The night after the prophecy session, the sky was wrong.
No clouds.No stars.Just a dim red shimmer pulsing behind the horizon like a heartbeat.
Aarav stood alone on the cliff above Echoing Peak, cloak fluttering in the cold wind. His eyes narrowed as the shimmer condensed into a perfect circle of crimson light.
The First Moon.
The Blood Cult had begun the Nine Moons Ritual.
Lunaris felt it moments later. Frost erupted around her feet as she rushed to Aarav's side.
"Aarav!" she gasped. "The sky—!"
"I see it."
Umara appeared behind them, shadow clinging to her like loyal mist. Her face was pale. Too pale.
"That is the first signal," she whispered."The ritual has begun in earnest."
Lunaris shivered. "What does it mean?"
Umara hugged herself, voice trembling.
"The First Moon marks the awakening of the Demon's Heart Core."
Aarav's jaw tightened.He had expected escalation.But not this soon.
"Explain," he said calmly.
Umara closed her eyes, remembering teachings she wished she'd never learned.
"The Demon's Heart… is not a literal heart.""It is the core memory of the Heavenly Demon.""A fragment of his consciousness.""His rage. His hunger. His despair."
Lunaris stiffened."So it's alive?"
Umara nodded."It seeks a vessel."
Aarav turned toward the red circle in the sky.
"And the Prophet intends to become that vessel."
Umara swallowed hard."Yes."
The air vibrated with a low hum.
Then—
A sharp whisper of air.A sudden pulse of silver ash.
A woman appeared — stepping out of the shivering mist as if the world bent for her arrival.
Lady Seraphyne.
Her robe of silver-ash flowed like smoke. Her mismatched eyes—one ink black, one parchment white—locked onto Aarav instantly.
And for a moment… her confident mask cracked.
"You felt that too," Aarav said.
Seraphyne stepped forward, her expression tight and uncharacteristically anxious.
"Aarav Verma," she whispered, "that thing rising in the sky… is not just a Blood Cult ritual."
Lunaris bristled."She appeared too close again."
Umara frowned."She walked almost into him—"
Seraphyne ignored them both, eyes fixed on Aarav.
"This is not something you can stop with simple balance."
Aarav remained silent.
She took another step.Softer this time.More vulnerable.
"This ritual," she continued, "was forbidden even in the earliest eras. It requires nine foci, nine sacrifices, nine universal distortions."
Aarav responded quietly.
"I know."
Seraphyne's breath hitched.
"Do you know what the First Moon does?"
Aarav looked up at the sky.Behind the clouds, the bloody halo was growing wider.
"Yes," he said softly.
"It opens the path into the Demon's Memory Sea."
Umara gasped. "But that place… kills minds!"
Seraphyne shook her head sharply. "It does worse. It copies them."
Both women fell silent.
Aarav's expression didn't change.
"Yes. This ritual tries to overwrite fate."
Seraphyne's eyes trembled.
"You already knew… didn't you?"
Aarav nodded.
Lunaris looked between them, chest tight.
"You… aren't telling us everything."
Aarav turned to the two women who had followed him out of darkness and frost alike.
"You both deserve the truth."
He raised a hand.
Golden-black aura swirled around his palm, spiraling like the endless dance between dawn and dusk.
His voice turned quiet.
"I am tied to the Demon's Heart."
Lunaris' breath stopped.Umara froze.Even Seraphyne's composure shattered.
"What?" they whispered together.
Aarav continued.
"I am not its descendant, nor its reincarnation."
He placed his hand on his chest.
"But the Seal of Equilibrium was forged from the same cosmic memory that birthed the Heavenly Demon."
The world fell silent.
Lunaris whispered, terrified, "Aarav… does that mean—"
"It means," Aarav said gently, "that the Demon's Heart recognizes me."
Umara stumbled back.
"That's why the fragment reacted to you… the way it did."
Seraphyne's expression darkened.
"And why the Prophet considers you a threat."
Aarav nodded.
"Yes."
He looked to the sky.
"And why I must act before the Second Moon rises."
The Sky Shifts
The First Moon brightened suddenly.
The air hummed.The frost trembled.Shadows twisted.Light bent strangely.
Lunaris clutched Aarav's arm."Aarav—something's happening!"
Umara's voice cracked."It's accelerating! This level of power—someone is assisting the Prophet from the other side!"
Seraphyne's eyes widened.
"No. Not someone."
She pointed at a black shape moving across the sky behind the First Moon.
A silhouette.Towering.Monstrous.Dripping with bloody aura.Wearing a crown of bone and fire.
Aarav whispered its name.
"The Crimson Ascendant."
Umara screamed. "That's the Prophet's divine enforcer—his right hand!"
"He isn't divine," Aarav said softly."He's the last survivor of the Demon's ancient army."
Seraphyne stepped beside Aarav.
"You need to see what lies beyond this ritual. If you act blindly, you will fall."
Lunaris grabbed Aarav's cloak.
"You're not going into the Demon's Memory Sea! Aarav, it eats souls!"
Umara shook her head violently.
"It traps them—your mind never returns whole!"
Aarav raised a hand.
Silence fell.
He turned, calm as ever, and placed one hand gently on Lunaris's cheek, and the other on Umara's shoulder.
"Listen."
His voice was soft.Warm.Certain.
"I am not going in blind."
He lifted his gaze upward.
"And I will not be swallowed."
He closed his eyes—
And the entire world froze.
Literally.
Frost paused midair.Shadows solidified.Wind held its breath.
Lunaris gasped.
Umara stumbled.Seraphyne stiffened.
Aarav opened his eyes.
They were no longer normal.
One was gold.One was black.
A mirror of cosmic balance.
The system whispered:
[New Ability Unlocked: EQUILIBRIUM SIGHT][Definition: The ability to see the hidden laws, fate threads, deception layers, and cosmic origins beneath all reality.][Warning: Using it in excess can disrupt local causality.]
Aarav whispered:
"I can now see the truth behind the Moons."
Seraphyne stared, stunned."That… is a power no mortal or immortal should ever wield."
Lunaris' voice broke."Aarav… your eyes…"
Umara whispered in awe."He stands between dawn and void."
Aarav looked at the First Moon again—now with Equilibrium Sight.
And what he saw made even him inhale sharply.
Not a halo.Not a ritual.
But a door.
A doorway into the Demon's Memory.Into its past.Its rage.Its sorrow.Its purpose.
The Prophet intended to merge the past of the Demon with the present of the world.
Aarav whispered:
"So that's your plan."
He stepped forward.Power spiraled around him.
"I'm going in."
All three women shouted—
"AARAV!"
He turned, soft and unshakable.
"I promise… I will return."
Seraphyne's voice cracked."If you fall in there, the world will follow."
Lunaris trembled."I can't live if the frost loses you—"
Umara's voice shook."I refuse to kneel to prophecy again—don't leave me behind!"
Aarav extended his hand.
"Then come with me."
Silence.Shock.Hope.
Lunaris's eyes glowed.
Umara's breath froze.
Seraphyne's heart stuttered.
He repeated, softly:
"You don't follow me out of fear or devotion.You walk beside me out of choice."
The sky flared crimson.
The First Moon opened.
A doorway of blood and memory.
Aarav took a single step forward.
The world held its breath.
"Let's change the prophecy."