A Fate Worse than Death
Hwanin, the god of Heavens, told himself it was for his son. Besides, he had every right to do as he wished. He was a god. He mattered more than a mere mortal. And so did Hwanung.
“Ungnyeo’s heart is strong and pure,” Hwanin said to his son. “If we do this, she will become immortal, and she will be able to keep the Amheuk at bay. She will be a hero—a goddess. She will be at your side for all eternity.”
“My wife is perfect as she is,” Hwanung, the god of Earth, insisted, but there was doubt in his voice—there was greed. “I will speak to her. This must be her decision.”
Hwanung wanted to hold on to his wife. He wanted her to say yes. His greed blinded him to his father’s shadowed heart. That night, Hwanung asked Ungnyeo to become an immortal goddess in order to protect the realms.
“Do it for Dangun, beloved.” Hwanung clutched his wife’s hand. “You can keep our son safe.”
Ungnyeo did not wish to become an immortal goddess—not even to spend all eternity with her fated love and their son—but she could not turn her back on the realms. “I will do as you ask.”
Hwanin was right. Ungnyeo’s heart was strong and pure. Her mortal soul should have shattered from the force of the divine gi she absorbed, but her strong and pure heart preserved a speck of her true self.
Even as she became a monster too horrific to behold.
Even as the monster killed countless suhoshin cadets to satiate its gnawing hunger for blood and death.
Even as the monster gave birth to the Gray Void.