Page 95 of King Foretold
“All right, smart-ass.” I laugh. “How far are we?”
“It’s just around the bend and over that hill.” Hailey hesitates. “I don’t like this one bit, Sunny. I don’t want to lose you.”
“I don’t want to lose you either.” I taste salt in the back of my throat. “That’s why I have to go. Because I don’t want to lose any of you.”
“I ... I can’t watch you go into the Gray Void.” Her tears fall freely.
“That’s okay.” I sniff and rub my nose. “I want you to go back to Ethan anyway. Tell him I’ll kick his ass if he gets mad at you for bringing me here. I would’ve come with or without your help. You just saved me some precious time and energy.”
“Be careful, Sunny.” Hailey hugs me, and I hold her tight. “Don’t die.”
“Ditto.” I pull away from her and spin on my heels, because I can’t keep my tears at bay. “Tell Ethan ... tell him ... I’ll see him soon.”
I become my gumiho and run toward the Gray Void, tears soaking the white fur of my face.
Chapter Twenty-Four
When I stand in the soft breeze of the open field, the Kingdom of Mountains feels both familiar and distant—a place that could’ve been home and a place I can never return to. I shift into my human body and watch the sun sink behind the verdant mountains, hoping it won’t be the last sunset I see in either realm.
I summon the white light to my palm and stare at it in wonder. How am I able to wield the Yeoiju’s power so easily? Well, I’m not exactly utilizing its full potential. All I can do is make a pretty white orb of light. Even so, confessing my love to Ethan and consummating that love unlocked something within me. Minju was right. The Yeoiju and I are intertwined. It no longer feels like a foreign object inside me, but something comfortable and welcomed.
The gateway to the Mortal Realm, a.k.a. the fucking Gray Void, looks perfectly innocuous, no different from the rest of the green field. But the air around it vibrates sporadically, and an odd energy comes off the area. I’ve felt that weird vibe somewhere else before ... I frown and shake my head impatiently. I have things to do, places to be. I have no time to be a gi connoisseur.
I wipe my sweaty palms down the skirt of my hanbok and check to make sure my hwando is secure against my thigh. I bounce on my feet, shake out my arms, and stretch my neck, cracking a vertebra or two.And I blow out three short breaths like I’m bracing myself to plunge into something unpleasant, which is very accurate.Oh, how I wish I had some chocolate.
Then I stand in the field until darkness blankets the mountains.
“For fuck’s sake,” I hiss. “Quit stalling.”
With a sharp cry, I grip my wrist as unbearable pain suddenly pierces my hand. I stare down at my palm in the moonlight and horror fills me. Blood gushes from the mark of the oath, so fast that I fall to my knees on a wave of dizziness.
I fold in on myself.Leave.Agony wrenches through me.Leave now.
I have to leave. Whimpering from the agony, I crawl toward the Gray Void. I have to fulfill the blood oath. It won’t stop hurting until I leave. Screaming through gritted teeth, I struggle to my feet, then I take off in a dead run.
Bone-chilling water swallows me whole. The icy liquid fills my nose and ears in an instant. I press my lips together to keep from breathing it into my lungs. My chest burns, and my eyes tear up.
The ice burns its way across my back, and fiery heat bursts from the ancient rune. I traded the pain of the blood oath for the pain of the Gray Void. A silent cry rips out of my mouth as my back arches.
The only saving grace is that air fills my lungs instead of the icy water I’d feared. But I already knew that. I hear Jihun’s voice echo through my head.Breathe, Sunny.I suck in a lungful of air as I jerk and writhe.
The ice and fire coil round my spine, wringing me in opposite directions. I lose feeling in my legs. I know—I don’t know how—but I know the two forces will tear me in half. I recognize the dark magic in the heat, but the icy cold doesn’t feel right either. It doesn’t feel like magic born of the Cheon’gwang. It’s twisted and broken.
It hurts. It hurts so much.
Mother.
Ice pierces my chest like a long spear, skewering me. Fire punches through my stomach from the inside out. My body spasmsuncontrollably. My limbs flap around, and my teeth clack together. Black edges around my consciousness, shrinking in until only a pinprick of awareness remains.
I shiver as ice coats me from head to toe. The fire is dying, turning lukewarm against my skin, until I only feel a vague warmth on my back. Then it’s gone. Only the ice is left.
I’m cold. It’s so cold. The sliver of my consciousness flickers, blinking in and out. The cold feels ... off. It isn’t good. It isn’t only destroying the word of power and its dark magic. The icy cold of the Gray Void is also destroyingme—drowning me in its despair.
My eyes burst open, and the thick gray fog reverberates around me, as though it is screaming. Then I hear it. The shrill wailing of countless stranded souls ... their life forces cold and slithering. The magic of the Gray Void is born of han—grief twisted into something foul and unholy. Its magic is not darkness. It is light distorted. And I must not give in to it. I cannot.
Please.
I call on my Yeoiju, again and again. I whimper as the cold begins to seep into my heart, but I don’t stop. I call on the light until it sings to me. The song is faint at first, then it grows stronger ... and stronger.At last.
