Chapter Text
The branches of the Spirit Tree rustled uneasily as a chill wind blew through its leaves, the many Norigae affixed to its quaking growths seeming to quiver with anxiety. The scent of dusk permeated the air, the cloying scent of scattered pollen settling beneath the heavy promise of impending dew.
Shadows began to lengthen as the little sunlight that managed to filter through the constant cover of clouds began to fade beneath the horizon, true night beginning its approach.
Rumi stood, dusting away the dirt that had dug its way into the fabric of her pants from the many times she had been forced to the ground either in defeat or to evade a strong blow from her sparring partners. She had been the last one to leave the cool shade of the leaf canopy; Siren, Fujin, Mira, and Zoey all already on their feet and waiting for her so they could return to the complex as a group, the enticing promise of baths and food lending energy to their tired limbs.
A series of satisfying cracks rippled up Rumi's spine as she stretched, a small groan of pleasure slipping past her lips at the sensation, her tail slowly swishing in contentment.
She truly did feel free in this form, the pressure that usually lived at the base of her spine and high on her forehead was notably absent and she reveled in how good her body felt.
She was still self-conscious around the others, years of hiding her heritage and sculpting her appearance for safety and acceptance did not go away overnight, or even over many nights. It would take time, a long time, before she could silence the voice in her head for good, the one that urged her to search the faces of the ones she loved for fear and disgust.
She looked at the others waiting for her on the path back to the complex, her eyes falling on her two lovers. Her stomach fluttered and blood rushed to her cheeks at the memory of how they had worshipped her body the night before, every inch of her laid bare an caressed with devotion.
With their help, she would be rid of that voice.
Her fangs peeked out as she smiled, the resulting spark of hunger on Fujin's face causing a sense of smug satisfaction to wrap around her abdomen like a particularly content cat.
"C'mon Rumi, we're hungry!"
The whine in Zoey's voice drew small laughs of agreement, and Rumi was no exception.
"Alright, alright! Let's get some food!-"
The smile on her face froze along with her foot, the booted appendage mere inches from the ground as a horrible sense of wrongness wrapped around her like a giant hand engulfing her body. The other felt it as well, their postures stiff and wary where relaxation and mirth had nestled just moments before.
The warm, southern wind suddenly shifted as a current of chill air overtook it from the northeast, the sudden change feeding the unease that seemed to crawl up their bodies like a prolonged shiver.
Even the waves of the Honmoon, previously calm and languid, now surged in irritation like the waves of an ocean before a storm.
Rumi could see a myriad of emotions flash across Siren's face as she stared behind Rumi at the suddenly darkening sky, a final mask of resolution settling on her brow. Her emotions were mirrored on the others.
Fear lingered behind the fire of bravery in Mira's warm eyes.
Feral defiance crackled through Zoey as she stood protectively in front of the pink-haired warrior, lips curling back in a snarl.
It was Fujin who walked forward, snaking her arm around the demigod's hip and squeezing in a quick hug, seemingly immune to the tension that rippled in the air. Rumi turned then to witness what the others had seen, what she had felt crawling from the spade of her tail to the tip of her horns.
The unnaturally dark sky bubbled with fetid darkness, flashes of bright purple barely illuminating the cloudy depths. From within the roiling wrongness, a jagged crack of glowing magenta spread into a ghastly smile, two burning flames bursting into existence above it.
Gwi-ma.
Something wrapped around her claws, squeezing them in a way that felt like reassurance.
Rumi looked down to see Fujin's hand intertwined with hers, the ruby-eyed woman gazing steadily at the anxious half-demon.
"...ONE...MORE..."
Just one more fight. One last battle.
Rumi's forehead dropped to rest against the silver strands draped across Fujin's eyepatch, her eyes closing as their breath mingled, sharing a final moment of comfort.
Rumi felt the confidence within the smaller woman as they stood there, the connection they had to each other. She could feel the soul of her silver-haired hero as strongly as the pulse of the Honmoon. She reached for it, the sparks of their existence feeding off each other, their essence flaring with strength at the reminder of their bond.
A third flame joined the bonfire of their shared connection as Siren's wings wrapped around them, the three lovers sharing one last embrace before the sky above them boomed with the voice of a mad god.
"This is the end. The Hunters, the Honmoon, the foolish failure of a god. I will devour you all!"
Oily clumps of darkness fell to the ground like meteors, the dark substance splattering against the earth before it bubbled, monstrous forms rising from the corruption. They were hideous amalgamations, monsters from the world of the gods mixed with the demons of the humans' world, all claws and horns and teeth and hunger. More and more comets of corruption fell, the horde of demonic monsters growing as Gwi-ma sent more small pieces of his power raining to the earth below.
Two Hunters, a demigod, and an otherworlder stepped forward, transformed weapons glowing in their hands. They stood between the hordes of darkness and the core of the Honmoon, the Spirit Tree. Behind them, one hand on its trunk, was Siren in her godly form. Her other hand was outstretched to the four warriors, visible streams of iridescent power stretched like tethers to each of them as the goddess drew upon the Spirit Tree, the full range and power of the Honmoon condensed and channeled to the warriors through her.
The earth shook as the first wave of monstrous horrors charged, the warriors running to meet them.
------
Her blade sang, the transformed weapon burning away the corrosive darkness as it sliced through the neck of a four-legged monster, the massive body disintegrating into black smoke as the glowing blade of the gok-do flowed towards its next target.
Mira couldn't believe how powerful she felt as Siren channeled the power of the Honmoon into her.
She had always felt strong, agile, superhuman ever since she had been chosen as a Hunter, but this was on an entirely different level.
She recognized some of the traits of the monsters as those of the demons she was more accustomed to fighting, but took no further note apart from where each looked the weakest. From there, her spinning blade turned them to dust.
------
Zoey felt invincible! The power-up her shin-kal blades had received as well as the boost from Siren had her flipping through the air as a barrage of glowing projectiles flew from her nimble hands, corrupted monsters vanishing in droves as her knives found throats, eyes, hearts, and any other weak points she saw. She was a scythe, and the horde of charging monstrosities were sheaves of wheat ripe for harvest.
-----
Another battlefield.
Murky claws passed an inch above floating strands of silver as Fujin ducked, her hand flashing out to carve the attacking monster in two with one of her brilliant chakrams. Almost casually, she flicked her other wrist, the circular blade arcing through the air as it sliced through a number of more agile monsters, their evasive movements failing to escape the glowing weapon as multiple clouds of corrupted ash burst into the air.
This was too easy.
-----
Rumi's sain-geom whispered through the air as she danced, clouds of black ash erupting in her wake like tiny, corrupted fireworks as abominations were cut down one after another.
She could see how Gwi-ma had twisted these... things. It was like he had taken the monsters of Fujin's world and put them in a blender with the demons of this world.
Truly the worst of both worlds.
Still...at least they lack the intelligence of the larger demons.
-----
It burned.
Siren grit her teeth as she watched the warriors cut swathes through Typhon's horde, the Honmoon's power pouring through her like a waterfall made of lightning.
Pulling the entirety of the Honmoon to one concentrated place? Compressing all of that power and funneling it through her vessel?
She was a candle, the Honmoon was an inferno, and the wick was disappearing fast.
They needed to end this quickly.
She just hoped that the boost was enough, that cutting down his forces would force him to act personally. Then, hopefully, their combined power could end him for good.
-----
"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!"
Zoey roared up into the sky, a maelstrom of ash disappearing into the air was all that remained of her enemies.
Rents in her clothing revealed wounds weeping trails of blood, the sticky liquid slowly dyeing her clothes a grisly crimson.
Despite the incredible boost, not every attack could be avoided or deflected, and more than a few claws had drawn lines of bloody fire across her skin. Despite her wounds, a feral grin still accompanied the frenzy sparking in her eyes, even as a mountain of roiling darkness plummeted from the sky to coalesce in front of her, a monster the size of a small building slowly rising from the corruption.
Zoey's teeth flashed as she charged, meeting the monster's roar with her own.
------
Thin streams of red stained ribbons of pink as Mira blinked her vision clear, her tears trying to clear the blood from her vision. She had traded blows with a bear-sized monster, her blade piercing its head even as its claws had raked across her skull. She could feel the bloody furrows that ran from her right temple to the back of her head, barely missing her ear. The pain was a dull throb compared to the adrenaline that shot through her veins like shrieking fireworks through a dark sky. She leveled her blade as a colossal monster slunk towards her like a prowling panther, bracing for the monster's pounce, prepared for her counterstrike.
-----
The demonic behemoth collapsed, the storm of attacks draining its vitality before it could fully form, a blizzard of ash blowing away as Fujin stood, completely untouched.
She had been through worse.
She surveyed the battle, rushing to assist the smaller Hunter as she battled her own gigantic foe.
Chakrams flashing, Fujin dove into the fight.
-----
They all had their foes, so where was hers?
Rumi was about to lend her sword to Mira, when the sky cracked.
The unnaturally dark clouds condensed around ghostly flames, a pair of glowing red eyes locking Rumi in place as a shape began to take form in the sky above. The bubbling mass of darkness descended as it shrank, solidity defining limbs, a body, a maw.
Sickly purple skin suffused with a deathly aura of corrupt darkness as Gwi-ma's corporeal form took shape, the floating mass a mere container for the enormous mouth of jagged teeth and the two glaring orbs of hatred set above the fanged abyss. Two thin arms ending in cruel claws jutted from either side of the hovering body, the monstrous form complete.
The mad god was the size of a small skyscraper, his arms like long cranes, claws the length of telephone poles. When he opened his mouth to speak, the yawning pit of his gullet dwarfed the surrounding trees.
"A pitiful resistance. Surrender, and I will grant you the honor of becoming fuel for my ascension."
Rumi forced her limbs to stop shaking, her hands tightening on the grip of her sword as she spat at the sire of her heritage.
"You've failed at every turn, Typhon. You failed to kill the other gods, failed to break the Honmoon, and you will fail today."
She barely raised her sword in time, the blade shrieking as claws ten times its size crashed into it. She had blocked the attack, but the force of the blow sent her rocketing across the battlefield, a sickening crack echoing in the air as her body struck a gravestone. Her vision went white as pain erupted all over her body, her limbs refusing to respond as she crumpled to the ground.
"RUMI!"
Siren's anguished cry cut through air like a thunderclap, displacing all other sound. Three heads snapped towards Siren, their foes dissolving into ash, their own battles complete.
"...NO..."
Fujin saw it first, purple hair cascading over the gravestone like a waterfall, patterned body unnaturally still where it lay crumpled on the ground.
"Rumi!"
Mira and Zoey saw her at the same time, their twin screams planting dual daggers in Fujin's shattering heart.
They tried to reach her, but Gwi-ma's arm slammed to the earth separating them and forcing the remaining warriors to regroup with Siren.
The tethers that Siren had been maintaining throughout the battle now wavered before disappearing, the single remaining line of power thickening as it stubbornly clung to the unmoving demigod.
She could feel it. The spark was still there! Sylph was still there! And if Sylph was there...
"She's still alive! "
Gold and jade feathers littered the ground, glowing cracks appearing in Siren's skin as the power coursing through her continued to take its toll.
She didn't care. She had to save her.
An involuntary cry escaped from the goddess as she felt her vessel, her body, burning itself up, the strain of channeling the full power of the Honmoon into a single target almost more than she could bear.
A claw twitched.
"A pity. You could have had the honor of being part of a god, but now-"
Color began to bleed out of the surroundings as a ball of profane power begin to gather in the air before Gwi-ma.
"You will all perish along with your precious Honmoon!"
Siren's eyes widened as she saw the attack build, the sphere swelling to an enormous size as she cut the tether to Rumi and threw every bit of the Honmoon's power into creating a shield for the humans huddled around her.
The beam struck, a pillar of black energy with white edges rocketing forward to clash with the iridescent shield of the Honmoon.
Siren's wings were bare. Bloody feathers covered the ground as she screamed, a tiny crack forming in her core as she hollowed herself out to let more of the Honmoon pour through her.
She had to protect them.
No matter the cost.
-----
What had she been doing?
There was a ringing echo in her ears, like she was underwater and the solid tone of a smoke detector was undulating through the liquid.
She had been...fighting?
It was hard to think, the thoughts slipping through her fingers like sand to disappear into the indistinct fuzziness all around her.
She remembered...the training ground?
The ringing echo intensified, lancing through her head and making her wince.
We were...sparring...and then...
"-et up."
Something else tried to reach her...a voice?
"-et up, little Star."
Eomma?
"They need you, Rumi."
Eomma?!
Her throat was made of fire, her nerves were lightning, daggers of pain lanced through every inch of her flesh as Rumi pulled in a gasp of breath. She retched, blood and bile splattering on the earth beneath her as her lungs spasmed, trying to clear themselves and pull in life-giving air.
What happened?
She tried to grasp the stone next to her to pull herself up, but a lance of molten pain burned through her back and shoulder and her arm fell back against her side with a cry of pain. She leaned against it instead, dragging her legs beneath her to a kneeling position, every twitch of the muscles in her back made her want to collapse back to the ground and sob from the agony.
She had to get up...but why?
Her other arm crossed her body, fingers scraping against familiar grooves in a familiar stone as clarity struck her like a bucket of ice water.
Mi-yeong Ryu. Her mother. Her mother's grave. Her mother's grave by the Spirit Tree. The Spirit Tree. GWI-MA!
Rumi's eyes flew open, the scene in front of her wrenching a pitiful wail from her throat.
A thick beam of corrupted energy was splashing against a flickering iridescent shield. Gwi-ma, mouth agape, was powering the beam. Beneath the flickering shield, Mira, Zoey, and Fujin were huddled around a human figure.
Rumi staggered to her feet, her mind urging her to run, to help, to do something.
The figure...was Siren.
Cracks covered the goddess' body, glowing blood flowing from the fissures in her skin. Her wings were completely gone, a pile of smoking bone and flesh at her feet. As Rumi watched, the ethereal woman's talons cracked and disintegrated, her feathery mane of hair was gone, burned away by the power flowing through her. Rumi wailed as she staggered towards the flickering shield, cracks beginning to form in the wavering light as the beam of energy pressed harder, Gwi-ma sensing his impending victory.
No no no nonononono!
Rumi's heart pounded, the spark of her core igniting as the nascent guardian force inside her made a choice.
It didn't want to watch its mothers die.
Rumi screamed as she felt the small flame of consciousness within her snuff out, even as she was flooded with a wave of power. Her bones cracked, muscles tore, and flesh shifted even as her stride lengthened. Her steps grew longer, faster as muscles regrew and twisted into powerful strands around new, stronger bones.
She blurred forward, clawed hand reaching toward the people she loved as the iridescent shield shattered.
-----
Siren had failed, the shield was about to break, Typhon's attack would burst through, and everyone she had fought to protect would die. There was nothing she could do, even if-
CRACK
With a sound like tens of windows breaking at once, the barrier shattered.
This was it. The end.
Siren dropped to the ground as her bloody arms encircled the ones she had been protecting, her eyes squeezing shut as she braced for the pain-
"You won't take anyone else from me!"
Siren's eyes flew open, taking in the backlit shape in front of her as she gasped, three other voice joining her in a mix of disbelief, relief, and hope.
"Rumi!"
She was there, in all her godly glory, a bulwark between them and annihilation as a beam of pure white met the ray of corrupt energy that was still intent on erasing them.
It was the same attack that had saved her and Fujin's life before, the same outpouring of energy that had been seen by half of her world.
A pang of sorrow stabbed through Siren's heart like a spear in her ribcage as she realized how Rumi was alive and protecting them.
She couldn't feel Sylph anymore.
The child she had selfishly created and thrust upon the demigod-
-had chosen to burn its own existence like fuel to save Rumi.
To save them.
And it wasn't enough.
She could see it. See how the two destructive energies were locked in conflict, seemingly equal.
But Rumi was losing.
She was wavering, buckling under the weight of Gwi-ma's seemingly infinite power as the corrupted energy inched closer.
The Honmoon was already reaching for Rumi, empowering her as much as it could. It had nothing more to give.
But she did.
Siren stood, stumbing forward until her arms wrapped around Rumi's middle, her bloody forehead resting between her lover's shoulder blades, feeling the power thrum through the brave, selfless girl. Feeling the powerful body shake as she gave everything she had to protect them.
Siren glowed, her form flickering, the cracks in her skin sealing as her hair and wings regrew, the goddess pulling on the core of her own divinity.
The tiny crack in the winged woman's divine well of power grew.
This was the least she could do.
I'm sorry, Fu.
A ruby eye widened in dawning horror as the soft voice reverberated in the silver-haired woman's mind.
I really would have liked to go on a date with the two of you.
"SIREN..NO!"
The goddess felt the impact against her winged back even as the connection that had sustained her for so many years broke, the tendril reeling back into her damaged core.
She felt the scarred arms wrap around her, the tears soaking into her regrown hair, the violent sobs that seared into her heart as she pulled on all of her divine power and-
-sang
Through all the pressure and violent energy that clashed around them, Siren's voice cut through as if it was the only sound allowed to exist in that moment.
There were no words, but the divine power within the melody touched every heart directly, the meaning perfectly clear.
It was a song of devotion.
The notes floated gently through the surrounding chaos, describing a life of love denied by circumstance, desire never satisfied, loneliness that could never be comforted.
The sadness within the magical song was a piercing ache, a hollowness that could never be filled.
Until them.
The melody shifted. A shy spark, a flame ignited, hope blooming like a single fragile flower in a barren wasteland. Twin beams of sunlight that cut through the isolation, darkness burning away beneath their soft brilliance.
The song swelled. Happiness in its purest form, glowing from within. Hope growing into certainty. The beginnings of love that fluttered shyly against ribs light with the breath of wonder.
Siren sang, the cracks in her divine core growing and spreading as she bared her love, her glow beginning to fade as it left her and wrapped around the woman with a glowing mane of black and purple flame.
Siren sang, her domain of divinity crumbling as she squeezed out every drop of her power.
Siren sang, her wings flickering out of existence as her godly features faded.
Siren sang.
------
She had made it.
Rumi stood, clawed feet anchored in the ground, powerful arms outstretched, fanged mouth roaring her defiance as her own beam of power battled against the profane energy of Gwi-ma.
It was the same power Sylph had helped her achieve when she had rescued Fujin, except there was no Grand Wellspring of magic here.
So Sylph had made a choice.
Rumi's chest ached with the absence of that comforting spark even as her gratitude for Sylph's sacrifice filled her.
She would protect them. She would end Gwi-ma for good.
Except, the attack kept coming.
It pushed against her own Energy Blast, the two beams in a deadlock as each side fought to overpower the other.
But Rumi could feel herself wavering.
No! I can't let them die!
She pulled on every vestige of her own power, every scrap of her will, every drop of her strength.
It would be enough. It had to be enough.
But it wasn't.
Denial, disbelief, rage. It all swirled within her.
Why? WHY?!
She finally wanted to live! Finally had someone to live for!
SO WHY?! WHY WASN'T SHE ENOUGH?!
Despair began to fill her as her body shook, her limbs quivering as she poured out the last of her energy.
The end was coming.
Then she felt two arms wrap around her, and a voice began to sing.
Strength flowed into her, power filling her core to bursting as the framework of something began to build in the back of her mind.
Siren was singing.
Even as she continued to shield them, Rumi listened to the melody, her heart swelling at the outpouring of love.
This was the song of them.
Hope began to build within her, the framework filling out more and more as Siren sang, filling her with divine strength.
Rumi almost faltered as the song shifted.
Sorrow. Melancholy. A dream realized, and then denied.
A willing sacrifice.
A final, lingering note hung in the air as Rumi felt the divine core behind her shatter, the framework in her mind finally complete.
Glowing tears spilled down her cheeks even as the power she had been gifted was given focus.
Her voice hitched as she whispered the words that formed in her mind, her heart cracking with finality.
"Limit Break:-"
"-Siren's Requiem"
The world went white.
-------
6 months later
-------
Snowflakes danced through the air, neon lights reflecting off the frozen crystals as people gathered to admire the new construction that had just been finished.
The Seoul Olympic stadium was reopening today, and there was a giant celebration planned alongside the unveiling of a large statue that would be featured prominently in front of the stadium as a tribute...and a memorial.
There was an undercurrent of somberness within the city, the residents not believing that such a thing was even possible if not for the tens of thousands of still missing persons and the eyewitness accounts.
"Mommy, mommy! I want to see!"
A young, brown-haired woman picked up her little daughter, settling the giggling child on her shoulders so she could see over the crowd.
Sparkling, innocent brown eyes were wide with excitement as the covering was removed, revealing the statue.
It was a beautiful statue, carved from a light-colored stone with tiny crystals that sparkled when struck by the floodlights that now illuminated the memorial.
It depicted a winged woman, longing and sadness were expertly carved into her face, her mouth open in song. One hand was curled against her chest while the other was outstretched, as if she was reaching for her beloved.
She appeared to be floating, her legs carved with such grace that it seemed as if the wind was keeping her afloat in its gentle embrace.
A fitted dress of beautiful stone feathers hugged the woman's generous figure, cutting off mid-thigh.
There were many exclamations and gasps of approval as the crowd politely cheered and applauded the angelic statue's reveal.
"Wow... she's so pretty! Who is she?" The little girl's mother smiled at the wonder in her daughter's voice as she answered.
"No one knows her name, but the description says-"
The Silent Siren
A brave woman who sacrificed everything to protect those she loved.
The child let out a little squeal of delight at the word "loved", being at just the age to start fawning over princesses and fairy tales.
"Just like a princess!"
------
Fingers stiff with cold curled through a series of signs with the hesitation of someone who was still somewhat new to the language, an irritated huff accompanying the sharply signed words.
"I don't know, I think it looks really nice!"
The voice held the restrained warmth of someone trying-and failing-to hold back their laughter as the woman who had been signing lightly punched the woman who spoke, strands of purple hair escaping a woolen hat as laughter was released in earnest.
"...CALLED...ARTISTIC...LIBERTY..."
A crimson eye was curved in mirth, even as the petite woman's face struggled to remain impassive, lips twitching upwards as frustrated hands curved in front of the third woman's chest.
"I'd be more than happy to examine them again for reference, then we can find the sculptor and tell him that he made your boobs too big."
Mismatched eyes crinkled in amusement as the third woman flipped her off, even as her own amethyst eyes sparkled in amusement.
Having 'said' what she thought of the 'ridiculously proportioned' statue, the mute woman grabbed both her companions and pulled them close for a few quick kisses that left all three women smiling.
"...LET'S...GO...HOME..."
The End.