| In the land of seven moons and five suns, a prophecy has been spoken of for thousands of years… |

  How can a fateful day not start with difficulties?

  Some rays of the sun gave life to the sounds of ruffling that filled the room. Heavy pants followed his every footsteps. Everything was dead—still and motionless as it is. Only his unsteady pace glinted some signs of life.

  It was just 5:30 in the morning. Yet for him, half a day had already passed. Gels and combs before him, suits and trousers on his bed. Oh… He paced again to find his perfume among the shelves.

  Gosh… I should’ve prepared them all before sleeping yesterday. How idiotic…

  It was his best friend’s wedding day. A day he could only get once.

  He looked at his reflection on the mirror. The suit was a perfect fit. Black vest, black jacket, black trousers, black necktie, and a black shirt? It all looked fancy, like old money.

  His hair was the same, except for the fact that it’s blonde instead of black. It stared at him intently, rupturing the turbulence inside his head.

  He shook his head, eyebrows furrowed. It was his friend’s wedding, he shouldn’t think of this. But he really didn’t want to look like him.

  “But marriage at twenty huh… Well, good for him but isn’t it a little too early?” He mumbled.

  A shock of dizziness hit him, possibly due to the lack of sleep he has been having these days.

  He was looking good, but he felt something was missing. Something felt off, something felt empty…

  But there’s literally no time now, for he has to be out of his home by 6, otherwise catching the wedding would be difficult.

  “I just got out of my home, what the heck do you mean I am late??” He said through his phone. “You are such an over thinker…”

  “I am not, I tell you.” His friend replied. “Let’s bet. I say you are gonna be late, Hitsuki.”

  He laughed. “Well, at least you seem a bit less nervous. I thought you would be hyperventilating by now.”

  “You think I am not? Just wait till the last thirty minutes of the wedding.”

  They both smiled. Hitsuki’s footsteps echoed through the phone. The dread of half-awake sun and the cold air’s breeze flowed between their conversation. No words were spoken, but they exchanged something more.

  “Hey man,” Hitsuki said after a long pause. “Congrats on your wedding.”

  “Come on, don’t say it as if I died.”

  “You did from your bachelor’s life… You will be missed.” Hitsuki fake sobbed. “You should go now, your wife is waiting for you.”

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  Beneath the veils that held the world, something had intervened while they were having their conversation. The veils were pierced, twisting the boundaries and forcing itself. Something had morphed into something else—something out of this world. Waiting to be picked by someone… waiting for him.

  “Woah… this looks, cool.” Hitsuki’s eyes brightened at the sight of a pocket watch being sold at a garage sale. That was the thing he thought was missing from his suit. As he tried it on, it felt like his whole set was now complete—a missing piece of the puzzle he just found.

  It was peculiar as well. Dim gold, with carved edges and floral designs.

  “Excuse me!” He shouted inside the garage, seeing no people. “I would like to buy this pocket watch! Anybody here!?”

  An elderly woman came by, carrying a toolkit that was also for sale.

  “Oh my, a customer this early in the morning?” She glowed. “And a handsome one at that. A special day perhaps, young lad?”

  “Yes. I would like to buy this watch. It looks good with my suit.” He replied.

  But for some reason, the old lady could not recognize that pocket watch. Had she put this on sale as well?

  She shook her head. “My apologies. Old age takes away our memories, even the most recent ones. Am I right? Those will be 20 dollars.”

  “What?” Hitsuki took a step back. “That cheap??”

  “It’s a garage sale, young lad.” She replied. “That thing probably doesn’t even work.”

  He bought the watch.

  His suit now looked complete. Old money fashion will always be the best.

  “I wonder if it actually works. That old lady said it didn’t, but is that really the case?” He asked himself.

  Taking out the watch, he pressed the button, revealing the half hunter case underneath.

  It looked vintage—patterns that looked a century old, as if stories revealed years of history. But most interestingly, the seven sun-shaped celestial bodies that were cut out from the rim.

  He pressed again, exposing the watch completely.

  “What…?” He wrinkled his eyebrows.

  The pocket watch really had only ten marks. And it was halted in its place.

  His eyes moved through the watch’s inner case, shaking between the weirdness and mysteriousness. For a moment, he forgot he had to breathe.

  That’s when a string of words caught his attention, written underneath the hunter’s case.

  “A thousand in one, for you are the chosen one. You rule the land, with ten years in hand. For you have to live in the chosen land.” He mumbled, reading the text. “Survive…”

  His heart pounded reading it, but nothing happened. He looked around, half-relieved. This is just a weird pocket watch after all.

  “Hahaha…” he laughed. “I might truly be turning insane. I should catch some Z’s at the wedding.”

  He took a step. A moment. A silence.

  The ripple of reality waved throughout his world. Field of vision blurred, he felt… non-existent, as if he was being erased. Fluid, translucent, like a million different pieces, consumed by light…

  Consumed by void.

  A blink.

  It all reappeared, except differently—quite differently in fact. A twirl, a swirl, an inconsistency in the void. Then came a breakdown, where it all disappeared. The void echoed a voice, reverberating something he didn’t understand.

  Then came the fluids of creation, drawing a vision of a new world.

  Except it was nothing like he expected.

  He saw trees, he stood above the damp soil. That’s all he did.

  Suddenly each breath felt heavy, like something was choking him from the inside.

  He looked at the watch, as if it did the most treacherous deed in the world. But the watch was lifeless, it didn’t work.

  Or did it?

  The clock revealed its hands—six of them, moving in the opposite direction.

  But he could not move in this new world. He could only see.

  See the terrified girl’s face who sat down, crying. And feel the 10 swords hanging at his neck by ten guards surrounding him.

  He held out his hand in surrender, placing the watch in his pocket.

  | … that on a fateful day, when the suns and moons align in the opposite direction, a man will arrive. He will purify the land and conquer the lifelong war between the sunaris and lunaris… |