The scathing moon rises over the tenth. Ice follows and will weep at its setting. The fifth strikes and the archer intervenes. Death passes over its god and strikes the living instead. But the god of death never flinches in his duty. So death returns to him and the tenth mourns. Ice grows cold from unshared tears. One who protects and then two to protect. A family under the scathing moon. A sealed king and a grand fisher strike, their strings pulled from the darkness. The family broken.
Time heals the wounds. A new death god arrives under the scathing moon. The one gains another to protect, and finally strength to fulfill his duty. The empty ones seek to fill their hearts with those of the innocent. In vain they seek to devour. The one who protects stands in their way. More gods come for the one who gave him power. A crime must be punished. More strings have been pulled.
The one who protects has none to protect him. His power is taken. Death misses him by moments. The gods of death depart, and the one who protects is left to die alone. A ray of hope appears in green. Recovery comes and the one who protects is offered a chance. To save the one who made him strong, by becoming strong for her sake. The choice is easy.
The slaying moon rises. Power regained, for her sake. The death god, to be killed for her crime, awaits her end. Friends gather. One rejects even death itself. One rejects only gods of death. One rejects himself, but will protect what is dear to the one who protected him. The goddess of flash leads the way. The threads of fate now pulled from two directions.
Storm the gates of heaven. Fight through the armies of hell. A delay. Not yet strong enough. Two more days to do the impossible. The fire of a thousand blades, stopped by the slaying moon. The death god is saved. The one has protected her, with power gained for her sake. He faces the wrath of the god who stole his strength for the third time. He does not falter. His speed is superior. His strength does not fail him. A lesson, from brother to brother. Now, she is protected by two. The slaying moon and the thousand cherry blossoms.
The fifth discards his mask. The moons reflection in still water is disrupted, and the truth revealed. The spear and the cricket follow after, though one with hidden motives. The threads of fate seem to sway in favor of the fifth. Time passes. The empty ones are filled with purpose by the reflection. Illusions. Strings pulled in the shadows for a plan no one sees. A plot within a plot within a plot. The one who rejects is taken by the emptiest one.
The one who protects will not be so easily dissuaded. No order will ever trump his purpose. He protects. Always. A world of empty ones. A world devoured. Hollow. The one leads the charge, but never alone. An empty one, who is not so empty. The snake tail makes an oath. They will live.
The one who rejects is found. The one who protects and the emptiest one meet. The slaying moon has almost set. The light has faded when a call for help reaches him. Even death can not keep him from his purpose. He must protect. Even at the cost of his heart. The emptiness swallows the moon. The light is gone, but the new moon hangs high. The emptiest one falls. A dry leaf before an inferno.
The moon shines again. Friends shaken but alive. The slaying moon will not set today.
The one returns to protect the ones left behind. The illusion has come with the empty ones to make a key with those he considers less than himself. It is cruel irony. Those he tramples are what he seeks. Those who are beyond death. The living. Simple, but the greatest mind overlooks the simplest thing in favor of his grand scheme.
The crimson princess does not leave the threads of fate in the hands of the illusion. Balance is maintained. The scathing moon blazes bright but fades before the illusion, side by side with the crimson princess and the goddess of flash. The scathing moon shows secrets to the slaying moon. Months pass in an hour. The slaying moon will set today. The moon is reflected in the still water. There is no reflection with no moon. The illusion is broken when the slaying moon gives way to the moonless sky.
The crimson princess does not miss the moment of action. Fate's threads swing away from the illusion. For now.
Time passes in the wake of the moon's setting. In the darkness, the one who gave him power mourns. A tempting ally offers power. The one who protects seeks only to protect once again. Without his power, he can not fulfill his purpose. It is worse than death. His power returns, slowly. The moon can be seen over the horizon.
The gods of death come again, this time to raise the moon, not to extinguish. The tempting ally shows his true nature. A mere shadow of the moon who wishes to retake his place in the sky. The slaying moon blazes again. To protect, his power is unequaled by a mere shadow. The one can protect once again.
A thousand years of hatred finally breaks and calls for a thousand years of blood. A war without equal calls the one to protect more than ever before. Those beyond number come from above and they take the broken one to their home. He heals. He grows strong. Strong enough to protect? Not yet. He is not complete.
The one must accept even his emptiness before he can be full. He must be full to protect them now. The slaying moon must not hide behind the smallest cloud if it hopes to outshine the new darkness. A darkness made of light.
The scathing moon recalls his fall. The slaying moon accepts himself. Now the moon's true form is revealed. To protect and to defend. Not only a god of death, but an empty one as well. And under it all, the same light he works to outshine.
The war rages. Lives are lost. At last, the slaying moon rises dark and mighty. A new moon again. The light is no match. The war ends, but it is no victory. Too much blood lost. Too many who were not protected.
Time passes. Hearts mend. The slaying moon takes its rightful place in the sky. Among thirteen stars, it shines the brightest. The slaying moon becomes the black sun and takes the white moon as his partner.
They have all forgotten the illusion. Unsuspecting, the crimson princess no longer fights for control of the threads of fate.
A twisted moon rises.