[ Chapter XXXIV ]

Her Last Gift

Hakyeon and Hongbin spent weeks in the Underworld training around the marshlands. The darkness and souls that lurk around them no longer scared them as much as it did before. Their training with Jaehwan and Ravi was slowly showing progress. Ravi was able to bring the barrier down as soon as the two visitors showed improvement in their abilities. Casting a barrier consistently was dealing a huge impact on Ravi’s powers and mentality. Though he insisted that he was alright, the boys could tell that the ‘witch’ of the Underworld was more tired than he sounded.

Hongbin learned the spells and witchcraft from Ravi in a very quick manner and was even able to discuss magic and sorcery with Ravi as if he had specialized in the field for a very long time. The two of course, still fought from time to time but mostly on things that neither Hakyeon nor Jaehwan could interfere with.

Hakyeon, on the other hand, has been strengthening his physical abilities such as fighting and swords skills on top of stabilizing his mentality. However, his powers as half of a God laid dormant. He was in a slight dilemma.

Maybe the ‘God’ half of him doesn’t exist anymore since he never realized he was half a God until recently… but his dilemma was proven wrong shortly after his training had begun,

The side of him that was a ‘God’ did exist and it was due to his stay in the Underworld that brought his ‘other’ side out. During the times when he had put his guard down and let the evils consume him, his Godly powers came out to destroy.

“Hakyeon! Snap out of it! You need to take back control of yourself! Don’t let him get inside your head!” Hakyeon could hear Jaehwan yelling at him during the first time when the incident had broken out.

Indeed, Hakyeon’s other half as a God was alive and lurks deep inside of him, waiting to come out again and take possession of both Hakyeon’s body and mind. Whenever his ‘evil’ half came out, Hakyeon’s powers would awaken and he would lose his conscience until he realized that he had already caused so much destruction for it to be fixed. There would be times when he wakes up from his subconsciousness and saw that the other three were already exhausted and injured trying to bring him back to life. Because of this, Hakyeon finally realized that the fear for who he was when he was younger, meant something much more. His other half was the reason why he constantly felt so empty and dark inside no matter how much everyone around him tried to prove him otherwise. His fear and insecurities have created the eviler half of him without him realizing that he had already created a monster since he was a child. He was worried that if he didn’t strengthen himself more, he would end up hurting everyone again. But Jaehwan, Hongbin as well as Ravi, made a promise to bring Hakyeon back to life no matter what happens. They were by his side, watching over him and protecting him.

Hakyeon wasn’t alone.

“I’m sorry guys. I made you all worried again…” Hakyeon apologized.

“Don’t worry about it. Are you okay though?” Jaehwan asked.

Hakyeon nodded,” my head hurts a bit, that’s all.”

“Must be the side effects again. Let’s rest up before we go back to training again,” Jaehwan suggested.

“Thanks.”

“Do you want to go take a walk around town? Might help you relax better.”

“Isn’t it still too dangerous for us to be walking around though? Us, being humans and all…” Hongbin asked.

“The first time, it was dangerous but that’s because you guys didn’t have enough powers to hide your scents. But you two are a lot stronger now so it shouldn’t matter. I’ll also put up a barrier to help conceal you guys so don’t worry. It’s too boring to always stay in this dull place anyways. We need a breather.”

“Sorry that you have to stay in this dull place. No one forced you,” Ravi snarled at Jaehwan as he listened in on the side.

The first time Ravi brought the three to town, they were surprised at how ‘normal’ everyone was. They looked just like every other human would rather than monsters or mutants that they had imagined. Of course, their personality was quite different from humans, especially what they saw as amusement was actually horror to both Hakyeon and Hongbin.

Ravi did not like the crowd so he decided to stay back at the cottage while the other three had their fun.

The three of them went to town and found a small park to sit and relax. It was quite refreshing compared to the swamps. Ravi didn’t mind it and was rather too used to it but the rest of them didn’t like it. It felt too empty and sometimes hard to relax.

“Well let’s just stay here and take a break, shall we?” Jaehwan asked. “How’s your training so far with Wonshik?”

“He’s stubborn but I’ll admit, he’s good at what he does, to say the least,” Hongbin answered.

“Haha. That’s the side of him that doesn’t seem to change, no matter how long it’s been.”

“Have the two of you known one another for a very long time?”

“Mhmm. Wonshikkie and I used to live up in the Heavens. We’ve known one another since we were kids. My father was the one who assigned Wonshik’s father as the keeper of the Sun after all. So, Wonshik came over to visit from time to time with his father.”

“I see. I don’t know if it’s okay for me to ask this but… did something happen between the two of you? He just doesn’t seem very happy to see you and always glaring at you for some reason.”

“Good eye. Wonshikkie doesn’t like me very much. Things happened between us and we’re just not the same anymore I guess. I’ll tell you more about it another time though. Right now, we should just focus on relaxing and helping you two instead.”

It was obvious that Jaehwan was trying to change the subject but neither of the boys questioned him any further.

“Didn’t your mom say something about hiding the second half of the Moon somewhere here in the Underworld, Hakyeon-ah?”

“Yeah, but she didn’t say where. This place is too big for us to search for it, ” Hakyeon finally spoke.

“Wish she gave us a hint or something. Even Wonshik never knew about the second half of the Moon until we told him. Taekwoon has one half and your mother had the other. Where could she have hidden it though?”

“What about where her old home is?” Hongbin suggested.

“Not likely. When she left the Underworld and abandoned her role as the Moon’s guardians, the higher orders raided her home but didn’t find a single thing. The place is now just a piece of barren land with nothing but remains of rubbles and trash.”

“Was there anything that was written in her journal?” Hongbin asked.

The journal that Hakyeon found in his room along with his mother’s letter was her journal. It was like a diary and a notebook for recording her recipes for the bakery. But there was nothing more. Nothing about her past while she lived in the Underworld. Only of her life as a human.

Hakyeon shook his head.

“There’s nothing but drawings and scribbles of her recipes and life with us in Pinewoods,” he told them.

“Did you bring it with you? Maybe we missed something,” Jaehwan asked.

Hakyeon always carried the journal with him and showed it to Jaehwan. Jaehwan flipped through the pages and traced each one to see if there were any hidden messages in them but could not find anything useful of where the other half of the Moon was hidden.

“Hey, guys!” Hongbin suddenly shouted out while the other two was busy examining the journal.

Jaehwan and Hakyeon looked up to see what the commotion was.

“Don’t you think this town seems a bit familiar?” the younger said.

“What do you mean? We’ve been here before if that’s what you’re saying…” Jaehwan responded.

“No, no. It’s just… it’s been bugging me since the first time we came here but don’t you think that this town somewhat resembles Pinewoods?”

“Huh?”

“Like the roads, that hill, and this stream that runs throughout town and splitting the town into two… it’s like a replica of Pinewoods. Although the buildings are different, if we take those away, it looks like a lot like Hakyeon’s hometown. Don’t you think so?” he asked Hakyeon.

Hongbin had a keen eye. Neither Jaehwan nor Hakyeon thought of the possibility until the younger noticed it. They’ve been to this town several times and never once thought of how familiar it looked compared to Pinewoods. Why didn’t they realize that the roads that ran along this town were strangely familiar and that they didn’t feel strange walking along the paths? The two of them stood up and started to scan their surroundings.

If they closed their eyes and imagined that they were in Pinewoods instead… this town was exactly like Pinewoods. As if…

This was the darker side of Pinewoods in the Underworld.

“You’re right. This… Kong-ah! You’re a genius!” Jaehwan patted Hongbin on the head. “Let’s try to see if we can map this town out. Maybe we can figure something out!”

The three of them circled around each other and started to map out the town on the sand pile. The hill they faced would be where the Water Mills would be, the stream of this town was also in the exact same location and even the path from the town to the Forest of Nightmares was in the exact same direction as the path from Pinewoods to Hakyeon’s secret base. Everything started to fall in place.

“Do you think… that your mother could have hidden the Moon somewhere in this town as if this town was Pinewoods?” Jaehwan asked.

“That’s possible. Hakyeon, where do you think your mom would frequent the most? Or a place that was most special to her?” Hongbin asked as well.

“A special place? Besides home and the bakery… I can’t think of anywhere else.”

“Okay. Let’s check where your home and the bakery would be first. Like we’re back in Pinewoods!” Jaehwan said enthusiastically.

The three of them mapped the town on a piece of paper and circled around town to the ‘bakery.’ To their surprise, they found another bakery in the Underworld laying on the exact same spot as Hakyeon’s bakery in Pinewoods. They walked inside and looked around but there was nothing unusual about the place. Rather, the store was small and the workers were too lazy to care about service or selling anything. Jaehwan asked if they could look around the shop and the staff let him do as he pleased. After a bit of searching, the three of them could not find a single thing they were looking for.

Next, they went to the spot where Hakyeon’s home would be but the area ended up being a playground. Kids were playing around, chasing one another and being as rowdy as they could. There was nothing unusual either about the area and they could see the entire playground just standing there. There was even an unoccupied bench underneath a large willow tree. They even dug underneath the tree but found nothing there as well.

“Nothing again… maybe we’re wrong? Could there be another place we missed?” Jaehwan scratched his head with the shovel.

Hakyeon looked around the town. He began to close his eyes and imagined the town as if it was his home. He envisioned the places his mother would frequent and retraced her steps, her past. The other two followed Hakyeon’s senses from behind.

 “Here,” Hakyeon finally stopped in his steps and opened his eyes.

In front of them stood a large Chapel. It was fenced, old and rusty.

“Here?” Jaehwan asked.

Hakyeon nodded.

“This is the same place as the old church in Pinewoods. The church back home highlighted the history of our town since its first-generation, remember? It was a place where my father grew up and frequent a lot.”

“Why would your mom come here though?”

“That’s because this was also the place where my father proposed to her and gave my first birthday’s blessing here.”

Hakyeon still remembers the stories his parents told him about the old church. It wasn’t just a special place to the people of Pinewoods, but a place that was far too significant for his family as well. If it wasn’t for the church, Hakyeon would not have been born. His father used to tell him that he fell for a young lady during his prayers every weekend and that since the moment he laid eyes on him, he had fallen deeply in love. His mother was also attracted to his father and the two would spend their weekends at the old church, singing their prayers and glancing at one another in secret. It was mutual and when his father brought up his courage to confess and propose to his mother one day, his mother cried in joy. Hence, the many years of marriage and the birth of Hakyeon.

The three of them entered the Chapel, they were astonished by the more extravagant interior despite how rusted it looked from the outside. It seems that the building was cleaned up quite frequently or looked after by someone. The ceilings were taller than the old church and gigantic pillars ran along the huge hall. At the end stood a statue and organ.

As the three walked near the end, Hakyeon was shocked to see the face of the statue. A face that resembled his mother greatly.

“The Goddess of the Moon…” Jaehwan translated the transcription that was engraved underneath the statue.

“This must be some sort of monument for your mother,” Hongbin said.

Hakyeon was stunned to see his mother’s face again. He couldn’t help but tear at the sight before him. He walked closer to the statue and caressed her face gently. Thinking back about his mother.

“I’m sorry mom,” Hakyeon cried. “If only I knew sooner…”

Just then, the organs began to play by itself and the song awakened the entire building. The Chapel began to tremble and the structures were moving in sync with the melody that was played. It was responding to Hakyeon’s tears.

The tears from the descendant of the Goddess of the Moon. The Demigod.

The statue started to move backward and revealed a tiny door on the ground in which it was covering. Hakyeon bends down in front of the door and opened it.

There was a box that laid in the hole.

The three of them stared at the box as Hakyeon picked it up. Could this be...

Finally.

Hakyeon opened the box with care and inside, revealed the other half of the Moon that was hidden by his mother. The last gift she had left behind for her beloved son.

A/N:

Fun Fact #4: Hakyeon's mother was supposed to be human and was actually going to be the other side of Taekwoon's mother. This would have been an interesting turn of events but one thing happened after another and I decided not to go with this approach. I have something else in mind instead now.

Fun Fact #5: In the original storyboard, Taekwoon didn't meet Ravi until after Hakyeon announces that he was getting married but in this final one, Ravi meets Taekwoon before anything happens.

Fun Fact #6: There are so many things from the original storyboard that I didn't keep... xD

Fun Fact #7: I love KRATOS Concept Film and the images will be perfect for my later chapters !!