Flashlights beamed into a burnt building. Soldiers marched in with guns swiftly. They looked around the ashen rooms. "Can you smell burning meat?" said a young recruit looking over the rooms. "Bro, you're too hungry" replied his friend searching alongside him. A gruff voice came from outside "All clear?" "All clear!" shouted the two young soldiers. "C'mon, let's go" "Yeah. Let's get some chicken feet after this" "Bro, what the hell?" Their voices slowly died down as they walked away with the remaining soldiers. They didn't notice the cracked heated corpse and the little boy in the compartment above them.
The metal door pushed open and the two persons fell from a bunker in the roof. The little child had saved Hyung's body. He looked at the blackened corpse that had no sign of life but he held a little childlike hope that this person was still alive. He sat by him and held him tightly, clinging onto its heated hands.
Hyung lay in the darkness of his body. He watched the memories fade away from his mind. He looked at the mistakes he had made and the little semblances of happiness he had. When he saw the old man treating him when he was sick, he felt nothing. He tried to swipe but the thing sat by him and stopped him.
"Let's….watch…..it"
Hyung didn't answer but left it. They watched in complete silence. They saw the fake love and compassion that he was shown. "Why didn't I notice sooner?" he asked himself. The being looked at him and spoke "It's so obvious. Are you just dumb?" it asked. Moments of silence passed and it asked again "Hey! Can't you hear?" Hyung looked at it "Are you talking to me?" "Who else am I talking to?" "I didn't know you could speak coherently" "I just wasn't used to this your body"
Silence reigned again for a moment and Hyung said with conviction "I really am dead, aren't I? Where are the demons that will take me to hell?" The being looked at him and replied "You aren't really dead. More of like unconscious" Hyung's eyes widened "What do you mean?" he asked. "As long as I'm in you, you can't die". Upon hearing this, Hyung stood in anger
"Explain" "Well, I'm kind of immortal so I can't die but you're my vessel, so put two and two together and you'll see it" Hyung was shattered. He didn't want life anymore. Living was suffering to him. Why was he forced to live? Why did he have to experience the pain of breathing again? He sat, unable to move at the shattering news that permeated his soul.
"Deal with it" the being said and as it faded away into the darkness it said "When you're ready to come back, tell me". Hyung just looked with zero emotion. He watched his life get destroyed and now he had to rebuild it again. He looked again at the empty sockets of his eyes and caught sight of the boy in his arms. Hyung had always had a soft spot for children and he realised that the child had nowhere to go. He looked again and heard the child say
"Please, be alive"
"HEY!!!! BRING ME BACK!!!!!" he shouted and a flame blazed through his body. The fire burnt his soul and spirit but he didn't care. He saw the being trying to take control of his body. Chains took control of him but he broke out effortlessly and held the being and said "Not today"
Hyung's body started heating and breath came back to his lungs. It was exceedingly painful. The boy looked at him coming back to life and jumped from his arms. Hyung stood up and looked at the child watching him. The boy started sobbing and said in a strained voice "Are you the one that burnt down the man?" Hyung, with a pained expression replied "Yes"
The boy looked at him with starry eyes "That was so cool. You looked like a third generation fire user". Hyung looked at him with a quizzical expression. "Everyone at the orphanage said that fire users aren't real, but you're real aren't you?" Hyung squatted and said "It isn't cool. Where is your family?" "The orphanages kicked me out some weeks ago so I've been living on my own but tell me about your fire please!!!" Hyung looked at the smiling dirty faced kid with a tooth missing from his mouth and his torn clothes. "Do you want to follow me?" "Yeah! Sure!"
Mirai looked at the man that told him his story. A tear dropped from Hyung's eyes as he reminisced on the events that shaped his life. Mirai had no reason to hate this man. He had been through hell and he was trying to do his best to give Sonyeon a good life. Mirai stood from his mat, fully healed. "Are you satisfied now?" Hyung asked. "I'll do it" "You'll do what?" "I look at the future for you". Hyung looked at Mirai with a questioning look. "Really?" "Yeah. Prepare some things for me"
The sky crackled with lightning. The wind blew the dusty roads. There were little signs of life in a dilapidated building. Some men sat outside, drinking copious amounts of alcohol. "The weather's pretty damn bad, ain't it?" said one of them. "Yeah. The sun ain't shone in years" another replied. The shrouded woman walked past them. "Hey, that chick may be packing some heat" "Let's go for it". One of them walked towards her and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Not all the time you see a woman in these parts" he said. "I think it's in our best interest that you get your hands off me" she replied with venom. "Whoa! Slow down, missy. How about you take a room with us tonight?" another one said. The men had surrounded her. She sighed silently.
"Iai Stage One: Heaving Currents"
Splatters of blood covered the pavements. The men fell down in bits and pieces. They had been cut into perfect squares without a single sound. Birds of prey had started flying in the air at the sight of an available meal. The woman removed her hood to reveal her face; Sonyeo. She looked at her artwork and smiled. "I wonder how he'll look when I make him like this"
"Japanese kimono, check. Open space, check. What else do you need?" Hyung asked as he looked at Mirai with his flowing hair. "A little bit of blood. Your blood". Hyung got a knife and cut his veins to pour out a bright red blood that boiled as it came out. He poured it into a bowl without a single show of pain. "That's enough" Mirai said, collecting the bowl from him. "I heard most prophets don't need rituals. Why is yours different? Mighty suspicious to me" Hyung questioned. Mirai drew the blood in a circle and sat in it, crossing his legs. "Those ones can only see the future" he answered and gestured Hyung to come to him. Hyung sat outside the circle and Mirai took his hands. "Can't you see the future?" Hyung asked. "My ability isn't to see the future. It's to see the real world; your true world"
Mirai's eyes shone a bright red and the blood circle around them sparked into a bright pink flame. Lightning crackled in the sky and the crack in the heavens opened. Massive gusts of wind blew around them forming a tornado. Mirai's voice could be heard in the midst of this saying
"Cross Formation: World View"
The skies ripped apart brightly and the sun shone for the first time in months. Thunder danced in the heavens and the magnificence of the stars was seen to everyone. The galaxies and nebulae gave away their beauty and all of space could be seen. Beauty could only be seen in the formation of the universe but true beauty could only be seen when it was questioned.