The climb up the ventilation shaft was a much more difficult ordeal than the descent. The weight of revelation, the weight of the pacified seed, and the veiled threat of the Balancer weighed on their shoulders. The tranquility of the cave was already a distant memory, replaced by the familiar gravity of the underworld.
When they finally emerged in the open, the night was deep, and a thin, icy drizzle fell on Seoul. The city, with its lights smothered by the rain, seemed unreal, like a feverish dream after the absolute silence of the depths.
Min-ho locked the well behind them with mechanical efficiency. "No activity on the surface during our absence. The sensors are blank."
Soo-ah scanned the surrounding shadows, his spear held low but ready." The Balancer said she was waiting at the border. She must be close."
Do-hyun stood still with his eyes closed. He wasn't looking with his Vampire Sense, who didn't detect anything unusual. He sought with that new sensibility that the cave had awakened in him. He felt the city around him, its noisy, chaotic energy, the faint glow of vampires lurking in the shadows, the dull pulsation of sleeping humans.
And then he felt it.
It wasn't a scarlet presence or a golden signature. It was something more subtle, something older. Like the fragrance of stone after rain, or the memory of a very ancient song. An immense melancholy and an insatiable curiosity.
"There," he whispered, opening his eyes and pointing to the roof of an abandoned building across the street.
A figure sat on the edge of the roof, his legs hung in the void. She did not move. She seemed to be part of the night herself, a detail that the eye might have missed.
Without a word, they crossed the street and found the entrance to the building. The climb of the dark and dilapidated stairs was rapid, tense. They emerged on the flat roof, swept away by the drizzle.
The figure rose and turned towards them. He was neither a vampire, nor a human, nor the Guardian. She was a woman, or at least she was in shape. She was dressed in a gray dress that seemed to absorb the dim light, and her hair, black as ebony, fell in perfect waves on her shoulders. Her face was breathtakingly beautiful, but impersonal, like a porcelain mask. His eyes, with cold cash, watched with a detached curiosity reminiscent of the Guardian's, but tinged with something more... earthly. Moreover, carnal.
"The Heir of the New Fire," she said, her voice a melodious whisper that seemed to come from far away. I was wondering when you would come out of the belly of the earth."
[Analysis]... Impossible.
[ENERGY SIGNATURE: UNKNOWN. Nature: Hybrid/transcendence.
Threat level: Indeterminate. Intentions: Unknown.
"Who are you?" asked Do-hyun, his hand near the Blade of Light, ready to summon him.
A barely sketched smile touched the woman's lips. "The names matter so little. But if you have to call me, some have named me Ligeia. I'm a... collector. An archivist of the ages."
"A collector of what?" scolded Soo-ah, his spear now pointed at the creature.
"Stories. Emotions. "His silvery eyes swung over Do-hyun's pocket." And sometimes, unique artifacts. The Phoenix Renaissance is a story I haven't heard in millennia. Last time, it went wrong. A continent in ashes. I wonder how this one will end."
Do-hyun felt an icy shiver run down his spine. "Were you there? Last time?"
"I saw the first fires. I saw the ashes fall. "His gaze became distant." The creators of the original were... impulsive. Like your parents, maybe. Full of good intentions, but blinded by their own light."
"Don't talk about them," Do-hyun warned, anger suddenly rumbling within him, breaking the peace that the cave had instilled.
Ligeia raised a pale hand, a soothing gesture. "I'm not judging. I'm watching. I'm recording. The Guardian plays the god by imposing his rules. I prefer to watch the show. Your little seed is interesting. Pacified by the Balancer... a wise choice. The original was born in fury and pain. He only knew how to destroy."
She took a step towards them, slipping more than she walked. Min-ho pointed his gun at her, but she ignored him.
"The Guardian wants balance. I want to see what you become. So I'm giving you a present. Information."
She stopped a few meters away from them, her scent of ancient stone and faded roses reaching them.
You're looking for a place to plant your tree. A place where heaven meets earth. The Balancer is right. But there is such a place, closer than you think. Mount Bukhan. Not the tourist trails. The heart of the mountain, where the rocks still sing with the memory of the ancient world. It's a pure place. A place of power."
"Why help us?" asked Do-hyun, suspiciously.
Because I'm curious to see if the tree will bloom. Or if it will burn. In both cases, it will be a beautiful story to add to my collection. "His smile widens, revealing perfectly white teeth." And then... there are the others."
"What others?"
"Those who don't want the Phoenix to be reborn. Not in this form. Not under your control. The Purple Dawn Clan is just a minor actor in this drama. There are much older, much more patient forces that sleep beneath cities and in the shadows of forests. The awakening of the Seed agitated them. They're starting to stretch. They're starting to get interested in you."
His words hovered in the moist air, more menacing than all of Kwan's statements.
"Who are they?" insisted Soo-ah.
"Dream Devourers. Sons of the Mist. The names vary. They are the guardians of oblivion. They believe that some forces are too dangerous to exist, even in potential terms. For them, the Phoenix is not a hope. It's a cancer that needs to be eradicated in the egg. Literally."
She stepped back, beginning to melt into the darkness, as if the shadow itself demanded it.
"Go to Bukhan. Plant your seed. And pray that it blooms before the Devourers find you. It will be so much more interesting to watch."
With those words, she disappeared. Not by moving away, but by dissipating, like smoke in the wind.
The roof was empty, apart from the three of them and the crackling of the drizzle.
They remained silent for a moment, the terrible implications of Ligeia's words.
"She's telling the truth," Min-ho finally said, lowering her gun. "Her body language, her tone... was that of someone who exposes facts, not threats."
"Dream Devourers...," Soo-ah repeated, visibly disturbed. "Legends among the oldest in my family. They were said to clean up the "anomalies" of reality."
Do-hyun squeezed the seed through the fabric of his pocket. The object suddenly seemed infinitely more vulnerable. They weren't just competing with vampires or under the Guardian's supervision. They had become the target of primordial forces that viewed their mere existence as a threat.
The quest had just taken on a mythological dimension. They were no longer hunters in a secret war. They were protagonists in a cosmic conflict whose rules they didn't even know.
But they had a direction. Mount Bukhan.
They had to go. And quickly.
Before the Devourers found them.