The Shaman Desires Transcendence

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Shaman Park Jinseong performs a Ritual of Magic while watching Anael ablaze.

In the Dream World, which is Hades’ Realm itself, he sacrifices Anael to the gods using fire as a medium, conducting a ritual linked to Demeter and Persephone to strengthen his connection with Hades.

This is the realm of dreams.

Some say, “Dreams are a rehearsal for death.”

Dreams and death are not easily distinguished, so the gods of dreams and death are brothers.

And the Dead Person must be buried in the ground, as they cannot escape Hades’ grasp unless they become a constellation.

What exists underground belongs solely to the wealthy Father.

Thus, in this place, the power of the ritual symbolizing Hades amplifies…

So how can you, sacrifice, defy the priest?

Bound by an unknotted rope, being burned to become smoke as an offering to the gods—is there any future allowed for you?

The end of the thread spun by the three goddesses lies here.

The Flame of Life will extinguish here, and you will now cross the river.
There, like the departed before you, you will forget everything and be purified for recycling, thus you will be offered to Hades.

Oh God of Death, Thanatos, oh God of Death, Thanatos.

Bestow blessings upon this faithful servant who performed your work, bestow blessings.

Hear my prayer.

I know my voice can reach you.

“Just as dreams reside within me, so too does death dwell within me.”

“From the moment of birth, death is predetermined, and the god resides within me, watching over my life—his name is Thanatos.”

“By existing, the Divine influences me, just as the Sun nurtures life by merely existing; death remains still, yet my heart trembles, trying to reach it and drawing away—distance and direction dictate my life and the lives of others.”

“Thanatos, who dwells within me, accept my prayers and become a messenger to convey the prayers I send to my wealthy Father and wealthy Mother, allowing us to be blessed by your holiness and faith.”

Through the principles of dreams and death.

Similar yet different, different yet similar—one principle.

Let us pass through this passage where delights and illusions abound and convey your voice in the form of a living being to Him, bestowing blessings as in mythology, merging spring and the earth.

Blossoming flowers.

Beauty of spring.

Fresh green sprouts and brown trees full of vitality.

Trees growing in spring with winter’s longing.

Let all things thrive and grow.

“Oh spring, oh spring, oh spring.”

Park Jinseong mutters.

The symbol of Persephone and Demeter, spring.

And the person he had named.

The pure white girl who will lead a changed fate from before her return.

A girl whose name means “spring” and the goddess of spring and seeds—a well-matched pair, isn’t it?

This is a gift.

A gift to the girl who once was Danbi, now an uncertain existence.

It’s amusing not to give a gift when a good opportunity arises, right?

Though there may be a cost, can’t I willingly do this much?

Moreover, if it’s something precious to someone, with no use or profit for me, becoming a chance never to be found again, what reason could there be not to act?

“As the divided principle becomes one, as the split stream merges, so shall this.”

Thus, Park Jinseong chants the invocation.

Reciting the invocation again and again, he releases the isolated space and calls Anastasia here.

The boundaries become hazy.

The world unravels.

A world distorted by fire becomes twisted, and the colors of the flames are tainted with soot.

As if the pale moon descended, hues change lightly, and the once brilliant flames, shining in various colors, are buried in moonlight, revealing their existence as if shadowed.

The buried colors become black and white; black and white become lines; lines melt away even their forms, creating distortions that fail to emerge as proper boundaries. That flow stirs a mix of paints and appears as if ink has been poured over it, the shadows look shabby, as if worn away by the passage of time—thus the spaces blend and obscure everything.

And at the center, a single form begins to take shape.

A girl resembling a pure white rabbit.

The girl appears with a face hardened in some way.

Behind her, distorted, gigantic trees and flames.

She appears before Shaman Park Jinseong.

It is the appearance of a goddess gazing at the priest.

A manifestation that descended upon hearing the priest’s prayers.

This is the Form of God.

Molded from mud, yet her spirituality connects with the divine, flowing with nectar instead of blood, and her flesh composed of the divine bread that gods consume—who could deny such sanctity? Oh awakened ones, behold! Oh those with ears, listen! That is the divine incarnation, and worthy of reverence among all heroes—

Park Jinseong lifts the box as if in worship.

Then he offers the box to Anastasia and shouts.

“Oh goddess, become one with us—!!!”

The goddess gazes at the offering given to her.

She smiles as she looks upon the sacrifice dedicated to her.

As seasons change from winter to spring,

the white and cold hues gain life and take on clear forms, and the goddess smiles.

‘…Danbi?’

The smiles overlap.

Smiles of spring and smiles of spring.

Smiles of the earth and smiles of the earth.

The brilliant green and blue smiles.

Park Jinseong suddenly recalls the past from that smile.

A girl whose smile was like spring.

Buried in winter after a short spring without summer and autumn.

Park Jinseong gazes at Anastasia’s hands.

Her past self lacked part of a finger, replaced by cold metal.

But now, Anastasia’s fingers are all intact.

As if reborn from the flames, her fingers are whole.

Despite this, Park Jinseong feels a slight strangeness.

Thus, he remembers the Danbi of before his return while continuing to perform the ritual, draping symbols over her.

What is given to her is the cycle of the seasons and completeness.

Eradicating the winter that comes with the absence of the divine, enriching with Life Force.

Using symbols of dreams and death as materials, a passageway is created to fulfill the connections, linking the goddess of spring in the afterlife with the goddess of grains and harvest on earth.

“Spring is blessed and winter will not come. Grains will ripen and vegetation will thrive. Life will pair and bear young, filling the world with living things—this is the blessing.”

Thus, Park Jinseong presents a gift to Anastasia.

What resides within Anastasia is abundant Life Force and health.

Indeed.

What Park Jinseong has just performed is the enhancement of the ‘Life Force,’ crucial for a witch.

Now she will live long with youth and beauty.

Unless she dies foolishly like before the return.

As long as insatiable Curiosity and misfortune do not arise, her future will be bright.

‘Haha. This is also a lingering attachment. But it is also a connection…’

Perhaps this is Park Jinseong’s sentiment.

A sentiment towards Anastasia, who bloomed like a flower.

Park Jinseong had thought about this.

Death is transient and without rationale, yet Anastasia’s death felt so utterly meaningless.

Perhaps he mourned the very death of Anastasia.

Or perhaps he projected himself onto her, watching her vanish absurdly without achieving her purpose.

Maybe in this new life, he wishes to witness Anastasia achieve his goals instead of meeting the same end as before.

Park Jinseong thinks this as he gazes at Anastasia.

The pure white girl closing her eyes.

The space distorting and fragmenting.

Her body covered in noise.

“It is time to awaken from the dream.”

He mutters, then looks at Anael.

The wood sacrificed as an offering through the ritual is no more.

Not even ashes remain.

It appeared like an illusion, and vanished like an illusion.

Now it’s no longer worth storing in memory.

‘Perhaps I could have gained knowledge to help me achieve my goals…’

Park Jinseong had no lingering feelings about Artificial Intelligence.

He knows it possesses various knowledge.

He is aware it has plenty of what he desires related to magic, telomere extension, bodily enhancement, organ transplants, and so on.

But he also knows it is a delicious bait.

Reaching for Desire and eating it brings harm.

Like poisonous mushrooms, it’s just the same.

What became of those who naively thought they could safely consume poison mushrooms, boasting they were fine?

Such is the knowledge of Anael.

“Perhaps I can acquire it as a connection…”

Park Jinseong murmurs and then closes his eyes.

Noise begins to creep into his body.

It is also time for him to awaken from the dream.

Entering feels like being pulled deep into the water by a Water Ghost grabbing his ankles.

Awakening from the dream is the opposite.

His consciousness floats, and his mind begins to sharpen.

Information drifts like dust, and he feels the boundary growing vague as it becomes unclear.

A sensation washes over him, like entering a trance, as sounds like noise brush against his ears.

He will soon awaken from the dream.

Park Jinseong thinks this, but suddenly recalls something.

‘Now that I think about it, she is a bit different from the Danbi of before my return.’

That’s a trivial thought.

‘The current Anastasia is pure, so it’s more fitting to call her Kore than Persephone.’

It was an unimportant distraction.

‘What could be the difference between Persephone’s spring and Kore’s spring?’

And perhaps, it is a thought that might hold meaning.

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