Shattered Horizons Prologue
Title: Shattered Horizons
Length: P / ?
Overall Fic Rating: R
Pairings: KangTeuk, HanChul, YeWook, EunHae, WonMin, KyuMin, YunJae, YooSu
Summary: A decision to save the world threw them into a ring of love, hatred & revenge, hopefully to end in salvation.
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A/N: I hope this does not come across as insensitive along with the present situation. Please read my author's notes at the end of the chapter before you start thrashing.
Disclaimer: I mean no offence to any religion. And this is not aimed at any religion in particular, which it why I have tried my best to make it as vague as possible. All that has been written in this chapter is for the purpose of it giving a basis to part of the plot later on. Please ignore/ do not read if you are uncomfortable with it.
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The sun was setting, casting amber rays and shadows on the surroundings. That brought along a feeling of gloom and darkness. Something that showed full irony in a holy place. It was as if all the faith and hope carried with the religion was not sufficient to battle the lack of light and brightness.
He walked along the stone path leading to the little temple, his steps slow, even and purposeful. The man carried an air of arrogance and showed no regard for the effigy of the deity up ahead.
As he walked up the short flight of stairs, he ran a hand along the handrail and smirked upon finding a thick layer of dust. "Haven't had any patrons for a while, I see."
Not wanting to soil the other hand, he reached out for the ring on the door with the same hand and knocked.
Shortly after, the door was opened by a young teenage monk.
The boy bowed, offering a short greeting and looked up at the visitor. Something about the stranger made him tighten his grip on the prayer beads in his hands.
He spoke before the younger male did, asking fluently in Japanese for the Master. He stated just his name. No other details were necessary. Not for what he came for.
The monk politely asked him to wait in the main hall and left to notify the Master.
He smiled to himself, satisfied with his command of the language. Language had never been a problem for him, as were the many other things in life.
It was not uncommon to find a temple in the midst of the remote snowy mountains of Japan. The young monk was definitely of Japanese descent. And most probably an orphan. He knew that temples like this often took in unwanted children and brought them up to live a life in the religion. The mercy and love of the gods, they called it. His thoughts shifted to the man he was expecting. The Master, a man who had a similar background with the children he brought up. Someone who lived his entire life practicing his faith, and whom many said was close to achieving enlightenment. However, that was just hearsay, who could really be sure? Would he be able to provide any answers?
A call from outside the door brought him back to the dimly lit hall. The young monk led him to a small room near the back yard and left. He stepped in alone and found a single lit candle in an otherwise unfurnished tiny space. There was no discomfort felt. The feeling did not matter to him. The opposite side of which he entered was just another Japanese style sliding paper door. He figured that was most probably where the Master would be sitting behind, concealing his identity.
He sat down on the tatami mat on the floor and started to play with the candle, teasing the flame with his fingers while waiting for any sign of life on the other side. The sign appeared with a candle being lighted as he heard a voice.
"What brings you, dear visitor?" The Master must have already known that he was not here for any prayer rituals.
"I came to seek answers."
"And what are your questions?"
"I would like to know the truth behind 'god'."
"Truth behind god? You must have faith in them."
"I ask for a few uninterrupted minutes to explain myself."
The Master realized that the visitor did not address him with the equivalent respect of a believer. Still, there was no sign of any irritation. "If it pleases you then."
"Thank you. I was a devout disciple in another religion, probably good enough to live my life immersed in nothing but faith. Then I had this coming into my mind one day. I saw the disappearance of God, the God that I had so strongly believed all my life. The thought appeared that the goodness of god is just a belief, a mindset; and that he would not actually do anything for his followers. If millions of years ago, a god appeared before men and showed great powers, people would start to be convinced and trust in that god. Everything good that happened would then be attributed to the kindness of the god. On the contrary, if something bad happened and they were advised to have faith in this god, they would most probably continue to pray and wait. All things in life work in a cycle, and after enough time has passed, whatever that has gone wrong would recover. Those people would then thank this god. And therefore gods would all gain their believers this way. May I ask what would you say of this?"
"Child, you must have faith. Trust your god and you will be led back into the light."
"Pardon my lack of tact here, but I asked for an answer. Wouldn't this be, kind of, avoiding the question? And whatsmore, if I were to trust 'god' now, the faith is in you because I would be following your words."
"Please do not doubt..." But he was abruptly cut off.
"Thank you for your kind attention. This is a token of my appreciation. Goodbye."
The Master heard the visitor stand up, sliding open and then closing the other door, putting out the candle in the process. Slowly, he slid open the screen between the rooms. There lay two cherry blossoms, the rims of their petals stained with fresh blood.
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A/N: I started writing this as a het story with fictitious characters almost four years ago while I was writing Redeeming Eden. Then last year, I decided to not waste the few chapters I had on hand and changed it to fit the fandoms.
Although tempted to join and offer something for help_japan , I fancy that my writing is probably not good enough to garner much interest. I opted to make donations instead. And so I thought that I would like to just post this and offer encouragement all round, to writers & readers alike. Let us all do our part to offer what we can for our comrades in humanity.
This chapter has a reference to the beauty of Japan's landscape, something which I hope can be restored over time; and that those of us who has never had a chance to witness the breathtaking scenery will get a chance to do so in future.
My updates will be slow, with work & studies taking up too much of my time. Plus the fact that this will be a long fic, I hope that by the time I am done with this, Japan will be back to it's pre-11th March glory.