Sword of Malta – Lightning in 72 years (43)

43. The Five Sacred Gorges: Path to Memory of Stars

In fact, what they thought was their arrival at the prophesied location had been an illusion. The strange thing was, the closer they got, the further away it seemed. They hadn’t considered that the prophesied location might move by itself. That location had been a kind of fake.

“…We must stop the Emperor’s misguided ambition. He might have started out wanting to be a great emperor… but he’s become like Hitler who tried to exterminate specific tribes… and like Gaiseric* who didn’t hesitate to destroy civilizations. All just to hide the secret of his bloodline… Anyway, we must stay strong. We’ll do well.”

Suri encouraged and cheered on his friends.

“Now, now… kids… first of all, when moving from here to our destination, my help is absolutely essential. By becoming one with Suri… we’ll move faster than light. Wheee… ding-a-ling… fall for my charm!”

Marblem struck another exaggerated pose, but it wasn’t unlikeable. Sabi was still looking at Marblem with a somewhat crazed expression.

“Look at this, someone has intercepted the catalog message.”

Suri was startled.

“They’re introducing themselves as Seraphin Omega… an Oracle elder. They say they know the prison where my father is locked up. They say we need to help them… My father in prison… I can’t believe it.”

Suri’s face turned pale.

“Suri… the Oracle is just using you all… They have absolutely no reason to help you…”

Lord Forte had a worried expression.

“We don’t know how long Malta can hold out… If Mediterranean Malta falls, Sirius Malta will fall too. We need to find the Emperor. If we find him quickly… and stop the lightning shield… we might buy some time.”

Suri felt urgent.

“Even if we stop the lightning shield… well, will that stop the universe’s wars and destruction of civilization? …But I’m an ultra-positive icon…”

Marblem smiled, but it wasn’t really a smile.

“Let’s take it step by step… let’s go!”

Suri looked at his friends’ faces seeking agreement.

“Yeah. Whatever… let’s go. I’m okay with anything as long as I get proper food! Let’s go! Let’s go!”

Maru jumped up and down by himself.

“…I hate to be a downer, but… the Emperor is someone who overcame tremendous obstacles to reach his position. He’s surely not someone to be taken lightly?”

Sabi frowned.

“There’s no such thing as a perfect person… Sabi~”

Marblem winked at Sabi and took the lead. But Bahar stopped Marblem and took the lead himself.

The path to the prophesied location: Between rock cliffs there was a narrow passage barely wide enough for one person to pass through. This was the only way to enter the prophesied location. Like the only entrance to Shangri-La*, white snow was falling. After safely passing through the snowy entrance, they had to pass through five sections in order.

First was the Misty Gorge. Due to the endlessly rising cold fog, visibility was almost zero, and sharp fog claws appeared here and there, making it potentially fatal if one wasn’t extremely careful.

After passing through the Misty Gorge came the Wind Gorge. Strong upward gusts made it difficult to take even one step and could blow away a person in an instant. The eerie wind sounds in the gusts were creepy like animal howls.

After passing through the Wind Gorge was the Cave Gorge. It was a section where hundreds of caves were intricately intertwined like a spider web. The caves moved endlessly left and right, up and down, and if one chose the wrong cave, they would be trapped in a dead end and face death.

Next was the Bridge Gorge. It was a section where one had to cross a 150m deep gorge, with an old rope bridge as the only passage. The bridge swayed and rocked constantly, and was rotting in places, so one never knew when or where it might break.

After crossing the swaying bridge appeared the Stair Gorge. Over hundreds of stairs spiraled along the cliff. Beautiful songs like those of the Sirens* could be heard, and if one became enchanted, they could fall into hallucinations and drop from the cliff.

Finally, they arrived at the real prophesied location.

The prophesied location was inside a deep valley, and one could tell briefly that it was a sacred space. Massive rock cliffs rose to the sky in a circular formation, giving it the appearance of an ancient temple. Clear spring water bubbled up from the valley floor forming a small lake, with green moss growing around it. So, the prophesied location was a small island in a small lake.

And the Prayer Tree stood tall in the center of the prophesied location. The Prayer Tree was an ancient tree that had endured thousands of years, reaching a height of 30m. It was characterized by silvery white bark and leaves that shone like transparent crystal, with each transparent crystal leaf containing the history of the universe.

All the universal history that the sword, Memory of Stars, had seen was organized by period and became a crystal leaf. The crystal leaves hanging on the Prayer Tree became countless, more and more as one looked at them.

Suddenly the lake in front of the Prayer Tree began to ripple. Red, yellow, and blue light streams spread from beneath the surface, and a sword slowly rose from the water. Amidst the lake’s water drops becoming shining particles scattered in the air, the legendary sword, Memory of Stars, revealed itself.

The sword, Memory of Stars, had a blade that seemed to be made of condensed starlight. The handle was wrapped with spiral patterns, and ancient hieroglyphs swirled in the transparent body of the sword. Those characters began to shine one by one, eventually becoming one large, distinct light. That light moved as if alive and showed a holoscreen.

*Shangri-La: A name for an ideal city created by British writer James Hilton in his 1933 novel “Lost Horizon,” depicted as being in the Himalayas. It’s commonly used to refer to an imaginary paradise and has even been entered into dictionaries as a word meaning utopia.

*Gaiseric: King of the Vandal Kingdom, also known as Geiseric or Genseric. After conquering North Africa, he expanded into the Mediterranean, attacking and plundering Rome among other activities. Due to his invasion of Rome, he is perceived as a destroyer of culture and plunderer, and became the etymology of the word ‘vandalism’ which refers to acts of destroying or damaging cultural heritage or artworks after the medieval period.

*Siren: A sea nymph from Greek mythology. They were said to lure sailors to their death with their mysterious singing. Their appearance changed over time from a combination of a woman’s face and bird’s form to that of a mermaid.

[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.