Chapter Text
Yoo Myeongwoo, the Chief Armorer of the Gods, is often rumored to be a god himself. After all, he works with heavenly fire to forge his pieces, and if he were anything but divine, it would have seared his flesh to the bone. A Lesser or Greater Angel may have been able to come away with only scars, but Yoo Myeongwoo has no injuries of that kind on him.
Of course, there is only a small step between a born god and a created one. So, though Myeongwoo often keeps to himself in his workspace, he knows of the whispers and knows soon enough that the gods will want to make a direct acquaintance of him.
Myeongwoo is not very happy about this development. The firebirds who transport his goods titter and chatter as he goes to lock himself in the workspace yet again.
The gods will ruin all sense of peace he has now and worst of yet, they'll require him to come join in on their gatherings. It is all just a splendid waste of time that Myeongwoo cannot afford.
Myeongwoo stokes the fire and stares into the white flame.
When he was... well, mortal is the best way to describe it, because while Myeongwoo is not a god now, he is certainly not human. So yes, when Myeongwoo was mortal, he didn't really acknowledge the gods. There was a brief period of his life, when all his prospects were failing, that he tried.
Different people have different affinities to the divine, and so, priests and monks and all sorts of religious orders run the earth now. Channeling the power of a god gives you power that is hard to replicate otherwise.
The most that human Myeongwoo got was the ability to see the manifestations of power—just about the most basic skill required to participate in the religious world.
He'd been glad of his mortality, then, after learning of his skill. Some of those who awakened changed dramatically and for Myeongwoo, the sweetest news was learning that he would still be able to die.
He is not sure that is still the case. If he throws himself into this fire, hotter than anything else he'd been able to find in the vast expanse of the universe, he'll be just fine. If he drops from a great height, likely he'll be slightly dented by the fall but nothing else. And of course, his skin has hardened enough that nothing more can pierce it. His eyes, too, developed their own kind of shield.
Myeongwoo shakes himself out of his stupor. No use pondering all the changes to himself, no use looking at himself like some kind of half-human, half-monster. He has some commissions to finish. Besides, it'll be better to get on the good side of the gods before he inevitably refuses them and their offers. It'll be good to have them armed with weapons that he can still control, just to give himself more of a chance.
With that, he readies the forge and gets back to work.
&&&
He sends the firebirds out to deliver the sword and shield he just completed, and then sends another to deliver impenetrable armor to earth.
Don't do that, a memory whispers to him. People will kill themselves over your craft. Do not sell to the earth and do not give them gifts. They won't know how to appreciate it .
But that person is no longer with him, so it is easy to ignore the whispers. No one who picks up the armor would know it came from him—polethe style is completely different and it is a kind of subtle craft that at first glance, seems human made. Only when the armor saves a life would it become obvious that it is more robust than the typical gear out there.
Myeongwoo could want to help humans in the way that he could. That isn't a crime. And it isn't hopeless of him either to hope that one of his sets would reach the person he wants to protect the most.
He watches the birds fly out, far beyond the boundaries of this subspace Myeongwoo made for himself. It has been a very long time since he has left these confines. It will not be very long until he is forced out. The walls shake more often now and he knows that this was the gods trying to find him.
Let them find him, if they can. He will not hide purposefully from them, but he will not easily reveal himself to them either.
Still, the end is approaching. Myeongwoo desperately wishes he paid more attention to news of the gods while he was still human.
&&&
They burst in while he's in the forge and Myeongwoo knows this by how the birds are screeching outside.
It doesn't sound like they're hurt, just frightened, but Myeongwoo pulls the half-melted polearm to the side and dims the fire. He does not extinguish it. The fire won't burn the divine, but he's heard it's still painful for them to go through.
He goes to open the door to the forge before any of them get the idea to break it down. As the gears shift and the doors slowly pull apart, he wonders how many gods came to him.
In this part of the world, there's only a handful, but Myeongwoo would not be surprised if more or less than that amount came. Bold of Myeongwoo to assume he's important enough for foreign gods to come and naive of him to think that only the gods of Korea are concerned with his existence.
The first god he sees is the Lord Justiciar. One arm, per religious imagery, is tied behind his back. He is blindfolded, though with how he moves steadily through the subspace, Myeongwoo has no doubts that he has other ways to "see."
Behind him is the Lord of the Golden Chains. He is the one terrorizing Myeongwoo's birds and Myeongwoo already feels his face turning into a scowl. None of the birds are hurt but they all fly to avoid the chains embedding themselves in the landscape.
Myeongwoo raises a hand, and when the next chain hits, it does not even dent the rock.
The Lord of the Golden Chains turns to Myeongwoo slowly. His eyes are as vibrant as his chains and Myeongwoo looks away to find a place to sculpt some better nesting nooks for the birds.
As he looks around, he notes that no other gods came. Then again, while the Lord Justiciar can often be seen with any god, the Lord of the Golden Chains is whispered to be the most aggravating. He is charming in all his iconography, of course, but the only other god he has been seen around is the Lord Justiciar.
"What are gods doing in my workspace?" Myeongwoo asks, crossing his arms. His voice echoes and the birds all still.
It's been so long he's spoken in anything but a whisper.
"Did you know," the Lord of the Golden Chains starts, "that you're called the Chief Armorer of the Gods?"
Silence stretches afterwards and Myeongwoo realizes that this god actually wants an answer.
"Interesting," he just says. "So what about it? Humans come up with all kinds of titles."
"Ah, but humans have that interesting power to gift prestige upon others," the Lord of the Golden Chains says. "You have supplied us with weaponry in the past. And soon enough, you will be divine. So, does it not make sense for us gods to welcome you in the divine sphere?"
"You are currently an unknown," the Lord Justiciar says. "There have been conflicts abroad of new gods usurping existing gods. Korea does not have many gods, so this has not been an issue. But we have never had a new god join us before."
"So you're suspicious," Myeongwoo says and nods, because that does make sense. "I am not a god yet, and I do not intend to be."
"That is not quite your choice anymore," the Lord of the Golden Chains says, his smile not reaching his eyes.
"Then be content with the fact that I only aim to keep creating."
"But for whom?" the Lord Justiciar asks. "If you trade to everyone, you can also trade to our enemies."
Myeongwoo's brows rise. "What enemies do the gods have within Korea? I have not traded outside our sphere yet."
Ah, but Myeongwoo, the voice of a ghost says, they don't know that, and neither do you.
"An official introduction will clear up any matters," Lord Justiciar says.
"Oh, come on, this is much too formal," the Lord of the Golden Chains says. "There is no court, just a drinking room. Surely as someone who used to be Korean, you can't refuse."
Myeongwoo wants to protest in more ways than one. Does this god think he lost any aspect of being Korean when he ascended? Does he really see no humanity in any of them?
Surely, a lot of people think that the divine are something else entirely. And those people are not wrong. Myeongwoo refuses to believe that he will just... lose the human part of him. His body has changed, but he is still Yoo Myeongwoo. That can't change, can it?
At any rate, Myeongwoo's last memory of alcohol is anything but pleasant.
The Lord of the Golden Chains' smile leaves no room for disagreement.
"Perfect," he says and the Lord Justiciar turns his head slightly toward the Lord of the Golden Chains. Myeongwoo thinks that perhaps, the Lord Justiciar is throwing an annoyed look at the Lord of the Golden Chains.
"Come when the moon reaches its high," the Lord Justiciar says.
"There is no moon here," Myeongwoo points out.
The Lord of the Golden Chains looks up while the Lord Justiciar tilts his head.
"So there is not," the Lord Justiciar says.
"Just go outside and check," the Lord of the Golden Chains says.
"Do you remember your entrance to my space?" Myeongwoo asks drily. "There is no moon in that part of space either."
"Then I will come to collect you," the Lord Justiciar says.
"You need not enter," Myeongwoo says and looks at the Lord of the Golden Chains specifically. "I'll know when you're outside."
"I feel like this may be a slight against me," the Lord of the Golden Chains says, with a smile that shows the edges of his teeth.
"His name is Sung Hyunjae," the Lord Justiciar says and the Lord of the Golden Chains turns his head so quickly to look at the Lord Justiciar that Myeongwoo thinks he's heard a snap.
"Dear Justiciar," Sung Hyunjae says. Myeongwoo wouldn't have been surprised if literal poison started dripping off his tongue. "Why did you introduce myself to our new member? You took the drama from me, I'm afraid."
None of the gods' names were known. The reason for why was often speculated as the names being a way to control the gods.
Myeongwoo doesn't quite think that that is the case. The Lord Justiciar is just and would not give out such sensitive information to a person that he does not trust. It probably is important in some way, but Myeongwoo does not think it will be such a large advantage.
"Behave," the Lord Justiciar says. "Chief Armorer, keep an ear out for us. We will only knock once."
And with that, the two gods leave.
Myeongwoo allows himself a shuddering breath before he collapses to his knees.
The gods truly are no joke. If Myeongwoo had been in the presence of all of them, he probably would have fallen down in the beginning of the talk.
... The Lord Justiciar has to know this, doesn't he? The gods vary in their connection to the earth. The Lord of the Golden Chains may be a patron, but the people he patrons are an eclectic group, with little rhyme to why they were chosen except for the fact that they are all insane.
The Pyre of Black Flames is the opposite, in a sense. There are also unclear reasons as to why he patrons one or another, but those who try to receive his patronage are clearly measured up to something that isn't the Pyre of Black Flames' wiles. After all, the punishment for failing to meet those standards is severe.
The Lord Justiciar, on the other hand, has the most obvious theme out of all the gods. He offers justice to the vulnerable, to those who are taken advantage of or are in some way weak. Essentially, if someone cannot protect themselves, they can invoke the Lord Justiciar as protection.
So, the Lord Justiciar has to know the effect godhood has on humans. And he does know that Myeongwoo isn't quite divine yet.
Perhaps there were supposed to be the other gods visiting him as well, and the Lord Justiciar prevented that.
Myeongwoo takes some deep breaths and pushes himself back up. First, he has to reform the birds' home. Then he has to salvage what he can from that half-shapen polearm.
It is only when he is back in the forge and the firebirds are back to normal that he thinks about the Lord Justiciar's invitation more.
If the Lord Justiciar is aware of how terrifying it is to be in the presence of the gods... why did he invite Myeongwoo to come meet all of them in something that has to be less than a month's time.
Of all the gods, Myeongwoo knows of Lord Justiciar the most. He was the god that Myeongwoo considered aligning with, but the Lord Justiciar doesn't offer protection against the self, so ultimately, Myeongwoo never prayed.
However, he did remember all the speculation around the Lord Justiciar's appearance. Why is one arm bound? Why is he blindfolded?
The generally accepted idea for the latter is that phrase that true justice is blind. However, there were some speculations that perhaps, the Lord Justiciar saw more with his eyes than just the present.
Myeongwoo hadn't really believed it, but then again, gods are a new phenomenon. Myeongwoo is in space now, his body almost completely indestructible, and he is surrounded by birds of myth.
Seeing the future, or traces of it, is truly not so out of reach as it might have been.