The giant bells are rusted and cracked, the great wall is only a fraction of what it used to be, and the once-purple dome is a faded lavender color. The retired capitol of Linkai has been abandoned for hundreds of years, left to fall apart on its own. We can only hope everything on the inside is intact and in working condition.
Unfortunately, aftering entering the wall guarding the retired capitol, we can't use our supernatural abilities. We have to stay human. So, our group hikes up the mountain that the palace sits on, up the steps that lead to the front entrance. It's not just one steep climb, it's several small hills, but still a long distance. This staircase stretches from the top to the bottom, and we've only hiked about halfway to the doors in the past ten minutes. I can see the very tip of the second building in front of the dome. The whole palace is made up of four parts: the dome, the supernatural gardens, the chambers, and the committee meeting rooms.
The biggest building is the dome, it holds every record of every event significant to Linkai since its birth. This part of the palace is at the very back, and protected by the tallest part the palace is directly in front of the dome, and at the very center of the palace. The third and fourth buildings are equal in size, and wrap around the front and sides of the supernatural gardens like bodyguards. These buildings are the chambers and the committee meeting rooms. Akira and her mother used to live in the chambers, along with all the other royalty who were direct descendants from the creators of Linkai. I know they didn't go to Earth, so, I wonder where all those other people went. I remind myself not to waste too much time thinking about that though.
The instant we make it over the hill to finally spot the retired palace, our eyes meet the great hole in the fourth building. Actually, it's not a hole. The building is missing entirely. We begin full throttle sprinting to the palace, up the steps at rapid speed. All of us are on the same wavelength. We know this is bad, really bad actually.
My human lungs burn with the sudden outburst of energy. The soles of my feet slap against the stone stairs, but I keep running. The memories in my head replay the last time we were here, just a few days ago. The fourth building was still there, still intact. I can see it clearly in my head, the rounded edges and white diamond accents, even the two towers on either side of the building acting like antennas. It was all here.
"How does something that big just...disappear?" Kappie says through deep breaths.
"Damn dragons." Ezra wheezes and supports his body with his palms on his knees. He looks like he's about to pass out. We look so out of shape as humans.
I place my palm flatly against one of the tall doors. Through my gasping of air, my hand finds the large handle. I ease it open, and my eyes widen at the entrance room.
"Oh my hell..." The words echo in my head after leaving my dry mouth. Moments ago, my heart was beating frantically in my rib cage, but now everything seems to slow down and almost freeze when my sight meets the scene behind the doors.
The room is completely bare. From what I can remember, luxurious chairs and elegant crystal tables decorated the space to the right of the door and large beautiful murals depicting Linkai's wildlife, hung on the wall to the left. There used to be a wall of shelves holding ancient statues of the Zodiac. Even the impressively massive chandeliers are missing from their chains attached to the tall ceiling.
"Who would've done this?" Rayce squats down and sits on his heels, he covers his mouth with the back of his hand to shield his shock. He also might be a little queasy from the running.
"Isn't it obvious?" I ease the other door open to get a good look at the entire room, "The real question to ask is, why'd They do it?"
"And where did They put everything?" Ezra adds, "They might still be here-"
"They wouldn't stick around if they had Lady Akira with them." Steele interrupts, bringing up a valid point. He sets the unconscious Miyazu down on the ground and stretches out his limbs tediously before picking the body back up and slinging it over his broad shoulder. He's the only one that doesn't look exhausted. "We should find the underground holding cells and put Miyazu in one so he's no longer a burden while we're here. Then we need to locate the signalling system in the dome."
"If it's still there." Ezra's skepticism has risen out of the depths of his very short lived emotional state of mind. His purple and red eyes neglect to match the condition and snarky spirit of his voice. Instead, they're sad looking and empty. I honestly prefer the sass-filled look he usually has on his face. This is worse than when he returned from Treachery Treaty torture.
"Because you do not know if the system is or isn't where it should be, I suggest you keep your negative thoughts to yourself." Steele asserts his ever present authority. My eyes instinctively roll in a lazy circle. His arrogance never ceases to irritate me and send my agitation to an all new level.
I shove down my annoyance and hatred for Steele's prodigy leveled pride to refocus my attention. This hallway connects every building, and if we follow it all the way through the supernatural gardens, we'll get to the dome. There we'll be able to locate the signalling system and find the other Zodiac Spirit Guardians left on Earth.
I kick up my pace and stride with quick feet to the lofty door in my sight. This grand hall is wide and made of identical stone that poses as the walls and the floors throughout the palace. All of us can stand side by side and have enough space between us to feel comfortable in the hallway.
"There's still one thing we haven't considered..." Rayce adds in the small tone of a self-conscious child, "Dragons might still be here..."
"We'll be fine, Rayce." Kappie gives the blonde boy a genuine and broad smile, showing off his bright teeth. Leave it to Kappie to give false hope to those who shouldn't be on the receiving end of it. Someday he'll realize the danger he puts Rayce in with those fictional promises. Not that I care either way.
Every room we pass is empty and bare, stripped of every piece of decoration and furniture it once contained. It's not worrisome, just puzzling. Why anyone would take a ton of decor, let alone a whole building, is beyond me. We carry on to the door at the end of this long hall, and Ezra reaches out first to slide it open. Behind this door will be the supernatural gardens.
To our left is the entrance to the chambers building and to right is a giant hole in the wall where the other building used to be, and we can see outside.
"Wait a second." I tell Ezra the moment his hand touches the handle. My head weaves around the other bodies to locate the clean cut edge of the hole. The entire frame of the doorway is intact, but beyond that is nothing but the outside world with the suns rays beaming in and the wind whistling through the hallways. Whoever took the building, didn't bother to cover the gap to make it look like nothing was missing. They were in a hurry. Where the floor ends, there's a steep drop off.
"It's so strange." Rayce ponders with an innocent finger to his chin, "Why would anyone want or need the committee meetings building?" It's the same question we all ponder in our heads but don't have answers to.
"I don't remember there being anything particularly special about it." Ezra peeps his head outside and looks down to the ground far below. His lips form a thin line and his eyebrows pull together.
"Wasn't it just a table and some chairs?" Kappie adds, following his brother's lead to bend around the corner and gaze out the new glassless window.
Steele clears his throat, "We have more important things to worry about right now."
"Yes, father." Ezra snickers, sprouting a smile on my face. At least we're on the same hateful page, scrutinizing everything Steele does and says. I've convinced myself over the years that someone needs to check that ego of his. I fight the urge to shove him out the hole.
We turn back towards the single door leading to the garden. This time I take the handle, gripping it with a firm hand and taking a shallow breath before easing it open.
Whimsical. That's the word I'd use to sum up what I'm seeing. Even someone as negative as me can appreciate something as beautiful and intriguing as this.
A wired archway full of jade colored roses begins at the wall around the door and stretches out a few feet. Green is everywhere, covering everything, and a rainbow of color dots each plant. Thick grass acts as the walkway and path leading to every part of the garden. The sound of trickling water radiates from every corner. Jungle vines act like curtains on the walls. Tanzlinde, Redwood, Yellow Acacia, Japanese Cherry Blossom, and even an amaranth colored Maple tree grow to glorious heights in the large building. It seems impossible for them to all be thriving in the same environment, but my eyes tell me differently. The ceiling is all glass, acting as a greenhouse. White Azaleas, rich navy Daisies, deep violet Chrysanthemums, red Lilies, and more stark colored flowers glaze the greenery. Nothing in this building is average, from the Beech tree to the flower shaped succulents lining the grass walkway.
I'm not ashamed of my plant knowledge.
We continue towards the end of the building, lead through a tunnel made solely out of wire and greenery. Witnessing the supernatural gardens will definitely help anyone understand why this part of the palace is the only place the Zodiac and the Gods come to visit. It's enough to lift any mood of any sort.
Too bad my negativity is more of my personality than a mood.
More jade green roses outline the doorway and spread around the door like a wall. This door in particular is made of Birch bark. It is the only building in the palace that does not use stone in any aspect. The air in this room smells enticing and fresh, I hate to leave it.
With one jerk of the handle, Kappie pushes open the white wooden door.
Five whole levels full of shelves, containing every hard copy of Linkai's history, line the walls from top to bottom. The entire building is curved, and the levels are only separated by white stone walkways connecting stairs to each level. Where the purple dome begins, above the fifth level of books, thousands of small screens cover the arched ceiling. One circular stage in the middle of the building acts as an elevator from the bottom level to the very top of the fifth level. This stage grants access to the star shaped platform that hosts the network and motherboard of every piece of information since the dawn of time itself. In the very middle of the open elevator stands the energy supplier that feeds the dome with supernatural power and raises the stage to the star platform.
Only supernatural beings powerful enough to raise the stage, can enter the dome. The closest any of us have been is the fifth level of bookshelves. Now we have to find a way to get to the very top, or be forced to look through millions of books to find what we're looking for.
"How are we supposed to get up there," Ezra points to the star, "if our abilities were blocked the moment we set foot inside the great wall?"
"The power of teamwork and friendship!" Rayce shouts and spins around in a circle once, then strikes a pose to point dramatically to the dome. The fact that this is normal behavior for him, says a lot about how immature and annoying he can be. But of course, Akira thought it was "refreshing" when she met him.
"On a realistic note, we can't." Ezra says back to Rayce, giving him a stern grimace. The little blonde boy moves out of the way of Ezra's eyes and wanders back towards the stage, defeated. I almost miss the sour attitude from earlier.
"Why don't we start looking through the books until someone can think of something." Steele says, tossing Miyazu to the side, clearly upset that we didn't follow his instructions to drop the body off somewhere, tied up and out of sight.
I waltz up the stairs--ignoring Steele--to the fifth level, we each take one level of shelves and begin scanning through the book spines for any helpful information. Even though this dome is thousands of years old, created the same time that Linkai was created, the books look brand new. There's no dust in this room at all, and each book has white colored pages, no signs of yellowing with age. I should've known these books were also made to be indestructible, withstanding the test of time.
The creators of this world must've taken every precaution to avoid the same mishaps they learned about from Earth's history. Linkai is basically a better Earth in every aspect. Aside from the bloodshed.
I can hear the sound of books tumbling to the floor and the crisp creaking from opening the binding. Pages are turning on every level below me, but I haven't touched a single book. I can't focus. There's something strange about all of this: the missing building, the missing furniture and decorations, the missing lights. It's as if someone thought stripping the palace would also tear down the supernatural barriers.
A light bulb flickers on in my head and I know exactly what book I need to look for. I jog around to the other side of the room and scan for the book with the blue and gold spine. I spot the metallic lettering that reads 450 Revised. The year 450 was the time all of construction on Linkai's surface was completed. The first level of this building contains the books with the title of the year it was written about. There are also the revised editions that are kept on the fifth level, the level I'm currently on.
We've all been told the same exact thing about the stage and the star platform since we first found out about it hundreds of years ago. The whole system is indestructible, which is why it's still here and They haven't destroyed it. I remember my mother telling me all four buildings that make up the palace create an impenetrable shield to protect the entire palace. The energy for the shield comes from the supernatural gardens. All four buildings act like pieces that fit together to form the armor. That means the great wall is where the enormous shield must begin. It's controlled by the motherboard in the network on the star platform. But without the committee meetings building, the shield shouldn't be working.
Whatever is in this book, might just be what we need to work around those laws. I rest the back of the hardcover in my palm and slide my finger down the length of the pages. My hand goes to open it, but it doesn't budge. The cover feels glued shut, even as I grip the whole thing and try to pry it open, it's sealed tight.
"Rayce!" I shout from upstairs. Little feet come running up the staircases three steps at a time. Not even a minute passes before he is in front of me and panting like a tired puppy. I hand the book to him and ask, "Do you know how to get this open?"
"I can surely try!" His enthusiastic tone echoes through the building, and he flips the book over in his hands. It looks strangely large in his grasp, like a toddler holding a bulky dictionary. He smacks the book on his knee and attempts to break it open, he fails. He then throws the book on the ground and jumps on it several times like a monkey. The prying doesn't work again and Rayce starts to look a little flustered.
"It's okay, Rayce." I say, holding my hand out for him to give the book back to me. He hesitantly surrenders the book to me and crosses his arms over his dainty figure.
"Do you think whatever is in there can actually help us get to the star platform?" He questions me with an eyebrow raised. I look closely at the cover of the book, holding the spine up to my eyes and searching for a clue.
"Absolutely." I respond, glaring at the stubborn book.
"Without supernatural magic, we can't open it." Kappie shouts from the level below us. He hurries up the steps to join us, and the others drop what they're doing to meet me at the fifth level. We stand in a circle, surrounding the book in my hands.
"May I?" Kappie asks, reaching his arm towards me. The second it falls into his grasp, he throws it, spine facing up, off the banister onto the very bottom floor.
"What in the hell?!" My exclamation is masked by Ezra's obnoxious laughter. Kappie smiles and leaps over to the staircase, sliding down the railing to the very bottom. The book is wide open, and so is my mouth.
He begins to giggle and we all trail down the steps to join him at the first level. "I read about these books in my family's library," he begins, cutting a glance over to Ezra as if his brother should've known the same information, "Only the Gods, Zodiac, and Elementalists can open it."
Rayce chimes in to steal Kappie's thunder, "We have to remember that right now, we are humans in a supernatural world trying to open a supernatural book that only supernatural beings can open." He starts clapping as if he's found out the right answer in a matter of seconds.
"So," Kappie continues while Rayce bounces up and down with a giddy smile, "How do you open a book you can't physically touch?"
"You throw it off a five story building." This time I'm the one to cut Kappie off and marvel at his genius plan. "Now the issue is turning the pages to find the right one."
Rayce stops bouncing up and down, "Oh! I know! I know!" He lays down on the ground and crawls cautiously towards the opened book. His mouth gets very close to the pages and he blows on them. They start lifting away from each other but neglect to blow over. A strong wind would be able to get those pages to turn.
Kappie must have the same thought as me, he gets down to the ground and starts blowing the pages too. It's working, the pages are actually turning. I bend over to take a close look at the content of the pages. Each chapter is a different date within the year 450. I search for any schematics of the building, any sentences with the words "capitol" or "star platform". The pages don't turn fast enough, I'm growing severely impatient.
"Stop!" I shout, "Right there." They blow one more page over and my eyes scan through the words, "The supernatural gardens must be surrounded by all three buildings at all times in order to act as a cage. The dome containing the system of information and history harnesses the magic exerted from the garden, and absorbed by the buildings, in order to power the signalling system..."
Ezra continues on a paragraph further down the page, "In the event that one of the surrounding buildings is to be destroyed, the magic energy from the supernatural gardens will leak out into Linkai's atmosphere and be absorbed by the planet and recycled into the plants." He pauses and takes a deep breath, "Oh my shi-"
"Shhh!" Kappie cuts him off and continues where Ezra stopped, "The dome will continue to try and use the magic energy from the supernatural gardens, but will eventually run out if the cage ceases to exist."
"That explains why, once entering the great wall, we lose our abilities." I conclude with a quizzical look sprouting on my face. "It's because the dome is absorbing every aspect of supernatural energy within the wall."
"That doesn't make sense, wouldn't that mean it was sucking the life out of us?" Ezra stands back up to look at the star platform. I do the same, and close my eyes to work the impatience out of my system.
"That's not true. See, every supernatural being, within the wall, acts like a plant supplying oxygen to the air. We don't exactly live off of what we are exerting. The gardens were created to absorb the energy we give off naturally, not take the living elements out of us." Kappie informs with a determined look on his face.
My brain starts putting the puzzle together, counting up the hundreds of pieces of information to form the bigger picture. It just doesn't add up, why They'd want Akira but also take the committee meeting building. The conclusion projects out of my mouth before my mind can make sense of it, "The Elementalists dismantled the cage around the supernatural gardens so they could release the magic energy back into Linkai's atmosphere to use it for themselves."
Everyone is silent, staring at me in disbelief. For a crisp moment I consider myself insane, on the same delusional level as Akira. We've all just been thrown into a classic superhero versus villain movie. Except this time, we might just be equally matched. Some of us might even die.
"I don't understand what They would use it for..." Kappie begins thinking out loud, "It just doesn't make any sense." My palm rubs my forehead in frustration. This isn't the right time to be thinking about this, doesn't matter how important it may seem, there are other things to deal with first.
Ezra speaks up, "There are plenty of things They would use it for, but we have a priority task." His head is pointed down, and I don't sense a hair of positivity from him. In fact, he's sort of giving off a gloomy and dark vibe. I can't stand pessimism, it's pointless.
"The plans stay the same. We find the others and create an army." My breathing is shaky. I can feel the heat in my body disappear from my arms and legs, shrinking back around my heart. My hands feel clammy and my feet have become frozen in place. I've never felt this level of fear before, for the first time in my entire life, I'm terrified.
The fact that anything can happen because I have no control over this situation, and people might even die, and so much blood will be shed. It's chilling. One idea lingers inside my gut, reassuring me that my mind is set exactly on what it needs to be. The anxiety blossoms and the fear spreads a cold chill over my skin, but I say my thought without hesitation.
"We slaughter Them and save Lady Akira. Then we bring back our people."