Page 29

CHAPTER 29

REN

The Floating World

Inside the Mithril Mines

SUNHO SHE’D left him, but it was the only choice she could make. He needed to focus on his opponent, not on whether she was safe. She had her own purpose, one that had set her on this long journey to begin with—to find the cure for Little Uncle. Then she could go back to the caravan, to the way things used to be. That simple path, lit by sunlight, with no pockets of darkness. Even if she knew deep inside that was no longer possible.

It felt like a betrayal of her soul, to leave Sunho knowing he faced a dangerous enemy, one that threatened not only his body, but his soul , and yet she had to believe that he would come out on the other end whole. He was reliable in that way.

The corridor she raced down branched into another and then split into two identical ones, of which she chose the east-branching path at random. As she ran, she was reminded of the caves beneath the Haebaek Mountains. Except, while those left an impression of majesty and peace, this place felt wrong .

That room had held cages . Living creatures had been kept there, but for what purpose? This place, this laboratory , didn’t make any sense. She needed answers.

She felt a shift in the air, a breeze. It gave her a direction to follow. Pausing at each junction, she waited for the touch of wind against her skin before picking which tunnel to go down. She started to run again as the breeze grew stronger.

The hall ended abruptly at a cavern. An obsidian floor spread out before her, smooth like a lake at night. A pale blue light emanated from the back of the room. She walked toward it, her footsteps echoing across the vast chamber. Slowly the light took shape until she could see it clearly.

It came from a tank, encased entirely in glass. The tank was filled with some sort of liquid, too bright to be water. She realized it was mithril. A liquefied form of it. The color mesmerized her. As she stared at it, something inside moved .

She stumbled back.

Something floated within the mithril . Something large.

“Sareniya.”

Ren jumped, twisting to see a man approach from the shadows.

He was unarmed, dressed in a worn black robe. Spectacles that were too big for his face shielded his eyes. He adjusted them from where they’d slid down his long nose. “I startled you. Forgive me.”

“What did you call me?” she asked sharply.

“Sareniya. It’s your name, isn’t it?”

“Not anymore,” she snapped.

“Ah.” He ducked his head, as if he was embarrassed. “I was mistaken.”

“Who are you?” He was the first soul she’d met since entering the strange facility, besides the demon.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that question?” The man adjusted his spectacles, clearly a habit of his. He had longish hair that curtained a gaunt face. He might have been handsome in his youth, but time or perhaps stress had left him sallow and sunken-eyed. “This is my laboratory, after all. Though it’s curious that you should find it. Did anyone follow you here, by chance?”

Ren’s pulse leaped. “You’re the one who was conducting those awful experiments. It was you who created the demon that attacked Gorye Village. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Her voice raised in pitch, echoing around the room.

“Wait, slow down.” He appeared agitated. “What demon? A… village?”

“I traveled here from the other side of the Haebaek Mountains after the village where my family was visiting was attacked by a demon from your laboratory. Why would you create such an abomination?”

“Oh dear, you’ve got it all wrong.” The man wrung his hands. “The mithril program was only ever meant to help others. When it became clear that mithril affected living organisms in dangerous ways, we shut the program down entirely. That was two years ago. The serum I created was never supposed to have left this facility. To think that someone has been using what I created…”

Ren couldn’t make sense of what he was saying. “Is there a cure?”

“An antidote? Yes, there is.” He scurried past her to a table she hadn’t noticed before, distracted by the tank. It was strewn with loose papers and broken equipment. As she eyed the man, she wondered if he was in fact harmless. He had seemed genuinely shocked at what she’d told him. Sweeping aside junk, he uncovered a small, rectangular box. He unhooked the latch, opening it to reveal an odd, thin instrument tucked inside.

“What is that?” Ren asked as he removed the object from the case. It was as long as a rice plant’s leaf, tubular with a sharp end point.

“A syringe,” the man said. “You stick the needle into the skin and press the plunger.” He mimed the action with his thumb. He then placed the syringe carefully back into the case. “Once you administer the antidote, the afflicted should recover in a few days.”

Ren reached for the case, her fingers closing around it.

“I need one thing from you in return. It’s only fair.” She looked up to find the strange man leaning over her. The light of the tank reflected in his spectacles. A chill swept through her. She tugged, hard, but he didn’t let go of the box. His other hand was in his pocket. She watched as he withdrew another syringe.

Unlike the one with the antidote, this one was empty.

He moved too fast for her to stop him, even had she let go of the box. She winced at the prick of pain as the needle slid into her wrist. He pulled back the plunger, and the tube filled with blood.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she stammered. She tried to wrest her arm from him, but for how weak he appeared, his grip was surprisingly strong.

After filling the vial, he let go of her, and she wrenched her arm back, rubbing her wrist. “What are you going to do with it?”

He tilted his head, as if her question perplexed him. “What does it matter to you? You’re not here to claim your true name. You’re going back to your village. Please don’t think I’m being the least bit reproachful; I commend such simple desires. A quiet life, without pain, unhaunted by the past. If I hadn’t been so deeply wounded, I might have… But no…” He shook his head. “I am cursed.”

He seemed to have lost interest in her entirely. She stepped back from him, clutching the box with the antidote.

“You said you shut your program down two years ago,” she said slowly. “Around that time, two boys were brought here. They would have been fifteen and eighteen. They were orphans, brothers.”

The man looked up, and for a moment she could see his eyes through the glass of his spectacles. Oddly, though his glasses reflected the light, his eyes seemed devoid of it entirely.

“What happened to them?” Ren demanded. “After the… experiment. The younger brother, he lived, but the older…?” She didn’t want to say it, though she feared the worst. “The older brother’s name was Junho. What happened to him?”

The man shook his head. “He’s gone. They’re all gone. The younger one, too.”

“But he’s not,” Ren said. “Sunho’s alive.”

The man went very still. “That can’t be true,” he whispered.

Ren frowned, not liking the way he sounded, as if he was horrified that Sunho still lived. “He came here, with me. He’s searching for his older brother.”

“No!”

Ren yelped as the man reached out and grabbed her arm, his fingers digging into her skin. “You must stay away from him. He is a monster .”

“Let go of me!” Her heartbeat raced. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You called my creations abominations. Y-you were right. He is the worst of them of all. Kill him, kill him , before he kills you!”

Ren wrenched her arm away.

The man fell to the ground. Whimpering, he cradled the vial of her blood to his chest.

“You’re wrong,” she said, standing above him. “The monster is you .”

The man didn’t look up but kept his eyes on the ground, mumbling words to himself. “Keep your eyes down, Servant of Sareniya. You are unworthy of the light.”

A great roar came from a distance, echoing down the halls.

Sunho.

Gripping the box with the antidote, Ren turned and ran from that desolate place.

She looked back one last time to see the scientist reaching his hand toward the glass of the tank.

She couldn’t be sure, but it looked as if something was reaching back.