The Flower Among the Flames

Chapter 30

Hey, what's your name...a boy! We have a boy...Watch it– you never know who's going to be...You say the funniest things...An attack. There is an...Stay with me! Don't you dare...Right flank! Right flank! They are...What are you going to do after the...She is bad news. You shouldn't get...Fire! There's a fire! Someone please...Get away from her!...You need to lighten up, Seulgi...I have a mission for you, Kim Seulgi...I couldn't save him. He was right in front of...Your father is probably looking for you...I need a weapon! Where did Grandfather put the...I'm the one who killed her...Fight me!...You've got guts, kid! I like people with...I'm the one who killed her...Seulgi, run!...killing you is my job...I can't stop the bleeding! Stay with me! Don't go...I'm the one who killed her...Seulgi!...I'm the one who killed her...Seulgi!...Kim Seulgi!...I'm the one who killed her...Get up. You can't be dead...Captain!...Remember me...I'm the one who killed her...I love you...

...How pitiful. You lay there bloody –crushed and defeated– over the one whom you loved above all others...weak. You are weak...humans are so weak...so foolish...so small...your lives are but a blink– a mere moment in time...and yet...yet why am I drawn to you? Perhaps it is man's foolishness that brings about my curiosity and desire to continue watching such displays of foolish actions? Hmph. What say you, kid? I can give you the power to change that...to become strong...to perhaps save lives of those you meet in the future...what say you?...will you get up? Or will you stay like that and accept defeat? Haha...well then...let us form the pact...that was formed oh so long ago...by the man who started it all...

...

Damn it. Seulgi thought to himself. I died, didn't I?

His eyes were closed, but he could tell he was standing in the middle of...someplace. Wherever he was, it was rather familiar to him but that gave him no sense of reassurance. He died after all and that could only result in one thing. That demon was still alive. Who knew what his devious plot would amount to and how much damage it could potentially cause the world. Plus, there was another issue. Zhao Meng.

The name seemingly echoed against the walls of his mind, growing ever softer with each rebound. She had followed him. Seulgi was not surprised, however. She's as stubborn as a mule, that woman. The warrior thought to himself, a sparkle of amusement emerging despite the gravity of the situation. I hope she's okay. Seulgi stopped himself, pondering the sudden rush of emotions that were trying to overtake him. This was no time to be distracted. He had to get back.

Clearing his mind of his thoughts, Seulgi turned his attention and focus on what he could feel at that very moment– whether it'd be the wind, his body, or temperature. Almost immediately, Seulgi could tell that he was without his armor, feeling a dramatic difference in his weight. Breathing in once, Seulgi grimly confirmed his suspicion. Seulgi knew exactly where he was...and he did not particularly like it.

The warrior could smell the telltale signs of nature– trees, flowers, and the crisp clean air –...and smoke. He let out a sigh in disdain. There was no point in keepings his eyes in the dark at this point. Seulgi opened them and moved his hand to instinctively shield them from a burning sun. All around him were fields of green, a pure blue sky with wisps of white fluffy clouds, trees that reached high above, and a quiet stream flowing at his feet. People of all ages were scattered across the area, laughing and ever so cheerful. It was a paradise.

"Yelegan," Seulgi muttered the word quietly as if it were some sort of sacred word. Yelegan– a land with a name that translates roughly as "The After" in Ontarian tongue and the place where the souls of those who have fled their mortal bounds depart for. In other words, he was beyond the Gates of Umlin that which separated his world and the world of souls.