Promise in a Burning Night
"In fire, we find both our end and our beginning."
— Letter from Hotaru no Yakusha
---
The village at the edge of the forest was already aflame when Shindō arrived.
Orange tongues licked the sky, swallowing homes and memories alike.
Screams tore through the night, raw and desperate.
Smoke choked the air, biting at lungs already heavy with regret.
Shindō didn't hesitate.
He dashed into the inferno, nodachi gleaming cold in the hellfire.
---
Amongst the chaos, Yuuki's voice rose — a beacon cutting through despair.
"Save who you can," she urged. "Even if the world burns."
Shindō found a mother clutching her child, eyes wide with terror.
He lifted them both, ignoring the heat searing his skin.
---
From the shadows, cultists emerged, their faces masks of fanatic devotion.
Hotaru's men, purging what they deemed impure.
Steel met steel.
Shindō fought not just for survival, but for the flicker of light Yuuki carried—the promise that even in ruin, hope could take root.
---
As dawn bled over the horizon, the flames still smoldered.
But so did something new in Shindō's heart—a fragile, dangerous spark.
The war was no longer just about blood and ash.
It was about what could be born from their ruins.