The moon dominated the sky, pale and silent, spreading its light over the dark rooftops of the village. The wind was soft but icy. Not far from the center of Valeria stood an estate. It was vast but empty; there was no one, not a single sign of life, except for a thirteen-year-old boy with an angular and delicate face, his features elegant and serious. His eyes were piercing green, and his black hair framed his face. He wore a navy blue T-shirt with the emblem of the Tsukikage clan (a circle divided into two asymmetrical halves, one black and the other white) printed on the back, and gray shorts.
He sat on one of the roofs of the estate, staring at the moon, his gaze empty, his thoughts far away. He remembered how his older brother, Shin Tsukikage, had massacred all the members of their clan.
Six years in the past
The sky was dark. A young Kageya, seven years old, lay in a room, his throat dry and his temples pounding. The fever that had kept him in bed had subsided. He waited instinctively for the sound of the plates his mother tidied every evening or the rustling of the newspaper his father read in the living room, but there was nothing. The silence was not peaceful this time; it was heavy—the calm before the storm.
Leaving his room, his bare feet on the cold floorboards were the only sound in the entire house.
"Mama…?" he whispered, his voice trembling, but the silence answered him. He walked down the hallway and reached the living room. Kageya pushed the door and froze.
"Papa! Mama! Older brother!" the silence answered.
In the center of the main room, his parents were kneeling side by side. He thought for a moment that they were waiting for him, but they were dead. He stepped closer and saw that they had been stabbed, their faces calm as if they were sleeping. His brother lay beside their bodies, his body pale.
Tears rose in Kageya's eyes. He didn't understand. Then, a calm and familiar voice resonated behind him:
"You're here… Kageya."
Kageya slowly turned. In the shadows stood Shin, dressed in his black Elite uniform, his gaze piercing and emotionless.
"Shin… what happened here? Papa and Mama… who did this?"
Shin had been Kageya's cousin during the First Great War; his father had sacrificed himself to save Kageya's father, who then adopted Shin. Shin remained silent for a moment, then stepped forward slightly. Kageya ran to him, but Shin pushed him harshly against the wall. Shin activated his Meigan. In a fraction of a second, Kageya was trapped in the 'prison of time,' an illusion that makes the victim witness a scene from the past that they desire to see, as long as the user has a connection to the victim's memory.
What Kageya wanted to see was what had happened in his clan—and what awaited him was a scene that would traumatize him.
The setting was disturbingly realistic, as if he were truly witnessing the past. The sky was blood red, and the ground was liquid, like a crimson pool.
"I will show you the truth."
In what lasted only an instant in the real world, Kageya relived the massacre of the clan over and over, in a mental nightmare lasting twenty-four hours. He saw every clan member fall under the blade, saw Shin kill his parents and his brother. He heard the screams, felt the fear and helplessness.
When the illusion ended, a whole day had passed in Kageya's mind, and it was still night. Kageya was on his knees, trembling, sweating, shocked to the core.