Side Chapter: The Radiant One
Icebound
A/N: this chapter would be quite boring, but it is necessary so that you'll know the history of the Radiant Ones hehehe /poops/ also, I have a super long author note at the end, but I would really love it for all of you to read it after you finish reading this chapter :)
From the beginning of time, the mortal plain is nothing but pitch black darkness. There is no light, no reprieve, no salvation. Evil ruined the world, corrupted and madness.
God looked down from heaven and felt nothing but grieve as the beautiful world he has created is slowly deteriorating. There is no kindness, no holiness, no nothing. War plagued the lands, famine strikes, drought killed the crops.
Thus, God decided to send one of his archangel down to earth to help him restore the balance in nature, by creating one that is pure and protected. God gave the angel a golden drop of his blood, into a vial, and the angel descended to the mortal plains with that drop of preciousness.
The angel hid his wings, and for decades, he searched for one that is worthy enough for him to impart the consecration upon. And soon, he found one.
A girl named Bom Baekjin.
She was eighteen that year, and she was the epitome of chastity.
The angel gifted her with that vial of blood and consecrated her, and that was how she became the first generation of the Radiant Ones. With that drop of God's blood running through her veins, the girl is protected from the others.
Anyone who tries to inflict harm upon her would get hurt in a way much severe themselves. Anyone who has intentions to hurt her would suffer migraines before they even touch her. She was literally untouchable by sins.
The girl glows in her sleep, signifying the presence of holy spirits protecting her.
The angel stayed around and nurtured her, teaching her to use her powers kindly. The girl, eager to help the holy spirits establish peace on earth, started the Coven of Light with the help of the angel.
Slowly, as she grew older, she married a man and gave birth to a male child.
It was then decreed that every first born from the bloodlines of the Radiant Ones would be a male, and would have the powers and protection as Bom Baekjin.
The Radiant Ones soon grew into great powers in the fifteen century.
They lead on wars against the evil men, and managed to strike down their enemies and win war after war in the name of God.
Men that aimed their swords at the neck of the Radiant Ones often felt their own head detach from their neck without the Radiant Ones having to lift even a finger of their own.
They drove the evil sorcerers away and kept a few at bay as their magic could never touch them.
The Bom bloodline has also increased in number, and soon, the Coven of Light were filled with the Radiant Ones. No one could inflict harm on that army unless one has a death wish themselves.
The year 1569, the Radiant Ones was lead by Bom Hyunjin into an era of peace. They flourished under Hyunjin's rule, and soon, they settled down in an area, also known as the Bucheon state in the present.
In the year 1642, the night of tragedy.
For years the Radiant Ones have lived in peace, side by side along the sorcerers, with a contract that there shall be no war against each other.
There had been rumors that a certain sorcerer known as Kai is planning on a revolt against them, but the leader of the Coven of Light, Bom Yurin, was convinced that no power could harm their coven with the protection from the Holy Spirits. After all, whoever that inflicted harm against them would in turn inflict damage against themselves threefold. History taught others that lesson.
However, what they didn't know was that the sorcerer Kai has an even greater power working for him.
An immortal that could never die.
That night, screams of hysteria sounded through the village. Flames ablazed, setting the homes of the Radiant Ones on fire. A single entity, a nine-tailed fox spirit razed through the town, snapping the necks and decapitated the Radiant Ones at sight.
The powers of the Radiant Ones could not prevent the fox from killing them, as the fox is an immortal himself, thus no harm could be done to the fox other than some superficial wounds.
Bom Yurin stood in the face of death as he felt the foul breath of the fox ghosting against his cheeks. Never in his life had he thought of this. He felt like he was a failure, failing to see the end of his people coming just like that.
Just before he dies, he smiled.
Because he had already evacuated his eldest son years ago, fearing that a night like this would come. His son would continue the legacy of the Radiant Ones somewhere far away.
As the fox pulled out his heart, he prayed to heaven that the Coven of Light would be resurrected once more, and help cleanse him of his failures towards the coven.
Bom Jinwoo, Bom Yurin's eldest son, the heir to the Coven of Light, set his foot down in the western countries in the early 1643. He had cried learning about the deaths of his people back in his homeland. However, he felt that he has no time to grieve.
Revenge is in order. Vengeance against the Kim sorcerers is a must.
With heavy footsteps, he started towards a church in hopes to seek refuge in the middle of Salem, Massachusetts. In a foreign land, he has to learn to survive. And to do that, he has to first live for his creator.
Entering God's house, the priest in there immediately knew what he was. Without hesitation, he was appointed as the priest of the church.
That year, Bom Jinwoo was only eleven years old.
For years, Bom Jinwoo lived in the church and served his god. And before he knew it, fifty years flew by and he had a family; his wife, and a son. Also, he had finally stepped down and let his son take over as the new priest of the church.
It was the year 1692. The year of the witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts. The year of paranoia and hysteria in which many innocent girls were executed after being trial upon in the town square by the founding families.
Jinwoo was sixty years old and he was one of the founding councils that was leading the witch trials.
For years he had wanted to take revenge for his people, but the reverends of the church pleaded him otherwise.
"Taking one's live is no good, pray child. Pray for graciousness and forgiveness."
But Jinwoo could never forget how the sorcerer Kai ordered his family to death.
And it was out of pure luck that a Kim sorcerer came stumbling into his land that is currently plagued with the paranoia and hysteria of witchcraft. And the sorcerer was none other than Kai.
Being in his seventies, Kai still looked like when he was in his twenties, and this was all thanks to a glamour spell of his. Jinwoo had managed to recognize Kai with a burning hatred even after all these years.
Kai thinks that he is smart, hiding his age behind his spell, but no spell could fool Jinwoo as he was the Radiant One. And that is when he was one step ahead of Kai, as Kai has totally no idea who, or what, he was.
They met in a local bar down near the church.
Jinwoo had waited for Kai to be slightly drunk before he attacked.
He ran up to Kai and gagged him. In defense, Kai had casted a knock-back hex to blast Jinwoo away, only to find himself landing ten feet away from Jinwoo.
"W-what? H-how?" Kai said, confused as to how he could fly so far away when the hex was casted by him. Jinwoo approached him dangerously.
"Incendia!" Kai shrieked and a fireball flew and hit Jinwoo straight in his chest. However, Jinwoo seems unfazed, and Kai on the other hand immediately felt a burning sensation spreading from his chest area. Kai looked down and saw that his chest was charred and his shirt was singed.
"T-this is impossible." Kai said nervously. Jinwoo smirked.
"Is it?"
And that is when Kai realized that not all Radiant Ones died in the massacre.
Kai slunk in fear as Jinwoo overpowered him with the help of the witch council that arrived at the scene. They bound Kai and carried him to trial almost immediately.
"In the name of the Almighty God, are you guilty for the practice of witchcraft and sorcery?" Sister Tabitha, one of the well respected council member spoke. Kai trashed against his binding. Jinwoo had a victorious look on as he stood proudly beside the incarcerated sorcerer.
"Burn in hell." Kai bit out in Korean. Jinwoo smirked.
"Oh I'm sure you will," Jinwoo replied as his face neared Kai's dangerously, "after what you did to my people fifty years ago, I figured that I should watch closely as you burn. I will enjoy this show while your bones crumble to ashes." Jinwoo whispered harshly and smugly.
"My descendants will hunt you down and kill you." Kai spoke in a dangerously low voice.
"Oh really? Do they even know that I exist?" Jinwoo said as he pulled back with satisfaction. Kai just thrashed in his binds and hissed at Jinwoo, baring his teeth.
"Light it up." Jinwoo ordered as he stepped down from the platform. His men immediately lit the stake that Kai was tied to. Jinwoo watched as the dry cherry wood slowly caught fire and burned. Soon, the flames were at the great sorcerer's feet.
"You will pay for this! As I burn, you will burn with me!" Kai screamed.
"In the name of the Dark Spirits I curse thee, as I burn, may all the loved ones of the Radiant Ones burn with me! May all the loved ones of the Coven of Light, through all generations, burn till their ashes turns grey, may they burn!" Kai screamed out in pain as magic exploded around him as he dies in the flames.
Jinwoo just laughed. There is no way in hell can Kai's spell reach him.
Or so he thought.
"Jinwoo!"
A man ran into the bar shouting for the radiant one. Jinwoo looked up from the person he was having a conversation with and looked at the panicking man.
"Your wife-"
"What happened?" Jinwoo stood up and asked.
"Your house. Fire."
No words were needed. Jinwoo ran out of the bar, all the way to his little cottage by the woods.
As he reached his cottage, he saw many people there, trying to douse the flaming house.
"No!" Jinwoo screamed as he ran towards the house, only to be pulled back by his son.
"Margaret. Where is Margaret?!" Jinwoo screamed. Looking at the faces of his son and the villagers around him, he knew that it was all lost.
Then, it was decreed that Kai's curse worked.
For since then, every generations of loved ones of the Radiant Ones would perish in flames.
Year 1776.
It's been years since the Bom family left Salem.
The newest generation of the Radiant One, Bom HeeEun, was traveling together with his son and his daughter, in hopes to return to Korea where his true legacy lies. His wife had perished nights ago in the Great Fire of New York, leaving him widowed with two kids.
The family had managed to hitch a ride in a caravan with the gypsies to make their way to a port where they would then travel by the seas back to their homeland.
HeeEun was taught the ways of the Coven of Light by his father, and he was taught never to stray from it. He was taught to be courageous, fearless, and brave. He was taught that nothing in the world could do harm to him, that he should bring peace and love to the world.
He has yet to teach his son the Radiant Ways as his son was only nine years old.
"Daddy, there is a performance there!" Jiyeon, HeeEun's six years old daughter chirped as the caravan stopped by a lake for a rest.
Sure enough, when HeeEun looked at the direction where his daughter pointed to, there was a group of magicians performing tricks there. HeeEun felt a tug on his shirt. Looking down, he was met with his daughter's huge pleading eyes. Smiling, he felt himself walking towards the ring of people watching the performance with his children.
The magicians were doing normal tricks, spewing fireballs and floating items, which were all very fun to watch. HeeEun smiled as he watched the lady in front made fireballs out of nowhere and floated it about. They were very trained magicians.
Suddenly, the magician's eyes met HeeEun, and a small smirk appeared around her lips.
Found you.
HeeEun suddenly felt chills crept up his spine.
"Let's go." HeeEun said as he tugged the arm of his daughter and made their way back to the caravan.
Boarding the caravan, HeeEun allowed himself to look out of the window and back at the magician. Sure enough, he felt her cold and intimidating stare as her figure grew smaller and smaller.
That was the first time ever HeeEun felt fear tingling in his pits.
"So we meet." The lady said as she cornered HeeEun.
HeeEun was staying in an inn by the port with his children. They were supposed to catch the earliest ship leaving towards Korea the following morning, and unfortunately, the lady magician back at the lake had somehow managed to track him down.
"What do you want." HeeEun said as he stared hard into the lady's eyes.
The lady took another step towards HeeEun. "Don't play dumb, you know who, or rather what, I am." The lady said softly. HeeEun isn't backing down. Slowly, he reach his right hand to his pants loop where he kept a dagger in case of a need to fight. Seeing his reaction, the lady took a step back and laughed.
"I won't hurt you." The lady said, "I promise. I am here to protect you in fact."
HeeEun slacked his hold over his dagger. "Who are you?" HeeEun said.
"The name is Kim Jaeyeon. You are in danger, and you need to leave. Now." Jaeyeon, the lady said. HeeEun raised his brows.
"Aren't you my enemy? Why are you saving me instead?" HeeEun asked.
Jaeyeon looked annoyed. "Things have changed, I am sick and tired of our families warring over for about a century already. And I am sick of my brother's tyrant rule. You need to run, far away from here. He is coming! You should go!"
"But who am I running from?" HeeEun asked anxiously.
Jaeyeon looked around in fear. "My brother, Jongmyun. He said that he is going to capture you, then lock you in a cellar with no sustenance until you die, then he will kill your children and put an end to the Radiant Ones."
"And why should I trust you?"
"Look, you're running out of time, you should really-"
"Jaeyeon, you found him! Good job!" A voice suddenly sounded out. Jaeyeon visibly froze. She rigidly turned her head towards the voice.
"J-jongmyun..." She trailed off, her eyes widened in terror.
The man named Jongmyun stepped out of the shadows. He slowly approached Jaeyeon as the latter stood rooted to the ground, shivering like a leaf.
"A traitor huh?" Jongmyun said with a flick of his hand. Immediately, Jaeyeon fell to the ground, clutching her chest as if she couldn't breathe, as she convulsed in pain. Jongmyun looked back at HeeEun lazily.
"She deserves to die." Jongmyun made an action clenching his fist tight and Jaeyeon gave out one last strangled cry, before her dead body stopped flopping in the dark. HeeEun watched in horror as the sorcerer before him just killed his own sister without even flinching.
"You are the Radiant One huh?" Jongmyun smirked, "doesn't matter, your species will cease to exist soon." He lunged at HeeEun. Immediately, HeeEun plucked out his dagger and slashed Jongmyun's arm. Jongmyun cursed as he jumped back and shot a series of six fireballs at HeeEun.
Instinctively, HeeEun dodged.
It was a mistake.
He should have known that the spell wouldn't have affected him. He should have known that if the spell hits him, it would be Jongmyun who will be in pain. By dodging, all the fireballs collided into the house behind him, which was coincidentally the inn. Jongmyun smirked.
"I couldn't kill you with my spells, but you could choose." He says over the flaming inn.
HeeEun looked at the inn. His children were fast asleep in there when he last left them.
"You could be the heroic father, and die in their place and I shall swiftly swoop in and take care of them and make sure that they never have children so that your kind can die out, or you can watch them die. Your choice daddy." Jongmyun smirked. HeeEun closed his eyes for a second.
He charged at Jongmyun who stood shocked.
When Jongmyun came to, HeeEun was already in front of him.
In a blurred moment of panic, Jongmyun casted a spell.
"Petroficum!"
Instead of the spell affecting HeeEun, Jongmyun felt his arms slowly felt like lead. He watched in horror as his body slowly turned into stone.
"N-no!" Jongmyun screamed for the last time before becoming a statue forever.
HeeEun looked back at the blazing inn.
He knows that by running into the building, he would burn as it wasn't a spell directed at him. That is the loophole in the powers of the Radiant Ones.
HeeEun felt tears rising.
Without anymore hesitation, HeeEun ran into the flaming inn.
"Daddy, where is Jiyeon?" Nine years old Jikyung looked up at his father.
HeeEun stood at the edge of the ship as he looked back at the black smoke, hanging in the air of the port from the disaster the night before.
The villagers had made up excuses such as that the stove of the inn overheated.
But only HeeEun knows the truth.
He remembered running into the inn and saving his nine years old son.
He also remembers the tearful face of his six years old daughter when she was being trapped under a burning log.
HeeEun knew that it was the end of his daughter when the roof caved in.
He just hopes that his daughter is now in peace.
"Your sister is in a better place now."
As Bom HeeEun and Bom Jikyung set their foot down in Korea, it was the year 1777.
As they settled down in a small cottage, HeeEun had made up his mind.
He decided to never teach his son the Radiant Ways.
He has decided that the Coven of Light is nothing but history now.
All that was left is to preserve his remaining son, and allow him to grow up like a normal child, doing normal things instead of learning about the tragic family history of nothing but deaths and more deaths.
The last of the Radiant Ones would die with them.
The last of the Radiant Ways would die with him.
It is a secret that HeeEun planned to bring into his grave with him.
And finally, Bom HeeEun changed his name to Byun Eunjin. And his son, from Bom Jikyung became Byun Jirin.
The Coven of Light is no more.
The Bom family is no more.
And with that, the Byun family emerges.
Year 1996
"Byun Baekhyun!"
A six year old Baekhyun froze in the middle of colouring the cat he drew, and looked up nervously at his mother standing with her arms crossed outside his room. His mother's face spoke of fury, Baekhyun immediately knew the cause of his mother being pissed off.
"Oh..." Baekhyun started.
"Oh. Oh. Oh?! How many times have I said that you should keep the toys after you played with them in the living room?! Everything is so messy now and your father has invited Uncle Minseok for dinner tonight!" His mom shouted, "And that PIG still refuses to wake up and bathe!!!!!" Mrs Byun shouted, directing to Mr Byun in the neighboring bed room, earning a soft yell "I am not a pig!" as a reply.
"I'll go keep them now umma!" Baekhyun said cutely as he scrambled to his feet.
"There is no need for that as I have threw them all away." His mother said smugly. Baekhyun's eyes widened before they started tearing. Those toys were his most precious possessions.
"B-but umma..." Baekhyun whimpered. His mother held on her haughty look for a second before smiling at her son's whipped puppy look.
"I can bring them back if you go to the supermarket to buy a jar of red pepper paste as I've ran out of them. Your father is sleeping in his room and he refused to go and buy them for me." His mother said with her eyes gleaming with mischief.
"You promise?" Baekhyun sniffled. His mother chuckled.
"I promise." Mrs Byun smiled. Baekhyun nodded his head.
"They will be back when I come back?" He asked again.
"Yes, I promise. They will be here in your room, waiting for you to play with them again."
"Okay umma!" Baekhyun said as he wiped away his tears.
Being the innocent and young Baekhyun he was, he ran out of the house, after his mother passed him the money.
"Take care, be home soon! Watch out for vehicles!" Mrs Byun called after her son.
"I will! Umma!" Baekhyun shouted back before sprinting towards the direction of the supermarket to buy the red pepper paste that will determine the fate of his beloved toys.
After randomly picking out a jar of the paste, he hastily paid for it and ran back to his house.
"TaeTae Ferrari, Mr Fluffy, Ms Cuddles, I'll be back soon!" Baekhyun smiled as he ran.
Baekhyun ran up the slope and turned around a corner leading to his house. Many neighbour's gathered around his house, and little Baekhyun slowed his steps down. Just as he neared, he came to a sight that he never ever wanted to see.
"Oh Baekhyun..." One of his neighbour, Mdm Kwon, cried. Baekhyun felt numbed. Slowly, he dropped the jar of red pepper paste, spilling it's content all over the floor, staining the tar of the road. His neighbours, crying and shouting all around him.
In front of him, his house was in flames. The sound of fire engines arriving could be heard from a distance. Baekhyun watched as he felt the time slowed, and his sense of hearing dimmed.
He could feel the police shaking him, asking him questions.
So loud. So so loud.
But Baekhyun couldn't hear a single thing.
"Mr Fluffy...Ms Cuddles... Mommy... Daddy..." Baekhyun mumbled.
He felt faint.
Just as he was about to hit the ground, a pair of strong arms engulfed him.
"I am here Baekhyun. I will take care of you from now on."
Baekhyun looked up at the person.
"I want my mummy and daddy." Baekhyun cried. The person hugged the boy and patted his back comfortingly.
"Don't worry child, Uncle Minseok will take care of you."
THUMP
Baekhyun punched his fist into the cold hard wall of the ward. He laid his forehead tiredly against the cool concrete. Tears slowly rising.
Tears flowed as Baekhyun tightened his fist into a tight ball. He pounded the wall again. Baekhyun slowly slid down to his knees as he tried to grab onto nothing at all.
The ominously red-lit emergency lights of the operation theatre goes off, and the surgeon walked out. Baekhyun weakly pushed himself off the wall and walked towards the doctor in hopes that he would receive good news.
"I am sorry Mr Byun. We have did our best."
He let out an angry cry. Why? Why did he leave him?
Baekhyun felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he came face to face with his best friend.
"Why?" Baekhyun croaked out. Chanyeol immediately pulled Baekhyun into a hug.
"I'm sorry."
The sterile double doors opened. The nurses pushing out a gurney, on top of it, lay the small fragile body covered with a white cloth.
Baekhyun rushed to the gurney, flipping away the white cover as he wants to see the one that gave him all the support he needed when no one was there for him for one last time. He hugs the small burnt and broken body as he broke down. Nurses tried to pry Baekhyun away but they couldn't.
"Why?" Baekhyun cried as his tears wetting the lifeless body that is in his arms. So cold. He feels so cold.
"Mr Byun, please don't, we have to bring his body to the morgue."
"Baek, don't."
"Uncle wake up! Don't leave me! What am I going to do without you?" Baekhyun cried even harder. He squeezed the limp body hoping that it would show some signs of life.
Kim Minseok had been taking care of Baekhyun since his parent's death. He nurtured him, taught him about folklore, and made Baekhyun run his office of paranormal investigators alongside with him. He was Baekhyun's backbone and strength. He gave him a reason to live when all he sees is emptiness and darkness. He brought him to light from the eternal abyss.
Baekhyun still hopes that Minseok would hug him back and then wipe away his tears saying that it's April's Fool. But he knows that it will never happen as they are deep into December, a few days away from Christmas, where the snow is falling hard outside the window.
Year 2008, the year when Kim Minseok was driving to get Baekhyun a Christmas present when his car slid on the snow and crashed into a street lamp, before bursting into flames. The doctors said that Minseok survived the crash, and he was burned to death by the fire of the explosion.
The Radiant Ones.
A species that is powerful and strong, with the blood of the God coursing through their veins, providing them with ultimate protection from the Holy Spirits, whereby no harm could be done to them physically.
They cannot be murdered, attacked, trapped, or spelled.
They, however, can die a natural death such as old age, or an accident.
Or under special circumstances such as being defiled by the blood of the Poisoned Ones.
Although no harm could be brought upon to the Radiant Ones, it is often their loved ones that dies in flame under the curse by the sorcerer.
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A Cup of Sunshine
Hey~ hope this chapter of history wouldn't bore you out hehehe
Anyway, bad news guys.
I am really really happy to receive so much love from all of you for this story of mine although it probably a lot due to my bad English and lame grammatical errors. But I can feel all of your love radiating from this fic, from your encouraging and lovely comments, to the upvotes, and all the subscribes. I am really happy, so I would start by saying that I will never, ever, abandon this fic.
HOWEVER...
I would be going on a semi-hiatus as my modules for this semester has been really crazy. And it's been only three weeks of school and I already felt like I'm falling off the wagon in class already. I only got a 56% for the latest spot quiz, when I usually score about >90% for them :/ So... I may not be able to update in like... I'm not sure how long, as I really have to maintain my near perfect GPA....
And also, this could greatly affect my internship opportunities, which will also affect my certificate when I graduate.
I am so sorry that I have to partially give up on this writing thing, something I grew to love a lot, when I just got into it. But, this is life, and life means school which means good grades which means better job opportunities in the future...so I have to semi-give up on this hobby of mine...
I will try to update whenever I have extra time on my hands, I promise >_<
Anyway, I apologise for any grammatical/vocabulary errors or any other errors in general!
Please do not unsubscribe, I will be sad D: and I will cry D: and I will have depression (which I feel like I'm already starting to have from all the stress) and also, who knows~ I may have a surprise update at anytime mwahahahaha
ANYWAY, sorry for the super long and dramatic author's note.
I love you all~
Till next update.
Peace Out! (^~^)v
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
I'm so sorry for everything D: but hey! Don't give up on hope! Kyungsoo's not dead yet! I'll make the epilogue better I promise >_
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