"It's the curse," Kira whispered to him.
"Cursed, a foul wretched creature am I!" Eojin's form was flickering madly. "I am imprisoned here for eternity! Never to see my wife and children! My father and mother or my sisters!"
"No! Please, I'm sorry. So sorry," Taejo pleaded. "We're going to save you. King Eojin, have no fear, we shall save you from this place."
Eojin's flickering stopped and his tortured countenance looked at them once again. "Swear on this!"
"I swear," Taejo said.
"No, not you! The Demon Slayer. I ask you to swear that you will free me or join me here for eternity." Eojin's terrible eyes burned into Kira's soul. She hesitated. How could she swear this?
"Kira, we must save him! You must swear!"
"But how?"
"By killing the daimyo and destroying the Demon Lord. Only then will I be set free." Eojin's pale eyes gleamed a macabre red.
"I'll do it!" Taejo said with grim determination.
Kira sighed and then clamped her hands over her ears as Eojin's voice thundered. "Swear this, Demon Slayer!"
"Yes, I swear on my soul that I will break your curse!" Kira shouted.
The shrieking subsided and Eojin stood before them, his red eyes fading to disturbing paleness.
"Then I will help you."
"Where can we find the jeweled dagger?"
"A treasure in the shadow world? There is only one place it can be. Fulang's cave" he replied.
"Fulang is the dragon's name?" Kira asked.
"Yes, he is the guardian dragon of all hidden treasures," Eojin said. "He is the keeper of the world's most precious stones and metals. If the dagger is here, then he must have it. But do not trust him. He speaks in lies."
"Can you take us to him?"
Eojin nodded. "But we must hurry. I can sense the demons drawing near and they are calling for you both."
His shadowed hands reached for their arms. Kira was shocked to find that he had somehow managed to solidify them. With a mighty pull, he began to fly.
The speed with which Eojin barreled down the hallways of the maze was dizzying. Her head was spinning from the sudden twists and turns, and she felt vaguely sick. On Eojin's other side, Kira saw Taejo covering his eyes with his free hand.
They came to a jarring stop, causing Kira to collapse against Eojin's shadowy form. She touched his arm and was stunned to find him nearly solid.
"How can it be possible?" she asked.
He turned his terrible eyes to her. "This is why you must release me from this curse. The longer I stay in the shadow world, the more like a demon I become. If you don't save me, then I will become a full demon and it will be too late."
"What are you now?" she asked.
"I am your best hope," he replied.
He released their arms, and Kira felt herself become insubstantial once again. Taejo was staring at their uncle in alarm. It was how she felt herself. If Eojin was turning slowly into a demon, then could he still be trusted?
"How do we know we can trust you?" Kira asked. "How do we know you are still our uncle?"
Eojin began to laugh. He moved with lightning speed and clutched them by their throats, causing them to feel substantial again. Kira's heart beat in her mouth as she stared up at the pale gray eyes that held no emotion whatsoever.
"I have demon magic. I could kill you here and now. All it would take is for me to squeeze you to death," he said. "Your physical bodies would perish without your souls and both of you would be trapped here with me."
Kira could hear Taejo gasping as he tried to reason with their uncle. "Please, Uncle! Don't forget who we are. We are your niece and nephew. I am the son of your youngest sister. Remember your sisters!"
Eojin released them and cried in anguish. "This is not who I am. I'm not a demon. I'm still a man. I will not be taken like this. I will fight with all my power. With all my being. I will fight this! I will not be your servant!"
He screamed in rage and gathered energy that churned like lightning and clouds between his hands. He hurtled the mass into the maze, destroying the walls in the process. Eojin stood still as a statue before them.
"Whether or not you trust me, your choices are limited. Right now, you must come with me, for the demons are on their way," he said.
Stepping through the gaping hole in the wall, he beckoned to them. "Stay close," he said.
They followed him, cutting through the destruction he'd wreaked in the labyrinth.
But Kira was worried. Eojin had demon-like abilities. She had thought it was the lingering effects of the cursed blade that she sensed, but now she realized it was him. He had demon magic. So how could she trust him?
Nothing seemed real here and yet it was imperative that she sort reality from a demon construct. What was the truth?
Fact one, Eojin had been killed by a magic blade cursed by the Demon Lord himself. Fact two, Eojin's shade was imprisoned in the underworld, unable to rejoin his ancestors and family in heaven. Fact three, their uncle was a good man who would never harm them.
But what was unclear was whether or not he was really turning into a demon.
Is he a man or is he a demon? Or is he neither? And what did these labels mean anymore in this world? Did the rules of the living still apply here?
If he was truly a demon, he could have destroyed them and kept their shades in the underworld. That he didn't do so made Kira believe he was still Eojin. Still their uncle.
They could hear an unearthly howling from a distance.
"The demons are coming. We must hurry."
He grabbed them again and flew through the broken walls until they reached a gaping hole in the middle of the labyrinth. Down the hole they went, into a cavelike tunnel that was dark and damp. All along the sides of the walls, hundreds of imps crawled toward them, shrieking in excitement. Eojin bellowed, blasting the imps into the air with the force of a hurricane gale until the passage was clear again.
"They will not follow you into the dragon's lair," Eojin said. "Fulang has slumbered for centuries. Even the demons don't wish to disturb his sleep. It would behoove you to find your treasure without waking him."
Eojin's speed decreased as they moved deeper into the labyrinth, the tunnels growing narrower with sharp turns. No imps or demons were seen in this part of the underworld. There was no sound at all, no wind even to stir the air.
When they reached the dragon's lair, Eojin stopped in the passageway.
"I can go no farther with you," he said. "Remember your promise, Niece. Remember me." With that he disappeared.
Taejo stared into the emptiness that Eojin had just occupied.
"Noona, no matter what happens, we must end his curse," Taejo said. "We cannot fail."
"We'll do whatever it takes-"
"No! That's not good enough!" Ghostly tears flowed down Taejo's face. "We will save him or I will die trying!"
29
They entered the dimly lit passageway. It was muggy, the air thick and hard to breathe. Giant stalactites and stalagmites loomed above and before them, bunched closely together. As they wove their way around them, they came into a larger cave that glittered with the glory of piles of gems and gold. But lying within the beautiful treasures were hundreds of skeletons. Kira noted armor and weapons like she'd never seen before.
"If this is a place you can't enter in your physical form, then how come there are all these dead people here?" Taejo asked.
Kira had been wondering the same thing herself. Skeletons littered the cavern floor, Turning a corner, they entered a great cavern filled with what looked like all the world's treasures. Golden coins and jeweled crowns and necklaces were placed carelessly over more unusual items like a golden chair, jewel-studded cabinets, an elaborate gown made entirely of pearls, and cups and dishes so ornately jeweled that they would have no utility whatsoever.
Taejo stood gawking at the treasures for a long moment.
"This is impossible," he said finally. "How are we supposed to find anything here? It'll take years!"
He kicked at a giant emerald lying on the ground, only to have his foot pass right through it. "And even if we do find it, how are we to take it from here?"
Kira shook her head, at a loss for answers. She found herself floating to the remains of a soldier whose skeletal hand clenched a longbow and a quiver filled with arrows. The bow was straight and very different from her curved horn bow, but Kira was sure she could shoot it. She reached over to touch the bow, but could feel nothing.
The majority of the dead held swords of various kinds. One held a sword so large that Kira wondered if the man had been part giant to be able to wield such a weapon. How had these warriors entered the underground cavern with their weapons when she and Taejo hadn't been able to bring anything?
Kira tried to look through the mounds of treasures, but without any ability to sift through it, it was no use.