"Legends sleep beneath stone. But when a child awakens bearing the mark of prophecy… not even the gods can look away."
— Temple of Yumeno, Forgotten Scrolls
The wind howled through the mountains surrounding Yumeno Valley, brushing against the ancient temple walls like a spirit trying to slip inside.
Inside, a single candle flickered beside a small sleeping child—Asahi.
Tomo, the last remaining priest of the temple, sat cross-legged beside him. He stared at the crimson-gemmed talisman tied around the infant's neck.
He hadn't dared remove it.
He couldn't.
Every time he tried, a strange chill surged through his fingers—as if the gem breathed. As if it was... watching.
His gaze drifted to the crescent-shaped birthmark glowing faintly on the boy's shoulder.
He had seen it before.
In a forbidden scroll sealed beneath the temple.
"The Crimson Crescent will mark the harbinger of dusk and dawn. The child born under the blood eclipse shall tip the balance."
Tomo swallowed hard.
Was this child the one foretold? Or merely born on a cursed night?
Either way… something had shifted.
✦ The Omen Begins
By the third night, the temple no longer slept peacefully.
The prayer bells rang by themselves.
Shrine lanterns flickered an unnatural blue.
And the stone fox statue—long eroded by time—looked... clean. New.
Tomo prayed to the old gods. But they remained silent.
At midnight, he descended into the forbidden basement.
Dust. Cracks. Silence.
He opened a wooden chest and unrolled the sealed scroll.
Drawn in faded inyear
A crescent wrapped in flame.
Beneath it:
"Beware the Crimson Child. He shall awaken the shadows long buried."
Then… something else.
A newer line, scratched roughly at the bottom:
"If he remembers the eclipse, the cycle begins again."
Tomo's breath caught.
He rushed upstairs.
✦ A Flicker of Red
Asahi lay still in the candlelight.
But his eyes…
Red.
Only for a moment.
Then brown again.
Tomo stood frozen, clutching the scroll.
Far across the world—in a forgotten fortress buried in snow—a mirror cracked for the first time in a thousand years.
And within its shards, a cloaked figure whispered a single word:
"Asahi."