Time is a flow which he has never noticed, while his eyes remain closed and his body turns into stone. He is unable to move, to breath, to live, to die. An agonizing existence to bear, and slumber was his only means of escape. It's a long, long darkness that floats and twists his conscience, an illusion of sleep that it really isn't. He dreads, despairingly, his immortality. What use of it, if he can't even taste the air with his rotten lungs?

But something stings. Perhaps it is heat, somewhere on his body that was too accustomed to coldness, it is sensitive to any possible contact. His eyelids opened, the low lights and subdued colors gradually filled his eyes. He questions what awakens him.

"Who roused my slumber?" Before him was a figure of a man kneeling, armored and dented like a fallen warrior. "What are you in search of, warrior?"

"I am in search of your peace, my liege."

He sees the lustrous scale offered by the warrior, the heat radiates longing to be part of him once again, "you've come bearing a fragment of mine sealed by the gods, your feat was courageous and arduous. I shall grant your wish, the more you offer, the more I shall be able to grant your wish. What say you, warrior?"

"I do not wish anything other than to return what is rightfully yours, my liege," the warrior knelt with his head bowed in respect.

He is no stranger to this veneration, for numerous knights and warriors came to worship him with the same offering. And not a single one of them declined to be heard, this warrior was different, he was peculiar. And he noticed that the warrior was more than just a man.

"How do you call yourself, warrior? It is fair to know the name of the individual who gifted my fragment."

"I have no name, my liege, for I have no one to give me such in my life."

"And what is it that you are called with?"

"I am called 'Tainted', my liege."

He cast a look to the warrior before him, his black tangled hair, soiled skin and wounds, his fiery golden eyes. "There's heaven in you and earth dwellers in your blood, is that the reason you're called so, warrior?"

"Yes, my liege. I was born a bastard and no one claims me, I did not recognize the name born of my constitution and my abandonment."

"Why have you fought, warrior?"

"I longs for where I belong, my liege."

A tortured life is one without aim, without reason, he understood the darkness of such life. "I'll grant you a name for your offering, warrior. A name befitting of you, I shall bestow you the name Donghae."

The encounter was fleeting, felt no more than seconds for him who is imprisoned in eternity. As the warrior departs, so does his sight once again welcoming darkness and illusions of slumber, awaiting another individual to seek him.

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However, it does not take long for the next encounter which he awakened again. Glad to see this was the same warrior before him, kneeling with the same reverence.

"You have come to present me with yet another fragment, warrior. What wish are you trying to achieve this time?"

"Please, bestow upon me the honor of my liege calling my name."

"That is not nearly equal to what you've given me." He allows his eyelids to open, taking in the figure of the familiar warrior covered in dried blood and dirt, visibly more torn than before, "You fought harder, given your outfit, the blood on you now belongs to you instead of others. What purpose is it for you to suffer through such a fate?

"My liege, I believe my fate is not which you're unfamiliar with. A God amongst the gods who laughs and dances in the sky above the earth fathered me through a mortal woman against her will. He came and sought the beauty of my mother who shielded from defilement for her faith would give no hand in marriage. However, curse has befallen her instead for such refusal was not accepted by the God, and within her I was created. Forced to bore me, she abandoned me as the God who cursed her, abandoned her for her beauty is now tainted despite by his own very hands."

"I am familiar of the self-interest of the heaven's dweller who you, earth dwellers titled as gods. Life was breathed into their beings to care for the sky and beneath them, in turn they breathed life onto earth for beings such as yourself to care for the earth. I know of their small-mindedness not to allow beings to suprass them and as such, the men, the earth dwellers to not have with them the same authority and abilities. And I'm most dreading that they claim ownership over men as one would over an inanimate object. Your fate was not the first as it was a repetition of what had happened to me and many other. So tell me, warrior, is it revenge which you seek, as it was once mine and failed it I did?"

The warrior hung his head even lower, "my liege, I'm more of a mortal like my mother, I believed the gods were daunted to repeat your story with my existence. You, my liege, who were so courageous and strong to face against them and their tyranny to give us men our freedom, I revere you."

"And so, you seek to aid my fate, after I've failed and trapped in this rotting, doll like body since they could not banish me into the arms of death."

"I have no knowledge of my fate, as even a name has not been given to me since the beginning of my existence. No matter how much my wrath weighs upon my soul, I have been stripped of all free will to direct my sword to the heaven where the gods dwell. My very first wish was to have something of myself and to be known to others. The name you honored upon me was known only for me and you, my liege. And I pray for others to hear this name, as they would sing your name and your achievements for many generations to come."

The demigod then open his eyes wider and lights filling his sky blue orbs, "heed my words then you shall. I bestowed upon you, my first and last warrior, the name Donghae to retrieve all my sealed fragments so shall I be whole again. For I shall not yield the second time and curse their mights to fall and be rid of the corrupted sky. The sun shall rise from the darkness loomed far too long enough and men to be bathed in their glory and freedom, tale of your arduous feats be sung with mine into lore."

"My liege," he sunk deeper into his reverence, "I shall honor this journey, you've given me a reason for being."

"Seek the south, across the ocean and to the desert shall you find a creature with three heads and seven wings. In which one of their heads rests a fragment of mine, I pray for you to return safe and victorious."

"And I shall, my liege."

"Call upon me shall you need assistance, warrior Donghae, for your offerings gave me little strength."

"And what name shall i call you with, my liege?"

"You shall call me Hyukjae. Take with you my blessing."

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Rays of light penetrated the thick clouds blanketing the cold desert when the warrior dared himself to call upon the demigod's name, a weakness of the flying creature which desiring his death over their sword like teeth. His feet run faster and fly higher as he leaps, helping his battle to stab his sword through the creature's hard, armored flesh. And he sensed it, the power swimming in his veins as some force calling him to accomplish his task. He knows which head to cut, which flesh to tear and from it arises a fragment of the demigod. Warrior Donghae takes on a journey back to the Forest of humongous roots where the demigod's body rests, beyond the crevice of a mountain with old, ancient trees. The grass beneath his feet dances and sings as he walked, glowing moss radiates the nearer he is to the ethereal and serene looking figure, perched safely on interlacing roots.

Fingers move before eyelids fluttering open, and the sky blooms within the orbs, "my warrior Donghae, I see that my aid helped your return to me."

"Yes, my liege Hyukjae, the only reason I was able to fly and strong enough to put the end of the creature," he knelt.

The demigod is regal, though his figure remains still, the air which hung in his presence nothing less dignified and here is the only monarch Donghae will acknowledge. "I am eternally grateful that you've come once again with another fragment of mine, speak of your wish this time, my warrior."

"May I kiss your hand, my liege?"

Accustomed to such respect and honor, the demigod did not find the request strange and raised his fingers that he made as permission. The warrior Donghae marched cautiously to shorten their distance, taking the cold and beautiful hand in his and bringing it to his lips. Pouring out all his emotions in the kiss, his loyalty, his honor and his veneration.

"A request isn't equal to a wish, my warrior. Do not shame yourself with these small favors."

"For one such as myself who doesn't have a name, these small favors means a lot for me, my liege. The one and only who shown me kindness and not condemn and rejection which I'm far too familiar with."

The warrior catches the downcast of the sky blue eyes, "my warrior Donghae, my heart is still as a stone, however it ached at your words, yet it must be a hundred fold and more for you. Tell me, my sweet warrior, what other small favors i could give you?"

The warrior Donghae smiled for the first time since their first encounter, a beautiful obscured sight from which the demigod did not realize that the warrior was able, knowing the horrible pain he was suffering. "You've given me plenty, my liege, the ache you felt was proof of the care from which you honor me with. Foreign as it might, it relieves me a great deal of weight."

"My dear warrior, in the many centuries I've been imprisoned in my own body, my heart ached more in just one day by you."

"Pardon me, my liege, I have no intention to-"

"Come closer, Donghae, let my fingers reach you," said the demigod, not willing to let the warrior degrade himself further. The warrior obliged, drawing nearer to levels his face at the hand of the demigod, and let the fingers of the demigod caress his face. "Pity will only dishonor you, you have fought more courageously than others, you have survived grievances that others would break, I will honor you."

The warrior Donghae flattens his lips as if to keep secrets leaving his mouth, closing his eyes to conceal the tears threatening to overflow. He says, instead, "my liege, in your mercy I now know of a wish that I desire for you to bestow."

"You wish it now, for I have not yet paid your honor in an equal manner."

"Pardon my impudence, let me wish it when I come to bear another fragment of my liege," he bowed.

"Then, eastward, you will make another journey. You will find a creature with colorful and impenetrable scales above their bodies, feet scratched enough to make crevices in the earth, in them a fragment of me rests."

"I shall depart on this path, my liege," he gives another respectful bow before starting to leave.

"My dear warrior Donghae, my impatience is not due to a reunion with my fragment, this time I am curious to hear at last a true wish on your part. Return unharmed and victorious."

Another beautiful smile from the warrior, "I shall, my liege."

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The fourth meeting was greeted by the singing birds in the forest, the eyelids still closed, yet there was a smile on the demigod to greet the arrival of the weary warrior. "Welcome my dear warrior Donghae, I am very pleased to see you return before me. However, it saddens me that I cannot see your face clearly, the least I could do is to have the birds sing you praises as will the men on your future endeavors."

"I've returned, my liege. I must appear awfully ignorant that I have no knowledge of you incapable of seeing me clearly," the warr