32. Cosmic Journey and the Power of Thorwayne
The first constellation it encountered was Etherion’s Harp, shaped like a giant stringed instrument. As Marblem’s song passed through Etherion, the universe resounded with sweet harp harmonies.
The next constellation was Chronos’s Sand, shaped like an hourglass. When the song passed through this constellation, the universe was filled with a 43-second video of the Big Bang’s birth.
Then came Lumina’s Lighthouse, resembling the ancient Lighthouse of Pharos. As Marblem’s song traversed this constellation, it used a Fresnel lens to cast a conical beam of light pointing toward the planet Sirius.
Finally, it passed through the constellation called Nebula’s Dream. This constellation harmoniously combined the harp, hourglass, and lighthouse to panoramically display the island of Malta within the constellation Canis Major.
At last, Marblem’s song reached the planet Sirius. As it entered the planet’s atmosphere, the song glowed like an aurora, enveloping the planet.
Marblem’s song aimed for the Lightning Flower inside Sabi’s pocket. The Lightning Flower sensed the special energy and reacted. The tiny crystal structures on the surface of its petals acted as miniature antennas, capturing the energy. The echoes gathered at the center of the petals. The flower’s pistil and stamens moved like tiny generators, converting it into the Lightning Flower’s unique bioelectricity. The petals of the Lightning Flower flashed red, yellow, and blue. When it glowed red, it emitted a citrus scent; when blue, a vanilla scent; when yellow, a cherry scent. The fragrances were recreations of Marblem’s song in echoes. The echoes sounded as if they were coming from a small music box.
The special fragrance and music emanating from the Lightning Flower reminded Sabi and Maru of Suri’s time and space. Finally, on the petals of the Lightning Flower, the location where Marblem was appeared as a constellation of glowing dots connected together. It visualized precise cosmic coordinates like a small celestial projector. The shape was exactly the same as the old map Maru had found at the Cartoon Research Institute.
“What? What the heck?… I’m starving… Is this the location of a restaurant that delivers? Can we at least order some food delivery?.. Alice just showed us where Suri is… you idiot!'”
Maru, so hungry that he was babbling nonsense, mumbled incoherently.
“Delivery? Are you nuts… Where do you think we are that we can get delivery? A space delivery guy? An astronaut? Is that what you’re talking about?”
Sabi looked at Maru with a mix of pity and exasperation.
“Where can we meet Suri?… Where’s the meat then?… Beef, pork, chicken, goat meat, rabbit meat…”
Maru was even mispronouncing his words.
“Meat… hahaha… He’s really lost it… Meat, he says… How hungry must you be… ‘meet,’ not ‘meat’!”
Sabi shouted in frustration.
“Good grief… Sabi, you’re the crazy one… What’s the point of telling me where it is? How are we supposed to get there? Tell me. Go ahead and tell me… Pretending to be all smart?”
Maru glared at her.
“But we have someone with us.”
Sir Forte said with a smile.
“But… the place where Suri is doesn’t seem like somewhere we can just fly to. It doesn’t seem close either…”
Maru pouted and shrugged his shoulders.
At that moment, Thorwayne closed his eyes and trembled all over. He drew in the hidden electricity from the atmosphere to recharge. His entire body became enveloped in lightning. His fur blazed with blue flames, crackling and popping, and lightning flashed from his eyes. Sabi and Maru climbed onto Thorwayne’s back. Thorwayne’s blue flaming fur acted as a safety belt, securing Sabi and Maru firmly.
“Awooooo… Crack!”
When Thorwayne roared, cracks appeared in the barrier of the current dimension. The sound of his roar resonated with the fundamental frequencies of the universe, weakening the walls of space-time. Thorwayne’s body began to quantum tunnel. Sabi and Maru also partially disappeared and reappeared, transitioning into a quantum state as they flickered in and out of reality. Fully quantumized, Thorwayne entered hyperspace—a higher-dimensional realm where the usual laws of three-dimensional space did not apply.
In hyperspace, Thorwayne navigated through multiple timelines, advancing as if surfing on intuition and gravitational waves. Enormous speed and energy were consumed. Occasionally, he would leap across vast distances in an instant by utilizing the slingshot effect of a black hole’s gravity. During this process, Sabi and Maru experienced hallucinations where reality seemed to overlap in multiple layers.
During the long journey, they recharged energy by harnessing the powerful magnetic fields of neutron stars or pulsars. At these times, Thorwayne’s body became a mass of intense light. As they approached their destination, Thorwayne gradually reduced his speed and prepared to re-enter normal space. Exiting hyperspace, Thorwayne, Sabi, and Maru’s physical forms were slowly reconstructed, returning to their original appearances. The entire process unfolded like puzzle pieces fitting perfectly into place.
Thorwayne landed safely. Sabi and Maru felt only a slight time lag and a bit of motion sickness. Everything else was intact. As Sabi and Maru slowly approached Suri and Marblem, Malta Island began to activate its engines.
Boom! Crash!
The sky began to roar loudly. At the moment when the thundering sound shook heaven and earth, a sharp, sword-like beam of Sirius lightning sliced across the sky over Malta Island, mercilessly tearing through the veil of the night sky. The red, blue, and yellow Sirius lightning arrogantly gazed down upon Malta Island and paused momentarily.
The megalithic temples scattered throughout Malta Island creaked and twisted their structures as if to welcome the Sirius lightning. A brief silence ensued. Grrrr, grrrr—the engines hidden deep beneath the Earth’s surface, long concealing their true nature, began to surge violently. The entire island of Malta shook intensely. The tip of the Sirius lightning was eerily sharp, as if ready to pierce through any obstacle.
Although the lightning that appears every 72 years had not yet arrived, Malta Island was shaking more and more violently.
[To be continued…]
** Starting November 2023, The Korea Daily is excited to publish the fantasy novel series “Sword of Malta – Lightning in 72 Years” on our website. This new captivating series follows a trio of young adventurers on their quest to uncover the mysteries of ancient civilizations, including the Maya and Inca. In an exciting development, Netflix is currently adapting the novel’s storyline into a film.
The ‘Sword of Malta – Lightning in 72 Years’ is the latest novel authored by Jeeyoon Ha, who created the “Pangaea series.” Ha’s debut novel, “The Pangaea: Finding Xibalba,” was selected by the Korea Creative Content Agency in 2022 as part of their initiative to support the global export of fantasy literature.
Readers can eagerly anticipate the online publication of two installments each month, with new chapters appearing bi-weekly, offering a regular escape into this magical realm. *Mark Oh translated the Korean novel into English.
