Beginning Beyond The Horizon

The five Tanzanies and Bong looked at the beautiful woman standing in front of them. Since they had just fought against a Kylista, they were worried that the person standing in front of them was another Kylista in disguise. 

U-ri looked at goddess of beauty and said, "First tell us how you got here."

Goddess of beauty smiled and said, "I can go anywhere in this world I want. I don't need permission from you mortals. You have no right to tell me where I should or shouldn't go."

Yul asked, "Why did you come to us?"

Goddess of beauty giggled and said, ""How can you be so despicable and treat me as your enemy? If it weren't for me, you would still be wandering around without a destination."

Yul said, "So, you are Meng's boss."

Goddess of beauty smiled and said, "No, I am not his boss. His boss is Huoyan." She giggled. "But I did give him some advice and he chose to follow it."

"You are the mastermind who wants to start a war between the Misicks and the nine dragon clans," Bong said through gritted teeth. 

Goddess of beauty giggled. "Like I said, I'm just giving advice," she said with a smile.

Staring at the six men, goddess of beauty smile with a deeply hidden intention. She knew that once the six people entered No Man's Land, she would no longer be able to bring Hajime back to Peace Valley. If she needed to take action and catch Hajime, now was the time. She has waited for the resurrection of the last descendant of her enemy for so many centuries, and she will not let the last descendant of her enemy escape from her fingertips; even if the soul in the body is no longer the soul of her enemy's descendant, the body still belongs to him.

Goddess of beauty quickly rushed in front of Hajime and grabbed Hajime's neck. A rope emerged from the ground and soon entangled the five people and Meiji.

"Let him go!" Yul yelled, trying to break free of the rope.

Goddess of beauty smiled at Hajime and said, "I know that the soul in this body is not his, but since you borrowed his vessel, you must repay his debt." She smiled. "Now, be obedient and return to Peace Valley where you rightfully belong?" She tightened Hajime's neck and picked him up from the ground.

Rushing out of the white sand, four shackles clasped the wrists and ankles of goddess of beauty.

"The Shackles of truth," Goddess of Beauty said in horror. "No! No!" She quickly tried to break free but failed because her energy was quickly exhausted. "No! Set me free!"

"The time has come for you to face judgment." A voice sounded.

"No! I didn't do anything wrong!" Goddess of beauty shouted.

"Heaven is always watching you," the voice said. "Today is the day you must face judgment."

Hajime fell on the sand and started coughing violently.

"Let me go!" Goddess of beauty screamed. "Let me go! I don't accept this sentencing. The mistake was not mine in the first place. Let me go!"

The magic rope binding the five people disappeared, and Yul quickly rushed towards Hajime.

"Are you alright?" Yul asked.

Hajime nodded.

In anger, Yul rushed forward with his sword in hand and stabbed goddess of beauty in the abdomen with his sword, but Yul's sword stopped ten inches away from goddess of beauty.

"I'm a goddess, you can't kill me. The only one who can punish me is the emperor of heaven himself," she laughed. 

The sand began to sink around goddess of beauty, Yul quickly move away from her. Goddess of beauty was slowly pulled into the sand until her entire body disappeared under the white sand.

"Hopefully this is the last we see of her," Abrafo scoffed.

U-ri said, "I always thought the person helping Meng behind the scenes was some kind of demon, but who knew that person was a goddess."

Bong looked at the Tanzanies and said, "Your kingdom must be hated by everyone." He stared at Abrafo. "Why not give up your kingdom and come to live in Misnix? There is enough land there for you to build a new home."

Abrafo scoffed and said, "And be ruled by you? Hell no!"

Michio sighed and said, "Amitabha..." Micho shook his head at Abrafo and Bong.

Hajime said, "Although her intentions were not pure, she did help us some. If Meng hadn't given us that map as she said, we would still have been lost. Although we encountered a lot of dangers. Along the way, we have witnessed the death of many people, but we have also gained many lifelong friends."

Bong said, "Comforting words do help in a way. Anyway... guys... the monkey is back."

Yul looked at the monkey limping towards them. "Ignore that monkey. It's too late now to find the entrance to No Man's Land, let's rest for the night and start looking again tomorrow," Yul said.

U-ri asked, "Do you want to move to another place?"

Yul shook his head. "Now that everything is here, let's rest here," he said looking at his friends. 

Hajime said, "I will take first watch."

Yul said, "I'm staying with Hajime. Everyone goes to sleep first."

Abrafo said, "Alright."

Sitting by the small campfire watching everyone sleep, by midnight Yul felt tired, and he knew Hajime must be just as tired as he was. He knows he can hold out until Abrafo took over. Yul turned to Hajime and said, "If you are tired, just go to sleep. I can keep watch on my own."

Hajime smiled and said to Yul, "I'm not tired." He tapped his lap lightly. "Come, you go to sleep first. In two hours, I will wake up Abrafo to take over."

Yul rested his head on Hajime's lap, suddenly felt very tired, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Hajime slowly pushed Yul's hair to one side and stared down at Yul's face. He said softly, "To be honest, I want to sleep next to you every night and listen to your gentle breathing brushing my forehead. I want to stand by your side, hold your hand, and walk on the same road with you forever. I want to watch you while you sleep, I want to extend every minute to seconds and every second to milliseconds." He gently stroked Yul's chin. "Tonight, I don't want to close my eyes, I don't want to fall asleep, because I don't want to lose you to time." He smiled with tears in his eyes, lowered his head and kissed Yul's forehead. "Thank you... I have always blamed fate for playing tricks on me, but in fact, the father from above was very good to me. He brought me into this world and allowed me to meet you." He stretched out his hand and held Yul's hand. 

Hajime stares at Yul all night until the sun rises, and the first person to wake up is U-ri.

"Hajime," U-ri said. "Did you keep watch all night?"

Hajime shook his head and said, "I woke up before you. When I knew it was safe, I also fell asleep. Moreover, I summoned the bracelet before falling asleep."

U-ri said, "I won't argue. I'll make breakfast."

By the time U-ri finished cooking, the other men had already woken up. The Tanzanies and Bong ate around the extinguished campfire, Yul had carefully considered a plan to head into the forest to find the entrance to No Man's Land.

After breakfast, the Tanzanies and Bong started to pack up their bags and were about to leave the beach area to find the entrance to No Man's Land, when the small yellow monkey begins hooting and making different tones at the Tanzanies and Bong.

"What's wrong with the monkey?" Bong said. "He was calm until now."

Michio said, "When he was going to show me our belongings, he made a sound like that."

Hajime said, "Could he know that we are looking for the entrance to No Man's Land, and he want to take us there." 

Yul knelt down on one knee and looked at the monkey with no fingers or toes. He asked, "Are you going to take us to the entrance of No Man's Land?"

The yellow monkey hoot at Yul with a bright smile.

Michio pointed to the monkey and said, "This is the exact face he made when he wants me to follow him."

Abrafo said, "This may be a trap. Have you forgotten that it lured you to the black wolf?" He clenched his fists. "If I met that wolf, I would chop it in half."

Yul said, "Let's follow him." He looked at the others. "What do you say?"

The five men nodded in agreement.

Yul said, "Before we enter no man's land, we feed Meiji first. Once we enter, U-ri will take care of Meiji and we will take care of everything else."

U-ri said, "Don't worry about Meiji."

The Tanzanies and Bong began tracking the yellow monkey. The monkey led them off the beach into the forest, through a mountain pass to the other side of the mountain. One side of the mountain looks completely different than the other side of the mountain. No water, no trees, no grass. There are hundreds of small puddles everywhere, some deep, some not. The Tanzanies and Bong carefully followed the monkey until they reached the massive stone door that stood alone in the middle of nowhere. Then the monkey stopped and pointed at the stone door with its fingerless hand.

Yul walked to the door and examined it carefully. There are five holes in the middle of the stone gate. He walked to the other side of the door and found that the other side of the door looked like a door, but without a handle. He touched it and pushed it several times, but the stone door didn't move and remained in its original position.

"What did you find in the back?" U-ri asked.

"There's no handle on the back of the door. It seems we have to open it from the front," Yul said, walking back to the stone door.

Hajime tied Meiji tightly to U-ri's back. Hajime said, "Once we're inside, I'll mark our exit. In addition, I will mark the road alone so that if we get separated, we can find our way back. As soon as I got the white dragon tail, everyone headed for the exit." He looked at his five friends. "As long as I kill Eldrys , I will follow everyone, so don't wait for me." He stretched out his hand. "Yul, give me the pouch."

Yul handed Hajime the pouch. Hajime opened the pouch, and four crystals of different colors floated in front of Hajime. Hajime grabbed each crystal and put them into the four holes. Hajime put his hand on the four crystal stones, and then a large nail rushed out from the middle and pierced Hajime's right palm.

"Hajime!" Yul said worriedly.

Hajime groaned in pain and said, "I'm fine."

Hajime felt that the stone door was as light as a feather. He pushed the stone door gently, and the two stone door panels opened with a creak. A rotten smell came from the door, causing Tanzanies and Bong to cover their mouths quickly.

Hajime looked inside and saw only a dark corridor. He turned to his friends and asked, "Is everyone ready?"

Abrafo said, "Ready or not, we have come this far."

Bong said, "Not really."

U-ri said with both fear and excitement, "Look on the bright side, if we get the white dragon tail today, we would be back in Tanzang in twenty days on the back of Hajime's eagle."

Michio said, "That's right. Everything will go well today, and just like U-ri said, we will go home in twenty days," Michio said. He smiled at his friends.

Yul said, "Everyone be careful." He looked at Abrafo.

Yul and Abrafo were in the lead, followed by U-ri, then Michio and Bong, and Hajime was the last.

As soon as Hajime stepped inside, the door slowly closed, and he noticed that the monkey did not follow them into the corridor. Hajime rubbed his fingers together as a glowing butterfly floated in front of the door, then he followed his friends through the dark corridor, lit up by Michio's fire talisman.