snowflake ☆ k.dy ☆ ayakashi series | ✔

doyoung [twenty-seven]

In the yellow hall—the Tri Wing—you and Minhee took the left at the fork instead of the right, and found that it contained a large amphitheater. You had hoped that maybe the backstage area for the cast and crew would have some random nook or cranny that could have a picture of Doyoung's family in it. No such luck.

The green hall—the Tetra Wing—was the residential wing. Some of it was already familiar to you from last night, but further down the hall also had a few guest rooms, rooms for staff members who wished to either live in the castle or needed to sleep there for some other reason, and of course the Evergreen Quarters. It was in here that you hoped some depiction of the King and Queen would have survived. No such luck, it was the most impersonal of all of the places you'd been in. Minhee explained that the Chancellor had lived here after he took over and had entirely redesigned it from when the King and Queen had been there. No way he would have left a picture of the Royal Family here.

Back in the foyer, you turned towards the next hall, the one with the sheet over it.

"That's the Penta Wing, Onmyoji. You shouldn't go in there," Minhee warned you.

"Why not?"

"The Chancellor started renovating it but never finished. It's been under construction for nearly two decades now, there's no telling what sort of precarious state it's in. Unstable pillars, unfinished paving, it's hazardous."

Under construction for two decades, seemingly abandoned for a similar amount of time. Seems like possibly the most untouched place in the castle. Perhaps your best bet. You ducked under the sheet into the hall.

The hall was as grand as every other one you had been in, despite the state of disarray of the construction equipment held within. Elaborate pillars of rock and crystal and ice loomed far above you, all in different shades of blue, from baby blue to true blue to cerulean to a deep ocean blue that you imagined could only be found elsewhere at the bottom of the sea. Ladders leaned up against many of them and some had large chunks missing. Motifs of snowflakes were carved into the parts of the walls and floors that were still intact. But these weren't the delicate, fancy snowflakes that were typically depicted. These were all sharp angles, ending in six points that would be razor sharp if not for them being simple carvings. Dangerous but ethereal nonetheless.

"Onmyoji!" Minhee called after you. "Please, don't go any further."

"Sorry, Minhee," you replied over your shoulder, sidestepping a random hole in the flooring. "Stay there if you're worried for your safety, I don't mind."

"I'm worried for your safety. I was put in charge of you."

"Then come with me!" You turned your focus upwards, taking in the beauty of the vaulted ceilings. There was another hole up there, interrupting the elaborate paintings that adorned the entirety of the surface. Light streamed in from the hole, a spotlight on you as you stood below it. A cloud passed by briefly, white and puffy. The paintings were also blue toned, reminding you of cubism in a sense. It was all angles and strong lines, continuing on with the snowflakes from the walls and floors, now given depth and contrast.

It was all so beautiful. But extrapolating from the destruction, the construction that was being done here wasn't creating the art all around you but destroying it. You were glad that it had been halted, for whatever reason.

A stone from the mouth of the hole suddenly lost its grip and fell. Thankfully, you had been looking right as it happened, and were able to back out of the way with plenty of time. It struck the floor with a solid thud and crack. The chunk was about half your height and at least triple your width. That wouldn't have felt nice if it had hit you.