Known Unknowns
It was a few more hours until we switched with Kwannon and Bufo, having them take watch while Seo-yun and I rested. Geulimja also woke up at this time, claiming he’d feel safer if one of us was awake at all times, which checked out with me.
After a few hours though, Kwannon woke me up. It seemed Seo-yun was already awake, helping Bufo pack up the bed rolls we’d used, and put out the fire.
“Ugh, sorry, was it hard to get me up?” I asked her. She shrugged, patting my shoulder as I rose from a lying position to a seated one.
“No, not really. We let you two get some extra sleep, so you weren’t too difficult to rouse.” She assured me, as she stood up and dusted off her pants.
“Aw, you didn’t have to do that.” I said, stifling a yawn as I got to my feet, beginning to pack up my bed roll.
“Well, we figured it’d be best to let you get some extra sleep, considering you’ll most likely have to do some sort of physical work or exercise in the temple, at least you will if what Bufo said has any validity to it.” She explained with a sigh.
“Yeah. Seo-yun said something about me getting a big sword.” I told her, to which she smiled.
“Hmm, perhaps we can get Illyana in on training you.” She suggested, to which I nodded.
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking as well.” I agreed, fully packing up my bed roll and tucking it under my arm.
‘The girl was right. My sword should be in there. It’ll help to concentrate my powers within you, make them easier to use, hopefully. Also, you get a big strong weapon.’ Geulimja pitched in, although he was only speaking to me.
“Well, if everyone’s ready, I believe we can get going now. We should try to make it there as quickly as possible.” Kwannon stated, with everyone seemingly in agreement with her. We took off on the path we’d been on the previous night, Bufo leading the pack, followed by myself, then Seo-yun, with Kwannon taking up the rear.
After a few hours of travel, we finally reached the temple. From the outside, it didn’t look like anything all that crazy. There were steps, made out of some sort of smooth, black stone, but there weren’t an insane amount of steps, maybe just twenty or so, although they were long, presumably so many people could walk up them at once. After the twenty steps, there was a flat flooring area made up of the same smooth stone, which then opened up into the temple, which was seemingly dug into the side of a mountain. Within the temple, there were many pillars, made out of the same black stone that the floors and the interior walls were made of. There were slots for torches, but none of them were lit. Thankfully, us being in the temple allowed me to, for lack of a better term, unlock another one of Geulimja’s abilities, that being the gift of seeing in the dark. The first few steps into the temple were as dark for me as I assumed they were for everyone else, but after a little bit, it changed to rather normal lighting. Geulimja told me I could turn this ability off if I wanted to, but at that moment I had no reason to do that. I still wasn’t really able to make out much though. It seemed the space was rather wide, expansive and notably, very empty. Aside from the pillars, there wasn’t much. In fact, in the more inner sections of the temple, I couldn’t even see the walls, at least not where I stood there.
‘Where exactly am I supposed to look for this thing?’
‘Dunno, haven’t been here in a while. Just look around.’ Geulimja suggested in response to my rather annoyed question.
“Does anyone have a source of light?” Kwannon asked, shot in the dark question, because if they did, they probably would’ve used it.
“No.” Bufo croaked simply. That was sort of how he spoke. Everything was a croak. Like how I imagined a frog would talk, if it could.
“I can see in the dark now, apparently. The floors seem safe enough. I don’t see the sword anywhere, though.” I explained to the group. I wanted to keep an eye on everyone, since I was the only one who could actually see. I didn’t need anybody accidentally wandering off on their own.
“Well, obviously. It’s not just gonna be lying around somewhere for you to grab.” Seo-yun pointed out, which, yeah, was totally fair. Still, I’d kind of been hoping it’d be that simple.
‘There should be sub levels, unless it’s been changed since my last time here. Try to find those.’
‘You sound like a video game NPC.’ I grumbled back at Geulimja after his rather useless feeling instructions.
‘I don’t know what that means, and thus, your insult can’t hurt me.’ He replied, sounding rather proud of himself. I just scoffed and continued walking, trying to find some stairs somewhere.
“Let me know if you guys find stairs, I think we need to go down some.” I announced to the group. Everyone let out some noise of affirmation, and I continued searching, while also keeping an eye on all of them.
‘So, what exactly can you tell me about this weapon? Or the Light King’s sceptre for that matter?’ I asked Geulimja as I continued to search. I was doing my best to contain my frustration with the situation. Even though I could now see where I was going, it still felt like I was just shuffling around blindly. I hadn’t found anything of note yet, and I was starting to get a bit antsy.
‘Well, what exactly do you want to know?’ Geulimja questioned.
‘Uh, well what exactly does the sword do in comparison to his sceptre thing? Also, does the sword have a name, or do I get to give it one?’ I asked Geulimja, who chuckled quietly at my question.
‘It has a name, it’s called the Voidblade. His sceptre is called the Royal Luminance.’
‘Pfft. What, was he already a king?’
‘No, but he always fancied himself one. Now, how do they interact… the blade is much more proficient as a melee weapon than the sceptre, but the sceptre allows him to be a serious problem from range. I’d like to say that if you can close the distance on him, you’ll win the fight, but truthfully, I can’t say for sure.’ Geulimja admitted, something which was in no way reassuring to hear. It didn’t seem to me like Geulimja was all that confident in my ability to actually win this fight.
“Hey, I think I’ve got something!” Bufo called over from where he stood. I quickly made my way over to him, finding him standing with one hand pressed firmly to a wall, which had opened up to reveal stairs, one of which he had a foot placed on.
“Yup! Good job, dude. Here we are. Everyone over here!” I shouted, hoping they’d be able to follow my voice. They both did this effectively, with Seo-yun reaching me quicker, probably because she could hear my thoughts and thus, at least I assumed, follow me based on that. Kwannon was just an awesome ninja with awesome ninja training, so it wasn’t hard for her to follow a sound.
“Alright, let’s go!” I practically cheered, lifting up my foot to move down to the first step, only for Kwannon to place a hand on my midsection and stop me.
“Hold on, Jared. Don’t just rush in without thinking. This is unknown territory for you. Geulimja hasn’t been here in years, and you’ve never been here. You need to scan the area for any potential traps or hiccups that could present themselves.” Kwannon explained to me. Frankly, I thought it was a bit of a waste of time. Of everyone here, I was the only one who could actually see anything. If there had actually been a trap of some kind, I would’ve noticed it. That being said, Kwannon knew what she was doing in this sort of situation better than I did, so I figured it was best to at least check over the area briefly. All I could really do was look around it, and since I didn’t see anything, I decided to go on ahead. The other three followed rather slowly, trying not to fall down the stairs.
There were about thirty-two steps, moving downwards in a circle of sorts, until we reached the next floor. This one was constructed a bit differently than the other floor. While the other one had been mostly a large, open space, this one was tighter, with the walls being clearly visible. In fact, when stepping off the stairs, we were all greeted by a long hallway, with no end in sight. On the walls, there were wall mounted torches, although they weren’t lit. Or at least they weren’t until I walked past them, at which point they lit up with purple flames, finally providing everybody else with some light.
“Finally.” Seo-yun grumbled.
“I suppose it’s unsurprising that the god of darkness would keep his temple dark.” Kwannon mused, as she took her place at the back of the group. Seo-yun trotted up to walk next to me, looking around curiously.
‘These are the purple flames of Bulkkoch. The only flames that can pierce through my total darkness. At least, the only flames wielded by someone not named Bul.’ Geulimja explained to me casually as I walked down the hallway.
‘Were you always in the damn dark? Why’s it so dark?’ I asked him, feeling mildly annoyed as we moved. Not only was this hallway creepy, but it was feeling a bit cramped. There wasn’t a lot of space, and it felt like it was becoming more and more narrow as we went.
‘That’s not me doing that, it’s the Voidblade. It’s definitely here, I can feel it. When you get closer, you’ll be able to feel it too.’ Geulimja assured me, as Seo-yun dragged a hand across the wall to her right, for a reason that was unclear to me.
“What’re you doing?” Kwannon asked her. Seo-yun looked over her shoulder at Kwannon.
“I’m feeling around for any divots or dents in the wall. Perhaps the way to the sword is through one.” She explained, before going back to what she was doing. Kwannon seemed unconvinced, but she didn’t tell her to stop. Bufo, meanwhile, looked rather bored. It was a bit strange really, I’d seen people who were blue and furry, and people who were green and scaly, but I’d never seen someone who was essentially a human, but with the body parts of an animal. He stood on two legs, but his legs looked like frog legs, and he had the head of a frog. He probably had one of those really long tongues, too. It wasn’t like I had an issue with it, it was just a bit strange to see.
“Huh.” Seo-yun paused next to me, her hand still against the wall. She turned to fully face the wall, and I turned myself to get a better look at what she was doing.
“Find something?” I asked her, but she didn’t reply verbally, instead running her hand along a specific section of the wall, before pushing against it. Without any sound, the wall pushed open, revealing another passageway.
“Well that’s just great.” Bufo grumbled, as Seo-yun and I stepped into it. This one was more narrow, forcing us to walk single file through it. Seo-yun continued to run her hand along the wall to her right, while Bufo started doing the same with the wall to his left.
‘We’re definitely getting closer. I’m feeling it more strongly now. Can you feel it too?’ Geulimja asked me, while I walked at the front of the group. This passageway also had wall mounted torches, which, just like the ones in the other hallway, lit up as I walked past them. I was starting to feel something, for sure, in the core of my body. Similarly to how I’d typically feel Geulimja’s power move before he manifested himself, or when I used my powers, I could feel something there now. It almost felt like a gentle tug, like somebody had wrapped something around my stomach and was using it to pull me along somewhere.
‘Yeah, I feel it. Kinda wish it’d help me out with finding this damn sword, though.’ I muttered back to him. I wasn’t really a fetch quest kind of guy. It didn’t help that this was kinda boring. Nobody was talking, and I wasn’t gonna be the one to awkwardly try to start up a conversation.
After walking down that specific passageway for a while longer, we reached what looked like a gateway. The space beyond it was obviously wider, and there was an archway which separated the two spaces. I stepped past the archway to the other side, and immediately, a gate slammed down from the ceiling and shut me off from the rest of the group.
“Shit.” I grumbled, immediately trying to find a way to open the gate. It was made of some sort of solid material, so I couldn’t see through it.
“Jared! Are you there?” I could hear Kwannon shouting from the other side of the wall. I could hear someone slamming into the wall on the other side, although I wasn’t sure who.
“I’m here! Are you guys alright?” I shouted back at her.
“We’re fine! Something is coming, though. I can hear it down the hallway!” Kwannon shouted back, prompting Geulimja to speak to me directly.
‘The Horde.’ He supplied, sounding a bit guilty.
‘The Horde? Sounds like something that would’ve been useful to know about earlier.’ I grumbled, still checking the area around the gate.
‘I didn’t think this would happen. They must think there’s some kind of intruder. I guess technically there is… listen, let’s just grab the Voidblade. When they see it, they’ll stand down, alright?’ Geulimja told me. I gritted my teeth, considering my options before shouting back to Kwannon.
“I’m gonna go grab the sword. I’ll be back to help you guys!” I shouted, before taking off through the new area I’d reached. This one was more open than the previous one, but it wasn’t as open as the first area we’d entered. The tugging feeling I’d felt in my core was only getting stronger as I ran through the room.
‘So what exactly is The Horde?’
‘They’re followers of mine who pledged themselves to me in death. They’re just the shadows of the dead, given more human form. On its own, one of them is pretty useless, but when it’s a large group of them, they can be quite difficult to handle.’ Geulimja explained, as I ran as hard as I could, before finally reaching my target.
The Voidblade was suspended in midair, hilt facing upwards and blade facing downwards. The hilt was a bit larger than one you’d expect to see on a typical blade, and was solid black. The same could be said for the blade itself, which was also solid black. However, the blade was significantly larger than the hilt. It was quite long, and looked to be quite flat as well. The blade was straight, until right near the tip where one end ended, and the other moved forward a bit longer, with those two tips connecting to make the full sword. The front as well as the top tip were sharp, while the back end looked dull.
‘This thing’s huge, how the hell am I supposed to swing it around?’
‘You’ll be fine.’
‘How do I grab it?’
‘Stick your hand out.’ Geulimja explained, so I did. The blade flew into my hand immediately, flipping over so the blade would point upwards. It was not nearly as heavy as I imagined it’d be. In fact, it felt as light as a feather.
‘What is this thing, weightless?’
‘Only for you. Or, anyone you choose to grant that ability to. It’s up to you. Anyways, you should go help your party now.’
‘I don’t know how to fight with a sword!’
‘You won’t have to fight. Like I said, they’ll stand down when they see someone using the Voidblade.’ Geulimja explained. So, with the sword in hand, I ran back in the direction I’d come. Once I got close to the gate, it opened. I could see Seo-yun and Kwannon standing at the front of the pack, Kwannon swinging her sword while Seo-yun fended off their attackers with kicks. Bufo was on the ceiling, using his long tongue to knock enemies around. Speaking of the enemies, they were pretty much exactly as Geulimja’s description would lead one to believe. They didn’t seem to really have faces, they were just misty, solid black creatures. They had makeshift arms and legs, but sometimes they’d just disappear. They also seemed to go down with just one hit, but there were so many of them they were practically filling the entirety of the hallway. Or they were, until the gate opened and I walked in. The moment I walked through carrying the sword, all of them stopped, and then disappeared.
“Hey, Jared.” Seo-yun grumbled, leaning against the wall to her left.
“You got the sword?” Bufo questioned, dropping off the ceiling and looking over the blade.
“That I did.”
“Good, then we can finally leave this god forsaken place.” Kwannon sighed, also looking at the sword for a moment before looking at me more directly.
“You can teleport right? Think you can take us home?”
‘With the Voidblade concentrating your abilities, you should be able to teleport with a partner, so long as you’re making physical contact with them.’ Geulimja quickly told me, so I nodded at Kwannon’s request.
“Yeah, but only one at a time. Who’s first?” I questioned. Bufo grunted, approaching me without speaking. I nodded, placing a hand on his shoulder. The two of us descended into the floor. It was strange, having all my senses disappear, but the two of us reappeared in the ground within the resistance’s camp. Bufo quickly clambered up to solid ground, and once he gave me a thumbs up, I dropped back into the ground, reappearing in the temple.
After repeating the process with Seo-yun, and then Kwannon, everyone had been returned to the resistance camp. This of course, prompted a meeting between myself and my fellow earthlings, and the leaders of the resistance. However, there were some new faces joining us. Well, not new for me, but new to the resistance.
“So you got yourself a big ass sword, huh kid? Kinda stealing my flow.” Illyana pointed out, punching my shoulder.
“Having a big ass weapon is gonna help ya with protecting yourself. Definitely a win.” Cain noted, while Idie simply nodded. Apparently, a resistance scouting unit had noticed the three of them walking around in the woods and brought them in.
“So, you found the Voidblade.” Ji-hun observed, nodding approvingly. From next to him, Bufo grunted, nodding to me.
“The boy controlled The Horde as well, he’s legit.” He noted, prompting a few of the resistance leaders to nod approvingly. The only one who didn’t seem to have much of a reaction was Jin-yeop, who just seemed sort of annoyed.
“I thought we established that he was legit when the demon popped up on his shoulder and started talking?” John questioned. We’d all sat in a tent. The resistance leaders had seated themselves in the same formation as the previous meeting, as had our group, although now Cain and Idie were seated to Hank’s right, and Illyana was to the left of John and Kwannon.
“Well, if all that’s settled, I believe it’s time to figure out how we’re going to attack The Light King.” The one council member whom I hadn’t been introduced to yet spoke up. She was a woman, and looked about middle aged, although that made her the oldest member, aside from Ji-hun.
“Patience, Hae-won.” Ji-hun grumbled, but the woman shook her head. She had brown hair in a bob cut, and frankly, she looked exhausted.
“We can’t be patient anymore. We have an influx of warriors, and a godly host. We need to strike now, before that damn king can see it coming.” Hae-won argued.
“She’s right. There’s no time to waste. Besides, Jared knows of another way to enter the castle grounds.” Seo-yun explained, prompting everybody to look my way.
“Lies.” Jin-yeop snapped, glaring at me. This guy was clearly doing the whole ‘don’t trust the outsider’ gimmick. What a waste of time.
“I’ll lead your forces there myself. Either way, Illyana’s here now, which means we have three ways in.” I pointed out, before glancing at Illyana.
“Not to uh, volunteer you for anything.” She just smirked and shook her head.
“No, it’s a good idea.” She agreed. Ji-hun nodded at this.
“Very well then. We must plan our attack. If Jared is telling the truth about this other entrance, and Illyana here can truly get us another way in, then we can launch a three pronged assault.” He suggested, prompting Kwannon to nod as well.
“Cain goes first. From the front.” She said, Hae-won raised an eyebrow at that.
“Just him? None of our forces or your own?” She asked, earning her a shake of Kwannon’s head.
“These people are clearly fools.” Jin-yeop growled, while Bufo patted his shoulder.
“Trust me kid, you don’t want none of your guys getting in my way.” Cain assured him with a grin.
“We stagger the attacks. I think Illyana should create two portals, two attack forces. We need to shut down those telepaths. If I can use my telepathy, I may be able to find Quentin or Scott.” Kwannon explained, to which Ji-hun nodded.
“Very well.”
“Illyana’s first force will contain her, Idie, and some of your forces. Then I’ll be in the second portal. If you could loan me some of your better infiltrators and scouts, that’d be ideal.” Kwannon explained.
“I’ll go with you, and bring a few of my guys. I’ll send the rest of them with the third force.” Bufo replied, prompting Kwannon to nod before continuing.
“Jared will take the rest of you to this entrance he speaks of. Hank and John will go with him, as well as some of your forces, this should be the biggest attack force, and you don’t attack until after all the other groups have already begun their attacks. We want to catch them off guard.” Kwannon explained, which got everybody nodding along.
“Very well. Hae-won’s forces will go with Illyana’s first attack force, as will our first unit and myself. Jared’s group will take the rest of Bufo’s men, as well as Jin-yeop’s forces, Cho-hee’s medics, our second through six units, and Seo-yun. Does that work?” Ji-hun asked, to which Kwannon nodded.
“When do we attack?” Cho-hee questioned. Ji-hun looked around, before standing up.
“An hour. Get all your affairs in order, and prepare your forces and the attack units.” Ji-hun said, before walking out of the room. Slowly, everybody followed, with all the resistance members breaking off to go do what they’d been asked to do. Meanwhile, the X-Men, along with myself and John, stood around in the middle of the camp.
“So, Jared, you just gonna carry that sword around everywhere?” Idie asked good-naturedly.
“Uhh, I dunno where else to put it…”
‘You can open a portal for the sword, and pull it out whenever you like. It’s sort of like a pocket dimension, you can store other things in there, if you wish…’ Geulimja explained, so I did that, managing to summon a black hole in the floor, which I dropped the sword into.
“Probably useful to have some wolf guy telling you how to use your powers.” John mused.
“He’s not always as forthcoming as I’d like.” I replied, looking around the camp. People could already be seen running around the camp, grabbing things or people.
“Anyone else feel weird about how we’re just dropping into these people’s lives and presenting them with an issue to a problem that’s been plaguing them for the past few years?” I asked, to which Illyana shrugged.
“Not the first time.” She replied, patting me on the shoulder.
“I don’t love how much this battle strategy revolves around you, I’ll be honest.” Hank admitted, looking at me.
“What, no vote of confidence?” I asked, although privately, I felt much the same way. I mean, I was more than happy to help these people out, and if I had to fight, I’d do it, although I was definitely scared. My issue was more so with how important I was to the plan. I was expected to be the one who defeated this Light King guy, and I really wasn’t sure I could do that.
“You’ll do fine. We’ll be there to help you, either way.” John assured me, but truth be told, I wasn’t feeling the most reassured.
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An hour or so later, everything was starting to take place. Of course, to begin, I had to actually lead the massive force to the second entrance I’d told everyone about. We’d told Cain to wait another hour before launching his attack, to give us time to actually make it to the place. One of the guys on Bufo’s force who’d been loaned to us was apparently very good at counting. Good enough that he was keeping track of the time simply by counting it in his head for us. So he’d be telling us once we reached the hour mark. The walk didn’t take all too long, and I was very happy to find that there was in fact a door there, just like I’d remembered coming through.
“See? He wasn’t lying.” Seo-yun said to a disgruntled looking Jin-yeop. We were supposed to wait ten minutes after Cain launched his attack before we started our own, and we still had a few minutes to waste, which led to everyone hanging around in the forest, checking over weapons and chatting. There was an air of uncertainty that hung over the group. Nobody seemed confident in the group’s success, aside from Seo-yun, Cho-hee, John and Hank.
“You ready for this, bigshot?” Seo-yun asked me, sliding up to me where I stood leaned against a tree, watching the door.
“I hope so. I’m not really sure I’m exactly what you guys are making me out to be.” I admitted to her. She shrugged in response, punching my arm lightly.
“The fact that you’re here at all is quite the feat. You don’t have to be doing any of this, none of you do.” She pointed out.
“Well, in our world, they’re all superheroes. They go around fighting people like this Light King asshole and protecting people who can’t protect themselves.”
“Oh? And you aren’t one of these superheroes?”
“They said I’m too young. They said they’d let me be on a team if there were other people my age around who also wanted to do it, but there isn’t anyone, at least not yet.” I explained to her. She gave me an odd look, before nodding slowly.
“Huh…”
“It’s time!” The guy who we’d had keeping track of time shouted from near the door. Seo-yun and I moved to the door, with myself at the front while she was behind me. John was behind her, and the rest of the forces followed, with Hank behind them, and then Cho-hee and her medics taking up the rear. I took a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Then pushed the door open.
“It’s go time!”