs as his distracted thoughts returned to the conversation. Small shoulders stiffened. Uh oh. Not only had he responded when Kaito addressed him as Shin-chan, he had also corrected the magician about a meeting they had had back when they'd been children.

"The door might close though, so it's better to hurry," he chirped hastily with desperate cheer and started up the steps only to be halted and dragged back by a strong hand gripping the back of his collar.

"Oh no you don't," Kaito said. He was all smiles, but his expression gave nothing away. "I think you owe me an apology."

TBC

A.N: Hmm, I think I'm going to have to rethink some things about this section… Anyway, once again, the next chapter will be a little late as I will be finishing the next chapter of The Show Goes On first. Thank you for reading, and I'll see you next time. Take care!