🏆 THE AMBY AWARDS 2023 TOP PICK - DIVERSE LIT 🏆
It's Rin and Hye-jin against the world. Or so it should have been.
Nagara Rin and Joon Hye-jin, college sweethearts and passionate gamers, have lived a fairytale marriage. Not even a decade after did...
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The wind blew across the plain, ruffling the flags still fluttering on the spires of the Western Tower. One would think no one was there with the state of the bricks and the rot slowly devouring the castle from the inside out. An erroneous thought. Not only was there a sea of nether beasts forming a fleshy fortress on the wide, overgrown grounds, the walls were also a problem. High up to almost be level on the opposite side of the gorge we're in. Running between us was the angriest river I've ever witnessed, its currents foaming and roaring against sharp-cut rocks.
A frontal assault would be suicide. We didn't have a lot of long-range adventurers and the thick swarms of kurkurye hovering beyond the carpet of white clouds weren't going to let us be. I doubt they didn't notice the flock of armed people gathering on the distant cliff. They were merely choosing not to engage, sizing us up. Or maybe wondering which one of us would be the most filling for their gut made of air and bones.
It didn't take long for the Central Empire to issue a call to arms when news of an infestation in the Western Tower broke out. Arzo has made his move. He must be preparing for his summoning ritual—one that would resurrect Laela Betradis from the afterlife.
I glanced at Hye-jin. She gazed out past the gorge like the rest of us, her lips set in a thin line. A frown pulled at the edges of her mouth. Thinking. Just like how she used to do during the mock tournaments we did in the programming club as freshmen. Back then, our only goal was to squeeze free lunch from our seniors—simple things—and she would stay up all night trying to hone her technique and familiarize herself with the game. Now, with more than our lives on the line, her thoughts might as well join the river in raging..
Was she still worried about getting captured by Arzo and being used as a vessel for Laela? I'd be kidding no one when I say I wasn't worried. Or scared. That's why I developed that skill when she wasn't looking.
Last night, while everyone was busy preparing for the gathering happening today, Hye-jin clambered up to my room and held the Book of Darkness in my face. "It's time, isn't it?" she said with a grin so wide I would have never pegged her as stressed out of her wits. After knowing her for more than a decade, I obliged. She's looking for something to do to distract her from her thoughts.
So, she transferred the ownership to me and I used it to unlock the rest of my skills. Then, I held out the Key of Goran and we spent the rest of the night performing skill alchemy. When I got to that one skill, Hye-jin frowned. "What was that for?" she had asked.
I considered lying or dodging the question back then, but I've known for a fact it would not do us any good. We've had to go through a lifetime of pain and heartbreak to prove that. "Life Switch?" I tapped the last item in the Book's most recent page. "It's the ace up my sleeve in my first trial. I accidentally discovered it when I combined these skills."
I circled my finger around some of the earlier, unlocked skills. Hye-jin chewed on her lip, tucking her hair behind her ear. As usual, she hadn't tied it back and it kept getting into her face. "Yeah, but what does it do?" she insisted.
