"There is something in blood that cannot be washed away with water. Because it is not dirt but an inheritance."
---
The Perlis sky that night was strange.
Dark clouds marched, but the moon was not visible.
Only a faint red light on the horizon like embers hidden behind fog.
Harith stood in front of Tok Halim's wooden house, with a small wound on his arm.
Tok Halim sat cross-legged in the middle of the house, his old hands clutching a rosary whose color had faded.
"Your blood has awakened," said Tok Halim without opening his eyes.
Harith was silent. The sound of crickets outside seemed so quiet, as if the world had stopped to listen.
"What do you mean, Tok… my blood has awakened?"
Tok Halim raised his head, his eyes still blind but his face calm.
"Your blood is not like other people's blood. You are the descendant of the Heir of Light, the gatekeeper between the human world and the world of shadows."
Harith chuckled.
"Tok, I'm just an SPM student. I don't even know how to take care of myself."
Tok Halim smiled thinly.
"Blood doesn't care about age, Harith. When an eclipse comes, blood will call the shadow. And the shadow will come back to find its master."
---
Tok Halim opened the tattered cloth in front of him.
Underneath it was a thick black leather book, with the eclipse symbol in the middle.
The book seemed alive, pulsating slowly like a pulse.
"This is your father's legacy," said Tok Halim.
"He tried to close the shadow door twenty years ago. But he failed… and got trapped on the other side."
Harith fell silent.
"So… my father is still alive?"
Tok Halim bowed.
"Alive… but not fully human anymore."
---
The night was getting darker.
Tok Halim held out a small knife with ancient carvings.
"Take this. This knife is not for killing, but for remembering. If your shadow tries to take over… cut your right hand. Your blood is still pure… for now."
Harith took the knife slowly.
The cold iron made his skin tingle.
"Tok, how can I stop all this?"
Tok Halim looked outside.
"Tonight there will be the first Blood Eclipse since 1997. If you want to save yourself… don't look at the sky."
---
But Harith was stubborn.
He left Tok Halim's house, heading towards a small road by the rice fields.
The sky began to change color to red, dense, and spinning.
The air became heavy. The sound of dogs barking in response from afar.
When he looked at the water in the rice fields, he saw his reflection… but his shadow in the water screamed silently.
"DON'T LOOK AT THE SKY!" Tok Halim's voice echoed from afar.
But Harith was too late.
The red light from the sky fell right on his face.
The shadow was pulled from the ground.
---
The shadow rose slowly, forming a human body of the same height, the same face shape, but its eyes were all black.
It imitated Harith's every move... except one.
The shadow smiled.
"You gave me a name... Harith Hadami. But I have my own name, Hadam."
Harith stiffened.
The shadow continued, his voice echoing in two layers, half from another world.
"I am the half you threw away when you were a child. When you were afraid of the dark, I was the one who bore it. When you cried, I was the one who kept all your grudges."
Harith retreated, but the shadow followed his steps like a living mirror.
"Now... we are balanced. You are blood, I am the shadow. And the world is not enough for two."
---
The sky erupted in red, thunder echoed loudly.
When Harith tried to escape, the surrounding rice fields began to crack, black hands emerged from the mud.
Other shadow creatures were human-shaped but had no faces, just empty holes for eyes.
Harith fell. Tok Halim's knife slipped from his hand.
The shadows screamed silently, their voices echoing in his head:
"Heir… we are hungry..."
Harith reached for the knife, and without thinking, he slashed his right hand.
His blood fell to the ground but did not absorb.
The blood was glowing.
The creatures screamed, their bodies burning with the light of Harith's blood.
One by one they fell and melted like night melting in the sun.
Harith sat up, shivering. His breathing was heavy.
His shadow, Hadam, took a few steps back, but his smile did not disappear.
"You can fight me, but every drop of your blood that falls… makes me stronger."
The sky darkened again. The eclipse ended.
Hadam disappeared, absorbed back into the ground, but his last voice echoed:
"See you again when the next light goes out, Harith…"
---
Harith fell to the ground, sitting on the edge of the rice field.
His hands were bleeding, his eyes staring at the empty sky.
From afar, Tok Halim came with an oil lamp.
"The first eclipse is over," he said slowly.
"But there are three more to come. And each one… will bring back something that humans have thrown away."
Harith raised his face, sweat and blood mixed on his cheeks.
"Tok… if I am the Heir of Light… why do I feel like I am the darkest?"
Tok Halim looked at him for a long time.
"Because to bring light, you have to know the dark first, Harith."
---
And that night, for the first time, Harith realized that he was not an ordinary human. He was the door between two worlds that were trying to swallow each other.