Dancing on the golden ashes

Dire news indeed. But no matter what, I had already decided—I had to get to Seo-yeon. Immediately.

I surged into motion. I didn't hesitate. I couldn't. Every instinct screamed to move, to act, to protect. I had to make sure she didn't get hurt.

It was surprising to see Min-jeong return. I hadn't seen her in five years—not since I tasked her and the others with investigating that cursed region. I'd sent clones to check on them from time to time, but my true body never had the chance to speak with them face to face.

"Watch over this place for me," I said calmly, rising from the throne. "I'll be back soon."

In truth, I didn't expect this to take long. Whatever monster had awoken... I would kill it. Or, if it was worth more alive, I'd tame it. That was always the plan.

"Empress! That creature is nothing to be looked down on!" Min-jeong's voice cracked, her body trembling. Something about the way she said it unsettled me. What exactly had they awakened?

"Don't worry about me," I replied. My voice was cold, steady. "Her life is more important. So is yours."

I turned to leave, my aura already coiling with violent power.

"Watch over things while I'm gone. If I need you, I'll call. And no—" my eyes narrowed, "—I'm not suicidal. I have far too much left to do. I intend to live long enough... to watch the world of angels burn."

I felt the world bend around me as I focused, honing in on the exact location. It was far to the west, beyond the reaches of this wasteland. There, I sensed the strange fluctuations, radiating a blinding light. Only those attuned to nature could have felt it. The only reason I had sensed it at all was because of the powerful fire that burned inside me—golden, hot as the sun itself.

I stepped through the spatial portal, my feet touching the frozen earth with grace, as though I belonged here. Snow and ice stretched out in every direction, blanketing the ground in a cold that could freeze even time itself. Thick, twisted vines curled and spiraled across the landscape, blocking an entrance that descended deep into the earth. It was as if they were sealing something away.

The sky burned a violent red overhead, casting a hellish glow across the land. In the distance, patches of forest still clung to life, shadows of what this world might've been. I could tell Min-jeong had been working hard to make this place livable—there was softness to the soil beneath my feet, the kind that could nurture crops, birth green life from barren earth.

But now… it was all in vain. Everything was destroyed.

But beneath the cold, beneath the twisting vines, I felt something more—a presence. Familiar fluctuations that only one person could cause.

Seo-yeon.

She was fighting for her life, her energy flickering weakly, but I could feel it—her ice, powerful and unforgiving, was suffusing the entire area. The temperature had plummeted to at least -400°C, a frozen hell that was starting to freeze the very air itself.

I sliced through the thick vines with a single slash of my scythe, the blade singing as it tore them apart. A long tunnel yawned open beneath, stretching deep into the earth. Reinforced by layers of ice and more tangled vines, it felt like I had stepped into the heart of the Ice Age. The walls gleamed like frozen mirrors, and I could see my own reflection dancing in the flickering light of the golden flame wrapped around me.

My fire shielded my lungs from the icy grip of death, the kind that would freeze a soul solid in an instant. Still, there had to be a reason for this—Seo-yeon wouldn't unleash this level of frost unless something truly monstrous was down here.

As I stepped forward, the tunnel widened—easily large enough for a horse to pass through. Then, the path split. Forks veered in three directions, each one cloaked in stillness.

I closed my eyes, trying to feel her through the chaos—RUMBLE! A thunderous tremor shook the icy corridor, the ground beneath me groaning in protest. Something was moving. To the left. Something massive.

As I closed the distance, I could feel the strength of her ice fluctuations growing more intense, pressing against me. Even my movements became sluggish, stifled by the biting cold. No matter what I tried, that ice seemed to suppress the fire within me, sapping my strength. Ice was a power I wasn't well-versed in—my connection to water wasn't the same as control over freezing temperatures. For a moment, I felt something unfamiliar stir within me: awe. Her strength was formidable.

"She's close now," I muttered to myself. "And there's something else, something ancient." The power it radiated was as if it belonged to the very heart of this planet—mysterious, dangerous. "I need to keep it alive. It might prove useful in the future. Or…" My gaze darkened, a brief flicker of greed passing through my eyes. "I haven't eaten in a while."

Even without a heart for desires, my sins had a mind of their own, working outside my conscious control. They triggered something deep within me, pulling at instincts I couldn't ignore. They were subtle, but I still felt their tug, like an unseen hand on my soul.

I moved faster than the eye could follow, a blur of motion as I flashed to the end of the tunnel. What lay ahead was pure ice—a thick, unyielding wall that sealed her in. Seo-yeon was behind it, her presence flickering, fading. The tremors shook the tunnel with a mounting pressure that pressed down on my chest like the silence before a storm.

"HHHOOOWWWLLL!" A monstrous howl split the air, raw and deafening. Cracks spiderwebbed through the ice wall. I didn't hesitate.

With a flick of my wrist, my scythe blazed to life, its edge glowing like a blade forged in hellfire—SLAASH! It cut through the wall in one smooth motion—then again, and again, each strike so fast it blurred. Ice shattered like brittle glass, raining down in chunks as I tore through the barrier in a heartbeat.

I stepped into the chamber.

Seo-yeon was pinned to the wall, her ice fracturing under the pressure of a massive claw. The creature looming over her was a grey, humanoid wolf—a beast fifty meters tall, its muscles coiled with godlike power. Its aura surged above mine, heavy and wild.

But I didn't flinch.

I had no heart. No fear. No warmth. Only the sins that flowed through me, acting where my emotions could not. Wrath surged—not as a feeling, but as a force. A commandment written into my very being.

It wrapped around me like a burning storm.

"Hey, big guy!" I said, my voice sharp, cold, and final. "Let's dance."