The second clunk was deeper than the first, more like a structural groan rising from somewhere beneath them. Dust fell loose from the ceiling, drifting down in streams that broke apart in the air.
Then, a long crack formed across one of the mural walls.
Ren turned toward it and studied it attentively, already running several possibilities through his mind.
"What now…?"
Kagami's ears lowered slowly, more calculated than startled.
"That mechanism is new..."
But then the circular floor supporting the planning table started moving unexpectedly. Its inner edge began to sink slowly, giving in under the weight of chains and lifts that had been hidden up until that moment.
Ren backed off instinctively. Kagami leapt sideways toward one side of the room she deemed safer, but the floor was already starting to move beyond as well. The tilt was growing, dragging both of them toward the center as the entire structure moved beneath them like a rotating plate.
Ren tried to brace himself against one of the supporting pylons, but the force of the tilt overpowered his grip.
Kagami clawed at the ledge as well, but the ledge reshaped under her paws, like it had a mind of its own.
With nothing left to anchor them, they both slid downward into the dark, pulled into the collapsing interior, toward what looked like a swirling vortex made of stone and wood.
Ren couldn't count how many levels they passed. He caught glimpses of broken beams and empty frameworks rushing past them, illuminated only by short bursts of light.
Then came the pit. Or whatever that place was.
The fall threw his senses into chaos, so everything seemed to spin, as if the rules of gravity were finally starting to count less in that place. He fought a rising wave of nausea, but managed to hold himself together.
Then the space slowly closed above them. What little light remained vanished almost entirely as the walls sealed shut.
Ren exhaled and glanced around, trying to center himself once again. As he inspected them, he saw the walls were made of damp stone with scraps of old wallpaper peeling in places. It was humid, dense, and hard to breathe, but still bearable.
Kagami rose to her feet, alert, while her fur bristled from all the mess.
"You alright?" Ren asked.
"Not thrilled," she replied sharply, moving her tail around. "But alive."
She moved toward one of the walls and tapped it lightly with her claws. Based on the way she was posing and also the way her eyes closed in concentration, Ren assumed this was a way for her to search for reactive spells within the structure or perhaps any hidden glyphs. But nothing really responded.
"There's no exit spell I can use. This place is locked," she confirmed.
Ren glanced down at the Akariwake. The ring remained still. No trails of smoke. No drifting particles. Just inert metal, faintly warm but directionless as if something had muted it entirely the moment that girl had crossed their path.
He then looked ahead. The corridor stretching forward wasn't very different in shape and size from the ones above. The only real difference was that this one seemed like a mirrored version of those. Hidden from light and depraved of oxygen. Uncared for and forgotten. It was surreal to think they were still inside the Sanctum pagoda. Nothing built in there by human hands should have been able to contain this much space.
Suddenly, a glow pulsed at the end of the corridor. It spilled forward in a golden hue, mixed with drifting dark mist. And behind it, standing in its halo, was the little girl from before.
Only... she looked different now.
Her robe was even longer now, dragging like a gown. And her form was no longer childlike. One side of her head was covered with a white mask, but the other side revealed a grown woman's face. The resemblance was undeniable, only she had aged decades in an instant. Or perhaps this was the true version of her, and what they had seen before was the illusion.
Just like before, she didn't speak with words. But for a few moments, it seemed as though the walls themselves breathed, and between those breathing pulses a word filtered out from nowhere.
"Shiori."
Ren turned toward Kagami.
"Did you hear that?... Shiori... Who is she?"
Kagami's eyes didn't move from the figure.
"Do you know her?" he pressed.
"No. There have been other witches since my time, no doubt. I can't possibly know them all. And this place… It's not like it cares much about history anymore. Remember what happened to the library."
"Right..." Ren wasn't particularly eager to recall that, but Kagami's words made sense.
Ahead, the glow faded slightly. The girl... Shiori... turned and stepped beyond the corridor bend, vanishing from sight.
"I knew there was something wrong about her..." Kagami added.
When the space settled and no further signs of movement came, Ren took a breath and started forward. There was nothing left to wait for at that point. They had to keep moving.
His eyes scanned constantly around, taking in each variation of the environment.
But the further they went, the thicker the dark became. So at one point, he lifted his hand and, without waiting for a prompt, he sparked Kindling. It was the spell Kagami had taught him not long ago.
A small flame ignited in his palm. The light burned warm, casting a long shadow behind them as they walked.
Kagami glanced at it and took note of the control.
"Better. It's holding longer now."
Ren felt it too. The Pact energy wasn't pushing back the way it used to, and he wasn't chasing it anymore either. He let it move through him more naturally now, allowing it to rise and flow with whatever the moment called for, rather than trying to force it into shape.
"No one is shielding me now. So light, stay with me," Ren said, barely whispered.
"Hmm?..."
"It's the incantation I used. You told me to pick something and tell it to my inner self, remember?"
"So I did," Kagami smiled, and had the Kindling flame been just a little brighter, Ren might have even seen the unusual warmth in her expression.
The path led them through a corridor bordered with aged wooden placards all around. A single paper lantern hung from an iron hook, and the flame inside was so faint it barely lit a few paces around it.
And the humidity increased as well with each step, as if they were somehow descending instead of actually climbing to higher levels.
Suddenly, they both turned to the sound of steps echoing behind them.