Rokugan-no-Yoru never truly slept.
Even at dawn, the skies above the Thirteenth Domain glowed a bruised, sickly violet—stained by distant smog, neon haze, and the lingering malice of things that did not belong to daylight.
And yet…
This morning was different.
The city quivered.
Windows rattled. Stray cats hissed. Even the crows circling above the rusted rooftops cried out sharply, as if something unseen had brushed past their wings.
Rumors traveled faster than wind in the Thirteenth Domain.
And the rumor spreading now?
It was enough to make the entire underbelly of the city lose its breath.
---
"A shadow… ate a man."
"No—ate five."
"Not a yokai. Not a beast. A boy."
---
Whispers spread like wildfire through side alleys, gambling dens, brothels, tea houses, underground arenas, rooftop shrines, and criminal hideouts.
Everyone knew the same truth:
A forbidden Authority had awakened.
And not just any Authority.
An Authority that devoured shadows.
The kind of power that was supposed to be impossible.
The kind of power every faction in the Thirteenth Domain would kill to control…
or erase.
Deep beneath a derelict bathhouse, a set of stone stairs led into a vast underground hall lit only by floating blue flames. The walls were covered in talismans written in ancient script. A single banner hung from the ceiling:
Moon-Break Sect — Hunters of the Unbound
At the end of the hall, a man clad in lacquered black armor knelt before a pool of shimmering water. His helmet was adorned with crescent-shaped horns. His mask was bone white.
He was known as The Crescent Inquisitor.
A subordinate sprinted in, panting. "I-Inquisitor! Reports from the eastern quarter—"
"Speak."
"A… shadow manifestation. Unregistered. Autonomous. Devoured multiple targets in under ten seconds."
The Inquisitor's fingers tightened. "A beast?"
"No… a human boy."
Silence filled the chamber.
The Inquisitor slowly rose to his feet.
His voice echoed through the hall:
"A boy with a living shadow… after twenty years?"
"Y-Yes, sir."
The pool of water began to shimmer. Ripples spread outward as if something beneath it shifted.
The Inquisitor turned.
"Summon all Crescent Blades. Our creed forbids dormant Authorities from awakening without Sect oversight."
Another subordinate bowed deeply. "Do we kill him?"
The Inquisitor shook his head.
"No."
A smile twisted beneath his mask.
"Capture him."
He stepped into the pool.
Its water swallowed him whole.
"Alive…
or half-alive."
In the western slums, five gangs controlled the streets, each marked by a different-colored bandanna. They were brutal, half-feral, desperate—and they planned their next moves while eating stolen ramen in a graffiti-covered shipping yard.
Their leader, a scarred woman named Mizuha, slammed a newspaper onto a crate.
"Boys. Girls. Idiots. LISTEN."
She jabbed a finger at a headline:
SHADOW MASSACRE IN OLD TRENCH ALLEY — NO BODIES FOUND
"That ain't normal," one thug muttered.
"That ain't even yokai normal," another added.
Mizuha licked her lips. "They say whoever saw it… said the shadow moved like a demon. And there was a figure in the middle."
"A yokai kid?"
"No." She grinned. "A human. Maybe younger than twenty."
The gang fell silent.
Mizuha slammed her foot down on a crate.
"Imagine if we get him first."
Eyes widened.
"You're saying—"
"We sell him," she finished. "To whichever clan or cult wants him the most. That shadow alone is worth more than the entire eastern market."
Someone whistled. "You think we can catch him?"
Mizuha smirked.
"We don't need to catch him. We just need to find him."
She waved her hand.
"Spread out. Every alley. Every rooftop. Every rat hole."
Her eyes gleamed like a predator's.
"Bring me the boy with the living shadow."
High above the slums, perched on the lacquered rooftops of the aristocratic district, stood the elite samurai clans.
Tonight, three clans had assembled secretly within the Lantern Pavilion, a ceremonial chamber glowing with warm light and the soft perfume of white lotus.
They were the:
— Hoshikage Clan (Star Shadows)
— Nebai Clan (Sightless Eyes)
— Kurobara Clan (Black Rose)
The elders sat around a square table.
An elderly woman from the Hoshikage Clan spoke first.
"We all felt it, yes?" Her voice was soft, but it carried the shadow of command. "The rupture in the Domain's veil?"
A Nebai elder nodded, blindfolded eyes twitching. "Something was reborn."
A Kurobara clan member leaned forward. "A rogue Authority?"
"Worse," the blind elder whispered. "A sealed Authority. One that broke free without guidance."
The Kurobara man clicked his tongue. "Impossible. Those seals were lost ages ago."
The blind elder's lips curled.
"So were the Eclipse brands."
A hush fell across the pavilion.
The Hoshikage elder exhaled slowly.
"A boy with an Eclipse-brand Authority… If such a child exists—"
"He is a calamity," the blind elder finished.
The Kurobara man frowned. "Should we kill him?"
The Hoshikage elder shook her head.
"Kill him, and a power vacuum forms. Worse, the Sect swoops in."
Her eyes narrowed, sharp as a blade.
"No. We capture him. Quietly. Before the Moon-Breakers find him."
Someone else whispered:
"And if we cannot capture him?"
"Then we must ensure he belongs to us. One way… or another."
Outside the pavilion, three masked clan operatives knelt on one knee, awaiting orders.
Their blades gleamed under the lantern light.
Their mission was simple—
Find the boy.
Claim the Authority.
Eliminate all others.
Rin didn't know any of this.
He only knew two things:
1. The mark on his chest still burned.
2. Someone was watching him.
He walked quickly along Shinkai Street, the busiest trading strip in the Thirteenth Domain. Morning sunlight glinted off wet cobblestone. Steam rose from vendor stalls. Pedestrians bustled past him—merchants, gamblers, shrine maidens, thugs pretending to be civilians.
But beneath the noise existed something else.
Whispers.
Eyes following him.
Shadows tilting toward him.
He tugged his hood lower and muttered to himself:
"Keep moving. Keep your head down. Act normal."
His shadow quivered beneath him.
"…You are not safe here."
"I know."
"…You are being hunted."
"Yeah, I figured."
"…Would you like me to kill them?"
Rin's heart skipped a beat.
"No."
His shadow coiled like a disappointed serpent.
"…But it would be simple."
"No killing."
The shadow struggled to reabsorb itself, like a creature pacing behind bars.
Rin glanced around nervously.
Everywhere he looked, he noticed someone staring.
A man reading a newspaper… but holding it upside down.
A woman pretending to sell incense… with a knife strapped under her sleeve.
A teenage gang member pretending to smoke… but never inhaling.
And worst—
A figure crouched on a rooftop overhead, the sunlight bending unnaturally around their mask.
Rin swallowed.
"…I can feel them."
"…They can feel you as well."
He leaned against a wall, thinking fast.
"I—I need a place to lay low. Somewhere nobody watches."
"…Such places do not exist."
"Helpful," Rin muttered.
The shadow pulsed again.
"…But there is one place where they would hesitate to follow."
Rin blinked.
"…Where?"
Before the shadow answered, a voice shouted from behind him—
"HEY!"
Rin froze.
A group of five gang members blocked the street.
Their leader—a man with spiked crimson hair—grinned wide.
"We've been lookin' for you, kid."
Rin's breath caught.
"How… how did you find me?"
The man tapped his temple. "The whole Domain's buzzing about you. Boy with a shadow that eats people? You're basically famous."
Rin stepped back.
"Stay away."
Crimson-hair cracked his knuckles. "Sorry, brat. Orders are orders."
Four more gang members circled behind Rin.
One pulled out a chain.
"Boss wants you alive."
Another grinned. "But she never said anything about being gentle."
Rin's stomach dropped.
The shadow beneath him twitched eagerly.
"…Allow me."
"No."
"…Just one?"
"No."
The shadow went still.
The gang members closed in.
Rin whispered, voice trembling:
"Why me…?"
Crimson-hair smiled cruelly.
"Because you've got something worth selling."
He lunged—
And the world went black.
Not darkness.
Black.
Ink-like. Heavy. Thick.
The gang members screamed.
Something rose behind Rin.
Something vast.
"…I warned you, Rin."
A shadowy shape—tall as a building, horned, faceless—loomed behind him. Its arms stretched like tendrils.
Rin gasped. "N-No—stop—!"
But the shadow hissed—
"…You are mine to protect."
The ground cracked.
Air pressure collapsed.
Pedestrians screamed, scattering in panic.
And across the entire Thirteenth Domain…
everyone felt it.
Everyone.
Hunters. Clans. Gangs. Sects.
A pulse of power.
A surge of shadow.
A signal.
Inside the Lantern Pavilion, all three clan elders jolted upright.
"The boy—!"
At the Moon-Break Sect, the Crescent Inquisitor clenched a fist.
"He awakened again."
At the shipping yard, Mizuha grinned savagely.
"He's close. REAL close."
On rooftops, masked hunters sprinted into motion.
In the sewers, yokai slithered upward.
In the tea houses, assassins quietly left their tables.
And in a hidden shrine deep in the slums…
a blind priestess whispered:
"The Child of the Eclipse has awakened."
Rin didn't wait to see what the shadow would do next.
He turned and ran—sprinting through the streets, weaving past crowds, pushing his legs until his lungs burned. His shadow flickered behind him like trailing smoke.
"They're coming," he gasped.
"…Yes."
"All of them?"
"…Yes."
Rin stumbled into a narrow alley and leaned against the wall.
"I—I didn't choose this," he said, voice breaking. "I didn't want any of this."
His shadow curled around him almost gently.
"…I know."
Rin's breath shakily steadied.
"So what do I do?"
The shadow's voice lowered.
"…You run. Until you reach the only place left where hunters cannot follow."
Rin swallowed.
"…Where is that?"
The shadow whispered:
"…The Grave of Clans."
Rin blinked.
"What the hell is that?"
But before he received an answer—
Dozens of footsteps echoed from both ends of the alley.
Voices shouted.
Weapons clicked.
Someone yelled:
"THERE HE IS!"
Rin's heart stopped.
And the shadow murmured:
"…Run, Rin."