Later that night, in one of the wards of the Academy Infirmary…
In one of the 8 bedded rooms, a bandaged Dom slowly opens his eyes and stares at the ceiling above him. He spends a couple of seconds trying to remember what happened before he blacked out.
He turns to his right, where through the shallow lighting of the room, he sees a stable but still unconscious Sam on the next bed.
He frowns at Sam's sleeping form before turning to the other side… where he finds Dae already seated up on his bed.
The two make eye-contact and Dom forces a smile.
"Can't sleep?" Dom asked.
Dae gives a weak smirk. "How could I with how loudly you snore?"
Dom laughs. "Sorry." He tries to sit up but stops with a groan once he feels the sharp pain in his gut.
"You're not supposed to move."
"Since when did you become my doctor?" Dom grumbled as he sits up and rests his back against the bed-rest.
Dae simply rolls his eyes and turns away, his gaze now focused on the wall in front of him.
Dom looks down at his opened hospital shirt where he finds his torso wrapped in bandages.
"It wasn't a dream, huh?" Dom asked, his mind instantly reminded of that dangerous beast.
Dae nods quietly and Dom follows his gaze to the wall. The two remain silent… their minds focused on the battle that nearly cost them their lives.
After a few minutes of pure silence, Dae turns to Dom, his expression soft.
"Thank you, Dominic." Dom turns to him as he goes on; "Back there… before you came… I really thought I was going to die." Dae looks down at his hands. "I already gave up on you. At some point, I even regretted staying to save Samuel rather than running away myself."
Dom frowns at Dae's statement.
Dae sighs and looks up at the ceiling. "I've always been told to live a life I'd be proud when my time eventually comes." He said before closing his eyes. "But right then, the only thing I felt… was regret."
Dae remains silent for a brief moment before turning to give Dom a warm smile.
"You saved me. You gave me a second chance. I'm truly grateful for that."
Dom's eyes widen. Despite living together with Dae for so long, this is the first time he'd seen Dae smile so brightly to him.
With a smile, Dom replies; "Don't worry about it. Besides, we're even now."
Dae raises a brow, his expression now curious as Dom turns to stare at the wall in thought again.
"Even though I was determined to beat that thing, I knew I wasn't fast enough. If you hadn't step in, I would have gassed out and gotten myself killed." Dom said, his smile widening as he looks at Dae again.
"I would be dead too now if it wasn't for you so… thanks for having my back."
Dae nods, his smile still genuine. "I see. You're welcome, then."
The two ruminate in silence again just as Dom suddenly sits up, his eyes now sparking with excitement. "Hey. Since we beat an A class beast, does that mean we're A class now?"
"Of course not." Dae replied, his usual calm demeanor replacing his smile. "For that, we'd have to be assessed by the Capital's Science Division and have serial tests done for the course of a week before they can certify our class. Besides, it's not like either of us defeated it on our own."
Dom frowns as he leans dramatically on his bedrest. "Ugh. I really hate complicated protocol."
"Rules are rules. We have to follow them." Dae said and Dom sighs even more dramatically.
Dae smiles a little at Dom's behavior but quickly frowns once he thinks about his own words. His eyes grow distant as that phrase triggers an old memory.
Dae looks at Dom again, this time with a serious look on his face. "Do you remember when you asked what my goal was?"
Dom scoffs. "You mean when you blew me off for no reason?"
An embarrassed look quickly crosses Dae's face. "I'm sorry about that. It's just…" He sighs heavily. "… it's a long story."
Dom gestures to the room around them. "I think we both have more than enough time to kill now."
"You have a point." Dae said and looks at Sam on the other side of Dom.
Once he'd confirmed that Sam is still sleeping, he turns his attention to the ceiling with furrowed brows. He closes his eyes and takes in a long deep breath as he delves into his past while Dom stares curiously at him.
After some time, Dae finally opens his eyes.
"The man who taught me the Thunder Sword Style. My master… was my grandfather."
His eyes remain fixed on the ceiling as he goes on.
"He was a kind, respectable swordsman with power and skills so advanced that he became known as the greatest swordsman in the world. People called him the Blade King."
"Cool." Dom said with an excited smile on his face.
Dae mirrors that smile. "I idolized him. So much that when I turned 6, I convinced him to start training me." He turns to look at Dom. "But by age 7, I didn't just want to become like him anymore. I wanted to surpass him."
Dom's smile widens once he processes Dae's words.
"That's why when I heard your goal, it surprised me to know that we're on similar paths." Dae added.
Dom comfortably lies back on the bed, his smile still wide. "So that's your goal." He mumbled.
"Not… completely." Dae said, bringing a confused look on Dom's face, especially once he sees the Dae's now saddened expression. "Let's just say… I have two goals."
Dom narrows his eyes. "So, what's the other one?"
Dae's expression quickly darkens with his fingers now tightly gripping his bed sheets. "To find a man named Akito Nakamura… and kill him." His purple eyes hold a dark glow as he says it.
A brief moment of silence passes before Dae turns to find Dom staring at him in shock.
The statement was so bloodthirsty… so cold that Dom had to a take a couple more seconds to fully process it before responding.
"Okay. I did not expect that."
Dae looks away but doesn't say anything.
Curious, Dom probes further. "Is there… a reason for it?"
Dae takes a brief pause before responding: "When I was around 9 years old… my grandfather adopted a boy 2 years older than me."
Dae rests an arm on his flexed knee as he goes on: "I don't know why grandfather did it but I remembered that he wanted us to treat him like family."
"And the boy was the guy?" Dom asked.
Dae nods. "He possessed lightning magic like us so my grandfather decided to train him too. He was…"
Dae pauses; his expression clearly conflicted.
"He was a bit mischievous and messy… but he was also extremely intelligent with an incredible sense for swordsmanship. Despite starting 3 years after I did, he easily surpassed my sword skills and completely mastered the style in a single year."
"A genius, huh." Dom said with a frown.
Dae smiles weakly. "I remember how jealous I was watching Akito spar on par with my grandfather… but he was still someone I looked up to. Like an older brother."
Another beat of silence pass before Dom turns to stare at Dae.
"Then… what happened?"
Dae's smile quickly fades as he answers, "Due to how dangerous the Thunder Sword Style is, the first swordsman made rules… codes… that all descending swordsmen followed. Akito…"
Dae's voice deepened with his purple eyes glowing as his anger slowly slips through his usually calm expression.
"He broke the most sacred rule of all."
Some of Dae's purple aura ooze out of his body which trembled slightly with his growing anger.
"He turned his blade against the innocent. His family. My…family."
Dom frowns, the silence following Dae's words making the air around them even denser…
Dae then lets out a deep sigh, suppressing his aura and triggered nerves.
He runs a hand over his tired face.
"Till this day, I don't… why he did it." He looks down at his laps with a frown. "We took him in… treated him like family. And yet…"
Another moment of silence passes as Dae collects his thoughts. Dom patiently waits until Dae finally speaks up again; "It happened years ago… but I still remember that night vividly."
As Dae begins to describe the event, Dom pictures it…
A 10-year-old Dae in his nightwear, sprints through the hallways, his bare feet slapping against the smooth wooden floor and a concerned look on his face as he sees the blood stains on the walls.
He's so distracted by the stains that he trips over something, crashing hard into a corner. He gets up and gasps once he finds the lifeless body of his family's head maid in front of him.
"Miss Kim?" He mumbled in disbelief… just as the loud blast of a thunderclap draws his attention.
Recognizing that source of that sound, he scrambles to his feet and continues through the hallways.
Using the sounds of sword clashing and the sensation of conflicting mana as his guide, he quickly navigates through the hallways, ignoring the other sights of death and destruction along the way.
He arrives at the rear exit of the mansion with the rear garden beyond what used to be its beautifully designed sliding doors.
Dae bursts through the broken doors, only to slip on the wet wooden floor and fall again with a heavy thud.
He groans as he sits up while rubbing his sore arm before noticing the liquid now coating his hands. He lifts his hands, his widening in recognition of the thick bright red fluid clinging onto his fingers.
He shakily looks down to find his clothes already stained with the pool of blood covering the floor. He follows the large stream leading into the pool and freezes once he sees the point of origin.
"Father? Mother?"
Dae's eyes quickly water as he finds Nari, his mother and a light skinned man lying motionless on the ground at the outer edge of the blood-soaked porch.
Their bodies are covered in deep cuts with their clothes ripped and stained with so much blood that one would confuse them for ordinary red clothes.
"Father! Mother! Please! Answer me!" Dae shouted out; his voice shaky with grief… but his calls are only responded by silence…
A silence that is quickly broken by another loud sword clash.
It was then that Dae looks over their bodies and sees two figures in the middle of the still beautiful garden.
A lightning bolt streaks down the sky, adding more light to the scene which breaks Dae's already shattered heart even more…
Of the two figures is his similarly injured grandfather. With a groan, the old man coughs up a truly unhealthy amount of blood, his black katana dropping from his shaky hands and hitting the blood-stained grass.
"Aki…to." The old man said to the shorter second figure in front of him.
With a scoff, the figure pulls his blood-stained katana out of the old man's gut with more blood gushing out as he drops with a lifeless thud.
"Grandfather!"
Dae's cry catches the attention of the attacker.
The attacker turns in time with another lightning strike that properly displayed his appearance.
Dae gasps as he sees this 12-year-old boy with long silky black hair and ivory colored skin. His young body is covered in several bleeding cuts, including a long cut across his now functionless left eye.
"Akito? No. It can't..." Dae said in recognition of this young attacker. The same boy he calls brother.
In Dae's young mind, he tried to search for the reason behind it… but with the white katana still in his dead father's grip… the sight of his grandfather bleeding out on the ground and worst of all… the exhausted but still evil smile… the eerie red glow of his right eye… it is blatantly obvious who is at fault.
Immediately, Dae's small but still fierce purple aura surges out of his body.
His eyes widen as purple electricity sparks around him, giving him the speed to dash forward. In a split second, both the blades of his father and grandfather vanish, reappearing in Dae's hands as he swings them towards Akito.
But before the attack connected, Akito's body produces red electrical sparks before vanishing, leaving Dae swinging his swords so wildly that he trips and stumbles to the ground.
He quickly gets back up with anger in his teary eyes, only to find Akito now standing on the large outer fence of the garden.
With one last quiet stare, Akito turns away before vanishing from sight.
"Akito!"
Dae tries to follow but a hand weakly grab his ankle. He turns around and gasps to find his grandfather holding him.
Dae drops his weapons and carefully flips the old man over. He freezes momentarily at the sight of his injuries before pressing down on his actively bleeding stab wound.
"It's okay. You'll be fine. It's okay."
He kept mumbling even as blood continues to ooze through his fingers. He turns to the house and shouts for help, but the old man shakes his head.
"Don't bother… He… killed all of them."
Dae turns to him in shock.
"There's… no one left."
Dae's expression falls even more. "Why did he do it?"
The grandfather coughs up some blood before responding; "I'm so sorry. My past… corrupted him… destroyed our family. I…"
He suddenly groans in pain, cutting himself off momentarily.
"I thought isolating us would be enough… that caring for him would be enough… but it appears… that I must still atone for my sins."
Dae shakes his head. "Don't say that. You'll be fine. I'll carry you to a hospital."
The old man coughs again, this time getting some blood spilled on Dae's face.
"I taught Akito too well. He attacked… a vital spot… I won't… live long enough to make it outside… this garden."
Dae's lips begin to tremble as tears pours down his face.
"No. You can't. Please."
"I'm… sorry." The old man already sweating and pale, panted as he glances at Dae's father and mother's bodies on the porch.
"For some reason… he let you live. I don't know… why but… this too… must… be destiny."
Dae shakes his head again. "I don't understand." Dae said, his voice trembling.
With a deep frown, the old man places a hand over Dae's. "I know this will be hard… but you must listen to me…" His grip tightens on Dae's hand.
"Abandon the Hyeon Family name… along with the Thunder Sword Style."
Dae's brows furrows with confusion. "What are you-"
The old man squeezes Dae's hands cutting him off. "In my past, I created a lot of enemies. It's the reason…why I forced us to live in isolation. To… protect… all of you." He groans again in pain.
"But… but you said you saved people." Dae said, his expression even more confused.
The old man sighs. "I did… but that was… before the Great Fall."
"The Great Fall." Dae whispered just as his grandfather squeezes his hand again.
"Akito was tied to that and this…" He glances at his wound. "…is the result." He glances at Dae's parents' again with some tears beginning to form in his eyes. "I tried to run from fate… and failed." "Listen. Under your parents' bed…"
"No, stop."
"...There's our emergency funds. Take it and get as far away from here as possible."
"I can't."
"Yes, you can." The old man grumbled as he slowly forms a weak smile on his face.
"You're a smart child… You'll be fine."
Dae shakes his head as more tears pour down his face while the old man weakly raises his hand to touch the boy's cheek.
"I'm just… sorry that you have to do this… at such a young age. Please, forgive me."
"Please don't go. I don't want to be alone."
Dae grips the man's already cold hand with his blood soaked fingers.
The old man grits his teeth in frustration as tears finally pour down his face. "I know, my boy… but we…don't have a…choice."
He lets out another series of coughs, this time with so much intensity that Dae cries more as he desperately tries to press on the wound again.
"One…. last thing…"
"No! Don't go! No! Stop!"
Dae presses the wound with all his strength before flinching as the old man's hand falls to the grass.
"No matter what…" As he says this, his eyes begin to dim, his vision already going dark. "…don't seek… revenge… It'll only… leave you… em…pty."
Dae's eyes remain widely fixed on the old man's now lifeless face, which holds the expression of both frustration and regret.
It is only after a whole 30 seconds that Dae finally opens his mouth… and lets out a devastating scream of pain….>