Fallen Lightbringers' Return

At the same time, while Lee Dojin reached the top rank—

Ah Yeurong held her face in worry. She was a young girl, barely starting high-school, with black hair tied in a loose bun. Lately, she had felt nauseous and thus hadn't gone to school. Her mother had wrapped her tightly in a blanket, with hot porridge on her bedside table. She had been thankful for that but held a terrible hunch that it was not a simple cold.

"You've got to be kidding," she muttered, her face blue. Her eyes remained tightly glued on the little stick in her hand. She cooped herself in the bathroom, holding her head in dismay. "No, there's no way," she said. "I can't possibly be pregnant." Though she said so, the test came positive.

The idea of pregnancy had been on her mind before, but mostly floating as little bubbles of thoughts above her head, acting as Soothsayers to her Kingdom. Who hadn't lived through the occasional pregnancy-scare before? However, it was when she missed her period, the bubbles had turned into more of an Orcale, yet until now, she still held on hope.

The girl rubbed her eyes, trying not to cry. How was she supposed to tell her parents? The school? Those were questions worth asking—but not the only ones. The world seemed to sink, and she felt her stomach grow heavier. There was just no way. The feeling of doom slowly crept up her way.

She took out her phone, dialing the number of her boyfriend. Tae Sukjin. He had been an older boy, having just finished his compulsory military service and about to start college. Finance and Investments, Ah Yeurong remembered him saying. He sounded real smart at that time, very much unlike the goofballs in her own school. Maybe that was what attracted her to him. The boy had that mature aura that she so desperately clung to. Even when they met in one of the clubs in Hongdae, he had been different, mysterious, and interesting. A scholar that would fight a robber with words and literature, and also a businessman; she did not understand much, but it sounded exciting. But if he was so smart, why was this situation happening? In hindsight, getting with him, that may not have been the best choice.

Ah Yeurong felt a lump in her throat. It almost hurt, listening to the beeps of her phone as she felt like her heart skipped several beats, becoming more irregular Than Seoul weather during April. The beeps continued, until a long one appeared, and a mechanical voice had told her the man was busy, and she should leave a message.

"Shit shit shit," she said silently and kept rubbing her nose. Her bun had fallen apart, making her hair free-flowing. She dialed his number again. No dice. That's the problem with those academics—never there when one needed them. She had learned this lesson for the first time. Guess even with all her skipping in school, she still studied new things. Very funny. Ah Yeurong leaned on the sink, clenching her fist so tightly, it shook. She caught herself in the mirror, her face pale and her expression haggard. It almost made her burst into tears. A whimper escaped her, but she swallowed it back.

The pink pregnancy stick fell into her eyes. The two lines seemed to mock her. Her brows furrowed as she grabbed that thing and threw it on the ground, it shattered—in her mind—loudly, and broke into detachable pieces, revealing a little tablet inside. Her anger rapidly faded, seeing the mess she left, and she quickly scrambled to pick it up. "Why'd I do that? Why'd I do that?" She kept whispering to herself and searching for the individual pieces. "I'm, such an idiot."

A knock on the door awoke Ah Yeorong from her trance. Her father asked, "Yeorong, dear, are you alright? I heard something fall and you haven't answered me when I called."

Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach. She was, in fact, not alright. "It's fine dad, it's fine." She stuffed what was the pregnancy test into her pocket and opened the door. Ah Yeorongs father, Ah Saeng-un, stood right in front, his face riddled with worry. It was as if he already knew. But that wasn't possible, was it?

"You are in a worse state than I thought," he said, "thank god I took time off to look at you. What do you think, maybe we should go to the hospital after all?"

Yeorong shook her head and hand at the same time. "Sorry, not now. I'm thinking about something important, so let me get back to you later." Saying nothing more, she walked up the stairs to her room. Hopefully, her friend Min Eunji would pick up the phone. She simply needed someone to vent. She already dreaded going to school after the weekend. "Damn it, if there's a god, please, make next week never come, I beg you," she muttered as she walked up the stairs.

...

"Is it okay if I use that stone now," Ji-ah asked Lee Dojin. The two of them walked through the forest, slowly returning to civilization. But they were still quite far away.

"Well, either now or never," he said. "You don't have to, quite honestly. Though the system gives you an ability it deems objectively better, I personally think that every skill is unique in its use, so if you are happy with what you have, just keep it like this. But just know, a chance like this won't come that easily again."

"Hmm." Ji-ah gave it a long thought. But honestly, she did not know how to properly access the pros and cons. She knew too little about the topic after all. "I'll just upgrade it then. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? It's not like I'm too attached to that skill."

"A good choice," Lee Dojin said and nodded.

"What do I do," she asked, but that question was answered by a hovering message appearing in front of her. Not used to these things, it caught her startled, and she jumped back in fright. The system asked her which skill she wished to upgrade, and Ji-ah answered. "Brightsword."

As per usual, the stone glowed a bright blue, then turned into little orbs, slowly assimilating with her body.

[Saintess, Baek Ji-ah

Affinity: Light (S)

Skills: Smite (B)

Rank 989/6023]

The woman looked at her new skill in a daze. "It turned into Smite," she said while trying to click around the status message. "The user gathers and compresses the light in the sky, until bursts down from high above, scorching its target and their vicinity."

"Oho, interesting. There are some differences after all," Lee Dojin muttered, thinking about his previous title. But he did know this ability. "How about you use it?"

"Wait, right now?"

"Do you want to wait until you are in grave danger?"

Ji-ah squinted her eyes. "You make a great point."

He glanced through the vicinity, searching for a target. "Look over there, see that bird flying in the distance," he pointed at the sky, "Try hitting it."

"Uh, I don't know, I kind of feel bad for it. I don't really want to harm something innocent," she said, but after seeing Lee Dojin's stare, she swallowed her resistance. Right. No matter how much it seemed so, this wasn't a game after all. "Okay, I'll try it now."

She closed one eye and put her hand into a gun gesture. There was no particular reason for doing so. She simply felt it to be right. Her sight locked onto the bird, and she whispered, "Smite."

At once, light gathered in the sky, right above the bird. It gathered, turning brighter, as if the sun were descending to earth. The clouds surrounding it appeared to dissipate, maybe due to the heat. Soon after, a blinding beam of light rained down, the size of a tree, and it burned through everything in its path. If one was none the wiser, they may have mistaken it for punishment doled out by heaven itself.

The light burned the bird to ashes, then burned the ashes, leaving nothing of it behind. Ji-ah watched dumbfoundedly, as everything unfolded. "Maybe I should have gestured a hammer," she said, after a long silence.

Lee Dojin looked at the sky. The clouds slowly returned, and the light was gone. "That wasn't too bad," he said. "With the rise of levels, it will turn thicker and burn much stronger, and an evolution gives you the chance to let a multitude of beams rain down the sky. It will look like Armageddon itself. You know, this is really not an ability that you should have unlocked this early." The upgrading stone was really a cheat. It had taken him two years after the First Advent to unlock this ability, and it wasn't even from a Rank-Up.

Ji-ah remained silent. "I don't know," she said. "Yes, the skill feels nice, and I can stop worrying about obstacles, but the charging time is a little sub-optimal." She rubbed her chin. It had taken around twice as long to charge this ability. "Also, it's a shame that I can't use it close to me anymore."

"I understand. How about we go to the scene of impact. The sight may change your mind." he grabbed her and walked through the woods.

Arriving at the scene, Ji-ah's eyes opened wide. "This is..." Her voice fell short. The whole ground was charred, with the middle having turned into a crater the size of several meters. In the middle, the stone had turned into glowing red lava. The surrounding trees had their branches burned off.

"I think, compared to this, the previous ability seems near useless."

Ji-ah did not complain for the rest of the road.

After half an hour, the two of them arrived at civilization, though it was nothing more than an empty street with no people—a sight rare for Seoul.

"Well, I suppose that marks our little adventure," Lee Dojin told Ji-ah. "There's a train station on the right side. You should be able to find the rest, right?"

"Huh, uh, yes," Ji-ah answered. "Wait so that's it?" She felt like Alice again, only this time, it was as if she had crawled out the rabbit hole. An unknown feeling of emptiness enveloped her, as she turned around to gaze at the forested area.

"You have all the info that you need. It's fine, we'll see each other tomorrow anyway." He waved and walked away.

"Oh, that's right, the excursion!" Her eyes lit up, thinking about it. "I almost forgot to give you the details, I know it's not usually a school day, so I was worried you may not want to come, but I'm glad you decided on it."

"Uh," Lee Dojin tilted his head in confusion. He wasn't prepared for this reaction. But in the end, he only said, "Sure."

But truthfully speaking, he was thinking about the end of the world coming close to happening.