The Boy in the Bone Throne
The air smelled like burnt feathers.
Tsukihana sat up fast, sweat pouring from her face. Her heart still raced from the vision—or whatever that place was. A dream, maybe. A warning, maybe. But one thing she knew for sure:
She heard Akarui's voice.
And that meant…
"He's alive," she whispered.
Across the shrine, Kira looked up, confused.
"What? Who's alive?"
"Akarui," Tsuki said again.
"He's still in there. I heard him."
Renjiro's face darkened.
"Then the Hollow King truly is worse than we feared."
The Mark of Ash
Renjiro helped them out of the broken shrine as the sun began to rise—though the clouds above still lingered like bruises in the sky.
On the back of Tsukihana's right hand, a mark remained from the curse. A spiral-shaped symbol made of ash and dark lines, pulsing faintly.
"It's a tether," Renjiro said.
"A way for him to track you. To find you."
Tsukihana didn't care.
"Let him come."
But Renjiro shook his head, tired of her recklessness.
"That's exactly what he wants. Every time you fight, he learns more about your flame."
Kira stepped in, quieter.
"So what do we do?"
"We disappear," Renjiro said.
"Hide. Move underground. Until we figure out what this bond is."
Tsukihana clenched her fists.
"No," she said.
"We go to him."
The Map of Spirits
Back in the monk's travel bag, Renjiro pulled out an ancient scroll—torn, stained, and sealed in red wax. He hadn't touched it in years. It was a Map of Spirit Threads, drawn by one of the last Memory Scribes.
It showed not just roads and rivers, but Vein currents — spiritual energy lines flowing beneath the earth.
"If he's holding Akarui," Renjiro said, "he'll be somewhere along the Hollow Vein."
"And where's that?" Tsuki asked.
"Beneath the Ivory Scarlands. A cursed place."
Tsukihana didn't hesitate.
"Then that's where we go."
Kira's Doubt
As the trio packed their gear and prepared for a long journey, Kira lagged behind. Her sword still felt too heavy. Her cuts from the last fight weren't healing like they should.
And her heart…
Her heart was torn.
She looked at Tsukihana and remembered what she saw.
The fire. The fusion with the storm. The thing Tsuki almost became.
"What if she loses herself before we even get there?" Kira thought.
She didn't say it aloud.
But she thought it.
She thought it every step.
The Road of Bones
They traveled three days without resting proper. Through villages still scorched from the Hollow army. Through forests too quiet for birds.
By the fifth day, the roads ended.
Ahead of them lay the Scarlands.
White stone cliffs twisted like skeletal ribs.
Dead trees lined the horizon like watchers.
Renjiro said nothing. He knew this place. He had been here once before.
Long ago.
When his own brother had vanished into the Hollow Vein.
Cliffhanger: The Throne Under the Earth
That night, as Tsukihana tried to sleep, the mark on her hand glowed again.
She gritted her teeth, grabbing her wrist to stop the burning. It didn't help.
The pain spread, crawling up her arm, over her shoulder, into her mind.
And then—
She saw it again.
The dark place.
The thrones of bone.
But this time…
Akarui was clear.
He sat in one of the thrones.
His eyes black. His skin cracked. Chains around his wrists.
But his lips moved.
"Tsuki… don't come closer… he's waiting for you—"
A hand gripped his face and pulled him back into the shadows.
Another throne lit up.
Empty.
Waiting.
For her.