Page 110 of Vicious Spirits

Junu’s feet kicked at air as he struggled.

“You have crossed me for the last time. I should have let you die a millennium ago. I turned you for my amusement, but you’ve become a menace.”

Junu’s vision blurred. Ringing filled his ears.

The shadows of the forest swam. It made the foliage turn to hazy green smoke. And he saw figures seeping out of the darkness. No, not just figures. They became opaque, faces solidifying. Faces that had haunted his dreams. Faces that looked at him with the same disgust they’d held just moments before they died. Moments before they burned.

Junu stared in horror as his mother stepped out of the shade of the trees.

No, this was impossible. He started to claw more desperately at the sansin’s hold. His skin began to tingle, began to heat.

Junu watched as his sisters limped out of the forest, their forms burnt and deformed, as they stood beside their mother.

I’m sorry,he tried to choke out. Surely they were vengeful spirits come to drag him to hell with them.

Fire and death,his mother said, though her lips didn’t move. Junu recognized her voice.

I didn’t mean to kill you!Junu thought even as he felt that telltale burn start within him, a sweltering heat that began to fill him.Please know that I never meant to hurt you.

Fire and death. The end,his nunas chorused together.

I can’t.His head spun. He glanced at Somin and Miyoung, lying on the ground mere meters away.I don’t want to hurt them.His fear filled him like steam. He felt the fire within him turn blistering. Feeding on his fear.No,he thought.I can’t.

It is the only way. Bring fire and death. Bring the end,his mother said, and as stars began to explode behind his eyes, Junu felt sparks race along his limbs. He closed his eyes and concentrated on holding the fire close. He couldn’t stop it, but maybe he could control it. He felt it spread over him, the fire growing, brought forth by fear and agony.

And then heard the howl of the sansin as flames burst from his skin, crawling over the god, swallowing him whole.

Junu fell. The ground racing up to meet him. He smelled smoke. He felt the heat of flames, and then he blacked out.

60

JUNU WOKE SLOWLY.His throat burned. His body ached. He blinked his eyes open. They stung, like they’d been dried out by smoke.

The trees loomed above him. The sky was so clear he could see stars blinking above as twilight overtook them. Funny, he hadn’t noticed before. He’d been so focused on his mission. But it was a strangely beautiful evening.

He turned his head, leaves sticking to his cheek as he did so. He saw the shaman lying where she’d fallen, and a meter away was his staff, still intact.

“Junu,” Somin said.

He sat up and looked at the charred ground around him, a perfect circle, embers still burning dimly. Smoke rose like steam from the blackened ground. And beside him was a pile of burnt robes. Nothing else of the sansin remained.

Somin sat beside him, blood drying on her shirt.

“Somin-ah,” he said, reaching out to her. “Are you hurt? Did the fire touch you?”

She shook her head, pushing his hands away. “I’m okay. But Jihoon.” Her voice became thick, so she just glanced over.

Junu followed her gaze. Miyoung held an unconscious Jihoon in her arms, fresh blood spreading over his shirt.

61

“WE HAVE TOdo something,” Miyoung said, trying to stop the bleeding.

“We need to get him to the hospital,” Somin said.

Junu limped over. “Let me see it.” He shook his head. “The wound isn’t deep enough to kill him. But his body is weak after hosting Sinhye’s soul.”

“What does that mean?” Somin asked.

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