When the black cat dragged a dead snake back from the depths of the woods, he nearly thought he had gone to the wrong place.
The area that had once been overgrown with weeds had been cleared into a smooth, level black foundation several hundred meters across. Dark red magic slowly flowed through conduits poured with graphite powder, emitting faint, obscure ripples.
Around the magic array stood six stone pillars, square at the base and round at the top, each divided into three sections and covered in wrinkled spell patterns. They looked like upright fingers.
At the center of the magic array stood a wall inlaid with sky-blue, blue-violet, and white tiles arranged in a mosaic pattern. In the middle of the wall was an arched doorway crowned with an onion-shaped dome. Its double doors were tightly shut. The doors were covered in lavishly colored and styled reliefs, seeming to depict scenes from certain myths, yet upon closer inspection, none of them quite matched.
At the edge of the magic array stood rows of yellow clay slabs inserted haphazardly into the ground. They enclosed the entire magic array like the petals of a blooming flower. The slabs were about a foot wide, with the exposed portions roughly a foot and a half long. Every slab bore patterns resembling branches and stars, painted in Dragon Bone Powder, making them look especially eerie.
The black cat raised his head and looked at the sky.
The pale sun and moon hung motionless in midair, offering him no way to tell the exact time.
"How long was I gone?" the black cat asked uncertainly.
The Red-banded Snake hanging around his neck quietly raised its head, its tail tip tentatively twitching. Without even lowering his eyelids, the black cat lifted a paw, extended his claws,