The Flames of the Forge (1)
The Curator's body was a wreck, even as he applauded.
He had exploded under Zeus's lightning and regenerated, yet his robes had somehow survived unscathed — dust and plaster fragments clung to their hem.
"Seems like you ought to start by brushing off those plaster bits on your clothes, sir."
[...You seem to be in quite high spirits.]
"Honestly? I'd say that's your own projection."
Sharp one. He's right. I was, in fact, extremely excited.
I had just watched the Curator explode in real time, after all.
Still, I did my best not to let it show on my face and simply shook my head.
"You can't even get a proper read on people, but you keep trying to land cheap jabs whenever the chance appears — that's how these mistakes happen."
[......]
"You believe yourself superior, but the ability doesn't quite match up."
[I have never deified myself.]
"And I never invoked a god of that kind, either."
Having fed the Curator a taste of his own medicine, I found I now had the composure to trade barbs with him openly.
Yang Myeonghyeon's lips were twitching at the corners too, apparently just as satisfied.
The Curator, who had been watching the two of us, brushed the plaster fragments from his soiled robe with one hand.
[Very well.]
[The choices available to me regarding you visitors were two.]
"......"
[To take the breath of a powerless human who offered up the thing he deemed most precious by his own standard.]
[Or. To deliver the thief, who protected his own possession and finished his conversation with Zeus, to Hephaestus.]
The Curator shrugged his shoulders again with an air of feigned helplessness.
As always, the gesture was theatrical — but this once, it was also an admission that he had been outplayed.
[To Hephaestus, then. Hermes will guide the way.]
Seizing the hem of his robe, the Curator swept it wide.
The robes engulfed his body, wrapped him tight into a bundle — and then, just like that, he vanished with a small bundle of cloth.
"Seeing the Curator leave in such a hurry, it seems you really did land a solid hit, Jisan-hyung."
"Haha. Feels good, doesn't it?"
"Impressive, human!"
Just then, from far off, Hermes came flying toward us.
He had apparently spectated the whole thing through divine sight, and he was buzzing with excitement.
"Normally you lot grovel and flatter to stay in Zeus's good graces! But to mock a god outright, to his face — humans like you are a rare breed indeed!"
"Thank you."
"You're a fun one. Plenty of gods have their eyes on your path now. A cunning thief like you deserves the personal care of Hermes, no?"
Hermes descended in front of us and touched down on the floor.
In his hands were two glass vials filled with liquid.
He pressed them into Yang Myeonghyeon's hand and mine.
"Drink. It is a potion that will shield you from heat like molten lava."
"......"
"Without it, you will burn to death in the heat of Lord Hephaestus's forge."
Burning alive in heat. The mere thought raised goosebumps across my whole body.
Ordinarily I would have deliberated far longer, but my fear of fire moved my hand on its own.
Either way — if Hermes is appearing at exactly this moment with a potion, chances are high it really is a safety item.
"I'll drink it."
"......"
I hurriedly twisted the cap off the vial and poured the liquid down my throat.
Yang Myeonghyeon watched me for a long moment, then followed suit.
Ugh —! Is this thing actually a potion?!
It felt like my throat was on fire — as if I'd burn out from the inside before ever getting burned by Hephaestus's flames.
I clutched my throat and endured it for a long while, but gradually the searing sensation did fade.
Hermes, who had been watching me intently, broke into a grin and hauled the two of us up.
"We'll be there shortly. Try not to scream my ears off this time."
"We've arrived."
Still... I think I'm getting a little more used to flying, at least.
My stomach churned — motion sickness, probably.
Grim-faced, I braced myself against the wall and managed to stand.
Maybe it really was the potion. Even with my hand pressed to the walls of Hephaestus's forge, all I felt was a mild, pleasant warmth.
Hephaestus's forge was filled with the sweltering heat of blood-red flame.
Lava flowed upside down across the ceiling, and I nearly fainted at the sight of it — but thankfully, not a single drop fell.
The weapons scattered around the forge were all larger than our bodies.
"Thank you. Are you certain you should be helping us this much?"
"Lord Zeus dearly loves that oath-breaking liar of a son. Lay your suspicions about my help to rest."
At Yang Myeonghyeon's question, Hermes patted his shoulder with a face that could almost be called benevolent.
"There will be a sublime sacrifice in the outcome."
He tossed off that final line, turned without a trace of lingering attachment, and soared away.
Before we could press him on what that sacrifice might be, Hermes was already gone.
"What kind of sacrifice, I wonder. ...Jisan-hyung."
A sacrifice. I couldn't begin to guess what kind of crisis lay ahead.
A chill crawled up my spine, and I swallowed hard — and then.
CLANG—!
"...!"
From far away came the sound of a weapon being forged.
Hephaestus — blacksmith god and god of fire — was close by.
"The volcano wails. The bones of the earth split asunder, and lava surges up like blood."
His monologue is terrifying.
He rasped his soliloquy in a gravelly voice — as though he already knew we had arrived.
Should we reveal ourselves to Hephaestus and ask for the flame point-blank? Or hide and play ignorant for now?
Yang Myeonghyeon and I ducked behind the wall and caught our breath for a moment.
"Three Ember Brothers. Guard the true flame, the ever-burning fire, from the thief."
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes."
Hephaestus is... talking to the fire?
And the voices had rung out in perfect chorus.
Could the fire actually have answered?
...Come to think of it, in a world straight out of Greek and Roman myth, there was nothing surprising about fire speaking.
THUD— THUD— THUD—
Hephaestus's footsteps receded into the distance.
We held our breath as much as we could and crept toward the spot where he had been speaking to someone.
We saw Hephaestus's back. Not quite as massive as Zeus, but still a giant, with monstrous muscles corded along his arms and legs.
If that heavy hammer in his hand ever connected with us...
We'd explode exactly like the Curator had earlier.
"......"
"......"
Where the voices had come from, there was only fire.
Three flames blazed atop a cutting block, each burning in a different color.
From left to right: yellow, blue, and red.
The embers are floating just above the air. So that's why the block hasn't caught fire.
"We are the Three Ember Brothers of yellow, blue, and red."
Just then, the three-colored flames spoke in unison.
Each time the voices rang out, the fire rippled like an opening mouth.
"The Red Ember does not hold the fire."
"I do not hold the fire."
"The Yellow Ember is not lying."
The heat of the flames scorched my cheeks.
If not for Hermes's potion, I would already have been reduced to ash, just as he'd warned.
Sparks spat and scattered at my feet, and I nearly yelped in fright.
"The true ember always lies to protect itself. But one other speaks only truth, and the last speaks a mix of truth and lies."
Ah. I think I know what kind of quiz this is.
"You have one choice only. Choose the wrong ember, and it will burn you to the bone in a heartbeat."
Having finished their speech, the embers rippled quietly.
The puzzle could be solved slowly — first, we needed to find some tool to pick up fire with.
"Yang Myeonghyeon-ssi. Is there a torch around anywhere?"
"No. I don't see anything capable of holding fire at all. The puzzle begins before the puzzle, it seems."
"Well, if I have time to think it through, it doesn't seem all that difficult. It's the classic sort we've all seen before—"
CRASH—!
Suddenly the ceiling shuddered, and the whole forge shook.
Every time a pillar of fire surged up to support the structure, my body grew hotter.
Only when the forge rocked did the reality of having stepped into the flames truly register.
In an instant, I was drenched in sweat from head to toe. Not from the heat — from fear.
Just don't lose your head. The difficulty isn't hard, so think it through calmly and find the true fire—
"Sixty seconds."
"—!!"
From far away, Hephaestus's low voice rumbled through the forge.
As expected, he had already noticed we'd entered.
The moment Hephaestus began counting, my mind froze in a flash of panic.
Sixty seconds is still enough time to work it out.
I methodically reassembled the embers' words in my head.
Stay calm, keep my reason intact, and this is entirely solvable. I can do this.
FWOOSH—
Damn it!!
Did the tower raise the map's difficulty because I was about to solve it too quickly?
Flames suddenly began to rise up all around us.
They weren't burning close enough to touch our bodies — but it hardly mattered.
"Hhk—…!"
"Jisan-hyung?!"
The throat-closing terror made it impossible to breathe.
As I clutched my chest and gasped, Yang Myeonghyeon called my name.
Me, and Yang Myeonghyeon too — we could burn away just like our parents did.
If that surging wave of fire swept over us and melted us completely...
Stop. Focus. Focus. Focus, Kim Jisan.
I clenched my teeth and slapped my own cheek hard, trying to claw my reason back — but it wasn't easy.
I couldn't let myself flounder in fear exactly as the tower wanted, wasting the clock away.
I had no strength left even to look at Yang Myeonghyeon, but I could feel his worried gaze settle on me.
"Fifty seconds."
"Forty seconds."
...The time was draining away.
And then, suddenly, a spear of flame erupted from the fire surrounding us.
The spear flew and struck Yang Myeonghyeon's arm.
"Yang Myeonghyeon-ssi!!"
"Ugh—…!"
The spear never pierced his arm — the moment it ground against his skin, it dissolved back into pure flame, roaring.
By the time Yang Myeonghyeon groaned in pain, his arm was already ragged with burns.
It's deliberate. It's targeting Yang Myeonghyeon's body, not mine.
Fire attacking visitors was surely a system common to every quest.
But the flames flew only at Yang Myeonghyeon and never at me.
It was a remarkably refined cruelty — inflicting physical agony on him, psychological agony on me.
If anything, if the fire had latched onto my own body, I might have been able to pull myself together.
But watching another person burn before my eyes dragged the past open before me, unbidden.
The burning house.
Mom. Dad.
And me — the one who couldn't save them.
"Hhk, hah…"
Unable to breathe properly, the world soon began to swim before my eyes.
My legs gave out, and I crumpled to the floor on the spot.
Even then, I barely managed to slap a hand against the cutting block to keep myself from toppling into the flames.
Jisan-hyung!
Yang Myeonghyeon's shout cut through the haze and jolted my fading mind awake.
I forced my ragged breathing under control and looked at him.
Yang Myeonghyeon was waving at me, forcing a wry smile.
"I'm fine."
"......"
"Completely fine. I get cold easily anyway, so this isn't so bad."
He had noticed my reason coming apart at the seams.
Looking at his condition, it was a bald-faced lie — but hearing it somehow pried a little of the fear loose from inside me.
"So this is... what a burn feels like... Fascinating."
"Now is not the time for commentary!"
Was he being calm even through this, or trying to make me calm — or maybe the sheer agony had simply knocked something loose in his head.
Unfortunately, my vision had blurred too badly to look at him properly any longer.
Son of a—
I spat a silent curse at the tower and the Curator, who were surely watching us right now.
They must be basking in pleasure at the sight of the two of us in agony.
Then again — if I still have the presence of mind to curse, his words must have worked. Thanks, Yang Myeonghyeon-ssi.
All because of him, dragging his ragged body around while worrying about me.
FWOOSH—
The flames closing around us raged higher and higher.
"Thirty seconds."
Half the time limit had already burned away.
At this rate it would be one of two endings: burned to death in Hephaestus's fire, or struck down by Zeus's lightning. Maybe both.
No.
I clamped down on my lower lip and set my jaw.
I bit down so hard that a bitter copper taste filled my mouth.
I was going to endure this terror, no matter what, and clear the quest.
So that the fire would never swallow Yang Myeonghyeon.
I would never again watch a person burn before my eyes.
Not ever again.