The shoreline was quiet the morning after Sereth's retreat.
Nahara sat on a rock, the tide curling gently around her ankles.
Elion crouched nearby, tracing circles in the wet sand, still shaken.
Rin stood alone at the edge of the water, staring at the moon's fading reflection.
Rokuro approached him quietly.
Rokuro:
"Do not fear the past you saw.
Fear only the one you refuse to understand."
Rin didn't respond.
But he didn't walk away, either.
Rokuro calls the other two over.
When all three had gathered, Rokuro tapped his staff into the sand.
Rokuro:
"We travel inland.
To the ruined Tsukiren Temple — the Moonfall's birthplace."
Elion froze.
Elion:
"Moonfall… that was the war the Solari don't talk about."
Rokuro nodded.
Rokuro:
"Of course they don't.
Your elders erased every truth that didn't shine."
Nahara frowned.
"Why go there now?"
Rokuro turned toward Rin.
Rokuro:
"Because something inside him is waking."
A pause.
"And the temple may know him better than he knows himself."
Rin's fingertips tingled with faint silver static.
The inland forest was thick and overgrown.
Moonlight and sunlight fought through the treetops, creating a swirling mosaic on the forest floor.
Elion walked with his head lowered.
Nahara noticed.
Nahara:
"Are you okay? You barely spoke since yesterday."
Elion hesitated
Elion:
"I showed you things I didn't want anyone to see."
Rin slowed down, glancing over his shoulder.
Rin:
"We all saw each other's pain.
That's not something to be ashamed of."
Elion's eyes softened.
Elion:
"…Thank you."
The First Echo
As they neared the mountainside, Rin stumbled — clutching his chest.
Silver lines pulsed along his arms like veins of moonfire.
Rin:
"No… not again—"
A shockwave burst outward, shaking leaves loose from the trees.
Elion shielded his eyes.
Nahara grabbed Rin's shoulders.
Nahara:
"Breathe! Rin — look at me!"
But Rin's eyes had gone pitch black with silver rings.
Rokuro appeared beside him instantly.
Rokuro:
"This is an Echo.
A memory of the Moonfall responding to his spirit."
Elion stepped back, fear rising.
Elion:
"W-Why is his power reacting like that?!"
Rokuro:
"Because in the previous Moonfall…
Rin's bloodline stood at the center of it."
A Moon Of Fire (Flashback Vision)
Rin's surroundings dissolved.
The trees vanished.
The sky burned silver.
The ground cracked like scorched glass.
Rin found himself standing in a battlefield of blinding lunar storms.
Warriors of moonlight clashed with solar fire.
Screaming.
Falling.
Breaking.
A figure of living moonsteel stepped forward, helmet cracked, eyes glowing like Rin's.
Moonsteel Warrior:
"Run, child! You carry our last thread—"
A spear of sunfire pierced him through.
Rin screamed and the vision shattered.
He collapsed, gasping.
As the vision dissolved, a faint white flame flickered around his hands.
A new lunar technique forming…
But unstable.
Rokuro tightened his grip on Rin's wrist.
Rokuro:
"Do NOT try to use this ability yet.
It is incomplete, and it reacts to emotion."
Rin swallowed hard.
Rin:
"What… what is it called?"
Rokuro answered quietly.
Rokuro:
"Moonflare Reverb.
A fragment of the Moonfall's final weapon."
Nahara and Elion exchanged worried glances.
That night, while Rin slept and Elion kept watch, Nahara walked alone to a cliff overlooking the sea.
The waves whispered.
Her reflection in the water darkened — the faint outline of a massive leviathan forming behind her.
Leviathan Voice:
"Accept the depth…
Accept the pain…"
Nahara trembled.
She remembered Rokuro's warning
Rokuro:
"The Abyss hears pain first.
If you call the Leviathan without balance,
it will consume what little childhood you have left."
But she clenched her fists.
Nahara:
"I won't be weak again."
The water surged—
but she forced it down.
Barely.
As Nahara returned to camp, Elion froze.
Three silhouettes stood at the forest's edge.
Clad in Solari ceremonial robes.
The Truthkeepers.
Truthkeeper:
"Elion of Dawnheart…
You have wandered far from purity."
Elion's breath tightened.
Elion:
"N-No… not now… why are you here?"
Truthkeeper's voice was cold.
Truthkeeper:
"To retrieve you.
To cleanse you.
To burn the impurity that infects your empathy."
A beam of light shot toward Elion—
but Rin blocked it with a crescent slash of moonlight, his body moving before he could think.
Rin stood shaking, but unbroken.
Rin:
"You're not touching him."
Nahara took her place on Rin's right.
Elion stared, stunned.
Rokuro rose slowly behind them.
Rokuro:
"This is sacred ground.
Leave… or be unmade."
The Truthkeepers retreated,
but their warning lingered.
Truthkeeper:
"Dawnheart…
we will return for you."
Elion's hands shook violently.
Rin placed a steady hand on his shoulder.
Rin:
"You're with us now."
Elion's eyes watered,
but he nodded.
After another day's travel, they reached it.
Built into the mountainside…
Cracked pillars.
Moon carvings broken and scattered.
A faint silver glow leaking from within.
The Tsukiren Temple.
Nahara whispered,
Nahara:
"This place… feels like it's breathing."
Elion shivered.
Elion:
"Or waiting."
Rokuro stepped forward, solemn.
Rokuro:
"Everyone… remain close.
This temple remembers the Moonfall.
And it remembers those who survived it."
He looked at Rin.
Rokuro:
"Especially you."