Allegiances
Seo-yun and I didn’t have to walk much further to find the camp she’d told me about. We were just walking, and then I took a step and carried myself into an area that had been completely invisible to me. It seemed that the camp had had some sort of strange, invisible magical barrier that was surrounding it. What it did was make anyone outside think they were just looking at a totally normal forest, when in reality, they were staring right at this little resistance’s base camp.
Oh, right, there was another important revision to be made. ‘Little’ wasn’t exactly the most accurate descriptor for this resistance. In fact, the size of it made the fact that they were able to pick up and move every few days very impressive. There had to be at least a hundred people here, and that was just what I could immediately see. The camp looked more like a small town than a camp. Seo-yun smiled as she watched my initial reaction.
“Incredible, isn’t it? There are explainable reasons to the things you’ve wondered, but those can wait. The other leaders will want to meet with you.” She explained, patting my back and urging me to walk forward.
“The other leaders? Is it safe to assume that means you’re one of the leaders as well?” I asked, to which she only smirked in response. As we walked through the town, a few people nodded to Seo-yun or spoke to her briefly. Some people also gave me strange looks, which I figured was to be expected. Although they didn’t seem as surprised as I figured they might be, considering Geulimja had said everyone in this dimension was Asian and I was very much not that. Seo-yun walked me over to a small building that had been erected near the centre of the town. It looked like it’d been built of stone, and it had no windows of any kind. Seo-yun knocked four times on the door, and when somebody on the other side grunted, she pushed the door open, dragging me in after her.
Even though the room had no outside light source, it was still lit. There were a few torches within the room, which lit up eight people within the room. Five of them sat at the far side of the room, while three of them sat opposite them. It seemed like they had been in the middle of some sort of conversation. It was a bit difficult to make out what anyone looked like, considering the lighting from the torches was a bit dim. Although, the more that I looked at the three people nearest the door, they looked like people I knew.
“Kwannon? Hank? John?” I asked, not believing my own eyes for a second. But, my eyes had not deceived me. Seated before me were three fellow earthlings.
“Ah, if it isn’t our darkness wielding friend!” Hank chuckled, rising to his feet. Kwannon and John were quick to follow, Kwannon approaching me and grabbing my shoulders before looking me over, while John just laughed behind her.
“Give the kid some room to breathe, Kwannon.” He said, looking at me as though he felt bad.
“I am, John. I’m just checking him over. I don’t like having children under our care alone in hostile environments.” Kwannon grumbled, frowning when her gripping of my forearms caused me to hiss in pain.
“Aha, seconded, Kwannon my dear! I find myself agreeing with John though, maybe let him sit down?” Hank suggested, as cheerful as usual. Kwannon frowned, glancing from me to Seo-yun, then back to me.
“What happened to your arms? They’re swollen.” She stated, as if I wasn’t aware of that. Seo-yun had dropped from who knows where and landed a kick directly onto my arms. I was surprised the bones weren’t broken. Maybe they were.
“Scuffle. It’s all reserved now… man am I glad to see you guys.”
“Right back at ya, kid.” John chuckled, lightly pulling Kwannon away from me so I could sit down, near where they’d been sitting. Seo-yun made her way to the other five people in the room, whispered something to the one sitting in the centre, then moved to sit at the far left of the group.
“What brings you here John, since when do you do missions?” I questioned. The man just shrugged.
“Well, I was around. Kinda would’ve felt like a dick if I didn’t come.” He replied, taking a seat next to Kwannon, who sat to my left. Hank sat down at my right.
“My apologies, Jared. We would’ve met up with you quicker, but well, things were complicated when we arrived, and then I found I couldn’t actually use my telepathy. I can’t get into contact with any of the others, either.” Kwannon explained, placing a hand on my shoulder. I just let out a sigh, deflating a little bit.
“It’s fine, this is a major relief for me.” I admitted to her. Hank seemed like he was about to speak, but stopped when the person sitting in the centre of the group we were facing cleared their throat.
“Not to break up your reunion, but we were in the middle of a rather important conversation, and I believe these two arriving only bolsters it.” They said. The voice sounded male, and also quite old. The size of the man was also quite notable, he was very short, as in like, the height you might expect a kid in the third grade to be. That being said, when I managed to make out his features, he was very obviously an elderly man.
“Ah, yes, absolutely. This is the boy we mentioned to you.” Hank explained, gesturing to me with his hands. The older man nodded slowly, before turning to look at me.
“My name is Ji-hun, and I am the leader of this little resistance you’ve found yourself pulled into. What is your name, young traveller?”
“Jared, nice to meet you.” It was hard to make out, but I was pretty sure that the man smiled in response.
“Yes, well, I must say the same in return. Now, your comrades tell me that you can wield darkness, and Seo-yun tells me something similar. She claims that you are Geulimja’s host.” He said, his tone slow and, honestly, if a voice could be described as old, his voice most definitely was.
“That’s true. Uh, buddy, think you can do that thing you do and show up for a bit?” I asked. Geulimja grumbled something about not calling him buddy, before I felt his energy move to my shoulder, and a small, black wolf appeared there. Immediately, all five of the people there, except for Seo-yun, moved onto their hands and knees. Seo-yun didn’t look at all shocked by what they were doing, she just didn’t follow.
“That’s enough of that. I don’t recall any of you, and I haven’t been gone so long that I wouldn’t. Who are you?” Geulimja asked, a bit of bite and impatience to his voice. The five who had bowed moved back into seated positions, before Ji-hun spoke.
“It’s true. You wouldn’t remember us, because none of us were your worshippers. As far as any of us are aware, they were all lost.”
“They weren’t lost, they were killed.” Geulimja snarled at the old man. Ji-hun simply nodded, maintaining his composure completely.
“That’s absolutely true. We are new converts. After how you combatted Bich in the past, we believed that perhaps, you would come and save us all once more.”
“Last time I fought my brother, I wouldn’t exactly say I saved you.”
“Perhaps not, but he was gone for a while, and things seemed to return to normal. Until he returned three years ago in a new, foreign host body, and took over the Kingdom of Light.” Ji-hun explained gravely. Geulimja just grunted at that.
“He already ruled the Kingdom, though.”
“Yes, but he ruled as a god, like you did, he mainly stayed on the sidelines and was worshipped, allowing his subjects to lead and run their own nation. Besides, after everything that happened to the city of darkness, the gods collectively decided to step back. They were supposed to just observe and allow their subjects to live on. However he came back with a host, and took it over for himself.” Ji-Hun explained, tone still grave.
“How’d he pull that off? You telling me the Kingdom of Light didn’t have enough powerful mages to fight off a new host?” He asked. Ji-hun simply shook his head.
“It didn’t matter ultimately, because he had help on the inside. They helped him overthrow the royals, and put himself in charge.” Ji-hun explained. I noticed how Seo-yun bowed her head at that explanation. It seemed like Geulimja did, too.
“Ah, the girl’s sister. She did seem rather smitten with the King.” He noted, prompting Ji-hun to nod slowly.
“The king and queen’s oldest daughter was set to become the next regent once they finally retired. The second daughter couldn’t bear it, so she had a new ruler, her lover, placed on the throne. Forcibly.” He explained slowly. Geulimja nodded at that, before returning to a previous comment.
“So the gods all decided to simply observe, but he came back with a host? Why did none of the other gods take hosts to combat this?” Geulimja questioned, sounding frustrated at his fellow gods' lack of action.
“They were sealed away. I’m not sure how he did it, but they were. However, since you were already with a host, this didn’t affect you. We need you if we are to defeat the Light King. Please, help us.” Ji-hun practically begged. Geulimja just stared at him, before grunting.
“Well, it’s not really my choice. The kid already told the girl he’d help.” He said, prompting Ji-hun to look up at me.
“We will benefit greatly from your service, young man…”
“Yeah uh… alright, lots of pressure, but I’ll get it done.” I said, prompting Geulimja to laugh, and John to quietly chuckle, only for Kwannon to hit him with a swift elbow to the human part of his torso.
“This is not something that can be taken lightly.” Grumbled one of the people sitting to Ji-hun’s right. As far as I could tell, he had the head of a large toad.
“I’m not taking it lightly. If I’m really the only one who can help here, then I’ll do whatever I can.” I assured him. The frog guy just grunted again, sounding like he didn’t believe me. A man to the frog guy’s right clapped his hands together.
“Very well. Well, since we’ve got this guy here, we’re all saved. The hero is here, everybody!” He laughed, prompting me to frown and Geulimja to growl on my shoulder.
“Settle, Jin-yeop.” Ji-hun said with a sigh.
“This is all foolish. I respect Geulimja, of course, but I don’t see why we’re just going to act like this stranger is going to be the one to turn the tide. We have no proof he’s actually capable whatsoever.” This new guy, Jin-yeop, pointed out. He seemed young, close to my age, probably. So did Seo-yun, so they were likely close in age. Seo-yun, for her part, seemed annoyed by this guy. As did everyone else in the room.
“I dunno if I’m gonna turn the tide, but I’m willing to offer a hand. I’ll do whatever I can to help.” I assured this guy. He was frustrated, but I couldn’t really bring myself to blame him. He’d probably been through a lot, and here comes some stranger from a totally different world, who everyone thinks is gonna save the day. Jin-yeop simply scowled at me, before walking out of the room. The frog guy who had been seated next to him sighed, before getting up to follow. Ji-hun looked at me with a sigh.
“I must offer my deepest apologies.”
“It’s fine, can’t blame him for being angry.” I replied, as Geulimja disappeared back into my body. Ji-hun nodded at this.
“Very well. It wouldn’t be wise to attack yet, so just settle in for now. I’m not sure what exactly you’d like to be doing-”
“Do you have a doctor? His arms are in bad shape.” Kwannon noted, nodding at me. The woman immediately to Ji-hun’s left nodded, standing up.
“Yes, follow me. Seo-yun, perhaps you should come too?”
“Pfft, he didn’t even land a hit on me.” She scoffed, earning her a frown from me, and earning me a laugh and a pat on the back from John.
“I think that perhaps, you should follow me anyways.” The woman said, staring at Seo-yun for an uncomfortably long time until she seemed to relent.
“Okay, fine.” Seo-yun grumbled, getting up to follow me, as did Kwannon, John and Hank. The woman who led us out had short, red hair, and wore what looked like a white trench coat of sorts, along with black and pale blue pants, matching the color of Seo-yun’s clothes. She led the five of us into a tent, where there were a few people undergoing treatment. There were some people who looked to be very seriously wounded, while some just looked to have minor wounds. The woman with the red hair, whose name I hadn’t yet learned, had Seo-yun and I sit down, before walking away, claiming she had to grab a few things. The seating Seo-yun and I had been given was elevated, so we were about eye level with Hank, John and Kwannon.
“So, you said your telepathy doesn’t work?” I asked Kwannon, breaking the silence in the room. She nodded, looking at me.
“Yes. Ji-hun said something about a clan of telepaths aligned with the Light King. Speaking of whom, did you encounter him?” Kwannon asked me. I nodded slowly, looking at the group of three standing before me.
“Yeah, one of his guys pulled me through that portal. He sent me off with a mission, it was actually to kill her.” I explained, pointing my thumb at Seo-yun, who was seated next to me.
“A foolish decision, you didn’t stand a chance against me.” She said, sticking her chin up. I just frowned, glancing at John, who looked like he was about to laugh.
“I didn’t even use my powers. I wasn’t trying to fight her.” I told him. He just shrugged, still looking like he was on the verge of laughing.
“She was trying to fight you, though. Holding back was a stupid decision.” Kwannon grumbled, looking unimpressed. Hank chuckled rather awkwardly next to her.
“Well, I think we can all appreciate Jared’s unwillingness to kill an innocent person he’s never met.” He said, but neither John or Kwannon responded to him whatsoever. Seo-yun shifted awkwardly in her seat, looking from me, to John, and then lastly to Hank.
“So, in this other world Jared speaks of, does everybody look… different? Like you all? Well, except for you, I suppose.” She said, gesturing to Kwannon at the end, who still wore a rather unimpressed look on her face. Hank gave a hearty chuckle to this.
“Well, I suppose you could say everyone looks a bit different. Although, there are many people who share the complexions of Jared, yourself, and our friend John here. My look is a bit more rare.” He explained with a smile. One thing I’d learned about Hank in my short time knowing him was that he always seemed happy to teach somebody something. It was pretty charming, honestly.
“How interesting.” Seo-yun murmured, as the red haired woman re-entered the section of the tent we were in.
“It seems the bones in your arms are really just very badly bruised. No breaks, I can heal those myself. As for you.” The woman said, first speaking to me, then turning to Seo-yun, who just frowned at her.
“I’m not sure what you hit hard enough to do this, but the bones at the back of your ankle are broken. I’m rather surprised you weren’t showing more pain.” The woman noted, looking at Seo-yun very pointedly, although she just shrugged in response.
“Part of my gift.” She replied, as if that cleared it all up. Admittedly, it did seem to clear things up for the red haired woman, who just nodded along, before turning to me.
“I apologize, I should’ve introduced myself. I’m Cho-hee, it’s a pleasure to meet you. If you could hold your arms out in front of me, I’ll heal them right up.” She explained kindly. I nodded, holding out my arms for her as she asked. She moved, her hands hovering just over my arms and glowing a faint, pale blue colour. I could feel the pain disappearing slowly, before it eventually disappeared altogether. In fact, the swelling in my arms also slowly went away, my arms returning to their normal appearance.
“Fascinating…” Hank murmured as he watched.
“Freaky, is more like it.” John grumbled, seemingly very confused at what it was he was watching.
“Oh please, we’ve all seen much stranger.” Kwannon pointed out, watching as Cho-hee moved to heal Seo-yun. Hank seemed curious about something, curious enough to speak about.
“Now, Cho-hee, when the child, uh, what was her name?”
“Seo-yun.” The girl in question grumbled in response.
“Right! When you speak of your power, what do you mean? I thought you all used magic here, is it something different?” He questioned the two women. Cho-hee didn’t answer, simply looking at Seo-yun to see if she would. She nodded at Hank’s question.
“Well, you see, everyone in our world is usually associated with one of the gods in some way. I was with the Light Kingdom of course, born and raised. Thus, I logically began to learn light magic, like all the other children do in that kingdom, and like how a child who worships the goddess Mul would learn water magic. However, I was incapable of using light magic, or of using it effectively, at least… Everyone believed I was simply a complete failure, however I ended up having powers of my own, powers that simply came from my body.” Seo-yun explained, much to the fascination of Hank, and admittedly myself as well.
“As far as we can tell, she’s the first person ever to use powers that naturally come from her own body, and not magic. We’re not sure what to call it, since she’s the first and only case.” Cho-hee explained, stepping in to explain once she was done healing Seo-yun’s foot. Hank just chuckled at that.
“It sounds to me like a mutation.” He joked, as if it was the funniest thing ever. Cho-hee however, snapped her fingers, pointing at him.
“That’s not bad! A mutation, I like it!” She said, before looking at everyone and bowing.
“Well then, I need to go. Other patients, I’m sure you understand. It was a pleasure to meet you all.” She said, before walking off to some other part of the tent. That once again just left the five of us there, although this time, it didn’t feel as awkward.
“Tell us what you’re thinking, Hank.” Kwannon said, looking at the furry blue man, who seemed to be deep in thought.
“Well Kwannon, I believe that our dear Seo-yun here is a mutant, just like us, except she isn’t a human one.” He explained, looking at Seo-yun, who just looked confused.
“A mutant?” She questioned, while John just shook his head.
“Is that a thing that can happen?” He asked Hank, who nodded.
“Oh yes, I believe that it’s very possible for other species to have mutations similar to us human mutants. Whether or not they have the X-gene is a different story, I’d have to do some testing, but I don’t have my equipment here.” He admitted with a sigh of disappointment.
“So, what exactly is your power?” I asked Seo-yun, turning to look at her. She just smiled back at me.
“I can manipulate the wind. Oh, and I heal from most wounds, although I can only heal myself, nobody else.” She explained, earning a nod from me. Powers like those could certainly have their uses.
“Well, this is all wonderful, but we need to plan our next steps. Ji-hun doesn’t want to attack yet, and the four of us certainly aren’t prepared for a large-scale battle on our own, so I’d say it’s best that we wait for the whole force.” Kwannon said, notably saying four and not referring to Seo-yun as part of that. If she noticed, she didn’t acknowledge it, simply sitting next to me in silence.
“Do you guys know where everyone else is? I’m assuming it’s not just the three of you who came here?” I asked, prompting Kwannon to shake her head.
“We all came here together, but the portal spat us out in different spots, I have no idea where any of the others are. We can only hope they aren’t in danger.” Kwannon explained to me.
“They can take care of themselves, I’m sure they’re fine.” John told me with a shrug.
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“Either way, I’d much prefer it if we were all together. As a full unit, we could move on the Light King, take him down, and be home by dinner. With just the four of us, I have to imagine that’d be significantly more difficult, even if you’re supposedly our best chance at defeating him.” Kwannon said, directing the last part at me.
“Speaking of that, I’m not sure how much use I’m actually gonna be. Geulimja said that he wasn’t sure who’d win if the two of us fought. I probably need to improve my skills when I’m using his abilities.” I suggested, leaning forward slightly in my seat.
“Well, yes, we’ve barely even started with your physical training. Your conditioning is rather poor, considering your circumstances before we found you. I’d imagine the only reason you’re able to keep pace with everybody is because of the demon inhabiting you.” Kwannon pointed out.
“Your diet has been steadily improving, and it seems we’ll be able to keep you relatively well fed here. No Glob means no vegan diet. Helping you out a bit more with your combat prowess is probably our best move at the current juncture.” Hank said, stroking his chin as if deep in thought.
“There’s also my temple.” Geulimja said, as he once again emerged, appearing on my shoulder in his mini wolf form. Seo-yun looked over at him as he spoke, seemingly interested.
“That isn’t too far from here. We camped out near it in our last location.” She told us.
“What exactly does this temple entail?” Kwannon asked, sounding rather skeptical.
“Well, it was a place of worship for me, and the place in this realm where I was at my strongest. Being there is gonna give me a bit of a boost, and it should also allow me to teach Jared some more of my techniques.” Geulimja explained in response. Kwannon still seemed a bit skeptical, but Hank was nodding slowly.
“Well, if there’s a way to improve Jared’s proficiency with your abilities, we should probably do that.” He noted, while John nodded in agreement.
“I’m not so sure this is a good idea. This is unfamiliar territory for us, afterall.” Kwannon pointed out, to which Geulimja simply scoffed at her.
“Oh, fine, be like that. Girl, you’ll come with us. Show us the way. I can’t recall how to get there from here, anyhow.” Geulimja practically ordered. Seo-yun just frowned at him, before nodding along.
“Fine, if that’s what it takes to win…”
“In that case, I’m going too. I don’t like leaving him alone with someone who’s proven capable of beating him.” Kwannon said firmly. Seo-yun was still frowning, but now she glared at Kwannon.
“What’s the issue? I wouldn’t kill an ally.”
“I don’t know you enough to take your word on that, so I’ll be accompanying you. John, Hank, you two stay here.” Kwannon said, patting me on the shoulder Geulimja wasn’t sitting on.
“Get up, Jared. We should make this journey as quickly as we can.” She said, and I did as she asked with a nod. Seo-yun followed after me, and the three of us walked out of the tent, leaving Hank and John behind. Seo-yun took off for a moment, claiming that she needed to clear the expedition with the leaders of the resistance, leaving me alone with Kwannon.
“What do you make of that girl?” Kwannon asked myself and Geulimja the moment Seo-yun was out of earshot.
“Be careful around her, she can hear your thoughts as you think them.” Geulimja told her with a grunt, laying down on my shoulder.
“Good to know. Jared?”
“I dunno. She seems like a good person. She’s on our side at least, so long as we’re against the Light King.” I replied, turning to look at Kwannon, who was already looking at me too.
“She’s the sister of the Light King’s current lover, is she not? How do we know she isn’t working with them?” She questioned. I didn’t really have a good answer for her though, aside from the fact that I simply didn’t think that was the case.
“I guess we don’t. Doesn’t seem like it though. If she was really allied with them, she’d have had no reason to fight me in the forest.” I said in response. Kwannon nodded, considering what I’d said, although I couldn’t tell whether or not she agreed with me.
A few moments after our little conversation had wrapped up, Seo-yun made her way back over, with the frog guy from the earlier meeting following her.
“They approved the outing, although they didn’t like the idea of me going with just the two of you, so Bufo here is coming with us.” She explained, pointing at him over her shoulder with her thumb. The frogman, Bufo, nodded at that, but didn’t speak.
“Alright then, let’s get moving. The quicker we can deal with my brother, the better.” Geulimja grumbled, before disappearing back into my body.
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The four of us walked for at least three hours before it was nighttime, and we decided to set up camp for the night. The camp was just a fire, with some bed rolls that we would be sleeping on. That being said, since we were out in the open, somebody had to keep watch, and since Kwannon and Bufo didn’t neccesarily seem to trust the other, or the person the other had known before this mission, we ended up with two people on watch. Kwannon had me take the first watch, and in response, Bufo had Seo-yun take the first watch as well, so the two of us were left on watch duty while Kwannon and Bufo slept. As far as I could tell, Geulimja was also asleep. He had said he’d sleep now so he could be awake while I slept.
Seo-yun and I sat in relative silence for about twenty minutes before I got bored.
“So, uh, are we far from the temple?” I asked her. She looked up from the fire to make eye contact with me, seemingly a bit surprised that I’d spoken to her.
“It’s about an hour or so from here. We should be there early in the morning, and you should have plenty of time to do whatever it is Geulimja wants you to do to prepare.” She explained, before picking up two sticks and rubbing them against each other mindlessly.
“I noticed something, earlier, during that meeting. When Geulimja popped up on my shoulder, everyone in that meeting bowed to him, except for you? Why’s that? You can be honest, by the way, he’s sleeping and I won’t take it personally.” I assured her. She stared at me for a second, maybe checking my thoughts for any trace that I had been lying, before replying.
“It’s not out of disrespect. It’s just that, as a member of the Light Kingdom, I had worshipped Bich for most of my life. However, he then took over my home, or at least, his host did. My parents were imprisoned, and my oldest sister was exiled, while my other sister turned her back on all of us. Considering I’ve now seen what gods can do, it’s hard for me to truly worship them like the others do, although I still recognize their power.” She explained, pausing what she was doing with her sticks for a moment.
“Well, that’s totally fair. Geulimja can be a bit of a dick, anyways.” I admitted, earning a laugh from her. The sound was nice on the ears.
“I’ve never heard someone call a god a dick before.” She said with a grin, to which I shrugged.
“Well, I doubt any of the people you’ve spoken to have had to share a body with one.” I pointed out, which just caused her to shrug.
“That’s a good point. Although I’d also imagine that many of those people were also just afraid of those gods hearing them and causing them immense pain and suffering.” She replied, still grinning.
Well, that’s a bit morbid. Probably not wrong, though.
“Yeah, fair enough.” I responded, forcing a bit of an awkward laugh, before quickly trying to move the conversation along.
“Okay uh, the two of us are stuck here on watch for a bit, so we should make the most of it. What can you tell me about the Light King? Or the Light Kingdom, or your sister, anything like that?” I asked her. She leaned forward slightly on her seat, which was just a log, looking a bit more serious.
“Well, to begin, the Light King is an incredibly dangerous foe. I’m sure you already know that, but I believe I should still stress it to you anyways. He is not somebody to be taken for a fool, although he may come off like a brash idiot at times. He is incredibly intelligent, but also lazy. Truth be told, I doubt I’ve seen everything he can do with his powers, but he has a few variations of light blasts. He has the simple, concussive ones, he has beams, which can pierce someone's skin or armour, and then he has his larger, slice like projectiles, which tend to move a bit slower, but can pack quite the punch, and are capable of cleaving somebody in half, from what I’ve seen.”
“Shit…”
“Shit is right. He is incredibly dangerous. If you are going to defeat him, you need to be stronger. Although you didn’t use your abilities in our fight, it seems like everyone who knows you better than I do, including you yourself, are under the impression that you’d need quite the boost in power to defeat this man. His staff is Bich’s legendary weapon. The legends say that each of the gods have one, a weapon which boosts and concentrates their power. Geulimja’s was a massive, one edged broadsword. Hopefully, it’ll be within his temple.” Seo-yun explained. This information was new to me. I’d have to ask Geulimja about it once he woke up.
“I don’t know how he’d use a sword, considering the fact that he’s a wolf and all.” I pointed out. Seo-yun simply shook her head, laughing quietly.
“Well, that’s not his only form. Also, the weapons were typically wielded by them when they were within hosts, so that could be why. Either way, you’ll need to train in swordplay. Thankfully, your friend seems to be quite proficient.” She said, gesturing to Kwannon, who was asleep near the fire.
“Yeah, she is. We have another friend who uses an even bigger sword, so she might be better for training with that specific weapon, if we even find it. So I gotta learn how to use a sword. I wonder if that’s the main thing he’s planning on showing me when we get there.” I wondered, mainly to myself.
“That’s certainly possible. Anyways, what else did you ask? Oh, that’s right, the Kingdom itself. It’s massive, with various subsections in which different people live. At the centre is the main castle area, which is not only elevated, but surrounded by a moat and a drawbridge. It will be incredibly difficult to breach, with there being only one way in or out.” She explained to me, sounding a little frustrated at that admission. That being said though, there was something that didn’t quite check out with what I knew.
“I don’t think that’s entirely true. At the very least, there’s another way out.” I told her. She seemed surprised by this, making eye contact with me that was a little bit uncomfortable.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, when they sent me off to hunt you, they took me to this secret passage, and it took me to the forest. We could probably take that as an attack route.” I explained to her. She sat up a bit straighter at that admission.
“That… changes everything. If we have another way to attack, then we can launch a two pronged assault, or sneak our entire force onto the castle island. This gives us much more of a chance.” Her eyes filled with hope as she realized this.
“Well, I’m glad to be of use. Uh, so anything else you can tell me about these guys? Your sister, his other forces? He had an old guy with him, and a dude who stunned me with tentacles.” I explained, prompting her to nod.
“Yes. The Light King has eight seats making up his council. One of them is, of course, himself. His second seat is my sister Yeong-Ja. She’s a powerful practitioner of light magic, perhaps the most powerful in our dimension, aside from the king himself, of course. She has various different abilities. Primarily, she uses blasts and other ranged attacks, but she’s also proficient when it comes to stealth, and is quite good with weapons our people would associate with things like that, such as blades or shurikens.” She explained, taking a momentary pause.
“So, how do you fight?” I asked her innocently. She looked up at me, smiling slightly.
“Fishing for information? Don’t tell me you’re planning on betraying me?” She said, although the smile on her face implied she was joking.
“No, absolutely not. I’m just curious, since you don’t use magic like everyone else seems to here.”
“Well, I mainly fight hand to hand. I’m most proficient when using kicks.”
“I can attest to that.” I joked, earning another quick laugh from her before she continued.
“That being said, I also use my wind based abilities, which I’m still training quite a bit. As for weapons, I tend to use war fans in battle, I’m quite good with them, and with my wind abilities, I can recall them when I throw them. I’m also quite proficient with the bo staff…”
“Well, sounds like you’re quite capable.” I said, smiling at her. She shrugged, crossing one leg over the other.
“Yes, well, you already knew that. Now, tell me more about how you fight.”
“Uh well, I think I talked a bit about how I know how to use my powers already… I haven’t been in many fights though, to be honest. I mainly can just shoot blasts, or make spikes with the shadows. I can also teleport, and disappear in darkness, so I can do stealth stuff. I can get rid of all the light in an area, too. For fighting, I don’t really know how to use any weapons. I’m not great at hand to hand, if I’m honest.”
“Well, you’ll learn, I’m sure. I could always teach you.” She suggested, a bit of a smirk on her face.
“Maybe sometime.” I replied, still with a bit of a smile on my face as well.
“Well, with that out of the way, I suppose I should tell you more about the other members of the Light King’s council, seeing as you may have to fight any of them should a battle arise.”
“Oh, yes please do that.” I replied quickly. She smiled, throwing the sticks she’d been messing around with into the fire and picking up two more.
“His third seat is an older gentleman. I don’t actually know his name, but he seems to be quite the powerful sorcerer. He’s capable of creating portals, and doing various other spells that I’ve never seen before, at least not before I saw him doing them. The fourth seat, the guy with the tentacles you mentioned earlier, is named Beezel. He’s actually Bufo’s brother… Instead of looking amphibious, his face is made up of tentacles, and instead of having hands and feet like we do, he has tentacles there as well, although he still has arms, legs and a torso like we do. I know his tentacles can paralyze, not entirely sure what else he does.”
“The fifth seat may be the most powerful, aside from the King himself. It’s either him or my sister. His name is Chung-ho, and he’s rather tall. He wears a birdlike mask, and he has large, feathery white wings on his back, while wielding a massive, glowing white sword. He is incredibly strong as well, very dangerous, that one. Then there’s the sixth seat, Sang-wook. He wields a weapon which allows him to fire massive, concentrated and explosive beams of light, he’s honestly not much of a threat in one on one combat if you can remove the weapon from his hands. The seventh seat is Chun-hee, she is incredibly quick footed, and she uses two daggers in combat. She’s someone you need to be aware of at all times. The last one is a robot, they just call him Droid most of the time. He can emit very loud sounds which are quite difficult to deal with. He also has a sword.” She explained, taking a long breath once she was done her explanation.
“Okay, so there’s eight people we have to plan for, plus all the other foot soldiers they have.” I said, taking it all into consideration. If we had Scott around, it’d be easier. He was very good at planning out battles and attacks. That wasn’t my area of expertise, nor did I think it was the expertise of any of my fellow mutants, at least the ones I’d found so far. Hopefully, someone within the resistance would be able to cook up a good plan. Seo-yun nodded slowly, before looking at the moon, and then turning to me.
“Be honest, do you think we’re going to be able to do this? Defeat the Light King, retake control of our kingdom?” She asked, which just caused me to shrug in response.
“I can’t say for sure, but I can tell you I’m dedicated to the cause, as scared as I am for such a large scale fight. I need to do this, plus I need to get home, and beating this guy might be my best chance at doing that.” I said in response. She just nodded slowly, turning to stare at the fire.
“I just hope we can get this done. I’m tired of living in fear.” She murmured, sighing after and leaning back slightly while seated. I just nodded to myself at that.
Even with some sort of power up, would I really be able to defeat this Light King guy?
Only one way to find out.