Hunt

Noa soon learned that he didn't need to run in the Garden. With a little effort, he could fly. 

But that didn't help him much. Above the streets, there was nothing to hide him, whichever direction he went, and Shijo would catch him quickly. Near the ground, he could at least escape her eye. 

He skidded around corners and ran between buildings, trying to gain distance while keeping his path unpredictable. He picked up speed until he was in danger of running face-first into every obstacle he encountered, but it still didn't feel like enough. 

The Garden was singing all around him. Flowers rustled and turned their faces behind him, towards the person who ruled over this place. It was like she was the sun—he could feel the warmth of her power on his back, and the trees and flowers festooning the buildings all whispered in delight as she approached. 

It was terrifying. 

Still Noa continued, not sure what he could do except flee. He could try to fight, but he had a feeling he couldn't win—he didn't know the rules of this place, and Shijo had been the one to shape it into what it was now. She had every possible advantage over him. 

Except for one—that she seemed to expect to be obeyed. 

Noa wasn't planning to do as she asked. He couldn't tell her what she wanted to know, because he didn't know the answers himself. And if she needed to be near him in this place to find those answers…then the best thing he could do was to stay as far away from her as possible. 

And so he continued. 

Flying was easy. He didn't even need to breathe hard. But some part of him was getting tired, nonetheless. His body felt like it was getting heavier. And when he looked down, he realized that it was.

While not as luminous as Shijo's, his limbs were slowly fading from darkness to translucence, taking on a more solid shape. He could see the lines creasing his palms—

And then his feet snagged against the ground, and he tumbled awkwardly onto the street. His skin burned where it had scraped the rough texture—asphalt, but not, just like the rest of the shadowy substance that made up the buildings in this place. 

He was becoming more solid, more real. And in this unreal place, he didn't think that was a good sign. 

He pushed himself up, looking around desperately. There was no sign of Shijo yet, but he could tell the direction she was coming from. Wisteria hanging from a trellis overhead tilted in her direction, as though in longing. 

He could almost feel it himself—a call like a melody heard around a corner, or like the gentle sloping of a hillside. 

But it wasn't the only calling he was feeling. 

He was somewhere uptown, he thought. He'd run until the buildings were high, high over his head. And something was calling him from far, far above.

When he looked up, the buildings above faded into the endless dark—except for one. That one glowed a faint purple along its sides, and when he stilled his breath, he thought he could hear…something. 

Noa closed his eyes and crouched low. Then he threw himself upwards and flew—one storey, two, three. Instead of slowing down as he rose, he concentrated and shot upward faster, his magic more responsive to his will than he'd ever experienced. 

The cityscape below fell away and he hugged the side of the skyscraper as the light illuminating it from the inside grew brighter and brighter—

And then he reached the roof: bare, desolate, a purple so light it was almost white. 

Whatever he was looking for wasn't here—but it was close. 

Noa crossed the roof, finding the doorway that led down. It was unlocked, and he all but floated down the stairs. 

The top floor of the building must have been forty storeys or more off the ground. It had an open floorplan and was ringed in windows, all showing shadowy buildings and a rainbow profusion of plants far, far below. 

And in the center was a glowing sphere of magical symbols and circles within circles, spinning rapidly. 

Noa stepped forward, feeling pulled towards it. It was the most magical thing he had ever seen—so bright it should have blinded the physical eye. It sang with power, a melody without a voice. 

It belonged to Shijo. And yet….

He reached towards it, stepping closer. Each step, he had to stop himself from breaking into a run. 

He hadn't realized the singing wasn't a literal sound until a soft voice broke the silence. 

"There you are." 

Noa spun around. 

Murasaki Shijo had opened a panel of the window and slipped inside as casually as if it were a doorway. The light of the Garden's magic washed out her kimono until it looked pure white. Her expression was triumphant as she strode across the room with smooth, graceful steps.

"I see you've found the center," she said. "There is so much that this place could be, Takasu-kun...no, Noa. This is a place that allows for no lies, only potential." 

Noa circled around, trying to put the core between the two of them. "I don't have anything to say to you." 

"But what do you have to say to this?" She threw a gesture at the expanse of the town. "You can see the whole Garden from here—the whole of the city of Kikyo as it was meant to be. As it will be, one day very, very soon."

"I see," Noa said carefully, "a bunch of flowers and a lot of empty buildings. That's all." 

"Yes, it's incomplete. But surely you've felt the magic here? This place will feed dreams and create wonders—and only a chosen few may enter. Those with ancient magic flowing through their veins, and the will to use it." 

Shijo stretched a hand out towards him. "Just looking at you here tells me almost everything I need to know, dear Noa. You are one of the children of the future—of the fae. If you do not know your affiliation, then why not take mine? The Shijos will welcome you as their own. And I've been looking for one worthy to train as a successor." 

Noa stared. She'd kidnapped him, bled him for weeks, and now was trying to get him onto her side?

"You're crazy if you think I'd ever affiliate myself with you," he told her. 

Shijo just smiled. "Well. In that case…you provide me with another opportunity as well. You see, there are few sources of magic more concentrated than blood—and none stronger than the blood of the fae. But still, I've been wondering what would happen if I gave one whole to this place—body, mind, and blood. You've given your blood, and I can deliver your body shortly…so let's see what it makes of your mind, shall we?" 

She raised a hand, gaze shifting to the Garden's center, and it erupted in light. 

The room was washed out so completely that Noa felt he could barely breathe. The pull of the Garden's center turned from a suggestion to a command, and he dropped into a crouch as he felt himself begin to slide towards the center. 

"Just relax." Shijo's voice echoed from all around, like the voice of the Garden itself. "If you do, it should be painless." 

Noa grasped at nothing, fingertips sliding against the smooth floor as he slipped into the center. "No! I'm not going to let you—" 

A tendril of purple reached out from the circle and wrapped around his throat…and he felt the Garden greet him. 

And as he touched it, he understood it. He'd been right. It was so hungry…and just short of alive. 

Eating a living mind might just get it there.