A full moon night. Eight hooded figures (The Community of Thirteen) encircled a crystal coffin within a ruined temple. They wore black cloaks embroidered with silver lotus flowers. Young sacrifices lay around them, their blood flowing toward the coffin.
"The conch sounded—a hollow wail among ruins. The blood of the sacrificed rose in crimson spirals, slipping like threads into the crystal coffin. Inside, the lifeless body of Sanathiel—pale, marked by scars from another era—drank the vital liquid like a forgotten god."
The lotus flowers on the cloaks began to glow as the eight chanted in unison:
"Blood of the betrayed, awaken the once enslaved. Let his fury be our whip, and his heart… our cage."
Elsewhere, in a dreamscape: a snowy forest and a red door at the far end. A young boy, Rodrigo (Sanathiel's younger self), stood before it—barefoot, with wounded wrists (scars from Fallian's experiments).
Rodrigo reached for the red door, where visions of his past rippled across its surface:
Memory 1: Fallian injecting black serum into his veins in the basement, while Beatrice coughed up blood upstairs.Memory 2: Zaira teaching him how to use a bow in the Nevri forests, her laughter blending with the wind.
—"Why don't you open it?" a voice asked behind him.
It was Sanathiel, adult now—golden-eyed, clothes torn.The child trembled.—"I'm scared… of what's behind it. Of what he did to me."
Sanathiel knelt to meet his gaze.—"Fallian is gone. Now, we are one. And that door… is not a prison. It's the key to return to her."
The boy pressed his bleeding hand to the door. As it opened, a flood of memories surged around them:
Zaira fighting off shadow beasts to protect him.
The Nevri welcoming him as a brother, before Fallian stole him away.
Dr. Fallian writing a letter to Mica: "Rodrigo is no longer human. He is the answer to death… and my doom."
Sanathiel took the boy's hand.
—"You brought me this far. Now, I'll lead us back."
The boy merged with him, and the wounds on his wrists transformed into golden runes.
"Cracks spread across the crystal coffin like shattered veins before it exploded. From its remains, a figure rose—not a man, but a wolf with blood-soaked white fur. His golden eyes blazed like embers beneath the moon."
The eight fell to their knees, but he ignored them. He walked into the forest, where Archangel awaited him with a blanket.
"I want to see Zaira," Sanathiel said, his eyes snapping open.He stepped forward, hand trembling.
—"Lord Sanathiel… It's been so long," Archangel murmured nervously.—"That woman… she might be in the Nevri ruins. But be careful. The Community does not forgive betrayal."
Sanathiel waved him off with a cold gesture.—"I don't need your pity, nor the words of a Nevri who's never tasted the moon."His breath spilled out like a frosty lament.
Archangel lowered his gaze, but silence soon gave way to Sanathiel's scorn.—"Did you believe I was dead?" he whispered, voice heavy with cruel irony.—"Does that mean you thought your sins would be forgotten? Blood for earth, memory for fire. What you shattered, I will rebuild."
The words echoed like a verdict.
Meanwhile, under the same full moon on the other side of the world, Rasen faced a different hell. Sirens filled the streets, announcing tragedy.But his mind remained stuck in the night before. Julio's message still glowed on his screen: Dinner tomorrow. Don't bail. A simple promise—turned into a tombstone.
Now, all that remained of Julio lay in unrecognizable pieces under a white sheet.
Red and blue lights flashed on the windows across the street, a silent omen. They rushed to the crime scene. Police had already sealed it off.
The breeze lifted the edge of the sheet, revealing bloodied fingers. Julio's fingers. He was still wearing the watch Rasen had gifted him for his birthday.
Rasen's world collapsed.
—"Don't look, Rasen," whispered a fellow officer, trying to pull him back.
But he couldn't look away. Julio—his best friend—was dismembered, unrecognizable. The sight knocked the air out of his lungs.
—"Let me through!" he shouted, struggling against the officers.—"What was your relationship to the victim?" asked one, gripping his shoulders.
—"He was my best friend," Rasen whispered, tears falling freely.—"He had no one else in this country… Only me."
The weight of those words crushed him. Julio had been his only family in a foreign land. Now he was gone.
"Rasen looked to the sky, where the full moon glowed like an open wound. In the distance, a heart-wrenching howl split the night. He didn't know it, but it was the same cry Julio had screamed as he died… and the same howl Sanathiel now used to summon the Nevri."
Each step Sanathiel took brought him closer to his purpose—and to the past that haunted him. Archangel trailed behind, unable to read his master's mind.
When he offered gloves, Sanathiel looked at him with contempt.—"The previous owner won't need them anymore," he said with a cruel smile, slipping on the coat.
—"You don't have permission to leave. Did you hurt anyone, Archangel? Answer me," he commanded.
—"We should move quickly and clean that wound," Archangel added.
—"If you won't answer, I'll find out myself. Don't forget who you serve," Sanathiel snapped.
One year later — The reunion in Soleo.
At the Soleo Archaeological Center, the paths of Aisha and Rasen crossed again. They had tried to move on, but fate had other plans.
Aisha, lost in thought, bumped into someone in the hallway. Her heart skipped a beat when she looked up.
—"Sorry, I didn't see you," she said quickly, not recognizing him at first.
Rasen tried to keep walking, but her words stopped him.
—"Do I know you from somewhere?"
He turned, his hardened expression a wall of suppressed pain.
—"Why don't you keep pretending you don't?" he replied coldly, bitterness in his voice.
Aisha froze, trying to remember—but before she could speak, Steven stormed in.
—"Wake up already!" he growled, voice laced with venom.
He grabbed Aisha's arm tightly, and his words cut like blades.
"You dragged us all to death. Rasen. Falco. Me. Not because you wanted to… but because your fate devours everything."
Aisha stood paralyzed, his words echoing in her mind. What had she done?
Steven's bitter smile deepened as he pointed at the moon-shaped pendant hanging from her neck.
—"Now I understand why they keep you. But don't ever go near Rasen again. You've hurt him enough."
And before leaving, he gave one final threat:
—"If I see you again, I'll erase you. You're alone, Aisha. You always will be."
Trembling, Aisha stood frozen. Were his words true? Was she really alone?
Unseen in the shadows, Sanathiel watched. His bond with Aisha was a thread that would not sever.
With a cold smile, he whispered to the wind:
"Soon, Aisha. When the moon bleeds and the mirror shatters… you will know who I am. And who you were."