The moonlight painted silver streaks across the forest floor.
Ji-hyeon walked in silence, the old book wrapped carefully in cloth and strapped to his back. The trees loomed like sentinels, their branches whispering secrets only the night could hear.
He had returned.
The altar stood where he had first seen it — cracked and worn, half-buried in vines and time. But now, it felt… awake.
Alive.
He stepped closer, heart pounding. The air around him shimmered, and for a brief second, the world held its breath.
Then — the wind shifted.
---
A soft hum resonated from the altar stone. Symbols etched along its surface pulsed faintly, mirroring the glow that now came from within Ji-hyeon's chest.
The book on his back grew warmer.
He knelt.
Placing his hand upon the altar, he whispered, "I've come for answers."
Silence.
Then, the ground trembled ever so slightly. A wisp of dark light rose from the stone, curling in the air like smoke.
It formed eyes.
A voice followed — deep, resonant, and ancient.
> "At last… the vessel remembers."
Ji-hyeon's breath caught in his throat. The voice didn't speak to his ears — it spoke to his soul.
> "You walk this world as Ji-hyeon, but you were once… something far greater.
Something feared.
Something lost."
He trembled. "Who… who am I?"
The smoke swirled faster, condensing into a vague silhouette — tall, cloaked in shadows, with eyes that burned like embers.
> "You were a king.
Not of crowns, but of power.
The Demon King — Velkrath."
Ji-hyeon fell back, heart racing.
"No. That can't be. I'm just—"
> "A child born poor? That was the seal's design.
You were hidden. Forgotten. Buried in mortality.
But now… now, the seal weakens."
Ji-hyeon clutched his chest. The warmth inside him was no longer comforting. It was burning.
---
The voice faded, but the presence remained.
He sat there, under the moonlight, staring at the altar, trying to process the truth unraveling before him.
He had a past.
A terrifying, powerful past.
But he still had a choice.
Would he become that king again?
Or forge a new path?