Rise of the Tempest: Gwon-Yook Thanatos
In 500 BC, in the land that would later be known as Korea, the sky was never truly clear. Eternal darkness hangs over the peak of Mount Baekdu, where resides a figure whose name only dares to be whispered as a curse: Gwon-Yook Thanatos.
The name is a blend of an ancient surname meaning "Authority of the Flesh" and a Greek entity of death. Anyone who heard the hiss of his name would feel nauseous, paralyzed, and run helter-skelter before their heart stopped suddenly in horror.
The God with the Face of an Angel, the Blood of a Demon
Gwon-Yook Thanatos has a very contradictory physique:
Face: Very handsome with perfect symmetry, inherited from his father, the strongest Greek god who controlled Water, Ice, and Electricity. His nose was sharp, his skin was pale white, as white as the bones of a corpse submerged in ice water.
Eyes: Cold and unfeeling, emitting flashes of blue electricity behind clear membranes that resemble whirlpools.
However, beauty is a curse. He was born from the womb of Eon-Nyeong, the most disgusting ghost witch on the Korean peninsula. Eon-Nyeong has no face—just a flat mass of flesh without eyes, nose, or mouth—but she can see the future and reverse fate through the pores of her skin that ooze black pus. From his mother, Thanatos inherited the knowledge of Blood Pellets and Soul Witchcraft which can rot his enemies from within with just one look.
100 Meter Abomination: The Face Tailor
Behind Thanatos, always stands a 100 meter tall giant shadow named Jib-Hap. This creature is not just a subordinate, but a manifestation of Thanatos' greed.
The entire surface of Jib-Hap's skin is not covered with fur or scales, but millions of parts of the human body:
Thousands of eyes of various colors (red, yellow, green) are blinking asynchronously all over his arms.
The gaping mouths in the stomach, constantly mumbling rotten prayers.
Noses that smell fear from thousands of miles away.
Every time Thanatos kills, Jib-Hap will harvest his victim's face and attach it to his own body, adding to his collection of eternal suffering.
The Power of Misguided Cults
Even though it was terrible, thousands of people prostrated themselves at the feet of Gwon-Yook Thanatos. They do not worship out of love, but out of terror.
"Give me the face of my enemy, and I will give you hail," is one of the most common transactions.
Every prayer offered—every wish for black magic and pellets that humans ask for—becomes fuel for the power of electricity and ice in Thanatos' hands. The more people begged him for evil things, the bigger Jib-Hap's body became, and the paler and more handsome Thanatos' face became.
He is a god who stands on a pile of rotten flesh and prayers. In 500 BC, South Korea was not ruled by kings, but by fear of the descendant of the Greek Shaman who resided on the throne of bones.
Gwon-Yook Thanatos was unmoved on his throne of flesh. Beneath his palm, the skin of the tightly knit faces felt cold, damp, and throbbing slightly. The sound of distant thunder was the perfect accompaniment to its eternal silence.
He didn't turn around as the shadows behind him thickened, thicker than a moonless night. However, the temperature in the valley dropped drastically, freezing the adhesive slime that had just attached the face of a war captain to the Jib-Hap pillar.
"My son," a voice hissed. The sound did not come from the vocal cords, but rather like the rubbing of a dry shroud against a tombstone.
Thanatos smiled faintly, opening his eyes which were encrusted with blue electricity. "Mother."
The figure of a woman wearing a black veil, Eon-Nyeong, floated forward. It had no legs, only streaks of black smoke dragging barbed chains across the snow. His face was covered by a thin black gauze, but everyone knew what lay beneath: a terrifying emptiness. Flat. Without eyes to see, without a mouth to speak, yet he 'sees' and 'speaks' more clearly than any living creature.
A Meeting of Two Worlds
Eon-Nyeong is the scariest ghost on the peninsula, the holder of the key to destiny and an expert in soul witchcraft. He is the reason why Thanatos' tears can become hail and why his gaze can peel off the skin of enemies.
Eon-Nyeong moved her wrinkled left hand. His long finger pointed towards the Jib-Hap pillar, where thousands of faces still groaned in eternal torment.
"Their prayers stink tonight," Eon-Nyeong hissed again. "They no longer ask for rain or fertility of the land. They ask for flesh... and death for their own brothers."
Thanatos nodded. He felt the flow of power from each heretical prayer. "It makes me stronger, Mother. And makes Jib-Hap even bigger. Isn't that what you want? Total control of this land?"
"Power without control is destruction," Eon-Nyeong says, her shroud voice sharp. "I saw the future... and I saw the cracks."
Black Cloth Vision
Eon-Nyeong waved her right hand, and the spiked chain in her hand whipped through the air. Instantly, the mist around them changed. Thanatos saw the image of thousands of faceless warriors (his previous crop) crawling forward, led by a young woman.
The woman was not a soldier, but a young Mudang (shaman) wearing all white clothes. In his hand, he held a small dagger made from a meteor that fell on the peak of Baekdu. The dagger didn't glow with electricity or water, but rather with a pure, empty white light.
"Who is he?" Thanatos asked, his tone changing slightly. There was a strange feeling in his chest: fear.
"A descendant of the pure bloodline of Baekdu shamans," Eon-Nyeong answered. "He didn't beg you, Thanatos. He came to untie the fate you had tied. He came for the dagger... and he came for Jib-Hap."
Curse from the Womb
Eon-Nyeong approached, her shroud almost touching Thanatos' handsome shoulders.
"He has the power to separate the soul from the flesh of Jib-Hap. If he succeeds, the thousands of faces will fall off, and your power will crumble like ice under the sun."
Thanatos clenched his fists on the throne of flesh. "Then what should I do? I'll send Jib-Hap to crush him."
"Don't be stupid," his mother hissed. "Jib-Hap is an easy target for him. You must attack him with soul magic, from a distance. You must plant seeds of doubt in his dreams before he reaches this valley."
Thanatos looked into his mother's inner eyes which were covered with gauze. He understands. The beauty of her face was only a mask; it was his mother's darkness that was the real weapon.
"Tonight, I will sew up his nightmares," Thanatos whispered, his eyes flashing a menacing electric blue. "He will never reach this valley with his dagger intact."
Eon-Nyeong sighed, the sound of the dry shroud sounding almost satisfied. His figure began to fade back into the mist, leaving Thanatos alone with the millions of wails from the Jib-Hap pillars that now sounded like a warning.
The war of destiny has just begun, and Thanatos must decide: will he protect his throne of flesh, or should he face the pure white light of nothingness?
The destruction plan failed, but not because of the power of light. When Gwon-Yook Thanatos tried to tear Sera's soul in dreamland, something unexpected happened. When Thanatos' blue electric eyes stared into Sera's eyes, the young shaman felt no fear. In the midst of this disgusting darkness, Sera was transfixed by Thanatos' heavenly beauty—cold marble skin, arrogant sharp nose, and an aura of unmatched splendor.
Instead of swinging her meteor dagger, Sera brought it down. He fell in love with the demon he was supposed to destroy.
1. The Mudang's Obsession
Sera no longer wanted to free the faces on the Jib-Hap pillars. She wanted to be the only woman standing next to the throne of flesh. However, he knew Thanatos was a god born from the womb of a faceless ghost; his heart was as cold as eternal ice and his soul was closed to human love.
In order to attract the attention of the god, Sera took a wrong path. He traveled to a secret port, meeting black traders from faraway lands in search of the most legendary black magic.
2. Herbs from Two Continents
Sera combines two black forces that are said to have never been united:
Forbidden Voodoo from Africa: It gets the heart of a preserved black lion and blood from the roots of a cursed baobab tree.
Mahabbah Pellets from India: He mixed bone powder from an ancient cemetery on the banks of the Ganges with mystical oil whose smell could make a bull elephant go berserk with longing.
Under the blood moon, Sera performs a disgusting ritual. He drank some of the concoction and burned the rest as incense, sending thick black smoke carrying the enchantment spell towards the Jib-Hap valley.
3. Immune to Lust
The pellet smoke crept into Thanatos' throne. The smoke took the form of delicate hands that tried to caress the god's face, whispering Sera's name in a seductive tone that could make an ordinary human crazy with lust.
However, Thanatos just sat silently. The smoke from the pellets—which were said to be able to subdue great kings in Africa and India—just passed in front of his face like the wind.
"Despicable," whispered Thanatos. His voice echoed among the millions of Jib-Hap mouths who laughed mockingly.
As the son of a Greek god and a Korean ghost wizard who can see the future, Thanatos has no human desires. To him, love is weakness, and Sera's pellets are nothing but dirty dust in his electricity-encrusted eyes.
4. Peaking Madness
Seeing that the pellet failed, Sera didn't give up. He just got crazier. He began to cut his own skin, carving the name "Thanatos" into his arm, hoping that the blood would be a stronger sacrifice.
Thanatos' mother, Eon-Nyeong, appeared from behind the mist, watching Sera with her face flattened. He whispered through the wind to his son:
"He is attractive, my son. Not as a lover, but as a toy. A shaman who would rot his own soul for your beautiful face."
Thanatos stood up from his throne of flesh. "If he wants to come closer, let him come. But tell him... Jib-Hap still needs one pretty face to put right under my feet."