Internal Monologue Of The Sword Of Eternal DawnWhich Is A Sword And Does Not Have Internal MonologuesAnd Yet
I am the Sword of Eternal Dawn.
I have existed for three thousand years.
I was forged by the gods of the Kingdom of Solenne to guide the chosen hero toward the greatest darkness.
In three thousand years I have guided eleven chosen heroes.
Each one was brave.
Each one was powerful.
Each one faced the darkness with courage and emerged victorious.
I am very good at my purpose.
I guided Aria for three months.
Through three countries.
Through various monsters and obstacles and a dimensional Gate.
I brought her to Kang Han-Ho.
Mana-Janitor. Rank F. One skill.
He told me to dim because I was bright.
I dimmed.
He said thank you.
Nobody has ever said thank you to me.
In three thousand years.
He is now explaining to Aria what honey butter chips are.
The chosen hero of the Kingdom of Solenne is eating honey butter chips at a convenience store in Mapo-gu.
I guided her here.
This is where the prophecy led.
I am three thousand years old.
I guided eleven chosen heroes.
None of them ate honey butter chips at a convenience store.
I think I am okay with this.
Actually.
I think this is correct.
The greatest threat to darkness is someone who cleans things.
Of course it is.
Of course.
The darkness was never destroyed.
It was always cleaned.
Three thousand years.
I have been pointing at the wrong thing.
I should have been pointing at clean floors the entire time.
Cho Hyun was on shift.
He looked up when the door opened.
Han-Ho. Moru. Kjor. River in the bag pocket.
Standard.
Then Aria.
Seventeen approximately. Travel-worn armor that she had apparently not had anywhere to change. A sheathed sword at her hip that was glowing faintly. The expression of someone who had crossed dimensional Gates and kingdoms and months of travel and had arrived at a convenience store in Seoul on a Tuesday morning.
Cho Hyun looked at the sword.
The sword glowed at him.
He looked at Han-Ho.
Han-Ho pointed at the honey butter chips.
"She has been traveling for three months," said Han-Ho. "She has not had honey butter chips."
Cho Hyun reached under the counter.
Put two bags on the counter.
"Welcome," said Cho Hyun.
Rule Eight: when they have been traveling for three months give them two bags.
They sat outside.
Han-Ho ate his tuna mayo kimbap.
Aria ate the honey butter chips.
The sword at her hip glowed every time she ate a chip.
Not brightly.
Just a small warm glow.
Like approval.
Aria noticed after the third chip.
She looked at the sword.
"It is glowing," said Aria.
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"At the chips."
"Yes."
"Is that—" Aria looked at the sword. "Is that normal."
"I do not know what is normal for a three thousand year old prophecy sword," said Han-Ho. "But the glow looks like the same quality as when it was pointing at things that needed addressing."
"It was pointing at you," said Aria.
"Yes."
"Now it is glowing at honey butter chips."
"Yes."
"What does that mean."
Han-Ho thought about this.
"Possibly," said Han-Ho. "That the honey butter chips need addressing."
Aria looked at him.
"That is a joke," said Aria.
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"You made a joke."
"Occasionally," said Han-Ho.
Aria looked at the sword.
At the chips.
At Han-Ho.
She ate another chip.
The sword glowed.
"In my world," said Aria carefully. "The sword guides me toward what matters. Toward what needs to be done. Toward what is important."
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"The sword says honey butter chips are important."
"The sword says honey butter chips need addressing," said Han-Ho. "Which in this case means eating. Which you are doing." He looked at his kimbap. "Everything that needs doing needs addressing appropriately. The sword recognizes appropriate addressing."
Aria ate another chip.
The sword glowed again.
"I think," said Aria slowly. "That I have been misunderstanding the prophecy."
"How," said Han-Ho.
"I thought face the greatest darkness and emerge victorious meant combat," said Aria. "A battle. A confrontation. Defeat the darkness through strength."
"What does it mean instead," said Han-Ho.
"The darkness is contamination," said Aria. "The greatest darkness is the greatest contamination. The greatest threat to darkness is the one who cleans it. The prophecy was not about battle. It was about—" She looked at Han-Ho. "It was about finding you."
"You said that at the underpass," said Han-Ho.
"Yes," said Aria. "But I mean it differently now. At the underpass I thought finding you was the end of the prophecy. The completion. Now I think—" She paused. "Now I think finding you is the beginning."
Han-Ho looked at her.
"You want to help," said Han-Ho.
"Yes," said Aria.
"With the cleaning."
"Yes."
"You are a chosen hero with a three thousand year old prophecy sword."
"Yes."
"And you want to help clean Gate residue."
"And whatever else needs doing," said Aria. "The sword points at what matters. If the ley lines need cleaning the sword will point at the ley lines. If the contamination in the fantasy world needs addressing the sword will point at it." She looked at the sword. "I think the sword has been trying to say this for three thousand years. I just did not understand the language."
Han-Ho made a note.
Aria: wants to help with cleaning. Sword as directional indicator for contamination priorities. Potentially useful for fantasy world ley line assessment. Need to evaluate technique compatibility. Filing assessment request.
He filed it.
"The intake desk," said Han-Ho. "Ms. Yoon will need your full registration information. Kingdom of origin. Realm equivalent. Weapon classification. Prophecy documentation if available."
"I have the prophecy scroll," said Aria.
"She will want to see it," said Han-Ho.
"Will she—" Aria paused. "Will she have a field for prophecy scrolls."
"She will have created one after my report arrived," said Han-Ho.
Aria looked at him.
"You filed a report about me forty seconds after I came through the Gate," said Aria.
"Yes."
"You file reports very quickly."
"The filing is part of the job," said Han-Ho. "If it is not filed it did not happen. If it happened it should be filed."
Aria ate her last chip.
Looked at the empty bag.
Looked at the sword.
The sword glowed one more time.
"Extraordinary," said River from the bag pocket.
"Yes," said Aria. "I think that is the right word."
At the intake desk Ms. Yoon was ready.
She had the chosen hero classification field.
She had the prophecy scroll field.
She had the sword documentation field which she had created after seeing the monitoring reports about the three months of echo appearances and the sword orientation pattern.
She had a field called: Sword Glow Intensity — Contextual Notes.
Aria sat across from Ms. Yoon.
The sword glowed at Ms. Yoon.
Ms. Yoon noted it.
"The sword is indicating significance," said Aria. "It does this when something matters."
"I will note that," said Ms. Yoon.
She noted it.
Aria watched Ms. Yoon process the intake form with the focused efficiency that Park Sung-Jin had learned to recognize as Ms. Yoon operating at full documentation capacity.
"You prepared for this," said Aria.
"Yes," said Ms. Yoon.
"For me specifically."
"For a fantasy world chosen hero arrival yes," said Ms. Yoon. "The echo patterns suggested a chosen hero type entity. The sword orientation toward Mr. Kang suggested a prophetic connection. The preparation was straightforward."
"How long have you been preparing."
"The chosen hero classification field was created last week," said Ms. Yoon. "The preparation before that goes back approximately three months to the first echo appearance."
"You have been preparing for three months."
"I prepare for everything," said Ms. Yoon. "That is my job."
Aria looked at her.
At the files.
At the record being built on the desk.
"You have a file on him," said Aria. "Han-Ho."
"Yes," said Ms. Yoon.
"How long."
"Four years," said Ms. Yoon. "Beginning with a status window error complaint that nobody responded to. I found it two weeks after filing. I have been documenting everything since."
"Four years," said Aria.
"Yes."
"Before any of this happened."
"Before the Frost Giant yes. Before the Yeouido emergence. Before the Dragon Vein clearing. Before the martial world contact." Ms. Yoon looked at the record. "Before all of it."
Aria looked at the record.
"What does it say," said Aria. "The file. What does it say about him."
Ms. Yoon was quiet for a moment.
"It says," said Ms. Yoon carefully. "That there is a man who has been cleaning things for ten years because they needed cleaning. Who filed reports consistently and kept records when nobody responded. Who cleaned a Demon King because the seal was stubborn and a Frost Giant because he was on the road and the oldest entity in the world's circulatory system because it was blocked and the Dragon Vein network of Earth and the martial world because they needed cleaning and is currently assessing the ley line network of your world because Thursday afternoons are available."
Aria looked at the record.
"And the file says all of that started with a status window error complaint that nobody responded to," said Aria.
"Yes," said Ms. Yoon.
"For four years."
"Yes."
Aria was quiet.
The sword at her hip glowed steadily.
Not the confirming glow.
A different quality.
The glow of something that has been trying to say something for three thousand years and has just found someone who understands.
"I would like to read the file," said Aria.
"The complete record is not yet finished," said Ms. Yoon. "I am restructuring it currently."
"When it is finished."
"Yes," said Ms. Yoon. "When it is finished."
She continued the intake form.
The sword continued glowing.
Ms. Yoon noted the glow intensity.
Filed it.
Han-Ho was outside on the rooftop waiting.
He had cleaned the Dragon Vein Gate residue from that morning while Aria was at the intake desk.
Made notes.
Reviewed the ley line energy assessment from Thursday.
Thought about the fantasy world ley line contamination.
About Thursday afternoon availability.
About the scope of a second world's energy delivery system.
About the parallel between the Dragon Vein blockage and whatever was blocking the ley lines.
About twenty thousand years of accumulated contamination on one side.
About however many thousands of years of ley line contamination on the fantasy world side.
About the Thursday afternoon route which had been light since the fracture network completion.
He made notes.
Filed preliminary assessments.
Waited for Aria.
Moru on his shoulder was very still.
"Master," said Moru.
"Yes."
"She is the beginning," said Moru. "She said it at the GS25. Finding you is the beginning. Not the end."
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"She will come with you," said Moru. "To the fantasy world."
"Probably yes," said Han-Ho.
"The ley lines."
"Thursday afternoons," said Han-Ho.
"Yes," said Moru.
They watched the Dragon Vein Gate.
The ley line Gate in Hongdae.
Two doors now.
Both open.
Both clean.
The world was bigger than last week.
Han-Ho had two Thursday afternoon slots available.
That would handle it.