Embers of Desire

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I'll try to post Ingrid's illustration in the comments (it was suggested by a wise reader, and now we shall see if their wisdom proves true!)

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On with the chapter!

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A convoy of cars and officers surrounded the Monolith, taping it off for good measure. The National Police Agency, NPA for short, had taken control of the situation—not that it did much since this was way beyond their scope. 

They were helpless, and the orders from above were to simply stand by and make sure the civilians didn't get too close. Though, from what they heard, they might have been a little too late for that.

A young man had entered the Monolith. 

And according to various news outlets from foreign countries, their Monolith was not the only one that had sprouted out of the ground like some magical plant.

This was a global-wide event. 

As if it wasn't already bad enough, some zealous group had knelt in front of the Monolith, praying. The officers hastily dispersed these individuals before the situation escalated to the point where force had to be used. 

An hour had passed and nothing still. Not only had their Monolith been still for too long, the ones overseas reported the same. Nothing weird or calamitous had come out of the Tower. Were they in the clear, or was it just a question of time before something did come out?

"This is bonkers, I tell you." Minho Lee, the commanding officer, said while he tucked a cigarette between his lips. One of his colleagues, Joon Park, lit it up for him. "It's already bad enough having to deal with school gangsters, back alley deals, and all that shit. Now what, aliens? The end of times? Ha…"

He took a drag, releasing his stress along with a ring of smoke. The Monolith stood in front of him like a void carved into reality itself. It was fucking creepy. He didn't even want to be there. 

"Maybe it's really a terrorist attack, sir." Joon Park said.

Minho Lee stared at him askance. "You really believe that shit? Did someone parachute your ass into this job? Don't be stupid, the situation's the same everywhere." He took a deeper drag—fuck, today he was going to do overtime as well. 

"W-Well, nothing has been confirmed yet…" 

"And why's that? They can't do shit about this. Stand by and wait. That's all they told us. This is no terrorist attack. The scale of it would be too immense to implement, not to mention expensive."

The air was heavy with unease. Officers kept their distance, glancing nervously at the towering black structure that loomed over them. 

No one knew if the Monolith was going to stay silent for long, or if it would suddenly grow a mouth, or simply explode. Too many variables. And it fed into the fear of the masses, bloating the unease out of proportions. 

Minho squinted up at the thing. "It's like it's waiting for something." He muttered, blowing a cloud of smoke. 

"Waiting?" Joon Park echoed.

"Yeah. For what, I don't know. But you can feel it, can't you? It's like it's… alive."

"..." Joon Park glanced at his commander, then at the Monolith. He frowned, averting his eyes. "How could it possibly be alive?"

Overhead, a fleet of helicopters was surveying the situation from the sky. 

Minho shook his head, flicked the butt of the cigarette on the ground, and stomped it. "Maybe those fools are right. Maybe God's giving us a trial…"

Joon Park rubbed the back of his head. 

"Well… this is one hell of a weird trial, then."

Minho laughed. "That's the most sensible thing you've said all day."

"Haha…"

'Bastard.'

Joon Park thought darkly.

Then—

A commotion arose from the onlookers. 

"Look over there!"

"He's coming back!"

"He's alive!"

Minho and Joon Park turned around sharply, staring in the direction of the Monolith. 

The entrance, previously shut, stirred, before someone was belched out. 

"Is that…?"

Minho trailed off, watching as a young man casually walked off as if he was taking a stroll around Namsan Park. There was a sword in his hand. More importantly—his clothes were thoroughly soaked in some sort of dark green paint. 

The young man in question nonchalantly strode over, completely uncaring of every eye on him. Whispering broke out among the civilians. Pictures were taken. Videos were recorded. Minho, Joon Park, and a few more officers were quick to surround him. 

"Excuse me, young man. I'm Lee Minho, the commanding officer—"

"You'll find out everything you need soon." 

"Huh…?"

The jade-eyed youngster looked at Minho, and the latter was quite abashed to admit that his heart had nearly dropped to his stomach. His hand hovered an inch over his handgun, ready to be drawn if that sword was pointed at him.

"The 1st floor has been cleared."

"H-Huh… W-What do you mean?"

"It means exactly what I said, sir. The 1st floor has been cleared."

The slight, almost imperceptible glow in his eyes made Minho clam up. 

Fuck. He had to resist the urge to draw his gun and point it at him. Not that he was confident he'd be able to pull the trigger, or even aim correctly—his hand wouldn't stop trembling. 

Joon Park might not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he had high emotional intelligence. He said in a calm, disarming tone. "We don't wish to bother you more than necessary, young man. It's just some routine questions. This concerns the safety of the citizens, after all."

The young man tilted his head. "You can just go in, why don't you?"

"W-Well… our orders were to—" Joon Park began, trailing off.

He was abruptly interrupted.

"Wait and see what happens. True morality reveals itself when self-interest is on the line."

Minho gnawed on the insides of his cheek. The tone… it grated on him. As if it wasn't meant to disrespectful—

It wasn't.

But there was something about his expression, or his gaze specifically… those eyes held nothing but amusement at his actions and reactions. It was not contemptuous or mocking. It conveyed a sense of lazy, bored detachment that he found unpleasant.

Minho scoffed. Youngsters nowadays had balls of steel, but this one was different. "I'm sure that an elite team is being put up to enter the Monolith as we speak, and any intel you have would be of major help."

"You can't enter together. You must pass a test first."

"What test?" Minho furrowed his brow.

The young man shrugged. "A test of qualification, of sorts. To prove your worth. It's not difficult."

"Then—"

"Then you'll get transported to the 1st floor. A grassy plain. Beautiful place; lulls you into thinking the Monolith is a heaven." He waved a hand, throwing one last glance at them as he began to walk off. Despite knowing they shouldn't have let him go, Minho and Joon Park stood frozen on the spot. "Tell your elite team that monsters wait inside. And there are 98 more floors to clear."

"..."

•••• 

••• 

•• 

•

Nari's arms wrapped tightly around Leandro. He had barely set foot inside his apartment. She must have heard the whirring of the locks. A soft smile tugged at his lips. He gently returned the hug, though he was probably too late since Nari wrinkled her nose and immediately shoved herself away from his embrace.

"Oppa… what… what's this?"

The coppery tang was familiar, but the color was not right. A dark, sickly green coloration that stained Leandro's clothes.

"I went hunting." He said, simply, his shoulders barely lifting into a shrug.

Nari wrinkled her pretty nose, probably too disturbed by the sight, and smell.

"H-Hunting?"

She made a weird face as she crossed her arms.

"You—You said you were going to investigate. Did you actually enter the Tower?"

Her tone was accusing; Leandro knew it was not.

"I… might have accidentally slipped in."

"A-Accidentally? H-Hah…"

He arched a brow in amusement. Nari looked split between shaking her head in dismay, ramming a blunt object on the back of his head for the foolishness, and hugging him to death.

'She's such a worry-wart, but I like it.'

Leandro didn't enjoy making her seethe at home in anxiety, but knowing that someone would weep over his death was comforting. It was normal for most people, but his relations in his previous life were limited to enemies, allies he couldn't trust, his sister, and more enemies.

His eyes followed Nari as she scooted closer, bent a little, and smelled the dark stains on his shirt. She made a disgusted, barely hidden wince this time, her nose all scrunched up and her expression bunching slightly.

Leandro couldn't help but crack a smile.

Her expression reminded him of a cat that had put its snout where it wasn't supposed to.

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"Do I look hurt?"

"Idiot..."

Her gaze wavered for a while on the dried out splotch of blood across Leandro's clothes. Well, mainly directed on the bulging and heaving chest beneath the shirt that seemed to strain with each breath he took.

"I'm not late though, are I? I went up and came back down as fast as I could." Leandro bent down a little, staring at her. "Such commitment should be rewarded, don't you think?"

A furious blush spread on her face like the tendrils of a virus. She was immediately on guard, looking away. "S-Stop with the nonsense, dummy!" Cat ears seemed to rear up in alarm on Nari's head. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"I do." His teasing smile turned gentle. "And I'm sorry, but there's just so much beauty in there that I want to show you one day. I don't want to trade the peace you enjoy here, or the dreams you wish to pursue, just to live away from the danger. You're probably not even understanding what I'm really talking about, but… can you be patient for a bit, Nari? Everything will make sense in due time. I promise."

"..." Nari held a hand to her forehead, cheeks still slightly red as she averted her gaze. "Well… it's alright. You've always been like that."

"I promise I'll make it up to you."

"Hm~" She tilted her head. Her purple, feline eyes glinted. "How?"

He blinked. "I didn't think that far ahead, Nari."

She chortled. "You never do."

"That's why I've got you to cover for me."

If she had a cat tail, Leandro was sure it'd be swishing lazily behind her.

"I think I'm going to make you sweat for this one. Though…" A more genuine expression crossed her face. "... you do deserve a reward."

Then, with a softness that seemed so unlike her, she approached Leandro and hugged him again. There was none of the concern and relief of earlier. Despite the stench of blood and dust, she freely buried her nose into his chest.

Her eyes fluttered shyly.

"You've always been a big idiot…"

She muttered.

'I know…'

Another set of footsteps quickly approached. Leandro didn't even need to look up to know who it was. The soft pattering of feet, the slightly winded breath, the cute gasp, not unlike a startled rodent—Hari.

"L-Leandro… you're safe!" Tears pooled up in her eyes as she closed the distance between them with quick strides. She squeezed in next to Nari, enveloping her arms around his right arm. "I'm glad… I really am~"

Unlike Nari, whose cute aggression radiated a conflicted indifference to his scent and closeness, Hari rubbed her face more onto Leandro—the blood, sweat, grime. None of it deterred her. In fact, the slight shudder she gave off wasn't of disgust… rather, it had an undertone of ecstasy.

Nari, quite competitive for a girl her age, reacted more or less similarly—or tried to, anyway, until Leandro gave them an ultimatum: Bath first before hugs.

Like schoolgirls pouting before their crush, Nari and Hari followed him to the bathroom, hands stubbornly gripping the back of his shirt.

"You're not going to follow me into the bath, are you?"

"Are you going to run off again?" Nari eyed him suspiciously. Her cheeks reddened further—the idea of bathing together might have set off some inappropriate thoughts in her head.

Hari, on the other hand, looked like she was about to follow him regardless.

"Cut me some slack, gatita. All I want to do right now is shower and hit the bed. You should as well since I doubt you got any sleep."

"And whose fault is that?"

Arms crossed. Foot tapping on the floor. Eyebrow arched.

She looked too cute.

"You're blaming me for the apocalypse?"

"I'm blaming you for diving headfirst into it and keeping me awake. T-This is different from some hooligans, Oppa."

She was getting flashbacks from 'that' incident.

"I'm not going to die from this much."

"B-But how much would it take? How much is too much, Oppa?"

"This time it's different." Leandro muttered. She didn't seem to hear him. Good. He looked at her. "Just getting a head start. I know what I'm doing. Have some faith in me."

Nari wanted to say more, but ended up sighing and letting it go. This time for good.

"You promise you're going to be fine, Oppa?"

Concern furrowed her brow as she stared deeply into his eyes.

"I am."

A smile flitted across her lips. "I'll hold you onto that promise." She narrowed her eyes. "But if something happens to you, I'll find a way to bring you back to life…"

"Just so you can kill me again?" He regarded her with amusement.

She shook her head—and her expression didn't betray any emotion.

"I'll lock you up and make sure you won't ever have to do something stupid again."

'Great, now she's sounding just like Esmeralda…'

"Sounds quite harsh." He chuckled softly.

"..."

Hari was silent throughout. She intermittently glanced back and forth between Leandro and Nari.

Eventually, they stopped in front of the bathroom.

"Seriously, I need a shower. Go back to sleep, you two. We can talk tomorrow."

Nari cleared her throat. "It's too late to go back to my apartment. I'll be sleeping in your room."

Was that the best excuse she could come up with?

Her stiff movements betrayed her anyway. Though, to be honest, Leandro was glad the whole ordeal didn't traumatize her. Everything almost seemed normal. All you had to do was not look out the window. Even the screens didn't appear as continuously as one might think

As long as you avoided the Monolith, the screens would appear only when there were some nation-wide or world-wide announcements. The appearance of the 'Drifts' being such a case.

"Hari Noona?"

Leandro stared at her warily. The fact that she stood there, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, didn't exactly advertise a normal, healthy conversation ahead.

She could have waited until he was properly washed and dressed…

"Leandro…"

… but she didn't move an inch, hands clasped in front of her lap.

'Don't tell me she really wants to bathe with me…'

"Umh… can we talk for a bit? Alone."