[h3][b][u]Bangwudo Island Garrison, Off Hokksulgug's North Coast[/u][/b][/h3]
 
The sea was rough; the cold wind stung skin where ever it made contact. The mainland was far away now, ocean as far as one could see to the left, right, and behind. In front rested a small island with more islands dominating the space behind it. These were wild lands, untamed by the hands of man. As of yet at least.
 
“We have almost arrived Lady Kau” A young priestess said. Lady Kau gave her subordinate a curt nod, without turning her gaze from the island. That island, she knew, was the future. She had fought long and hard to see these isles colonized. Battles involving steel where a specialty of hers, but those that had taken place in palaces and courts had taken her over five years to see even a hint of victory. And yet victory was hers now. She had managed to make an arrangement between her homeland, specifically the Kingdom of Kunland, and the Kingdom of Hokksulgug in which the two countries would work together to colonize these wild lands. Perhaps it made little sense in the short term, as Kunland lacked the resources to take on the endeavor on its own, but in the long term it would benefit the Ithicists in the empire immensely. 
 
Lady Kau Rong let a small smile spread across her face as her ship neared the Hokksulgugae port. They had done a good job and developing the island thus far. Normally she wouldn’t have left Kunlad, she was the second highest ranked priestess in the land, but she had felt that her presence was a formality needed for this occasion. She was also quite interested in seeing the island and fortifications herself.
 
“What was that?” She asked as the ship rocked under her feet. The rocking was far too violent for what she would have expected given that they were practically docked. Her eyes widened as she heard the groan of overburdened wood. Someone nearby screamed and she felt droplets of water fall on her head. She didn’t even have to notice the massive shadow looming over her to know that those droplets weren’t caused by rain. Suddenly the ship was moving towards the port quickly. Too quickly. She heard wood breaking and cries of pain as all went dark around her.
 
A clamor of feet pounding against the floor heralded the appearance of an out-of-breath guardsman at Gim Ki-joon's doorway. The nobleman stirred, looking up from his work at the man bracing himself against the length of his hooked polearm. His response was a curt, "What's the matter?" paired with a cocked eyebrow.
 
"Sir! There's trouble!" the soldier rasped. He raised a finger in the direction of the shore, clearing his throat before trying to form words again. "Lady Kau Rong's ship has arrived, but it's under attack!"
 
"Attack? What is the meaning of this?" Ki-joon pushed himself up from his desk with a reluctant groan, pulling his ivory robe around his shoulders and following the soldier into the garrison's corridor. His left sleeve hung limply, without an arm to fill it. "Don't tell me the Sibyttes have caught on to this?"
 
"No sir. It's a monster! I saw it rise up from the water and peel the boat apart like paper!"
 
Ki-Joon's stride skipped a pace momentarily and he gave the man a quizzical look. "A monster? Am I hearing you right?"
 
"Yes!" the soldier nodded his head firmly. "Please, hurry!"
 
The pair jumped into a sprint at the ear-grinding sound of a primal howl too bassy and guttural to belong to any normal creature. Several more men joined them as they flew from the garrison into the open air. Ki-joon cast his attention to the docks and felt a pang of dismay somewhere in his gut as his eyes traced the body of the thing thrashing in the sea.
 
"I need the entire garrison," he bellowed, eyes still locked onto that unnatural form. "Crossbows, guns! Protect that ship!"
 
Before he turned back to the soldiers that were gathering around, a sour-sweet aroma filled his nostrils, and he grimaced at the tang with a knotted face. "No, not here!" he hissed. The air seemed to stand still and wisps of pulsing color danced around the garrison lawn. "On me!" the noble commanded. He drew his blade from its scabbard with his last remaining arm and steeled himself for the inevitable.
 
The colorful wisps had turned into tendrils of raw power, flailing at the material world through invisible portals. The air around them turned to black, permeating the area in darkness before a series of implosions rocked the senses of the soldiers. In the wake of the detonations, pockets of the material had collapsed, shedding rows of multi-limbed horrors in their wake. The daemonic legionaries brayed, holding aloft gnarled, obsidian blades. The air around them coursed with trails of spectral matter, fighting with the material world to stay whole.
 
At the sight of the abhorrent army, Ki-joon's men fidgeted, some shrinking a step back. "Hold steady!" he commanded, amplifying his voice across the grounds. He needed to steel his men’s' resolve, but inside, he was just as dumbfounded. Why here, on this lonely island? And how the daemons materialized so many at a time?
 
The fiends began to advance, cawing and bashing their weapons against their armor. Their unnatural gaits carried them at speed across the courtyard and onto the Hokksulgugae arrayed before them. Pitch-black weapons came down, smashing into armor and bone. The Hokksulgugae responded in kind, thrusting their spears into the ranks of immaterial soldiers. Wounds that would have been mortal for any man caused the entities to writhe and vanish in strands of black vapor; hurled back to the abyssal realm where their physical bodies would undergo the slow process of regeneration. From the garrison towers, arrows and shot raked the horde, banishing their marks to long, dreary cycles of rebirth.
 
Ki-joon struggled with an adversary a head taller, with a face like a lion and a crown of antlers atop its maned head. Its midnight-shod axe flew at his temple, but was diverted with a parry from his sword. The Hokksulgugae turned the blade around and whipped it across the daemon's throat. It gurgled a roar in defiance while it spasmed and then disappeared from sight.
 
After a time, the fighting had been pushed outside the garrison walls, the Hokksulgugae ranks making progress in thinning the tide of reckless, crimson-clad brutes. Though many of their number had fallen, the remainder of the garrison fought bitterly, rallying around their commander. The glistening of the waves along the coast reminded Ki-joon of the creature that had drawn them out in the first place, and he struggled to get a look at the water. He could not make out what had become of its crew amidst the clash of weapons and the sea monster had vanished from sight. "Fight to the docks!" he yelled over the din. Steadily, they carved their way through the assault, nearing the wreckage of the Ithicist vessel.
 
Whatever had been in the waters near the port must have been truly massive, for it had utterly wrecked the Ithicist vessel. Half of the vessel's twisted remains could be seen slowly sinking into the water, the other half had been forced onto dry land. Fragments of the ship had been thrown all over the place alongside supplies and the bodies of the vessel's crew. It would have been a miracle for any to have survived the devastation and yet some apparently had as the wind carried with it sounds of battle.
 
As the Hokksulgugae ranks neared the port a desperate battle came into view. Men screamed as they were thrown to the ground. The lucky ones suffered a stab to the chest or blade across the throat, ending their suffering. Those who were not so lucky could be heard screaming as their foes bore down on them, rows of sharp teeth tearing into soft skin. Ten odd soldiers fought desperately against their ghastly foes as twice that number laid unmoving on the ground. And at the center of it all stood a group of five women. Whereas the soldiers seemed to be on the verge of panic, the women had an aura of calmness about them. Wherever their naginatas swung out with deadly accuracy a monstrosity ceased to exist.
 
And at the center of it all stood a woman garbed in white hanfu, soiled by both blood and black ichor. A trickle of blood ran down her face from a wound on her forehead and one might have thought her eyes to have been injured during the crash as she wore a blindfold over her eyes. The blindfold, however, was too ornate for that purpose and obviously had some sort of decorative or ritualistic purpose. Either way it became apparent that the woman was either not blind or had incredibly sharp senses, as her naginata slipped past the face of another woman and found purchase in the chest of a monstrosity that had been about to end her life. The woman then charged forward spinning her hand reaching out towards a pair of demons as she neared them. The demons suddenly froze as if a giant invisible hand gripped each one. The woman spun her polearm over her head before bringing it down on both of the horrid creatures in a single swip. 
 
Despite the show of skill on the woman's part it obviously wasn't enough to turn the tide of battle. Even as she dispatched those two demons five more of her soldiers fell in battle, leaving the Ithicists to a mere ten fighters. 
 
As the fighting neared the docks, Ki-joon finally made out the survivors of the initial attack. Very few remained, and their number was dwindling without the ability to form a cohesive battle-formation. He spurred his men to their aid, wincing as a man to his left caught a daemonic pike through his shoulder and slumped to the earth. 
 
When the Hokksulgugae had reached their allies, they positioned themselves into a circle, protecting the priestess and her entourage. After witnessing firsthand her ability with her weapon, however, Ki-joon wagered she'd benefit less than her men from the protective ring. During the preliminary meetings with the Ithicists, the priestess showed little sign of her martial ability, which came to him now as a great surprise.
 
"Lady Kau!" He edged closer to her between the ranks of spearmen, trying to verify whether she had been injured by the monster's sudden attack. At the sight of her bloodied garments, he jumped forward, forgetting that the arm he held out to her had long been gone. "Lady Kau, are you quite alright?"
 
Kau turned to look at the man even as her naginata shot forward, finding a home in the chest of a centipede-like creature. She gave him a curt nod as she pushed forward on the naginata, shoving the still thrashing creature away from her put losing her grip on the weapon in return. She grimaced as the creature snapped the naginata in half and started scuttling forward, her hands drifting to where a pair of kukris rested on the back of her waist.
 
"My lady!" A war maiden cried as she rushed forward, lodging her own naginata into the creature's head. It squirmed for a moment before turning to a dark mist. "Yunru found your chain-jian" She gestured towards one of the other war maidens with her head before presenting the weapon in question to Kau Rong. The chain-jian was an interesting weapon, a jian, known in other cultures as a short sword, with a chain and steel ball attached to the bottom of its hilt. Rong took the weapon before whispering something into the war maiden's ear.
 
"Lady Kau would like to thank you for your timely rescue" The war maiden conveyed, "and would like to recommend we return to your fortification as quickly as possible." Even as the war maiden finished the statement several more Ithicist soldiers fell screaming, their insides torn out be massive canine demons.
 
"Yes, I fully agree," Ki-joon replied to the woman. He had almost forgotten the etiquette due priestesses of Kau's stature; that she would need to speak to him through intermediaries. "Please make ready to move with my men to the garrison!" He relayed orders to the Hokksulgugae to maneuver their turtle formation back to the safety of the walls. 
 
The daemons were unrelenting in their attempt to break the spearwall, throwing themselves upon the pikes, and then upon each other in effort to clamber over. The mist which popped as their physical forms died choked Ki-joon momentarily, and he rubbed his eyes clear of the stuff. An exceptionally large ape with a tail like a scorpions barreled into several of his men, shattering bone as he slammed through. Ki-joon stared the abomination down, holding his blade ready. With a cry, it launched itself at the Hokksulgugae, twirling a flail with three, spiked ends. Ki-joon rolled, dodging the arc of the weapon, and lashed out with his own as he climbed to his feet. The blade severed a deep gash in the daemon's wrist, causing it to loose grip of its infernal tool. It leaped again, hurling the weight of its body at the noble. The thing's jaws were outstretched, threatening to bury rows of dagger-like canines in him flesh. Ki-joon stumbled to the left, avoiding the tackle, but landing clumsily. He hadn't expected the daemon to attack so suddenly after its injury. Making up for his folly, he cleared the ground between him and his adversary, biting the cutting edge of his sword into its collar. Another whip of the wrist sent it across its esophagus, and it vanished into threads of black.
 
The battle was calming, finally, and the core of Ki-joon's men were backing into the garrison's portal with the Ithicists in tow. When the last had entered, several braced themselves against the great doors, pushing against the daemons that shoved against the other side. "Heave!" Ki-joon rammed the shoulder of his long-gone arm against the wood, struggling along with his soldiers. It lurched back and forth, like a game of reverse tug-of-war. After a minute of struggling, Ki-joon pulled himself from the gate, sheathing his weapon. He'd have to exert himself to risky levels to save the garrison. 
 
The Hokksulgugae relaxed for a moment, stilling his breathing and holding his last arm outstretched, as if to grab a jar from a shelf. His lips danced a pattern of an ancient tongue as he recited the proper verse. Upon the last word, he exhaled every trace of oxygen from his lungs, straining the muscles in his chest. And then, his mouth gaped inwards. He drew his hand towards his mouth, slowly, as if pulling a great deal of energy towards himself. His palm sealed itself against his lips and then with a great shout, he finished the sorcery. It could not be seen, but felt, as a tremendous gust hammered the door shut, Ki-joon's men falling against it as it slammed to a close. Quickly, the boards fell into place, sealing it from the inside. The nobleman coughed as reality turned to normal, and he collapsed into a squat on the ground.
 
"Are you alright?" The war maiden previously referred to as Yunru asked. Beside her stood Kau Rong, whispering in her ear. "Lady Kau would like to know if you had left other men in your fortress when you had come out to rescue us."
 
Ki-joon pressed a fist to his lips, clearing his throat as he turned to look up at the Ithicists. "There were men shooting from the walls," he answered, before another coughing fit stole his words.
 
"That is unfortunate. Lady Kau says she can't... sense?" The war maiden's questioning look was answered by a reassuring nod from Rong. "Any other presences in this fortress. She fears those men are no longer among the living."
 
"Good soldiers, all of them. To have fought like that against the legions of the abyss." Ki-joon slumped a little more as he finished his sentence. A weary gaze at the remaining men, still gathering themselves at the gateway, told him that he'd lost well over three-fifths of the original expeditionary garrison. "I regret we had to meet again this way, Lady Kau," he said. "Without your ship, I'm afraid we'll be stuck on this forsaken island."
 
"The gods will protect us" Yunru said without prompting, earning her a thin lipped smile from Kau Rong. The priestess whispered something into her ear before leaning down towards Ki-joon and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Lady Kau believes this is the work of a....corrupted deity" Yunru relayed. "Normally such an endeavor wouldn't be taken lightly and we would have a larger collection of priestess to deal with the deity, but Lady Kau believes we may be able to... handle this situation on our own." Yunru shrugged as she continued "I suppose we couldn't have found a better priestess to be with in our current situation, besides the archpriestess of course."
 
Rong removed her hand from Ki-joon's shoulder as she stood up straight, looking at all those who were left. Only two Ithicist soldiers and two war maidens left out of almost a hundred. Would there be none left by the time this whole ordeal was over?
 
"Hopefully the deities will help us off this island once we have delt with the corrupted deity" Yunru continued. Rong nodded in agreement.
 
"Corrupted?" Ki-joon echoed. He steadied himself back up, regaining his composure. "What do you suppose could have done that? These islands are untouched, as far as we've been aware." Ki-joon straightened out his robe and picked up a Hokksulgugae banner that had fallen during the fighting. The pervasive eye of Koguchyeol stared back at him, fluttering gently.
 
"From the teachings of Ithicism we know there are two types of corruption" Yunru relayed, "those stemming from earthly or heavenly corruption." The war maiden's eyes narrowed as she listened to what Kau Rong had to say. "I uh... honestly don't understand half of what you are saying" She said just loudly enough for Ki-joon to overhear. Rong shot the other woman a glare before whispering something else into her hear. "Lady Kau says she can feel a... lack of wholeness? Here... Something else is pushing its will onto this deity, changing it. Perhaps another deity. It is hard to say."
 
Ki-joon grunted in acknowledgement. Hokksulgug's peninsula was a well-known weak point between the planes and rogue spirits weren't uncommon. But the gravity of this daemonic insurrection had trumped any one common instance he'd ever seen. Perhaps without a guardian entity like Koguchyeol to watch over the land, it had fallen to the control of more bellicose caretakers.
 
"You mentioned it'd be possible for us to stop it," Ki-joon said. He surveyed the remaining soldiers, less than eighty, and gave the women a bemused look. "Are you sure we're capable of such a thing, given what just happened?"
 
Rong shrugged as Yunru said "Soldiers will not help us in this. Martial ability may hold back the lesser demons, but when confronted by the corrupted deity those skills usefulness will be negligible. It will be magic, not might, that brings this deity down." Rong leaned in and whispered something into Yunru's ear, the woman's eyes widening as she processed what she was hearing.
 
"As I mentioned before," She continued, "normally this would be done by a group of priestesses. Lady Kau believes that she may be able to do this task on her own, but her success will come only at a great cost."
 
An exhausted sigh left Ji-koon's lips. "What will it take? While we're both stuck here, I may as well help however I can."
 
"She will..." Yunru paused as Rong shot her a look, "have to summon a powerful deity and have it possess her, channeling its energy to deal with the corrupted deity. It will be... far too much power for her body to withstand. She would tell you otherwise, but I fear that death is an almost certainty for her."
 
Ki-joon opened his mouth to reply, but the same sickly-sweet odor tickled his nostrils and his face contorted with unsuppressed rage. "NO!" His men were stirring at the edges of the garrison yard, uneasily feeling for their weapons. The light seemed to evaporate from the center of the fort, and the same tendrils whistled through the air, although with greater ferocity. Unlike before, there was but one, large mass of abyssal matter.
 
The Hokksulgugae reached for his sword hilt, but a powerful force threw him, and the rest of the garrison's occupants to the dirt. His mouth was agape as an ear-shattering shriek rocked the fabric of reality. His men struggled and writhed in the dust, and he gasped in anguish as he saw the blood start to empty from their bodies at sporadic wounds. The streams of ichor wound their way from the bodies to the core of the unlight, hovering over the garrison. As a tendril of abyssal matter stretched his way, he leapt into action, grabbing hold of the priestess.
 
"I need you to trust me!" he roared over the awful noise. "Grab onto me!" He waved the stub of the limb as best he could. He couldn't hold onto the woman himself and invoke the proper spell at once. The high priestess closed her arm around the Hokksulgugae without a word. Ki-joon used his thumb to push the blade from its scabbard just a few inches, and drew a thin cut from the appendage. He bekoned Kau to do the same, a deadly serious mask plastered on his features. She slid a finger over the edge, drawing blood. Ki-joon dabbed his index finger onto their wounds, collecting the substance from both sources. With an utterance of the Dark Tongue, he traced a pattern in the air before them, and the blood hovered where he drew. Once the sigil was complete, he pressed a palm to the inscription, where it stopped, like he was touching an invisible wall. "You too!" The high priestess followed his example with a curt nod. 
 
The tendril of shadow whipped at the pair, but it slammed into the barrier and dissolved before reconstituting itself and trying again. Ki-joon prayed the sorcery would hold. All around, the Ithicists and his men were being drained of their essence by the thing above, and he could only watch them die. 
 
Minutes passed, and the bodies slumped back to the ground, lifeless. The blackness had taken in its fill and the air around it warped, pulsing like a giant, formless heart. A blast of unmatter railed Ki-joon's ears, and when he lifted his gaze to the center of the courtyard, the thing standing there stared back.
 
Rong's face twisted into a mask of grief and hatred as her gaze shifted between the fallen Ithicists around her, expressions of pain and fear painted across their now unmoving faces. She slowly turned her gaze to the corrupted deity, but before she could so much as move a muscle towards it it faded away like a mirage. Nothing, except the bodies of its victims, remained as evidence of its passing.
 
For a moment she clenched her hands into fists. Finally she flicked some blood from the hand she had cut onto the ground and gestured for Ki-joon to look at the small pool. The small amount of blood seemed to flow together, first forming a small pool before dividing itself into tangible words. "I failed them, but I will not fail you. I ask only that you remember our agreement" the bloody words spelled out.
 
Ki-joon read the blood-script, a somber look in his eyes. "I swear it," he spoke. His voice was tinged with drips of poison. The garrison never had a chance from the outset and it occured to him briefly that they never should have come in the first place. A moment of reflection later, and he looked into the high priestesses eyes. "We'll avenge them," he said, an assurance meant for himself, as much as it was for her. "We can defeat it, right? Without loosing you." He gave her an expectant gaze, voice trembling. "I've seen too much death today."
 
She simply shook her head. With a snap of her fingers the blood-script was moving, changing into new words and meanings. "This is a regional deity, one that has gorged itself on the souls of intelligent beings. I will have to use a greater deity to combat it, but doing so will put enormous strain on my body. I will certainly lose something if not my life. Perhaps my sight or the ability to speak. Perhaps I will lose the use of my legs. Of course those are on the more optimistic side of things. All things considered my life is quite the bargin given the amount of power I would be asking for."
 
The Hokksulgugae frowned, eyes glued to the shifting characters on the ground. "Perhaps its possible to share that burden? If it's too great for one of us, then splitting the difference may pose less of a threat on your life." Ki-joon was unsure of the nature of Ithicist sorcery the priestess intended to employ. Hokksulgugae magic was his obvious strength, and though summoning extraplanar entities was its prime function, he'd hardly needed to pay with his own life, in whole or in part. Maybe he just had a lucky set of patrons.
 
Rong shook her head, snapping her fingers again. "I COULD ask a deity to possess you, but I wouldn't know how powerful of one you could handle. You could die immediately or it could take you over. Even if it did work we could both end up with shattered bodies anyways. You would be better served praying that Ahimatsu directly intervened."
 
"At least that way, I'd be able to see my men again," the noble replied, just above a whisper."I am not afraid of leaving this plane. As long as we're trapped here, there's little to lose."
 
"I would have you live," the blood-script spelled out after another snap of Rong's fingers. "Without this agreement I fear for my people's long term survival. I will not allow you to endanger yourself when I have the capacity and will to end this." She turned her back on him, her voice just barely audible, the very fact that he could hear it at all obviously unintentional. "Lady Ahimatsu, Lady Narai, grant me the strength to see this through. Please aid me in whatever way you may." Her voice had a singsong quality to it, rising and falling almost in a musical way, despite being so quiet.
 
She then took a deep breath before walking towards where they had last seen the corrupted deity. Her hands clenched tight against the chain-jian her now deceased servant had brought her earlier.
 
The Hokksulgugae trailed after her, stepping past the bodies of the slain. He had taken the banner he set upright earlier, affixing the stave over his back like a sashimono. "At least allow me to accompany you," he called after her. "What else can I do? Sit here until the daemons come for me again?" He stopped at her side, shifting the weight back and forth on his feet. "I owe to them." He nodded at the corpses around the garrison. "And well, if you do fall... there'll be someone to bring your body back to Kunland." Ki-joon ended his sentence with a weight of finality.
 
By this point Rong had reached the point that had previously been occupied by the corrupted deity. She spun around to look at Ki-joon and, after a few seconds of silence, gave him a tight lipped smile. "Thank you" She mouthed before turning around again and heading towards a door, seemingly at random.
 
The moment she was out of sight things seemed to become weird. There was a presence now that had not been there mere seconds ago. A presence so powerful that even those with not a hint of magic in them could sense it. It was so powerful that it made the corrupted deity seem... insignificant. Unworthy of note.And yet at the same time it was not overbearing, but soothing instead. It was the warmth of the sun on one's skin during an otherwise chilly day.
 
And then a shape leapt before the Hokksulgugae, putting sight to sense. A massive fox, one with vibrant golden fur, the size of a horse now stood between Ki-joon and the doorway that Kau Rong had disappeared through. The fox seemed to regard the Hokksulgugae with the eyes of an immensely intelligent being. Of the priestess there was no sign. She had either not sensed the fox's coming or had decided to not reveal herself. Either that or she could no longer come back.
 
Ki-joon couldn't help but stare, perplexed by the appiration before him. Was it truly an apparition? Or was the creature as real as he? Was it even proper just to call it a creature? The warmth of the space around him tickled his skin, and he felt at ease. Not knowing what else to do, he stepped a pace closer, arm at ease. "Do you want me to follow?" was all he could think of saying.
 
"Your death lies beyond this doorway. Both your's and the priestess's." A woman's voice seemed to echo in Ki-joon's head. It was both maturnal and yet youthful, caring and questioning. "Why do you seek death so readily?"
 
The Hokksulgugae shrugged, feeling a hint of shame before it was replaced with a steady conviction. He'd tasted the pleasures of Hokksulgug and the earth. He'd indulged in bloodshed and in intimacy, the former costing him an arm. He'd sat at the courts and made merry with his peers, celebrating victory and Koguchyeol's lordship over their country. Yet, there was an emptiness that these things could not fill. He knew it when he saw his soldiers die, when the Ithicists fought to the bitter last. When the priestess had resigned herself to the task of vanquishing the spirit.
 
"Honestly, I do not wish for it," he said at last. "But more so, I would wish the priestess not to die alone." The words lingered in his head for a moment and he pondered the implication of his answer.
 
"You would make her sacrifice be for naught?" The fox inquired. "Do not be silly." The fox's voice became stern, shedding some of its previous warmth. "She has asked something of you, something that you cannot do if you cease to be. Turn around, son of man. Turn around and head back to the waters. In due time you will be rescued. Of that I promise you."
 
The absolutism of the fox's words stung him, but Ki-joon allowed his head to slump in resignation. "Very well," he sighed. He allowed himself to turn towards the garrison's gate, but stopped after several paces. "Your name is Narai, isn't it?" The noble recalled the tomes he'd been expected to read to ease the barrier of diplomacy. Narai was the Ithicist patron of foxes, and if he remembered right, also of miracles. 
 
"She prayed to you," Ki-joon said. "After the spirit vanished, she asked you for aid." The noble had turned himself fully around to face the fox once again. "Then, I will do the same. Help me, Narai, to save her from this end. And I will see to it that this place will flourish; for her and her kin." Ki-joon had not realized it, but he was bent at the waist, humbling himself before the fox.
 
"And what does her life matter? She is little more than a business partner to you, is she not? I have already guaranteed your survival should you but turn around and leave. Son of man," The voice now came from beside Ki-joon, where a woman with Kau Rong's face, but a beauty somehow far greater, now stood. Her hair and eyes, which were uncovered, were both a golden hue that could only be described as the gold of sunlight. "If I didn't know better I would think you wanted HER for yourself." Narai slowly shook her head "What makes you think I'd allow a heathen to have a servant of mine?" Despite the words she spoke her voice remained warm, caring.
 
The Hokksulgugae could not control the smile that ran across his face. The irony of the god's tone, coupled with the splendor of the vision before him stirred a humor inside him, beguiling the scenes of death that lay across the garrison. "I see," he whispered, mostly to himself. "And if that heathen consigned himself to your care?" Ki-joon lifted his head higher, resolute. "Would my allegiance then matter to you?"
 
"That is like music to my ears" A genuine smile spread across the face that was Kau Rong's and yet not Kau Rong's. "I presume you would wish for more than simply having her in exchange for your allegiance. Speak son of man. Let me hear your desires."
 
Ki-joon's mind swam with possibilities. He thought of great victories, of rich foods, limitless sorcery. He was reminded of the grandeur of his home country, and how good it felt to enjoy what it had to offer. Visions of himself at the head of of an enormous host swirled. His soldiers were raising their spears, chanting his name. Gim Ki-joon! Gim Ki-joon! He lingered on a vision of Kam Haennon's throne, of himself sitting in its embrace, flanked by loyal attendants and voluptuous slave girls.
 
"Is it richest you want?" Narai whispered into his ear. "Wealth so great you need never labor again? Or perhaps you would like a crown of your own? These islands are up for grabs. Who says they can't be yours? Perhaps you would rather have a harem of your own? A different girl for everyday of the year, just like the emperors of Otnemarcas once had." She let her voice trail off for a moment before continuing "Maybe a weapon belonging in the legends of old is of more interest to you. Imagine the power you could have."
 
Ki-joon could not tell if the thoughts that permeated his head were even his own. They seemed so vivid, real and enticing. However, they lacked that feeling of fulfillment which drove him to follow the priestess. Realistic as they were, Ki-joon foresaw no conclusion to the dreams. There was pleasure, but no closure; Stuck in a state of reverse-numbness. Although the endless want gave way to the desire to feel… free. The parties, the delicacies, the skinship, the glory – all of it was to be found without divine intervention. Truly, Hokksulgug was capable of providing such wanton needs without the offering of a god.
 
Ki-joon allowed himself a feeling of satisfaction as he answered. “I am content to walk by Lady Kau's side,” he said. “I will not ask for that which is attainable through mundane means. But I will ask simply for the power with which I can protect her."
 
"Is it a sword, so strike down your enemies, that you want? A shield so you may shield her and yourself from harm? Perhaps armor so that you can always stand between her and danger. Or do you want something else? What is it you want, son of man?"
 
The Hokksulgugae shrugged, considering the deity's propositions. "No material construct could hope to be enough," he said. "Lend me your mastery of the arcane. That alone will suffice to keep her safe."
 
"Very well son of man" Narai said, placing her hand over his Ki-joon's eyes.
 
As his eyelids slid closed, Ki-joon felt a radiant sensation over his face, and then everything went black. An invigorating heat washed through his veins before he slipped out of consciousness, and then reality buckled around him.
 
"I shall give you a piece of my divinity" Narai said. "A sliver. Certainly not enough to turn you into a god, but enough to make you powerful. Just remember not to burn yourself out."[hider=Summary]-Shit happens on an island north of Hokk[/hider]