Fleur climbed to the top of the spire and looked down at the tower submerged in black water.
Her gaze was cold and distant, but also burning with intensity. The witch, who never lost her composure in any situation, was now greatly excited. Her lifelong wish was shimmering before her eyes.
“Finally.”
Her brief murmur implied many meanings, but it was nothing but a hollow soliloquy to those who were swallowed by the water.
They all never expected it.
That Fleur, the tower lord of Yoram, had planned to betray Yoram from the beginning.
She did not bring the witches with various marks to the tower to build her power and oppose the Grand Church or the kingdom. She only used them as pawns for her future ambition.
Wasn’t it simple?
After subduing the witches with her powerful force, she acted as the center of gravity for the group. The witches, who were immersed in the group, felt pride in the empty modifier of Yoram’s witch and did not hesitate to commit all kinds of evil.
Of course, there were also variables like Tarwen and Hella. Ironically, they were the only ones that Fleur, who regarded Yoram’s witches as nothing but tools, personally cherished.
That’s why she taught one of them with her own passion, and gave the other one a gift of a warrior’s soul.
In the end, they both turned their backs on Yoram for their own plans, but it didn’t matter now. Everything went as Fleur expected.
Hella, who overestimated her skills, died, and Tarwen, who couldn’t shake off the old shackles of revenge, crawled into Yoram on his own feet. Not knowing that this place might be his grave.
Fleur laughed.
“Poor Tarwen, you have admirable determination and skills to implant a magic circle in your body, but your judgment afterwards is really terrible. Revenge, huh? You’re still bound by such a worthless word…”
She finished her words and stepped on the railing with her bare feet. She took off her thick cloak and revealed her naked body that sparkled in the moonlight.
At that moment, a faint rainbow light began to flicker in the darkness. The light that barely pushed away the darkness scattered in all directions. Fleur’s lips curled up with a cruel smile as she saw it.
Tarwen was transferring the spells he had set up to protect himself to his comrades. But even so, he must have known that it wouldn’t buy them any time, since the ritual had already begun.
“Do you want to save your comrades in the meantime? I’m sorry to hear that. Tarwen, your mistake has hastened the ritual, and your comrades will also become sacrifices in the end.”
As soon as Fleur’s words ended, a huge whirlpool formed in the black water that had dimmed.
The ritual of the great demon, who had forcibly swallowed dozens of witches and countless corpses, finally announced its start.
Roar-oh-oh-oh-
Something extremely ominous began to bloom in the center of the whirlpool that made one dizzy just by looking at it. It was the darkness born of darkness, the bottomless abyss, and the unspeakable horror itself.
“The time has finally come…”
Fleur looked at it with a dazed expression, as if she was drunk on drugs, and slowly spread her arms wide. At the same time, she lifted her heels and tilted her body forward naturally.
“It’s time for the ambition.”
With a short word, the witch started a free fall and disappeared into the chilling whirlpool.
***
“On the last day of the year, how are you spending it? Tonight, we’ll connect to Seoul Bosingak to see the atmosphere there that will announce the first moment of the new year. – Reporter! Tell us about the situation on the scene.”
On the screen that filled the wall, an anchor with a slightly excited face spoke with a clear pronunciation. Then, the reporter who received the cue started to explain the atmosphere on the scene. His nose was red, which looked quite cold.
I stared blankly at it and turned my head. The woman sitting across from me smiled faintly and said.
“Time flies, doesn’t it?”
“Who…”
“We’re already 26 years old. You’ve also run out of good days. A job seeker…ugh, is there a more shameful status than that?”
I had a lot to say, but when I heard that, I couldn’t help but snicker.
“The alcohol tastes bad.”
“Sorry, sorry. But don’t worry too much. You’re good enough, you’ve managed your grades well, and you have a few solid certificates, right? You’ll be fine if you just pay attention to English.”
If you’re sorry, why do you keep saying that?
I was annoyed and didn’t answer, but gulped down the beer on the table. She chuckled softly as I emptied the glass in one go.
“Okay, I’ll stop here. I wanted to tease you once in a while. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t need you to be sorry.”
I lifted the empty glass and shook it slightly toward the passing employee. The male employee nodded with a bright expression and filled a new glass with beer and put it down on the table, then took the empty glass and went into the kitchen. He had a solid physique that looked like he could easily subdue any troublemakers.
Where did I see him?
I couldn’t take my eyes off the familiar face of the employee, when I heard another small laugh.
“Hey, why are you staring at him so hard? Do you like men?”
She’s been picking on me since earlier.
“No, he looks like someone I know.”
“Someone you know?”
As she asked, a large number appeared on the screen. The spinning number was decreasing from 10 to 9, from 9 to 8. All the customers in the bar started to count down along with it.
“8! 7! 6! 5! 4!”
The people who were usually indifferent to each other were suddenly united in this moment, and the pub started to buzz with laughter and cheers.
“3! 2! 1!”
Ding-
As the clear bell rang, people started to exchange greetings and compliments. Among them, there was a man with a twisted beard who shouted, “Happy New Year!”.
I recognized his face from somewhere.
Something was nagging at my mind, and I frowned as something kept flickering in the corner of my eye. I turned my head and saw her tapping her hand.
“Why are you so out of it today? What’s wrong with you?”
“No, it’s not that…”
I was about to answer, but the anchor on the screen behind her opened his mouth. But what he said was strange.
“The spire was a trap from the beginning. This place was prepared long ago as a medium for the ritual…”
His words were disjointed and out of context, but no one in the pub paid any attention to them. As if it was natural, they toasted to each other, and I was about to ignore his words as well, when,
“What’s on my face?”
Her face came into my view. Specifically, the tattoo that covered her neck and back of her hand. It wasn’t there a moment ago.
I looked around for a moment and said.
“What a sudden illusion. This is surprising.”
“You finally realized. You created such obvious situations to wake yourself up. Your mental strength is remarkable. Ruon.”
Ruon.
As I heard that word, I felt something that wrapped around me peel off. I looked down at my hand and saw a big and thick hand. A hard and scarred hand that could smash anything.
I realized that everyone in the pub was staring at me.
“Did you come to get me out?”
Tarwen shook his head.
“No. Everything here is your imagination. I don’t exist either. How would I know about your grades or certificates? Of course, I came to help you before your consciousness collapsed, but you added the flesh to it.”
What are you talking about?
I asked, puzzled.
“…If you came to help me, why are you talking about jobs out of the blue?”
Tarwen smiled faintly.
“I had no right to speak until you realized it yourself.”
He stopped laughing and added.
“Ruon, we don’t have time to chat like this. We’re already too late.”
“What do I have to do?”
“Get out before you collapse.”
He pointed his finger at the entrance of the pub. I could see the transparent glass door shaking as if something was happening outside.
“Go. Don’t waste the opportunity that I, or rather Tarwen, sacrificed his life for. You know, right? That you’re the hope.”
What did you sacrifice?
I had a lot of questions, but I opened the door and ran out. And I saw it.
A huge wave that was smashing the skyscrapers and coming towards me.
And on the opposite side, there was a door of light that was shaking. It was obvious where I had to run.
I started to run towards the door. As I kicked the ground with all my strength and increased my speed, the outside of my sight became blurry and only the door of light that I aimed for was engraved clearly.
I couldn’t even afford to take in the scenery that passed by, which I never stopped missing in my dreams, but I had no time to spare there, so I kicked harder.
Woo-woo-woo-!
The shadow of the black wave that chased me from behind stretched over the road ahead.
As the shadow grew darker and swallowed everything, I threw myself into the door of light.
Ruon saw some scenes flash and pass by in his head as he boiled in the world.
Two men and women were slaughtering people mercilessly. The fairy swordsman stabbed the necks and backs of the fleeing people with his light movements, and the earthworm mage summoned fire from his hand and melted the head of an old man who begged for mercy. And there was a woodcutter who watched the whole scene from afar.
He should have run away to the city with overwhelming powerlessness and fear, but he suddenly remembered something and grabbed a long hammer with a handle nearby. As if he wouldn’t run away like this at least this time.
The scene changed in an instant.
In front of the priest who sat in a small cell where he couldn’t even straighten his waist, a demon with ram’s horns whispered tempting words in a wicked voice. In the demon’s arms, a young girl was bleeding pitifully, and the nameless wildflower in her fern-like hand was very miserable. The priest clenched his teeth and searched for the goddess of mercy, but the more he did, the louder the demon’s whisper became.
The next scene was a large workshop. The dwarf blinked his eyes as he looked at the fairy who made him a sweet offer, and his hand trembled slightly, which showed that he was having a hard time deciding. Then the fairy changed his appearance to a huge bird of prey and freely floated in the sparkling night sky. It was a beautiful sight.
Ruon watched the situations his friends faced from afar. They all looked very painful and precarious, but they didn’t seem to have collapsed mentally yet.
At least not yet.
As he was lost in thought, the scene flashed and changed again, revealing a little fairy child. With a dirty face from playing in the mud, he ran home whistling, holding a small flower in his hand. He wanted to give it to his mother.
“Mom! Dad!”
The child opened the door with a wide smile, but was shocked by the sight before him. On the floor, he saw the torn bodies of his family.
Ruon knew what would happen next. But what he witnessed was nothing like he expected.
The child screamed and writhed, his body crumbling apart, until he was swallowed by a huge shadow of an indescribable shape.
Thump-thump-
Ruon was plunged into darkness in an instant, and heard a terrible and powerful something stirring. Something that should never have been born was trying to reveal itself on this land.
“Fleur-!”
As he shouted harshly at the abominable being spawned by the abyss, Ruon opened his eyes.
Fleur climbed to the top of the spire and looked down at the tower submerged in black water.
Her gaze was cold and distant, but also burning with intensity. The witch, who never lost her composure in any situation, was now greatly excited. Her lifelong wish was shimmering before her eyes.
“Finally.”
Her brief murmur implied many meanings, but it was nothing but a hollow soliloquy to those who were swallowed by the water.
They all never expected it.
That Fleur, the tower lord of Yoram, had planned to betray Yoram from the beginning.
She did not bring the witches with various marks to the tower to build her power and oppose the Grand Church or the kingdom. She only used them as pawns for her future ambition.
Wasn’t it simple?
After subduing the witches with her powerful force, she acted as the center of gravity for the group. The witches, who were immersed in the group, felt pride in the empty modifier of Yoram’s witch and did not hesitate to commit all kinds of evil.
Of course, there were also variables like Tarwen and Hella. Ironically, they were the only ones that Fleur, who regarded Yoram’s witches as nothing but tools, personally cherished.
That’s why she taught one of them with her own passion, and gave the other one a gift of a warrior’s soul.
In the end, they both turned their backs on Yoram for their own plans, but it didn’t matter now. Everything went as Fleur expected.
Hella, who overestimated her skills, died, and Tarwen, who couldn’t shake off the old shackles of revenge, crawled into Yoram on his own feet. Not knowing that this place might be his grave.
Fleur laughed.
“Poor Tarwen, you have admirable determination and skills to implant a magic circle in your body, but your judgment afterwards is really terrible. Revenge, huh? You’re still bound by such a worthless word…”
She finished her words and stepped on the railing with her bare feet. She took off her thick cloak and revealed her naked body that sparkled in the moonlight.
At that moment, a faint rainbow light began to flicker in the darkness. The light that barely pushed away the darkness scattered in all directions. Fleur’s lips curled up with a cruel smile as she saw it.
Tarwen was transferring the spells he had set up to protect himself to his comrades. But even so, he must have known that it wouldn’t buy them any time, since the ritual had already begun.
“Do you want to save your comrades in the meantime? I’m sorry to hear that. Tarwen, your mistake has hastened the ritual, and your comrades will also become sacrifices in the end.”
As soon as Fleur’s words ended, a huge whirlpool formed in the black water that had dimmed.
The ritual of the great demon, who had forcibly swallowed dozens of witches and countless corpses, finally announced its start.
Roar-oh-oh-oh-
Something extremely ominous began to bloom in the center of the whirlpool that made one dizzy just by looking at it. It was the darkness born of darkness, the bottomless abyss, and the unspeakable horror itself.
“The time has finally come…”
Fleur looked at it with a dazed expression, as if she was drunk on drugs, and slowly spread her arms wide. At the same time, she lifted her heels and tilted her body forward naturally.
“It’s time for the ambition.”
With a short word, the witch started a free fall and disappeared into the chilling whirlpool.
***
“On the last day of the year, how are you spending it? Tonight, we’ll connect to Seoul Bosingak to see the atmosphere there that will announce the first moment of the new year. – Reporter! Tell us about the situation on the scene.”
On the screen that filled the wall, an anchor with a slightly excited face spoke with a clear pronunciation. Then, the reporter who received the cue started to explain the atmosphere on the scene. His nose was red, which looked quite cold.
I stared blankly at it and turned my head. The woman sitting across from me smiled faintly and said.
“Time flies, doesn’t it?”
“Who…”
“We’re already 26 years old. You’ve also run out of good days. A job seeker…ugh, is there a more shameful status than that?”
I had a lot to say, but when I heard that, I couldn’t help but snicker.
“The alcohol tastes bad.”
“Sorry, sorry. But don’t worry too much. You’re good enough, you’ve managed your grades well, and you have a few solid certificates, right? You’ll be fine if you just pay attention to English.”
If you’re sorry, why do you keep saying that?
I was annoyed and didn’t answer, but gulped down the beer on the table. She chuckled softly as I emptied the glass in one go.
“Okay, I’ll stop here. I wanted to tease you once in a while. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t need you to be sorry.”
I lifted the empty glass and shook it slightly toward the passing employee. The male employee nodded with a bright expression and filled a new glass with beer and put it down on the table, then took the empty glass and went into the kitchen. He had a solid physique that looked like he could easily subdue any troublemakers.
Where did I see him?
I couldn’t take my eyes off the familiar face of the employee, when I heard another small laugh.
“Hey, why are you staring at him so hard? Do you like men?”
She’s been picking on me since earlier.
“No, he looks like someone I know.”
“Someone you know?”
As she asked, a large number appeared on the screen. The spinning number was decreasing from 10 to 9, from 9 to 8. All the customers in the bar started to count down along with it.
“8! 7! 6! 5! 4!”
The people who were usually indifferent to each other were suddenly united in this moment, and the pub started to buzz with laughter and cheers.
“3! 2! 1!”
Ding-
As the clear bell rang, people started to exchange greetings and compliments. Among them, there was a man with a twisted beard who shouted, “Happy New Year!”.
I recognized his face from somewhere.
Something was nagging at my mind, and I frowned as something kept flickering in the corner of my eye. I turned my head and saw her tapping her hand.
“Why are you so out of it today? What’s wrong with you?”
“No, it’s not that…”
I was about to answer, but the anchor on the screen behind her opened his mouth. But what he said was strange.
“The spire was a trap from the beginning. This place was prepared long ago as a medium for the ritual…”
His words were disjointed and out of context, but no one in the pub paid any attention to them. As if it was natural, they toasted to each other, and I was about to ignore his words as well, when,
“What’s on my face?”
Her face came into my view. Specifically, the tattoo that covered her neck and back of her hand. It wasn’t there a moment ago.
I looked around for a moment and said.
“What a sudden illusion. This is surprising.”
“You finally realized. You created such obvious situations to wake yourself up. Your mental strength is remarkable. Ruon.”
Ruon.
As I heard that word, I felt something that wrapped around me peel off. I looked down at my hand and saw a big and thick hand. A hard and scarred hand that could smash anything.
I realized that everyone in the pub was staring at me.
“Did you come to get me out?”
Tarwen shook his head.
“No. Everything here is your imagination. I don’t exist either. How would I know about your grades or certificates? Of course, I came to help you before your consciousness collapsed, but you added the flesh to it.”
What are you talking about?
I asked, puzzled.
“…If you came to help me, why are you talking about jobs out of the blue?”
Tarwen smiled faintly.
“I had no right to speak until you realized it yourself.”
He stopped laughing and added.
“Ruon, we don’t have time to chat like this. We’re already too late.”
“What do I have to do?”
“Get out before you collapse.”
He pointed his finger at the entrance of the pub. I could see the transparent glass door shaking as if something was happening outside.
“Go. Don’t waste the opportunity that I, or rather Tarwen, sacrificed his life for. You know, right? That you’re the hope.”
What did you sacrifice?
I had a lot of questions, but I opened the door and ran out. And I saw it.
A huge wave that was smashing the skyscrapers and coming towards me.
And on the opposite side, there was a door of light that was shaking. It was obvious where I had to run.
I started to run towards the door. As I kicked the ground with all my strength and increased my speed, the outside of my sight became blurry and only the door of light that I aimed for was engraved clearly.
I couldn’t even afford to take in the scenery that passed by, which I never stopped missing in my dreams, but I had no time to spare there, so I kicked harder.
Woo-woo-woo-!
The shadow of the black wave that chased me from behind stretched over the road ahead.
As the shadow grew darker and swallowed everything, I threw myself into the door of light.
Ruon saw some scenes flash and pass by in his head as he boiled in the world.
Two men and women were slaughtering people mercilessly. The fairy swordsman stabbed the necks and backs of the fleeing people with his light movements, and the earthworm mage summoned fire from his hand and melted the head of an old man who begged for mercy. And there was a woodcutter who watched the whole scene from afar.
He should have run away to the city with overwhelming powerlessness and fear, but he suddenly remembered something and grabbed a long hammer with a handle nearby. As if he wouldn’t run away like this at least this time.
The scene changed in an instant.
In front of the priest who sat in a small cell where he couldn’t even straighten his waist, a demon with ram’s horns whispered tempting words in a wicked voice. In the demon’s arms, a young girl was bleeding pitifully, and the nameless wildflower in her fern-like hand was very miserable. The priest clenched his teeth and searched for the goddess of mercy, but the more he did, the louder the demon’s whisper became.
The next scene was a large workshop. The dwarf blinked his eyes as he looked at the fairy who made him a sweet offer, and his hand trembled slightly, which showed that he was having a hard time deciding. Then the fairy changed his appearance to a huge bird of prey and freely floated in the sparkling night sky. It was a beautiful sight.
Ruon watched the situations his friends faced from afar. They all looked very painful and precarious, but they didn’t seem to have collapsed mentally yet.
At least not yet.
As he was lost in thought, the scene flashed and changed again, revealing a little fairy child. With a dirty face from playing in the mud, he ran home whistling, holding a small flower in his hand. He wanted to give it to his mother.
“Mom! Dad!”
The child opened the door with a wide smile, but was shocked by the sight before him. On the floor, he saw the torn bodies of his family.
Ruon knew what would happen next. But what he witnessed was nothing like he expected.
The child screamed and writhed, his body crumbling apart, until he was swallowed by a huge shadow of an indescribable shape.
Thump-thump-
Ruon was plunged into darkness in an instant, and heard a terrible and powerful something stirring. Something that should never have been born was trying to reveal itself on this land.
“Fleur-!”
As he shouted harshly at the abominable being spawned by the abyss, Ruon opened his eyes.
