The Scarlet Hawk and The Black Knights (Mina)✔️

1: Long Ago

605
Ancient Korea

"Long ago, when tigers used to smoke, when birds used to sing poems and magical rhythms, when snakes walked with four legs, the world was ruled by peaceful gods, deities from the heavens above. The gods were calm and created the rules that all living things must obey.

Haneul, King of the Gods, commanded the skies and the heavens with his almighty powers. He was wise and kind-hearted, gifting any men who would do good by granting them wishes they had always wanted. All the other gods bowed respect to the Jade Emperor, and soon, Haneul became father to five children, among them were three most gifted and powerful, Yeomra, Dalnim, and his firstborn, their eldest brother, Mal Gu.

Unlike his two pure and humane children, Mal Gu was different. He had a disfigured and purplish face since birth with two horns emerging from his head, and strangely, his lack of eyes were replaced by a peculiar symbol resembling a cross with a circle around it. The two remaining children who were not as gifted as them were also disfigured like him, and so the gods locked these two children deep in the oceans except for Mal Gu.

Because of his deformity and monstrous look, Mal Gu was treated as an outcast by the other gods, his own flesh and blood. They considered him a curse and damnation, and there were even plans of terminating him to preserve their celestial bloodline. However, among all the gods that discriminated him, even including his own father, only Yeomra and Dalnim loved him as their own brother.

However, it all went downhill when millennia later, a clash between Mal Gu himself and the gods of the heavens occured. Mal Gu emerged almost victorious, killing nearly the entire deities, before Yeomra and Dalnim used what's left of their hope and struck him together, resulting in the demon losing his left horn in the process. They banished him to the Outer Realms, the realm for all that's cursed, but not before Mal Gu made a celestial rule, a rule that cannot be undone. A rule that says that whoever dies shall become spirit, and after they become a spirit, they will have to reincarnate into the afterlife after going through the stages of Hell that will be managed by Yeomra, and Dalnim must take full responsibility in helping the souls to ascend. After he said his oath, Mal Gu was fully banished.

During his exile, Mal Gu secretly used his evil mind and created a cult of Mediums, people who can see such spirits. He named his cult The Horn, and he named himself The Lord, promising that one day, he will return to give this world the darkness it had given him in his past. After that, he was never heard anymore, and the story became a legend."

-

"Is that story real, abeoji?" a little girl of five years old asked, tilting her head in curiosity while she was sitting on the bed in the middle of two other little girls. She held the blanket that was covering them softly. Her father, the man who told the story, chuckled and gave her a little shrug with a smile, letting her decide on her own.

"Abeoji does not know of that, Mi Na." he stated and poked on his nose. "But what I know, and what's important, is that every legend and story has their own moral lesson. Do you know what the moral lesson of this legend is? Anyone?" he raised his arm, persuading them to try answering his question. The three little girls looked at each other in confusion before one smaller girl, sitting beside the little Mi Na, raised her arm.

"We must be like Mal Gu?" the girl tilted her head. Their father raised his eyebrows and shook a head.

"N-no, Ji Won-ah, not that." he chuckled. "Anyone else?"

"Me!" the oldest girl among them three raised her hand enthusiastically. "We should love our own brothers and sisters with our whole heart." the girl gestured a hug while swinging her arms, smiling with her arms closed. The man nodded happily and ruffled her hair while giggling.

"That's right, Momo-ah!" he pinched a seven-year-old Momo's cheek, with his eldest daughter smiling cheekily in response. "Your eldest sister is right, Mi Na and Ji Won, we must always take care of our siblings and love them no matter what, understood?" he pointed at them.

"Understood, abeoji!" all three little girls said in unison.

"If Mal Gu one day rises again from the darkness, I'm gonna kick his butt and transform into a mighty eagle!" Ji Won clenched her fist, showing her stoic-looking face and her proud dignity like a fearless female warrior she had always dreamt to be. Mi Na scoffed playfully at her little sister and pushed her shoulder, earning a little whine.

"Hah, an eagle!" Mi Na teased her. "I'm gonna be a hawk! That's better." she stuck her tongue out.

"But eagle is bigger! A hawk is smaller" Ji Won pouted while her eyes blinked slowly and cutely.

"Smaller doesn't mean weaker~" Mi Na stuck her tongue out. Ji Won felt mocked by her middle sister and whined while squirming her body, kicking the blanket away. Ji Won pointed towards Mi Na and looked at their father, pouting sadly in an attempt to complain to him. The middle-aged man only chuckled while shaking his head.

"Yah, you two are so noisy." Momo rolled her eyes and turned to look at their father with sparkling eyes. "Abeoji, what do you think will happen if Mal Gu rises again?" she blinked curiously. Mi Na and Ji Won stopped their quarrel and looked at him in curiosity too, nodding at their eldest sister's question. Their father and moved back while thinking, holding his cheek while looking somewhere else. He then released a big sigh and looked at his tree daughters with a smile.

"I do not know what will happen, but I am sure, one day, a hero, or perhaps even more than one hero, will stop him." he breathed out. "Now time for bed, my little birds. Let us rest and close our eyes. Tomorrow, we have to harvest our crops. Goodnight." he smiled and left them, proceeding to his own bed.

Mi Na and Ji Won and Momo looked at each other and nodded, soon covering themselves with the blanket as the three sisters went to sleep, while Mi Na was the only one still awake, her eyes paying attention to the bright stars shining in the blue sky.