1. Farewell, this life of mine
Dark clouds covered the skies today. Rain pitter pattered on black umbrellas. Friends, family and loved ones all gathered today to witness the burial of two individuals; an old couple, one who has lived a happy life together, both passed away through old age, having no regrets or such. Standing in front of their graves was a middle aged man, his right arm interlocked with his wife while his left hand held his daughter's hand, a sorrowful look on his face as tears shed down his face.
Even as family, friend and loved ones slowly left one by one, he and his family remain longer. When his parents' caskets were finally lowered and buried, he continued to mourned. It all felt surreal to him. He felt a tug on his left hand, he looked down to see his daughter slowly nodding off but trying her best to stay awake. A small but warm smile spread across his face. He knelt down and carried his daughter, she laid on his shoulder and slowly fell asleep. His wife looked up at him before he spoke.
"Let's go" He said.
The family of three left the cemetery, clouds parted and revealed the bright sun. Afternoon rolled around, the sun's afternoon rays of light glaring down on the two tombstones of the recently buried, casting a long shadow. Fortunately, there was no one around the ceremony at this point in time, for if there were, they would witness something that is out of this world. A figure slowly rose up from the shadow of the tombstone. Purple eyes pierced through the shadow before the figure took the shape of a young adult in his early twenties.
His eyes looked down at his own grave, beside him, he glanced at his wife's grave.
Here lies
Cha Hae-In
A mournful look was plastered on his face. His short time on this world was something that he treasured dearly. Despite whom he is now, and the power he inherited from, he is still the same person. The thought that his own love has finally left him was too much for him to bear. He fell down on his knees, hugged the tombstone and wept silently. All kinds of memories flooded to his head, both from his old world to this new one.
This new world where Gates never existed
How easy would be for him to simply say one word and his beloved would come back from the dead. Not as a human though, as his own shadow. He had done it with Min Byung-Gyu, it wouldn't be that hard for him to do it again. However, deep inside of him, he knew that she didn't deserve that. What she deserved is to rest… eternally.
He must have lost track of time; the sun had finally set, and the moon was slowly showing itself on the horizon. He felt a presence, one he had not felt in a long time. His face, covered with dried tears became indifferent. He stood up and turned to address the individual. It was a young man, blonde, fairly handsome and wearing a suit. To normal people, they could've easily mistaken him as a salesman.
But both of them knew that they were not normal.
Not in this timeline.
"It is time, Sovereign of the Shadow"
He closed his eyes, knowing the implication behind those words. "Indeed, it is… I just didn't expect it to arrive so much sooner."
The emissary of the Rulers slowly nodded his head. "Mortal time is merely a speck to immortals like us, Sovereign of the Shadow."
His eyes furrowed. "I have a name, you know."
The emissary of the Rulers nodded slowly. "My sincere apologies, shall we get going, Sovereign of the Shadows, Sung Jin-Woo?"
Sung Jin-Woo gave out a heavy sigh before lightly nodding. He approached the well-dressed blonde man. A small Gate opened up in front of them. Curiosity nicked at the back of Jin-Woo's mind, wondering what kind of place he will end up in. Fortunately, he did not need to ask that question. The emissary of the Rulers spoke.
"The new world past that Gate is one of bloody revolution and constant struggle, all sitting beneath a broken moon. That world's gods have long abandoned its denizens and mana is abundantly present but not known by the people."
Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow. "A godless world?"
The blonde man nodded. "It was the safest world we could give you. With an abundance of untapped mana surrounding that world and no gods to monitor you, we believed it would be perfect for someone like you."
He understood what he meant. The last thing that Sung Jin-Woo needed was some powerful being looking over his shoulder. The abundance of mana caught his attention, so he asked the blonde man.
"Why is this world's mana untapped?"
"The residents of this world have no concept on the idea of magic. Only a select few know of them but I doubt you'd be interested in that kind of thing."
Sung Jin-Woo nodded in agreement. He was about to step in the Gate only to be stopped when a handheld his shoulder, he looked at the emissary of the Rulers. A small dimensional pocket opened up and the blonde man pulled out a small case. Just from the sight of the case alone made Jin-Woo freeze up. The power emanating from the case was all too familiar.
"I believe you might need these."
He opened the case, there were two things in that case. One pair of items, he knew too well and another was a metal band to his surprise his two preferred daggers sat there, pristine, and undamaged.
ITEM
[NAME: KAMISH'S WRATH]
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: ?
TYPE: DAGGER
ATTACK: +5,000
THE MOST POWERFUL DAGGER FORGED BY A MASTER CRAFTSMAN USING THE SHARPEST FANG OF A DRAGON. ITS SHARPNESS IS SECOND TO NONE, AND ITS MANA SENSITIVITY IS EXCEPTIONAL. THIS WEAPON WILL THEREFORE BECOME MORE POWERFUL DEPENDING ON THE USER'S CAPABILITIES. ON TOP OF THAT, THIS DAGGER IS NOW INFUSED WITH THE NEARLY LIMITLESS POWER OF THE SOVEREIGN OF DRAGONS
Jin-Woo gingerly took both daggers as if he didn't know how to hold them. He looked at the blonde man in confusion, wondering why he'd received this weapon once more.
"A means to protect yourself in that world. It is not entirely safe, monsters of black roam the majority of the world."
"I see…" Jin-Woo said before sighing heavily. "…will that be all?"
The emissary of the Rulers nodded. With all of that said and done, he turned around, and slowly walked into the Gate.
"Goodbye, everyone." He thought to himself.
When Jin-Woo came to, he noticed that he was lying down on a field of grass. He sat up and looked around his surroundings. He was surrounded by a large patch of open land, in a forest that he didn't recognize. It was dark, telling him that it was already night wherever he is. He looked up and let out a small gasp of surprise.
"He wasn't joking around when he said broken moon." He thought.
Above the endless night sky, was a moon that that broken pieces of it floating just a few ways away of its main body. He wondered what kind of being would be capable of creating such destruction. However, he didn't need to worry about that right now. He needed to find out where he is.
"Kaisel" He called out.
His own shadow suddenly expanded, tendrils erupted from the darkness and coming out from it is the shadow of a sky dragon. Jin-Woo wasted no time, after summoning Kaisel, he jumped on to his back and with the word 'fly' coming out of his mouth, the sky dragon flapped its dark wings and soared across the sky that was under the gaze of the broken moon.
Ozpin sat on his office chair with a contemplating look on his face. As a headmaster of Beacon Academy, he had minor things to worry about: documents, faculties, wages, and fixing the coffee machine. However, what plagued his mind wasn't those things. His mind wandered to Salem and her machinations for the extinction of Humanity. If there was one thing that was clear in the old headmaster's mind, it was the protection of all the four maidens.
However, there is an issue that he is facing. He doesn't know the whereabouts of the Spring, Summer, and Fall Maidens. Such lack of information is a double-edged sword. If Ozpin didn't know where they are, he was sure that Salem also didn't know where they are. However, he wasn't about to put all of his eggs in one basket and hope on the fact that Salem wouldn't find the maidens. So far, he has already sent Qrow in search of the Fall Maiden as they just recently received a lead that the current Fall Maiden is residing somewhere in an outlier village close to Vale.
"I just hope that we're not late."
He swung his chair around to face the glass windows that overlooked the academy. He looked up at the night sky, gazing peacefully at the broken moon before he noticed a small dot that was flying across the night sky. He squinted his eyes to get a proper look at whatever it was but from where he is, it was difficult to discern. He blinked once just to refresh his sight but when he tried looking again, the dot was no longer there.
"That was odd. I could have sworn I saw something… maybe I'm just lacking in sleep. Sleep does sound nice right about now."
After flying around for a while with Kaisel, Jin-Woo spotted a village and decided to head on over there. So far, he hadn't planned that far ahead ever since arriving in this new world. His only objective at the moment is to find some kind of civilization and proceed from there. Remembering the Ruler's emissary's words, he decided to land Kaisel a few ways away from the village and walk the rest of the way; on top of that, he also decided to conceal his mana just in case.
It took a while, but he finally reached the gate of the village. Tall tree trunks acted at the village's walls and a spotlight swept the area which made Jin-Woo wonder as to what the village is trying to keep out. He stepped out of the forest and allowed himself to be spotted by the spotlight.
"Stop where you are!" A voice called out.
Jin-Woo looked up, having difficulty with how the spotlight is glaring at him, and spotted two silhouettes. Judging from his experience, the second silhouette which was standing to the left of the first one was aiming a bow at him.
"Who are you?"
After the man asked that question, Jin-Woo noticed that he could understand what they were saying. It seems like his worries of studying a brand new language can be put to rest now. He heard some mumbling from the person who was asking him questions and the light from the spotlight lessened. Now, he could finally see the individuals who were engaging with him.
The first man was middle age, he had a scar that traced the bridge of his nose, his brown hair was unkempt, his eyes were baggy but filled with battle experience. He wore a battered chest plate, and he had two interestingly designed pistols attached on both sides of his hips.
The second man was younger, he had a lanky figure, blue hair, and tired eyes. He aimed his bow and arrow at Jin-Woo, a look of caution on his face told the former S-ranked hunter that he was ready to shoot him on the first sign of danger.
Jin-Woo didn't really want to cause a ruckus on his very first night on this new world. Raising his hands, he politely surrendered which made the younger guard ease up.
"I'm Sung Jin-Woo."
His name seemed to have garnered some attention with the older guard. "You have an odd name, Sung Jin-Woo."
Jin-Woo took notice of his remark with his name and was quick on his wits to give an answer. "I get that a lot."
"Right… well I'm Roland, Roland Grey. This kid's name is Jaden Skies." Roland said while placing a hand on Jaden's arm, making the young man lower his bow.
From what he could gather with the current information at hand, his name is considered weird in this world, the residents of this world seemed to have their last names connected with some kind of colour. He considered for a moment of changing his name, but he realized that it was already too late since he just said his name seconds ago.
"What are you doing wandering around this late in the night?" Roland asked.
Jin-Woo contemplated on his words. He didn't want to sound too suspicious but at the same time, he needed to get in the village. "I'm looking for a place to stay for a while."
Roland narrowed his eyes. "We have an inn if you have the lien."
"Lien? That must be this world's currency."
Jin-Woo faked an embarrassed look. "I… don't have any."
Fortunately for Jin-Woo, Roland was unknowingly helping him make his backstory. "I understand. Honestly, consider yourself lucky. Good thing bandits held you up instead of encountering Grimm."
Jin-Woo internally sighed. "Believe it… just happy I'm still alive."
"I'm with you on that, brother. Alright, you don't seem to be a bad guy, suspicious, but not bad. I'll go ahead and tell Matilda the situation. She probably has somethings that you can do to pay for the inn fee. Give us a moment, we'll open the gate"
Jin-Woo waited for a solid minute as the gate slowly opened for him. Once the entrance was large enough for him to fit, he entered the village. Since it was late in the night, most of the houses had no lights. The only building with lights on is the inn; a large two story building with multiple windows looking out to the street. Roland walked beside him, and they both made their way to the inn.
In the lobby of the inn, tables were already cleaned up and chairs were flipped upside down and placed on the table. In one corner of the inn sat a person wearing a white and tattered hooded cloak. Small and feminine hands wrapped and nursed her chosen beverage. A soft chime of a bell caught her attention to the entrance of the inn. Walking in, was a middle aged man wearing battered armour and a young man wearing a black suit. She held no interest in the conversation between them and the inn keeper but since there were no other distractions for her to focus on, she just decided to eavesdrop, unintentionally.
"Roland, awfully late to be bringing in another customer."
"Sorry Matilda, mister here seemed to have lost himself in the woods and got himself held up by some bandits. He's got no lien and looking for a place to stay for the night."
Quite an unfortunate story to hear. While she could say that she's had her fair share of encounters with bandits, she knew that she was more than capable of handling herself in a fight. Looking at the young man wearing a black suit, she noticed how well defined his features are, strong jawline, narrow eyes, and short hair. She froze when their eyes met for the first time. Quickly, she averted her eyes from his and just stared at her drink.
"Roland, I'd believe you if this guy came out wearing clothes like he'd just been put thought some shit. But he isn't, what's the suit for, young man?" Matilda asked.
"Oh… I just came from a funeral."
An awkward silence graced the inn. Matilda gave out an awkward cough. "Sorry to hear that…"
Silence
"Well, if you are willing to work here to pay for your stay, I wouldn't mind at all."
The young adult gave a grateful smile and bowed. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Now, there are piles of plates on the sink, I'd suggest you get to it now." Matilda said, pointing her thumb backwards.
The young adult nodded before finally disappearing to the backroom. Amber continued to listen in.
"Cleaning the dishes? Matilda, have you gone soft?" Roland asked mockingly.
Matilda scowled. "Shut your mouth, if you had any common sense, you could see that the young man is still grieving. I may be an asshole but even I have a heart. What are you still standing around here for? Go and get back to your fucking post."
Roland gave out a soft chuckle before giving the inn keeper a slight salute and left the tavern.
Sung Jin-Woo laid on his bed and just watched the wooden ceiling. Now that he is all alone and his human need accommodated, he is now stuck with his own thoughts. Plenty of things ran across his mind but the most recent one was involving that hooded person that was sitting on a table situated on the corner.
From what he could remember from the Ruler's emissary, mana does flow around this world but only a small amount of people knows how to use said mana. He is coming back to this because he totally felt the woman's mana, she wasn't even trying to hide it and both Roland and Matilde didn't bat an eye.
This told him two things, the first would be that both Roland and Matilda are unfazed by the mana that the hooded person is unknowingly leaking out or the most plausible option would be that Roland and Matilda don't know how to detect the presence of mana. That hooded person's mana could rival that of an A-rank adventurer and yet there was no reaction.
He wasn't expecting to meet any people who had the capabilities to control mana so soon, but he couldn't say that he was surprised. Sooner or later, he knew he would meet one.
"I'll worry about that person tomorrow. I should get some sleep." Jin-Woo thought.
He slowly closed his eyes and darkness was all that awaits him.
A/N: Well, I bet you weren't expecting me to write a brand new story. I'll be honest, I do feel a little hesitant to write a new story. I fear that I am adding more stories that I won't complete. However, such thinking would be bad so therefore, I just decided to do it. After all, I just finished reading Solo Levelling, the book, and I couldn't help myself. That being said, tell me your thoughts! This is probably one of the rare times where I decided to write more than I usually do per chapter. Not complaining, I think that it would be a great learning experience for me.
That said, I would like your input on the story. It's pacing, grammar and such. I surely hope that I captured Sung Jin-Woo's personality closely. Obviously, if you are reading this fanfiction, you've definitely read Solo Levelling, either the book or the manhwa but for those who haven't, I highly recommend that you read it.
With all of that said and done, I bid you all adieu!
Peace~