46. Altima’s Secret and the Remaining Choice
“Wait! Sabi… Didn’t I say back then? That was the distances between planets and the addresses of specific stars? That I would uncover a huge secret…”
Suri was just as exciting. Like before, Suri started connecting the other stars with colored pencils, starting from the brightest specific star. Each time a line was drawn, light erupted, revealing constellations. The starlight swirling in the Altima room raced towards the vast Mediterranean Sea, crossed huge waves that seemed to swallow the world dozens of times, and finally reached an island.
The starlight raced again. To the ear part of Canis Major, to the unknown island embraced by the triangle with the brightest Sirius at its apex, it raced to Sirius.
“…Right. Giant steganography… Am I going crazy?”
Suri tore at his hair.
“…It’s an ancient star chart, right? Its positions are different from the present time. Even the lightning that strikes every 72 years changes its position by 1 degree each year due to procession, right? …Maybe the secret lies in the margin of error.”
Sabi also looked like she was losing her mind.
“This map can’t be in the Altima room…. Only the Emperor can reside in this room… So, that means the Emperor made it… but that makes no sense?… Ah!… Someone must have possessed the Emperor. Right, I’m right!!!”
Suri was spitting as he spoke.
The Emperor’s mother, Aria, was the last priestess of possession magic. This map was precisely the magical compass she left for her son, Leon, and Nova.
“…She possessed the Altima room and left the map. So… Altima itself is a magical metal. The Emperor denied magic… but he has lived within magic all along.”
Marblem’s gaze was proud and beautiful.
“Like other cosmic empires, the Nova Empire was designed with hyper-advanced science. However, the homelands of the magic tribes were exceedingly primitive. They could hardly be called civilizations…. Everyone in the cosmic empires ostracized them. But… as civilization advanced further, all relationships became individualized… and family ties disintegrated…”
The Emperor’s voice grew weaker and weaker.
“The Emperor is both right and wrong… Didn’t Dad say? Magic is also science…”
Suri was confident.
“…I have long… believed in science… but perhaps it was the same as believing in magic.”
The Emperor seemed to find denying his own identity quite difficult.
“Longitude 12.5 degrees East, Latitude 17.5 degrees South… Do you know what this is? This is the region where 14 ancestral groups of humanity originated. Near the border of Angola and Namibia in Africa… When I was at Omega Archaeology School, I used to be seized by strange thoughts… Ancient human bands consisted of at most about 20 people… and about 20 people hunted, gathered, and diligently migrated from Africa to Europe. At that time, ancient humans lived in the most劣悪 (inferior), most barren, most primitive environment, diametrically opposed to hyper-advanced scientific civilization. They were attacked by beasts day and night and had to risk their lives for survival. I thought of this as the family spirit. It’s utterly impossible to achieve without family… Hyper-advanced scientific civilization makes our lives convenient, but it doesn’t necessarily make us happy. Just as those mere 20 people, banded together, fought against the dangerous and vast nature… and passed down the survival genes to us today… we must live together as a family. Malta was like that, and Sirius was like that… As I came to find my dad… I started thinking that family itself is civilization…. Oh, right, Dad… Where is my dad?”
Suri stopped his lengthy speech and cried out as if screaming.
“I… I want to join the Suri fandom… How can he be so cool…”
Sabi was winking at Suri.
“Ellis delivered it, right? The catalog message… Said he was sent to the Cosmic Cliff…”
Sabi shouted.
“Please help us find my dad… We’ll help you meet your mother.”
Suri pleaded.
The Emperor, without hesitation, slightly raised a hand. A waiting servant immediately entered. The Emperor whispered something to the servant. The servant also whispered back to the Emperor.
“Oracle Elder Seraphin is said to have taken him somewhere other than the Cosmic Cliff. That place is mine. An Altima mine…”
The Emperor’s face was grim.
“We must go right away. But how do we get there?”
Suri was so anxious his mouth felt dry.
“…Guys, I’m sorry but…. Malta is being destroyed right now. The Lightning Shield has taken complete control…. If Malta is destroyed, Sirius will be destroyed too…. We have to stop the Lightning Shield. We need to make the lightning that strikes every 72 years head towards Malta’s prophesied location… Wasn’t that our initial goal?”
Marblem said with a sigh.
“…The Lightning Shield… What should we do in this situation? I only know about food… my brain isn’t working.”
Maru started talking but ended up shedding tears.
“I can help with that…”
The Emperor spoke cautiously.
“You can help? Withdraw it immediately…!”
Maru cried out.
“The Lightning Shield is already operating according to its own protocol. I cannot stop it… I entrusted the design of this protocol to Seraphin Omega.”
The Emperor said, trying hard to remain calm.
“What should we do…?”
Sabi looked distressed.
“…I cannot leave the Empire.”
The Nova Emperor expressed his reluctance.
“We have Thorwayne.”
Maru said proudly.
“No… No living creature can withstand the Altima metal. It could be dangerous, like nuclear material…”
The Nova Emperor looked regretful.
“What? Then what about Dad? Is he being exposed to radiation?”
Suri couldn’t even cry.
“I will summon Eridan.”
The name Eridan came from the Nova Emperor’s lips.
“Eridan said he can’t leave the library… What do we do, where should we go first? Tell me, Marblem… Aren’t you, my future?”
Suri was angry.
“The dads would definitely have told us to save Malta first.”
Sabi clenched her fist.
“‘To be, or not to be, that is the question?’ …If we go to Malta, the dads might die? Am I Hamlet?”
Suri couldn’t think straight.
* Famous line from ‘Hamlet’, considered one of the four great tragedies by the English playwright Shakespeare.
[To be continued…]
** Starting November 2023, The Korea Daily is excited to publish the fantasy novel series “Sword of Malta – Lightning in 72 Years” on our website. This new captivating series follows a trio of young adventurers on their quest to uncover the mysteries of ancient civilizations, including the Maya and Inca. In an exciting development, Netflix is currently adapting the novel’s storyline into a film.
The ‘Sword of Malta – Lightning in 72 Years’ is the latest novel authored by Jeeyoon Ha, who created the “Pangaea series.” Ha’s debut novel, “The Pangaea: Finding Xibalba,” was selected by the Korea Creative Content Agency in 2022 as part of their initiative to support the global export of fantasy literature.
Readers can eagerly anticipate the online publication of two installments each month, with new chapters appearing bi-weekly, offering a regular escape into this magical realm. *Mark Oh translated the Korean novel into English.
