TBD

Chapter 2

     ~10 Years Later~

     Ten years had passed with little change. Itsuki, along with his sister had grown up, going through the motions of schooling, lessons on etiquette and various other skills deemed essential, various holidays and celebrations, and now he stood an adult, twenty three and preparing to start running his fathers company while Amaya also prepared to be married to a man chosen by their parents as part of an executive deal with another company. Neither were dissatisfied with their positions, Amaya had taken a liking to the man and Itsuki did enjoy his father's work, but in the end, all was the same and now Itsuki was wishing for a change. Perhaps his wish, so many years ago had been a bit too effective, but little did he know, change was indeed coming. 

     Stepping to the mirror one last time, he arranged his shirt collar again and stared at his reflection in the mirror. Time had gotten rid of any baby fat left, leaving behind high elegant cheekbones accented by the inky black locks that fell over his forehead and around his face, a small, slim nose, and soft, plush lips, set against pale almost milky skin, and brilliant green eyes framed with long, thick lashes. He was truly an adult now, and a handsome one at that, with a face that was reminiscent of his father, and a somewhat feminine slenderness to his body that was unmistakably his mother's. 

In between preparing to take over his father's company, Itsuki was also taking classes in architecture at a nearby university, aiming to get a degree in that subject despite his mothers opposition, most of which he had endured and managed to partially quell with the set in stone fact that his career path would be the company no matter what degrees he got, and his father's quiet but unwavering support. This is what led up to the current day, with Itsuki preparing to go out for a bit of research related to an assignment. He needed to map out a plan of what a ruined building would have looked like, and after a bit of thought, found himself turning to the castle ruins just outside the city. Despite having long stopped thinking about it, he knew that not only was it thoroughly ruined, and thus falling within the parameters of his assignment, but it was also not very well known, hidden within woods few actually ventured into despite its proximity to the city and little real dangers, so it wasn't likely any other students would be doing that place too, which not only meant originality, but no other people to have to be around while he worked. For all that Itsuki was grown now, he never really came to enjoy the company of people, family aside, and even that was subjective to change depending on various factors. 

     Stepping away from the mirror, Itsuki grabbed his bag containing his drafting paper tablet, notebook, sketchbook, utensils and the assignment paper, and finally headed out, waving to his father as he passed his office on the way, and taking the path he'd never forgotten to the woods and to the ruined castle. Pausing as he approached the entrance, Itsuki looked up at the ruins with careful, analytical eyes, trying to make some sense of the layout. if he looked carefully, he could see it once had a large entrance jutting out towards the front in a vague arcing shape, but he's have to do some digging if he wanted to find some semblance of a foundation amid this overgrown pile of rubble. Continuing forward, Itsuki slung his bag strap over his chest so it sat as a crossbody and freed his arms, and began to climb over the piled stonework in front of him to reach the heart of the castle. He didn't try to truly analyze anything now, simply trying to get a feel for the layout again. This place had always perplexed him, as it never seemed to follow any set guideline for the building itself. It was beautiful when it was built, Itsuki could feel it, but it also was completely unique from any castle he'd ever seen the layout of. There were arcs where he'd always seen angles, straight lines and structures where one would expect curves, and parts like he'd never imagined could be, built in a way he could only dream was built by magic. 

     Making his way over a fallen pillar, Itsuki finally reached what he was certain was the heart of the castle. A room that he was sure was a throne room, or, if he really thought outside of the box, perhaps the altar space of a temple. Either way, the magnificence of the room in itself compared to the rest of it made him certain this was the heart of things. From what he could see, it had once been a massive, round room, with a high, arcing ceiling like he'd only seen the semblance of in the most magnificent of cathedrals and government buildings, and the remains of stained glass windows could be seen in the crumbled frames of what appeared to be huge windows all the way around. on one side was a large stone platform similar to a stage, but crumbled away, and some broken wood remains that Itsuki was certain were once some form of furniture, perhaps chairs, if this was a functioning castle and not some royals glorified vacation home. The floor of the place was now overgrown with grass and small spatterings of wildflowers, and small bits of rubble from the ceiling and other structures were scattered among it all. Above, sunlight streamed in at the center where the very top of the ceiling had caved. and light dappled over the outside of the streaming sun where the beams were blocked by the leaves of the trees of the forest surrounding it all, making the room even more ethereal, as it appeared that a ray of light shone down in a magical way. 

     Glancing around, Itsuki's eyes caught once again on that brilliant spot of sunlit space in the center, and, following an urge born out of idle curiosity, he made his way over to it. Directly in the center of that ray was a piece of stone, mostly imbedded in the ground that appeared to have etchings in it. Long ago, Itsuki had once tried to make sense of those etchings, but, failing, had ultimately assumed they were just worn away decoration. Now, though, they appeared like words, and his hands instinctively reached down to the stone, slender fingers feeling over the grooves in the stone, following the lines until they reached what appeared to be a bit of smooth rock stuck in a part of the groove. Now fascinated as to what these lines were, Itsuki pushed at it, trying to get it to give way so he could continue following the lines. After a moment, the stone moved, however, instead of coming away like he'd expected, something else happened. 

     As the stone shifted, there came from somewhere muffled, a soft click, and then from below his feet, the earth trembled, and there was a sound like the groan of old metal moving and rubbing, and a rumble of stone rocking together, and then everything moved. Directly below his feet, and the exact circumference of the ray of light shining down from directly above, the ground moved away, and a hole was revealed, heading straight down. Immediately alarmed at the sounds from below, Itsuki gasped and fell to his knees as the ground moved, hands clutching at the rock to steady himself and then, as the hole was revealed, he gaped and as soon as the ground stopped moving again, he scooted forward and stared down, looking for any sign of a bottom. "This is...Fascinating!" He exclaimed softly, once he could actually find words again. "To think that such a thing was here all along and I wrote the place off, my thirteen year old self would have been devastated to know they missed this." Curious and thoroughly excited, Itsuki grabbed his flashlight from his bag and shone the light down into the hole. He could see no bottom, but alongside the wall on one side, there were spaces carved in that one could use as a ladder, following all the way down. Eager to see where it led, he stood and made his way to the side where the stone ladder was, and carefully stepped onto it, testing it first for stability, and then, when it didn't crumble in the slightest, climbed down into the hole, flashlight gripped in his mouth for light and all senses on high alert. 

     Itsuki climbed for what felt like forever, until finally, when he stepped down, he found a flat surface instead of a step, and turned with the light enough to see he had reached a bottom. Stepping away from the wall, he turned completely, put the flashlight to the brightest setting and gaped. He was in a massive room, round and with an arced ceiling like the room above but with no windows. Instead, there were stones that looked like gemstones glowing with a soft blue light all the way around, and strange carvings that looked like letters and pictures, but if they were, they were in a language he had never seen before and scenes he couldn't even begin to fathom. Across the floor were lines that reminded him of a zen garden, swirls and curves that seemed to convene in the very center. Following those lines to the center, Itsuki's eyes were finally led to something he had never seen before. In the center of the room was a rounded platform. But instead of appearing like anything he'd seen above, this one had something unusual swirling over and around it. A dark, sickly looking, purplish red mist that raised the hairs on the back of his neck the closer his feet brought him to it. Stopping about ten feet from this mist, Itsuki raised his flashlight and shone it directly into the mist, trying to see if there was something within. 

At first, he could see nothing, but then, after a long moment of squinting and shining the flashlight in the very center, he could finally make something out. A figure, a statue from first sight, but, no, there was too much detail. A statue this lifelike would be impossible to make, especially in ruins as old as these. Eventually, he was able to make out that there was something else. A person, held within these mists. Their posture was closed, curled into themselves as if trying to protect their core. It was impossible to tell the gender, although Itsuki could see that their eyes were closed. That was the last thing on his mind though, now that he could make out what they were, it was obvious that this situation was wrong, that this person should not be held in this way. And now that he was truly aware and the initial excitement had worn off, he could feel it. Despair, radiating throughout the entire massive space. This person needed help, and fast.