Chapter 1: Prologue // Present
Notes:
Hi! First and foremost, the prologue will sit by itself for a while (I have a pt2 coming with a brief overview of everyone via the profiles Uriel's reading), I have the chapter flow mapped out but I also just wanted to get the prologue out while I'm thinking about it. I don't like keeping too many projects ongoing so I'll be trying to finish all of my other stuff before coming back around to this, sorry!
Chapter Text
Sterile walls graced by nothing by a massive two-way mirror, it was almost as if they didn't expect the interrogated to understand what the setup was. In the corner of the room, an armed guard stood ramrod straight and motionless, closer to a statue than a breathing Sentinel. The door next to the guard blended in well, even the door handle was barely visible.
A lone woman sat at a table, ringlets of blonde hair contrasted against the black pantsuit sporting clean, gold trim that she wore. The sparse furniture in the room matched, a polished black walnut with gold trim. It was clear this was her personal room. Her domain. The only thing that stood out was the recorder sitting on the table within arm's reach from her.
Emerald eyes flitted between the papers, waiting. They were waiting. Waiting for what?
Well, the steady step of footfalls approaching the door revealed soon enough.
"Let her in."
Her voice cut the silence, the guard moving to open the door and bring in her guest.
Lee Seolhwa.
"Miss Lee,"
The blonde woman did her best to be courteous as her guest was escorted in, glancing from the papers to the noble stature stood before her. Long, ghostly locks framed an almost angelic face, pale and snowy save for the deep crimson lips rivalled only by equally crimson eyes. The only feature breaking the vampiric visage were the shackles binding her forearms together,
"Inspector Uriel."
Seolhwa's voice was soft, but not without an edge. She spoke clearly, deliberately, a silver tongue lined with poison. She shifted, making a point to rattle the chains binding her as she was guided to sit down. She watched in silence as Uriel turned on the recorder, the blinking red light almost a threat.
"Lee Seolhwa, age 32- correction. Previously 32, Guide, affinity for poisons, masteries in toxin and Grave survival. Special notes; a body immune to poisons and stores toxin in the body with blood closer in composition to acid. Miss Lee, do you know why you're here?"
Seolhwa had sat unwavering, watching Uriel and making no motion aside from the subtle rise and fall of her breathing. A moment passed between them, crimson eyes darting down to the recorder before back up toward Uriel. It was almost a challenge. It was a challenge.
"No. When our research team returned from the Grave of Atlas, the bureau had us arrested."
"Miss Lee, your research team was missing for twenty years. Five hours ago, a pillar of light was seen coming from the center of the Grave of Atlas and the ocean was terraformed around the Grave. Four hours ago, your team walked out of the Grave of Atlas while the bureau was actively investigating changes to the Gate energy and geography surrounding the Grave. Are you telling me you don't know anything about the light?"
"That's correct."
It was a lie. It was obviously a lie, at least for their team. They knew what happened, but it was quite possibly a secret they would have to take to the grave. What happened there, in the Grave, was not something the current - scratch that, the previous, government should ever have knowledge of.
The attempt of interrogation continued for another hour. Uriel did her best to break down Seolhwa's walls, to no avail. What little information she did get out of Seolhwa was already established upon the bureau securing the party. After being sure that she wouldn't get any meaningful information from Seolhwa, Uriel had her returned to her cell.
The recorder long sat silent on the desk, waiting for the next 'guest' of the room to be brought in. Uriel, darling that she was, was very stressed out. She knew they had information, these Sentinels, these Guides, they were no longer human, far from it. No one enters the Grave of Atlas, goes missing for two decades, and comes out perfectly fine like a video was just paused. They were also the closest hint to what her own group was seeking. The question now, was...how to could she get them to trust her. For all intents and purposes, she was part of the bureau out of necessity, but right now it was possibly more of a bane than a boon.
The woman's attention was pulled away as the room rumbled. No, more accurately, the whole building was rattling.
She looked at the paper of the next one being brought to her, and suddenly...suddenly it wasn't surprising. She had just a few moments to brace before a knock rapped at the door and was subsequently opened. Yoo Joonghyuk. Two decades ago he was regarded as one of, if not the best, Sentinel in Neo-Seoul. In the two decades that passed, it's highly possible that was still true.
The man was escorted in by a hulking figure in his own right. Gilded locks, gilded eyes, He had a wild temperament about him, but not nearly as wild as Yoo Joonghyuk looked right now.
A muzzle covered the lower half of his face, though it didn't fully contain the wisps of smoke leaking out. Shackles in a similar manner to the ones Seolhwa sported were wrapped around his arms, reinforced by golden chains snaking around his entire form and a golden collar rung on his neck- additional fortification in an attempt to contain the Sentinel.
There was a high possibility the extra restraint would be minimal use. Every movement caused sparks to flare around his form, matching the faint glow his eyes were giving off. The sparks were beautiful, in a mildly horrifying way. Shattered stars, Uriel likened them to as he moved.
The man escorting Joonghyuk looked towards Uriel, a silent communication as he ushered Joonghyuk towards the chair, though made no motion to leave his side once seated. The low rumble emitting from the Sentinel was a warning. A very clear warning that everyone in the room would be remiss to ignore.
Closing her eyes briefly and giving a pensive sigh, Uriel's eyes opened and lifted towards the guard in the corner. Not daring to break the silence, she made a motion with her head for them to leave.
Once the guard was evacuated, she attempted to turn on the recorder only to be met with louder, more dangerous snarling.
Okay. Off the record.
She can do something with this. Maybe.
Holding her hands up in surrender, Uriel looked towards the other - her ally, specifically, and gave a slow nod. This was going to be a gamble, and a test of wills. As Joonghyuk's muzzle was removed, his fangs were bared. A deep, rumbling snarl shook the air as silvery smoke billowed from his lips in warning and threatened to fill the room like a fog. It took everything in her not to flinch away from the onslaught of energy.
"Okay. No recording. This is off the record."
Uriel leaned back in her chair, hoping any part of her posture was placating.
"Where is he."
Before she could speak, Joonghyuk lurched in his seat, clearly an attempt to clear the table and get at her. Luckily, his guard was just as fast, firmly gripping at the collar to keep him in place with a bit of effort.
"Wh-"
"Where is Kim Dokja!"
Yoo Joonghyuk roared from where he was forced to remain still, fighting as much as he could against the restraint. Uriel was both grateful and horrified to remember that he was currently sedated.
"Wukong, please."
She looked towards her friend, and he returned her gaze with apprehension. A heavy sigh, the golden chains dissipated. Luckily, it helped a bit- who knew not treating someone like a wild animal would get them to be a little more willing to be cooperative, the "convict"s tense body relaxing just the slightest bit. It didn't stop him from demanding again, with the same intensity as before.
"Where is Kim Dokja."
"We don't know."
Wukong's voice cut in, redirecting that furious gaze onto him instead of Uriel.
"But we're trying to find him."
Uriel was quick to interject, doing her best to keep Joonghyuk from the brink of rampage. Sure, she was a Guide and could theoretically keep him from reaching the breaking point, but she was also sure the blowback of trying to guide such an unwilling Sentinel would cause lasting damage on her body.
"Yoo Joonghyuk. I swear to you, we're trying to find him. But we need your help."
Joonghyuk narrowed his eyes towards her pleas in turn, a brow quirked in disbelief before speaking, though he made damn sure to keep his rage unleashed. By force or by fire, he would get his answers first.
"Why would I ever help the bureau."
"We're not with the bureau, you mad dog. Not..morally, anyway."
Wukong cut him off, still holding him by the neck and only daring to release his hold once the other Sentinel's body relaxed against the chair and showed no signs of wanting to harm Uriel.
"Yoo Joonghyuk...the bureau wasn't meant to be like...this...we don't know what happened to it, but we're trying to fix it. We need your help to do that. Yoo Joonghyuk, we need to know what happened in the Grave of Atlas."
She hoped, fully hoped, with her whole being, that she could get through to him. If they could get Joonghyuk on their side - if they could get this party on their side, they might actually be able to usurp the ones who controlled the bureau. Uriel and Wukong had an uphill fight ahead of them, and this was the first step. She watched quietly, pensively, as Joonghyuk seemed to genuinely be considering her words. She would tell him everything - tell all of them everything, but she couldn't do it here. Not when there were too many ears waiting to eavesdrop. Too many eyes waiting to spy.
"Bring me Dokja. And the rest of my team. Then we'll talk."
Chapter 2: Prologue // Subject files
Summary:
Subject files given to Inquisitor Uriel before her attempts at conducting interviews
Chapter Text
Name: Kim Dokja
Age: ■■
Nationality: Korean
Height: 176cm
Weight: 61kg
Date of birth: 15 Feb
Classification: Guide
Affinity: Electricity
Role: Main Offense / Off Support
Temperament: Mild, incredibly disagreeable.
Sedation recommended.
Overview: Personable, but standoffish. Subject is a Guide with a strong resistance to drugs. Use SVT-49981 to sedate effectively.
Do not bring electronic devices within a 5m radius.
Research is still attempting to gather information from subject's vitals and bloodwork. Results thus far have been inconclusive. Believed to be the leader of the once thought KIA leading research group "Suneater" with no evidence to suggest otherwise. Subject does not seem to be immediately aggressive, some degree of communication is capable. Subject is friendly, but dangerous. Do not use subject's given name when engaging with other members of team Suneater, reactions vary from imminent danger to the safety of all persons present to total shutdown.
Subject has been classified as callsign "Lumina"
Status: Alive, Under observation in「The Altar」
Name: Yoo Joonghyuk
Age: ■■
Nationality: Korean
Height: 184cm
Weight: 103kg
Date of birth: 8 Aug
Classification: Sentinel
Affinity: ■■
Role: Offense
Temperament: Volatile, highly aggressive.
Sedation required,
Overview: Keep muzzled. Use RGS-3331866 to sedate subject.
Any mention of subject "Kim Dokja" to subject runs the risk of a code black. Avoid at all costs.
Subject was previously known as the strongest sentinel of Neo-Seoul. Current speculation based off available data suggested subject may still be among the top ranking Sentinels, potentially still the strongest currently. Any interaction with subject must include a guard for the safety of the personnel in question.
Exercise extreme caution when entering or staying in subject's holding cell. Subject's energy can manifest as both a hallucinatory fog and a suspended rain of large particles that detonate on contact. These particles have been recorded as "Starfall" by research personnel. Coming in direct contact with subject's Starfall can cause second degree burns. Metalsmithing PPE is recommended in the event of high-stress situations.
Status: Alive, Detained in「Compound 3 Bravo」
Name: Yoo Sangah
Age: ■■
Nationality: Korean
Height: 166cm
Weight: 62kg
Date of birth: 30 Apr
Classification: Sentinel
Affinity: Light
Role: Main Saboteur / Off Offense
Temperament: Polite. Manipulative.
Overview: Any mention of subject "Kim Dokja" results in anomalous activity among personnel.
Subject seems capable of inducing an altered state of mind in personnel that verbally respond to dialogue. Personnel is recommended to engage with subject in a nonverbal manner to reduce risk of lasting effects. Subject is a known polyglot and a recorder is recommended when engaging with any form of questioning to translate and decode outside of subject's holding cell.
Status: Alive, Detained in「Compound 2 Delta」
Name: Han Sooyoung
Age: ■■
Nationality: Korean
Height: 158cm
Weight: 53kg
Date of birth: 1 Apr
Classification: Guide
Affinity: Fire, Umbra
Role: Saboteur
Temperament: Violent. Sedation recommended,
Overview: Any mention of subject "Kim Dokja" to subject causes rolling blackouts to compound facilities.
PLG-646321 recommended to sedate effectively
Subject causes low visibility. Brighter light sources have proven to not be effective in any attempts to remedy visibility. Personnel have noted subject only responds in vitriol and offers no usable data. Subject seems to know of events happening in Compound 2 and other cell blocks in Compound 3. Current theory seems to be subject has some sort of morphogenetic relationship with other members of Suneater research team. More research required.
Subject has not shown active abilities, current observations insufficient.
Status: Alive, Detained in「Compound 3 Alpha」
Name: Jung Heewon
Age: ■■
Nationality: Korean
Height: 173cm
Weight: 78kg
Date of birth: 9 Jul
Classification: Sentinel
Affinity: Fire
Role: Offense
Temperament: Fierce, resistant.
Overview: Fire risk. Keep extinguishers on hand when interacting.
Any mention of subject "Kim Dokja" to subject runs the risk of triggering fire evacuation protocol.
Subject shows no desire to cooperate with personnel.
Subject has not shown any attempts at physical confrontation, but continues to challenge personnel via raising ambient temperatures higher than ideal for a human body. Personnel has been attempting to file for sedating subject, however upper echelon has deemed subject's actions not dangerous enough to warrant sedation.
Status: Alive, Detained in「Compound 3 Alpha」
Name: Lee Seolhwa
Age: ■■
Nationality: Korean
Height: 168cm
Weight: 57kg
Date of birth: 2 Jan
Classification: Guide
Affinity: Toxin
Role: Support
Temperament: Quiet. Sharp.
Overview: Keep muzzled
Subject "Kim Dokja" is safe to mention to subject, however, all proceeding responses may become polluted and unusable for documentation.
Subject is polite and answers most questions, but not with any meaningful information. Subject is highly intelligent and must be handled with two people at all times.
Subject is easier to communicate with and less likely to become violent, but poses the high risk to personnel health. Subject seems to be able to control how much toxin is contained in bodily fluids and has been shown to be able to control the effects to some degree. Personnel have been recorded stating feeling extreme fatigue or extremely unwell after coming within proximity of subject. Several personnel have later passed away.
Status: Alive, Detained in「Compound 3 Charlie」
Name: Lee Hyunsung
Age: ■■
Nationality: Korean
Height: 187cm
Weight: 108kg
Date of birth: 20 Jun
Classification: Guide
Affinity: Earth
Role: Main Defense / Off Offense
Temperament: Docile, but very stubborn.
Overview: Any mention of subject "Kim Dokja" to subject causes subject to fully stop responding and enter a state of torpor.
Subject does not exhibit violent tendencies in any manner similar to other subjects from the Suneater research team, but has shown to be the hardest to encourage into cooperation. Subject politely declines any requests made or attempts to draw blood for study via collecting iron particles on the surface of the skin similar to an iron shell similar to an exoskeleton. This observed metal shell greatly increases subject weight and durability, causing research to be unable to penetrate skin for blood draw.
Status: Alive, Detained in「Compound 2 Alpha」
Name: Lee Jiyhe
Age: ■■
Nationality: Korean
Height: 164cm
Weight: 56kg
Date of birth: 4 Feb
Classification: Sentinel
Affinity: Water
Role: Offense
Temperament: Temperamental
Overview: No usable information has been obtained from subject. All attempts at communication have been met with demands of the location or well-being of subject's "Master"
No personnel has been able to confirm or discover who subject's master is. Subject has drowned one member of personnel. Proceed with caution.
Subject has been shown being able to tamper with ambient humidity.
Status: Alive, Detained in「Compound 3 Charlie」
Name: Kim Namwoon
Age:■■
Nationality: Korean
Height: 175cm
Weight: 70kg
Date of birth: 30 Apr
Classification: Sentinel
Affinity: Umbra
Role: Main Offense / Off Saboteur
Temperament: Rabid.
Overview: No information available
Personnel has not been able to safely enter holding cell and attempts at communication through speakers or theater rooms have been met with destroyed speakers and curses. To the best of personnel's abilities, subject seems to exhibit the ability to weaponize shadows and darkness. Personnel is recommended to keep high output floodlights lit in subject's room at all times for safety.
Status: Alive, Detained in「Compound 2 Delta」
Chapter 3: The Descent *
Notes:
hi don't look at me. I wrote half of this before bed and decided I wanted to finish/post the first chapter tonight instead of sleeping. I'm posting this at 8a and idk when the next chapter will be
Technically you don't have to read this, the "real" story starts in the next chapter, this is just the preliminary setting for the Grave of Atlas
Also I'm bad at writing any kind of smut. I don't go there (I normally just draw it) LMAO the actual smut scenes are indented so you can skip over them if you want o7
Don't look at me. good night lmao
Chapter Text
「Grave of Atlas: First Level」
"Good morning,"
A gentle buzz hums from the recorder, Kim Dokja sat on a folded up sleeping bag as the rest of the team pulled down the tents and packed up their equipment. As he spoke, he scanned the campsite to take note of where everyone was.
"My name is Kim Dokja, I am the lead researcher for the Grave diving team, Suneater. The current date is the 15th of July, we are currently in the first floor of the Grave of Atlas."
As he spoke, ambient chatter could be heard as the rest of the team cleaned up breakfast and starts preparing for the descent.
This was far from the first time the team had descended into the Grave of Atlas, but the first time they planned on diving as far as they could go. Either they'll reach the end, or ....well. Die.
Even now, eighty years after Sentinels and Guides started descending into the Grave, either by contract or by their own parties to train or what-have-you, very few went below the first two floors, and now, in the present, barely anyone entered the Grave unless a big company like the Bureau commissioned them.
Kim Dokja paused, closing his eyes as he gave a soft exhale. He would rather not become a permanent resident to this place, but some things were going to be out of their control. They needed answers, and honestly? For as much bluster as the Bureau touted, claiming to be the largest facility to maintain Sentinels and Guides while giving them the most freedom, it was a little pathetic. They would have to get the answers themselves and most likely, publish the results independently.
Still, he dutifully performed his tasks of recording their progress every few days. The periodic recaps in vocational record would also help track the general state of the team along with the daily journal logs - one of which was currently being scribbled into.
Hearing a soft crunch of substrate to his left, Dokja looked over and tilts his head with a small smile at Yoo Joonghyuk's approach. The man quietly leaned over just enough, nuzzling his cheek against Dokja's temple before leaving him to his task. Really. He was so cute, and for what? The gap moe should be illegal.
As he droned on with the report, Dokja's soft, gunmetal grey eyes wandered to watching everyone else. The first floor never changed, it was like walking into a forest. The further you walked from the main descent point, the more heavily wooded it became. It was always safe, barring a dungeon breach from the lower floors. The terrain did have a slight slope down, and it seemed like there were mostly-complete 3d maps of the first ten floors having some vague shape similar to a downward spiral. Not unlike his mental health when he got stressed out.
If you didn't have to consciously travel down ten kilometers into a gaping hole the size of Texas in the middle of the ocean, it was easy to mistake the area as a popular camping and hiking area. You know...barring the atmospheric pressure of Gate energy. And the radius outside of the Grave's diameter that would spawn gate breaks.
A totally normal campground where you might die. Not that he would know how safe regular campgrounds were.
He briefly saw the kids heading into the underbrush with Yoo Sangah. Sangah herself wasn't particularly well versed when it came to field dressing animals, so either Namwoon would be handling that or they would mostly be foraging. ...
Actually. Hopefully they weren't doing any of the hunting. If he had to deal with that little psychopath cleaning himself in "the blood of his enemies" one more time he might just put Namwoon in the ground with his bare hands.
Murdering your own teammates in a fit of rage was usually frowned upon.
"... No changes in endemic life from previous records. No other activity to report, Research team Suneater is approximately one kilometer from the main pathway into the second floor. Next recording will be after descending into the second floor and setting up camp for the night."
Turning off the recorder and packing everything away. Kim Dokja stood with a muffled grunt. If his spine cracked in four different places, no one was close enough to call him out on it. As he stood, hands on his hips, he glanced down at the white coat that lay folded next to where he was previously sitting.
It was nice, how safe the first layer was compared to the immediate difficulty curve starting from the next floor down. They were able to preserve energy and avoid the need for proper guiding for the first few days this way.
"Dokja. You done?"
Turning his head, he gave a nod to Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung as they approached. It looked like they finished packing up the bulk of the equipment. Good. If nothing else, having individuals as reliable as them on the team definitely made him feel better about doing such a deep dive. On the other hand...
"Sooyoung and Seolhwa?"
While he waited for a response, Dokja looked down towards his right wrist. Two bangles hung from the bony limb, one much thicker than the other and pulsing with his own energy.
It was a little bulky to wear, but who would've thought abilities could be used with such great utility? For whatever reason, only he and Joonghyuk could manipulate their ability in this type of manner, but essentially having a personal pocket dimension was fantastic.
An infinite bag of holding, he called it once. And then Joonghyuk, wet sock that he was, had said it wasn't technically infinite. What a killjoy.
Anyway, it wasn't as if everyone else didn't have their own storage. The smaller bangle was more mass produced, but it was still useful for everyone to store their own clothes and other personal items. Luckily with the team's own funding they were able to make sure everyone had one.
"Sooyoung's hunting, she saw a herd of deer last night and wanted to try and get one or two for provisions. Seolhwa said she wanted to head to the descent point first and meet us there,"
Hyunsung offered, garnering a hum in return. Good. That was everyone accounted for.
Dokja turned slightly and gave a nod of acknowledgement to Joonghyuk as he returned from wherever he was- likely storing away the provisions. Stocking up in the first few levels would be important. Safe food progressively became more scarce with each descent and they only had public information down to the twelfth floor. This might get dicey.
"Alright. Lets get going, then."
From his peripheral, the way Joonghyuk steadily wandered closer to Dokja as they walked didn't go unnoticed, and briefly, he thought about bullying the man. Ah, well. There was no harm in indulging his partner during this dive since there was no way of knowing how long they would be down here.
Silently, Dokja intertwined their pinky fingers as they walked.
If he heard Sooyoung fake a gagging sound at the notion behind them, neither one addressed it.
"Hey, old man. How come Seolhwa noona goes off on her own? Isn't that like. Dangerous for Guides or something?"
It was Namwoon to ask, five minutes in to their trek. Briefly, Dokja entertained the idea of ignoring him. It was pretty funny to listen to the kid crash out when he got ignored. Maybe he should ask Seolhwa to do a study on whether or that kid was all there, mentally.
"The second floor has a rainforest type setting, Lee Seolhwa likes to try and find poison dart frogs that wander up around the entrance down to eat."
Dokja didn't turn around to address him, but he could already see that brat's expression. This was only the third expedition Namwoon and Jihye would've been with the team on, and even if it wasn't, Dokja knew they got bored watching people stare at plant samples for hours on end and wouldn't have noticed anyway.
They weren't on the research team for the 'research' part of the team, after all.
"What."
Kim Namwoon's dead tone caused Dokja's expression to crack, holding in his laughter as Joonghyuk bumped shoulders with him, but behind them, he heard Heewon snort.
Naturally, no one elaborated and he was probably left with more questions than answers.
「Grave of Atlas: Second Level」
"Good Evening. My name is Kim Dokja, I'm the lead researcher of Grave diving team, Suneater. Today is the night of the 15th of July. Research team Suneater has touched down in the second floor of the Grave of Atlas. We are currently approximately four kilometers in to the second level. According to previously established knowledge of the second floor, we are approximately one-third into the terrain and ten kilometers away from the descent point into the third level.
The current time is 20:47. Three hours prior at 17:31, research team Suneater encountered an anomaly in the form of a Gateborne monster normally found on the fifth floor being seen and engaged in combat. Entity encountered was a specimen from F5-03: Firelung. Entity has been safely subdued, see journal entry 2-01A for full report."
Short, concise. As he spoke, Dokja dutifully wrote down the daily journal log. He was still nervous. All the preparation in the world would never make you ready to take an expedition like this, and honestly, they were only in the second level and he'd been second guessing himself on whether or not taking on this mission was a good idea or not.
"Find out what's at the end" was such a vague request, but with the money offered and equipment provided up front, it wasn't a request that could easily be rejected.
Suneater was regarded as one of the best research teams to date and usually doubled as a mercenary team due to how they were set up. Getting requests from other continents was fairy common, though Dokja made sure not to accept any requests that might outright put his team in jeopardy.
"The next scheduled recording will be after descending to the third level and establishing safe grounds."
A soft oof was pushed out of his lungs as he felt the weight of Yoo Joonghyuk press against his back, head resting on his shoulder. Tucking away the recorder, Dokja idly raised his free hand to gently scratch at Joonghyuk's scalp, being rewarded with a soft rumble and feeling the other press more into his back.
Before him, the campsite clearing was larger than the previous one, but it couldn't be helped with an active necropsy being performed on a monster. Of course, Yoo Joonghyuk, beast in his own right that he was, was the one to take it on single handedly, but without a proper guiding session for the past couple of days straight into combat, he deserved a bit of a reward.
He watched as the team pulled apart the monster before them.
On the surface, it looked like a feathered reptile. Specifically, Firelungs had an anatomy similar to a tegu with mottled scales in shades of red and brown sporting an orange feathered crest. There was, of course also the factor of them being the size of a tiger and the cause of their namesake, a special oil produced in their lungs that could be ignited by a special organ in their jaw.
This wasn't the first time a Firelung had been dissected. They were common monsters on the fourth level, and common in desert-type Gates that opened.
And currently..well.
Lee Seolhwa was cutting small bits from various parts of the body and organs and eating them. Jung Heewon had taken the heart and lungs to "sacrifice" them into her own fire ability.
Hers was a strange type of manifestation that could be strengthened by offering specific organs from fire-affinity monsters, but only once. Dokja's eyes followed Heewon's movements, the offered parts burning away into ash as a pair of vaguely feathered wings flashed against her back during the 'absorption' process.
His eyes lowered in thought for a moment. Heewon was a valuable asset, and a strong ally. Her ability was a dangerous one, however. Dokja wasn't particularly one to play with fire without knowing the upper limits.
"Hey."
Dokja was pulled from his thoughts at the feeling of an arm wrapped around his waist and giving a tug.
Craning his head as best he could, he was greeted by the hard stare of Yoo Joonghyuk. For a moment, Dokja almost forgot how to breathe as he peered back into those captivating obsidian eyes.
He could never get tired of looking. Not of that pleading stare when Joonghyuk wanted attention, not of the way he always stared like he'd been existing- enduring, surviving the pain and struggle of thousands of lifetimes, and just needed a gentle hand to ground him.
"Hmm?"
Dokja hummed in response, leaning back into Joonghyuk as he felt the other nuzzle into his neck. Was he jealous? Or did he just want attention? Those generally went hand in hand so who knows.
"Gross. At least go to your tent."
Han Sooyoung's nose wrinkled as she had the unfortunate happenstance to look over and see them sitting on the log that had been ripped down for the team to use as seating for the night.
Choosing to consciously ignore her, Dokja looked at Seolhwa instead.
"How is it?"
"Spicy."
There was a moment of silence as Dokja tried to process what she meant by that. Seated rather comfortably against Joonghyuk, an arm was crossed to lay over the other's as his thumb idly rubbed against the back of Joonghyuk's hand.
Well, she didn't say 'funny spicy' like she usually would when something might take them out of commission, so it would be safe to eat, right?
"Hyuk-ah. Come on. At least store the Firelung meat so we can eat it in case, in the lower floors. Seolhwa didn't say anything weird so it's probably safe to eat. Making sure we don't run out of food is important, isn't it?"
When he was only met with a displeased rumble and the arm on his waist tightening, Dokja couldn't help but sigh and use his other hand to pat the top of Joonghyuk's head.
"Yah. We can do proper guiding after dinner, okay? It's been a long day and we covered a lot of ground."
Luckily for the team, outside of the mishap on the second level with the Firelung, they were able to descend in relative safety. Comparatively, anyway.
The third level didn't have any notable changes from what was public knowledge - a mostly woodland terrain, warmer weather closer to the beginning of summer, majority of the creatures mutated by the Gate energy were things that could be considered "used to be squirrels or songbirds. Probably" as far as anyone wanted to look into.
If they took a little bit longer to get through this floor to stock up on provisions in order to blitz through the rest of the known floors, no one minded.
If Dokja spent more time staring shamelessly at Yoo Joonghyuk, mostly shirtless, bountiful pecs dripping with some liquid or another - whether it be sweat or water from bathing in the rivers, no one minded.
Okay, that was a lie. Han Sooyoung and Lee Jihye complained about it. Every single time.
"Blatantly eyefucking him" - Sooyoung had called it. Sangah was polite enough to pretend she didn't see. Seolhwa and Hyunsung tried not to bring it up. Heewon...Well. Okay, Heewon was just as bad when it came to Hyunsung. Dokja had leverage on her to get her off his back.
Even Jihye, upstart that she was, referred to his wandering gaze as "defiling her master" as if she knew any better. Well. She was still young.
It was important, okay. He needed to monitor Joonghyuk and make sure he didn't need guiding. The further down they went in the Grave, the more combat they were seeing, and Joonghyuk always fussed at him when combat wasn't all hands on deck. If he took advantage of not having to fight until later, he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
「Grave of Atlas: Fifth Level」
The fourth level wasn't anything unexpected, but by the fifth level there was an alarming uptick in aggressive monsters. As the group rested for the night, the fourth night on this level, Dokja and Sangah went over their records and what was publicly recorded.
"Something's wrong. The monsters in the Grave, the Gates, they've been steadily increasing in activity."
Sangah's voice broke the pensive silence as they studied the records. Brows knit together, Dokja glanced over towards the tents as he took note of Joonghyuk and Hyunsung. The two men were leaning against eachother shoulder to shoulder, leaned against a tree by Seolhwa's tent as she checked them over after a particularly aggressive monster rush.
She was right, though, he noted. The last time they came down to this level three years ago, it was safe enough to be Kim Namwoon's training session as Sooyoung beat his ass into gear and showed him how to use his affinity in the field.
To say it was concerning was an understatement.
Gaze turned back to the files spread out between the two of them, Dokja could help but peer back up through his lashes to where Joonghyuk was. If Seolhwa was returning from finding a snake to chew on - that was most likely some kind of cobra, no one dared to ask her about it.
"Hey does anyone know where Seolhwa went?"
Two days later, they still hadn't descended the next floor, there were some changes to the endemic life that Dokja really wanted to record. Nevermind the public learning about it if they ever ascended back out, changes in the upper levels might be important to track for later floors.
It had been Jihye to ask about Seolhwa, the young girl's face covered in sweat as Heewon stood next to her with the expression of a mother who's young daughter just beat someone's ass in a fight.
Ah, they must've been training again. Jihye was still bad when it came to higher temperatures that made water more volatile, and Heewon was easily the best one for that.
"Seolhwa thought she saw some monster with mushrooms growing out of it and wanted to go see if she could hunt one down. Namwoon went with her."
Joonghyuk was the one to speak, having just returned with Hyunsung and Sooyoung after securing the camp area. Dokja held back on saying anything about it. If Joonghyuk wasn't concerned about it, then Namwoon and Seolhwa would probably be strong enough to handle confrontation if need be.
"You trust those two to not cause problems?"
He couldn't help it. Individually they were pretty okay, but Namwoon's tunnel vision for violence and Seolhwa's tunnel vision for murder in the name of science was a horrible combination when left unsupervised.
"I told Seolhwa not to wander too far from the campsite."
That was all Dokja got as a response, but, well. He supposed it was better than nothing. Barely.
「Grave of Atlas: Ninth Level」
Dokja landed with a soft thud, the sizzle of energy buzzed around him like a storm building up and waiting to strike. Panting, he wiped his mouth against the back of his hand. The most aggressive monster here took the form of some sort of flying beast easily the size of a commercial jetliner that dropped explosive scales appropriately classified as "F09-18: Napalm". The good news is they were few and far between. The bad news was they would chase you into other levels if you tried to run, so the only option was to take them out.
Tightly gripped in his left hand in a white-knuckle hold, Dokja's primary form of offense was weaponizing his energy in the form of a sword. It was a brilliant, dangerous thing that crackled like a livewire, but was essentially his own energy crystalized into a physical form, not unlike the sword that Heewon held in her hand, though hers actually looked like burning flames trapped in glass.
His breathing was heavy, having exerted more energy than he'd needed to thus far. They weren't especially difficult to fell once you got to them, but the entire difficulty came from being able to reach them between mobility and being able to detonate the scales that were still on their body too.
Unfortunately, only three of them had skills that let them safely chase down the monsters and go on the offensive before they attacked first.
The problem was, assuming the studies on this level were accurate, these monsters used to passive, only attacking in self defense. They were also never recorded this large, previous records only being the size of an elephant.
"Alright?"
It was Joonghyuk's voice that pulled him from his thoughts, the larger man exchanging nods with Heewon before turning towards Dokja who hadn't responded.
"Mm. I'm fine, just...thinking. Those Napalms weren't that big before. What's happening here? It's almost like they're mutating into megafauna..."
As they made their way back to the rest of the party, the two intertwined their hands, Dokja glanced over, relieved to see Joonghyuk visibly relax as their energies mingled, dancing through his veins.
「Grave of Atlas: Thirteenth Level」
With the constant combat, it was no surprise that all of the food that had been stockpiled thus far in Joonghyuk's storage had run out by now. Unfortunately, this was fully within Dokja's expectations, not that there was still anything he could do about it.
And so, here Joonghyuk was, out hunting for provisions with Hyunsung and Seolhwa while Sangah and Sooyoung tried to forage nearby and the others rested at the campsite.
And this was why they were currently stood next to some sort of bear - not Hyunsung, an actual bear. Well, it was in the shape of one. There were chunks of what looked like tree bark merged into its body along with vines, leaves, even some of them - like this one here, with glowing blue balls growing off the vines that they're currently assuming is fruit.
Using a knife to make an entry point, Joonghyuk helped Hyunsung rip open the pelt, separating an remarkably tough layer of skin from what they assumed was fat.
"How are you holding up?"
Joonghyuk looked at Hyunsung, the former using the knife to dig out bite sized pieces of meat for Seolhwa to test for edibility. The two men had an unspoken understanding between them, they each felt responsible to ensure the safety for the rest of their team, and honestly, Joonghyuk knew he could rely on Hyunsung.
"I'm alright, Joonghyuk. Don't worry."
The response was warm, and as he studied the other man for a moment, he gave a nod. Hyunsung was breathing hard, but not enough to be considered heavy exertion. Unfortunately, they might have to rely more heavily on the other's steel affinity and grappling ability going forward, especially in the event of close quarters combat.
Giving a grunt in response, Joonghyuk's attention shifted to Seolhwa as she gave a hum.
"It's edible. It's pretty tough, though. Let me see about the other parts on it too. Hyunsung, if you could,"
She motioned to the vine and assumed fruit that Hyunsung was sitting next to, patiently waiting as he ripped off a piece that had a fruit attached before handing it to her. The two watched in apprehension as she bit a chunk out of the vine first, chewing on it a few times before swallowing.
Well, she didn't spit it out, so that was...better than nothing?
"Tastes like cardboard. We might be able to store it to make rope if we need to? I wouldn't recommend eating it though."
With a pause, it was the fruit next. Plucking it off the vine and tossing it, Seolhwa studied the fruit for some time, held gingerly between her index and thumb before ultimately popping it in her mouth.
As soon as she bit down, her expression shifted and scrunched up unpleasantly. Briefly, adrenaline surged through Joonghyuk's body as he lunged, grabbing her face to try and pry her mouth open. Rather than open her mouth, Seolhwa rapidly slapped at his wrist like an irate cat and pulled away until he let go.
Turning around to spit out the offending fruit, it was..odd...to know that the inside of the ..thing...was actually what was glowing, and not the skin.
Hyunsung stood as she turned back around, ready to catch her if need be before she finally responded.
"Well, it won't kill you, but it tastes like wet ass, so I don't recommend that either."
The two stared at her for a beat longer than was probably acceptable before Joonghyuk broke the silence, with a single, hissed word filled with all the confusion in the world.
"What?"
「Grave of Atlas: Seventeenth Level」
Something felt off, and honestly? Dokja wasn't sure what it was. Since entering the floor, something has been off. His skin doesn't feel...right and he doesn't know what's going on.
They'd been here for the past two weeks, despite methodically scouring the level, they still hadn't found the descent point, and honestly, Dokja was stating to wonder if they just had to start digging themselves.
At current, the team was resting for the night, and after a day full of actively using his energy more than he's had to thus far, suffice to say he was drained and exhausted. Unfortunately, his body was tired, but his mind wasn't and rather than being able to sleep early, he sat on Joonghyuk's lap in their tent. They were each reviewing separate files, and Dokja's constant fidgeting was starting distract Joonghyuk as he eventually moved one hand to the other's hip in an effort to keep him still.
When that didn't help, his hand wandered to Dokja's ass instead, full palming one of the soft mounds to give a rough squeeze and trying to ignore the whine that escaped the other's throat. Using his other arm to pull Dokja against his chest, Joonghyuk's voice rumbled out, low, almost a purr.
"Can we..?"
Before responding, Dokja opted to wiggle his hips just the slightest, pressing down against the hard erection that was practically begging as much as Joonghuk was.
"Can I just..sit..on it for a bit?"
Was he talking about cockwarming? Well, he's never been one to deny Dokja.
With a nod, Dokja lifted himself just enough as Joonghyuk shimmied his pants and boxers off, puling his own pants down enough to free his weeping cock as it sprang up and slapped against the other's ass as he settled back onto his lap. Feeling his dick twitching pitifully as it was pressed between their bodies was....well, it sure was something.
Dokja did his best to be patient as he felt Joonghyuk's head rub against his entrance, trying not to buck into Joonghyuk's stomach as a thick finger was gently pushed in, slick with the precum from his equally impatient dick.
Arms wrapped around Joonghyuk's neck, burying his face into the crook of the other's neck as he felt himself being worked open. One finger, then two, and eventually a third, spreading his entrance and when he felt those long, thick fingers brush against his prostate, the involuntary jerk of his hips in response did nothing to stop him from humping into Joonghyuk's stomach.
The deep, rumbling chuckle in response spurned Dokja into smacking the back of Joonghyuk's head as he tightened his hold on the latter's neck.
"Put it in already."
The warning was hissed out, breath hitching and quickly melting into a quiet, drawn out moan as he felt that fat head kiss his entrance and slowly sink in. Open-mouthed panting, Dokja knew his tongue was falling out of his mouth as he felt each inch push in, stretching his walls and splitting him apart. Clenching down with every movement, he gave a full-body shudder as the combination of Joonghyuk's fat dick and the surging energy mingling together was making stars dance across his vision.
With a tense whimper, body tensed as he came as soon as he was fully seated. Dokja leaned his entire weight against the other for a moment before eventually moving, both hands braced on Joonghyuk's shoulders as he leaned back enough to see how bad it was, only to be greeted by his dick still fully hard, twitching pathetically against his stomach. Cum smeared between their bodies as if in shame, and the way Joonghyuk laughed about it?
He almost wanted to smack him again. Almost.
"We'll clean up later,"
He assured, pulling Dokja back against him so they could sit chest to chest and continue reviewing documents for the night.
Nearly two hours later, if he was maneuvered into a mating press and proceeded to be pounded until he came again, and tried to remember his words as he felt Joonghyuk's cum leaking out of his ass, and needed to be helped to the lake so they could bathe, he denied everything and pretended to not remember. The flaming blush painting his features a pretty pink was a lie. Joonghyuk's smug smirk as he 'helped' Dokja relax enough to sleep was a lie. And Dokja would deny letting him have any of that satisfaction.
「Grave of Atlas: Twenty-First Floor」
Unfortunately, their dive was steadily drifting from "proceed with caution" to dangerous conditions. They didn't have a choice though. They couldn't stop. Not now. Not here.
Kim Dokja felt like he was slowly going mad the further down they descended. Sometimes he was underwater, sometimes his senses were muffled by cotton. It was a slow change. Gradual. And honestly, if it wasn't for someone mentioning it specifically he would've just...not realized something was off.
"Guide me?"
It was a quiet night, the first one in what felt like forever. The team was taking the floor slow. Something...shifted...when they passed the twentieth floor. Something was different. It was beyond primal, beyond primordial.
Joonghyuk's voice was soft. They had elected to take a day to rest. Dokja had been so fervent, so hellbent on reaching the bottom after they started - after the voice - the whispering, started back on the tenth floor. It was louder now. Constant. It was someone else's thoughts drowning out his own. It was maddening.
And so, here they were, Their tents were each suspended in a makeshift spiderweb woven securely into the canopy of a tree thicket. If anyone saw such a phenomenon on the surface they would think the Gates created a Jorogumo straight from Japanese mythology. Yet, here, it was a safety net. Han Sooyoung and Kim Namwoon had offered to take watch for the night. Everyone was tired, needed active guiding. Exhaustion crept through everyone's bones, and they were arguably the most well suited for being a nightwatch given their affinities.
Kim Dokja suppressed a flinch as the large, callous hand of Yoo Joonghyuk cupped his face. He hoped it didn't show, the way it felt like his nerves were being burned, the way his senses were frayed. It didn't look liked Joonghyuk was doing much better, though, the way his irises glowed. A vivid ring of gold closer to a black hole than an eye. If this continued on, it would get dangerous. As it stood, Joonghyuk was on a steady death march straight into rampage.
Unfortunately, given the tender expression on Joonghyuk's face, it was showing. Fully.
Closing his eyes, brows knitted together, Dokja pursed his lips and gave a weak nod.
A low moan was stifled from Dokja as he watched Joonghyuk free his stiff cock from the confines of his pants, the ambient humidity and warm breaths from Joonghyuk against the sensitive head sending shivers skittering up his spine. He didn't dare acknowledge the amount of precum beading and dribbling down the shaft like a leaking faucet. He wouldn't.
"Hyuk-ah.."
His voice was strained, breathy. Here they were, sitting on their bedding, Joonghyuk kneeled between his legs, Dokja leaned back on one arm as the other reached over into thick, wavy locks as he caressed the side of Joonghyuk's head.
The wet kiss against the inside of his thigh forced him to suppress a whimper. The gentle sensation of teeth grazing against the soft skin was driving him mad. The feeling of Joonghyuk's tongue dragging up the underside of his shaft in one, broad swipe was definitely done on purpose, and he wanted to curse. This bastard knew exactly what he was doing!
Luckily, Joonghyuk wasn't one to tease him for too long as he stuck his tongue out and took Dokja's cock into his mouth, sinking down to the hilt in one go and almost daring Dokja to cum immediately as his dick was fully enveloped in the heat of that sinful mouth.
"Fffuuckk-"
Dokja's voice slurred, mouth parted just barely as he was deep throated. The way Joonghyuk's throat squeezed his dick in all the right ways, the exchange of energy surging through his veins, the sensation as he watched Joonghyuk start to move, bobbing his head with hollowed cheeks. The wet slurping from below filled Dokja's ears, senses slowly filling with nothing but Joonghyuk as his head rolled back.
With an exhaled moan, Dokja leaned back fully, both hands reaching out to grip at Joonghyuk's head, though still careful not to pull too hard. Taking him to the base, Joonghyuk stilled for a moment as Dokja spilled into his throat, drinking down every last drop and milking him dry.
Once the cock in his mouth stopped twitching and he felt Dokja's body relax, Joonghyuk pulled himself off, making sure to clean the shaft as he went.
Pushing himself up, Joonghyuk crawled onto Dokja, moreso demanding attention as he straddled the other's torso and pulled him into a lazy, sloppy kiss. Did he clean any of the drool off his face? Well. No, but honestly, not the worst thing they've done as far as cleanliness.
"Okay?"
Joonghyuk's voice pulled Dokja out of his daze, the deep rumble vibrating his core from the chest to chest contact. He was almost jealous, when Joonghyuk gave head he sounded fine after. When Dokja gave head he sounded like a squished frog for three days. Damn protagonist.
Still, he was checking up on him, the least Dokja could do was respond properly, even if he was tired in other ways than before now.
"Mmn."
Humming in affirmation, Dokja pulled Joonghyuk into an embrace, pressing his head into the crook of his neck so they could cuddle for a moment. Sure, they'd have to go clean up in a moment - or at least Dokja did, but they could enjoy the moment for now.
Looking down as best he could, Dokja could see the other staring up at him through his lashes. Good, his energy was stabilized too. It would continue to stabilize overnight through ambient guiding, but this was good for now.
"Do you need..?"
Trailing off, he wasn't sure how to ask, but Joonghyuk seemed to understand anyway as he shook his head, nestling back against Dokja's neck.
"No, I'm okay."
It was at least half an hour later before Dokja emerged from their tent, his pants were back on, but he badly needed to ..clean himself..if he wanted to be able to sleep comfortably. Joonghyuk just needed to clean off his face, so as the former left the tent under the pretenses of using the restroom, the latter leaned out of the tent far enough to not get the tent wet as he poured water into his hand from a wide-mouth bottle and scrubbed his face, taking a drink before retreating back in to wait.
Descending to the ground level, Dokja walked under a particularly low hanging branch, ignoring the shadowy cat-like tail that drooped down and brushed the top of his head. It was just Sooyoung, after all.
"Cleaning up after a quick fuck?"
She hissed a cackle, form seen flashing from branch to branch as she followed Dokja, who was headed towards a stream they opted to camp near.
"No, just taking a piss. I suggest you go back to patrolling unless you really want to see my dick that badly for some reason?"
He was lying through his teeth, they both knew it. He wasn't sure why he was deflecting. It wasn't as if she cared in the slightest. Still, he wanted to pretend to have some dignity.
"Mhm mhm."
Sooyoung gave a noncommittal sound in response before her form dissipated into smoke, melting back in with the darkness of the night.
Really. That woman. Maybe he should put in a word to suggest Sangah partake in some more...aggressive guiding.
Cleaned up, back in the tent, Dokja crawled back onto their bedding, taking note that Joonghyuk must've been tired. The poor man was sluggish in response, and was clearly forcing himself to wait for Dokja to come back. He'd already pulled his shirt off at some point, noting the garment was roughly folded by one of their water bottles.
"You didn't have to wait,"
Speaking softly, he quickly got settled and took a deep breath as Joonghyuk got situated, arm wrapped around his shoulders as the larger of the two nuzzled into his chest, massive arm draped over his torso.
As the quiet settled back into the tent, Dokja stared at the roof for a moment, taking in the silence before pulling Joonghyuk in by the shoulders and kissing the top of his head.
It felt like they were so close, but not close enough. The end of the Grave was in sight, but...
Something felt wrong. Off.
Tomorrow would be a long day.
Chapter 4: Floor 22 pt1
Notes:
sobs I had to split this chapter up lmao I'm already like halfway through with the rest of this chapter so I'll post that once I'm done with it
Chapter Text
「Grave of Atlas: Ţ̴͊w̵͔͘è̴̞n̶̪̄t̵̼́ȳ̴̬-̶̟̆Ṣ̸́e̵̲̔c̸̥̏ô̸̯ǹ̵̰ď̷͍ ̴̘̅F̶̥͂l̶͕̽o̶̥͒ő̷̬ṛ̴̍」
Kim Dokja opened his eyes.
It wasn't light out. Not sunlight, anyway. In fact, it was all light. It would be almost blinding if he didn't feel out of sorts in this unfortunately familiar setting. It started on floor 15. Every few nights he would have an alarmingly lucid dream.
It felt real, it felt surreal.
Here, in this expansive void, it was only him and the bastard that's been talking in his head like a persistent buzz. A fly that got in and, despite having thousands and thousands of lenses through compound eyes, could not for the life of him, escape.
Although, he supposed in this situation he might be the fly.
Stood before Dokja, in what he vaguely considered the center of the room, was ….well…. Him. In some sense of the word. Originally it looked like him, but each time he was brought back to this room it felt almost like this being's age was steadily regressing. Currently, it appeared vaguely …young adult? Possibly how he surmised he might've looked around Jihye and Namwoon's age. It was like kaleidoscope of gossamer fragments, iridescent like a cellophane cutout. Ever movement seemed to be neither 2d nor 3d, an animation of stained glass and sadness where light reflected off every crack, every ugly fissure of a fractured personality.
Honestly, he was simultaneously fascinated and repulsed. You see, whenever Dokja had this misfortune of having to engage face to face with this being, it felt like the worst parts of himself that were hidden away, covered over, masked, were all ripped apart and strewn in an untouchable shadow box, like it was on display, pinned and pressed like an insect.
"Soooo ….back here? Couldn't jump for some furniture or anything? Something something hospitable host?"
As he spoke, Dokja approached with wide, lazy strides as his arms spread out from his sides before swinging together in front of him in an exasperated clap, fingers laced together before pulling up against his mouth.
"Would you appreciate it? Embellishments in a prison?"
The voice returning was the same as the one that clawed at his brain, rattled around in his skull like an invasive thought.
It sounded like him. It sounded like the voice he was very familiar with from research recordings, at its base. The way it echoed from this flat being, bounced through the air like a rogue bouncy ball being catapulted into an empty room. That was different. And incredibly unwelcome.
"No, I suppose not. But that's not really up to me, is it? I'm not the one trapped here like a caged animal."
Dokja's voice was soft in return. For as much as he hated this form of "him," he still felt sad. That it was pitiful. He was pitiful.
As much as interaction caused his hackles to bristle, in the end, he also knew being aggressive and confrontational wouldn't solve anything. It never did. Not in a way that mattered.
"So, why are we here again? Something about the next floor, maybe? That seems to be what these "face to face" meetings have been about."
There was a hum in agreement, one that made Dokja's skin crawl from the sound.
"No."
The short, simple answer was a little bit jarring, honestly. He was taken aback by such a clipped response. It was new.
Dokja decided he most certainly did not like that.
"I thought…we…could maybe just talk…"
He was left in a mild state of shock. Now? After all this time? It wanted to just…talk?
"About?"
The response came cautiously. It felt like a setup, but damn his curiosity. He wanted to know where the hell this was going.
"Anything..everything…you used to love reading. What happened?"
Yoo Joonghyuk sat up in bed. It was getting late in the morning, everyone else had woken up. Breakfast was made, eaten, cleaned up. Everyone else's tents were broken down for the day to begin moving, however…
It was odd that Dokja wasn't up, he rarely stayed asleep after Joonghyuk got up for the day, but here he was, laying in bed with a low body temperature and a lower pulse.
The first time it happened, several floors ago, Joonghyuk had just about jumped out of his own skin, he couldn't get to Seolhwa's tent fast enough. It took so long to assure him it was okay, but he never shook the uneasy feeling that seeing his partner in this type of torpor put him in.
Outside of the tent, he could hear the others chatting quietly to themselves, could see them through the open tent door so everyone could keep eyes on each other at all times, as a safety precaution. His entire attention remained on the sleeping man besides him who could be mistaken as dead if not for the shallow chest movements.
It was another hour or so before signs of life stirred, a sharp inhale that sounded like it was rattling Dokja's ribcage like an animal shaking the bars. In an instant, Joonghyuk was at his side, kneeled in wait, grasping his hands like a prayer.
Dokja's eyes fluttered open, gunmetal gaze staring out into nothing, lashes dewy from tears that clung. Slowly, he stirred. Having extended conferences with that being always left him feeling like his brain had been divorced from his body. Always felt like he slowly had to remember how to function whenever he was 'released' from the room
Belatedly, he finally registered the being at his side. It was him, it was always him. The light bleeding in from the tent opening reflected off the back of Joonghyuk's head and created a backlit halo over his frame like an angel descending to the mortal plane.
That was so unfair. Why did he always look so good?
"You're awake,"
Joonghyuk's voice sounded so impossibly soft. Dokja almost felt bad for complaining to himself. Almost.
He looked down at their hands, fingers still intertwined as he rubbed along Joonghyuk's rough knuckles with his thumb, bringing their hands up as he pressed a kiss to the other mans knuckles.
"Sorry. What time is it?"
How dry was his throat? It felt like his voice was being strangled out of a straw. Hopefully he didn't sound too bad, but it's not like Joonghyuk would care about that.
"Just past one in the afternoon. I'm about to make lunch. What do you want?"
Dokja thought for a moment. He wasn't actually hungry, but he knew better than to say that. Instead,
"Something light?"
It wasn't until four that they were able to begin moving. The descent point was alarming well hidden, almost as if the terrain itself was trying to keep people out. …Or keep something in.
Dokja really didn't want to think of the implications of that idea, but perhaps he should have.
As they reached the next floor down, his shoes landed with a wet slap. Damp? It was the scent of wet rock and mildew that greeted his senses first. Second was the unmistakable scent of death and festering blood. He would have considered it a deep cave terrain if Jihye hadn't spoken up, having wandered off a little ways with Sangah as they waited for the team to reunite.
"There's…bodies."
In an instant, Dokja felt the blood in his veins chill, body going rigid as he stiffly turned. In a moment's notice, Joonghyuk was on him, body pressed against his side in a protective manner.
"Where."
Dokja called out, approaching what he assumed to be a shore, or an edge, with how everyone was gathering without advancing further.
He had hoped for a verbal response, but he found out for himself soon enough as he reached them and peered out.
The lighting was dim, but the floor - no, the water, seemed to be reflecting back any glints of light back in an amplified output. There was enough ambient lighting to navigate, but not enough to see fine details, it looked like.
Slowly, his eyes dragged up to what Jihye was talking about, had she not been familiar with Grave diving, Dokja surmised there was a non-zero chance of her screaming.
She was right. There were bodies. Corpses, bloated and floating on the surface, scattered around in various states of decomposition. It almost looked like a shipwreck, no survivors, no rescue. The damage on the deceased forms, the gnawing on the limbs…was something…eating them?
The longer Dokja looked, the more he could see signs of something. A predator, a scavenger, something that ate away at soft tissue, something that possibly wasn't there anymore with the amount of bodies that filled his sight like a net of buoys that broke containment.
He was startled out of the ideas churning in his head about what the fuck this floor was and how they were supposed to descend by the sound of gagging next to him.
Slowly, his eyes dragged over to the sight of Heewon and Joonghyuk prodding at a corpse that drifted close to the group, in Joonghyuk's hand was his weaponized energy- his sword. He really shouldn't be touching unsanitary things with that, though Dokja supposed a sword was better than his hand. Still, his attention shifted again. Hyunsung and Seolhwa were discussing something with Sangah. Sooyoung was closer to him, likely the one that had made the sound. That left…
"Where are Jihye and Namwoon?"
"We're gonna get in so much trouble Namwoon what the fuck."
Jihye hissed out a whisper as the two teens broke away from the group to go look for something- anything. They were both close to being adults, but they were still too young and inexperienced to be Grave diving on their own, much less splitting away from an experienced team with just the two of them.
"Oh come on. It's not that bad. It's just water and dead bodies in here. What's the worse that can happen?"
The casual response was going to drive her up the wall. What did he mean "just" water and dead bodies?! Maybe it's because her innate affinity was water, but Jihye liked to think she had a very healthy respect for the element, and knew how deadly it could be.
They continued exploring, one infinitely less cautious than the other, shuffling across wet stone flooring that threatened to add them to the pools of corpses with one wrong step. It felt like those pictures of European sewers, or maybe those famous catacombs. As they traversed, Jihye couldn't shake the feeling that something was waiting. Maybe not actively. Maybe it was dormant. But something was here.
Her thoughts were cut short as she ran into Namwoon's back with a soft grunt. Before she could open her mouth to yell at him, she was silenced by a harsh hand over her mouth.
"Shh. Look."
Namwoon's voice was arguably the most quiet it's ever been, sanguine eyes trained on something that was making a soft crunching noise. Something that wasn't them. Jihye did her best to squint, trying to make out what it was. Damn Namwoon and his affinity, being able to see so well in the dark. Still, eventually she was able to make out what he was looking at, and when she did, she regretted it.
It was a mangy, bony creature that looked like it might have been white at one point. Dingy golden spines protruded through various points of its body, the prominent ones being curling ram-like horns growing out of its head. At a point, she might've called it a wolf. A dog? It did look similar to the horned wolves that have escaped from Gates every once in a while. This one, however, was…. it looks more like a skeleton wrapped in fur.
The teens watched in trepidation as the creature tore into a body, shredded into a mess of mush and gore at its feet that was slowly being consumed. The wet crunch of waterlogged meat and bones was unsettling, and the longer the teens looked, the more Jihye's skin crawled.
"We should back out and warn master and the others."
"Yeah. Back away slowly, then we'll go find captain. We didn't go far."
Unfortunately, speaking in such proximity was a mistake. In an instant, the creature's head snapped up - gaunt, glowing eyes in a pale yellow hue stared them down, locking eyes with Namwoon in challenge. Interrupting a wild animal while it was eating was a horrible idea.
Immediately, the creature's stance shifted, a low growl emanating and rattling off the walls in warning. Jihye instinctively stepped back as it lunged, running counter to the way Namwoon lurched forward to meet the beast's jaws with a short sword of condensed shadows.
"Go!"
Namwoon urged, the word ground out as he was being physically pushed back by the hulking creature. Up close, it was even worse. It was big. Big big. Much larger than a regular dog, or even a wolf. Jihye surmised it could even be used as a mount if it didn't look like it would fall apart. Creeping back, Jihye gave a hard swallow before turning and running back the way they came.
"The floor moved."
Dokja stood still, hands in his pockets as he looked down. Next to him, Hyunsung tilted his head before looking down at their feet too. With them, Sangah had opted to come. Three of them were tasked with exploring the floor to try and descend while the other four were on a hunt for Jihye and Namwoon. Unfortunately, if the terrain was shifting, even if they were just further back in one of adjoining hallways, there was no way of telling how far away they'd been taken.
This was a dangerous, high stakes situation and everyone agreed they wanted to get through the floor as quickly as possible, so finding the way out was imperative. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he recalled how the team split up. Joonghyuk was so very unwilling to be separated from Dokja, but they had to play to their strengths. Unfortunately for Joonghyuk, he was the safer option to bail out the kids in case they got into trouble.
They hadn't encountered any enemies so far, but there was no guarantee that was actually true.
With a sigh, Dokja glanced down at his wrist, then briefly to Hyunsung and Sangah's wrists as well.
A thin, golden thread was tied to him and Hyunsung, a utility ability from Sangah's magic bag of skills. Everyone had received a tracking thread from her before they splintered off, allowing her to keep track of everyone while also providing a wide range communication relay.
Have you found them yet?
Dokja sent a message through Sangah's thread. Honestly, he didn't expect a response. Idly, he looked around with the other two. While the three traversed the area relatively grouped up, Hyunsung was very purposefully moving just a step ahead of Dokja and Sangah, as a first line of defense.
Not yet. Heewon thinks she heard footsteps, though. We're going to head it off and hope it's them.
Sooyoung was the one to respond though nothing else followed after.
Footsteps, huh…best case scenario, it was the kids, but something had to be skulking around here to have killed all these people. That was an important detail - people. The bodies they'd come across thus far were all humans, or at least humanoid. There were no monster bodies, though. What happened here?
"We haven't seen signs of any monsters, but there's so many corpses here… There's no way all these people just…died, right?"
Hyunsung looked around, surveying the area. While they moved, he made sure to keep a hand on a wall as a precaution. From behind Dokja, Sangah gave a hum in agreement.
"Now that we've explored some rooms, it also looks a lot like a waterway system, like the sewers."
Dokja thought for a moment, crossing his arms enough to hold up his hand as he brought his hand up to his chin. They were right. Even with the layout moving, the odds were in the favor of someone eventually managing to find the way out, either down or back up. Did they kill each other, or themselves, in a bout of madness? Were they killed by something or someone and dumped?
There were too many variables, too many questions with no answers. He wasn't confident with any deduction.
Joonghyuk's heavy footfalls were rocksteady, both a comfort and a warning to those that heard him. In tow, Heewon, Sooyoung, and Seolhwa skulked after him like a caravan of murderers. If Dokja were there he could appreciate the humor of the sight. Alas, he was not, and Joonghyuk was on a mission to figure out where the fuck those kids wandered off to and make it their problem.
Luckily, or not, his silent fuming was almost immediately rewarded by the frantic steps approaching their location. On reflex, Joonghyuk prepared for contact, letting his energy wrap around him like armor and bracing for conflict.
Even luckier, it was Jihye that rounded the corner at breakneck speeds and smashed right into Joonghyuk's chest. He didn't have time to scroll her, as the scrabbling of claws against wet flooring forced him to keep his eyes trained on the passageway she came from, eyes widening minutely as the canine creature leapt after her, gaping maw only meeting the hardened armor of Joonghyuk's arm instead of a young girl.
Throwing Jihye to Sooyoung, the man's energy surged through him as sparks flickered to life around him and began converging towards the creature trying to gnaw through his arm.
"Where's Namwoon?"
Behind him, Joonghyuk heard Heewon speak to Jihye, though he didn't have time to focus on them as the monster's teeth continued chewing, trying to break through his armor. With one arm preoccupied, the other became busy with wrestling the beast down, doing his best to avoid getting clawed in the process.
Despite everything, even he couldn't keep his face controlled as his nose wrinkled at the contact of warm, rancid air invading his space from the rabid animal actively fighting him. Eventually, he was able to subdue it, hands applying pressure against the skull and neck as if in challenge.
At some point during the struggle, Heewon seems to have run off past him, only now did he see her returning with Namwoon on tow. He definitely looked roughed up, a gash on his head seeping onto his hair, but he was alive while Seolhwa checked him over and treated the bleeding.
We found them. There's a monster here, but it looks malnourished. If it killed everyone here, it wasn't any time recently.
Once the excitement died down, Joonghyuk sent a message to the other team through the thread tucked away under his sleeve.
"What do we do with this thing?"
Sooyoung questioned as she stepped closer, sharing a glance with Joonghyuk as they seemed to be thinking similar lines. There was something unsettlingly familiar about this creature, and honestly if it was just down here eating bodies, neither one really wanted to dispose of it just for existing. From what Jihye said, they stumbled across it while it was eating, so it likely saw them as a threat. He couldn't really, in good conscience, kill an animal just for trying to protect it's food.
Before Joonghyuk could dwell on it more, he was jostled out of his thoughts as the flooring they were standing on shifted. Beneath him, the white creature's form erupted into water like a popped balloon. Disgustingly, chunks of rotted meat and bone pieces were in it as well, sprayed all over the party with varying degrees of audible disgust.
Distantly, they heard the sound of stone grinding against stone and a sound that made Joonghyuk's blood stop in its veins.
"Dokja!"
Hyunsung and Sangah cried out, echoing and carrying through the area.
After the message about finding Jihye and Namwoon came through, the three were relieved until the surface they were standing on rumbled to life and began moving at an alarming speed. Dokja had nearly toppled into the water, being closer to the edge than the other two had Hyunsung not reached out to hold onto him by the elbow.
The relief was short-lived as the waters at their feet lurched, receding back somewhere before a swell formed and crashed into the three, throwing them off balance. Without much time to react, they had to hold their breath and brace against the onslaught as water and body fragments pelted their bodies into the wall like a deep wave crashing down.
When the waters drained away there was a very obvious missing person from their group and the adrenaline spiked as they tried to find any signs of him. Hyunsung was even fully prepared to fruitlessly dive into the water in hopes of searching for him before a familiar energy spike erupted alarmingly close to them.
Joonghyuk broke through the walls like a rampaging beast, reuniting them in record time as he chose to simply destroy the terrain. Rubble and bursting stars rained down upon the waters as he thrashed about, vaporizing water and matter alike as he sluggishly trudged through the evaporating water. Where is he. Where is he!
"Where is Kim Dokja!"
From the solid ground, Heewon quickly approached Hyunsung and Sangah, briefly giving Sangah a once-over to make sure she was okay before kneeling down by Hyunsung, cupping the large man's face and forcing him to still. She could tell by his stance and the way his form was tensed up that he was a second away from jumping on the water too.
"Don't-"
Heewon warned. She looked back to Sooyoung as the rest gathered up as well. Jihye seemed shaken up, not that she could blame her if the search party was anything to go by. They hadn't even technically wandered away, they had been moved away without anyone noticing and were trying to figure out how to get back. Namwoon would survive too, and honestly if he survived this dive he'll probably even boast about the probably scars.
Sangah watched Joonghyuk in trepidation. Was this how so many people died here? One getting taken and the rest of the party making the mistake of jumping on to rescue? She didn't know, and for the first time in very few moments, she was scared. Grave diving always came with risks, and it was good to approach it with a healthy dose of caution, but this was unlike any of the floors they'd been on before now. It felt like the floor itself was alive, waiting, wanting them dead or to kill each other. Absently, Sangah knew Sooyoung had their hands held, the white knuckle grip on her partners hand did nothing to calm her nerves as she watches, and like a horror movie in slow motion, everyone watches as Yoo Joonghyuk, thrashing around as though to incite god, was ripped down under the surface too.
Chapter 5: Floor 22 pt2
Chapter Text
「Grave of Atlas: Twenty-Second Floor」
When Dokja was thrown into the wall, he expected something…else. He could've done without also getting pelted by the remains of dead people, though.
When he was getting ripped into the water, he didn't expect the feeling of someone grabbing his ankle and yanking like they wanted to emancipate his leg from the socket.
When he was dragged down, what little light there was quickly fading, the voices of his team, his friends, fading, he expected it to burn next as water should be entering his lungs eventually. He thought vaguely, this wasn't what he expected death to be like.
What he didn't expect, was to be ripped out of the water and land with the weight of a waterlogged sandbag into the white room that he'd grown unwillingly familiar with.
What he didn't expect was to be joined by someone else, much less two someone elses, as the soaked body of Yoo Joonghyuk came crashing down onto him as they both grunted in surprise at the sudden weight on him followed by the equally soaked body of Han Sooyoung. Alarmingly still, next came Yoo Sangah. Then Lee Hyunsung. One by one, he and his team were dropped down like an entity being spawned in a game with gravity physics.
You know, it was a little unpleasant. It was very unpleasant. Not the whole being reunited with everyone safely…comparatively, but the whole…being in a dry room while you're covered in …
Nothing?
Dokja looked down confused. He didn't feel grimy. His clothes weren't dirty. He wasn't wet. He didn't smell like years old cadavers. Nevermind the very large Yoo Joonghyuk dumped on his lap, he and everyone else seemed to be in a similar state of relative cleanliness. Honestly for how long they've been down in the Grave this was probably the cleanest they've been in months.
"Hyuk-ah?"
Cautiously, Dokja leaned down to check Joonghyuk, carding through thick hair and sighing in relief when the other started stirring, an extra weight lifted when he heard everyone else. Slowly, he felt Joonghyuk begin to sit up once he regained his bearings, watching the man shake his head for a moment before looking around at their surroundings before settling back on Dokja, unspoken pleading in his eyes that seemed to say please stop fucking getting in trouble. Dokja broke eye contact first with a sheepish grin. Unfortunately, he couldn't promise anything going forward.
"FUCK what was that?!"
Sooyoung was the first to voice her complaints, everyone else steadily recovering, murmurs of relief at seeing Dokja safe, of being out of that area, of being together again. Except…there was one question everyone had.
"Where are we?"
Seolhwa looked around the room. It was white. Barren. Empty. Except for them. Instinctively, she held onto the hem of Namwoon's shirt to stop him from wandering off. He grumbles about it like the little shit he is, of course, but that's his own problem.
"Uh…welcome to the place that holds me hostage? I think?"
Dokja's voice wavered. He wasn't sure this was the same place, but it looked like it.
"Hey, at least we don't smell like stillwater and dead bodies,"
He tried to lighten the mood, though it quickly soured as he fell silent and picked up on the incredibly faint sound of rhythmic thudding. He didn't know where it was coming from, and as it grew louder everyone else started hearing it too.
The floor they were on began rumbling again, though at least this time it was easier to see as the blinding white floors splintered and cracked, water seeping up as the sounds grew louder and louder. It wasn't until now that he registered what they sounded like.
"Drums."
Heewon breathed out, tensing in preparation as more water erupted out in a geyser a few meters away. Dokja supposed the only saving grace was that it seemed to be fresh water this time. If he hadn't experienced touching dead bodies and the water they stewed in ever again, it would still be too soon.
As the water filled the room, the pieces of floor floated up, lurching left and right as the waters churned and darkened, eventually stopping, but it was definitely deep enough to drown a man.
Next to him, Joonghyuk stood as he prepared for another fight. His eyes caught something, something in the water that he didn't, and he wasn't sure if that was good or not.
"Something's there."
The announcement was sharp, warning. Everyone's attention shifted to the expanse of water that the floating rubble eventually settled to circle around. As the water came to a still, the sound of the drums petered off as well. Silence overtook the area and for a moment, Dokja thought it was a break.
"Watch out!"
The urgency in Sangah's voice drew everyone's attention on high alert as three jets of water shot out from the center of the tidal clearing, they didn't look right. Like tentacles, or something of the like. They were met head on, though. Heewon has lunged for one, her blazing sword slicing through the water and evaporating it at the contact site as the motion moved her position further away from everyone. The second one was countered by Hyunsung, armored form smashing into it with a solid fist that caused the end of it to burst and a ripple shook back down it. The third one was obliterated by Joonghyuk, trapped in a maze of glittering fragments that atomized the water on contact. It was so densely packed that it was destroyed all the way to the water's surface.
You're going to die here.
A voice reverberated through the room, rumbling through their bodies, it felt like it was rattling in Dokja's skull. So something was here, most likely the cause of what was killing everyone. The monster that Joonghyuk mentioned was likely a diversion tactic or a scavenger. If this creature had two separate areas - assuming they were still on the same floor, then this was likely the "real" one with the other one being a fake…a front. Or a graveyard.
Another set of tendrils bubbles up, erupting out and being met with Namwoon, Sooyoung, and Jihye this time. Dokja was preoccupied. It spoke, that means theoretically it could be reasoned with. Up until here they hadn't encountered anything that could speak, though a few more intelligent monsters seemed to be able to understand speech and avoid more conflicts that way.
"Hello?"
Dokja tried calling out to nothing as the second wave of attacks simmered back down. He hoped to be able to negotiate, but that was probably a best case scenario. He was much less bothered than he probably should've been to see another volley of attacks fire off towards him, sparks of electricity danced at his feet as he moved like a bolt of lightning to slide back and avoid the consecutive strikes that speared into the ground before Joonghyuk destroyed them.
"We're just here to research. We're not trying to hurt anything."
He tried again, inching closer to the edge in an attempt to show he didn't want to fight, not if he didn't have to. Sensing that there was hesitation in their attacker as another set of tendrils rose, but didn't strike. Yet.
"My name is Kim Dokja, we're a research and exploration team that's just trying to find out what's at the bottom-"
NO-
Dokja was caught off guard at the eruption that rippled through the water and shored up against the flooring, reflexively flying into the attack to head it off in another burst of electricity that sizzled loudly as it dissipated into the air. The impact of colliding with the attack launched him back, securely caught from getting sent into the water by Joonghyuk.
The bottom of the Grave caused such a violent reaction…something was there. But why was this ..reacting like this? Almost as if…
"Are you protecting something?"
Another attack came, this one parried by Heewon as she was able to rejoin the rest of the team.
"I promise you, whatever you're protecting, we're not here to hurt it."
"Ahjussi, there!"
Jihye called out, pointing to the area where the attacks had been coming from. There, just below the surface, a massive pair of orbs- what he assumed to be eyes, was peering up, watching them.
Dokja sucked in a hard breath. If those were eyes that meant this thing was massive..each one had to have been the size of his head, or bigger. But it wasn't attacking yet, so maybe…
"You're scared, right? I can show you our notes. We have only attacked in self defense or survival. We're not here to treasure or glory, we're here for knowledge."
Dokja wasn't sure what volume to speak to it at, eventually lowering from the carried yell to a normal speaking volume. If this thing was able to communicate, he really wanted to resolve this peacefully.
You're lying.
"I'm not."
It's response was sure, solid. And honestly if the other area was something to go by, he didn't blame it for assuming as such.
You're going to kill me and force your way into the next level.
"We won't, not if we don't have to."
A very solid conclusion. Humans were vile little things, always lying through their teeth to get what they wanted. He didn't blame it for expecting that sort of outcome. However, it was the next exchange that threw him off.
If I let you go, you'll hurt him too.
Wait-
It sounded…hurt. It sounded like a child trying not to cry. That string of words felt so small, yet the gravity of those words felt like they were seeping into his bones, his very soul. Dokja's eyes lit up, sliding to his knees at the edge of the flooring he was on to try and get a better look at the thing. Caution to the wind, this motherfucker was going to possibly leave himself open to being attacked. Again. He heard Joonghyuk moving closer, not wanting such a large gap between them in the event of retaliation from the voice in the water.
"Who's.. him? What do you mean hurt him too? Did one of your friends get taken?"
That couldn't be. There haven't been any known records going this far down, not even with the Bureau. Dokja made sure to dig through files on and off public. There was nothing there about anything like this, much less anything like the Grave of Atlas having more than twenty floors.
When he was met with silence, he had to try again, leaning closer to the water much to Joonghyuk's displeasure.
"Please. We can help. Is your friend still alive?"
I..don't know.
They were getting somewhere! From the sounds of it, this being lost an ally for trusting the wrong people and felt lasting guilt because of it. If this was the only thing here perhaps whatever got taken shared a floor with them, or - were there more floors still?
"You mentioned another him. Is there someone else you're trying to protect?"
As he waited for an answer, Dokja sucked in a hard breath as something began moving in the water mere inches below his face. A swelling was forming, coming up from the water and taking a vaguely human-like shape from the silhouette. In fact, it almost looked like it had hair with an extra tendril protruding from what was probably the back of its head. ….huh…it almost looked like…a ponytail.
It was still large, larger than a human, but it wasn't nearly as massive as Dokja was preparing for. They locked eyes, staring at one another in silence for an alarming amount of time. He was doing his best to coax an answer out of the creature, slowly moving back to reduce being seen as a threat as it slowly rose before finally standing fully, at the edge of a flooring piece, the spot where Dokja was previously kneeling. It was… It looked like a body fully constructed of water, transparent, but the surface was smooth, sculpted. It had a feminine frame, though covered by what appeared to be bulky clothing and armor pieces from centuries ago.
It looked around at the other group, a motion with a hand pulled the floor clusters together, allowing them to reunite. If it tracked Jihye with an expression that could possibly be considered melancholy, Dokja didn't dare address it. Instead, he stood, meeting the eyes of the feminine figure before him. It felt like he was being sized up, the way it just…stared.
"Please. Won't you talk to us?"
Dokja implored again, there was definitely no way they would come out of this unscathed. Avoiding combat was the best case scenario and he could only hope there was any chance for this to be resolved peacefully.
Pensively, he took a step back, feeling just the smallest sense of relief at the large hand that subtly braced against the small of his back. The aquatic figure's focused snapped back to them as it looked, eyes narrowing in what could possible be interpreted as fondness. With resigned resolve, it gave a slight nod before speaking again.
He's sleeping…waiting…He's waiting for you, isn't he? But you're not strong enough yet. You won't make it to him.
It shifted, arm reached out from its side as a sword swelled up from the water behind it. With a hard stomp that rang like clattering bells, the figure melted back into the water behind it. The waters in the terrain around them churned and began to swirl into a gaping whirlpool. The stone footholds they held as a lifeline lurched and swayed, crashing into each other. From the center of the whirlpool a single, massive warship emerged with it at the at the bow, poised with both hands resting on the pommel of the blade resting before it. As the ship continued to rise, water continued to pour out of it and created monstrous waves in the wake of its emergence.
Prove your mettle. Prove to me that you can survive the Master of the Sunken Island. Or this will be your grave. If you can damage the hull of my ship I will allow you to pass.
The booming announcement shook the very air as dozens upon dozens of holes slid open from the sides of the massive ship and cannons could be seen sliding out and locking into position. They were all locked in on the research team.
"Jihye your ship - Jihye your ship!"
Dokja pressed against Joonghyuk's side as they turned to the rest of their team, the volume of his voice rising with urgency as the finally cannon clicked into place and the warning thrum of gunpowder and smoke filled the air.
Frantically, their group collectively began running to Jihye's unique ability - a decently sized warship that was essential for traversing large, open water. While it didn't have nearly as much firepower as the ship that was currently dwarfing them and in the process of opening fire, it was clearly much faster.
Clamoring onto the deck, everyone piled in as the flooring was blasted into crumbling chunks as the platforms they had available were slowly being reduced in number from the cannon fire.
"What do we do?"
Jihye's voice was frantic as the engine kicked to life and she remotely piloted their only safety net, deftly avoiding the successive explosions that erupted in the wake of the smaller ship's path, circling wide around the behemoth awaiting them and unfortunately forcing the group to regain their footing in treacherous conditions, unable to slow for even a moment. Between the cannons and this entity that seemed like a mirror match far out of Jihye's league it was up to everyone else to figure out what to do.
Hyunsung was able to provide some amount of support for Jihye, fortifying her ship with his shielding as they stayed on the defensive, focusing on evasion while Dokja hopefully figured out what to do.
"It said we just had to damage the hull, right? So we have to figure out how to get close enough, and how to damage it."
Dokja didn't have much to offer to comfort them, unfortunately. It was going to be an uphill fight for survival. They wouldn't have a choice if they wanted to get out of this in one piece.
"I bet if we can get close enough, Joonghyuk here might be able to break through."
He had a theory, but no way to test it.
By the grace of whatever god was watching this play, there was no time limit and after five minutes of subjecting Jihye to having to play defensive, another ten minutes of testing range and retaliations from this 'Master of the Sunken Island' they announced themselves as for how the ship protected itself and the general range, and another twenty coming up with a plan that should work, Dokja was ready to act.
The cannons tracked Jihye's ship. Unfortunately that seemed fairly autonomous. The ship itself having some degree of sentience couldn't be ruled out. It wouldn't be the strangest thing they'd encountered in the Grave either.
There was also the matter of the ship itself. It seemed to have some sort of aura coating it like armor similar to Hyunsung's ability. The man had even confirmed it felt similar to what he could do himself. That meant there was a chance it had the same type of weakness. A single, concentrated point like a needle piercing glass might be enough to break through.
And then the last hurdle, the being itself. There was no doubt it reigned supreme in aquatic warfare, summoning whirlpools and tentacles made of water that chased after Jihye's fleeing ship like a hunting dog. This was at least a more predictable threat, it seemed like it needed a degree of spatial awareness for the whirlpools. It was able to chase them going behind the ship, but that could've also been from being aware of the ship's mass itself, not necessarily their own placement.
If anything got too close to the ship there was also the geysers that shot up from the water around it as if heading off the attempt of any projectiles.
"Hyuk-ah, do you trust me?"
The tone was teasing as he looked at Joonghyuk who answered immediately, but not without a cautious look.
"With my life."
"Good."
The plan itself was relatively simply. Their opponent was formidable and had a wide range of tools they could control, but it was still only one being. Dokja would close in on the large ship, using the pillars of water that shot up as a barrier to clear the vertical distance needed reach the deck and engage in combat. Luckily, he didn't need to defeat it, just distract it enough to not notice other people missing from Jihye's ship as she drew the cannon fire.
Meanwhile, Joonghyuk, Heewon, and Sangah would use the latter's netting ability to traverse over the water and close in. Naturally, everyone voiced their disagreement with having Dokja engage with the enemy by himself, but with his affinity, there was no doubt he was the most nimble, the most likely to be able to avoid a strike.
With a plan established, everyone begrudgingly understood their part and set into motion. Dokja could only hope it would work.
Cutting up against the larger ship, Dokja leapt out, catching a geyser that burst up and using it to launch him up onto the deck and make contact. Unfortunately, they would need to make a second pass to get the others close enough. It was too risky now.
You face me alone.
Face to face, Dokja was starting to realize just how dangerous this was. Still, he couldn't back down now. Even if he fell here, he could trust the others to fulfill their duty. His duty.
His obsession.
"Ah well, yeah. You know, my affinity is electricity and you're basically made of water. Haven't you played Pokemon?"
You really are the same.
He didn't have a chance to question what it meant before the attack came, just barely avoiding being impaled as the Master of the Sunken Island lunged, clearly aiming to pierce his body.
Down below, Dokja could feel the cannons firing off. Good, the plan was proceeding as he wanted. He didn't have much time to gloat about it as his attention was forced back to the threat before him, the two dancing in a dangerous game of cat and mouse as steel-like water collided with solidified electricity, sparks and steam erupting from each collision as he raced about the deck to avoid getting skewered.
It felt like forever, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes that they danced this dangerous tango.
His concentration was broken as he heard Jihye scream, but he could feel Joonghyuk's energy moving. He could only hope everyone was okay.
Unfortunately, that split second that he took his eyes off his opponent was enough for it to close the distance fully and hit the mark as its sword buried into his stomach.
Blood seeped out from both ends of the puncture, the shock knocking the breath from his lungs as his vision shook. Faintly, he could feel blood dripping from his mouth and could just barely make out the pinched expression on the its features.
Was it…disappointed? Upset?
He didn't need to think about it for too long as the massive ship rattled from down below. Sounds like Joonghyuk completed his directive.
"Check. Mate."
Dokja whispered, an absolute shit eating grin on his features as he pushed himself off of the blade and stepped back, letting himself trip over the railing and fall overboard.
Distantly, he heard a cacophony of muffled yelling from multiple voices.
The next time Dokja opened his eyes, he was back in the empty, white room.
Correction. He was still in the empty, white room. Except it wasn't empty.
Belatedly, he realized he was laying on Joonghyuk's lap, Seolhwa and Sooyoung on the other side of him, Sangah and the others standing behind the women. Even more surprising, the water entity was standing off to the side, much more casually than before.
Dokja deduced that it was the same room they had fought in, just…reset back to a room and not a battlefield.
"You fucking idiot."
Sooyoung hissed out, giving him a solid thwack to the side of his head once he seemed lucid enough. Honestly, between the disapproving looks directed at him and Joonghyuk's iron grip and equally iron scowl, he couldn't retort. He deserved this.
"I stopped the bleeding, but I left the wounds raw. If you're in mild discomfort you're less likely to do something like that again."
Seolhwa spoke next, and vacantly, Dokja didn't want to admit that she was right. He could still fight, but it was the type of healed state that would most certainly start bleeding again if he made any sudden movements.
Okay, he deserved that too.
Congratulations. I'll give you passage to the next floor.
Arms crossed, the Master of the Sunken Island addressed the group, giving an audible exhale as a gate crept up from the floor. It didn't look unlike a hongsalmun from pictures that existed from before the Gate terraforming. How odd.
Once they left and the gate to the next floor dissipated, the figure stayed, leaning against a table that manifested. Next to her, a kaleidoscopic white figure was seated in a chair, casually pouring a cup of tea. He looked even younger now, a younger teenager. He looked like he should've been in school, in another lifetime.
"You're so mean, Jihye. You didn't have to bully them like that."
"That was the only one that was able to beat me without dying or letting anyone else die."
She didn't sit, but she did take the offered cup of tea. Their individual voices still held a faint echo, though not nearly as resounding as when addressing the Suneater team.
"Besides, forcing them into a fight is the only way I can get revenge on you for everything you put us through."
The silhouetted figure gave a hum. He couldn't deny it. He's done a plethora of vile, unforgivable things. Even moreso now that they were in this state.
"So what do you think? Can they do it?"
Jihye was the one to speak again, though her features were hard to make out, it was clear she was staring at her company from her peripheral.
"I sure hope so."
Chapter 6: Floor 23
Notes:
This chapter was insp/based on the short horror film "kakurenbo: hide & seek" xoxo
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
「Grave of Atlas: Twenty-Third Floor」
The next floor was dark.
Scratch that, there was fully a lack of light. It was eerily quiet, but not in a way that disturbed the same way the waterways of the previous floor did. No, this felt..primal.
"Stay alert,"
Dokja's voice was hushed, quiet in a way that one hid from a devil scorned as he looked around, trying to take a head count and make sure everyone was there.
There was a problem, though. Namwoon and Sooyoung were the only ones with a native ability to see in the dark. He had asked her about it once, she likened it to a night predator, perhaps a cat or an owl. It was possible for Sentinels to increase their senses to a passable extent, but Guides would need to expend much more energy to achieve similar results.
Closing his eyes and triggering his passive abilities, Dokja did his best to at least be able to sense his spatial awareness. Carefully, his eyes cracked open and he could see a bit better. A faint ring of electric blue danced around his pupils in response. It was here that he realized a bigger problem, and why he didn't hear or feel a response earlier.
He was alone.
Each hallway, each turn, looked the same. Felt the same. It felt like he was going on circles, and honestly he might have been.
The ambient silence broken only by his own footsteps and breathing began to wear at his psyche. This was a different kind of fatigue.
In the quiet of his own thoughts, Dokja began to reconsider…well…everything.
His friends volunteered for this. They didn't have to. He had mentioned offhand that there was something here, he could feel it. Something about the Grave of Atlas was here. Would answer his questions- why he felt empty, like he didn't belong where he was, why he felt like a part of him was missing, why the weight of existence felt like an insurmountable pressure that he had to simply endure.
I don't feel like my skin is my own. It feels like I'm in someone else's body.
Everyone tried to help, they really did. Joonghyuk had spent years, bless that man, had dedicated more of his life than he needed to trying to assuage the feeling, to assure him that he was there, that he was wanted, and he was able to keep the feelings at bay most of the time.
But sometimes when the quiet was too loud, when his thoughts were too rampant, he would always be reminded. No matter where he was or who came into his life, he didn't belong, they wouldn't stay. They never did.
They're going to die here. Because of you. You'll be alone again, like you were meant to.
The quiet bore down like an ever-increasing weight, filling his skull with a pressure like it took up space. He had thought about it before, more than once. Had questioned what would happen if it were true, if he didn't belong. He tried to leave, once. Save them the pain of dealing with him, save himself the pain of their inevitable departure. Dokja tried not to laugh at the memory. He didn't forget, couldn't forget.
Everyone was so angry with him, that he just disappeared. He thought he would go to one of the other continents. Everything was still new, still raw, then. He would've been able to settle somewhere, or maybe not. Nothing good ever came from staying in one place too long. You made too many attachments that way.
There was a nationwide manhunt by a small party for one specific man. It made news, actually. It was his friends, looking for him. At the time, he was sure that it wouldn't have mattered. From a group dynamic point of view he reasoned that he was unnecessary, with a one-to-one pairing, he didn't belong. No one else agreed with him, though. When one of them finally hunted him down three continents later, of course it was Joonghyuk. He was the fastest, the most aggressive, of the group when it came to making sure he got what he wanted. Bullheaded bastard. He had spent the entire time waiting for everyone else to make it to their location forcing Dokja to understand how much he belonged, what he had, who would miss him. He fondly(?) remembers how long it took him to regain feeling in his back.
When they returned back home to New Asia, he distinctly recalled how mildly horrifying it was listening to everyone pitch ideas of how to keep him there. Caging him like an animal, keeping him tied and confined like a criminal. Sooyoung even joked about simply removing a limb or two like those weren't important. Joonghyuk, psychopath that he was, wanted to collar him like a kept dog. In the end he was coerced into agreeing to a Forge Bond with someone- anyone. Well, not anyone. Joonghyuk refused to let anyone but him form the bond. Forge Bonds were scary things, really. It was like marrying your energy and agreeing to keep your location on at all times for your partner, by force or by will. It was giving someone a key to your deepest thoughts, your emotions- your heart, laid bare.
Kept like a pet. What was Kim Dokja's purpose supposed to be? To sit around while everyone takes care of him? It's rotten work and he doesn't deserve it. The don't deserve that.
Of course, it went both ways. After the Bond, Dokja found out about Joonghyuk's feelings. How scared he was, how desperate, how angry he was, for trying to leave, daring to leave on his own. "Don't go where I can't follow," he recalls having been told once, when they were alone. Their home was a monument to everything they'd built together and with their friends, and he was a damn fool for not recognizing it, he'd been told.
Honestly it was probably just that he had the highest compatibility rating when it came to guiding, and Joonghyuk was a powerhouse that was expected to perform.
He really was a foolish man. He doesn't deserve to have to deal with me.
An eternity later, Dokja encountered a hallway that looked different. There were were lines etched into the walls, it almost looked like building exterior?
With nothing else to go off of, he ventured forward. What was the phrase? Always forward never straight?
It did seem like he was getting somewhere, though. The walls were changing, becoming more urban. It was looking like less of a doomed labyrinth of nothingness and slowly becoming more like the back alleys of the main city in New Asia. More like the streets that tried to take him, once.
Dokja's eyes flitted up, dancing around his surrounding as pipes began producing from high up. There were vague outlines lower, they looked like doors - no handles though. His pace slowed as the hall began to widen, opening up to a small round space. A clearing in a junkyard it felt like. It almost resembled a section clipped straight from the pictures of Kowloon that were archived from Japan before the terraforming.
Hesitantly, he stood at the mouth of the alley, peering into the clearing to take in his surroundings.
Small. It was maybe twenty by twenty feet. Circular. It reminded him of the apartment he lived in before getting kidnapped by Sooyoung all those years ago. A Guide like him was wasted not doing something useful when he had such a high ceiling of ability, she'd said. If he got catalogued with the Bureau he'd be promised a stable life in a time when stable Guides and Sentinels were in high demand. However, getting catalogued by the Bureau was… Well, he wasn't ready to sign over his freedom like that. Not by choice.
Well, that was in the past now.
The spot before him looked like a broken graveyard of technology. Stacked monitors, screens, machine parts, wires, all broken and from the looks of it, for a long time. The floor was clean, cleared of dust and debris save for a table in the center. A single fox mask, painted, pristine, sat, daring him - taunting him.
For a moment, Dokja considered turning around, find another way, but when he made the mistake of taking a step too far into the room and the passage behind him was gone - eaten away by the abyss of darkness surrounding him.
The only option was the mask in the room, it looked like.
As he approached, he studied the mask for a moment. It was hard to make out the colors, but it had intricate patterns over it. Blended into the markings was a character he recognized to a degree. 구 [nine]? Gu? What was that again…nine, right? It was from an outdated alphabet, but Dokja and Sangah still took it upon themselves to be familiar with old languages. Maybe it was trying to call him a gumiho, he mused. Mystical foxes known for their guile? Maybe he was one in a past life.
It didn't seem like it was going to give him any other option, he just had to…wear..the mask.
Taking a deep breath, Dokja approached the table and picked it up. Smooth. Cold. Weighty, perhaps it was made of porcelain or something similar? Closing his eyes with a soft inhale, he placed the mask against his face. The faintest shiver skittered down his spine at the contact of the chilly surface. Immediately he felt something off, like part of him was being shackled. With a shuddering exhale, he opened his eyes and looked around. He didn't feel very worse for wear, no crippling pain..no drug trip probably…it was mildly uncomfortable, like his entire body was being squeezed. It felt..mildly like compression clothing? Or ..being crushed under Joonghyuk's soft breasts. He missed him. He had to figure out where the others were, where this was.
Taking another deep inhale, he began noticing the changes. A change. His vision was sharper, but..not normal. He could see a bit better in the dark, maybe it was something to compensate for his abilities being suppressed. For a split second he was going to try and remove the mask, but stopped once his hands came into view.
Claws.
He had claws now? Stepping back, he tried to take a look at as much of himself as he could. Claws, something that resembled a robe, everything was the same shade. Maybe they were different colors? Probably not. His senses were sharper, body stronger, but he couldn't generate electricity. Removing one part and enhancing the other? Scary.
His eyes lifted as something else caught his eye. A passage opened. A different one. There was etching gouged into the wall over the door. オ? Dokja craned his head. He didn't recognize it, but Sangah probably would. He supposed it didn't matter what it said, it was the only way he could go.
It was still lightless, but it looked like it was at least a little bit easier to navigate around. Where the fuck was he going? He'd come across several intersections, It felt more and more like a technological graveyard past each split in the road. More alleys, more damaged signs hung over the passages, but they were all dark. They all felt wrong. With each passing split, Dokja's pace increased. It felt like something was chasing him, but there were no signs of anything behind him. Path by path flew by and each new section had a little more junk, a little more dread.
Finally, he skid to a stop, It was dim, but it was so much brighter than the rest of the surroundings. A glowing beacon stared him in the face like a siren's call. One singular passage had a lit sign over it.
ト
Dokja tilted his head slightly.
He didn't know what it said, but it was lit up so that was probably the right way to go. There was more clutter past that still. Honestly it really did feel like he was back in the slums. Just. Y'know. Without the smell of despair and sadness - that was just him.
Desperation was steadily creeping in, threatening to choke his senses. He really didn't like the situation. Breaking into a dead run, Dokja's form flew down the passages. He spared enough of a glance to see whether or not there were more glowing exits, but just picked one otherwise. In his sprint, he nearly missed the assumed right door - the sign was so small. Skidding to a stop, if he slammed into the wall from forgetting how to slow down, at least no one was there to see it. Like the previous sign, this one had a character printed into the light too.
コ
Ugh this was a pain in the ass. How many more hopefully correct doors did he have to go through? Where was the rest of his team? Was this just going to be an endless labyrinth? Was some pale monster with eyeballs going to start running him down? Was there a goblin waiting at the end of it all? Some furry little bastard he'd want to punt into the sun? Or some eclectic psychopath in neon colors. Who knew. At least from the looks of it, his self-musing took his mind off the mind numbing task of just running down unlit hallways.
His sight flew up to the sign, illuminating a single character again.
ヨ
Dokja was greeted with a small gate, it looked similar to the one that the Master of the Sunken Island had created to allow them into this floor, but it gave way to a small town square? Or some sort of plaza. Probably something similar. He wasn't the only one, clearly, but he slowed once he crossed the threshold. There were nine other figures already in the square, scattered about. They all seemed to be the same nondescript body form he currently had. They all also had fox masks too. To one side, there was a partially destroyed hongsalmun with wide, low stairs behind it leading into the front of a shring. There were two figures there - one sitting on the stairs and one leaning against the gate pillar.
Four more were loitering around the edges of the plaza, likely checking out the cage that they were in. The last three were standing closer to the center of the area, speaking to themselves quietly.
"Wh-"
Dokja was taken aback. His voice was different? It was…androgynous, and had a neutral inflection. Weird. When he tried to speak, everyone's attention turned to him like a pack of wolves and he stopped. Instinctively, his body tensed up, fully rigid as if expecting a hit. It was nerve-wracking and heavily horrifying. Despite being the leader of a research team, having so many eyes on him still always filled him with an overwhelming sense of dread.
He was rooted where he stood as they all continued to stare in silence, and he tried to speak. He opened his mouth, quickly aborting the attempt and pressing his lips together firmly as the feeling of bile began clawing up his throat. It felt like the ground was going to swallow him and he just..wanted to crawl in a hole. Maybe die. He could pretend people weren't staring at him if he was dead.
"Who are you."
It was the one leaning against the pillar to speak, figure moving slowly with a predatory purpose as the rest of them slowly convened on him. Instinctively, he stepped back. This was making him feel sick. He didn't want to be here, not in this situation. Frantically, his eyes darted around one by one to each figure approaching him. They also had numbers painted onto the design of their foreheads…. Zero, one, two..up to seven. That still didn't add up.
"Why are there ten of us?"
Another one had spoken - the one with 「사」 [four] on their mask. He didn't have voice or features to go off of, but maybe he could eventually deduce who everyone was by their manner of speaking. He hoped so. This was going to be a nightmare.
"Are you 「■ ■」?"
Everyone froze at Dokja's words. Filtering? That's what the gimmick was? Though at least it seemed with the realization of the filtering, attention was shifted off him and towards everyone testing out the limits of what was censored. Unfortunately, it was everything that could differentiate them from one another. Everyone had the same voice, the same features, the same body. The only difference was the fox masks- each one had a different number and slightly different markings.
Okay…so…. They'd probably have to use the numbers to address each other here. This was a weird floor, certainly.
"Does anyone know what the lit up signs spelled out?"
Dokja decided to change his tactic. Everyone had their strengths, and this would tell everyone who Sangah was, he was sure.
"「オトコヨ」, right? You saw it too? It's Japanese. It means Otokoyo, man hunt. I think it's referring to the game you played as a child."
Ah, so 「일」 [one] was Sangah. So far he knew he was the ninth number, and Sangah was the first. Who were the others? His thoughts were interrupted by the one from the pillar, with the character for three on their mask, approaching and grabbing him by the neck.
"You're an extra one."
This one must've been Joonghyuk. Only that bastard would be this confrontational in a situation where no one even knew who anyone else was. They stared at one another for a long while. It was impossible to see someone's eyes from behind the mask, but it was still jarring to be eyelevel with Joonghyuk.
Dokja was the one to break the tense silence between them, tilting his head and giving a soft hum.
"Is that what you think?"
Luckily, he was released in response. 「삼」 [three] moved closer on instinct, pressing them chest to chest and nuzzled against his head with a quiet apology whispered between them. It seemed Joonghyuk realized who he was too, how cute.
"At least we know who they are. Oh my god you two are so gay. Do you have to do that here?"
That was easy. 「이」 [two] had to be Han Sooyoung. Maybe Jung Heewon if she's being particularly spicy. It would be easier to find Seolhwa, too. As Dokja absently reached his hands up to soothingly rub Joonghyuk's back, everyone's murmurs and waiting questions were silenced as the haunting sound of a child flitted through the air. It was hard to make out what was being said, but it was effervescent, bubbly in the way it filled the space. Ominous in the way it echoed like a swinging blade.
"Is that…counting?"
「칠」 [seven] seemed to be the one speaking, everyone's face turned towards the ceiling as it hoping for some sort of answer. Everyone except one. The single, simple notion-or lack thereof, struck Dokja as strange. It was almost as if this one expected it. Well, nevermind the clingy lump at his side that also didn't look. Joonghyuk tended to do whatever he wanted, Dokja could plan around that. He couldn't plan around this.
"Ready or not,"
The childlike voice echoed, now much more clearly than before. Once again, the creeping dread clawed at the back of Dokja's skull, gnawed at his mind. He had a bad feeling about this. The next time the mysterious voice called out, it was a loud, booming announcement, it was iron and nails, it was teeth and gore.
"HERE I COME."
"RUN!"
Dokja's voice erupted at the same time as a massive, monstrous form burst through some of the buildings, tearing up the terrain in its wake. He had turned and ducked to avoid getting hit with any debris, though the way Joonghyuk had shielded his form with his own body didn't go unnoticed either. It was likely that he was drowned out by the sound of carnage, but he had confidence that they had enough survival instincts to not let the giant shadow monster catch them.
Joonghyuk moved first, firmly taking hold of Dokja's wrist and bolting back down a hallway. Briefly, he saw everyone else scatter away from the destruction and the echoing cackle as well. It's likely that's what this floor was. Tag. Maybe hide and seek. He wasn't familiar with children's games, it's not like he had friends.
But that didn't make enough sense. Sangah had said the signs leading to the area spelled out a game called man hunt. That had to be a clue.
"Focus."
The hissed warning pulled Dokja out of his thoughts, head tilting to look at Joonghyuk as he dragged them blindly down hallways, the sound of crumbling concrete and creaking metal growing further distant.
Once the sounds faded away, they tucked into a smaller passage, barely wide enough for them to stand without shoulders touching a wall. Joonghyuk was breathing loudly, but the sound of his breath was easily drowned out and overpowered by the thundering of Dokja's heart.
It was another moment until either one had the sense to look around.
The terrain had shifted again, it now fully looked like the run down slums of one of the main cities. Lived in alleys, loose wires, piles and piles of junk and scrap shuffled haphazardly into mounds taking up large portions of the wider passages. Still dark, too. The masks offering a degree of nocturnal vision definitely helped, especially in a setting where their abilities were suppressed and it seemed to be a maze in a void.
"It changed again,"
Dokja observed, standing fully now that he'd caught his breath and leaning just enough to peek back into the hall they'd escaped from. He turned back and was rewarded with an immediate pang of panic and adrenaline.
Joonghyuk was gone.
He lost count of how many times the cycle repeated, it felt like an endless routine of trying to explore- to find something, having to bail or run from being hearing something nearby or getting spotted and chased, running for his life, and hiding again until the heat died down.
This wasn't working. He wasn't making any headway and he knew at least four of them were captured…hopefully.
He really hoped they weren't dead.
With all the thoughts of what to do, it drove off his creeping self deprecation which was nice, but it'd do nothing if his friends really were gone, if he wouldn't be able to find them- to get them back. If…
No, he had to tell himself they were fine. They were just in jail or…whatever happened when you got caught in the normal game.
The crawling monster chasing them down one by one was also destroying the terrain, the playing field. With each person caught it was wiping out more and more area, reducing the hiding spots. He had to act soon, figure out where to go.
Before that, he had to survive as the shadow beast finally sniffed him out, chasing after him with a quaking step and billowing black smoke that clouded what little vision he had. Dokja ran and ran, and ran some more until he was forced to come to a stop, shell-shocked from bursting into a new area and his vision flooding several shades lighter than before.
It was lighter here, and all bridges- mostly bridges. He stood on a wide bridge that led to…some sort of tower? The shaking growing louder and louder, forcing him out into the new area, forcing him to prepare for combat with it, until…
The advance stopped.
Dokja's fight or flight response was going haywire, deciding between throwing himself into the monster, from figuring out what this place was. It looked like a massive shaft, maybe a mining shaft..for a world ending serpent or something. Rings and rings of gaping doors stacked upon the edges, the bridge he was on led to a structure. He wasn't sure what it was, and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out. Above him, bridges connected door to door, one by one, like a skywalk of endless loops. Below him, bridges connected door to door like an abyss of webbing. Chains hung above, connected to the structure from various points on the other bridges he could see, and some he couldn't, before him as if suspending it in the shaft. Chains hung below as if anchoring it, refusing to let it go from the abyss.
A gust of wind burst up from below, startling Dokja as he closed his eyes, bracing against the bellowing wails from below that pushed his slight frame, even several feet from either of the edges.
When he opened his eyes again, a figure stood before him, blocking him from the structure in the middle. The longer he stood in silence, processing what he was looking at, the more he felt something was off. Finally, he saw them.
The others, chained up in various locations around the structure, collared and cuffed, as if stood on the precipice of a gallows. He had to get them out. But first, he had to figure out who this was. He was the last one left, was it by design or by chance? He was sure the doppelganger was the one that orchestrated this and he needed answers.
"Who are you?"
There was no response from the being before him, only something much worse. The fox mask's painted face was contorting, stretching and reforming into a mocking snarl. It moved like it was living, morphing as the other spoke, reacting to the words.
"You're the last one. But you didn't hunt down the demon. What a shame, old man. You've lost."
"What do you mean."
Dokja's heart was thundering in his chest, pounding in his ears and fighting for the rest of his senses too. Something about this 「영」 [zero] was different. Was this the floor master? Like the Master of the Sunken Island from the previous floor? Was this it? Their abilities could only bring them this far…
Quietly, he lamented the idea as though it were fact. He would never see the end of the Grave, he would never see the surface again. He hoped Gilyoung and the girls would be okay with Namgung and Kyrgios being their permanent guardians. It was a better option than letting them go to the state. He dreaded to think of what would happen if the Bureau were the ones in charge of the kids.
"I mean, this is as far as you go."
In a blink, the zero mask was on him and he felt his thoughts jumble into oblivion the way his head was grabbed and smashed into the ground.
That didn't mean he was helpless, though. Not fully.
The masks didn't suppress all of their abilities, and he had to fight back. He had to get his team.
Twisting his body like a sidewinder, Dokja flung his legs in a twisting motion to try and get any momentum. Luck was on his side as he felt his heel graze against the other's mask, hooking his leg over the neck and kicking down with as much strength as he could muster in the position.
Free from the crushing grip, Dokja scuttled away and tried to inch himself closer to the structure. With his back to where the others were chained up, maybe he could outrun the enemy and cut them free. ..Maybe. He wasn't sure if he would be able to break them out.
As he turned, a black mass blew up from below with a thunderous roar. Assuming there were only the two enemies in this floor, it must've been the monster they were running from previously. Great, it had wings. Of course it had wings.
Metal creaked and strained as the creature landed on the structure, now properly visible - well, more. It was some sort of dragon, he surmised. Wrapped around the structure like pictures of old of a monstrous beast atop a tower waiting to burn knights away. Unfortunately his princesses weren't in a different castle and he had to jailbreak them before something happened.
"I told you, this is as far as you go."
Behind him, the zero mask's voice began distorting with growls and the sound of wet snapping. What was he supposed to do…
Danger be damned, he had to get to the others, so he ran. He bolted up to the structure and did his best to avoid the sharp spike of a tail from the dragon slamming down in his wake, chasing him like an intrusive thought that refused to die.
Reaching the first one, he didn't have time to look at the mask and figure out who it was as he started rattling at the chains to try and break them off. He thought he was getting somewhere, feeling the chains wrapped around the other's arms begin to loosen before he felt gravity shifting.
He had been kicked away, probably to save him as the dragon's tail came crashing down where he previously stood.
"Go. You have to survive."
The one he'd been trying to free whispered, voice urgent and motioning for him to get away. Stubborn as he was, Dokja couldn't just let it go without a fight and so he tried again, getting back to his feet and rounding in preparation of trying a different tactic. Of course, he still had to avoid the beast behind him, but that was cut short as he began to jolt and bit back a scream. Searing pain shot up his leg and threatened to rip muscle from bone as he was anchored in the same motion of movement.
There was so much going on, keeping track of everything was becoming impossible and even harder as he tunnel visioned on the singular task of freeing his companions. In his folly, he clearly forgot that physical danger was very real. He'd been so absorbed in how he thought this would go, so sure that it was just a reskinned children's game, that he forgot that no. This was the Grave of Atlas. It had an innumerable amount of bodies just on the first floor alone, and here they were on the twenty-third floor and had been going in blind for nearly ten floors.
He was complicit. He was a fucking moron for thinking the Master of the Sunken Island was going to be the only hurdle.
"Eyes on me, old man."
As his thoughts began running away, they were ripped back to reality as his head was smashed into the floor again. This punk! His brain was rattling in its casing, he felt like it was going to start oozing out of his skull at this rate. He was delicate!
"What are you doing."
Dokja's voice seeped out through gritted teeth. He wasn't sure he would get a response, but he had to try. Maybe this one was willing to talk like the previous one. Maybe this one was receptive too? Unfortunately his hopes were dashed as he felt a weight on his back, pinning him to the ground as his head was grabbed from the back and lifted, turned towards the structure with the dragon hanging off of it.
"Making sure you understand how badly you failed."
The words were snarled out, and Dokja could feel his neck beginning to protest as he was directed to watch the events unfolding, eyes widening as the dragon jolted. Chains rattled and snapped as if removing supports, and the arrangement of prisoners were jostled in the process. To his horror, he watched some of the figures on the far end be ripped from the perch they were placed on, startled screams muffled by the sound of crumbling stone. Their bodies swung from the momentum as the chains collaring their forms became their nooses.
They were being hung.
With a sharp inhale, the revelation broke into Dokja's only train of thought as he began thrashing, trying to break free and get to his friends before time ran out. At best he had…a few seconds, maybe? If he tried really hard. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to save everyone, though.
"Let me go - let me GO-"
Dokja fought with all his might, trying to shake himself free of the weight forcing him to still. The cold grasp of dread was consuming him, it felt like he was dying along with them as the dragon jerked the structure in the other direction, ripping the rest of his team off of their stands and beginning the process of dying for them too.
He couldn't breathe, but he was frantically scrabbling at the floor as if it would help. He would dig his fingers bloody if he had to. It felt like his mind was floating, and he couldn't understand what was happening. Everything was slowing, muted, muffled. His vision was floating away as his line of sight was shifting.
Was that him? Was he doing that? Where was he going?
The edges of his vision began to fade, darkening away into a blurred mess as he came eye to eye with the zero masked being, now contorted into a disturbing grin. A little too wide, a little too crooked, a little too many teeth.
With the last dregs of his vision, his sight was turned, and the delayed horror that…
Was his body.
His body was..on the floor. In pieces.
He felt his lips move, trying to form words, but nothing came as his eyes rolled to the back of his head and everything turned black.
Dokja's lungs forced themselves into recognition, a sharp, deep inhale as his eyes flew open.
What happened? Where was he?
Sluggishly, he sat up, left hand bracing his weary form in support as he sat up as the other went to his head, the dull throb telling him he was alive.
He was alive.
But he was still here. It was still dark. He must be in the afterlife? Dokja gave his head a shake and forced himself to stand. It didn't look like he was wearing the mask anymore- his hands weren't claws and his vision was…normal. Well, comparatively normal. Experimentally, he closed his eyes and willed his abilities to activate, feeling the familiar thrum of electricity coursing through him and seeing the bright, blinding blue-white dance in his palm.
Cautiously, he repeated the vision step, hoping that it would be the empty, smooth walls from before- and he was right. He didn't remember fully which turns he took, but he remembered the terrain shifting the further in he went, and he was back here soon enough. Back to the clearing in the junkyard, back to the fox mask.
It was different. Why was it different? There was no number painted into the pattern. Maybe it didn't matter. He had to play this differently, he was sure of it.
"These suppress our abilities, but..I wonder if.."
Muttering to himself, Dokja turned the mask over in his hands before just blindly wearing it. If he were smarter he would've tried removing it last time too. Hindsight 20/20, he supposed. There was no way of knowing what other changes changed from the previous run through this floor, though.
He had to think quickly.
If he had to guess, being the last one into the plaza did something. Doomed him to fail, maybe. He had to be faster this time, smarter. There was no time to think about why it felt like he was reset. Was he reset? There were slight differences from before. Maybe it was some sort of loop? They missed a trigger, perhaps.
They missed a flag, missed a secret…he had to think about this from a game perspective, lord knows he'd heard Joonghyuk and Mia go on about the importance of exploring everything in rpgs. How the nondescript throwaway line from the beginning area could come back as the defining trait of the end game and the like.
As Dokja mused to himself, he looked over the mask. There was no way to know if he would be able to remove the mask and that would be the biggest mistake.
However, maybe he could outsmart it.
If he had to guess, it was likely that it registered being attached to a body, maybe by biometrics? He could try and break it but that ran the risk of not being able to get into the plaza. There…was an idea, but it was a gamble. Then again everything about this place was a gamble.
Stepping past the threshold, Dokja's eyes glinted as he looked around. He was the last one again. but he knew what to expect this time. Sort of.
"Hey."
The foreign reverberation of the voice that was meant to be his wasn't as jarring this time, and like before, it called attention to himself.
He expected it to a degree this time, so the numerous eyes on him wasn't as alarming, wasn't as stifling. He waited for a moment as everyone began convening on him to look at the masks. It was different this time, like he guessed.
No one had numbers, everyone's masks looked the same. This would make it harder, at least the previous attempt had numbers so he would've been able to single someone out.
Now or never. He just had to hope it would work.
Taking an offensive stance, he wasn't surprised when he was responded to in kind as some took their own stances, likely preparing to counter in the event of an attack.
Unfortunately for them, Dokja's plan wasn't attacking everyone.
Closing his eyes in concentration, he had to try and fight against the suppression of the mask. He had to break through this if he wanted to hope to survive this. If he wanted them all to survive.
The low thrum of electricity sparking to life, the surge of lighting dancing out through his core and singing into his veins- he had to force the gate open. It was painful, forcing his energy through a wall essentially.
"What are-"
Faintly, he heard a voice asking in trepidation.
With a pained scream, Dokja felt his energy force itself out of its prison, the mask that chained him exploding into splinters of shrapnel with a heat that felt like his bones were being divorced from his body. With a sizzling clatter, he slumped down in exhaustion and fought against the numbing tingle that danced on his fingertips.
It worked though. He was free of the mask.
"「■ ■」!"
He expected this- the filtering. Everyone else was still wearing the masks, only now trying what he had tested prior- removing it. It wouldn't work, of course. He'd tried that. He also tried removing it. He briefly considered trying to destroy it before putting it on, but he was clearly correct in the masks having a limit to how much it could absorb.
Shaking his head free to clear the fog of overclocking himself in such a dangerous manner, he slowly stood.
"There's an imposter among us."
The warning was all he could get out before he had to move. The air rumbled, charged with energy as his form began to spark to life. Wisps of blinding, molten white danced at his feet, spreading out like a solar flare.
The thundering crackle around his form grew in intensity, some quiet like a whisper, some deafening like a jet's engine. Light lashed out with each step, shooting out in a blaze as he kept pushing, kept pushing. Electric blue burst through his iris as he finally built up enough energy and a pair of illuminated, feather-shaped wings burst into existence with a roaring boom.
Dokja scanned the forms duplicated around him as he stepped forward. He was a beacon, figuratively and literally as his electricity lit up the area like a constant storm. Some relaxed, some stepped back, everyone seemed to understand that this was Dokja, the true Dokja. Everyone- but one.
One kept their eyes trained on him, body tense like a coiled spring ready to break out of its hold.
There was his target.
Daggers clashed against a blinding sword in a thunderous boom, the first strike was parried and he had to be careful. It didn't take a genius to deduce that the ability suppression wouldn't be the same for the floor's master. Dokja had to figure out how to clear the floor, whether it be by killing the floor boss or not.
The two forms took flight, light ebbing and flowing as the two clashed over and over, illuminating the field with every impact like lightning strikes in a storm.
Down below, he could faintly make out the sound of more shattering. He could only hope that was the others figuring out how to overload their masks. He couldn't look to confirm though. He knew better than to take his eyes off the enemy this time. He had to figure out how to subdue his opponent.
"You broke the mask this time, smart move, old man."
That single line caused Dokja's thoughts to stall, reaction slowing just a fraction, but a fraction enough to feel the weight of the world slamming into him from above as he was smashed out of the sky by a massive tail that married him with the floor.
Shit. He forgot about the dragon.
"It won't make a difference. You won't survive here. Not like this."
The other's voice rose in volume, overtaking senses and disrupting thoughts as a deranged cackle echoed out through the air. There was no doubt this was the floor master. It was another unique entity like the Master of the Sunken Island.
Coughing up blood, Dokja managed to flap his wings and force himself free from the oppressive weight pinning him down, sliding back and looking around.
Good, it looked like everyone was able to free themselves.
With a wet inhale, he let himself relax just a fraction as he felt a large hand braced against his back in support. it was warm. He wasn't in this alone.
"This Monarch of the Great Abyss will make sure you make your bed in the Grave!"
The cackle that followed was piercing, grating, like it was scratching against one's brain directly. It was so unpleasant.
"Oh my god this guy is so fucking annoying."
Behind him, Dokja registered Namwoon's grousing. He almost wanted to laugh. If they met under different terms, he had no doubt Namwoon would be best friends with this thing trying to kill them if he were to be honest.
"What's the plan, Dokja?"
At his side, Joonghyuk kept him steady, the team taking a defensive position. Outside of the light cast by Dokja's electricity, the floor was still black as night. Sooyoung and Namwoon would have to be their eyes against the dragon if they didn't want to get caught off guard.
"What other plan is there? Fight back and don't die."
With a heavy sigh, he really hoped it would've been slightly easier to figure out. The previous floor boss just told them the clear conditions. It looked like they would have to beat it out of this one. Possible in theory, possible in practice.
"Joonghyuk, Heewon, on me. Everyone else try and keep that overgrown reptile in check."
A plan of attack was forming, the three of them would be the best for mobility. If they were lucky, they would be be able to keep them split without having to worry as much about getting blindsided.
Another collision, Dokja flinched as Joonghyuk smashed into the Monarch full force. It felt like the inside of a disco ball with how many fragments of light were flying around Joonghyuk's form and fading into obscurity as they fell down below. Heewon worked alarmingly well with Joonghyuk's explosive firepower as her flames shot through the sky in her wake. They really did work well together, though one or the other might threaten bodily harm if you told them as such.
Surveying the arena below, Hyunsung and Sooyoung seemed to be able to deflect most of the assaults, Namwoon delegated to tracking the dragon's movements and calling out for Seolhwa to hopefully start figuring something out. With Namwoon, Jihye and Sangah were left as the offensive line. At least Namwoon and Jihye were good at getting the lizard to talk.
Distantly, Dokja heard another rumbling of a voice that was probably the dragon responding to the goading. Teens really were good at pissing things off, huh. Sooyoung would have a run for her money at this rate.
"Dokja!"
Heewon shot by, grabbing him by the waist and bodily moving him out of the path of a stray attack in his wandering thoughts.
"Hey, pay attention! I'm not trying to die, you know."
She hissed in response, releasing him from her grasp before splitting away from him. The fact that the Monarch of the Great Abyss was able to easily hold his own against the onslaught of Joonghyuk and Heewon was honestly impressive. But Heewon's wording made him drift again. Not trying to die? But not trying to die again? Maybe they….didn't…remember? Was that possible?
He at least had his wits about him this time as he dodged another attack, this time more pointed as his inaction drew the attention of the Monarch.
They clashed blades again, elemental edges grinding against one another as the Monarch snarled, inches from his face.
"You should've stayed dead. Should've let the fates play out. It would've been easier that way. For all of us. For him."
Dokja's eyes widened minutely.
What did he mean? What was going on? It must've had something to do with what the previous one said also. Who was he? He had to guess he wouldn't get any answers from this one either and it seemed likely that these could effectively be considered something close to elementals. A body formed of water, the dragon here seemed like it was formed from the darkness, shaped by it. The Monarch they were fighting didn't feel like flesh and blood either, not in a mortal way.
It answered some questions, but not enough. They had to go deeper, and to do that, they had to get past this place.
"I won't die. Not here."
Dokja raised his voice in declaration, steeling his resolve to get an answer one way or another from this fight.
A roar erupted from below, pulling their attention as a sudden heat shot through the atmosphere and dimly lit up the area. Void-black flames gave off an eerie purple glow, a sticky blaze coating everything around them. While it did give a bit of ambient lighting, the implications were..mildly horrifying, honestly.
It could breathe fire. Of course the dragon could breathe fire. Why didn't he assume that. There were worse things to come out of Gates, how much worse was a dragon made of shadows that could talk and shoot fire? The talking part was a bit odd but not the worse things that's happened.
Sparing a glance to lock eyes with Heewon, the two nodded to one another as she descended to join the fray against the dragon. The safest way to fight fire was probably with more fire, right?
He didn't know how much longer they could keep this up. Dokja could tell Joonghyuk was starting to reach his limit. Movements were more erratic, more rushed, attacks were sloppy. Between this war of attrition and having gone through the last floor without a chance to have any guiding, he was going to reach rampancy soon. He could tell everyone else was hitting their limit too.
Over the course of the drawn out combat, he did get some information. What they were fighting seemed similar to a Lich. If this was anything like the Lich found in certain Gates, there must be a phylactery somewhere on the floor. The question was…where.
"Hyuk-ah, keep him occupied,"
"What are you scheming-"
Joonghyuk stared at him in doubt. He'd learned his lesson, he'd always known better, honestly, but this time. In the Grave. Well.
Dokja parried another blow as he tried to ignore the gaze burning into the side of his skull. He did have a proper plan this time! He wouldn't get stabbed, okay!
"You said you trusted me,"
He tried to defend himself. Was now a good time to be having this conversation? Well, no, but.
"That was before you got yourself stabbed."
Joonghyuk snarled at him in return, clearly displeased and probably would've killed him on his own ages ago if they didn't have the best compatibility rate for guiding.
"I won't get myself stabbed this time if you can keep him occupied, honest."
He tried again, unbothered as Joonghyuk grabbed him by the waist and moved them, sending the Monarch on a chase. While being held by Joonghyuk's strong arms were nice, why was everyone grabbing him by the waist, honestly.
"If you're lying this time I'll kill you myself."
As they evaded, the warning was growled out. It was a promise.
Releasing Dokja, Joonghyuk pushed his abilities to their last legs as his powers burst from his form like a supernova. With one person on board, Dokja dove down, using his wings to shield himself from a burst of fire as the black flames impacted against the electricity in an eruption of steam.
In what felt like a split second, he glided through their group long enough to relay his plan.
"Keep it busy. Don't die."
Well. It was a plan in his head.
There was no time to question his cryptic message. He was gone in a flash of light. He was on a mission, and he had an idea of where to start.
"WHAT?! I FUCKING HATE YOU-"
Sooyoung's voice shrieked after him in unbridled anger and he thought he heard a confused whimper from Hyunsung. He was sure he would get an earful from both her and Joonghyuk once this was over. This was fine. He just had to place his bets and hope for the best.
The hollow shaft full of doors and bridges was still as jarring as before. He could see the lighter room from a distance this time, though. It was easier to spot once he was closer.
There was something he noticed once he thought about the area in the last attempt.
Why were they trying so hard to stop Dokja from reaching the structure suspended? Sure, maybe it was to keep him from freeing his friends, but with suppressed abilities, it was clear that he couldn't physically remove the chains, not without more time.
But they still hadn't wanted someone free, someone mobile, near it. Something was here, or maybe it was all here.
Unfortunately this was also as far as he could go with running on fumes. With a harsh breath, he felt the energy siphoning from his form like a burnout. He still had enough juice for one or two more hits, but this was it for him. He could feel the creeping dread, a telltale sign of having eyes on him again and he had to move.
Running full tilt into the structure, he began scaling it, loosening what he could as he kicked away clutter to form footholds. If the Monarch of the Great Abyss had its attention redirected once he reached this area, he was right. This was the key to getting out of this floor.
Frantically digging through what he could, he began to see the light at the end of the tunnel, figuratively and literally as a piece of scrap was removed and a blinding light pierced through. It caught him off guard as he was stunned for a moment, forcing himself to adjust to the discovery. Dokja was able to peel away a bit more, expose more of the glowing…whatever it was. From the end of the bridge leading to where he'd come from, he saw the form - probably the true form, of the Monarch.
It was humanoid, but featureless, large..probably about as massive as the Master of the Sunken Island had been? Body made of flames wrapped in shadows, stood by the massive head of a beast that seemed to be made of the same skin.
They didn't say anything, didn't move, just watched on as Dokja form his sword in one last push and buried it deep into the light beneath him.
The smoke cleared, and Dokja squinted against the light. He was on the bridge still, but it was much brighter than before. Where the structure once stood was a massive, glowing gate in the same style as the last one. He wasn't sure what the conditions were. Was it the phylactery that he destroyed? Was it a key that he just had to find? There were too many questions and no answers as the rest of his senses caught up and he belatedly realized he was being held by someone. Judging from the warmth and how he was being cradled like something precious, it had to be Joonghyuk.
Coughing a bit as he sat up, he blearily blinked, trying to parse information from the white spots dancing through his vision.
"Well, I didn't die.."
He joked lightly, looking around as he was able to vaguely make out the forms of everyone standing or kneeling around them, eyes finally landing on Joonghyuk staring down at him like a disapproving parent.
He flinched and gave a soft whimper as a foot softly, but harshly, dug into his side. That had to be Sooyoung. Damn Joonghyuk for not stopping her.
"What the FUCK kind of plan was that? Were you going to tell us? Don't die my left tit. I should lock you up like an unruly dog."
Sooyoung stabbed at him, her voice was tight. He doesn't know how long he was out, they probably thought he was going to die or something. He almost felt bad. Almost. He couldn't put in the effort to mind much after what happened prior.
It was another moment before Dokja looked around, glancing towards the gate.
"Where's the things we fought?"
"Gone. It was just you and the gate when we got here,"
Hyunsung offered as he helped up the poor man, though not without his own very clear disapproval.
"Everyone's tired, but we should go through and hope there's somewhere for us to rest at the entrance. I don't think I want to find out if either one will come back,"
Sangah called everyone attention. Her suggestion was sound. Even if they ended up split up again, there was a chance they'd be able to rest if they didn't advance into the floor, and guiding or not, they needed rest.
"Where did that fucking chuuni go."
Jihye was getting bored, sitting at the table as the kaleidoscopic figure stood.
"There he is,"
The tone was light. Airy, a laugh upon the voice. With a clamoring thud, the two figures were unceremoniously dumped onto the blank white floor.
"Took you long enough. Did you set up your room as that shitty hide and seek game again? You really don't grow up, do you Namwoon."
She spoke with a challenge, coming to a stand to lightly kick at the dragon's tail. She made no motion to move as they stirred, standing in disgruntlement.
"Says the one that made the first part of her floor an actual graveyard?"
Namwoon cut back, slapping her foot away and bumping into her with a shoulder as she shoved him back. Watching in amusement, the dragon shifted closer to the other figure that watched on.
"What a shame that he didn't pick up on it the first time."
The dragon's voice was deep, rumbling, disappointed.
"Well. You can't blame him. He didn't have friends as a child. He wouldn't know about children's games."
"Do you plan on waking him up to face them next?"
The dragon changed the topic, ignoring the two squabbling on the other side of the room.
"No. Let him sleep. His heart doesn't deserve this. He took it the hardest of us when he got taken. Let him have a nice dream…and maybe when he wakes up next…we'll all be back together."
The response felt a little forlorn, hopeful. It was a hope that flickered like a candle that was forced to brave a storm and refused to die. It was all they could hold on to.
"Now you three, I've also been quite cruel to, haven't I. It's time for you to go back to sleep."
And hopefully, when they next woke, it would be to a happier ending. Hopefully…their next dream would be a nice one.
Notes:
영 0 999knw (oni)
일 1 sangah
이 2 sooyoung
삼 3 joonghyuk
사 4 jihye
오 5 seolhwa
육 6 heewon
칠 7 namwoon
팔 8 hyunsung
구 9 dokjawas everyone's number in the first round, in case anyone was wondering
Chapter 7: Floor 24 *
Notes:
omg hi this got away from me lmao
I did not mean to leave this for 2+ weeks I just have no concept of time lolignore any weird story flow pls I jumped around sections and idk what I'm doing. like 6k of this was the smut and idk how I got here what happened to me lmao
the first scene also was NOT supposed to turn out that way this entire chapter is a big bowl of "something sure happened here but idfk what"anyway bye xoxo LOL
Chapter Text
「Grave of Atlas: Twenty-Fourth Floor」
"Hm."
Dokja looked around the vacant room, bleary-eyed and weary-souled. He was starting to grow accustomed to being blinded like this regularly and at a point had half a mind to ask- did it really have to choose white, of all options.
However, there was something different about what he expected from this encounter.
The other being wasn't there.
Dokja blinked a few times like he was expecting it to help, but no matter how much he tried to adjust his vision or how much he looked around and roamed across the vacant expanse, the other being was nowhere to be found. It was..a little bit unsettling when he thought about it. There were a few implications he could surmise from it. Maybe they were gone? Or perhaps the place was somewhere it had to consciously go, maybe even physically.
It felt like eternity in a vacuum before something happened- there was a shift in the air like someone opening a door and stepping through a temperature threshold. Dokja's eyes reflexively snapped towards the feeling, but he wasn't greeted by the being he'd grown accustomed to in this place. Instead, he was greeted by a large, towering figure that glittered like liquid metal. The form almost felt mercurial in property, like how the Master of the Sunken Island looked and probably felt, like it was composed primarily of water.
Warily, he narrowed his eyes and watched as the metal-like figure looked around before finally settling on Dokja.
"He doesn't know I woke up,"
The figure was hushed, urgent. Dokja wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but at the very least it didn't seem aggressive. Yet. He decided it would most likely be in his best interest to hear out the metallic figure first before anything happened.
"The floor you're on is safe, well. Safer. There's still monsters, but we can't get rid of those, not without expelling them through Gates.."
"Who…are you?"
Cautiously, he tried speaking to the figure, the worst that would happen was he would engage in combat…in his dream. There were also the other's words- so much information packed into so few words to dissect and unpack. Monster and the Gates? Was it suggesting that monsters were purged from this place through the Gates? It couldn't be…. Right? Luckily the prior caution was unfounded as the figure approached, stance relaxed and hands postured in a placating motion. It was trying to show him that it wasn't a danger and likely didn't want to cause any harm. They stared at one another with a long pause before the figure spoke.
"I'm..the King of the Silver Heart. The next floor is supposed to be my trial, but I'm not strong enough to maintain a floor trial…not anymore. He let me request to have it designed after the city we met in, originally."
It sounded….sad, almost. Tired. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but before Dokja could press for more answers to questions he didn't know he had prior, the figure suddenly became alert and seems to begin dematerializing.
"I have to go. You'll be safe in the floor, the exit is at the church catacombs when you're ready."
Reaching out in an attempt to stop it, Dokja woke with a start, eyes snapping awake and blinking away the sleep as the outstretched hand settled on something warm, firm with a plush give to it. Willing his eyes to focus again, he distantly heard someone snort as his line of sight followed his hand up to Hyunsung, more specifically, the fact that he currently had Hyunsung's left pec in a full-palmed death grip. He made no immediate motion to remove his hand, but did relax his hold and settle on resting his hand against the other man's chest as he tried not to laugh at suddenly being groped. After a few seconds, Dokja spoke up to try and ease the silence.
"Come here often?"
…okay, maybe not the best way to recover, but Sooyoung's howling in the background brought him back to his surroundings as he finally retreated his hand from Hyunsung. The motion was aided by a large, rough hand gently grasping his chin and forcing him to lock eyes with Joonghyuk. The taller man leaned in and Dokja reflexively closed his eyes, feeling the gentle thrum of energy as his brow was kissed almost reverently, then another to his left eye, then another to his lips before being released. The hand remained on his head, gently carding through his hair like someone giving affection to a lazy cat. Honestly he didn't hate it.
Dokja tried to actively ignore the warm feeling of affection that flooded into his senses from his Bond with Joonghyuk. He also tried to actively ignore the blush creeping up his features. What was this guy doing with their Bond with such a straight face, really.
After a moment a soft exhale escaped his lungs and Dokja finally became spatially aware. It looked like they set up camp around where they descended to the floor, Dokja was resting laid out between Joonghyuk's legs as he and Hyunsung made food. Sangah and Seolhwa were to his immediate left, both women resting their heads on Joonghyuk's thigh and Dokja's stomach as they laid down face to face. Seems some of the group decided to take a nap while they waited for him to return to the land of the living, not that he could blame them.
"I was told that this floor is essentially a safe zone."
He started, trying in vain to move Seolhwa's heavy head from his stomach without disturbing her too much and giving up rather quickly as his head fell back against Joonghyuk's waist, relishing in the warmth of all the bodies around him. After he spoke, Joonghyuk gave a hum that felt like it was vibrating through his bones in response, contemplation in his veins.
"Good. Heewon and Sooyoung aren't doing too well. Neither is Joonghyuk."
Sangah's airy voice answered him as she was roused, sitting up and bodily shifting Seolhwa onto her lap so Dokja could sit up too as he voiced his next question.
"What time is it?"
"It should be around six, but the shadows haven't moved since we arrived here."
Hyunsung responded as he handed a skewer of sliced meat and vegetables to Dokja as a snack, stoking the flames to encourage the cuts of fish to cook through. He gave a noncommittal hum in turn, a quiet thanks for the food as he nibbled on an end of meat and thought for a moment. It was possible there would be more fights going forward- possibly ones that they wouldn't be able to Guide between. It was also possible there would be no more hard combat like the last two floors, but that was never a guarantee. Unfortunately, the Grave of Atlas was given that name for a reason.
"We'll rest here for a day or two, try and replenish our supplies and get everyone as stable as we can in the Grave."
Venturing out into the city, it was surprising how large it actually was. It might've been more accurate to say they had been expecting a village, just somewhere to rest and eat, but no- this. It was a massive expanse that was probably comparable in size to one of their modern major cities. There were a few high-rise buildings, flat rooftops and signboards. It wasn't quite the concrete jungles that they were used to with modern cities, but it did strongly resemble the major cities of a time long past.
All things considered it was actually pretty neat. It was unlikely anything of value could be obtained here, but maybe they'd be able to find records of information long lost between the destruction of the Gates and just a lack of actual recordkeeping.
"Wow, I haven't seen a bar like this in years."
Heewon gave an impressed whistle as the group came across a building with a split staircase. She had ventured into the lower set of stairs, sword drawn as a precaution. Dokja wanted to flinch at the way she kicked the door clean off its hinges, ripping part of the doorframe with the force.
"While I understand the caution, how do you handle this She-Hulk?"
He had made an aside to Hyunsung as he moved out of the way to let Sangah and Seolhwa pass and join Heewon in the bar, the faint clinking of glass was heard from the doorway. He also paid no mind as Joonghyuk shuffled closer, immediately invading his space like an oversized lapdog unaware of his mass.
Hyunsung couldn't help but laugh, fingers carding through Joonghyuk's thick, wavy hair as the man made a low rumbling sound that could easily be mistaken for a purr.
"Well I don't call her She-Hulk, for one."
The bulky man chuckled in response, their attention shifted to one of the buildings across the street at a loud crash. Sooyoung had gone in with the teens, but what the hell were they doing? There was a severe lack of panic so no one was especially concerned, but maybe with the maniacal cackle that bounced back through the open doorway, they should be.
Well, that was a problem for not him. His attention shifted back to Hyunsung instead as a hand came up to stroke the back of Joonghyuk's neck in a placating manner. There was a bit of stress filtering in through their Bond, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for where they were. Still, any sort of ambient Guiding he could get for Joonghyuk was good.
Eventually, everyone split off to wander around left to their own devices. They'd established a hotel as the building they would use as essentially their base of operations while on the floor, so everyone was aware of where to return to when it was time for food and rest.
Joonghyuk had gone off to hunt with Namwoon and Jihye, he didn't know where Seolhwa went but honestly he wasn't sure he wanted to know. The last time she was let loose like a misbehaving cat, she managed to find just the right combination of chemicals to create mustard gas. Sometimes, he wondered how she never got arrested back on the surface.
The first day in the city was quiet, tired. A day of rest was nice for stability, but not nearly enough for how consistently they've been expending energy and unable to perform intense Guiding. Unfortunately that was the nature of the Grave.
It wasn't rare for Joonghyuk to be quiet- it was pretty normal, honestly, but everyone was also aware enough that he had a harder time controlling his aggression the closer to rampancy he grew so it was possible he was just trying to keep it together. While they were scouring the cityscape for anything they could use, Joonghyuk had slinked off somewhere.
"Has anyone seen Joonghyuk?"
It couldn't have been more than five minutes, he was sure he just saw the man dragging out a catch to be gutted with Hyunsung while he dug around what they assumed were shops with Sangah and Sooyoung. There were a few things that were useful, but there didn't seem to be much they could use long-term. Everything was more suited for normal people, not that it surprised any of them. Still, there were a few things of interest. Books and scrolls- history, endemic life, personal journals. None of them were sure if anything would still exist outside of the Grave- no one had tried to return with anything they didn't bring in, not like this. Monster parts were probably made of a different composition and this was a strange floor to have in a place that seemed to have the singular goal of killing anyone that set foot inside.
"Oh, no. Did you lose your pet dog?"
Sangah joked at his expense as she flipped through what looked like a botany book…sort of. Everyone knew Bondmates were innately closer to anyone else, it's what allowed them to form a safe Bond to begin with. The fact that Dokja and Joonghyuk formed such a strong, stable Forge Bond spoke volumes that everyone understood.
Still, he tried not to sigh again.
Even without the floor having any immediate danger like a floor master, letting Joonghyuk unsupervised with how chaotic his energy felt would be a bad idea. With a sigh, he peeled away from the women to go hunt down his partner.
Eventually he did spot Joonghyuk hidden away in an alley on the far end of the streets like a thief trying to escape. What the hell was he doing here?
Okay, he could easily tell what was wrong with him just by looking at him, suspicions confirmed with the gnawing hunger that nibbled away at the edges of their Bond.
This damn animal.
"Ya, Joonghyuk-ah have you gone rabid?"
He wasn't trying to bully him, he really wasn't, but it was so hard not to the way he looked like a stray dog running off with food. Creeping closer, he tried to get a better look at his condition or at least what he was doing, if he was doing anything besides leaning against the wall in the shadow like some edgy protagonist waiting to spring into action. If Dokja were more conscious of just how much of a threat Joonghyuk actually was, he would understand that each step closer to was inching him into eminent danger. Who was he if not a man overconfident in how sure he was in being able to predict how Joonghyuk would behave, though?
Skulking into the alley, Dokja abreast to Joonghyuk, tilting his head on a cute manner as if trying to peer at Joonghyuk's face. Unfortunately something must've alerted him as smoldering golden eyes snapped open to silently glare at him in return. Without a word, Joonghyuk lunged vertically, escaping the alley and running off to who knows where.
Clicking his tongue in minor annoyance, Dokja had no choice but to follow and try and pry an answer out of his damn sunfish. With the Bond as haywire as it was currently that was largely useless.
It was impressive how far off Joonghyuk had managed to escape by the time Dokja landed on the rooftop with a deceptively light tap, watching him move further and further away from their group. He was determined if nothing else, immediately giving chase.
"Joonghyuk. Bastard. Joonghyuk-ah. Rabid dog. Hyukkie. Sunfish. Bitch. Hyuk-ah."
Prancing after him, Dokja tried everything to get him to slow or at least look at him instead of stomping off like a scorned girlfriend. Seriously, what was wrong with him this time? Unfortunately none of the names or terms of endearment garnered a response, and they were rapidly approaching the edge of the city, a sizable lake was within eyesight and it looked like he was headed there? But there were buildings here with running electricity and plumbing from what they could tell. Why go all the way out there?
"Can you just talk to me."
He tried again, dropping down onto the street after Joonghyuk as the latter let himself into a small house at the edge of the cityline. It was quaint, cute. He would've liked to live in a cozy home like this with Joonghyuk and Mia if they hadn't been born like this.
"Maybe if you ever stopped talking."
The snarled words caught Dokja off guard. He hasn't been this prickly since they were first matched up, long before they Bonded. It's been years since then. What the hell happened?
"Well, one of us has to communicate. Hmm? We're under a roof, the rest of our group will be settling in to get some rest tonight, and here you are reverting back to the emotionally stunted disaster you were a decade ago when I could barely get the time of day from you and I thought for sure you would give me rabies. Can't you be a good boy and just tell me what's wrong?"
While he was waxing poetic about how much of a disaster the other man was, said disaster had closed their distance and was posing a very real threat as he grabbed Dokja by the neck, large hand easily enveloping the front of his throat and slammed his head against the wall hard enough that a hung picture frame rattled off the hook and fell.
"Ow! What the fuck?! Here I am actually worried about your stupid ass and here you are giving me brain trauma?!"
Dokja hissed like a scorned cat, clearly annoyed. Well, okay it didn't actually hurt that much. He's definitely experienced worse, but it's the principal of it!
"Can you just shut up."
Honestly, the gravely growl of his voice was hot and for a moment, Dokja forgot what he was doing. When his train of thought returned there was refreshed vigor. It took him a second, but it finally clicked on what was happening.
"Wow, fuck you?"
"Fuck me yourself, coward."
Incredible. This brat. His eyes trailed over Joonghyuk's features, the red tint to his ears was so obvious now, and he couldn't help but grin. It was all teeth, all danger.
He really should have known his adorable bastard was too shy and too proud to ask normally. There were very rare times he wanted to be on the receiving end- not that Dokja had a particularly strong opinion one way or the other, but Joonghyuk was different. Sometimes he wanted to be submissive, but was too proud to ask. In those situations they would end up like this- Joonghyuk would throw a tantrum and storm off somewhere, Dokja would follow, Joonghyuk would act like a brat, and Dokja would fuck the brattiness out of him. It was rare, but it never failed to get a rise out of him one way or another.
Joonghyuk was roughly bent over a table in the home, Dokja's throbbing penis giving a twitch as he rutted against Joonghyuk's ass, grinding into the cleft of his cheeks while he growled like a wild animal. While there was no way the taller would give up the ghost without a semblance of a fight, Dokja had mastered the art of knowing how to manhandle him when he didn't want to be in control.
A firm hand pressed against the back of Joonghyuk's neck, pinning him to the table like an animal being scruffed. It was about domination, it was about control, and while he didn't particularly love this type of power play he was also aware that it was needed to help Joonghyuk's wild energy start to settle. He could only be thankful in these situations that there was rarely any real threat but god, it felt like it some times. If looks could kill Dokja would've been six feet under hours ago.
"What's the matter baby, lost all the spunk once you get scruffed like a kitten?"
"Fuck you."
The glare sent back at him was scary, truly. However Dokja hasn't been his partner for this long with nothing to show for it. With his free hand, Dokja gave a hard spank over his clothed ass, trying not to grin at the way he subtly felt the taller clench minutely, no doubt his hole expecting something to be there.
"Don't worry darling, I will."
Dokja had traded places with Joonghyuk, the former now casually sitting on the table with the latter knelt on the floor between his legs, balls deep on his dick and both naked as they says they were born. Dokja had one leg casually propped up, one arm resting on his knee as the other leg was hooked over the taller's back to keep him from wandering too far, free hand casually carding through thick locks as he watched. Joonghyuk really was gorgeous when he was deep throating a cock, moaning and gagging around the shaft and fingering himself loose like a whore.
"Still green?"
He held onto Joonghyuk's locks to slow the bob of his head until he gave a garbled sound of affirmation. With the okay, the grip loosened to the gentle petting of his head for just a moment before his hand moved to the back of his Bondmate's head and shoving Joonghyuk's head all the way down to the base before spilling his load and painting his throat white.
Pulling Joonghyuk off of his shaft with a wet pop, he couldn't help but admire how gorgeous he really did look with swollen lips and a hungry, unfocused gaze. He couldn't wait to see him even more fucked out when they were done.
Guiding the taller to stand, he was pulled onto Dokja's lap. Gentle butterfly kisses peppered his face as praise was whispered between them like a secret. Strong arms wrapped around his neck, Joonghyuk anchoring himself to the man below him and pulling him into deeper kisses. Dokja hummed in response, smiling against the taller's lips with his hands placed over Joonghyuk's thick thighs to steady him as their cocks rubbed together.
Grasping at his Bondmate's firm ass, Dokja hooked a thumb into the softened entrance, trying not to laugh at the upset whine he received in response.
"Color?"
"Wha-.."
Joonghyuk, so focused on chasing another orgasm seemed to be having difficulty processing the question. He was so adorable, this kind of gap moe should be illegal. Still, it wasn't what he asked. In reprimand, Dokja gave his plump ass a light slap to try and get him to focus.
"Color."
"Gr- green."
"Good boy."
Dokja kissed at the sensitive flesh behind Joonghyuk's ear, lifting him just enough to position himself against the loosened hole and plunging into the addictive heat, punching a choked moan out of the larger man. He wasn't particularly gentle about it, they both knew Joonghyuk preferred it rough like this when he was high on the verge of rampancy. While Dokja himself didn't love treating his partner like this, he was also aware enough to know this was what he needed.
Dark, hungry eyes watched enraptured as Dokja's cock was swallowed up with each bounce of Joonghyuk riding him. The panting moans bouncing around the room sounded like absolute music, a symphony curated just for him.
It didn't take long for Joonghyuk to cum, surprisingly. He was pent up so perhaps it shouldn't have been that surprising. Still, Dokja didn't leave him with too much time to rest, grinding into him through the orgasm and letting him ride out the high. However, Dokja had yet to cum again and the hard pace resumed shortly after.
By the time they were done, Joonghyuk's poor hole was red, puffy and abused from several rounds. Frothy seed spilled out from being so loose, and Dokja sat in a chair behind him, just staring at his handiwork as Joonghyuk rested splayed out on the table. Maybe he would feel bad about it one day.
With a soft grunt, he rose to his feet to go check on his partner. Placing a hand against his back and gently tracing figures with his nails, he leaned over just enough to get a look at the other's face. The dead stare that greeted him tested his restraint. He couldn't laugh, he couldn't laugh. His poor Bondmate would be so upset with him if he laughed at the expression.
"How are you feeling?"
He asked instead, managing to school his tone and helping the taller up into a sitting position.
"Filthy."
Well, yeah you got used like a cum dumpster like you always do when you get like this. The only saving grace is that you can't get pregnant.
Wisely, he kept that thought to himself and instead opted to help carry him to the bath and get him cleaned up.
Eventually once both men were cleaned and dressed they reconvened with the party in time for dinner. Dokja didn't think they were going at it for that long, but then again he was a bit preoccupied with something more pressing than the time of day. They had settled on a place to stay while they were on this floor- a large hotel near the center of the city. A cursory glance of it when Hyunsung pointed it out showed it would be large enough to not worry about…sounds leaking through and disturbing their group. Maybe they could just each take a floor, Dokja mused to himself.
It was the middle of the night and unfortunately Dokja was ripped out of his exhausted, dead sleep. It felt like someone was watching him as an unidentifiable emotion spiked through the Bond, startling his senses out of torpor.
Groggily, he forced his eyes open and looked towards the foot of the bed.
He stared in silence for a while as his brain tried to catch up with what his eyes witnessed- a dark figure silhouetted in obscurity and nothing except a pair of glowing golden rings staring at him, unblinking. When he became lucid enough to process taking everything in, it struck him at once like a truck and he bodily jolted. Shrieking in terror as his body forgot what to do and tried to eject itself from bed in an attempt to flee, the thick blanket flying off as his limbs stuck out at impossible angles. He hit the floor with an alarmingly loud thud and cried out. It definitely felt like something was broken.
As he lay on the floor on a crumpled mess preparing to accept his fate, the shitty animal-shaped lamp on the nightstand was turned on and he stared up at Joonghyuk's face torn between humor, neutrality, and concern. This was illegal why was he getting the shit scared out of him in the dead of night by his Bondmate?!
And the surge of amusement? This bastard!
"Sorry."
Joonghyuk's quiet voice sounded more like a whimper as he helped rearrange Dokja's anatomy and helped sit him back on the bed and took all the spite out of his system. It didn't seem likely that he was very good at controlling himself right now. With a tired sigh, Dokja turned his gaze towards Joonghyuk and carefully cupped his face like it was a priceless artifact. He was pulled closer, guiding his face one way then the other to get a better look. He wanted to be surprised, but it really was expected that he would need more Guiding than the others. The last two floors of the Grave had brutal and unforgiving, it's not surprising that he was barely holding on.
"Fuck, you look like shit. Has the Guiding not been enough?"
"The circulation has been feeling off since the last floor,"
At the admission, he realized he should've figured. The Grave was a strange place so it's not surprising that it would have some effect on Sentinels and Guides. He was sloppy and badly overestimated how well he was holding up. While yes, he wasn't going to rampage anytime soon, when he actually got a proper look it was obvious that Joonghyuk was uncomfortable and treading water. While Dokja was the best at circulating energy efficiently second only to Seolhwa, Joonghyuk had the worst efficiency when he overclocked like they had to on the previous floor. The pang of guilt didn't need to remind him this was his fault, he should have kept a better eye on maintaining Joonghyuk.
Reaching up, Dokja's fingers slid against the back of Joonghyuk's neck and pulled him in as their lips pressed together. The kiss was soft, more of a permission than a plea as he felt the warmth of Joonghyuk's mass pushing him back onto the mattress. In the same notion, the kisses turned hungry, wet from Joonghyuk's tongue intruding into his mouth when he gave a hushed gasp. Heat rose in his core as he watched, fully enraptured in the way Joonghyuk slotted himself between his legs pulled up against either side of the taller's hips, large hands smoothing over his thighs in a way that made shivers rattle up Dokja's spine. His pants and boxers were removed in a fluid motion, a practiced act and a sharp inhale was stifled as he watched Joonghyuk hold his legs together, cheek rubbing against smooth calves for the briefest moment before nipping at an ankle.
"Hey!"
Dokja quietly hissed, giving a token fight to try and remove his legs from Joonghyuk's hold. He wouldn't be able to, not if the other didn't want, but it was worth a try. Eventually he stopped struggling and opted to ask instead,
"Will you be okay with Guiding without putting it in?"
He didn't particularly feel like taking care of the cleanup, and knew Joonghyuk would be tired even if he enjoyed the aftercare. Non-penetrative sex wouldn't be as effective for Guiding but it would still be fine, right?
Luckily Joonghyuk grunted and gave a nod in return. While Dokja had an idea that it wouldn't be enough for now, he would know his body best.
"Alright. Don't go overboard though, I don't want to be stuck in bed all day tomorrow because of you."
He was immediately rewarded with a soft groan as he watched Joonghyuk strip himself with one hand, the taller never letting go of his legs. Dokja had a vague idea of what he was planning to do, but it was still a surprise to feel that massive heat grinding up against his ass fully damp from precum already. He might've had to stop himself from drooling at the sensation, remembering the way Joonghyuk's heavy cock felt on his tongue, how the salty precum leaking from that fat head tasted. Another time, he told himself.
Dokja briefly wondered what exactly Joonghyuk was planning on doing, particularly, whether he was planning on just rutting against his entrance as he felt the head of the man's dick pressing into his perineum in a rocking motion. He was given his answer soon enough as his legs were tightly held to Joonghyuk's chest like a lifeline and unceremoniously thrust into as the side of his leg was nibbled on.
"Mmm- ah-"
The shuddering moans ripped out of Dokja's throat at the sudden friction only fueled his Bondmate as a rough hand pressed against his own dick, massaging the shaft in time with the sudden thrusting in practiced ministrations that had him spilling hot into Joonghyuk's palm in record time. The thrum of satisfaction he felt from Joonghyuk almost made him want to drag him.
"I thought I was the one that needed Guiding."
The antagonizing tease in response was a smooth rumble against his lower half, receiving a light kick against his back in response. Peering down to Joonghyuk through his lashes, Dokja was almost surprised as he watched the other slather the spend in his palm down his cock, giving it enough coating in lieu of lube before going right back in to fucking his thighs.
"Hyuk-ah Joong -ah! Wait I just came!"
"You can take it."
Dokja squirmed under his hold, it didn't do anything- not that he expected it to. He did give Joonghyuk the okay to do what he needed for Guiding but this was cruelly erotic the way his dick slid between his thighs, the way it rubbed up against sensitive skin and tingled from the erratic thrum of energy and danced across his senses, the way his legs were getting bitten up like a meal given to a starving dog. Holding on to his pillow for dear life as slender fingers tangled into fabric was about Dokja could do when faced with the onslaught of being rutted against, air filling with animalistic grunts and the wet slapping of skin on skin.
He felt his erection starting to stir to life again and became vaguely aware of his body being shuffled around. Joonghyuk hadn't come yet. What a monster. The humor waiting at the tip of his tongue was abandoned as their cocks were fisted together, wet squelching filling his ears as Joonghyuk leaned over his form and swallowed up all of the moans spilling from his lips intermittently between being vaguely aware that his neck and shoulders were being sucked and bitten like a chew toy. Another startled sound was pulled from him when he felt a wet mouth latching onto a nipple, nibbling and teething at the sensitive skin like an infant seeking milk.
Joonghyuk's weight pressed onto him more as Dokja reflexively untangled his hands from the pillow fabric and wrapped his arms around the other's shoulders. His legs were brought up to cling to his Bondmate's waist like a whorish squid as he began rocking his own hips to chase another orgasm, loud moan erupting as Joonghyuk's thumb pressed against the slit of his head and pushed him over the edge.
Dokja had no idea how long this continued, but eventually he could feel Joonghyuk's movements stutter- an indication he was close. Dokja himself had been edged in pure torment with one hand holding his base to prevent release and the other grinding their shaft and head together.
Finally, Joonghyuk released the base of his dick and they came together as thick ropes splattered against his stomach. His waist was pulled up to press their torsos together, squishing cum and softening erections between their bodies in a sticky mess as Dokja's face and neck were peppered in kisses.
"Dick."
He couldn't help but grouse as he was lifted and carried into the bathroom for clean up, never releasing the taller's neck from his hold.
"Hm? You weren't complaining when I was jerking you off."
The tease was more of a statement and one that made Dokja flush a very pretty shade of red. He chomped down on the junction of Joonghyuk's neck and shoulder in response, only earning the most sedated laugh before a bath was drawn for them.
Early morning, Joonghyuk was already up and out of bed, Dokja awoke to the other side of the bed still being slightly warm. He'd left a while ago, but not more than an hour, probably.
With a yawn, he unwillingly dragged himself out of bed to go find the others. Everyone else was already up too, likely on reflex of hearing part of their team becoming active.
"It's so fucking early."
Sooyung slurred as she sat huddled up with Seolhwa and Sangah, cheek pressed against Sangah's chest as a cushion.
"I'll take this over having to evacuate from a monster attack."
Dokja's response was met with a sound of agreement and a groan in annoyance. He opted to settle down with the women as Hyunsung set up the cooking equipment in preparation to the others returning from their hunt.
"Your teamwork is getting better."
It wasn't rare for Joonghyuk to praise the kids, they were advancing in skill at a remarkable speed and adapting to the atmosphere of the Grave at an impressive rate. It was rare for him to praise them without any feedback, though, and Jihye seemed to recognize that as her sparkling eyes flitted between the rest of the hunting party. Heewon gave a chuckle, shrugging. It wasn't as if the kids weren't deserving of praise, after all.
"A few more years and you kids might even let me retire."
She had mused aloud as they walked back, laughing at the wail of disapproval as her arm was shaken.
"Noooo Unnie you can't retire!"
"It's not like she wouldn't still be with us. …right Noona?"
Namwoon, ever the agreeable, immediately countered Jihye. Joonghyuk and Heewon watched in silence as the two shared a glance. Even in the hellscape of the Grave and the reality of living with the Gates, it was nice to see that kids were able to have some semblance of childhood. It wasn't the peace of centuries past, but this was the next best thing as it was unlikely their world would ever be that quiet again in their lifetime.
On their return, the hunting party was greeted by quiet. No chatter, no sounds of movement. It was odd, and unlikely that they didn't get up on principal when Joonghyuk and the others left to procure food.
"Did they go back to bed?"
Heewon asked, although her question was answered once they got back to the cleared out patio attached to a restaurant that Hyunsung started setting up when they first left.
"No."
Instead, they were greeted by everyone piled up on Dokja like a bunch of cats sunbathing in the morning light. He was splayed out on Hyunsung's lap with the three women piled onto Dokja, largely covering most of his body. It was pretty funny, actually. Maybe without immediate danger they ended up lulled back to sleep? Either way, Joonghyuk turned to hush the kids as they quietly shuffled around the sleeping pile of bodies.
Everyone stirred awake a few minutes later, becoming aware of the group's return. Dokja groaned and stretched, or tried to with how he was sandwiched between everyone. He doesn't actually remember when it happened or how he got there, but he also didn't immediately move. Waiting for everyone else to start stirring, Seolhwa sat up and rubbed her face. The way her hair cascaded over her eyes looked more like a wiry mop than the usual snowy-white beauty she normally was. Dokja couldn't help but laugh as he helped her brush her hair back with his fingers in an attempt to tame it.
"Seolhwa's still pretty even when she just rolled out of bed."
Sooyoung grumbled as she rolled off of Dokja's arm, still making no motion to actually get up.
"As opposed to you who always looks like a bog witch?"
He offered, laughing at the indignant howl he received in response, flinching when she pinched his side and slapping her face open palmed in return.
While the 'kids' were fighting, Seolhwa and Sangah helped liberate Hyunsung before he got dragged in and the three eventually wandered over to Joonghyuk and the others. When he spotted them, he held out a lizard that looked like the result of a glowstick shaped into a reptile.
"Here. We found some new animals."
Oh, that certainly piqued her interest. New animals meant new things to eat, and witnessing everyone's abject horror at her commentary was always so delightful.
Without hesitation she approached Joonghyuk and sat down at a seat next to him, eating the reptile straight from his hand without hesitation. From Heewon's hand she sampled a cooked specimen.
"It's sweet. Kind of tastes like a stale marshmallow, actually. Don't cook it, though. It tastes like moldy shoe leather. It's not toxic but I don't think anyone hates themselves enough to do that."
The next was a decently sized bird- almost like a meat chicken, that was pitch black inside and out. The blood had an iridescent sheen to it too and she had suspicions, confirmed when she took a sample.
"The meat's fine but the blood could kill an elephant. There's still trace amounts after cooking so I would just toss it to be safe."
As she watched them preparing the next one, she also felt the familiar weight of Dokja leaning against her back to watch what they were doing. Like a pair of cats, she bumped her head against his in an affectionate manner.
Her eyes sparkled as she watched the next sample being prepared. It was some kind of plant, resembling a mandragora from fantasy media. Granted, things that looked like that did exist in this current time, they certainly didn't scream and kill people via death wail. Glancing to her side, she felt Dokja shifting, knowing what he was going to try as a hand came up and smothered his face while she ate the two variants of the plant. However, with a horrible grimace she spit out the raw piece, took a sip of water, and proceeded to perform the same action with the cooked piece. Dokja's protests against her shoulder were ignored, though Joonghyuk and Heewon were laughing at him.
"Oh. No, absolutely not. The raw one tastes like a clay sponge and the cooked one tastes like a floppy dick."
A loud snort was heard from the doorway, Sooyoung and Namwoon clearly overhearing it. They were definitely mature about it. Well. Then again, no one was as stifled laughter made its rounds. Luckily she also felt Dokja stop struggling like a misbehaving cat and stopped treating him like one.
Eventually, all of the new food was given the pass or fail. Roughly half of it was unusable as food, but no one was particularly surprised about it. The fact that any of the catches were edible at all was already a win.
Dinner was an uneventful ordeal, if Joonghyuk's abilities weren't so clearly offense oriented one would think he awakened as a master chef or something with how his ability to make amazing meals out of scraps and the most hodge-podge collection of ingredients was second to none.
Dokja's breathy moans filled the room bathed in the light of the setting sun. It was after dinner and too early to sleep but too late for anyone to want to be outside anymore. When Dokja suggested just resting on their rooms this wasn't what he had in mind!
As soon as they returned back to their room, the click of the doors lock engaging felt like a warning bell as Joonghyuk pressed him against the wall, capturing his lips on a kiss that was more teeth than tongue and wasted no time sliding under his clothes and palming against sun-warmed skin.
"Mmf- wait, Hyuk-ah-"
Dokja gasped between breaths as he was stripped down to his boxers and picked up by the thighs. He paid no mind to it, unbothered as he was pinned against the wall, Joonghyuk's head burying against his neck and licking a fat stripe with the flat of his tongue before sucking a hickey. The heat and friction of their clothes erections grinding together was torture and he made sure to voice his very loud opinion.
"Fuck me properly you misbehaving dog."
His impatient growl was met by an equally defiant snarl, clearly displeased when a handful of Joonghyuk's hair was gripped with just enough to force his head back. He certainly looked better than the other night, more aware. Although, Dokja would have compared the darkened expression of his to a dog being denied food.
Unceremoniously, Dokja was thrown onto the bed. With a grunt, he had half a mind to bite when Joonghyuk's fingers intruded into his mouth in retaliation, rolling and pinching at his tongue as he felt drool starting to slide out of the corner of his mouth.
Sufficiently wet, Dokja bit back a yelp when two fingers were immediately plunged into his softened entrance. Sure, it didn't hurt much from how often they've been fucking, but Joonghyuk really had no tact, did he. He felt like he was going insane the way his Bondmate's thick fingers pumped into him and pressed against the spongy, bundle of nerves with each motion. Torn between grinding down against the digits and moving further away to escape the torment on his prostate.
"Stop teasing me!"
The complaint came out much more desperate than intended, but it got him the result he wanted as the fingers pulled out. He would never admit to whining at the sensation of being empty- not over his dead body. Lips parted in preparation to complain as he was held in place, a firm hand pressing against his stomach. Initially, he thought it was just to keep him still, but the sudden intrusion of Joonhyuk thrusting in all of his length in one motion and grinding down had him choking. Dokja suddenly felt so full, the way Joonghyuk's hand pressed against his stomach left him feeling like he could taste the shaft on his tongue if he tried hard enough.
"Mm? What's the matter, Dokja? Didn't you want me to fuck you properly?"
He had half a mind to seriously bite him and wipe that smug expression off his face. Actually, knowing Joonghyuk that would probably rile him up more. Unfortunately, the other half of Dokja's mind soon vacated any ability to think as he felt Joonghyuk starting to move, hot member pulsing inside of him before pulling out and slamming back in, ripping a wanton moan from his mouth. Joonghyuk pounded into him feeling his dick twitch with each thrust in that slammed into his prostate.
Dokja lost track of how much time had passed. He was sore, his stomach was even more pale with how thoroughly he'd been milked, pathetically spurting clear liquid when he wasn't cumming dry. Everything was sore and he just knew the cum leaking out of his ass was foamy. Eventually, grace was given and Joonghyuk pressed in fully, grinding against his hole and finally finishing.
Joonghyuk pressed his full weight on Dokja in the afterglow, the quiet reprieve and idyllic setting were enough to make one almost forget they were in the Grave of Atlas. Almost. For Guides and Sentinels it was impossible to ignore the thrum of energy dancing on their skin, pulling at their soul. For a normal person, they'd be dead by the second floor.
Still, Joonghyuk took the opportunity to bask in his Bondmate's existence, burying his face deeper into Dokja's neck as he took a deep inhale. Dokja's scent was like warm petrichor, of vanilla and earth, of rain and forest. His scent sung in his bones and never failed to ignite his veins like cinders and storm. Fully lost in a trance-like reverie, Joonghyuk was unable to stop himself from opening his jaws, saliva sticky in his mouth and taking a full bite against the tender, pale column of flesh.
The sudden, startled squeak under him brought him out of his stupor as he pulled away just enough to study Dokja's face, greeted with an indignant, red fluster of confusion.
"Are you an animal?!"
Dokja hissed like a startled cat, and Joonghyuk couldn't help but think he was cute.
Feeling the contentment through the Bond made him want to be a particularly spiteful bastard.
"Holy shit you look like you got mauled."
Dokja looked over with a tired stare as he passed Sooyoung in the hallway, cup of coffee in hand. He had been sent out on an errand to check on everyone and retrieve something from Seolhwa for Joonghyuk while he made breakfast. He hadn't seen Sooyoung thus far, and he supposed this would be why as she was also just now emerging from the room she had claimed with Sangah.
At her statement, he glanced down at himself- Joonghyuk's shirt loose on his body and barely hiding the bite marks littering his neck and legs. Quirking a brow, he gave her a once over. The bruising on her body was probably worse than his. Less, but much more intense. Casually, he tapped the side of his neck with an index finger and poorly hid a smirk as she slapped a hand over her neck on reflex, flushing a deep red in impressive time as she swiped his cup and shuffled off grumbling curses under her breath.
"Cover your tits, the kids are awake."
He called after her, watching her speed off and flipping him off in the process as he resumed his pathing with a lazy hum, returned to his room to see what Joonghyuk was up to. He was gone for..maybe half an hour? So whatever he was making should be done by now.
"Hyuk-ah?"
Dokja called out as he opened the door, spotting his Bondmate in the kitchen, completed food on the count and him, buck naked save for a black apron with a white frill trim that wasn't unlike a maid's apron, gripping the sink counter in a white-knuckled hold.
His attention wandered as the door shut behind him, eyes raking down Joonghyuk's form. The way his ass clenched wasn't lost on him, and he couldn't help but tease the taller upon his approach.
"Kim Dokja."
The name was growled out in warning as he was given the most scathing glare.
Well…it would be a lie if Dokja thought he didn't deserve it, it's a wonder how agreeable Joonghyuk was when he was dick-drunk. How was the man talked into making breakfast naked, full of cum from the morning wake-up? It was both a miracle and incredibly adorable. He'd like to think of himself as a benevolent man as he approached the other, pressing his soft cock against the other's back and reveling in the stifled groan that he was given in return.
Hands wandering to Joonghyuk's front and slid under the apron to grip at the rock hard dick that greeted him. Plastering himself against the taller's back, Dokja nipped at the shell of his ear and pumped the leaking cock he was intimately familiar with, both hands applying just enough pressure in the places he knew Joonghyuk liked.
"You've been such a good boy, Hyuk-ah. Won't you cum for me? Spill that hot seed all over that pretty little apron you're wearing? Make a mess of my hands?"
Dokja purred, low and seductive in Joonghyuk's ear as he used his hips to push the other's dick further against the fabric of the apron and squeezed against the base and just behind the head just right. He felt the body between his arms tense and release harsh exhale as he finally spilled into the underside of the fabric. Dokja continued pumping the twitching dick through his orgasm, only stopping once Joonghyuk's form started relaxing and leaned over the counter just so.
Nuzzling into the taller's neck, Dokja pulled his hands back to inspect his handiwork. Thick spurts of cum oozed between his fingers like a child playing with slime. Opting not to lick at it this time and instead choosing to lean against the other again and wash his hands off in the sink.
"Go take a shower and we can have breakfast before it gets cold, hm?"
Honestly it would be a lie to say Dokja didn't enjoy when Joonghyuk was in this Guiding haze. He was always so docile. He would never admit to it to the man's face, but being able to tell him what to do like this without complaint was definitely payback for how brutal Joonghyuk was on his body when he was on the receiving end. He was getting old, damnit.
Everyone gathered in the church once they were ready. It was early afternoon by the time all heads were accounted for.
"Are we ready?"
Dokja's starlit eyes scanned the team. Everyone looked better. Rested, stable. Good. He could only hope this was enough to handle the rest of the Grave.
Chapter 8: Floor 25 pt1
Notes:
hi hopefully this makes sense lmao it's almost 6a at the time of me posting this (fuck it we ball I just sent this bitch LMAO)
I'll try and have chapter doodles done once everything for fl25 is done/posted (will be added retroactively)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
「Grave of Atlas: Twenty-Fifth Floor」
When they rappel down, it's dark. Not the oppressive darkness from the Monarch of the Great Abyss, but a still darkness like the dead of night on a chilled winter day. It's almost comforting in the way it feels like a bedtime story but anxious like a nightmare where you're not meant to wake up. Down below, likely by several meters, a sea of round lights scattered about emanating from what appeared to be a large tree.
It was hard to tell from the angle but it definitely didn't look like the tree was normal. It almost looked like the fibers beneath the bark were glowing, glimpses of silvered light peeking out through panels of the rough surface. There must've been something about it, like the rest of the Grave it was unlikely to be…normal.
"Keep your head up, who knows what's waiting for us here."
Bringing up the rear, once Hyunsung's feet were firmly planted on the flooring the threads making up their rope through Sangah's power were withdrawn. Pensively, Sooyoung took Namwoon with her to scout. It didn't look like there was an immediate danger, and at the very least if there was- those two would be the most likely ones to be able to get out of a situation unscathed given the current conditions. Seeing the glint of their eyes vanishing, Dokja couldn't help but feel his skin pricking in the darkness. It felt oppressive. Uncomfortable. It reminded him of the slums before Sooyoung abducted him. It reminded him of the time when he reconsidered survival in general.
Here now, at ground level, it was easier to see the field of light were flowers. Well, the closest thing they appeared to be were flowers. Large, grapefruit sized bulbs that felt warm, smooth to the touch like a children's lamp seemed to be attached to a thick, fuzzy stalk with massive waving leaves like a mature sunflower. It was deceptive how large they were overall, easily coming up to Dokja's waist and gently swaying in an unfelt breeze. He stood among the darkened meadow, glancing towards Joonghyuk as he reflexively approached, the two men standing shoulder to shoulder, the back of their hands brushing just slightly before ring and pinky fingers interlaced in a practiced motion, the dampened humdrum of the others in the background. Truly, if a sight like this were seen up on the surface it would be considered breathtakingly beautiful, maybe a popular date spot. Here? It felt like a graveyard.
"What are these? They're pretty."
Sangah's voice pulled Dokja from his trailing thoughts as his gaze turned towards her.
She was leaned over, looking at one of the flowers. Curiously, he looked down at one himself. He hadn't observed them in too much depth prior, but when he looked back he noticed something..odd.
Crouching down and separating their hands to get a better look at the glowing bulbs, Dokja's brows furrowed in confusion. Images. He saw moving pictures within the frosted surface like a film reel? Silently, he glanced up at Joonghyuk who tilted his head in response.
Strange.
No one else mentioned it either, could they not see them? He leaned closer, carefully holding the bulb in both hands, the images became more clear, more solid. It was..him.
No, that wasn't right. It was a boy who looked like him. There was blood, the child stood, a woman next to him. The child didn't seem to be reacting, but the blood around him- a sea of red. Dokja inhaled sharply, releasing the ball and standing back up abruptly. He felt eyes on him- lifting his head to look around and seeing Joonghyuk looking back in concern. Immediately breaking eye contact, Dokja looked down towards another bulb where a different 'movie' played.
This one was a man, dreary and lonely sitting in a train despite being surrounded by people.
Another one showed a young man with a massive black wolf.
A figure clad in white stood on a cliff like a bride waiting for their groom.
A withered man on a hospital bed.
A man in white standing at a grave.
Dokja's pulse was thundering in his ears as he frantically looked around, anywhere, anywhere that wasn't these. They felt like remnants. Scraps.
Scraps of his memories. He could vividly see the scene, could hear them. They whispered like gossip, like secrets, like threats.
His heart hammered away like it was trying to break out of his ribcage as he shuffled through the flowers, only sparing them passing glances as if looking at any of them for longer than a fleeting second would burn, sear his retinas like looking into the sun. Behind him, frantic calls from the team were left unheard, unanswered, it felt like he was underwater, like he was being drowned. He had to get out, get away from the lights, away from..these. Frantic eyes darted everywhere and nowhere trying to find an escape his brain couldn't figure out. He felt like he was in a dark forest, any direction he went the flowers grew taller and taller in an all-encompassing darkness.
He couldn't hear them frantically calling after him, begging him not to run off. Couldn't see them give chase, try and stop him from breaking off. It was danger, it was stupid. It could get him killed, but still, he fled.
Eventually, he broke into a dead run, the only sound his own erratic panting as he tried to escape the voices that grew louder and louder until he swore he could see them in the shadows.
"Dokja!"
And just like that- his vision shifted. A strong grip, a firm hand, latched onto his wrist like a bear trap. As he frantically spun around to shake off the shackle, he stilled.
Joonghyuk held his arm like a lifeline, panic and pleading warring in his gaze, labored breath slowly invading, filling his senses. He was begging, silently. Begging him not to run, not to leave. Not again.
Eventually, Dokja's breathing evened out. Still heavy, but less frantic. Their surroundings were what it was prior, waist-height glowing flowers, a darkness that felt like it would stick to you like tar. Dark gunmetal eyes flashed cyan for the briefest moment before he inhaled.
And exhaled.
And inhaled.
Behind Joonghyuk, he saw the rest of their group rapidly approaching their location, concern woven into everyone's expression, worry on their tongues.
He didn't pull away, a quiet comfort in the way Joonghyuk's grip loosened, but only enough for him to slot their hands together. If you're going, I'm going with you, it said. But he did turn, to see where they were. They were stood before the tree, it was easier to see now, this close. It almost felt like it was giving off a glow that wanted to light the floor, masked and buried under bark and leaves, cloistered away like a sin.
And then he saw it. Him. The figure that had been haunting his dreams like a wraith.
Stained glass and shattered fragments in a way that didn't belong naturally, in a way that said I don't belong here. And maybe neither do you.
"What do you remember? About the surface."
Dokja looked at the form before him in an attempt of focus, still blinking the stars out of his vision. When he locked sights with the figure standing at the tree, it felt like a starburst exploded in his vision and his senses were muzzled for a split second, more than enough to disorient him.
They were seated now, around a large white round table that gave an unnatural glow. Just like the tree. Just like him. Dokja and Joonghyuk sat closer towards the figure, Sooyoung sitting on the other side of it like a barricade between it and the rest of their team as everyone bunched up closer towards Dokja.
None of it looked like it belonged in a physical realm, like a 3d asset that wasn't textured, more like.
It had been passive, careful in a way that tried to be gentle, docile. Disarming.
Dangerous.
The longer Dokja stared at the figure, he felt his skin crawling, like his body was trying to dismantle itself on a cellular level, but he couldn't look away. It felt like a blade was looming over him, just waiting to crash down into his skull and filet him like a fish if he dared look away. It was a long moment after it spoke before he responded. It was patient, quiet.
"We are…team Suneater, according to my notes we descended on this expedition ten-"
"Wrong."
He was cut off, resolutely. The response was so sure and immediate, yet the following silence urged him- urged him to try again. If he spent longer than two seconds thinking about it, it would've pissed him off, actually.
Silence fell over Dokja as he tried to reorganize his mental notes, hand firmly in Joonghyuk's as he braced the stunned man into a sitting position. And so he thought, and the longer he thought, the more a string of numbers filled his head.
"We descended into the Grave of Atlas sixty-"
"No."
"Three hun-"
"No!"
"Thi-"
"NO!"
Dokja gave an audible growl of frustration. Everyone's voices filtered in dissatisfied grumbling in a bid for their opinions to be heard. He was distantly aware of Joonghyuk's large palm resting on his arm, placed there as an anchor, grip subtly tightening as if trying to pull him back from rage. The back and forth became frantic, aggressive. They weren't getting anywhere.
"Why do you care how long it's been?!"
This fucking brat, his mind seethed, teeth gnashing like a wild dog.
He finally snapped, prepared to lunge at the stained glass child with his voice in a fit of rage. Just as frantically, it responded, fists balled against the table like a
"BECAUSE YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!"
The shining figure cried out, voice strained, the pain lacing each word, each syllable like a prayer that would never be answered and the light emanating from their form burst in a blinding flash like a lightbulb shattering before dimming away to the glow of dying embers. The outburst struck everyone into silence, waiting with baited breath for it to continue.
"Because…we're going to die here."
The response was calmer this time, quieter. The figure pulled his legs up to his chest, hugging his knees like a child trying to make himself as small as possible. To be ignored. To not exist.
"Fifty years from when you first came down here..they take and take and take…they take too much, and they're going to kill him. If he dies, I'll never be able to wake up again. We'll all die, because the Gates will destroy everything."
Dokja tried to process the words, and cautiously, he wandered from Joonghyuk's side to sidle up beside the figure, the muffled sobs gripped his heart, and suddenly he remembers being nine, he remembers being so small and powerless, he remembers just.. needing someone, anyone. He hated thinking about that time, remembering how pathetic he was. If this being didn't feel like an ugly reflection of himself maybe he would've felt genuine sympathy.
Gently, he embraces the child form, tenderly wrapping arms around it's shoulders, softly running a hand over it's back to soothe it.
"Who is..we? Why us?"
He speaks softly, not wanting to scare them more, not wanting to force them into a shell. If he wanted to get anywhere he had to stop thinking of this being as an extension of his own self loathing, even if for just a moment. Even if it felt like an ugly mirror of his own character. He had to force down the feeling of bile rising and try and act like he cared to get anywhere. And quietly, he got his answers.
"The you who exists here currently has been here for..a long time. Without my interference, when you return to the surface, you will return to a world being torn apart by the Gates, because he will be dead and there will be no one left who can suppress the generation of the doors."
Slowly, Dokja was vacantly aware of everyone quietly shifting closer, seats quietly inched just a bit closer, listening with full attention, watching with unwavering focus, as the figure continued. Idly, his hands remain on the figure, one hand on the nape and one on the back. In any other situation it was probably comforting.
"The..Gates are …my fantasies, my dreams. He told me stories for eons and eons, of lands far away, of heroes and monsters, and..one day, they started to become real…here. He closed the door before anything happened here, but while I slept- while I dreamed, more and more doors opened, wanting to be seen and heard. This is the origin of the Gates in this world."
With a lull in explanation, there were many things that were being answered now, one by one the questions bouncing about in Dokja's head were being filtered out. There was one thing that piqued the gap in his knowledge, and it seemed like Sangah picked up on it too as she carefully spoke with a warm tone.
"What did you mean, the us who exists here currently?"
Unfortunately, this time, the response caught everyone off guard and Dokja felt ice race through his veins.
"Who do you think those bodies in the waterways were?"
Dokja's breath stopped on a sharp exhale as his eyes widened minutely. The world fell away and suddenly he was plunged into an abyss. A void. If what it was saying was true, there were two facts revealed. One, that this was the entity that threw the world onto chaos centuries ago… Centuries? Was it centuries? How long ago was it. When did the Gates start manifesting. How long have Guides and Sentinels existed?
And two, that he wasn't…him. Not in the sense of being the Kim Dokja that descended into the Grave of Atlas with his friends- his team in the year 2xxx.
The revelation clawed at his throat like hot coals, gripped his senses like he was being drowned in fire. The steadily increasing thudding of his heartbeat pounding in his ears like it was trying to escape his body.
"If the source dies, the Gates close" he reasoned to himself. It made sense in the moment. If the Gates were closed they'd be free from this hell, of Sentinels, of Guides, of the Bureau, of the waking hell that Gate breaks caused. Of the torment this was causing just by existing.
Dokja stared out beyond the being's back, both hyper aware and unfocused. Slowly, in a mechanical motion, the left hand was removed from its back, raised. Slowly forming a grip around a small, sharp needle of energy that crackled like a hushed plea for blood. Subtly, the grip of his right hand on the being's neck curled just that bit more, as if holding down an animal to slaughter.
And slowly, he steadied himself as the world slowly came back around him, the chatter of his friends muffled and distant. The sea of lights around them a filtered blur. And Kim Dokja steeled his heart, and went for the kill.
Kim Dokja's rasping breaths through parted lips filled the darkness around him. Ragged, tired, torn. He could feel his grip on the lightning needle, held tightly as if it were a lifeline, he felt hands gently trying to pry it out of his locked fingers.
He felt warmth.
A warm body pressed to his back, a warm hand cupping his tight fist, he felt warm liquid, dripping onto his leg- smelled the metals that told him it was blood. The warmth of a body as his other hand held another's wrist in a death grip.
The warm breath fanning down the side of his neck. He recognized this smell, was familiar with it - unmistakably Yoo Joonghyuk. And, he felt the warm hand covering his eyes, pulling his head against a shoulder- against a chest.
"Dokja…"
Joonghyuk's voice was quiet, restrained, a whisper like a prayer meant only for him.
"Hyuk-ah, let me go."
His voice sounded foreign, distant. It didn't sound like his own. The longer Joonghyuk held him on place, the harder it felt like it was getting to breathe. The silence was suffocating.
"Hyuk-ah. Let me go."
He tried again, more firm this time. Still more silence, only answered by the heated breath that felt like it was the only thing keeping his body warm with how his hands and feet grew cold.
He felt so brittle. An old sheet of plastic left out in the weather for one too many seasons, sun bleached and fragile in a way that waited for the softest touch to destroy it. If you asked him, Dokja wasn't even sure why he felt this way. Why he suddenly felt everything and nothing, why he needed to destroy the mirror.
"I won't. Not when you need me. Not when you need us."
The response was a wish muttered into Dokja's neck, dancing over skin in a way that left goosebumps over his body, a shiver up his spine.
It broke something in him. A crack in the wall he's been trying to keep whole. The smallest hole punched through like a peephole that showed the weakest sides of him, the ugliest sides he couldn't let out.
His eyes felt hot, damp, but not uncomfortable. It started with one, the smallest of tears escaping from under Joonghyuk's large palm. And then there was another, then another.
A strangled whimper slipped out as Dokja tried to catch his breath, greedily inhaling through both his nose and mouth like his lungs stopped working. He was finally released, but only long enough for Joonghyuk to reposition him and turn his body into the other, burying Dokja's face against the pulse of his neck and wrapping his free arm against those slender shoulders to cradle him in a protective manner, like he was the most precious thing in the world.
He doesn't know when he passed out, but when Dokja came to, he was still being cradled by Joonghyuk. The needle had been removed at some point, and he was vaguely aware of how both hands curled up against Joonghyuk's chest like he was a babe being swaddled.
His breathing was slow, even. With how relaxed his expression was it wasn't hard to figure out Joonghyuk had fallen asleep.
Groggily, he peeled his head away enough to look around. They were still in the bottom floor, in the sea of flowers giving enough ambient lighting. He was vaguely aware of something dried on one of his hands. It was probably the blood he smelled earlier.
He noticed that camp had been set up, though they were further out from the circle of companions resting around a small fire, it was easy to tell from the arrangement of bodies it was done as a courtesy.
I caused them problems again, his mind helpfully supplied. They have to accommodate me, again. Like they always do. Fucking useless cur. Willful like a child who'll throw a tantrum over anything.
"What-"
Dokja croaked out, bringing attention to himself as everyone's gaze shifted, though only Sangah and Seolhwa made a motion to move closer, the former making a motion for the rest to stay seated for now. He was thankful for that, honestly. He wasn't sure if he could mentally handle being crowded right now.
Vaguely, he became aware of Joonghyuk stirring the way his hold on Dokja's waist tightened just so.
"You're awake,"
Seolhwa's voice was soft, the two women kneeling on either side of him.
Dokja remained unfazed as Sangah brushed his hair from his eyes, currently focused on the way Seolhwa picked up Joonghyuk's hand.
Ah, that was the smell of blood.
He tried not to grimace as he looked at the healing hole in his Bondmate's hand. There's no way that didn't hurt, and judging by the size, it was obviously from the needle.
"Why did you do that?" Why did you hurt yourself for me?
His voice was quiet, turning to Joonghyuk on question. Seolhwa was going to have her work cut out for her work that kind of injury.
"I didn't want you to regret your actions."
The response was far more casual than he expected, the low rumble soothing Dokja's nerves just so as he leaned back against his partner's chest.
"Where did it go? …. And…what do you mean."
There was a long beat of silence before Joonghyuk's lips parted, his words slow and deliberate.
"I don't think you noticed, but your energy has been unstable since we got down here. I wasn't sure at first, but I'm sure now. if you keep this up, you're going to rampage."
Dokja visibly flinched at the words. Him? Becoming rampant? No…no that couldn't be. There was no way that was right…he was perfectly in control, he had to be. He was fucking useless if he lost control this easily. They had so much direct Guiding on the previous floor. He was the second best at energy efficiency… Several questions danced at the tip of his tongue as he felt the cold grip of dread clawing at his senses, but before he could voice any of them, their attention was returned to the tree where the cocoon was. A bright light filled the area as the figure emerged again, still a small child, still so…small…and fragile.
"Have you calmed down?"
The tone was devoid of any emotion, and it rattled something deep within Dokja's core. Joonghyuk was right, though. They needed answers, and Atlas be damned if they lost all those answers because of him.
Pensively, Dokja gave a nod.
"Take my hand."
The small child had spoken simply, hand outstretched and making no motion to approach. This wasn't a command, wasn't a challenge.
They were sat at the large table again, in the same formation as before, Dokja barely an arm's distance away from the figure with Joonghyuk firmly placed a breath away from his back. It hadn't said anything beyond those three words, but they felt like a threat. It felt like he was about to sacrifice himself on an altar, and it scared him.
He had an emotion to the feeling that gnawed at his senses, ate away at his reasoning, raised the hair on the back of his neck like a shockwave.
Fear.
He was scared. Of answers. Of this being. Of what might happen. He was scared that it would change something. If he got his answers, maybe his friends would realize he was too much to handle, too much to deal with. Maybe they would realize he wasn't worth their effort.
His breath hitched as Joonghyuk nudged his back, a comforting gesture.
He wasn't forced to do any of this, and maybe, if he did, he would get answers to the siren call the Grave of Atlas has held on him for as long as he can remember.
Dokja reached out. Fingertips just barely brushing against the other's palm before their surroundings sparkle and glitter. An inky black sky, an endless sea of stars that danced in the darkness. He saw hundreds, thousands of lifetimes. Worlds spoken in tongues. Words unspoken in gentle gazes and soft touches.
He watched grief, mourning, celebration, joy. He witnessed anger and love. He saw flashes of beings- some he recognized, most he didn't. He was made of colored glass in the sun, fragile, bursting in shades the color of life. He sparkled in a million colors star-kissed under a full moon. He was starlight and hope.
A woman formed from crystal and breathing ocean, effervescent and all consuming. A familiar face with no name who followed after him like a cute duckling.
The large, muscled tail of a dragon made of flames the color of void lazing in the sun, puffs of smoke threatening to ignite a blaze with each exhale.
A man born of sinew and shadows, playful like a dancing breeze and predatory like a starving wolf. A rambunctious upstart challenging him to another fight.
A man, large and imposing, carved from mercury but warm like a lit hearth in winter sitting by him in quiet comfort. A steady support loyal like a dog.
A man wild and untamed that felt like the sun's rays given form, laughing joyously in a sound like windchimes. A large hand extended, offering another unpredictable adventure.
The gentle heat of a woman wreathed in flames, molten glass that could form the ugliest scars or the most beautiful sculptures, giggling with the sound of a crackling campfire inviting and familiar with wings that could fill the sky.
And finally… Dokja closed his eyes, stars dancing beneath his lids like flowing blood. When he opened his eyes again he was small. A sleepy child nestled upon the chest of a man made of stardust and sadness that treated him like the most precious treasure in the world. A protective arm holding him in place. A gently hum in a serenade of lullabies that spoke stories. Wove adventure from wonder. Tales strung together in glistening banners.
And then, he understood.
The being that'd been haunting his dreams, goading him like a blade in his side, digging deeper and deeper with each interaction. It was a mirror, ugly and all-seeing. The surging emotions of sadness and anger, the hatred that ate away at him the longer he shared space with it. With him.
Kim Dokja wondered a few times, why he felt so irrationally angry in its presence. He thought it was unreasonable, but he understood now.
This was him.
He and this being stitched together like shattered stained glass were one in the same. The flowers, the memories. Previous lives that came and went, some longer some shorter, but none ended happily. They were supposed to, not destined to. Not then. If he didn't die, the next story couldn't be dreamed, experienced.
If he didn't leave a story, his sleeping psyche couldn't experience a new one.
The sudden revelation ripped him out of a reverie, Dokja was back at the table in the Grave of Atlas. He sat slumped, sedate with half lidded eyes that gazed down in an unfocused stare. One hand was placed upon the palm of the kaleidoscopic being..the starlit version of himself. His other hand was held firmly by Joonghyuk, overlaid by Sooyoung's.
When did that happen? How cute.
Dokja closed his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts, sort everything together. He wondered if anything actually happened, physically. With the way everyone was silent like church mice, he doubted it. He had a feeling no one was given any answer aside from the way his energy surged, dancing against his form and licking at his body like flames seeking more food. Finally, "he" spoke.
"You have questions for me."
Notes:
omg okay so like
do my dear readers have a preference on long vs shorter chapters? I feel like the previous one was kind of a lot to sit through in one go, I was thinking about breaking up story beats into 4-6k chapters (depending on where a decent split is) in case a chapter gets super long (bc of this splitting I removed the planned chapter count bc it's not going to stay there LMAO)lmk if you have a preference? This chapter will be split up, I only expect it to have two parts but we'll see what happens. Dokja is pretty good at quacking, after all lol
Anyway the plot's finally starting to pick up here! I'll try and have the rest of this floor done soon lol
Chapter 9: Floor 25 pt2
Notes:
omg hi I'm sorry if this reads as a trainwreck lmao I tried to fill in some of the backstory needed for the plot through exposition with kimcom (bc they don't fucking know what's going on either xoxo)
I hope it reads okay, if not I'm sorry LMAO
Chapter Text
"When was the last time you let them out?"
Does he mean our di— ow!
"Dokja."
The question took Dokja by mild surprise. He couldn't stop the rogue thought that humorously flitted into his train of thought before it was stopped by his side getting pinched. Biting back a yelp, Dokja reflexively jammed his elbow into Joonghyuk's stomach in response. Naturally, the damn sunfish didn't react aside from growling out his name as a warning.
It was a good thing Joonghyuk was likely the only one that had an idea what he was thinking through their Bond. He was also very, very aware of the subtle shift in Joonghyuk's muscles tensing just minutely- a sign that he had laughed.
The Dreaming One, they collectively agreed to call him for now- Dokja had refused to share a name with him even if they were meant to be the same identity, had asked it out of the blue amongst the clamor of everyone's questions flooding in and filling the air like gossip. It was no one's surprise that only a handful of them were paying attention. Sangah and Seolhwa were no surprise, Sooyoung listening passively. Joonghyuk was "listening" but only due to proximity- he didn't listen much the first time, the bastard always bothered Dokja after the fact for a summary. Would it kill him to pay attention the first time, or at all? Honestly.
Heewon, Hyunsung, Jihye, and Namwoon had broken off to go explore the floor. Even in the engulfing darkness, there was a chance this wasn't the last floor and it would do well for them to begin looking for a descent point in case. It was expected at this point with how the team breakup worked out, those four generally left the logistical side of things to him.
"Them?"
Eventually, Sangah was the first one to break the standoff. Dokja glanced over and noted she looked particularly excited. Ah, it must've been her scholarly curiosity. It was moments like this he could appreciate that the two women were at least more willing to play liaison and attempt to be amicable in the name of getting answers.
While the two parties weren't particularly hostile towards one another, not with the way he was firmly planted on Joonghyuk's lap, not with the way his Bondmate's arm wrapped around Dokja's waist to keep him from flying into another bout of violence- it didn't mean they were particularly fond of one another. And the longer Dokja stared blankly at him, the more he had to suppress the urge to want to open his mouth and possibly start a fight. I can't help it, it's my nature. He had tried to justify before.
"Your familiars. The spirit bodies."
The words were calm, slow, like it shouldn't have needed to respond to the question at all. Dully, in the back of Dokja's mind it almost felt like he didn't, there was a fuzzy throb pulsing in his brain like memories bubbling beneath the surface trying to break free. Spirit bodies?
Briefly, a scene flashed across his vision. A creature the size of a ferret, playfully scaling up his arm and nuzzling into his neck, nibbling at exposed skin like a piranha. A wolf that gave off a dark blue glow, plush fur dense and soft. A creature so loyally devoted it would make a cult leader jealous. Belatedly, Dokja realized that these weren't threads of memories he experienced when he came into physical contact with The Dreaming One, they were his own memories. He knew these creatures.
The more he tried to recall these memories and figure out what they were, the stronger they eluded him as he chased the trail deeper and deeper into his mind. Judging from the way Joonghyuk began trying placate the irritable buzz of energy in his body, it was likely that he had noticeably reacted.
The Dreaming One was right, though…they had spirit bodies, creatures that were naturally suppressed by Gate energy- the only thing in the world that could irreparably damage them…next to another spirit body. Except…they were in the Grave of Atlas. The one place in the world that pulsed and bled with Gate energy. And they could still be injured by normal means as well. Even if the spirit body itself wouldn't die from it, sustaining heavy injuries could cause lasting damage in an individual's energy circuit.
How do I know about that though?
Judging by the quick glance around at their team, no one seemed to even remember them, likely a byproduct of…everything. Had they forgotten, or was the memory of them being suppressed? Were they dormant? Did they actually exist? Still, he looked at The Dreaming One, a brow quirked in question as he leaned back against Joonghyuk's broad chest to try and suppress the instincts to hide and avoid having attention on him .
"How could they come out in the Grave of Atlas?"
He had asked instead.
When Dokja subtly challenged The Dreaming One, he hadn't expected to be met with this.
The floor energy shifted- no, actually not just the energy, the entire floor had shifted in its entirety. The swirling energy of the Gates that felt like standing before the gaping maw of a hungry beast was replaced with the pensive quiet of being in a predators domain. It was still dangerous, but now it was just the potential for danger instead of the eminent threat. The terrain was rapidly changing too. Like a stone wall being torn down, the darkness cracked and crackled as pinholes of golden light seeped out, giving way to the floor terraforming itself before their eyes.
There were sounds of panic and surprise, and from the corner of his eye he spotted Heewon and her group of rambunctious kids beating a quick retreat back to them, but Dokja had…something in his gut feelings told him this wasn't dangerous. Holding a hand up, he carefully glanced back to their group before settling his head back against Joonghyuk's shoulder with a defeated sigh. The flare of multiple energies sparking to life was overwhelming and mildly disorienting when his own energy was currently inactive. The lack of energy roaring to life from Dokja or Joonghyuk caused the rest of them to immediately simmer like scolded pets. The immediate fight or flight response was good instinct, all things considered.
"It's alright. He doesn't mean harm. Yet."
Dokja's voice carried well enough for everyone to hear, giving hushed appeasements to Joonghyuk's grumbling to try and encourage him to loosen his hold lest he end up with bruises again. If this damn gorilla was going to bruise him again, it could at least be by something fun.
"You don't remember them, do you? They must have gone dormant to keep you safe."
The Dreaming One had asked, no malice or accusation in its tone as the group was beckoned to gather around it. It was hard to keep track of what was changing with the terrain, but as The Dreaming One snapped his fingers, the holes in the darkness broke fully and a warm golden light flooded in. They weren't in an isolated field, there was no tree. Instead, they were in the grand library hall easily several stories talk with rows and rows of books. Their group had been relocated to a massive circular couch, plush black cushions greeted them in turn, a welcome change to the mildly uncomfortable chairs. Their 'host' was sitting behind a large, carved mahogany desk bare save for a large white placemat and several figurines that looked suspiciously like the ones Dokja saw in the memories.
"What's dormant? And when have we been safe here."
Once the initial shock was over, Namwoon's voice had loudly cut over the rising questions beginning to form. This brat. He really was like a bull in the ring, not that Dokja really had a right to be surprised with Sooyoung as his primary mentor. Namwoon was right, though, as much as he was chagrinned to admit. The Grave of Atlas wasn't safe. It was never going to be, so what had The Dreaming One expected?
"Don't you feel it, here? The energy is suppressed here. It's safe on this floor."
I need it to be safe on this floor.
Dokja visibly startled as the thought briefly flooded into his brain like a crack of lightning. His body stiffened as he tried to make sense of it, attention shifting as Joonghyuk adjusted his posture, pulling him further into the man's lap.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
His Bondmate had questioned quietly, the worry in his voice only slightly abated as Dokja's hand rested on his forearm in comfort. The Dreaming One was right, though. It certainly didn't feel as heavy as the previous floors had. It felt like he could breathe properly, didn't feel like his senses were being chewed away at like a rat being unleashed on wiring.
His wandering thoughts were ripped away as he felt something on his ankle- light, almost imperceptible if not for the way Jihye cried out in confusion and threw everyone into a state of alert. In an instant, Dokja was on his feet, the surge of Joonghyuk's energy flaring behind him an alarm bell.
"What are these?!"
Head snapping towards the young girl's exclamation, he couldn't help but balk in response.
Animals.
There were animals barely an arm's length away from everyone. A lazy long haired cat twitched its whiskers towards Sooyoung. A small, round chinchilla nestled comfortably on Sangah's lap. The massive leopard circling around Heewon, the white horse by Seolhwa that almost looked like it was glowing. Namwoon audibly arguing with a badger, Hyunsung having a standoff with a massive bear, and Jihye, who was holding an enormous eagle with sparkling eyes.
By his feet, Dokja almost jumped out of his skin when he locked eyes with an enormous black wolf quietly sitting at his side. Its massive head easily came up to his waist. How did he not notice this giant beast appearing next to him?
"Are these.."
Seolhwa's voice was clear through the collective bewilderment, looking at the shining horse that looked back at her serenely.
"These are the things you were talking about, aren't they? Our spirit bodies."
Hyunsung's questioned followed up, the hulking man unfamiliar with what to do in the face of a bear, least of all one that was nuzzling against him like a large cat.
There was something that Dokja noticed about the animals, though. They all seemed to glow, like they weren't meant to exist in this realm. Though he supposed, if they were spirit bodies they probably weren't.
"They're a physical manifestation of your soul. It's why they're so careful. You remember them, don't you?"
The Dreaming one had spoken, interrupting Dokja's thoughts like he could hear them. …Actually, he probably could. He was right, though. It seemed seeing the spirit bodies, creatures that reflected their owner, unlocked something within everyone that laid eyes on their own manifestation. Remembered why they went to sleep. They had been out and roaming on the first floor, how did Dokja forget?
But also…
"Then..where's mine?"
In response, The Dreaming One just tilted his head at Dokja's question and he almost wanted to start shit with him. Joonghyuk had cleared his throat to catch his attention instead, and as the man turned his head to see, he was startled with eyes wide.
Comfortably wrapped around Joonghyuk's neck like a furry necklace that always belonged there, was a snow white weasel. The man was trying and failing to keep his composure, ears dyed an attractive red as he did his best not to let his poker face crack with how affectionate the weasel was. Dokja's face wasn't faring much better as he felt heat rising in his face. Oh. Oh no he had to retrieve his spirit body before Sooyoung saw. He already had the feeling of dread that she was not going to shut up about this-
From the side, Sooyoung's ugly cackle erupted as everyone's attention turned to the two men and how Dokja valiantly failed to tackle Joonghyuk and retrieve his spirit body.
"Oh my god. Your spirit is a weasel. How did I forget that? Of course it's a fucking weasel!"
The revelation of the spirit bodies and the buzz of said spirit bodies being woken from dormancy was enough to break the tension in the room, along with the shared information The Dreaming One had explained, it seemed everyone was at least less tense. It seemed like he truly didn't want to cause harm, a genuine surprise considering the rest of the Grave.
The problem for one Kim Dokja currently was the way his face felt like it was on fire.
The cause? His damn weasel that was making heart eyes at Joonghyuk's wolf and embarrassing the hell out of him. Their spirit bodies being an integral part of their identity did seem to explain why things had been feeling off the longer they spent in the Grave of Atlas and why everyone seemed to share the sentiment of feeling "whole" now, but it didn't explain what happened. Why did they fall dormant?
"It's because of the resets. Retries? I mentioned it before, the bodies in the waterways were you. Your attempts. Your spirit bodies entered a deep sleep to preserve your psyche."
Dokja jolted.
It happened again. Was The Dreaming One able to read his thoughts?
As his lips parted in preparation to bite the bullet and ask, the 'other him' beat him to the punch.
"No. I'm not able to read minds. You just think too loud now that you can't separate yourself from reality. Have you finally accepted this isn't some book you can't predict the ending of?"
There almost seemed to be ..amusement? In its voice, and Dokja was once again filled with the urge to pick a fight with him.
Wait.
"What?"
The Dreaming One tilted its head in response again, yet gave no verbal response. The action was a motion that was somewhere between condescending and endearment. Approaching the desk that he hadn't moved from the entire time, Dokja stood before him, the two only separated by a wooden table. Hands planted firmly at the edge as he leaned over, face mere inches from the other as his voice lowered. Not threatening, but almost.
"What did you say?"
Dokja asked again, his energy subtly leaking out in a show of dominance. It wasn't common, and didn't happen among the team, but it was a relatively common posturing seen among Sentinels and Guides, like chickens establishing a pecking order without fully breaking out into brawls. Dokja's energy bled out from his body, spreading like quiet, creeping fingers that mapped the floor for him. He was aware that the team perked up feeling his energy touch them and knew for sure that The Dreaming One felt it too. He didn't care.
"You noticed, haven't you?"
He had been asked instead, a lilt in The Dreaming One's voice that felt so very punchable. He wouldn't resort to violence, not directly, but god did he consider it.
"Your filtering won't work anymore. Your actions have consequences. They always have."
Cold sweat coated Dokja's frame at the words. His skin felt clammy. His what? No, actually…the longer he dwelled on it, the more he felt that unseen eyes were bearing down on him, crushing him into a pathetic little ball of disappointment with unblinking pressure. It was getting hard to breathe and he felt like he was drowning and floating at the same time. What did it do to him?
"What do you mean his filtering?"
Joonghyuk's presence blanketed Dokja in a layer of comfort that encouraged him to breathe, a safety blanket that shielded him from the fears he was running from, from the thoughts that threatened to eat themselves alive in his head.
From the corner of his eye, Dokja noted that everyone's attention had shifted to the scene unfolding at the desk. They weren't eavesdropping, not necessarily, but prepared to act.
The Dreaming One in response, leaned back with an audible sigh and nonchalantly waved his hand, dispelling Dokja's energy like smoke as the latter gave a startled gasp.
"Stop posturing you feral cat. What do I have to do to prove I'm not trying to hurt you. You think I couldn't erase your existence if I didn't want to, like everyone else that wasn't chosen and managed to make it down here?"
It felt like a façade had dropped, the child-like form of The Dreaming One shifting into that of a grown man as he stood- one that looked not unlike Dokja's current form complete with the long coat draping over his form. It wasn't challenging nor threatening any of them, but the prickle in the back of Dokja's mind felt like he was.
"You need to hear this, all of you."
The announcement felt like an edict of god, a military speaking to his men before war. He commanded attention, not unkindly, but firmly in a way that rejected challenge.
"You have been in the Grave of Atlas for several decades. You have died over and over, but you are not ghosts. The realities where you die have happened and potentially will happen when you leave this place, but not so long as I exist."
As The Dreaming One spoke, he motioned with his hand as a book smoothly removed itself from a high shelf and slotted itself between Dokja's hands. There was no text on the cover but Dokja instinctively recognized it as his life, this current one specifically- more accurately it was the history of his childhood. His eyes shook when a colorless hand overlaid on his, gaze lifting to look at his otherworldly counterpart. When had he bowed his head? It didn't seem to matter as the featureless expression looked back. There was no face, but he could still feel it. Resignation, sadness…pity. He spoke again, but it wasn't the booming echo before. It was faint like a whisper meant only for him.
"I know you're scared. You've been hiding behind your notes, your research. You've been covering your eyes and ears and pretending everything is business as usual, that if you can look at the world and this place like a binder of notes you can distance yourself and make the right decisions, objectively speaking."
His voice was softer now. Dokja was distantly aware that as much as he didn't want to acknowledge it, these were words he wanted to accept in his heart. Words he wanted to hear as a child. That it was okay to be selfish, that he didn't have to be scared of being used or locked up or dissected.
"I know you're scared,"
The Dreaming one repeated, quieter this time, before continuing.
"But you're not that little boy cloistered away behind a dumpster in the slums. You're strong and you are loved. You don't need to hide away and act like you don't deserve to exist here."
The Dreaming One's hand retreated, replaced by Joonghyuk's as the latter cupped his face and turned Dokja's gaze towards him. A rough thumb gently massaged against his bottom lip in a bid to release the skin from his teeth and Dokja became aware that he'd been biting it, the metallic taste of blood dusting his tongue.
"What did you mean, as long as you exist?"
Heewon was the one to speak this time as she approached the desk, the warmth radiating from her body a subtly comfort to Dokja. Heewon was strong, willful. She was fair, and she and Sooyoung were often the pushback Dokja needed when he strayed too far.
"Take a seat."
With the tension lulling once again, the group eventually returned to the couch as The Dreaming One finally stood from the desk to join them. It seems it was time to talk. Properly.
"I mentioned before, the Gates are the results of my dreams."
The Dreaming One began, sitting before the group like it was story time at a nursery.
"This is true, however, I'm not the cause of the state of your world currently. Centuries ago, the entity you know currently as the Bureau discovered us - my family and I. This wasn't the first time, our existence is not unique to this world, and we don't always manifest in the same reality. This is a byproduct of what we are- the dreams I have, I mean."
"And…what..are you?"
Joonghyuk was paying attention for once, properly. Then again, it felt like the only time he paid attention to the logistics was when Dokja was involved. He didn't know how to feel about that honestly. It was a little cute. He did note that as The Dreaming One spoke, images displayed before it, moving pictures like snippets from home movies.
There were several of them, the nonhuman beings Dokja noticed in his memories when they came in contact. He didn't know their names but there was a familiar nostalgia as he watched them sitting in a meadow. The next moment he felt a spike of apprehension as the group was approached by another group, humans from this world- his mind supplied.
In response to Joonghyuk's question, the images shifted to the woman made of flames, her blazing wings erupting like a volcano and scorching the earth until it was smooth glass and she was nothing but a husk of burning cinders. He felt…and overwhelming sadness at the action, but he wasn't quite sure why.
She died there.
He briefly thought to himself, dredging up answers from a memory that wasn't fully his. Dokja wasn't sure how to feel about it. These 'borrowed' memories didn't fit right like wearing someone else's clothes.
"I suppose you would liken us to gods."
The Dreaming One had supplied after a moment of thought.
"You're not- not in a religious sense. You're neither punished nor praised for interacting with a world you're observing, isn't that right?"
He wasn't sure why he knew this. … No, that wasn't right either. He knew, and he had a suspicion that his group knew as well. The being before them was equal parts familiar and foreign. Not him specifically, to anyone besides Dokja, but more so what he was and represented. The nod in return confirmed his suspicions.
"There are others like us, ones that integrate into a world as an observer. Some blend in to experience the life, some break in as a foreign invader either for destruction or dominion. Some pretend to be gods and seek worship, too. But us, when we're able to manifest in the same world like we did here…we just wanted peace. I thought this world was peaceful, but I'd spent so long as an untouchable observer, I forgot how cruel humanity could be."
The scenes had shifted back to the group in the meadow, days passed in the image, days into weeks then months and years. The humans had grown close to the gods, and in the blink of an eye, one- the one made of shadows and starlight, was pierced through.
This was the day he was captured. The day everything started falling apart.
Somehow, Dokja recalled it vividly. He remembers the black ichor that dripped out of the other. This being was his friend, his family, his mentor, his lover. He was his everything, and because of his hopefully naivete, he had his own powers used against him like a wild animal being poached. He fell into a deep depressive slumber after that. The Grave of Atlas. It was a monument to the sins of a generation that didn't exist in this world anymore.
The grief had overwhelmed him and affected the world in a way he hadn't meant to, hadn't planned to. They were just supposed to peacefully observe this world's evolution with minimal direct contact, but he wasn't careful, and now his most precious being was hurt and isolated and he had no way of finding him.
Dokja's gaze drifted over towards Joonghyuk during his internal monologue, an indecipherable emotion gripped his heart, and the other seemed to have picked up on it immediately. A hand was held out on Dokja's thigh, a silent request as he reflexively placed his hand in Joonghyuk's, watching as the man laced their fingers together and brought their hands up. Reverently, his lips brushed against Dokja's knuckles in gentle kisses.
"Pause."
Sooyoung raised a hand to catch The Dreaming One's attention. She sat between Joonghyuk and Sangah, one leg folded parallel against the cushion she was sitting on. Her voice was strained as she leaned on her folded leg and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Can we backtrack for a second? What's the correlation to you causing the Gates and the state of the world? From what we know they just showed up, and Sentinels and Guides started manifesting as an answer for survival. Are you trying to say you did this to us?"
"….yes and no. We cannot choose what worlds we manifest into, only how many- given that we have the strength to witness more than one world line. Our presence in a world signifies that evolution is going to take place. What you call Sentinels and Guides were not supposed to be an explosive existence as their spawning was."
"You're meant to ease mutations into humanity and watch the results, like…studying a petri dish."
Seolhwa had mumbled to herself, catching Namwoon's attention as he sat between her and Jihye. His face visibly pinched like he was actively thinking too hard to try and understand what the adults were talking about. However, she was given a nod in return. Dokja shifted uncomfortably at the idea of just being…watched like some kind of lab rat. He shuffled closer to Joonghyuk, glancing over at his Bondmate when he felt the cautious probe of questioning through their link. Joonghyuk was silently asking if he was okay.
"The one that was taken, he was used as a lab rat and broke the balance, hm?"
"That's right. With a direct source of what you call Gate energy at their hands, they weaponized it against us and we had to flee. Your spirit bodies are modeled after us- we are largely impervious to injury unless caused by one another, but other means can still cripple us to an extent ."
Something seemed to click in Hyunsung's thoughts. Perhaps it was his history in the military. He was meant for greater goals and likely would have achieved them had he stayed and not left to join the team when they started diving deeper into the Grave. Dokja always felt a pang of guilt about that whenever it came up, honestly. Hyunsung had assured him it was his own decision and the safety of his friends took precedent over a career that held little weight, but there was always a worm in his head that told Dokja he was just saying that without real meaning.
"They used the captured one to try and kill you."
With a nod, The Dreaming One spoke again, with a revelation no one was expecting.
"I was the primary target, except. If I die in this world, so does this reality."
After the bombshell, it was encouraged for everyone to rest for the "night" before continuing. It was appreciated as he retreated to some unknown depths of the setting, the library, Dokja had adapted to calling it.
Around the corner, the library had been adjusted to a dining hall. Joonghyuk took to the stove in a matter of seconds and the information was deliberated and compartmentalized over dinner. It felt like Dokja's brain was trying to seep out through his ears.
"-ut the books here? Why are there so many and how come we can't read them. It feels like they have important information and he's blocking us from it instead of helping?"
Sooyoung's questioning wasn't quite accusatory, but it felt like it. Dokja felt an itch at her words. He almost wanted to scream about her not knowing anything, but he had to stop himself. What was wrong with him? It was unlike him to be so emotional and it was more annoying than unsettling.
"They're not important for this- not for you."
He had said instead, paying minimal mind to her glance as Joonghyuk set down massive dishes of food.
"These books are memories, past worlds and early lives. They're precious, but I do get the urge to set them on fire."
Dokja mused instead, trying not to laugh at the way Sangah looked visibly distressed at his comment. He should clarify that he was probably joking.
"Anyway you can't read them because they're my past lives and you don't need to see how sad and pathetic I was."
"You're sad and pathetic now, what difference does it make. But you're our sad and pathetic little clown. I get it I get it. Pride and invasion of privacy or whatever."
Heewon laughed as she began eating, tearing into tender meat like a wild animal. Dokja wanted to refute her comment, he really did, but he couldn't.
Dinner passed by uneventfully, being offered a large bathhouse pool to soak in was nice as well. The water was deep enough for even the spirit bodies to manifest and relax with their hosts. Seeing Sooyoung's spirit body soaked to the core was even more hilarious with how much smaller it was, the ensuing scuffle was one that no one talked about. He did briefly wonder why only one was offered. The Dreaming One probably expected them to take turns or something, but no one was particularly bothered about seeing a naked body of the same sex. It did open the door for some harassment, like Heewon terrorizing Hyunsung's maiden-like innocence or Sooyoung accidentally slapping Dokja in the head with a stray breast.
That night, the group retired to the large couch and Dokja dreamed of being squished into a coffin. It would've been a nightmare if it didn't also have a familiar warmth like a child being swaddled. When he awoke, he would find that the sensation was due to being buried. Somewhere in the night everyone had shuffled onto him like a pile of cats huddling up in winter.
The following day when everyone woke, The Dreaming One greeted them at breakfast, once again in the form of a small child.
He's preserving energy. I suppose that's why we ended up agreeing to call him 'Dreaming' hm.
Dokja watched him quietly. Even now he felt many emotions as he studied The Dreaming One. They were one in the same, and maybe that's why he couldn't stand the god-like being. A resigned sigh escaped his lungs as he blinked upon feeling a warm hand on his head. Opening his eyes in mild confusion, Seolhwa was looking back at him. Joonghyuk was across the room but the unmistakable presence of having his Bond's eyes on him was a comfort.
"I'm okay,"
A mild lie, but he didn't want to worry her. It was bad enough with Joonghyuk being able to tell when his emotions were off.
"I need to send you back up, out of God's Cradle."
The Dreaming One had interrupted their idling, carefully approaching Dokja and waiting as Seolhwa shifted to the other side, still within an arm's length just in case. Dokja in turn stood to meet the child form, and for a moment they stood in silence as everyone waited to see what would happen.
God's Cradle… An apt name for this floor where The Dreaming One was prisoner to his own power.
The Dreaming One placed his hands on his own chest, pulling away as a small ball no bigger than a tennis ball was peeled away from his form.
"This is Biyoo. She's a fragment of my power, she can protect you and help the others find you, reconnect. Find him."
Palms outstretched, Dokja carefully accepted the fragment of power, briefly startled when peered back with obsidian black eyes. He didn't expect it- her, to have features. None of the others did. Upon registering Dokja, Biyoo's eyes shifted into crescents as a quiet chiming sound bubbled up from the small form resting in his hands.
"There's something I don't understand, though. There were two other presences I saw when we touched. They didn't have forms, but I could tell they were there. Who were they? And why was it only you? That fell into sleep, I mean."
"It wasn't only me, you saw them on the way down, didn't you? The three that challenged you on the other floors. I'm the only one that fell asleep, creating this place as protection. Until you were ready to come here. I said before, you aren't the first ones to reach this floor, but there was nothing here. Not for them."
As he spoke, light leaked out from The Dreaming One and swirled at Dokja's feet. He idly recognized this as a lift to take them out. Looking to the others, he made a motion with his head as everyone gathered onto the platform with him as the furniture fell away. It didn't go unnoticed that his question about the 'formless presences' he recognized in the memories wasn't addressed. It seemed it would be a thing he would have to understand on his own.
"What are we supposed to do when we find them."
Sooyoung questioned as she stepped on after Joonghyuk, ushering the kids over lest they be left behind too.
"Dokja will know when the time comes."
The response wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear, but Dokja supposed it shouldn't be unsurprising. He also wasn't sure how to feel when The Dreaming One looked upon them in a manner that could be interpreted as fondly, before stepping away from the swirling energy that becan to ascend.
It was a slow rise, not that anyone expected otherwise. The Grave of Atlas was a massive location and there was no way to know if something like altitude was a factor. It was a good opportunity to rest, though. Dokja lay slumped against Joonghyuk, head resting on the other's chest.
"You know,"
Jihye began. Everyone was sitting idly during the rise, though Jihye and Namwoon were fully sprawled out. She was laying on her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows to speak.
"Did we ever ask why this place is called the Grave of Atlas?"
"It's probably from the Atlas from Greek mythology, the titan condemned to hold a celestial body."
Sangah had responded, pushing herself into a sitting position as she had been laying on her back next to Sooyoung. Using a hand to brush her hair out of her face, she glanced over to Dokja.
"If The Dreaming One was truthful and our world collapses if he dies, then wouldn't that make him similar to Atlas? He has no choice but to hold up our world if he wants it to survive. That aside, what do we tell the Bureau when we return to the surface?"
"We don't."
Dokja had responded, maybe a little too quickly, too aggressively. Before they descended, the Bureau was a joke with barely any power. Who knows how long they were here or what it was like now. He had a bad feeling that giving the Bureau information was a bad idea.
"I don't think we can trust the Bureau. There are others that didn't sleep. The four we met down there were pushed into torpor because of their injuries, but they weren't the only ones that were here. There's four more. We find them."
The others weren't involved in this, not directly. Dokja felt a wave of melancholy. This was a monumental undertaking, and only something he felt obligated to see through as a mortal body of The Dreaming One. He wouldn't blame them if they didn't want to participate- couldn't blame them if it was too much.
"Okay."
Eventually, Joonghyuk spoke, jostling the two and sitting up as Dokja's head slid onto his lap.
"We do this internally. What can the Bureau do against a team ranking among the world's strongest Sentinels and Guides, after all."
Chapter 10: Containment
Notes:
it's 6.25a at the time of posting this and I was working on it on/off all day
The ending with Uriel and Joonghyuk reused some bits from the prologue (since this is where that scene is placed chronologically) with some changesAnd of course Dokja had a plan. It didn't involve him dying, at least (He did piss someone off until he got pistol whipped but that's still better than dying lmao. low bar)
anyway g'night
Chapter Text
"It looks like we're coming up on the entrance gate."
Dokja looked up from where he was laying on Joonghyuk as Heewon made the announcement, hands idly poking and prodding the little fragment of eternity that had been named Biyoo as she made no sounds, but mimed the action of expanding and deflating- perhaps on protest? Cute. A little puffball huffing and puffing like a child having a tantrum. Heewon had been watching the ascent in absolute apathy, boredom painted all over her face. It had been a quiet ride up the entire time, everyone cycled between bouts of rest and pacing, having dozed off at least once as she quietly gazed up.
It was almost time to put on a show.
With a soft grunt, Dokja forced himself to sit up, holding Biyoo to his chest as the little entity gave off a faint glow before melding into his form. He had suspicions when The Dreaming One had mentioned to hide her in him, who knew he meant literally. He supposed, with the time left until returning to the surface he could get his mental notes sorted.
The Bureau was an absolute joke when they descended. A bunch of clowns too scared to learn how to adapt, shackling Sentinels in the name of research, dissecting Guides in the name of understanding. They were a bunch of pathetic humans and closer to worms than mammals. From what he gleaned from The Dreaming One, the Bureau was in power but not in a way meant to last.
Before they came into the Grave, they were an independent agency because they were untouchable. It was just a tense ceasefire because the Bureau knew making outright enemies of the top ranked Sentinels and Guides of an entire continent was a dangerous game.
However…now? Who knows. They'd been isolated for several decades, but physically no one was much older. Maybe a few years? It was an expected side effect of being bathed in Gate energy like they were, but what about Mia? Namgung? Had the kids aged without them? Were they adults part of society now?
Worry gripped at Dokja's heart as he thought about what it could mean. There had been cases of early Sentinels and Guides being displaced in time when they were inside a Gate that got closed. Thrown into some kind of limbo, a stasis, as if everything stopped until they were free from the Gate energy.
It might have something to do with the nature of God's Cradle, Dokja had to surmise when he thought about the semantics of it. They were well studied cases, at least publicly. It's not like they would ever outright announce that those retrieved from a Gate were locked in a lab as guinea pigs. Gods above, what that would do to the Bureau's reputation.
Feeling a warm weight on his back, Dokja's mind wandered back to the environment at hand as Joonghyuk laced their fingers together. Dark grey eyes wandered down towards the interconnected hands before he remembered.
"We should hide those personal storages, just in case."
Dokja had leaned back against Joonghyuk and whispered, receiving a grunt in response as the two ability bracelets broke away into fragments that settled into their respective arms.
"Listen up,"
Standing to his feet, Dokja glances around at their group. They'd briefly gone over the plan on the way up but now it was time to enact it as everyone slowly rose to their feet in turn.
"I have a hunch we're going to run into the Bureau sooner rather than later. We have to be prepared."
» » » » » » » » » »
Breaking News!
« A video feed cycles through various continental coasts with various degrees of destruction. Larger cities show crumbled buildings, streets are split and various cars are overturned with blinking hazard lights. Smoke rises up on screen, and individuals are seen scattered around on the street in various degrees of injury. All bodies shown are moving with a range of injuries and mobility. »
Today at 11:33 ST a pillar of light was seen emerging from the abyss in the ocean known as the Grave of Atlas shortly before the ocean floor began terraforming itself. The incident, which the Bureau has dubbed "Atlas Awakened" caused massive surges of Gate energy to sweep through the continents and cause massive damage to the shores of various continents closer in proximity to the Grave of Atlas. Citizens are advised to stay inside to mitigate side effects of being exposed to high concentrations of Gate energy. There have been mass reports of structural damage due to the Gate energy but no casualties have been reported yet.
The Bureau has dispatched teams Alpha-2 "Shield of Aegis" and Alpha-7 "Obsidian" to investigate the the Grave of Atlas and determine any changes and gauge threat assessment. We will continue to monitor the situation and report back as soon as more information is released.
« « « « « « « « « «
"We have..maybe ten minutes? Before we're back on the surface. I think this goes without saying but the Bureau can't know what we saw down there. If they ask about my research notes, they got destroyed by a dragon-type monster down there. Not a word about The Dreaming One or Biyoo, not even the two floor masters we saw."
Dokja breathed out as he dusted nonexistent dust from his pants and began pacing. There was no doubt the Bureau was on the move, he was vaguely aware of the loud roar of Gate energy making itself known the further they ascended. It wasn't unreasonable to expect them to have begun moving to investigate the source of the sudden surge of energy. None of them were prepared for what was actually happening up on the surface, though.
"What if they try and use neural abilities on us?"
Jihye had questioned, not that it wasn't valid concern. However, Dokja could only give her a dubious look. This kid, where was her confidence? After everything she's experienced, she was worried about what the Bureau could do?
He gave a pause, tilting his head. Actually, it was likely he was the only one who knew how pathetic the "leading government in managing Sentinels" really was. He didn't even have enough respect for the agency to be considered little, and the rest of their group simply followed suite.
"Ahjussi?"
Ah-
Dokja was pulled away from his internal tirade from Jihye calling him again. Judging by Sooyoung's expression it was likely he was "talking with his face" again, as she'd put it before. Feeling embarrassment just barely dust his cheeks, their team leader cleared his throat before challenging the youngest of the team in turn.
"Do you have so little confidence in yourself as Joonghyuk's disciple?"
» » » » » » » » » »
Breaking News!
« An aerial view of the Grave of Atlas is displayed, it seems to be a live feed provided by a wind affinity Sentinel holding the camera. The gaping hole that is the Grave is unchanged, however the ocean around it is in turmoil and massive expanses of broken land have risen up from the sea in a radial pattern around the Grave entrance. It almost looks like an eye. At the edge of the Grave of Atlas, two ships are seen with a large group of figures. Moving closer, the figures become more visible. Many of them are wearing the unmistakable uniform that denote them as Bureau personnel, one group has the emblem of a shattered shield- the symbol for Shield of Aegis, while others have an emblem that looks similar to a sharp rock with several eyes inside the shape- the symbol for Obsidian. The two teams seem tense, surrounding a group of men and women that almost look like civilians given their clothing, but even through a lens, each one has an air about them that's off. »
The time is now 12:35 ST, the Gate energy has stabilized to safe levels and citizens are given the all clear to leave their homes without risk of danger. Alpha-2 "Shield of Aegis" and Alpha-7 "Obsidian" have reached the Grave of Atlas and assessed the threat. There is no information about the cause of the sudden change, however they have made the discovery of the Research Team "Suneater" who were thought to have been KIA. Research Team Suneater has not been seen for twenty years, they will be escorted back to the Bureau and higher ups are hoping to glean and kind of information from their emergence.
« « « « « « « « « «
"It's Oppa! Yoosung! Gilyoung!"
The loud clatter of metal containers being abruptly dropped and two sets of frantic footfalls running into the room where a little girl sits. Her thick hair tied up in pigtails, nestled between four adults. The two sets of feet- a young girl with smooth flaxen hair and a boy with a curly head of brown hair, broke into the room with heavy pants.
The two children ran to the tv screen as it zoomed in on the individuals not wearing Bureau uniforms. It was the unmistakable face of Dokja and the others being escorted onto one of the ships in single file.
From the couch, the larger of the two women, tanned skin and thick, dark hair that draped her features in waves, rested a heavy hand on the young pigtailed girl's head. Though her expression didn't change, the affection was dripping from her voice.
"Didn't I tell you Mia? That Oppa of yours is tenacious. They wouldn't leave you kids alone. Not in this kind of world. Still…twenty years is a long time. Who knows where we'd be if we weren't in your care, I suppose."
As the larger woman spoke, she glanced over to the shorter woman. Fair skin, hair the color of darkened wheat, golden eyes that looked like gems. Her dark lips quirked into a pleasant smile before speaking. There was a saddened tone in her voice, though.
"The Precious One would be sad if we didn't intervene."
Don't fight back, don't cause problems, but don't give in.
That had been Dokja's instructions to the team as they stepped back onto the surface. In the distance, he could see two ships quickly approaching the Grave. Judging from the landmasses that most definitely weren't there when they descended, he had enough context clues to guess who they were and what was going to happen.
When the ships made landfall and quickly surrounded the group, Dokja had raised his hands in a placating manner, an attempt to show he wasn't a threat.
They're not stupid enough to use force against us, not when we're putting up a fight. They can't be that stupid.
His mild hopes and low standards were thoroughly dashed when one of the Bureau personnel tried to grab at Dokja. Without doing anything, Hyunsung had quickly positioned himself between the individual and the rest of their group, iron, bark-like skin forcing the personnel to rethink his decisions as Hyunsung looked down at him with a smile that definitely didn't reach his eyes.
"We're cooperating peacefully. It'll do you well to treat us with the same respect."
Seolhwa had warned as she walked past Hyunsung, venom glinting in her eyes as everyone except Dokja had stared down the individual in warning. He didn't need to appear threatening, not when there were eight "mad dogs" that seemed to only be reigned in by his hand.
"If you're taking us back to the Bureau you might want to do it fast. And…maybe don't use physical handcuffs. It's not like they'd hold us. Well, Namwoon, maybe."
"Ha?!"
Dokja had commented idly. It was a veiled threat, one that the personnel, unfortunately, didn't seem to pick up on as he stared down at the pair of metal handcuffs slapped on his wrist, cold steel biting into his skin. It was uncomfortable, and he allowed a small amount of his energy to surge and shatter the metal like ice. When the personnel turned back in alarm, Dokja just stared back with narrowed eyes and an innocent smile.
Black heels strode down the hallways, largely ignoring the buzz of gossip and new events. A dainty blonde woman in a black pantsuit that hugged her form in all the right places to cast a flattering silhouette was stopped in the hall by a short, furry creature pacing up to her.
"Inquisitor Uriel,"
The creature began, handing her a folder that was tucked under his arm as he began leading her down a pathway. Idly, emerald eyes flipped open the folder and skimmed over the information as they walked. She didn't seem surprised, or even bothered. Rather…
"Bihyung. Team Suneater has emerged from the Grave of Atlas twenty years after descending?"
Her voice was like sunlight. Warm, soft, but ever-present. The creature guiding her gave a nod in return as they entered the containment wing of the Bureau, or more specifically, the intake station.
"They just arrived. Top brass wants you to handle the intake and interrogations. Something's…something's weird about them, Uriel…be careful around them."
She gave a hum in response, gaze flicking to the group being processed. She noted the Guiding energy that shackled their limbs together. It didn't look like they were fighting back or causing disruptions, so she personally didn't think it was necessary, but then again…looks could be deceiving.
Wandering closer to the group, she approached them and stood off to the side, observing the intake process.
"Hey, isn't one missing?"
Uriel looked over the files in the folder handed to them, comparing them to the files that were being handed to her in real-time by the intake clerks. Something didn't add up, there were too many old files. There was one that wasn't present, one that….had a name that wove a thread of familiarity that she couldn't place.
"Their team leader was processed separately. Took him straight to The Altar."
The Altar? That's..where they took sentient creatures recovered from the Gate before being "broken in" ….where they took creatures like Bihyung before they were deemed safe enough to be used by the Bureau. Usually as gofers, sometimes as sandbags. Unfortunately, even if Uriel knew what they did there, she didn't have clearance granted to know where exactly it was. She didn't, but…Wukong might. She'd have to try and meet up with him before the day was over and ask. There had to be a reason the Bureau was separating them like this. Research teams, especially autonomous ones like Suneater were usually kept together to encourage compliance. Sentinels and Guides were heavily reliant on one another, separating them like the Bureau was doing with them usually caused unnecessary amounts of stress.
Maybe that's what they want…but that makes handling them more dangerous.
She'd have to sort that out. Try and figure out what the Bureau was trying to do. In the mean time, she looked over the files again, muttering to herself in thought.
"Kim Dokja, Guide. Yoo Joonghyuk, Sentinel. Yoo Sangah, Sentinel. … Guide, Guide, Guide, Sentinel.."
The more she looked over the files the more she couldn't fight off the feeling that something was wrong. Uriel's gaze wandered from the research team back to the files. This didn't feel right, but the Bureau was always reliable in its information. Well, except for her and Wukong, but that was by design. Everyone else that got filed into the system should be accurate, and one couldn't just change how their Guiding circuit functioned.
"So, where are we headed?"
Dokja kept a pleasant enough smile on his expression, standing between two large Sentinel guards armed with rifles. They were likely trying to keep him compliant with the shackles of energy that wove around his wrists, even binding his neck to disrupt his Guiding circuit. As he looked around the darkened lift feigning curiosity, the unmistakable glow of cyan in his iris threatened to engulf the two guards like the fathomless sea.
Well, they didn't want to talk to him. That would be fine. Maybe. He was very good at getting on people's nerves when he didn't like them. Honestly, he also wasn't sure what the rifles were supposed to be for.
"Is this what the Bureau does now? Split up core Guiding units? It's almost as if they're trying to encourage our Sentinels to rampage, separating them from their Guides. Though, maybe not? I recall that they weren't above doping their Sentinels to make them appear stronger than they actually were. Dangerous game, really. Guides aren't as strong or as reliable as Sentinels, I think they claimed. Has that changed?"
"Stop. Talking."
The words were ground out like pulling teeth from a mule, but it was also a response. Idly scooting closer to the guard that spoke, Dokja tilted his head with a lopsided grin.
"Oh, come on. I'm just trying to break the ice. Besides, I'm just a harmless little Guide. What can I do without my big strong manly Sentinel?"
He was given silence again, nothing but the low hum of the lift moving and the dim strip of light that rolled past the crack in the doors as they passed each floor. Giving an audible huff, he looked over at the guard that had spoken again. She seemed to be the more reactive one, and briefly, his eyes flickered to the corner of the lift where the camera peered down at them.
Not yet. He had to keep his cards close. He had to find out what the fuck happened on the surface while they were gone and get the years sorted out in his head. The flood of information from engaging with The Dreaming One was…not…what he wanted to deal with, at all, but it's what he got stuck with.
With a low hum, Dokja rocked on his heels with an off-key tune.
"How many floors are there? What's the Bureau got planned for me? I'm not going to get crammed into a hamster ball or something, right? Or maybe they'll just gut me like a pig. I'm just a Guide, though. Nothing special here. Did you know there's monsters in the Grave of Atlas that mimic human voices? Like the records of mountain lions that sound like screaming women. Weird stuff in there. Not that you chicken shit glorified lap dogs would ever know what survival combat looked like."
Dokja spoke with a shit-eating grin, carefully studying the expressions and pulses of each guard as he spoke. Bureau dogs were usually the same, especially Sentinels- especially ones that were enlisted as guard personnel. Proud, arrogant, prejudiced. Guides just existed to keep them from rampaging, or for the especially annoying ones- just a hole to use. His eyes flitted to the camera again. It didn't record audio, so as long as he made it look like the guards made the first move, he didn't need to worry about the voyeurs being suspicious of him at all.
And he didn't have to prod for much longer.
"Can't you shut the fuck up?"
In a split second, he accomplished two goals. Forcing them to act first, and finding out what the rifles were probably for. A thin shield reinforced his body as he braced for an impact.
The loud crack and impact of a weighty weapon against his skull caused him to stumble and see stars briefly, but not enough to cause any real damage. In the same frame that the gun impacted his shield, the other guard grabbed at his shoulders, possibly to keep him still? It didn't matter.
The second he felt two points of contact- from each of the Sentinels, he acted. Pupils dilating, his energy surged in a single, sharp burst that took them off guard. There weren't many individuals who had the skills to safely override someone's Guiding circuit and bodyjack them, but it wasn't impossible. It was easier for Guides to fight against, but for Sentinels? Especially ones like these who looked like they'd never been told 'no' a day in their life, the backflow of energy and the gap in their levels would be too much. The more they tried to fight back, the more likely that their Guiding circuit would be permanently damaged.
Well, not my problem.
With the Sentinels overridden and effectively moving to his will, Dokja stood back up and fixed his posture. He glanced down at his hands to study the energy for a moment, and by the time the doors finally opened, the shackles had been enveloped with his own energy and replaced. He still had to keep up appearances of being chained, but it was unlikely anyone would be skilled enough to notice what he'd done until it was too late.
He strolled leisurely, trailing behind the puppet guards as he fought back the urge to grin.
It was hard to tell how much time had passed, or how time passed in general. Dokja had been released into a large room, the structure vaguely reminded him of a surgery theater, a row of windows made up part of the wall to his left, panels he theorized were likely rows of computers for monitoring and whatnot. High above, was another ring of windows that went all the way around the room. It was likely this was an observation deck.
The room itself was at least furnished, there was even a bathroom with a shower and a fridge. It almost looked like a barebones studio apartment, if he thought about it. A bed in the center, ambient lighting and a ring of overhead lights along the walls. A medium sized table and two chairs. If he was going to be kept here it almost reminded him of keeping a small animal, like a hamster.
He had been stripped of his clothing and possessions, dressed in plain white garments that had no pockets. Something between a prison jumpsuit and a hospital gown. At least he didn't have the shackles anymore. …not that they did anything to begin with. As a trade-off, he'd been injected with a sedative. Not that that did anything, either.
He was being treated like a caged animal.
Wow, imagine if I started crying about human rights and whatever. I wonder how many drugs they would've been trying to pump me full of if I did.
While he was taking in the new surroundings, his ears picked up on the muted shuffle of ……well, it wasn't enough mass to be human, not an adult human. His attention was pulled back to the room on the same floor, divided by a wall. By the time he focused back on the adjacent room, the windows had been tinted, the only thing staring back was his own reflection on the glossy surface.
Too late. I already know it's there.
Dokja had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. He likely had to pretend he didn't notice the little child-sized creatures filing into the room and taking seats at the monitors. Well, he supposed there wasn't any harm in playing along for now.
"Do you know where you are?"
The static buzz of the speakers coming on sounded horrible. What kind of cheap equipment were they using? For an agency that had a monopoly on creating drugs to juice and control Sentinels and Guides, they were using basic office supplies from the bargain bin? Damn.
"No. Why would I. I don't even know what day it is."
He tried not to roll his eyes. The audacity of the question. Gods. Was the Bureau really this inept?
"State your name."
"Say please."
"State. Your. Name."
The speaker came on again, the demanding tone of whoever was trying to speak to him was honestly pissing him off. Rather than respond, Dokja's iris lit up a brilliant white as the speaker exploded into metal confetti. If he took delight in hearing startled screams and exclamations from the other side of the darkened mirror, he didn't show it. But damn, was it entertaining.
A week had passed since news broke about Suneater being retrieved. A week of journalists camping the front doors to the Bureau's main building. A week of being hounded by people asking for information about the research team, a week of staying late and everyone crying to Uriel about Suneater being difficult to deal with.
She was just one person, and top brass wanted her to strictly handle interrogations. What was she supposed to do?
Setting down her purse on the table, Uriel dropped into the seat at her desk with the loud hiss of the cushion deflating. Digging out the folders from her desk drawer, the files were slapped on the table as she rubbed her temples and looked over them again as if there would be any new information obtained.
It almost went unnoticed when a man entered her office and gently set down a tumbler by her head with a soft thunk.
"Tough week?"
His voice was deep, gravely in a way that told history of surviving brawls. Uriel's eyes opened as she looked up at him. Golden, radiant. When he worked the field they called him a myth, a legend. He had hoped that being hands on would get them information, but nothing came of it, so he had opted to stage an injury and get him an early retirement. None of it was true, but no one but them needed to know that.
Sipping on the drink that he brought for her, Uriel quietly muttered a thanks before her gaze flit to the door. Wordlessly, Wukong shut the door and locked it behind him. Once she heard the click, the complains spilled out like a faucet with a loud groan.
"I "don't have clearance" to know where The Altar is, Suneater's been split up into different containment compounds, I think Yoo Joonghyuk is about to rampage, Lee Jihye has drowned three people. Three! By filling their lungs with water when they threatened to sedate her!"
Uriel spoke quickly, frantically, the frustration in her voice evident. Wukong, to his credit, let her vent her frustrations. It did run counter to their goals, and they were in such a precarious situation- if they pushed too quickly there was a high chance that the Bureau would notice and expedite the plans that were currently on pause.
He had tuned out Uriel's ranting as he went over the information they did have. First, Team Suneater came back from the Grave, they didn't have the dazed thousand-yard stare that other people had when they returned. They seemed to be of sound mind, that means there was a chance they'd be able to get information on how the others were doing. Second, if they could get Suneater to cooperate with their goals, it would probably make things much easier and safer to operate. The problem lied in making contact without the ears of the Bureau catching wind of it.
"—ey still want me to be the lead interrogator for them, but I don't have clearance to do anything? What the fuck!"
Oh. He tuned back in at a bad time. Golden eyes glanced down at the poor woman at the table. Her face was flushed, the edges of her eyes were red. It would be a lie to say he didn't feel the same. It'd been pissing him off for many years that they had to be so careful, but what choice did they have when a bad ending was a really bad ending, one of their own dying?
With a heavy sigh, Wukong rested a hand on her head in a bid of comfort.
"Lets just get this over with. I'll help you bring them in."
Five hours passed. Five long hours of trying to get someone to talk. Anyone. Uriel wanted to cry, but she couldn't even blame them.
Han Sooyoung was sedated, she didn't directly threatened them, but for how small the woman's frame was, her threat assessment was bigger than the room- hell, maybe even bigger than the Bureau itself. Being in the same room as Han Sooyoung felt like being in an incinerator and waiting to see whether or not it would get turned on. Naturally, she wouldn't say a word without knowing the state of the others, without knowing where Kim Dokja was. That was another problem, just mentioning that man's name seemed to trigger some kind of rampage response. It was rare for Guides to ever get near that state, but Sooyoung…Sooyoung sure made it seem possible.
Wukong wasn't able to get far with Jung Heewon, the second he entered the room she had erupted like an explosive being detonated. The windows of the room across the hall were burst and the walls of her containment cell were melted together. Naturally, personnel had to sedate her and have her moved to a different room.
Lee Hyunsung had been polite, amicable enough, but the second someone else came into Uriel's office demanding he give information about Kim Dokja, the man had given a very firm "no thank you" and ceased communication. That blunder from the Bureau personnel made Uriel want to scream and slam the hapless worker into the wall. They could have gotten somewhere. They were so close! And then this fucker came in and ruined it because she wasn't getting enough results for the Bureau to be happy with it?
Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon…she wasn't even sure it was worth trying to handle those two. Those kids were good. Strong. But dangerous. They were very dangerous. It didn't seem like they were interested in cooperating either. To get them to talk it was likely they would have to win over someone else in the group first. That was frustrating. They were young, but they were smart. Smarter than was convenient for conversation.
Yoo Sangah was the next attempt. They were able to speak with her and even had civil conversations, except when she was escorted out of the room, Uriel realized many things were off. She couldn't…actually remember anything about what Sangah had said to her, the notes were a jumbled mess of indecipherable scribbles. The recording was a garbled mess of artifacting. It took longer than she wanted to admit to realize this must've been part of Sangah's abilities. She wasn't sedated, the Bureau was complicit. However, she and Wukong agreed not to disclose that. The Bureau didn't need to know about it, not to the degree of what she was actually able to affect.
The next one they had to try contacting was Lee Seolhwa. She was quiet, passive. Every bit of the "Quiet, domestic beauty" the Bureau advertised her as. The shackles binding her arms swayed silently as she moved like a ghost. Unsettling, is how Uriel would describe her. She also didn't know why this woman as being headhunted by the Bureau. It was pretty obvious that the woman was deathly loyal to Dokja and the Suneater team, were they really trying to win her over with empty promises?
When Seolhwa was escorted out, Uriel exhaled a deep sigh. Hands steepled, resting against her forehead. A headache was coming on and she didn't know what to do. Suneater as a whole was an entity that made her hackles raised. They were dangerous, they weren't human. A familiar knock on the door caused her to lift her head with a groan as Wukong stood in the doorway.
"Are you ready for the last one?"
"No. Bring him in."
The halls rumbled, lighting fixtures rattling as he approached.
Yoo Joonghyuk.
One of the strongest Sentinels in the world. One of the most dangerous men in existence.
And the Bureau had separated him from his Guide. From his bonded Guide.
Uriel wasn't paid enough for this.
Her thoughts were rattled out of her skull as Joonghyuk was sat down before her. Snarling, growling, feral. Almost rampant. He was holding on, badly. Probably out of spite. She was almost startled by the sparkling particles that danced around his sitting form. It was almost beautiful if it wouldn't sear through her skin like melting acid.
Uriel's attempt to reach across her desk to turn on the recorder were quickly aborted. After all these hours, she honestly didn't know why she bothered trying to use it. None of the information had been usable. reviewing the dialogue between seeing each one proved to be fruitless. Anything that wasn't corrupted didn't provide anything worthwhile. Still, she had one last beast to tackle before the day was over.
Leaning back, she did her best to appear docile, unthreatening. When the muzzle was removed from Joonghyuk, Uriel honestly wanted to hide. The silvered smoke that billowed out from his gritted teeth was suffocating. It felt like Gate energy- no. Not quite. It was something similar to Gate energy, something more.
"Where is he."
It didn't take much thought to figure out who he was referring to. Joonghyuk must have been referring to his Bondmate, Kim Dokja. Unfortunately, even if she told him he was in "The Altar" it would do neither of them good. She understood the implications of the name, and the Sentinel no doubt would assume it meant he was being sacrificed.
She thought so too. It was a race against the clock to make sure he wasn't actually sacrificed.
"W—"
"Where is Kim Dokja."
It was impressive how a question could sound so much like a death threat, honestly. Impressive, but not surprising.
"We don't know where he is."
Wukong never was one to mince words, but Uriel had to do damage control before these two psychopaths did something she couldn't cover up.
"We're trying to find him."
She interrupted before Wukong could say anything else and make it worse. It was clear the two weren't going to get along. This might…be a problem. Would it be possible to keep them separate? She needed Wukong's brute force to settle things without blowing her cover.
"Yoo Joonghyuk. I swear to you, we're trying to find him. But we need your help."
Unlike Wukong, Uriel wasn't above begging. She needed results, and she had a feeling that without Joonghyuk's cooperation, she wouldn't get the results she wanted.
"Why would I ever help the Bureau."
"We're not with the Bureau, you mad dog. Not..morally, anyway."
She shot Wukong a look. He was not helping in this situation.
….Actually….with the way Joonghyuk relaxed in the chair, even minutely, maybe he was. It was hard to tell. He was such a wildcard, a dangerous one at that.
"Yoo Joonghyuk...the Bureau wasn't meant to be like...this...we don't know what happened to it, but we're trying to fix it. We need your help to do that. Yoo Joonghyuk, we need to know what happened in the Grave of Atlas."
She hoped, prayed with her whole being, that she could get through to him. If they could get Joonghyuk on their side - if they could get this party on their side, they might actually be able to usurp the ones who controlled the Bureau. Uriel and Wukong had an uphill fight ahead of them, and this was the first step. She watched quietly, pensively, as Joonghyuk seemed to genuinely be considering her words. She would tell him everything - tell all of them everything, but she couldn't do it here. Not when there were too many ears waiting to eavesdrop. Too many eyes waiting to watch.
"Bring me Dokja. And the rest of my team. Then we'll talk."
She exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding in. Find Kim Dokja and bring him. And the rest of Suneater. Okay. She could do this…hopefully.
They had a common goal and a common enemy. Maybe this would be enough to turn the tides. It wasn't a fix, but it was a start, and now she had a mission.
Chapter 11: Outbreak pt1
Notes:
lmao hi
idk I got nothing. It's been two months lol I should have the rest of this chapter done in less time
Also if you see any typos/gibberish no you didn't it's 4a leaf me alone lol
Chapter Text
« « « Uriel
The sound of something crashing against the floor broke the silence of the row of offices eating up the main hallway in the holding facility. Uriel paid no mind to it since she had more pressing matters. Briefly, she also wondered what broke. Maybe it was her neighboring officemate finally knocking over that obnoxious "world's best mom" mug she had. Fucking troglodyte bragged about leaving her young son alone for basically the entire day while she did "groundbreaking work" at the Bureau. The only thing she was breaking was the microwave expecting it to magically transcend the laws of time every single day complaining about how it didn't heat two minutes fast enough as if it were capable of doing that.
Maybe she truly believed the microwave was a magical entity, Uriel didn't make it a habit to look down on someone for their mental faculties or lack thereof. It was rude to assume someone was mentally deficient just because they didn't understand that a minute was a minute.
"You're in a bad mood."
It was an observation that cut through the fantasies she had about glassing the entire Bureau. She's thought about it more than once, but with how they weaponized The Great Plotter's lifeblood it would kill both of them in the process and she couldn't do that to her favorite god entity. It was fine if she burned out in this reality, but he was far too attached to that looming pile of edgy nebulas. Come to think of it, how was that other world with the talking cows going…
"Uriel."
Blinking back in place, Uriel's dazzling eyes fell on Wukong taking up her doorway, door closed behind him and back to the flimsy chunk of metal. Trying to figure out what to do with her expression, she ended up somewhere between disgust and joy.
"Yeah?"
Smooth.
Whatever. It was just Wukong. She was still mad over the last time they crossed paths in another world and he pissed on her hand like a fucking—
"You're leaking energy. At this rate you're gonna spawn a… …oh. I see."
She wanted to stab him with the scissors sticking out of the fancy pencil holder on her desk. She didn't, but she wanted to. Everything on her desk and the entire room was decorated with the same style- black and gold. Leaning onto on arm and resting her chin in her palm, the other hand idly drummed manicured nails against the table as she stared at him with a single brow quirking.
Seems he caught on.
"What did you come here for?"
She asked instead, noting he didn't have any papers or coffee with him. He wasn't active anymore so he wouldn't be coming in from the field. They didn't really have him handling interrogations, did they?
"Top brass wants to see you. You're in charge of the Suneater members now, something about the other locations having issues."
No shit. They removed the team leader- a core Guide, a bonded Guide, separated a nuclear Guiding unit, and had the audacity to be surprised that they don't cooperate. The only reason the Bravo building wasn't on fire was because they put Jung Heewon in the other building. Why the fuck did they even separate them? Okay, yes, keeping them all together would be dangerous, but it would also likely encourage them to cooperate. Pick your fucking battles.
Feeling the growing urge to become an alcoholic, Uriel stood, instead. She wasn't happy about it, about any of this. It sucked, but maybe since she had Yoo Joonghyuk "behaving" for her she could use it as leverage. At least the slow poison of her influence was finally coming to fruition. From the first day they were apprehended, Uriel had been feeding rumors and false lies. She was sedating Yoo Joonghyuk, she was controlling him with her Guiding, she was bargaining with him- well, that last one wasn't actually a lie. The only thing stopping him from destroying the compound was the agreement that they would help her and Wukong's goal in exchange for reuniting them and getting them out. Everyone except Kim Dokja was easy enough to achieve through manipulation, except… Kim Dokja was the most important part of the deal too, so she had her work cut out for her.
Begrudgingly taking a trip over to the main facility, Uriel opted to take her time and take the scenic route instead of using abilities. She had a car, let her use the damn thing.
It took twenty minutes to drive there, a much needed break that she never would have gotten if she just flew over. The Inquisitor also had to psych herself up for getting talked down to regardless of results just because she had free will and refused to be one of their yes-men.
Stupid god damn musty old men scared of their own damn shadows I hope one of them pulls a muscle in his ass the next time he takes a piss.
When she finally stepped into the meeting room it was quiet. Out of six, only two of them were there in person. It made sense given the others were stationed on other continents but she hated the way their silent gazed seemed to be sizing her up like a den of starved wolves. Fucking cowards and their useless intimidation techniques. Her powers flared briefly, energy dancing off her skin in wispy threads for a split second before she reigned herself in.
"What do I owe the honor of being summoned by the Bureau's top dogs?"
She had asked instead.
It's been forty minutes and she feels her brain leaking out of her eye sockets. Their blustering so far has amounted to nothing, nothing, and more nothing. They didn't even notice when she stopped responding. It was the same shit as always. The Grave of Atlas was active, they were making leaps and bounds in research- inhumane experiments in the name of science and learning more about the Gates.
She's seen the state of the monsters that were retrieved.
She's seen the pile of gore and bone that used to be a living creature once they're done.
"Inquisitor Uriel what say you? Think you can handle being in charge of those liabilities? I'm sure with your charm and wit you can have them under control like a pack of dogs in no time."
"Yes sir, of course. I'd be honored."
Uriel responded with a scripted, stiff tone. God forbid she show any kind of excitement and give them anything to hold over her, but if she was the one overseeing the Suneater team then she could control the personnel that engaged with them.
"If I'm being put in charge of the research team I'd like to request Wukong, and Bihyung to assist me when he isn't at The Altar. It's my understanding that you have the Gate monsters overseeing interaction with Kim — with subject Lumina, but I believe Bihyung's abilities will assist me in keeping them in check."
That was actually a lie, but it wasn't as if they knew any better. She knew the wording would lead them down a completely different track. "Give me a meat shield if shit goes sideways" is how they would interpret the request.
It took an entire ass week, but Uriel had finally been given clearance to reorganize the holding cells. With everyone in Suneater being relocated into the Bravo building, she negotiated with the other building supervisors to rotate the other current inmates into their cells instead. Between flash floods, rolling blackouts, and whatever the fuck Jung Heewon was doing in the other wing setting off fire alarms every four hours, they were more than happy to comply.
"Must be nice getting to have an entire building to yourself. Hmf."
The blonde ignored her soon-to-be-ex-office neighbor's snide comments, watching the only other overseers packing up to move with their inmates to the other buildings. There were only four there, including her and with the other three moving our and Wukong being moved in, things were going to plan, against all odds.
"You have a plan?"
Wukong had asked as he stood next to her, idly sipping on a mug of definitely water as the two waited for updates - Lee Seolhwa and Kim Namwoon wouldn't arrive until tomorrow, Jung Heewon not arrive until late into the night.
"Well. Better than the Bureau's plan."
"That's a bar all the way in hell. Do you have a plan."
"I do, I do. Relax."
She waved his concerns away and stepped into the facility's holding cells. The dull hum of the power circuit feeding energy into the translucent walls the only thing stopping the incarcerated from breaking out. Most people would likely scoff at a bit of 'frosted glass' keeping Sentinels and Guides container, except very few could feel the thrum of Gate energy that bled through the circuit like a sacrifice.
Wukong had mentioned years ago that he hated being in the holding facilities, said they made him nauseous. Like his skin didn't fit right. Uriel knew what he was talking about- she felt it too, but something had told her she needed to be placed here. Maybe it was for them.
She had been staring blankly at the cell for some time now, eyes vacantly pointed in the general direction of the shrouded prison while her mind processed something else. It wasn't until she felt something warm and soft on her thigh that she blinked back to this reality and looked down.
It was Bihyung. Seems he was done with whatever they needed him for.
"Well. Time to enter the fire. Let's go."
Entering the cell was easy enough. Leaving it would be another story.
Uriel stepped through the threshold with Wukong and Bihyung in tow, immediately holding her hands up in surrender once the passage closed behind them and the frosted walls obscured their forms from the outside. She felt all eyes on her the second the passage opened and was relieved that no one acted on violence first. They were sizing her up, she could feel it in their gaze.
"I'm unarmed. I'm here to talk."
She spoke calmly, evenly. The Inquisitor briefly glanced behind her to the two with her, slightly relieved to see Wukong hadn't reacted defensively. Her emerald gaze shifted back towards the room. Yoo Sangah and Han Sooyoung stood on either side of Yoo Joonghyuk. Lee Jihye and Lee Hyunsung were closer to the intruders, a waiting first line of combat. In the center, settled like a kingpin expecting a favorable negotiation, Yoo Joonghyuk the monster that he was seemed to be waiting for her to make the first move.
"Your team will be back together by tomorrow."
Uriel started placatingly, the spark of gold dancing through Yoo Sangah's eyes didn't go unnoticed by the Inquisitor, however it seemed more likely that the detainee was polluting what the cameras were receiving. Smart. Then again, Yoo Joonghyuk had mentioned Sangah was dangerous in other ways.
"You made a deal with her?"
It was Han Sooyoung's snide remark that cut through the standoff as the short woman snarled at Yoo Joonghyuk, roughly knocking her hip into the shoulder of the man while he only spared her a glance before speaking.
"Like you wouldn't?"
Uriel noted Han Sooyoung looked like she had more to say, but whatever it was died on the tip of her tongue. This Kim Dokja of theirs must really be beloved to have so many people willing to destroy civilizations for him. The predatory gaze from Yoo Joonghyuk pinning her in place stopped her thoughts from wandering off again.
"So, these are..?"
"You brought some kid in a fursuit?"
Lee Jihye and Lee Hyunsung interrupted whatever Yoo Joonghyuk was about to say and opted to question Wukong and Bihyung instead. The latter of the two shrinking down a bit and hiding himself behind Uriel.
"He's with- they're both with me."
Uriel was quick to amend before continuing,
"While you've been gone, the Bureau has been experimenting with…subjugating intelligent creatures that come out from the Gates. It's cruel. His name is Bihyung and he also fulfills the second condition, for both of us."
"What do you mean."
Yoo Sangah had been quiet up until now, skeptically sizing them up, not that she could blame the woman. Uriel wasn't as familiar with Sangah's legacy as she was the others- intelligence didn't generally get as much recognition compared to the front lines until more recent years, long after many people forgot about this research team.
"We need your help, and your knowledge. You're the first people to return from the Grave of Atlas and not show signs of cognitive fog, but we can't talk here. Yoo Joonghyuk's condition for hearing us out was getting you out. Including Kim Dokja. In order to do that we need updates on him while I try and locate the place he was taken to. That's where Bihyung comes in. Gate monsters are going to be used when handling Kim Dokja because the Bureau considers them expendable in case…"
"In case he goes rampant."
Wukong grunted out, leaned against the wall of the large cell as multiple eyes turned on him.
"We don't know why the Bureau only took him, but nothing leaves The Altar the way it went in. It's where they take monsters to be…housebroken."
"If your fucking Bureau hurts him-"
Yoo Joonghyuk warned in a frigid voice, quickly crossing the distance between him and Uriel in two long strides. She fought back the instinct to back away as the dazzling fog of destruction rolled out in billowing plumes. Keep calm, don't rile him up. Keep calm, don't rile him up.
"We have to handle this carefully to make sure they don't hurt him."
She hoped this wouldn't end badly.
» » » Dokja
"Sooo…have you learned manners or are you just going to keep demanding answers and shooting me with drugs like a zoo animal when I threaten your delicate little egos because I don't have a reason to comply?"
It was another activity cycle of no answers, no responses, he could sense life nearby. He could sense their pulses, rather. He was surprised to get some kind of response after several minutes. Dokja didn't appreciate the commanding tone that followed. Whoever was trying to get answers out of him definitely wasn't used to being told no.
"Answer the questions."
"Okay, so like. Why should I? You won't tell me where I am or why I'm here. You won't tell me where the rest of my team is. You won't even give me any privacy. Why exactly should I do anything you want?"
There was no response for three activity cycles.
Who knew the easiest way to make the government circus give you the space you asked for politely was by just breaking shit. Surprisingly, it seemed like they didn't fully understand his shopping list of abilities.
Okay, not that surprising. He was registered privately before going into the Grave, so legally, he didn't have to disclose anything to the Bureau since they didn't conscript him. It became a real funny game of 20 questions then, when they tried to get information out of him. They were too chicken shit to enter the room themselves, but also wouldn't give him any decency outside of the bathroom anyway, but that wasn't their decision. Kim Dokja was very upset to find a camera pointed at the shower. What was this, some D-list porno? He was not going to be part of a snuff film, no thank you. That was the first one he destroyed. When they questioned him about it the following day he just had to play dumb. What were they going to do, charge him?
"So like, is this a new hobby of the government? The Bureau just takes random people and keeps them in an observation room like a pet hamster? Am I your little lab mouse waiting for enrichment or experiments? Do I at least get a little metal wheel to run on and get my delicate little fingers caught and broken in?"
They did eventually get the balls to try and enter the room, but not without attempts at precautions. They'd shoot him a few times with tranquilizer darts, probably assuming that they would work. Dokja would eventually wander over to the couch or the bed and pretend to fall asleep while someone came in for maintenance or physicals and whatnot. He would never admit it but there were definitely a few times where he did doze off. Having something soft to lay on aside from Joonghyuk's chest after so many years was nice, okay. If he ignored all the ways to be watched between the upper level and the other room that was apparently supposed to be hidden, it was nice and fully furnished aside from the food. He wasn't a stranger to shitty food and horrible scraps from when he was young, before Sooyoung found him. He hoped he wouldn't go back to that time, and hoped his friends would never have to. These bricks of nutrients blocks that sat on the counter in what he deemed the kitchen area reminded him of the pellet food given to lab rodents. He wasn't so different from them right now, was he?
He wondered if his mom was still alive. How she was doing, if she was. …How her last moments were, if she wasn't.
Dokja made sure not to cause problems…yet. He had to assess what was going on and make sure his friends were okay. They've consistently been dragged through hellfire and mud for his single minded focus. The least he could do was keep them alive.
It was a fine day in the middle of the week, maybe, when it finally happened. He was resting on the couch, bundled up with all of the pillows he'd hoarded over the…week? Or whatever, several blankets stripped from the bed wrapping his slender form up so he could let his weasel out for once to stretch out, curled up around his hands and reveling in the brief bout of freedom it was granted. It wasn't ideal but it was better than nothing and he didn't want to risk anyone from the Bureau seeing it.
"Kim Dokja, bonded Guide to Yoo Joonghyuk, male, born in the Korean district, correct?"
He wasn't sure who was talking, it wasn't through the terrible speaker he'd destroyed several times that came from overhead. This one was a slightly better quality and whoever was trying to talk to him sounded resigned.
Dokja's gunmetal gaze shifted towards the room that he wasn't supposed to know about. A soft buzz let his mind wander as he searched for a way in. There were cameras in the room, so he could take over one of those easily enough. So, he did.
The man was mildly surprised to see a room full of creatures. They were varying sizes- most of them not much bigger than a dog judging from their height compared to the equipment.
Did the Bureau turn into a petting zoo while they were gone?
"Kim Dokja please confirm."
"Hmm? Oh. Yeah, sure. Whatever."
He had to be careful not to get noticed. Dokja wasn't sure if anything there would notice him peeking- and if they did, would they say anything about it, but he didn't want to take chances. Interesting. It seemed they were the ones asking questions now, not humans. A few of them had visible metal brackets at what he assumed was the base of their neck. That must've been some type of controller to keep them compliant, if he had to guess.
"Can you describe what you saw in the Grave of Atlas?"
"I could, sure."
There was a long silence as he watched them scramble through papers, a mass confusion flooding the room the longer he remained silent. It took everything in him not to laugh at these oversized stuffed animals. There's no way they were this naïve, right?
"Are…you going to describe what you saw?"
"No."
He watched with a soft huff of laughter as they looked at one another, a few typing on the interfaces probably asking their handlers what to do. The little weasel idly weaving itself between his fingers and rolling around. Only one of them had much freedom of movement right now. He felt better feeling giving his spirit body some room.
He realized later that maybe giving them some give might've been better.
The following day he was startled out of rest by heavily armed Sentinels entering the cage. It wasn't peaceful enough to be called sleep, and he was glad he had kept his spirit body hidden.
"To what do I owe this pleasure at ass o' clock?"
It must've been really early or really late. He didn't sense anyone else nearby in the adjacent rooms. This is how they wanted to start the day?
He'd hoped someone would've been willing to talk to him, but a sixth sense was warning him to prepare for combat as the advancing Sentinels' march continued on at a steady pace. It was a terrible feeling the closer they got to him. It was tendrils of static crawling up his skin, needle-like prickles scuttling up his skin and licking at the nape of his neck. It felt like they were trying to drown him and he was only centimeters away from inhaling water. Belatedly, he realized what was happening. It was their energy. They were trying to overload him.
Eyes surveyed the chess board before him. They must've gotten tired of him being difficult. What a shame, they couldn't suppress him through silence so they were resorting to force.
"You must not be very popular if you're so aggressive."
Dokja couldn't help but muse as he felt a buzz rumble along the ground through his feet. The burst of air pressure that shook through him in the next moment was disorienting, but likely not as crippling as they hoped it would be. They seemed surprise that he was still standing from it. He heard muffled yelling but couldn't quite make out what they were saying, only that the guns that he saw next weren't standard fare firearms. The corner of his lip quirked as he watched them. These crazy bastards. They wanted to do it the hard way? Okay. He would move first, taking a firm grip of the couch and flinging it into the crowd with the force of a scorned wife.
Eyes narrowing, he watched with a cold glint. He was waiting. The second they opened fire, his body lurched like a crack of lightning and flew into the first line of Sentinels. The furniture was pierced with, he.. ..actually, he wasn't quite sure what they were, but they weren't bullets. Globs of…something dark and sparkling? They might have weaponized Gate monsters. They still pierced the fabric, but the entrance holes were darkened like bloodstains and it made his skin crawl.
"Get him!"
Snapping back to attention, Dokja braced for impact as he collided with a Sentinel's shield. It was hard enough to force both parties back, an explosion of energies closer to a roar rippled through the air from two opposing forces. The Sentinel's shield cracked from the force, splintering into particles where Dokja made direct contact.
He was nothing if not weasely and evasive, effortlessly slipping just out of reach of the multitude of energies that tried to capture him.
"Come on, you think you're the only high and mighty power-tripping psychopaths to try and beat me down?"
Dokja's eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise when he goaded them, launching into another strike and suddenly finding himself flanked by two of the Sentinels. They really should've considered things, though. One got close enough to grapple onto him, the conflicting electical enegies busrting into a blinding light as Dokja's power overwhelmed him and shorted out the Guiding Circuit.
Once the light faded, the man stood next to a sizzling pile of body on the floor. The Sentinel wasn't dead, probably. The other Sentinels that had initially entered didn't seem deterred as they rushed him, guns drawn. Hey, these guys were just trying to throw their lives away at this point. He'd have to commit this to memory if only to regale Joonghyuk and the others with the events later and defend himself for how suicidal they complain his actions of being. He wasn't nearly as bad as these guys!
Taking a step forward, something shifted as Dokja studied them for a moment. A deceptively casual pace carried him into the cluster of bodies moving at a snail's pace. The glow in his eyes felt like they contained entire galaxies, alight with everything and nothing as the time quickly returned to proper speed as he passed the bulk of the fray. Behind him, the confused Sentinels broke into a cacophony of anguished screaming and the thudding of bodies.
"Oh, please. You won't die from that."
His tone was light as he partially turned to gaze upon the now-crippled soldiers. Blood pooled like a flooding river, gushing out from severed limbs. Most had a foot or calf separated, a few unlucky ones were missing a hand or arm too, all cut clean through at varying heights. Ah. He hadn't done that in a while, it was sloppy. They would probably all die if they didn't get immediate medical attention too, actually.
"Probably."
…Wait-
He forgot about the other speed Sentinel. Whipping around, he caught sight of her just a second too late disrespectfully in his space. Backhanding her away, Dokja moved away from the Bureau dogs and looked down at the syringe plunged into his torso. Whatever was acted fast as he staggered, stumbling back against the sad little table as he gripped onto the surface for stability. What the fuck was in that?
The rush of blood and his own heartbeat flooding his ears muffled the group that came in after the Sentinels. Beasts and several people in coats. His teeth itched. Everything was too small and too big. As Dokja opened his mouth to try and speak, the feeling of bile crawled up his throat as he was forced to turn his head, pitifully retching a spattering of foam and saliva onto the ground. Ugh. He wanted to peel his skin off. Brows furrowing, he stared at the beasts approaching him through swimming vision. When something looped around his neck and jerked him back with a harsh impact to his skull and began dragging his body, his vision faded.
"Hey at least feed me something besides depression and stale field rations if you're going to fucking bleed me dry like this."
Kim Dokja grumbled, dissatisfied with being tied down to a table. When he came to he was on a table, cold. It was cold. It didn't take him long to understand why when he looked down and saw a needle stuck in his arm.
Well, at least they were considerate enough to use a catheter instead of just slitting his wrists like a pig being bled out. Still, what were they drawing blood from him for? There were also the pressing questions of why his blood looked like that in the bag collecting his lifejuice and why his powers weren't working. He could feel his Guiding Circuit was intact, it just…wasn't responding. Did they develop a drug that blocked the connection like that? Well, they were gone for a long time, so it's possible, but..
"Hey,"
He started, catching the attention of a large bird-like monster sat next to the table. It blinked in response, but didn't make any noise. That was fine. It was probably alerted since he talked.
"Where am I?"
"Lab."
Lab? What lab? What the f-
"Okay…. And why does the bloodbag look like that?"
Why did it look like someone dumped a can of glitter into a bag of syrup, he wanted to ask. The bird really was massive, actually. It looked like it was probably sitting on the floor, yet the head was well above his line of sight. Maybe the table was low? Unlikely. It seemed to be able to answer his questions to a degree, though he had to bear in mind to take whatever it said with a grain of salt.
"Stardust."
"Wh-"
"You!"
Dokja's attempts at a conversation were interrupted by a door he couldn't see being slammed open, a blonde woman who looked like she hadn't known sleep for six years walked in, expression unreadable as the bird was kicked out of the way so she could stand in front of his sight.
"You, my darling little bloodbank, were the missing part to our formula."
She purred in a way that made him wrinkle his nose, trying to recoil away from her as she stroked the side of his face, long nails ghosting against his skin. What the fuck what the fuck what the f—
He was so busy trying to parse what was wrong with the human, he didn't notice the furry rabbit with horns standing next to her. They stared at one another in silence for a long moment before being interrupted.
"Bihyung! Collect a new bag of blood and bring me that one!"
"Yes."
He lost track of how long he was here, how many bags they'd taken. At least there were breaks where he was just force fed some kind of jelly. Probably nutrient gel if he had to guess, to keep him alive as a blood pig. He noticed that the blood being taken from him was steadily changing from red to a blue-silver. He also noticed the hunger and lingering stares from the monsters that came in to assist the humans.
It was a time later. Days. Maybe weeks. The one that had been addressed as Bihyung came in alone, confusion and worry painted on his expression as he replaced the table restraints with bindings to keep Dokja's wrists tethered to a rope Bihyung held.
"Where's the other monsters?"
He hadn't expected an answer, but he was surprised to get one.
"Dead."
"And the humans?"
There was a pause in Bihyung's movements at that question, stopping as he helped the man off the table.
"Also..dead."
His muscles must have atrophied a bit from so long, his knees felt weak and when he was guided along, it was a slow, shambling shuffle. There was an unmistakable smell of iron in the air. Maybe the creature wasn't lying after all?
Returning back to the room he'd been taken from, Dokja was actually thankful to be guided over to the bed. He didn't like the idea of being tied to it like a captive damsel, but it was more comfortable than the cold table.
"I was instructed to bring you back to The Altar. Your Guiding Circuit should be functioning again, at least a little bit."
Dokja hadn't planned on acting on that- wait, how did he know? When Bihyung wandered just a little too close, Dokja reached his hands out, gripping the little creature by the neck as his eyes flashed cyan, a short current bursting through their nerves as he felt a subtle crack in the piece of metal fixed to the back of Bihyung's neck.
"How do you know about that."
"Wait wait wait! I'm not suspicious! I was the one in charge of dosing the blocking drug!"
The edge in Dokja's voice- or maybe his words..actually it was probably grabbing the thing by the neck, seemed to encourage compliance with Bihyung as he set the thing down on his feet, hand resting against the thing neck as opposed to gripping it.
Bihyung was the one in charge of it?
"What changed. Tell me everything or I break your neck right here."
It wasn't a warning, it was a threat. Kim Dokja was a man who could achieve terrible feats when he let the passive façade fall away. ..Maybe he's spent too much time with Joonghyuk. It really wasn't good to be willing to exhibit such violence.
"I've been watering down the blocker for months! The monsters were tired of this life so some of us planned on using you to escape!"
"…Elaborate."
It didn't seem like the monster was lying. Releasing his grip, Dokja reclined back against the mattress.
"Your blood does something…humans who tasted it went mad and it caused monsters to evolve. One of the bags was burst while being transferred to storage and the Bureau just executed the last ones that were exposed to your blood directly. Like I said, I was instructed to bring you back here. They want to do isolated experiments with the..Shadow Man."
"The Shadow Man."
Dokja parroted Bihyung's words back to him, a brow raised in obvious disbelief. What was this, New Orleans?
"It's real! It's real I swear! Don't you hear him? Under the floor?"
Chapter 12: Outbreak pt2
Notes:
I only checked for redlines so if you find any rogue words no you didn't lmaoooo
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
« « « Uriel
What a wonderful Monday morning to be walking into the Bureau's holding cells to. Water affinity Sentinels were holding fire blankets up against a melting wall, the lights that were still intact were flickering like the hallway in a horror film, and the ones that weren't- along with all the windows in the ground floor, were shattered and strewn all over the floor like snowfall.
What the fuck happened before she came in?
Manicured nails carefully held a thermos of definitely just coffee as she stepped over the glass shards, heels crunching against the fragments as she ignored the very unappealing sound like a stalling grinder. She scanned the area as she made her way to the stairs, already seeing that one of the elevator boxes was halfway out of the shaft, the doors cracked open. She didn't want to know where the other one was.
When she made it down the two floors to the holding cells, she was surprised to find it untouched. Pristine, even. The Suneater team was behaving and quietly sitting in their large cell. Uriel had even managed to pull some strings and get some chairs and beds in there so they weren't stuck sleeping on those shitty ass planks of wood the Bureau tried to pass off as benches. The beds were also pretty ass if she had to be honest, but it was better than nothing. She could give them her own snacks and coffee that she brought for herself but trying to get them anything besides stale nutrients rations was asking for too much. She really did feel bad about that part. She'd had them before, once. Very quickly decided starving for a few days was genuinely better than having to force those down.
As the woman mused to herself and walked to her office, she was greeted by a tap on the doorframe- Wukong in the hallway outside of her door. He mentioned before he didn't love the vibes of her office or whatever but this was just rude.
Still, she sighed and set down her coffee for a moment, fishing around her stash of snacks for some variety to offer the kids in her charge before hoisting a black leather bag onto her shoulder and picking up the thermos again. Stepping out into the hall to greet the towering man, she took a sip while they made their way over to the cell to greet their inmates for the day.
"So, what happened?"
She had asked, using her free hand to point up towards the ceiling to indicate the ground floor. These containment buildings were usually pretty far from Gate spawns and any lab experiments. Couldn't risk their inmates getting ideas and trying to escape, was apparently their reasoning.
"Labs were field testing some new Gate formulas and one of their Sentinels mutated from what I heard. Real nasty thing. Worse than rampancy. Took out two buildings on the way over here before being subjugated and then it just exploded into particles."
The blond man followed her into the cell, giving a nod to Hyunsung as he stepped to the side to let them through the usual entrance.
Uriel was quick to release her hold on the bag as Jihye and Namwoon ransacked it like starved dogs.
Well. It wasn't entirely wrong to call them starved.
Three weeks in to being brought to the compounds, Suneater was a name full of mystery. The researchers wanted to dissect them for science, but couldn't get clearance. The ones that were brave enough were quickly taken care of by Suneater themselves. Breaching protocol and endangering themselves and everyone in the compound, Uriel had managed to write them off as incompetent personnel. Not entirely incorrect either. The idiots didn't know how the holding cells worked and turned off entire walls in their attempts to enter. They were perfect opportunities to just take them away, but she didn't have any excuses that would work for an entire group of eight people to all go missing under her watch. There was a non-zero risk that would result in losing any ability to find traces of Dokja and more dangerously, it might've encouraged the Bureau to experiment on him until he died.
It would take a few more weeks of building trust before she had the courage to address any of the elephants in the room.
Another month passed and she mustered up the courage.
With how many missing persons cases the compound created from Suneater and Uriel consistently pressing for the Bureau to do something, it seemed they eventually slated the floor to be forgotten and die. One too many conflicts with the higher ups and her pushing the envelope of what they were happy with her asking and what they weren't. She'd managed to talk Joonghyuk and the other into agreeing to the initial physical and blood draw, but anything beyond that was like pulling teeth with a nail clipper. Did she blame them? No, absolutely not. She hasn't gotten anywhere with information about Dokja, but she did hope to open the door with information about the kids they used to look after.
"We need to talk."
Uriel began, offering up her daily tribute of brewed coffee for the three women who seemed to be the actual operating force behind the research team. Yoo Joonghyuk, the man that he is, felt like an untrained dog waiting to break out of his muzzle and bite someone without his Guide around. Did she blame him? No. She's surprised he even agreed to this. Uriel had no doubt that if he actually exerted himself and disregarded everyone else's safety, Yoo Joonghyuk was a man who could make the entire continent disappear.
She had to find out what they saw in the Grave of Atlas.
"About?"
Yoo Sangah had approached. She was warm and friendly, but Uriel could never shake the razor's edge of warning, not the way honeyed words were waiting for one moment- one reason to lose the repertoire that the woman had been building with the research team. The blonde was always aware of the lioness that led the pack. She had to be.
She also had to respect that she was in their lair.
"Bureau is asking for more blood. From Joonghyuk. Just a vial."
"No."
…Okay, yeah she expected this. With a soft huff, Uriel glanced over to where Wukong was. Useless gorilla of a man. He was chummy with Heewon and Hyunsung and left the negotiations to her. She couldn't blame him, she was one ranked as an Inquisitor. Blood from one of the strongest Sentinels in history was a high value resource that everyone was after. There weren't a lot of people willing to try and obtain said blood without said Sentinel's approval, though. Wager information about Kim Dokja? That wouldn't work. She was sure Sooyoung would spot her bluff a mile away. Uriel was many things, but a convincing liar was not one.
There was one option. If her gut feeling was right, this would work. If she could get a vial of blood she could use it as a bargaining chip against the Bureau. They've been trying everything to keep her in the dark about where the Altar was, and what it was actually for. There had to be a reason for that.
Uriel gave a sigh, choosing to reposition and sit down by them, making sure Joonghyuk was able to watch as she pulled out her phone, the woman opened up a memo and started typing as she spoke again.「Don't react to the text. The Bureau might try and use it as blackmail.」
"I understand your hesitation. The Bureau hasn't really given you a reason to trust them, but cooperation will expedite whatever they're holding you for and will help propel Sentinel research beyond what mankind knows currently."
「If you provide your blood I can negotiate with the Bureau for information on Kim Dokja. I can also act as a liaison for you and Mia.」
It was quiet, but the soft sound of Joonghyuk's inhale didn't go unnoticed. She really needed to start getting their trust if she wanted anything to work. The last time they tried doing things by force, she ended up in stasis with Wukong and Hades for several years. Persephone was beside herself managing everything on her own, and their star warned them not to do that again since the Plotter was being weaponized against them. This was such a mess. She needed their knowledge, and to understand why their star allowed these mortals to meet him.
"He'll do it."
Seolhwa had cut in- gently, but firmly, inserting herself between Uriel and Joonghyuk. The blonde wasn't even upset or surprised at this point. She was expecting Joonghyuk to grab her by the neck again like the first time she had to handle a personnel breach. Getting him under control after that scare was hell.
"But I'll draw his blood here, that should fulfill both conditions, yes?"
Right. It would be unreasonable to herd everyone into an exam room for the blood draw, and Joonghyuk about skinned that one researcher alive when she came in during the first exam. The other option was to remove him from the group temporarily, but he made it clear that under no uncertain terms, if they were separated again he would manually trigger a rampage.
Uriel wasn't confident in even Wukong being able to stop him if that happened.
"Okay. We'll do it your way. I'll let them know, I'll bring the equipment here in two days for you to use."
Two days passed, and as agreed Uriel made her way to the lab to pick up the tools. It was supposed to be uneventful. She wasn't supposed to overhear how they doped up Subject Lumina on enough sedatives to kill a whale. She wasn't supposed to hear how they were going to harvest blood from him for their research, and then his organs when his body failed. Wasn't supposed to hear how they were starting to be tired of dealing with the team and would execute them in the next few days, how they couldn't wait to get their hands on the research team to see if they were any different from a normal subject after being in the Grave for so long.
The acidic burn of bile welled up in Uriel's throat as her blood ran cold. She was going to be sick. She had to get them out. She-
"Inquisitor?"
The young woman at the lab's reception counter tilted her head towards Uriel, waving the packet of supplies in her face to get her attention. Looking down, Uriel felt an indescribable feeling welling in her chest, surging into her throat and threatening to overtake anything she was going to say. With a nervous chuckle, she quickly took the tools from the woman and gave a short nod, briskly walking back to the compound with a single-minded purpose as she ignored everyone trying to greet her in favor of heading to the stairs.
Slamming the door open, she practically flew down the stairs to the holding floors, only stalling when she also slammed this door open and it swung back shut with a particularly harsh rattle of protest after hitting something.
"What the fuck?!"
Wukong? His voice was muffled, but that was definitely him.
The massive man greeted her as he opened the door again, holding the back of his head with furrowed brows. Uriel stared back at him only long enough to step through the doorway, dragging him along with her as she made a beeline for the Suneater cell.
"We have to go."
Dropping the blood supplies on the ground as she stepped in, she scanned the cell with an urgency that brought everyone to their feet and began converging towards her.
"What happened?"
Joonghyuk spoke in a way that she understood innately. 「What happened to Kim Dokja.」She couldn't tell them yet, not here. Before anyone could react properly, Uriel braced both palms on either side of Joonghyuk's face and forced him to make eye contact with her.
In that brief moment, a spark of energy roared to life as it danced between their pupils and a ring of white flames erupted around the cell and immediately began warping the air around them. The confusion and panic from Suneater was drowned out as she forced Joonghyuk to maintain eye contact with her.
The very air shook with a magnitude that caused metal to groan in the distance, and from behind her, Joonghyuk just barely made out the form of Wukong frantically trying to reach them as he yelled out in panic.
"URIEL DON'T-"
» » » Dokja
"What do you mean they're gone?"
Dokja sat up from the bed as Bihyung brought stored rations. It was a new day…probably. Apparently he'd been under a drug induced coma for several months, hooked up to an alarming amount of IVs and monitors while the Bureau actively caused and encouraged weird shit to happen to his body. It made sense. His blood looked like a melted bath bomb. His body felt weak, everything was too loud, his bones felt too big, his skin too tight.
"Three months ago, Compound Three where your friends were being kept vanished."
Bihyung's words were quick. It was easy to get answers when you still had the strength to break something's neck, he supposed. Not that he would harm this little monster..probably.
Three months? That must've been around the time something in the back of his mind reacted. At the time he thought it was a dream, but hearing these events from Bihyung..maybe not. When individuals were Bonded, there were documented instances of an intense feeling of lonliness when they were too far apart from one another. Apparently in the case of one being dead, the survivor mourned with an overwhelming emptiness that would often lead to suicide if not monitored. He luckily didn't feel the latter, so Joonghyuk and the others must be alive somewhere. How was he supposed to get out of here though?
"What happened? There must be something about whatever incident happened, and how come no one's come in here aside from you?"
It was suspicious. Things were working out too well. He'd been taken from wherever they were keeping him for at least four….days? now, yet no one was here trying to kill him or get him back under sedatives. Just ..this thing. Bihyung.
"They're still investigating what happened here. The day I brought you here was the same day it happened. The Shadow Man told me what to do. I don't know the details, but they're in the process of cataloging and cleaning up all of the..all the bodies. I heard it'll be a few weeks until they get through everything and send a Sentinel here to reconnect the teleporter link. For now, they don't know we're alive."
Okay….
"And my friends?"
"Oh, I.."
Bihyung trailed off, clearly hesitant. It didn't last long when Dokja roughly grabbed him by a horn and pulled him close.
"I'm not above eating raw monster meat."
Dokja's warning was cold, emotionless. It was also the truth. Monster meat was much more palatable than dumpster diving.
"A sinkhole opened and destroyed the entire facility grounds. I don't know the details of what caused it, just that it was used to safely remove the Suneater Research Team from the Bureau's control. ..they were planning on killing them all. Determined the sunk cost fallacy wasn't worth it between the resources they were costing and lack of results from you. And them."
The last bit was quieter, like a scared child expecting to be scolded. For Dokja, it felt like being thrown in cold water. His thoughts immediately spiralled to the worst case scenario as his grip on Bihyung's horn tightened, ignoring the way the Gate monster winced in response.
"What do you mean?"
"Baat!"
A burst of energy forced them apart and threw Dokja back against the bed as Biyoo erupted out of his chest along with his spirit body. Bewildered, he stared at the two.
"Biyoo??"
Dokja bodily flinched when she rammed into the side of his head, possibly her way of telling him to calm down before he did something rash, but who taught her these terrible manners?
Still, it did give him a moment to start putting things in line. One, he knew Joonghyuk was alive. If Joonghyuk was alive that meant everything most likely was too. As aloof as he tended to behave, Dokja was fully confident his Bondmate would kill a man before anything happened to their friends. Two, he knew his and Joonghyuk's Guiding Circuits were…unique. While his was defective from birth, Joonghyuk's was damaged from being a test subject. They were alive. The event must have been a result of escape for survival. Initially, Dokja had thought it was a dream so he'd just coddled Joonghyuk and told him to behave.
As he thought, the willowy man rubbed circles into Biyoo's fur with his thumb while his little ferret coiled around his neck to get comfortable. The gears were turning, and he didn't notice whatever unspoken conversation she was having with Bihyung.
"He induced a rampage."
Eventually Dokja spoke, deducing the most likely course of action. Even he didn't fully understand the conditions or results of Joonghyuk's rampancy, only that the man had a degree of influence and count enter some sort of bullet time. If he rampaged and used that time to move everyone out manually it wouldn't be farfetched to think he could effectively fake their deaths.
It was also something that only their team would know about. Joonghyuk wasn't someone who would go into rampage to normalize his Guiding Circuit, he was someone who could store away the energy that would normally push him into rampancy, not without drawbacks. The blowback from using rampant energy always left him pretty haywire, so they actively discouraged him and Dokja would keep tabs on his health to try and stabilize it himself through consistent Guiding.
"Rampaging isn't something that can be controlled?"
Bihyung had asked in response, clearly confused. He was right to be. Being able to decide whether or not to "be" rampant was unheard of, and Yoo Joonghyuk was probably the only person in the world that could do that. Reaching over, the man placed a hand on Bihyung's head.
"It is, if it's Yoo Joonghyuk."
He spoke confidently. There was no reason not to, after all. Dokja knew it to be a fact. A soft, resigned sigh exhaled from his nose as the man brought Biyoo closer to his face, stilling for the briefest moment.
There was…a sound. He had initially thought it was just atmospheric silence, but that wasn't it. He noticed his spirit body react to it to, sliding out from against his neck and leaping off the bed past Bihyung as he flinched, startled by the creatures sudden movement.
"Hey. You mentioned this Shadow Man before. Tell me more about it."
"The monsters all hear him, he's been here for as long as we've known. He's quiet, but speaks with a loneliness only pack monsters can ever know from what I heard." Bihyung had explained, lightly tapping his feet on the ground beneath them as he spoke. There was a muffled, almost hollow sound that Dokja never noticed before, maybe it'd always been there. Maybe the floorboards were loosened in whatever event wiped out this place. "He helped us sometimes when we would get lost or not understand a human's command, but he's been quiet ever since he asked me to bring you here."
Dokja hummed to himself, slowly shuffling over to where his spirit body had lay down. It was an indicator that something was there and he had to find out what. With the way Biyoo was fidgeting in his hold he wondered if it was something that resonated with her…with him. The Dreaming One seemed to be watching through her, but he must be running out of time if he wasn't able to act directly. Bihyung stood behind him nervously, obviously not understanding what his plans were.
Honestly, Dokja wasn't sure what his plan was either. Testing the grip strength on his hand a few times, the man did his best to form..something. A blade, a knife, a needle- anything that he might be able to use to pry up the panels. His energy sparked to life like struck flint, but ultimately sputtered out. Damn. How bad was his condition?
"Hey."
He glanced over at Bihyung, ignoring the way he flinched. There was definitely something there, he could hear his spirit body trying to scratch away at the
"Is there anything we can use to destroy the floor?"
Dokja watched the Gate monster think long and hard for a moment before shaking his head. To a degree, he expected that. He wasn't sure what other facilities were here at..wherever they were, but it was likely most things that could be useful for anything were emptied out when not in use. He hadn't recovered enough yet to just break it himself either so looking for another option was the only choice they had.
"You might be able to break the floor if you drop something, though."
Hmmm….dropping something? Dokja tapped the floor with the toe of his shoe. No, actually the more he thought about it, he briefly recalled Bihyung mentioning this is where Gate monsters were brought to be 'housebroken' by the Bureau so it was more likely that the floor walls were designed to contain otherworldly creatures. It was probably a stupid idea for him to think piercing it would be easy, and an impact like dropping objects was probably the first thing that it would be fortified against. With a hum, he looked at the floor for a moment and jolted when Biyoo separated from him again and hovered around the area for a moment before sitting on one particular spot. It would be a lie to say he wasn't perplexed about her fixation there, and Bihyung seemed to be drawn to the area as well.
With their full attention on her, the little fragment of energy looked like she was vibrating…or trying really hard to poop. Hey, he didn't know how nonhuman things worked okay.
The questions gathering at the tip of his tongue were answered when she erupted into a firework of sparks that caused something beneath the floor to react and scared the shit out of him in the process. It was immediate and all-consuming as a mass of midnight blue spines cleaning burst out of the floor like a grapeshot centered around the white fragment. Bihyung was just small enough to be able to avoid the onslaught, but Dokja wasn't so lucky as he tried to deflect any spines that aimed for his space. The fatigue of being bed bound for an unknown amount of time really took it out of you.
"What the fuck is this?"
Dokja called warily, hesitant to touch the masses of energy. It was pretty, sure, but he didn't need to know if it would try and absorb him like a symbiote or something. Judging from Bihyung's expression he didn't know- or at least wasn't confident enough to provide an answer that would be satisfactory. Well…he supposed there was one way to find out whether or not it would try and kill him.
Cautiously, he reached out and touched one of the spike…things. It was smooth, glittered like car paint, it wasn't cold..it almost felt body temperature? Dokja nearly jumped out of his skin when they retreated back into the ground. There was residue left behind that was slowly coagulating and sliding towards Biyoo like some sort of magnetic pull. Without thinking Dokja stepped over the …slime? to pick up the little fragment of Dreams.
"It's the Shadow Man."
Bihyung approached the two and carefully scooped up the sparkling slime on the ground. Only one of the company was alarmed when it began to take shape in the form of something vaguely humanoid. It was a little cute, he supposed. It gave a very strong resemblance to oobleck, now that he looked at it. Maybe the consistency was similar to some type of quasiliquid.
The period following felt like watching the world through frosted glass on a foggy morning. It was the same routine of recovering, watching his spirit body interact with Biyoo and the Shadow Man, and learning more about the Bureau and the current world as he knew it from Bihyung. Not having a phone or anything to read was a slog, but he would survive. Begrudgingly.
Luckily Sentinels and Guides generally had a shorter refractory period when it came to recovery and getting back up and running compared to normal people and it wasn't long before he could begin seriously planning on scouting the rest of the building and how to get out. Dokja periodically thought about that time months ago, the dream-like void when he saw Joonghyuk. It felt like instinctively he knew what was happening, even if he didn't know what was happening. He recalled his Bondmate's touch, the way he held on like it was the end of the world. The way he looked at Dokja like he was a Messiah. Be good, don't cause trouble, he had recalled telling Joonghyuk in those few fleeting seconds. That was probably the fragmented moment right before his rampage triggered.
"—a. Dokja!"
Bihyung was standing at the bed, paws tightly gripping the sleeve of Dokja's shirt. Ah..he must have fallen asleep. There was an unplacable expression on the creature's face as the man sat up, looking down as three little entities tumbled off of his chest. When did they get there? And why was he the one being used as a bed when the actual bed was right there.
"Are you okay? You've been spacing out a lot lately."
"Hm? Oh. Did you know we Sentinels and Guides - those with a Guiding Circuit, are able to enter a state of torpor? It helps with cell regeneration, solo energy circulation, and slows body functions like metabolism for prolonged survival. That's all."
It wasn't as if entering that state was unnecessary. Dokja had to recover, and they had to ration the food. Luckily running water and potable water weren't a concern, the facilities like the bath and toilet were still functional for some reason. However, while monsters could usually survive off ambient Gate energy, Dokja wasn't that fortunate so they had to be careful about the dwindling supplies. The stasis state had been steadily seeing more use once he was stable enough to be mobile on his own.
"We'll have to find a way out of here as soon as possible before I end up starving. I can't seem to find any exits currently, though. You said this place was called The Altar, right? Do you know anything about it?"
Dokja had looked over to Bihyung, hoping to glean any information. It didn't seem like Biyoo would be very useful at the moment, though he did notice the way she seemed to be able to siphon out more goo from the floor bit by bit must be by design. The fragment of the Shadow Man - the Plotter, Dokja had begun referring to it as after hearing the faintest whisper from the stress ball, was noticeably bigger from when it first formed too.
As pale lips parted to mention the Plotter fragment's size, the prickle of threat nipping at the back of his neck caused Dokja to instinctively react, head whipping to the side as the air thrummed to life with electricity. The energy welling up across his skin was quickly settled and silenced when he spotted the anomaly- the cause of it. Behind Bihyung, peeking out from the doorway of the room that led into a hallway was a concentration of Gate energy that honestly made him feel nauseous the longer he looked at it. Dokja tried to keep it together, but quickly ended up retreating to the bathroom to evacuate what little stomach contents he had. Mostly water and bile, the foam gathering at the corners of his mouth was quickly washed away when he rinsed out his mouth.
"My apologies, I didn't realize how sensitive you were."
It was a voice that was carried in the air, surrounding him like a blanket. Suffocating him like a tarp.
Taking a step into the threshold with trepidation, Dokja peered into the room. Bihyung and Biyoo didn't react- in fact they weren't moving at all. His spirit body had retreated back to him, fur stood on end and looking more like an oversized pipecleaner than a weasel with how on edge he was. This was…odd. There weren't any known cases of Gate monsters being able to affect the flow of time like this- much less fully stop it. …Stop?
Dokja's gunmetal gaze shifted, sweeping the room. No, that wasn't right. Time wasn't stopped, just slowed. It felt like what he experienced before when Sentinels went into rampage. There were records that showed some could enter a sort of fever time right before their Guiding Circuit crashed. Joonghyuk could safely enter this sort of rampant state as a combat tactic so to a degree it certainly felt familiar.
"Just surprised. If you can do this and approached me, you're not here to take me out."
He had to bluff his way out of this and didn't have the courage to disclose that this new challenger had actually scared the shit out of him manifesting in a darkened doorway like some fucking cryptid sleep paralysis demon.
The airy lilt of a giggle caused the man to visibly flinch, eyes tracking the movements as it entered the room and began taking on a more humanoid form. Feminine, towering over him in a way that made him think of David and Goliath. Definitely something that was probably born from Gates.
"Well…in a sense, I am. Your friends are with my friends, a wonderfully lively bunch. We came to an agreement so I came to retrieve you."
Well, it didn't seem like she(?) was lying, at least. He didn't know what to make of it, relaxing just a fraction when he noticed the stilled time slowly beginning to catch back up. He tried to ignore the sound of surprise from Bihyung at the sudden intruder. Dokja had lifted a hand in response to discourage him from acting out. ..He wasn't sure the furry rabbit would actually be able to do anything, now that he thought about it.
"And how do you plan on retrieving me? Hopefully in one piece."
"Well, that is ideal but not necessarily a requirement in your case."
There was a giggle in the other's tone that made Dokja's blood run cold. That was a joke, right? That was a joke, right?
"I'm kidding. That ■■ of yours might actually cry. Yoo Joonghyuk I believe his name was?"
Dokja stilled in response. Joonghyuk? So it wasn't bluffing. He wasn't sure if there was an actual plan in place, he didn't know how it got here either, so perhaps that was a good starting point.
"How did you find me? This place? I checked everywhere but there's no entrance or exit, there's no external windows either. Actually before all that, who are you?"
"You've sure had a lot of questions, hm? You don't recognize me?"
「Persephone」
A voice - his voice, resonated in Dokja's core as he understood. This was Persephone. In most worlds where she manifests, she was called a goddess. He couldn't quite remember what she was capable of, but if this was Persephone it made sense that she found him so easily. There was no way his escape from this place would be that easy though.
"So then are you here to whisk me away in a manly fashion?"
He tried to lighten the mood in turn. Once he realized who this was, seeing Biyoo eventually wander over and nuzzle up against her cheek didn't surprise him.
"You could say that. I can't, directly. I can set up everything to work out in your favor when you're able to escape."
A Rube Goldberg machine, hm? That certainly was useful, but it raised the question of what stopped her from taking action now.
Ah- No, actually he knew. The Bureau still had the Great Plotter and he was sure this little chunk of ferrofluid wasn't all of him. There was a high chance he wasn't whole here and they could weaponize him against them. They'd clearly done it before.
….
"How are you here now?"
He was sure that the wording wouldn't be lost on her, and he was..curious. He could overlook and excuse her being able to get into this building, Persephone was a woman of many talents. But how was the Bureau not mobilizing against them? Against the two making contact.
"That friend of yours, Yoo Sangah is quite a woman."
Persephone had responded crypitcally, though Dokja could sort out what she meant. Sangah was possibly the hardest one of their group to contain. Even after all this time he wasn't entirely sure of what her entire shopping list of abilities was, and every time he asked she gave him a scary response so after a point he stopped trying.
"I can't stay for much longer, her power is starting to wear off."
Dokja wasn't one to ignore a warning like that. Knowing everyone was safe had given him a renewed vigor, though.
"Go, quickly before it runs out. Tell them I'm okay, I'll come back soon..please."
With a nod, he watched as she dissipated back into the shadows.
A few days had passed since the first encounter, Persephone was indispensable in scouting for them and helping to plan a method of escape. It seemed the building did have doors but they weren't natively built in. They reacted to a certain threshold of Gate energy more of as a failsafe for any researchers on site and would likely leave whatever monster they were in the process of taming at the time to die. He'd expected that from how he recalled the Bureau behaving prior to the Grave dive, but it was still unsettling to hear about how dismissively they treated lives that weren't their own. Any other method of entrance was only possible through a spatial type Sentinel who was able to create gateways through specific coordinates. All of their currently applicable Sentinels with the clearance to create such doors were all dead, though. Apparently whatever happened the day that everything else in The Altar died had caused a reverse current of excessive Gate energy that damaged the Sentinels' Guiding Circuits.
Serves them right.
"So this place does have doors, but the doors only open when a specific reading of Gate energy is met or surpassed? And there's segments of the Great Plotter being used like a repellant that naturally suppresses Gate energy?"
Dokja laid out what they had established thus far. For the most part he was recovered now. Not fully, but enough to go wild without risk of damaging himself or his Guiding Circuit. As he spoke, a script of cyan electricity hung in the air as he used his energy to put everything out in writing like a conspiracy board.
"That's right. The suppression has weakened since our little Biyoo here has been drawing out the Plotter's fragments from the power grid they have set up here."
Bihyung had been helpful in keeping all the information in order, perhaps because he was a Gate monster. Being exposed to all three entities seemed to give him a more innate knowledge of how aspects were most likely harnessed by the Bureau. Dokja couldn't imagine them smart enough to utilize power in any other method other than straightforward, to be honest.
Okay. A plan was coming together. From the rumblings that Persephone passed off while she scouted the rest of the areas for them, it seemed they would have to act soon unless they wanted to wait for the Bureau to come back and reclaim their lab rats.
The last thing Dokja wanted to do was find out if they'd make good on their threats of wanting to dissect him.
"Can I ask you to do something for me?"
Dokja's tone had shifted, more polite- or at least not as spicy as before when he had to deal with the Bureau personnel now that he'd gotten used to Persephone's presence and she and Bihyung had confirmed that they bled out all of the Plotter's energy from the building.
"Speak."
She had shifted closer with an inhuman fluidity to her form. Though her form said "human body," everything about her said "this is not a human" like some Eldritch entity. In a "it looks like a deer, but it's not a deer and it never was" sort of entity. The prior days she was polite enough to move minimally, or at least take on a human visage that functioned, anatomically, like a human would.
She was, but that was besides the point.
"I'd like you to open a Gate that resonates with the Plotter's frequency. As big and as charged as you can. Big enough that the Bureau can't ignore it."
"…"
Persephone was quiet for a long while, looking between the lopsided grin that was practically written with "misplaced confidence" and the fragmented entity nestled against his neck like a little bird. The Plotter was much larger now that he absorbed what was being used by this building, but there was the problem of finding the rest of him.
Wanting a gate that resonated with the Plotter, though? It was possible. She and Hades were likely the only ones that would be able to mimic another's energy- short of The Dreaming One, but that came with risks, too. Not for them, but it was something they hadn't thought to try before. There was a non-zero chance that the manifested Gate would react once it came in contact with the Plotter and mutate.
"I can, but what's your plan if the Gate mutates? That might be too dangerous even for you."
Dokja was aware that it was dangerous, they'd been doing small scale tests with Biyoo and the Plotter fragment that they had. He was volatile, but something about his energy seemed to amplify effects. The man wondered if that was actually the cause of his recovery being much faster than anticipated.
While his mind wandered, off he was brought back by the look that Persephone was giving him.
"You have a plan, right?"
He could lie, sure. But no, he didn't really have a plan at the moment and could only attempt to keep up the much elss confident smile that she definitely wasn't believing. Another beat of silence before Dokja innocently looked at her, batting those large doe eyes as if he wasn't about to single-handedly force the world to put in writing what does and doesn't legally count as a war crime.
"You've got to be kidding."
She'd encountered this man for all of a week and he was going to be the death of her.
Notes:
pt3 should be coming later tonight since I'm working on the chapter on stream lmao
Chapter 13: Outbreak pt3
Notes:
pt2 and pt3 were done in the same session (posted approx 6 hours apart) so double check that you didn't miss pt2 ig lmao
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Dokja was confident in Persephone's abilities, but even he was surprised to feel the air rumbling just minutes after she left.
There was an oppressive gravity that pressed down as the air pressure increased. It felt like his bones were too heavy for his body, like his skeleton was trying to free itself from its prison of flesh and return to the soil below.
Damn..so this was the true hunger of a Gate. Maybe because they were a research team and not a suppression team, this was possibly the first time he'd ever been so closer to the epicenter of a Gate spawn. It was also possible that this feeling was more due to the source of the Gate spawn. He wasn't sure what caused normal ones to open, but he had a feeling requesting an otherworldly entity release her energy for the express purpose of causing a riot was a Spiders George situation.
"Bihyung! Get ready!"
As soon as the words left Dokja's mouth, the lights shut off as the building rumbled and the ominous red ambience of emergency lights came on. It wasn't enough to easily navigate by, but it was enough to help him see where the corners were. They just had to get to a door and would hopefully be free.
He also had to figure out where the hell his clothes were. Maybe there was some hapless worker's locker he could raid in the mean time. Now that he thought about it, he wouldn't be entirely surprised if the Bureau had just had his things destroyed. He liked that coat, too, but getting away from the Bureau was more important than finding his clothes. With his spirit body hiding away, Dokja grabbed Biyoo and the Plotter fragment, tucking them into his pocket and hoisting Bihyung under an arm to prepare to make a break for it.
Like Persephone said, a thin veneer of wall fell away to expose a door as the atmospheric pressure steadily intensified.
It was getting harder to breathe and he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to hold out.
Kicking open the door, the two of them were confused and alarmed to be greeted by a handful of Sentinels and Guides- only two pairs from what he counted unless others were hiding. In the distance, he could see the towering silhouette of the Bureau's main building. The sky was dark, but the blinding lights lining the main building felt like a bug zapper taunting insects to come by in the middle of the night. Having the veil of nightfall would likely work in his favor, though. Less idle hands would probably prioritize keeping the top brass safe instead of worrying about him.
To a degree he had expected the way they just rushed at him with a clear lack of coordination. What were they even doing here? From the looks of it the building was fairly isolated too. An island? Or something similar. There was only one road in and out that looked like a drawbridge. If he had to guess it was a man-made island just for The Altar.
"Dokja look out!"
Bihyung's voice had caught his attention, following his line of sight to see a Sentinel charging at him like an unrestrained bull. Deftly sidestepping, Dokja only needed to make contact, the briefest touch before the Sentinel's Guiding Circuit was overloaded. Judging by the expressions on the others, no one had been briefed on what exactly Dokja was, or how dangerous he could be.
The glorified rabbit's cries were a bit distracting, so as Dokja scanned the remaining Bureau dogs, he noticed one was a close enough build to his own. This would have to do for proper clothing.
"Bihyung, be sure to take him out."
"Wha-AT—"
Dokja's words were spoken with an ominous smile as he mustered as much force as he could without probably killing Bihyung before launching him straight at the gathering. It almost looked like a children's bowling set the way they gathered up in a panic and were swiftly knocked over as the Gate monster smashed into them and bounced off, landing on one of their cars.
Approaching the other three, the escapee glanced at one that he'd marked earlier and picked him up by the collar.
"Strip."
"You could have warned me."
Bihyung grumbled, sitting on the floor of the passenger seat as Dokja drove down the lone road at an alarming rate. The two pairs that were there weren't dead, yet. They'd take a long time to recover with how badly he overloaded their Guiding Circuits, and destroying the other car would give them time to get some distance in case the Bureau sent more personnel after them. The research leader was dressed in stolen clothes, not the first time and certainly wouldn't be the last time. It resembled Joonghyuk now, he'd mused. A black turtleneck that was a bit loose in the torso on him, black cargo pants that were a bit loose overall, too.
"That wasn't enough of a warning?"
He'd asked in amusement, looking over. His spirit body was sitting on the passenger seat with the Plotter and Biyoo. He wasn't sure why Bihyung was sitting on the floor but whatever. That wasn't really his concern, now was it.
The dimmed lights of the car's interior cast a myriad of hues against the white fur of Bihyung and Biyoo, luckily one of the lights seemed to be coming from what he supposed was a radio. He wasn't sure if it was open mic or hot mic, but either way there was something amusing about hearing the frantic panic from the other end.
「All personnel evacuate the Bureau headquarters. I repeat, all personnel evacuate the Bureau headquarters. A spawning Gate has come in contact with the defense radius of the main building and mutated. The signature is multiplying at a rate we haven't seen before and it's unlikely that the defense radius will be able to keep personnel safe.」
Defense radius? Dokja looked over at Bihyung. That was probably the rest of the Plotter.
"We'll go meet up with the others before going rogue."
« « « Uriel
"What did you do!"
The fury, the hurt, the rage in Yoo Joonghyuk's voice resonated with Uriel in a bone-deep pain as he lashed out, grabbing her neck with a force that would certainly have killed her if she were human. She didn't try and fight it. He was justified in his anger. She knew how painful inducing a rampage was, but she didn't have a choice at the moment.
They would be planning on executing Suneater that day.
They weren't human- could barely be considered mortal, either. Their species generating an avatar into a world was often considered an apocalyptic event, or at least the start of one. Celestial bodies, some worlds considered them.
Gods. Devils. Monsters, in others.
It always hurt when she was treated like a herald of the end times.
She raised a hand in response, a sign for Wukong to stay his hand before he fought back on her behalf.
That's right, this was deserved. She could at least allow him to vent his anger and when he calmed down, could explain things. Uriel would just have to wait.
The moment passed rather quickly, perhaps a few minutes, perhaps only seconds. She wasn't sure, but soon enough his immediate outburst subsided and his grip released from her. The way Han Sooyoung and the others looked at her in mild horror didn't go unnoticed. There was no way Yoo Joonghyuk would've held back in this situation, so for her to be calmly standing there and letting him take it out on her…
"I have a lot to explain."
When Uriel heard about how the Bureau was planning on getting rid of Suneater, she had acted before they could. They were quick when it came to cleanup, so she had to beat them to the research team.
At that moment, when she had taken hold of Joonghyuk, she induced rampage. It wasn't hard, since he was already on the cusp- it was actually surprising how lucid he was for a Sentinel that was on the brink of rampage like that. It was something she learned to do in her time at the Bureau, there was a way to purge a Guiding Circuit of all its corruption in one go, but it was often considered something only to be done on suicide missions since the Guide and the surrounding area didn't usually survive the explosion of energy.
She had used Joonghyuk's corrupted energy and her own power to destroy the Compound and fake their deaths, and without any time to explain the situation before she heard the executioners entering the lobby, Joonghyuk must've been in intense pain from the overwrite.
"I didn't have time to explain, but they were going to harvest you all in the name of research."
Uriel began, not expecting them to believe her, but relieved nonetheless when they at least heard her out.
"I purged Yoo Joonghyuk's Circuit and used the energy to take us here, to Eidolon's Rest."
"Which is?"
Jung Heewon had asked, on guard as she placed herself between Uriel and the others as the blonde watched Lee Hyunsung help Yoo Joonghyuk to his feet. He must've lost his footing with his energy drained. It was almost heartwarming as she watched everyone subtly move to position themselves to block her line of sight from him as much as they could.
"It's the base of operations for the Dreaming Abyss. We're trying to fix our interference with the world and remove anomalies that this humanity should never have come in contact with. This instance being the power of one of our own."
"What do you mean 'your'?"
Heewon's expression had worsened at Uriel's explanation, not that she was surprised.
"If you're going to make a scene at least come down first. There's someone they need to meet."
Uriel looked to the side as they were greeted by a tall woman with flaxen hair. She bore a striking resemblance to Yoo Sangah now that the blonde saw them near each other, actually.
Begrudgingly, everyone had been ushered over to a service elevator. The one that came to retrieve them had introduced herself as Persephone and given the research team the general rundown. Uriel had wanted to do it herself, but she had been so caught up with the workings of the Bureau. Wukong gave her a sidelong glance, remaining quiet save for some small talk and answering questions from Jihye and Namwoon that Uriel had tuned out.
When the lift stopped, Uriel and the others watched as a little girl ran straight to the group, another girl and a boy in tow.
"Oppa!"
She watched as the little girl- Mia, ran up to them and threw her entire weight into Joonghyuk. She'd only spoken to the kids a few times. She and Wukong typically returned late and left early due to the Bureau so she wasn't nearly as versed with them as Persephone and her husband Hades were. Now that she watched them, the resemblance to Yoo Joonghyuk was almost alarming. She recalled that Mia had proudly stated she looked a lot like her brother, the woman saw it clearly here.
"It was reuniting them with their kids?"
Uriel had eventually asked, standing by Persephone as she gave a hum in response. Actually, now that she thought about it, humans by nature were generally pack animals. If she boiled them down to their primal instincts it would make sense to show that their young was safe as a peace offering if they were separated before. That explains why Joonghyuk seemed to settle down when she mentioned Mia, but seeing her in person was drastically different than just saying she was safe.
It was heartwarming, looking on as they reunited. Namgung and Kyrgios had wandered over from the commotion too. There was one person left, but she was hopeful that the last piece would be back soon.
"For now lets sit down and talk this over."
Wukong had offered, motioning for her to join them.
As the days passed, Suneater was slowly filled in on everything. The place they were staying- Eidolon's Rest, it was a protected bunker that the Bureau never noticed. With everything functioning off their own energy it was a hideout that was off the grid. Seolhwa was quick to notice that there was the overwhelming presence of Gate energy, but most of them seemed to have quickly understood it was something caused by Uriel and the others.
"I promise I'll explain everything when we get Kim Dokja,"
She had tried to write off, the use of 'when' seemed to at least give them some amount of comfort. Knowing that they would keep fighting until she got him back for them.
They were nearing the end of the season, and she could tell they were growing uneasy. Three months was a long time to not have anything solid. It wasn't all fruitless, though. Uriel had been going out periodically with Persephone, scouting around the Bureau just out of their radar to avoid detection. Wukong did mention wanting to come too, but he didn't know the definition of stealth. Hades preferred staying in the background and was perfectly content just keeping the humans company.
"Do you think we'll find anything?"
Eventually, Uriel asked as the two sat at a pub's outdoor patio. It was one she recalled the researchers mentioning coming here often, and she'd experienced before that just changing her clothing was enough to be unrecognizable to those at the Bureau. They only knew her as the Inquisitor who dressed in black and gold, so it was alarmingly easy.
"Just wait."
Persephone had responded in confidence.
Two hours later they were on their way back and she understood why no one ever knew where The Altar was. Who would have thought the Bureau would dump so many resources into constructing a research prison. A remote island with a manually controlled bridge, a building with no doors or windows, cloaked using the blood and body of the one they've been trying to find.
She would have gone and destroyed everything in a sea of fire if Persephone hadn't reminded her they needed to retrieve someone first.
Uriel would have liked to at least see Bihyung one last time too before they escaped, but given the nature of how the Bureau treated Gate monsters, she wasn't even sure he was alive anymore.
Eventually, they returned back and had good news to share. Everyone had been stable for the last month or so, but coming back with this seemed to boost morale.
"I'm able to bypass their line of defense since Hades and I can mimic wavelengths, but we run into the same problem as the last time I tried. We don't know where our little one is and they find me immediately since we naturally give off the same energy as Gates."
"Why is that, actually?"
Persephone's lamenting had been followed up by Sangah, and everyone stilled. Uriel almost choked on the coffee she was drinking as she frantically slapped Wukong's arm in response. There's no way it wasn't mentioned, was it? They'd even disclosed that they weren't human, they existed in this worldline, but the lives they occupied were closer to avatars in virtual reality as opposed to their own "flesh" and "blood" but had they forgotten the important part of that?
"None of us told you? It's because the Gates are a natural result of our existence, it's where the excess energy manifests in this worldline."
Uriel was quick to explain once she regained her composure. The last thing she wanted was for them to think they were hiding anything. Surely this was brought up when they were explaining why this bunker was called Eidolon's Rest?
"What?"
Jihye ran into view, slamming her hands on the table as she returned from the underground garden with Gilyoung and the girls.
"You're the reason our lives are fucked up like this?"
"Jihye, language."
"Sorry master."
After several hours, everyone had calmed down. It was late, too. Night had fallen hours ago, but it didn't seem like anyone from Suneater was sleeping anytime soon. Actually, she saw Namwoon and Jihye passed out on the couch with the kids. She also definitely noticed several nights when a few of them didn't sleep, or only slept in intermittent cycles. She knew Sentinels and Guides functions differently, but it was still odd to see it firsthand.
"You mentioned before that they're hostile to you on sight,"
Sangah had started conversation while a few of them sat around the table with tea after dinner. Joonghyuk was off somewhere too, but if Uriel had to guess, he was resting somewhere with Mia.
"Right. Wukong and I can suppress our energy and pretend to be human. It's how we were able to infiltrate the Bureau without them getting suspicious. Persephone and Hades can't do that, but they can mask it. The problem is they can't change the amount, just the color and shape."
Sangah had demurely set down her cup in response and given Uriel a sharp-eyed smile in response. It was polite. Tactical. Blood chilling.
"I believe I can help with that."
Uriel woke up the following day to Sangah and Persephone speaking by the lift. It seemed something was happening, given Joonghyuk had apparently determined they needed to start drills again.
"I can only make it last two hours, but it should be enough. You activate it by closing this circuit here and connecting the ends together."
She wasn't sure what they were talking about, but it didn't seem like anything that particularly involved her.
Three hours passed before Persephone returned, and as the lift returned down with her, the woman looked closer to a cat very pleased with herself after a fruitful hunt.
"Dokja's fine now. He's recovering, and he has a fragment from both of our little ones. There was a little white Gate monster with him too, they seemed to be on good terms."
The days following were filled with a renewed vigor, optimism, and…actually, a lot of Joonghyuk going up the lift to stand at the riverside and just….look out at the water? She had asked Seolhwa and Sooyoung about it, but the latter laughed while the former said he was just yearning for his wife. Was Dokja the wife? Wasn't Joonghyuk the wife? Actually- were they even married? She had so many things to process, and Heewon and Hyunsung's affirmation that they were definitely married didn't help.
Six days after Persephone started going to the hidden island, she returned in a form that Uriel hadn't seen in ages. Her form was massive and barely maintaining a human façade. Massive, even towering over Namgung's sturdy frame. Uriel was almost panicked before she noticed the immense drop in her energy.
"What did you do?"
"Opened a Gate."
"How come the sedatives didn't work on you?"
Bihyung pulled his head up over the dashboard, only now finally daring to look around as they sped down the highway. He had no idea where they were going, and at this point, he was too scared to ask. On the other hand, in contrast to his own sense of growing dread, Kim Dokja was as relaxed as ever. One hand gripped the steering wheel as he rested his other arm against the window, fully down and tousling the side of his hair against his face.
Idly, his free hand fidgeted with the humanoid blob stuck to the doorframe. Vaguely, it reminded him of a kitten with how he behaved and looked like slime. Or jelly. The smooth, metallic surface had an extreme iridescent sheen that reflected a dazzling array of colors as they sped past thousands of lights. While he had acknowledged the name he wanted, Dokja had to keep himself from slipping up and wanting to call him Ding Ding every once in a while.
He seemed attached to man, nuzzling against his fingertip in what could only be described as an affectionate manner. He had an idea why, this was a fragment of what the being in God's Cradle was referring to, the Great Plotter, after all. The one he tore apart time to save. And Dokja? Dokja was a fragment of the sleeping god.
"Hm?"
Kim Dokja hummed in response, sparing the poor creature a glance just brief enough to show he was listening. He did find it amusing that Bihyung finally climbed into the seat, Biyoo comfortably sleeping on his lap. He had half a mind to tell him to put the seatbelt on, but he wasn't even sure if it'd be worth it. Would a Gate monster die if they got in a crash? …Well, probably, but.
"Those sedatives they tried using on you were the strongest anti-Guide drugs produced, how come they worked so poorly on you?"
"Oh, that's because-"
"--he's not a Guide."
Yoo Joonghyuk spoke casually. There was no urgency as he picked a piece of sliced beef from the plate before him.
He'd grown...less...aggressive, towards Uriel and the others since being brought here- to Eidolon's Rest. He was still apprehensive about this whole "Dreaming Abyss" thing that they kept trying to assure him and the others that they were trying to help the world- and them, but they've kept their word thus far. Yoo Sangah seemed to believe they were at least worth not being antagonistic towards, so he had to try. Probably. Kim Dokja might reprimand him if he found out he was the only one being particularly difficult.
The updates from Persephone after making first contact were enough to assuage his unease, but did nothing to calm the deepening loneliness since the two were forced to remain separate.
"What do you mean?"
Wukong paused mid-bite, the rice from his chopsticks dropping back into his bowl. Joonghyuk watched as the man shared a look with Uriel. It seemed they really didn't know. ...For how much they swore up and down that they were only with the Bureau to get information, they sure relied on information provided by the Bureau instead of doing their own observations.
Well, he supposed he couldn't really blame them. It was still surprising that they hadn't figured things out yet after all this time. Uriel especially had been in such close contact with them. She knew he was Bonded with Kim Dokja, yet had infallible confidence that he was a Sentinel?
If he had to guess, it was something similar to a boiled frog scenario, but the Bureau didn't have this type of power- the ability or desire to control the world's Sentinels or Guides, before they descended the Grave. Back then, they only wanted to protect themselves from what they didn't understand. Then again, maybe she was just like Dokja- hyperaware in some situations and alarmingly unaware in others.
"I mean,"
Joonghyuk began, spooning more sautéed bamboo shoots into Gilyoung's bowl. Watching the kids eat, seeing them again after so long, Yoo Joonghyuk felt a pang in his chest. They were here. Alive. Healthy. Kim Dokja should be here. He could tell everyone else was growing impatient too. Dokja was their core, and instability would waiting just over the horizon if he didn't feel the surge of his Bondmate's energy through their connection suddenly strength. He was moving, closer to them.
It'd been months since they were brought here, since the day Uriel induced a rampage in Joonghyuk, sent them into a void, and apparently wiped out the holding facility where they were kept to hide their traces. Months since he almost tore into her with his own hands for triggering a rampage and forcing him even further away from Dokja.
It was something, but it wasn't good enough. Not for him.
"Kim Dokja isn't a Guide."
The sleek car skid to a stop as the familiar sparkles of a Gate manifesting began- though in this case it was mutating. Starlight sang through the sky like a prelude of destruction as the unsteady surges of energy felt like a churning sea. From the passenger seat, Bihyung balked, barely daring to peek his head over the dashboard while Kim Dokja looked on casually. This was according to plan, after all. He had requested Persephone awaken a Gate nearby- a big one, to cause the Bureau to go into a panic. He didn't think she would pull out something like this, though.
"The Gate from Persephone? It's so big…what do we do..."
"The same thing Sentinels and Guides were originally born into this world to do. Close it."
With a deep, thunderous rumble, the Gate began opening fully, a kaleidoscope of shattered skies that steadily began spewing out a dense smoke. Judging from the energy, Dokja surmised it was likely a Level 0 Gate- maybe worse since it mutated. Right now it was..maybe 1? Ordinarily that would easily require multiple squads of a dozen or so high ranking attackers strong each from the Bureau to even have a chance of surviving- but.
When did Dokja ever do anything in an ordinary manner? He wasn't Seoul's strongest Sentinel for nothing.
The rafters of the building gave a harsh rattle, it felt like the very walls of Eidolon's Rest were groaning as the recognizable surge of Gate energy pulsed and pounded through the air like a live wire. Uriel stood abruptly in response as though preparing to do...something? Anything. This specific energy was Persephone's, but she rarely ever created large Gates, preferring to open multiple smaller ones to regulate her energy. Something must be wrong. The Suneater team seemed alarmingly blase about the situation, though. Was she overthinking this?
She was…she had to be. If the comments from them were true then it was possible this was according to plan. It wasn't her plan, but it was someone's. She trusted Persephone, and if Persephone said this was part of a plan Dokja came up with, without objection from the rest of Suneater, she just had to trust the process.
Joonghyuk casually rose to his feet, motioning for Uriel to come with him with a very concerning lack of urgency that she instinctively wanted to question. For beings like her and Wukong it was already hard to ignore. They were made of the same energy so Gates always felt…like home, like a severed soul singing for reunion. If they carelessly wandered close to an open Gate it would feed on their own energy and evolve or mutate, but sometimes they couldn't resist the siren song. There were several recorded cases in history from Gates suddenly mutating due to their carelessness of wandering too close.
It was always bittersweet when they appeared and bittersweet when they closed. It felt like homesickness and only being able to peer into your home from the outside windows without being allowed to go in.
"Give that damn rat a good scolding for worrying us so much."
Sooyoung called after Joonghyuk and Uriel as they ascended to the surface through the main lift.
Uriel looked around nervously as they emerged meters from one of the main bridges on the continent, hands impatiently gripping the edges of her pearlescent black blouse. All around them carnage laced the world in distant screams and torn asphalt shredded like paper as the Gate was pouring out monsters at a breakneck speed compared to other Gates.
There was a Level 0 Gate within line of sight not even half a kilometer away down the bridge to their side bleeding out a deep, angry scarlet light that threatened to burn away everything it touched. Massive monsters flooded out like an apocalypse- winged beasts blotted the darkened sky, meters-long leviathans flooded the river and dyed it black with their obsidian bodies, high grade chimeras erupted out and barrelled down the streets. It wasn't just destruction, it was a war on humanity.
"Uriel."
Joonghyuk's deep voice smoothed over her quickly fraying nerves as her emerald gaze shifted away from the gate and towards him. The thrum shaking the air was electrifying and she almost lost herself in her instinct to enter the Gate for the fleeting feeling of home. Almost.
"Do you know why I kept telling you I wasn't the strongest Sentinel that you thought I was?"
As he spoke, Joonghyuk's eyes stayed trained on the Gate, and faintly, Uriel could make out the static buzz of electricity like a generator kicking to life. Her eyes widened as she saw a figure tear out of the Gate-multiple wings reflecting various light sources in a dazzling, prismatic show, dancing through the hoard of monsters with the fluidity of water.
"Uriel!"
Bihyung ran up to them from the bridge, coming from the direction of the Gate. Where did he come from? How did he get away from the Bureau?
"Bihyung?!"
It seemed she was equally as surprised to see him as she took several steps to meet him. What was he doing here? Gate monsters were implanted with a collar designed to kill them if they left the premise unsupervised, so how..?
Their reunion was cut short as the winged figure dancing through the throng looked like it was approaching them at massive speeds. Survival instinct told Uriel to run for cover, but against all odds- Joonghyuk faced the war, arms outstretched as the mass of feathers and untamed energy smashed straight into him. On reflex, Uriel cried out, startled- only just before she was shocked into silence.
In a flash of lightning, the mass of wings melted away into a billowing white coat with excess energy flaking away like flower petals. The lithe frame of a man who looked like he was made from stardust and forgotten dreams was firmly held in Joonghyuk's embrace like he belonged there his entire life. Heads bowed, she watched as they looked at one another in a way that felt like it wasn't meant for this world, like long lost lovers finally being reunited after eternity. Maybe, they were.
Joonghyuk turned to face Uriel, Dokja in his hold as both men looked towards her. Calm. Serene. Violently out of place for the chaos unfolding behind them.
"Its because I'm not the strongest Sentinel,"
Joonghyuk began, not even sparing a glance towards the monsters that had tried to follow Dokja and were quickly approaching them.
"Hi."
Iris flashed a dangerous electric blue casting his gaze into an eerie glow, sparks of lighting danced over his skin in a serenade. Dokja snapped his fingers and the gaping maw of a leviathan that had lunged at them, barely a meter away from making contact, erupted into a mist of blood and gore that smashed against a shield. She hadn't noticed Joonghyuk generate one at all with how dazzled she was at the sight before her. The otherworldly being didn't even pay mind to Bihyung latching onto her side as he warily looked on.
The leviathan's head exploding had danced down its spine like a chain reaction within its body. The one trailing behind it also erupted into bone shrapnel, then the next and the next- death followed a path of chain lightning that raced through the dense wave of monsters all the way back up to the Gate that shattered away into fragments like a rain of glass dropping the world back into a darkness and silence that felt manufactured. A high level Gate had been decimated just as quickly as it fully opened, and the fading light of doomsday left behind the deep, abyssal darkness of night in its remnants.
Uriel and Bihyung bore witness in both awe and horror. Joonghyuk had told her the strongest Sentinel in the world was a man untouchable by man and monster, a being that was beloved, beloathed, and guarded like a precious treasure. A singular entity that the Bureau would never be able to touch.
She didn't know what he meant, initially.
She understood what he meant now.
The man borne of stars and secrets softly gazed upon her with eyes that didn't feel mortal and a smile that spoke of infinite lives, and somewhere, deep in her tired soul- she felt like she understood. Seeing him with her own two eyes felt like an awakening. It felt like the last pieces in her mind were falling into place and everything made sense now. She also realized this must have been why they were so secretive about where Dokja had been kept in the Bureau- they had a long bloodied history of trying to retrieve the Great Plotter and if the Bureau had suspicions that Dokja was connected then they would be cautious about who was exposed to him.
This was him. Her beloved Ancient Dream. The one loved and hated by the Fates, who countless galaxies bowed and wept for. It must have been by design of the precious dreaming one waiting for them at the bottom of the sea that Uriel didn't recognize him until she saw him with her own eyes.
Uriel's lip quivered as she slowly lurched, leaving Bihyung's side but never blinking, never taking her eyes off Dokja as though he would be gone if she looked away for even a millisecond. Joonghyuk had set him down, let him approach her without wariness. He held out a hand to her, and she hesitated. Like a desperate woman offering prayer and being greeted by an angel descending, she laid her hand, shaking and fearful, upon his palm. He was warm. He was awake.
Tears welled in her eyes as she tried to keep her composure. They spilled, silently, searing trails down fair skin as she cried freely, openly. The syllables tumbled from her lips before she could stop herself- a singular name spoken like a prayer unbidden, whispered in a way that begged the universe to listen.
"Kim Dokja."
Notes:
hi it's 9a I'm going to bed lmao
Chapter 14: Intermission: 01
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
It'd been a year since the Bureau was overthrown, getting everything sorted out and ransacking what little documents were left from the Bureau overthrow took much longer than finding personnel that were willing to step up and help reform the foundation. And they even learned things that were gatekept by the old crones that were too scared to relinquish control.
It almost felt like some shounen action manga when the first Sentinels saw the status windows waking up. The Nebula System, the had been agreed on. Scared the shit out of Dokja, too. He'd been in the middle of deep Guiding with Joonghyuk and he'd never acknowledge the sound he made.
Currently, the Sentinel was looking over the rough draft of a handbook he proposed, written up by Han Sooyoung and Asuka Ren that would be uploaded and maintained into the Nebula System so the younger generations would have a helping hand even without a direct mentor. Even he could be nice sometimes.
While he was deeply engrossed in revising all the bullshit Sooyoung included in- he though the wording was funny, but Sangah had strictly said making fun of the kids was not allowed and she'd let Seolhwa bully them if it wasn't adjusted, he nearly jumped out of his skin when Uriel threw the heavy wooden door open with enough force to bang against a bookshelf. The sudden intrusion resulted in the windows of the office being blown out by his power surging, but neither one addressed that.
He could hear it now, Heewon and Sooyoung ganging up on him and calling him incontinent.
With a bone-weary sigh, he looked up at Uriel as she strutted across the short distance with a purpose. Ah fuck, here we go again.
"Yes, Uriel?"
"How did you meet your wif- I mean Guide Joonghyuk?"
Well wasn't she feeling forward today.
With a resigned sigh, Dokja leaned back away from his desk as she dragged over one of the heavy, obnoxiously padded chairs. He was thankful that they had felt pads on the feet. Gods knows what kind of awful racket she'd be making right now without them.
Once she was comfortably settled across the sprawl of paperwork, the sight of her mischievous grin barely hidden behind steepled fingers wasn't missed. Really. In any world, he was weak to her.
"I see I'm not getting anything done until we have storytime."
When he was only given an even bigger doe-eyed begging stare in response, Dokja closed his eyes briefly before beginning.
"It happened about a decade before God's Cradle cracked, so about a century ago now? —"
« « « « «
It was a wonderful, bright, sunny day and Kim Dokja, the malnourished, scraggly young teenager that he was, wanted nothing more than to crawl in a hole. It was always like that, especially when Han Sooyoung was involved. Sure, he was grateful to her for picking his ass up from the streets, it'd been about a year since then, and he'd been slowly inducted into the people she knew like introducing a new cat. He wasn't stupid, he saw the curious glances from the other room like a cat shoving its arm into the gap under a door to bait out whatever was on the other side.
"Well, not registering isn't a problem, but did you actually ask if he wanted to join us?"
The voice filtered in from a cracked door, a relatively reasonable woman, he deduced. Lee Seolhwa, he would later find her name to be.
And she was right. The only thing Dokja knew about Sentinels and Guides was that his Guiding Circuit was modified. His earliest memory was being a young child, barely able to walk and being taken to the Bureau with his mother. They were admitted into the nursery program to study and nuture Sentinels and Guides, but they were separated. He only saw her one other time after that.
The system that the Bureau at the time had was incredibly misguided, but one could argue they were genuinely doing their best with the lack of information they had.
The history the world knew up until that point was scarce, they were called Awakened before, but after God's Cradle cracked, the term became an umbrella term, a very rare subsect of Awakened were neither Sentinels nor Guides, they were something akin to elementalists in another world's fantasy, cultivators in others. From there mutations were much more common, Awakened was still a phrase used on paper but it became more important to differentiate whether or not someone was a Sentinel or a Guide.
"He's unstable, Sooyoung."
"He needs help."
"You think we can help him? He's the same age as us, the only reason we even know what we're doing is because his caretaker happened to be an Awakened researcher before being dismissed."
"He fucking needs help."
Dokja wasn't sure who Sooyoung was arguing with, but maybe he should leave if it was going to cause this much trouble. He wasn't even sure what she was doing in the kindergarten that day, didn't ask what happened when she found him surrounded by splattered bodies and chewed up wreckage.
Didn't ask him why he didn't know where he was.
She took him away from there, and it was the last time he saw his mother, too. When Sooyoung got Dokja in the car, he recalled something primal urging him to watch as they left the remains and it was there he saw her- saw his mother standing before the carnage. She didn't wave, didn't chase after him, just…watched him be taken away.
He had gotten up, tried to slink away while he heard them arguing. Shuffling towards the door as silently as he could. He was very quickly grabbed by the neck like a kitten being scruffed by hands that were just as small as his. It was Han Sooyoung. Of course it was.
"Don't you even fucking thing about leaving!"
Her snarled words as she gently, but incredibly firmly, put him back in bed should have been a precursor of what to expect, honestly.
Dokja was kept in a large room, it must've easily been the size of a studio apartment and was furnished enough to fully live in this singular room. There were two doors in the room, one leading into the rest of the house and one leading into a small yard. He never actually asked what the rest of the house looked like nor why he was kept separated from the others.
For most it would probably be considered isolation only being visited by Sooyoung every day for dinner, but for Dokja it felt more like a security.
"You can leave this room if you want." He recalled her telling him. "It's okay, I like it here." He recalls telling her in return.
He lived like this for an entire year before he even saw signs of life from anyone else besides a housekeeper or maid. The boy had been very content simply cozied up in a deeply recessed bay window where he'd effectively built a nest and picked away at the massive library of books that lined the shelves. With the window being shadowed by the looking branches of a wisteria, it's no wonder he often dozed off here in the dappled sun and afternoon warmth.
He would later find out this was originally Sooyoung's office and had been relegated to his refuge while he acclimated to life outside of the Bureau nursery. Honestly, it tracked. Explained why it was set up to be able to live in and why the others were rarely around.
Sooyoung had taken him home at the end of winter and it wasn't until the middle of the next spring that he finally asked about her friends. It was a quiet affair over dinner- they were having curry that night. He remembered it was a simple curry with just chicken and potatoes. He hadn't been eating well that week since winter reminded him of the last time he saw his mother. …It still does.
"You wanna meet them?"
He'd spoken to her every day for over a year. He could tell her question was laced with excitement and caution.
"Yeah, I think I'm ready to talk to people again."
Even as a teenager, Dokja was sure Sooyoung's heart was only pumping with the help of caffeine with how much coffee she chugged. In fact, she always smelled like freshly roasted coffee. He never did find out if that was just her natural scent or if it had just been replaced from how much she drank. She was also courteous enough not to give him the same kind of diet.
He wasn't picky with food- tomatoes notwithstanding, survival …..wait.
» » » » »
"Hold on, something's not right…I'm sure this timeline was the one where I was orphaned.. I was never taken to the nursery."
Dokja's brows furrowed, interrupting his own story and trying to ignore the look Uriel was giving him. It wasn't quite pity, but it was like looking at an animal that had to adapt to an injury.
Which worldline was this?
"It's okay,"
Her voice was soft in return, warm hand clasped over his to stop him from picking at the skin around his nails. He hadn't even noticed he was doing that.
"Tell me about all of them."
The quiet clack of the door opening caused Dokja to pause, lips parted and body tense. He quickly relaxed when he was it was Joonghyuk entering. Heewon probably told him where he was- actually he probably noticed the broken windows from outside first.
Watching fondly as the hulking man walked past the blonde woman, fondly patting her head as he passed in a fluid motion before pulling back Dokja's chair just enough for him to climb onto the Sentinel's lap and make himself cozy.
What an oversized puppy. Unbothered by the sudden weight draped on him like a blanket, his free hand absently settled against Joonghyuk's back to keep him stable.
"Hey, Joonghyuk? How did you meet Dokja?"
Nice save, Uriel! He could figure out which childhood he was supposed to remember in this world with that answer and just gloss over the rest of them.
"He swindled Hyunsung out of money."
Dokja stiffened at the response. He was sure there wasn't a childhood that involved that, and he's damn sure he wouldn't have bullied the teddy bear that is Lee Hyunsung!
He almost gave a reply before feeling the hum of amusement through their Bond. Briefly forgetting that Uriel was in the room with them, Dokja turned his head just far enough to give a firm bite on his Guide's ear.
"Hyuk-ah I'm not above doing things in front of Uriel's salad."
Between Joonghyuk and Uriel, Dokja's crisis was at least assuaged, idly fidgeting with the hand holding Uriel's until their fingers were laced together and he felt himself relaxing against the bulk of his Bondmate. Cheek resting against the other man's shoulder, the Sentinel began again- albeit more briefly this time.
"The one I was telling you about, I met most of them a year after Sooyoung took me away from the destroyed Bureau nursery. Joonghyuk and Heewon I wouldn't meet until six months after that, they were on an extended expedition for Namgung."
The memories played out in Dokja's mind as he spoke, he remembered how Hyunsung hovered around him like a livestock dog. Remembered how Sangah had taken him around the city to scout out what he was interested in, how Sooyoung and Seolhwa had spent days taking him shopping for clothes and furniture. It was mostly books that he wanted, he remembered getting in a row with Sooyoung when he found out she wrote all the books in the room he was staying in and how some of them definitely had dumpster fire protagonists.
He had gotten comfortable quickly, slotting in perfectly in a way that always felt subtly unsettling. Also remembers the day he finally met Joonghyuk and Heewon upon their return.
"He took one look at me and called me a reanimated bedsheet. Said I had the complexion of a ghoul- you know? I was so mad. No hi hello, who are you. Just wham bam you're ugly as shit. I swung on him."
"I didn't say that. And I swung back. Seolhwa sedated both of us before the house fell apart."
Joonghyuk's muffled defense wasn't very convincing, but the sparkle in Uriel's eyes was impossible to ignore. She was having a blast listening to their bickering.
"Anyway. A different time I was orphaned at…eleven? I think, and was surviving on the streets for a few years before Sooyoung found me dumpster diving around fifteen. She told me to come home with her so I could be used as character inspiration. Hyuk-ah was living with her in that line and when we met he said I looked like a carcass used for stock. That was the moment I found out I was Awakened in that one."
He omitted the part about how he blew out the walls of the ground floor. If he'd been healthier at that time the house would've definitely come down. He ignored the subtle shaking of Joonghyuk laughing at him. A deep breath comforted him as he formulated how to bully this adorable Guide later.
"The only other one I recall very well was being raised in a cabaret. It's in this worldline too, actually. We've walked by it before, Stardusting? Good people. I wasn't a performer but I was on the floor as a server when I was old enough to. Something went wrong in that worldline, I think. The others weren't that close. I met Heewon first, in the cabaret when some older guys tried to make her drink. I kicked them out and they tried to jump us when I was walking her home after that. Seolhwa and Joonghyuk were nearby and I'm pretty sure they killed those guys."
Dokja glossed over a lot of the details, but hey- it wasn't the history of this worldline so it was fine, right?
….actually, Joonghyuk hadn't actually answered Uriel's question.
"Hyuk-ah, how did we meet?"
"Sooyoung found you in the rain and made me come pick you both up. It was when we were fourteen. We got in a fight when I tried to get you in the bath that night."
Dokja ignored the way the blonde snorted in response, trying to cover the sound with a cough. There was a beat of silence before Uriel spoke up, her voice soft.
"You've been through a lot in this world, haven't you…"
It would be a lie to say he wasn't a little spiteful of his lives. He didn't think his karma was that bad. Still, this world was where his memories had been the strongest in a long time. He was quiet for a moment, thumb idly rubbing circles over the side of Uriel's small hand in his as he thought.
"Yeah…"
"But you wouldn't trade it for another world, would you?"
"No."
Notes:
I'll be making these little intermissions as filler chapters between story beats going forward to give myself a break so feel free to lmk if there's any topics you'd be interested in seeing them discuss o/
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Last Edited Mon 15 Sep 2025 08:42AM UTC
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