Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [325]
Mitsuru reached out, grasping her hand. “Allow me to pour. We’ve covered some difficult territory here. Perhaps you should rest.”
“Yes, of course.”
“I was wondering, just how dangerous is this Dark? How strong are its powers? Do your scholars know anything of this?”
Zophie’s mouth tightened. “Once, and only once in the past…nearing the end of the War of Unification, for a brief moment only, the seal was broken, and the power of the Dark came into our world.”
“However did this happen?”
“It was, the histories tell us, done on purpose to defeat a formidable adversary of the Empire. They were nomads, actually, living on the wide plains. Barbarians, they had no central government, yet wherever our troops went, they nibbled at their heels, disrupting our supply lines. Consequently, the emperor at the time decided to draw upon the power of the Dark.” The demon army that came through the portal when the Mirror of Eternal Shadow was used demolished the barbarians in the blink of an eye.
“Frightful…yet, were there not injuries to the Imperial Army as well?”
“The barbarians were lured to a particular place, and the mirror was moved nearby. All care was taken in the planning of the attack, and, luckily, our losses were few. As soon as the barbarians were defeated, the seal was replaced, of course. It was open for perhaps all of an hour.”
The seal replaced, the demons that had fallen upon Vision became nothing more than dust.
“What form do these demons take?”
“I do not know. If one were to read the ancient chronicles of the war, one might find a drawing, I’d imagine…”
Mitsuru had read every account of the war in existence and found no such drawing. Perhaps whatever they did look like was too fearful to be recorded.
“The field where the demons set upon the barbarian tribes is, even today, a barren wasteland where not a single blade of grass will grow. I have never been there, though, for it is far away from this city.”
Then Zophie changed the subject with another question. “Master Mitsuru, do you know why this castle is called the Crystal Palace, though it be built of stone?”
Mitsuru looked up at the towering castle behind him and shook his head. “That I do not. Now that you mention it, it does seem quite odd.”
“It has been three hundred years since the War of Unification ended, yet it was a hundred years after that when the capital was moved here. They built a castle, setting the Mirror of Eternal Shadow in a safe place within, and that instant, the castle filled with translucent light as though it were made of crystal. The castle was called the Crystal Palace in memory of that moment. I hear that during the battle when the barbarians were defeated, when the seal on the mirror was lifted and then replaced, a similar light filled the land. I must therefore conclude that this light comes from the mirror itself. Perhaps it is the mind of the mirror revealed.”
The mind of the mirror? What exactly would a mirror think or feel, Mitsuru wondered. Was it the joy of release when its seal was lifted? Or perhaps it was merely showing satisfaction at being feared and respected.
Regardless, the discussion had taken a sudden and unexpected turn in Mitsuru’s favor.
“So the Mirror of Eternal Shadow is here in the Crystal Palace?”
“Yes,” Zophie said, nodding lightly, blanching slightly under Mitsuru’s hawklike gaze, as though knowing it would do no good to hide this truth from someone of his powers. “Yet, not even I know exactly where it is. Only my father and the high priest know that.”
“But there is a room of some sort, a place where the mirror is held safe? Perhaps a chapel? If one were to look at the blueprints for the castle…”
“No, its location is concealed behind a barrier—a magical veil. The barrier prevents anyone from knowing where the room is. They simply cannot see it,” Zophie replied lightly, but the words made a great impact on Mitsuru. It was enough to make him lean momentarily against the back of his chair for support.
A magical barrier—of course. That’s why I was unable to find the exact location of the final gemstone