Smoke spiraled from the charred remains of the Katsuren Monastery.
The once-sacred temple had stood for nearly three centuries, high on the craggy cliffs above the Uji Valley. Now, it was nothing but bone-white ash and silence. Not a soul remained—save for the figure at the center of the courtyard, kneeling amid the ruin.
He wore iron chains coiled around his torso, arms, and legs. His robes were once white, now darkened by soot and stained with ancient prayers etched in blood. A blindfold, thick and wax-sealed, covered his eyes. And yet, he saw.
He always saw.
The 99-Eyed Monk bowed his head.
"Another house of balance... corrupted by mercy."
His voice rasped like fire licking bone.
He rose with a single movement. Chains groaned, but did not break. Around him, a circle of scorched talismans fluttered, each burned with the same command: SEAL THAT WHICH CANNOT WEEP.
Three days earlier, in the council chambers of Kyoto:
"He burned an entire platoon, your grace," said the Chancellor, voice hushed but panicked.
The Feudal Lord of Kyoto sat behind a fan of lacquered gold, silent. Shadows clung to the eaves above them.
"And this girl... this Yumi... she left no survivors in Uji. Even Shun failed to—"
"Shun was a blade. We need a lock."
From the darkness behind the throne, a man stepped forward.
Robed in burial black, he carried a sealed scroll marked with crimson ink. He knelt before the Lord and opened it.
"The 99-Eyed Monk," he said. "We unchain him now, or she will set the world alight."
The Lord tapped his fan once.
"Release him. If the Phoenix has awakened again... let this be its cage."
Back in the present, Karou sat beneath a dead tree, sharpening a bone dagger.
Asaki approached, and the blind wanderer didn't turn, but he smiled.
"The air burns strangely today," he said. "Your little phoenix sang, didn't she?"
Asaki nodded. Her fingers trembled. Not from fear.
From helplessness.
"She couldn't stop. The fire just... took her."
"Because it's not just hers," Karou muttered. "It's old. Older than war. Older than gods. The Phoenix doesn't ask. It remembers."
She sat beside him.
"What do we do when remembering burns everything around it?"
Karou paused. Then he whispered:
"We pray she forgets. Or learn to carry the pain without setting the sky on fire."
Asaki looked at him. "There's more, isn't there? You came to warn us."
Karou nodded. Slowly.
"The Shogunate's answer is walking. A man with no name. No eyes. Just ninety-nine locked behind his skin."
She stiffened.
"The 99-Eyed Monk? That's a myth."
"No myth," Karou said. "He sealed the Dragon of Hino in six breaths. Banished the Moon Fox beneath Lake Biwa. This one won't stop until she's ash."
Asaki stood, panic rising. "Then we run. We hide her. We teach her control—"
Karou caught her wrist, gently.
"You don't run from storms, girl. You become the mountain."
Far from them, in a forgotten shrine north of the capital, the 99-Eyed Monk knelt before a burning altar.
Smoke curled from his open palms.
He whispered prayers in a dead tongue. His blindfold twitched, and something behind it blinked.
"The vessel must not weep."
Flames danced around him.
"The vessel must be sealed."
A hundred monks had died here, trying to stop him. Now, only silence remained.
And he walked toward Kyoto.
Toward Yumi.
Toward the Phoenix.
To be continued...