- The Mind of the Warrior (Part 2)

Hyunji took a step back.

"What did you do to me?"

Dante smiled. "I entered your brain."

"That's impossible. This isn't real."

Dante pointed behind her. "You see that city back there? That is your brain. The lights are its activity."

Hyunji looked at the city far in the distance. "Why doesn't it just look like an organ? Why a city?"

"The brain is so complex. Maybe this is the only way our brains can comprehend itself."

Hyunji's head hurt, and a wave of red washed over the city behind her.

"Pain," Dante said, closing his eyes. "Why are you in pain?"

The red faded and a blackness took over the city. "Let me go back. Right now."

Dante shook his head. "Sorry. Right now, there is a knife to my throat. Why would I return to a world where I'm about to die? I want to convince you to stop. Convince you that I am good. Let's start walking."

Hyunji felt her legs comply and suddenly they were headed toward her city in the distance. She tried to summon some power to resist, but nothing came to her aid.

'We have all the time in the world in here,' Dante had said. Her control over time wouldn't work.

"Let me take you on a tour," he said as they entered the outskirts of the city. "This may take hours, it may take years. Centuries even. Or it will feel like no time has passed at all. I control it. And it all depends on how compliant you are, Hyunji Quon."

"How…?"

"The closer we get to the center, the more I will learn about you. Busan, huh? Born and raised…never been out of South Korea? You must be scared all the way out here."

"I…are you hearing this somewhere?" Hyunji asked, looking around at the buildings around them. The structures were all made of glass, which were glimmering in the light, though Hyunji couldn't find its source.

"Yep. I'm hearing it all. Every secret, even the ones you've buried so deep in your brain you may have even forgotten. We'll uncover it soon. Your parents were bounty hunters too?"

"Yes," Hyunji responded hesitantly.

"Let's continue walking," Dante pressed.

"No, there's no reason, I get it. You can take me back now."

The city around them began to hum and glow a dark purple. Dante sucked in a deep breath. "Fear. What do you fear? Something that lies in the middle of that city? A deep secret, one that you wouldn't trust with anyone? One that you can barely trust with yourself."

"I won't kill you, Dante. We don't need to go any further."

Dante didn't look back. "I don't believe you. Please, follow me."

Hyunji wanted to lash out. She wanted to kill him where he stood. But her legs obeyed Dante's command.

"I still sense your anger, Hyunji. Where did that anger come from? Your parents, I can tell. But what else? Your brother leaving? And…?"

They arrived at the middle of the city, where a large obsidian pillar stood, reaching thousands of feet into the sky. Its dark surface hummed with energy, almost beckoning them closer.

"So here we are," Dante said, stepping close to a circular shaped doorway in front of the pillar. A cold wind blew upwards, whistling eerily. "It's beneath us, huh? You really have it buried deep down. Maybe you don't have access to this memory yourself. Are you ready?"

Hyunji still couldn't move, except to speak. "I don't want to know what's down there. And you don't either. Please, I'll let you go if you get us back to the normal world. I promise."

Dante looked down into the hole, which had a spiral staircase that wrapped down into the darkness. "I sense a great evil from beneath. What have you seen? I wish to know."

He placed a foot on the first step and it began to crack. Dante stepped back off quickly as the entire staircase shattered and fell into the darkness. A bright red began to glow from deep down, and the ground began to rumble. "The connection…it's breaking."

He pushed past Hyunji and took off. She followed him, back outside the city, where he dashed back across the bridge.

Hyunji felt the ground crumble beneath her. Then she was falling and the next thing she knew, they were back at the surface. Her blade was still close to Dante's throat, but she had stopped moving.

She could kill him. Right now. End the man who had just infiltrated her mind. But something was stopping her. Dante was powerful. There were two options. Trust Min-jun and take Dante and the injured girl as allies, or kill them and not have to worry about a betrayal later on.

Min-jun placed a hand on her arm. "Hyunji. Please, drop the blade. I promise, he means us no harm. Right, Dante?"

Dante looked Hyunji in the eyes, and there was an understanding there. He had seen almost every part of her life. He knew her better than anyone now. "That's right."

Hyunji sheathed her blade. "Alright, Fine. Pick the girl up. We're going back to the ship."