I'm feeling nice. HEHEHE :B

Here's a double update.

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The three Golems moved stiffly into the corridor, spotted the open door at the far end of the hallway and moved toward it. The finger-length metal darts hissed from the walls and stuck deeply into their hardened mud skin, but didn’t even slow the creatures down.

The half-moon blades close to the floor were a different matter altogether. The blades clicked out of their concealed sheaths in the walls and sliced into the ankles of the clay men.

The first creature crashed to the floor, hitting it with the sound of wet mud.

The second tottered on one foot before it slowly toppled forward, hit the wall and slid down, leaving a muddy smear in its wake.

The semicircular blades click-clacked again, slicing the creatures completely in two, and then the Golems abruptly reverted to their muddy origin.

Think globules of mud spattered everywhere.

The third Golem, the largest of the creatures, stopped. Its black stone eyes moved dully over the remains of its two companions, then it turned and punched a huge fist directly into the wall, first to the right, then to the left. A whole section of the wall on the left-hand side gave way, revealing the space beyond.

The Golem stepped into the dojo and looked around, black eyes still and unmoving.

The rats meanwhile raced toward the open door at the end of the corridor.

Most of them survived the scything blades …

In the speeding limousine, Yong Junhyung released his control of the rats, and now concentrated his attention on the surviving Golem. Controlling the artificial creature was much easier. Golems were mindless beings, created of mud mixed with stones or gravel to give their flesh consistency, and brought to life by a simple spell written on a square of parchment and pressed into their mouths.

Sorceres had been building Golems of all shapes and sizes for thousands of years. They were the source of every zombie and walking-dead story ever created.

Junhyung himself had told the story of the greatest of all the Golems, the Red Golem of  Paruge, to Mary Shelley one cold winter’s evening when she, Lord Byron, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and the mysterious Dr. Polidori were visiting his castle in Switzerland in 1816. Less than six months later, Mary created the story of The Modern Prometheus, the book that became more commonly known as Frankenstein.

The monster in her book was just like a Golem. Created of spare parts and brought to life by magical science.

Golems were impervious to most weapons, though a sudden fall or blow could shatter their mud skin, especially if it was dry and hardening.

In a damp climate, their skins rarely dried out and could absorb incredible punishment, but this warm climate made them brittle- which was why they had fallen so easily to the concealed blades.

Some sorcerers used glass or mirrors for their eyes, but Junhyung preferred highly polished black stones.

They enabled him to see with almost razor-sharp clarity, albeit in monochrome.

Junhyung caused the Golem to tilt his head upward.

Directly above him, on a narrow balcony overlooking the dojo, were the pale and terrified faces of the teens.

Junhyung smiled and the Golem’s lips mimicked the movement.

He’d deal with Jihoon first, then he’d take care of the witnesses.

Suddenly, Jung Jihoon’s head appeared, followed, a moment later, by the distinctive spiky hair of the Warrior Maid, Fei.

Junhyung’s smile faded and he could feel his heart sink.

Why did it have to be Fei ?

He’d had no idea that the brown-haired warrior was in this city, or even on this continent, for that matter.

Last he’d heard of her, she was singing in an all-girl band in Seoul.

Through the Golem’s eyes, Junhyung watched both Jihoon & Fei leap over the railing and float down to stand directly in front of the mud man.

Fei spoke directly to Junhyung, but this particular Golem had no ears and couldn’t hear, so he had no idea what she had just said.

A threat probably, a promise certainly.

Jihoon drifted away, moving toward the door, which was now dark and heaving with rats, leaving Fei to face him and the Golem alone.

Maybe she wasn’t as good as she’d once been, he thought desperately, maybe time had dulled her powers.

“We should help, “ Seungho said.

“And do what ? “ Soyeon asked, without a trace of sarcasm.

They were both standing on the balcony, looking down into the dojo.

They had watched openmouthed as Jihoon and Fei leaped over the edge and drifted far too slowly to the ground.

The brown-haired girl faced the huge Golem, while Jihoon hurried to the door where the rats were gathering.

The vermin seemed reluctant to enter the room.

Without warning, the Golem swung a huge fist, then followed it up with a massive kick.

Seungho opened his mouth to shout a warning, but he didn’t got a chance to say anything before Fei moved.

One moment she was standing directly infront of the creature, then she was throwing herself forward, moving under the blows, closing right in on it.

Her hand moved, blurringly fast, and she delivered a flat open-handed blow to the point of the Golem’s jaw.

There was a liquid squelch, and then its jaw unhinged and its mouth gaped open.

In the blackness of its maw, the twins could clearly see a yellow rectangle of paper.

The creature struck out wildly and Fei danced back out of range.

It lashed out a kick, which missed and struck the polished floorboards, shattering them to splinters.

“We’ve got to help! “ Soyeon said.

“How ?” Seungho shouted, but his twin had run into the kitchen, desperately looking for a weapon.

She emerged a moment later carrying a small microwave oven.

“Soyeon,” Seungho murmured, “what are you going to do with …. ? “

Soyeon heaved the microwave over the edge of the railing.

It struck the Golem full in the chest- and stuck, globules of mud spattering everywhere.

The Golem stopped, confused and disorientated.

Fei took advantage of its disorientation and moved in again, feet and hands striking blows from all angles, further confusing the creature.

Another blow from the Golem came close enough to ruffle Fei’s spiky brown hair, but she caught its arm and used it as leverage to spin the creature to the floor.

Floorboards cracked and snapped as it hit them.

Then her hand shot out … and almost delicately plucked the paper square from the Golem’s mouth.

Instantly, the Golem returned to its muddy origins, splashing foul, stinking water and dirt across the once-pristine dojo floor.

The microwave rattled to the ground.

“I guess no one’s cooking anything in that, “ Seungho murmured.

Fei waved the square of paper at the twins. “Every magical creature is kept animated by a spell that is either in or on its body. All you have to do is remove it to break the spell. Remember that. “

Seungho glanced quickly at his sister.

He knew she was thinking the same thing he was. If they ever came up against a Golem again, there was no way they were getting close enough to stick their hands in its mouth .

Jung Jihoon approached the rats warily.

Underestimating them would be deadly indeed, but while he had no difficulty fighting and destroying magical creatures, which were never properly alive in the first place, he was reluctant to destroy living creatures.

Even if they were rats.

Hyori would have no such compunction, he knew, but he had been an alchemist for far too long. He was dedicated to preserving life, not destroying it.

The rats were under Junhyung’s control.

The poor creatures were probably terrified … though that would not stop them from eating him.

Jihoon crouched on the floor, turned his right hand palm up and curled the fingers inward.

He blew gently into his hand, and a tiny ball of green mist immediately formed.

Then he suddenly turned his hand and plunged it straight into the polished floorboards, his fingers actually penetrating the wood.

The tiny ball of green energy splashed across the room like a stain.

Then the Alchemyst closed his eyes and his aura flared around his body.

Concentrating, he directed his auric energy to flow through his fingers into the floor.

The wood started to glow.

Still watching from the landing, the twins were unsure what Jihoon was doing.

They could see the faint green glow around his body, rising off his flesh like mist, but they couldn’t work out why the furry mass of rats gathered in the doorway had not burst into the room.

“Maybe there’s some sort of spell keeping them from coming in, “ Soyeon said, knowing instinctively that her twin was thinking the same thing.

Fei heard her.

She was systematically shredding the yellow square of paper she’d taken from the Golem’s mouth to tiny pieces.

“It’s just a simple warding spell, “ she called up, “designed to keep bugs and vermin off the floor. I used to come in here every morning and find bug droppings and moths all over the place. It took ages to sweep it clean. The warding spell is keeping the rats at bay … but all it takes is one to break through and the spell will be broken. Then they’ll all come. “

Jihoon was fully aware that Junhyung could probably see him through the eyes of the rats.

He picked out the largest, a cat-sized creature that remained unmoving while the rest of the vermin scuttled and heaved about it.

With his right hand still buried in the floorboard, Jihoon pointed his left hand directly at the rat.

The creature twitched and, for a single instant, its eyes blazed with sticky yellow light.

“Yong Junhyung, you have made the biggest mistake of your long life. I will be coming for you,” Jihoon promised aloud.

******

Junhyung glanced up from his scrying bowl to see that Lee Hyori was wide awake and watching him intently.

“Ah, noona, you are just in time to see my creatures overpower your husband. Plus, I’ll finally have an opportunity to deal with that pest Fei, and I’ll have the pages of the book .”

Junhyung didn’t notice that Hyori’s eyes had widened at the mention of Fei’s name.

“All in all, a good day’s work I think. “

He focused his full attention on the biggest rat and issued two simple commands.

“Attack. Kill. “

Junhyung closed his eyes as the rat uncoiled and launched itself into the room.

The green light flowed out from Jihoon’s fingers and ran along the floorboards, outlining the planks in green light.

Abruptly, the wooden floor sprouted twigs, branches, leaves and then a tree trunk … then another .. and a third.
Within a dozen heartbeats a thicket of trees sprouted out of the floor and were visibly climbing toward the ceiling.

Some of the trunks were no thicker than a finger, others were wrist think and one, close to the door, was so wide it almost filled the opening.

The rats turned and scattered, squealing as they raced down the corridor, desperately attempting to leap over the click-clacking blades.

Jihoon scrambled back and climbed to his feet, brushing off his hands.

“One of the oldest secrets of alchemy, “ he announced to the wide-eyed twins and Fei, “is that every living thing, from the most complex creatures right down to the simplest leaf, carries the seeds of its creation within itself. “

“DNA,” Seungho murmured, staring at the forest sprouting and growing behind Jihoon.

Soyeon looked around the once-spotless dojo.

It was now filthy, spattered and splashed with muddy water, the smoothly polished floorboards broken and cracked with the trees growing from them, more foul-smelling mud in the hallway.

“Are you saying that alchemists knew about DNA ? “ she asked.

The Alchemyst nodded delightedly.

“Exactly. When Watson and Crick announced that they had discovered what they called ‘ the secret of life’ in 1953, they were merely rediscovering something alchemists have always known. “

“You’re telling me that you somehow woke the DNA in those floorboards and forced trees to grow, “ Seungho said, choosing his words carefully. “How ? “

Jihoon turned to look at the forest that was now taking over the entire dojo.

“It’s called magic, “ he said delightedly, “and I wasn’t sure I could do it anymore … until Fei reminded me, “ he added.

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Hmm. how bout a triple update ? :D

HAHA LOL i'm just kidding.

On a second thought, maybe i should do a triple update :B

.... maybe at night :P HEHE.

Comment please <3