Page 19

Chan

Rage is too small a word to describe the monster that prowls underneath Kim Chan’s skin.

It is more than mere rage or hatred. In all his centuries of experience in endless battles and unceasing political conflicts, Chan has never felt such a consuming vehemence, as thick and as dark as a rolling storm cloud. He cannot think past it. He exists within it, constantly, unable to see beyond its suffocating smog.

Gyeulcheon is crowded with refugees from Sanyeongto and a couple of villages his men were able to reach before their exhaustion rendered them useless. Having just left a debriefing meeting with Kang and his generals, the Supreme Commander stalks ferociously through the palace, shoving past frantic-eyed mortals and their children. He ignores their startled exclamations, or perhaps he is unable to hear them over the dull roaring in his head.

Bonseyo will not send reinforcements to Wyusan. The royal Jeons cower in the capital city of Gohtan. Shin Lina reportedly approaches Sanyeongto, and she will soon take it, one kingdom closer to Fulfillment.

Chan won’t fucking let that happen. But Rui is holding back. The Supreme Commander has fought by Emperor Haneul’s side for years, and he can tell when his king is hesitating. He hesitated during the Battle of Seocheonkkotbat, when he shouted for the girl to be taken alive. Alive? What in the gods’ names?

Chan grits his teeth as he stalks down the stairs into the armory, where Rui’s blue Dokkaebi fire is kept alive in the forges, where servants create more fireswords.

The whole point of this war is to make sure that girl is not alive . That she is dead . Rui, for some unintelligible reason, is not fulfilling his duty to its completion. Chan grabs a finished firesword, sheathing it at his waist. As he stalks out of the armory, he pulls the hood of his cloak over his head, hiding his tell-tale white hair from view.

Hana used to braid it before they went into battle.

Now, it is scraped back every day with shaking, calloused hands.

Nobody notices as Gyeulcheon’s Supreme Commander leaves Gyeulcheon, stepping back into his shadowy portal with one hand on the hilt of a firesword and the other tight around his tall, trident-like dangpa.

Kim Chan is going to end this war.

And he is going to do it soon .