Cyrus didn't offer any visible reaction upon seeing the palace. It was, unfortunately, exactly how he expected to find it: in ruins. Not completely in disrepair, as it had been occupied by an emperor only seven years prior. But the emperor was an aging man, even back then, so for him to have passed with no heir to take his place would have meant the end of an era, the closing of a Dynasty. Usually this opened the door for the start of a new Dynasty. A few years of war leading to the crowning of a new Imperial line. That wasn't the case here. China still appeared to be in tatters. Either the power vacuum left by the emperor had not yet been filled or something was keeping it from being so.

[i]"By killing me you've condemned China to ruin... I hope you're happy..."[/i]

Finally Cyrus moved. He looked off to the side, arms crossing as if he were suddenly overcome by a chill. That memory wasn't exactly a happy moment of his life and being here, in the very place it happened caused him to replay that event over again in the forefront of his mind. Forget the temple reigniting old memories, the journey as a whole was beginning to do that to an even greater degree.

In a strange way, it was almost fortunate that Heartless began appearing. They at least would offer some form of distraction. He summoned both blades but before he could truly begin attacking he took notice of the creatures' behavior. They formed up in ranks, like soldiers. For a moment Cyrus even saw actual human imperial soldiers standing in ranks only to blink and see them as Heartless once more. That made him stop, his Keyblades even vanishing. No, they couldn't be... could they? He pushed the idea from his mind and, thankfully, found himself distracted by a distant roar. He sharply jerked his gaze to the sky, where the roar had come from. Around him the Heartless scattered and disappeared, the roar was enough to frighten them away. Then Cyrus saw it, or at least caught a glimpse of it: a dragon, it's serpentine body gliding through the sky like an eel in water.

"Dragon? Here?" questioned Cyrus as he followed after Arthal, "There were no Dragons when I came here last," he started, wondering if the echoing words of his memory held more truth then he initially believed, "this is worse than I thought."