### Chapter 1: The Day the Sun Died
The forge breathed heat and iron.
Each hammer blow sent a thunderous clang reverberating through Kai Voss's chest, sparks erupting in brilliant golden arcs that hissed as they died against the soot-blackened stone floor. The air inside the smithy was thick scented with scorching coal, acrid sweat, and the metallic tang of hot steel. Sweat traced burning paths down his bare back, stinging when it reached the small cuts on his knuckles. His lungs pulled in lungfuls of superheated air that tasted of ash and effort.
Outside the open doorway, Elden Hollow shimmered in midsummer languor. Sunlight poured like warm syrup over thatched roofs, glinting off the river in the distance. The breeze carried the sweet perfume of wildflowers from the meadows, mingled with fresh bread baking in the village ovens and the faint earthy scent of turned soil from the fields. Children's laughter rang clear and bright, accompanied by the lazy buzz of bees and the distant lowing of cattle.
Lira's footsteps pattered on the packed dirt path long before she appeared light, quick, unmistakable. She burst into the doorway framed by golden light, blonde curls bouncing, cheeks flushed rose from running.
"Kai!" Her voice was sunlight made sound. "I brought lunch before you melt into a puddle."
The scent hit him first warm crusty bread still steaming from the oven, sharp aged cheese, and crisp apples so fresh he could smell the dew on their skins. His stomach growled audibly, earning a triumphant giggle from his sister.
He set the hammer down with a heavy clunk, the half-forged sword glowing dull orange on the anvil. "You're a lifesaver, little fox."
Lira wrinkled her nose at the nickname but hopped onto her usual stool anyway, basket balanced on her knees. The forge's heat made her cheeks even pinker.
Then everything stopped.
The birds cut off mid-song. The breeze died so completely that the leaves outside hung motionless. Even the coals in the forge seemed to hush, their crackle muffled as though submerged underwater.
A pressure built behind Kai's eyes, a sudden ache like the air itself was pressing inward.
Lira's smile faltered. "Kai… do you feel"
The sky cracked.
The sound was physical a bone-deep boom that rattled teeth and vibrated through the anvil into his palms. Kai's head snapped upward. High above, perfect blue fractured like glass struck by an invisible hammer. A jagged black fissure raced across the heavens, bleeding darkness. At its center, the sun began to vanish, devoured by a perfect ring of blood-red flame.
The light changed in an instant.
Warm gold became cold crimson. Colors drained and twisted greens turned sickly, skin tones ashen. Shadows stretched impossibly long, clawing across the ground like living things.
The air grew heavy, tasting of ozone and something fouler old rot, wet stone, the breath of deep graves.
Lira's hand found his, small fingers ice-cold despite the forge's heat. "Kai, I'm scared."
He pulled her behind him, heart pounding so hard he felt it in his throat. "Stay close."
The ground trembled.
Black rifts tore open with a sound like wet cloth ripping. One split the lane outside the smithy, exhaling a breath of freezing void that carried the stench of decay. Another shredded the bakery's wall, sending bricks tumbling in slow motion.
From the nearest rift stepped pure nightmare.
The shadow beast was tall, elongated, formed of writhing darkness that hurt to look at directly. Its surface rippled like oil on water, swallowing light. Where a face should be, two crimson slits burned with malevolent hunger. Claws of obsidian caught the red eclipse light, dripping liquid night that hissed where it touched the ground.
The first scream shattered the stunned silence—a raw, tearing sound from the baker across the lane.
Then the village became hell.
The air filled with wet ripping sounds, copper-thick blood scent, the acrid bite of fear-sweat. Shadow hounds poured from rifts, their footfalls silent but their snarls a grinding of stone on bone. A farmer's pitchfork sank into darkness and was wrenched away with his arm still attached. A mother's cry cut short as claws closed around her throat.
Kai shoved Lira deeper into the forge, grabbing the iron sword. Its familiar weight grounded him even as his hands shook.
"Stay low," he growled, tasting blood where he'd bitten his tongue.
He stepped into the doorway.
The tall shadow beast lunged.
Its movement was unnaturally smooth, leaving trails of darkness in the air. Kai swung desperately. The blade bit deep into freezing mist-flesh that sucked heat from the steel. Icy agony shot up his arms. The creature's shriek was a spike driven through his skull, smelling of burnt ozone.
Claws raked his ribs.
Pain exploded white-hot, then cold as the wounds flooded with unnatural chill. Blood poured hot down his side, soaking his tunic, the copper scent mixing with forge smoke.
But he didn't fall.
He stabbed again, again, until the thing dissolved into black vapor that slithered away, leaving frost on his blade.
More came.
The air became a cacophony screams, wet thuds, the crackle of burning thatch as shadow-fire caught roofs. Smoke stung his eyes, thick with the greasy smell of burning flesh.
He fought into the lane, boots slipping in blood-slick mud, shouting until his voice cracked.
Then he saw Lira.
She had followed him, standing frozen in the lane's center as a massive brute loomed. Its breath steamed black in the cold void air, carrying the stench of deep graves.
"LIRA! RUN!"
She turned, eyes wide, mouth forming his name.
The claws descended.
Kai ran, lungs burning, sword raised. The world narrowed to that impossible distance.
He watched the claws punch through her small body with a sickening wet crunch. Blood sprayed warm across his face as the brute lifted her high. The scent his sister's blood was sweet and copper and wrong.
Lira's gaze locked on his.
Her lips moved silently.
'Kai…'
The beast flung her.
She struck the wall with a dull thud, body folding unnaturally, sliding down to leave a bright red streak on whitewash.
Sound vanished.
Only the pounding of his heart remained, and the wet drip of blood from his own wounds.
Three beasts closed in, their cold aura raising gooseflesh on his skin.
He sank to his knees in the cooling mud beside Lira's body.
Vision tunneling. Breath shallow.
This was the end.
Then the voice came cold, mechanical, intimate as a whisper inside his skull.
[Global Catastrophic Event Detected: The Crimson Eclipse.]
[Emergency Host Scan Initiated… Compatible candidate located.]
[Eclipse System Integration Beginning…]
Agony transcended pain.
Molten silver poured into his veins. Star-forged ice chains wrapped his soul. Kai screamed, the sound raw and animal, tasting blood and ash.
Blue screens flared, sharp against the crimson dark.
[Binding Progress: 10%… 35%… 67%… 100%.]
[Eclipse System Successfully Integrated.]
The pain receded into cold clarity.
Power flooded him dark, intoxicating, tasting of midnight and hunger.
[Unique Exclusive Skill Acquired: Shadow Devour (Lv.1)]
The brute raised its claws.
Kai looked up through tears that burned cold on his cheeks.
"Devour."
Black tendrils erupted from his palms living, eager shadow. They wrapped the brute, sinking deep. The monster's roar vibrated through his bones as darkness flowed into him.
Cold.
Delicious.
Addictive.
Wounds burned as flesh knit with crackling energy. Blood crusted and flaked away like old ash.
[Elite Shadow Brute defeated.]
Multiple Level Ups: Level 1 → Level 5]
[Physical transformation initiated…]
Power reshaped him from within.
Muscles swelled, dense and carved. Skin stretched taut over new strength. Silver eclipse tattoos bloomed across his chest, arms, neck each line tingling like frost and fire. Midnight hair spilled longer. Features sharpened into devastating beauty.
His eyes opened pure glowing silver, reflecting the blood eclipse.
The remaining beasts faltered, their cold aura now feeling… lesser.
Kai rose.
The air tasted different rich with potential, scented with shadow essence waiting to be claimed.
He moved.
'Eclipse Dash' blurred the world. The sword sang. Each kill fed the hunger growing in his core.
When silence finally fell, broken only by crackling fires and distant groans of the dying, Kai stood alone.
Blood human and shadow cooled sticky on his skin. Smoke stung his enhanced senses. The eternal eclipse bathed everything in cold crimson.
He walked to Lira on legs that felt forged rather than born.
Knelt in the mud that now smelled of earth, blood, and ending.
Brushed golden curls from her cold face with fingers that no longer trembled.
Her skin was still warm.
"I wasn't strong enough," he whispered, voice raw as torn metal.
He buried her beneath the ancient oak, earth cold and damp under his hands, roots smelling of rich loam and memory.
No tears yet only the vast, hungry void where grief lived.
He carved his promise deep into the bark, wood chips sharp under his nails.
'I will devour this world before it devours another piece of me'.
When he stood, the crimson eclipse stared down like a watchful eye.
In the distance, wagon wheels creaked over rutted roads, carrying the scent of fear-sweat and hope.
Kai turned toward the sound.
Silver eyes gleamed with newborn hunger.
The village was dead.
But beneath the endless eclipse, something ravenous had awakened.
And it was only getting started.
Author's Note:Thank you for stepping into the eclipse with me. This is only the beginning of Kai's ascent. Power stones, comments, and collections feed the shadows.