Year 7 Autumn Blood Moon
The summons came with the seal of the crescent and the serpent — the mark of Lunaris Academy.It shimmered faintly, as if alive, the red wax pulsing like a heartbeat.
Lord Kain read it beneath the light of the Blood Moon. "They call for him," he said quietly. "The river's child has been recognized."Lady Lirien smiled faintly. "Then he will walk where the sky bleeds. Let him learn."
At dawn, the Night-Caravel awaited on the high cliff dock. Its black sails shimmered like wings cut from shadow. Chains of obsidian bound it to the sky.Ketsuraku, now seven, stood before his adoptive parents, his eyes calm and distant.
Kain placed a hand on his shoulder. "You were not born of us, but you bear our name. When you stand before gods, stand as a Van Helsing."Lirien kissed his forehead. "And when you are afraid, remember—blood remembers love as much as pain."
The ship rose in a gust of red mist. The valley fell away. Below, the River of Blood glowed faintly, winding through the land like a living vein. Above, the clouds opened to reveal the floating citadel of Lunaris Academy, chained to the heavens by pillars of crystal and shadow.
The Arrival
The academy was not built — it grew.Towers curved like the bones of giants. The walls pulsed with faint red light, veins of living stone glowing with the rhythm of a heart.Students filled the terraces, their robes fluttering under the red sky.
An usher led the new arrivals through the Hall of Echoes — corridors lined with paintings that moved, weeping colors when no one watched. Mirrors flickered with faint code, as though reality itself glitched around them.
At the hall's end stood the Mirror of Veils, an ancient structure taller than the gates themselves. Its frame was carved from bone-white marble entwined with Higanbana stems. The mirror's surface shimmered with rippling silver light, coded runes faintly glowing beneath.
Archon Seravain, robed in blue and black, stood beside it. "Every student of Lunaris must face the Mirror of Veils," he said. "It does not see what you are—it sees what watches you."
The Test
One by one, the students approached. Some saw their future and screamed. Some saw their lies and fainted. The mirror whispered names of houses in silver script that faded as quickly as it appeared.
Then Ketsuraku stepped forward.
The air changed. Candles flickered blue, then red. The blood in every student's veins seemed to thrum with strange rhythm. The Blood Moon above the skylight pulsed once, as if recognizing him.
He looked into the mirror.
At first, it showed his reflection: a boy with white hair, crimson eyes, and a faint scar of light on his chest. Then the glass rippled like disturbed water. The reflection dissolved.
In its place flowed the River of Blood, endless and bright. Spider lilies bloomed from the frame, their petals unfolding toward him.A pale hand rose from the reflection — slender, graceful, divine. Hel's hand.
Her mismatched eyes met his through the mirror.
"My river's son," she whispered. "Do not forget what gave you shape."
Behind her, the reflection darkened. The carnival lights of the Red Code Realm appeared — floating masks, crimson lanterns, and the shadowed figure of Ix, seated on a throne of broken mirrors.He tilted his hat, eyes burning beneath the brim.
"Our little rewrite," Ix said softly, his voice stretching through time. "Let's see what color your blood programs the world in."
The mirror began to shake. Silver code erupted across its surface, symbols forming and melting like fire. The entire hall quivered. Students screamed.
Blood rain began to fall inside the hall. Each drop hissed as it struck the floor, glowing for a heartbeat before fading. The marble cracked open — and Higanbana sprouted from it, crimson flowers blooming in perfect circles around Ketsuraku's feet.
The mirror flared bright red, and letters began to carve themselves across the glass — not ink, not light, but blood itself.
The words burned into existence, written by unseen hands:
HOUSE SANGUIS
The mirror screamed — a sound like metal tearing through glass.Then it shattered, fragments hanging suspended in the air like frozen stars. The red glow filled the hall.
For a heartbeat, everyone saw what Ketsuraku saw: the river and the code intertwining like veins and lightning, flowing into one another until the world itself seemed rewritten.
Then silence.
The fragments fell, chiming as they hit the floor.
The House of Veins and Code
Archon Seravain's voice broke the silence.
"The mirror has spoken. The river and the void converge once more."
From the shadows stepped Master Veyric Nocthar, tall and pale, monocle cracked, eyes like coals. His cloak bore faint lines of red runes, pulsing like veins.
He approached Ketsuraku slowly. "So the prophecy writes itself again," he murmured. "House Sanguis accepts its heir."
Seravain's gaze lingered. "Do you know what that means, child?"
Ketsuraku looked up. "That I belong to the river."
Veyric shook his head faintly. "No. You belong to both—the river that remembers, and the void that forgets."
He turned to the crowd.
"House Sanguis is not merely blood and blade. It is the union of Hel's flow and Ix's code. We master the art of silence and the science of rewriting reality. Blood is our ink, illusion our mask. When the world lies, we make it true."
The teachers whispered in awe. Students backed away.
Veyric extended his gloved hand. "Come, Veilborn. Your first lesson begins where reality ends."
Ketsuraku took the hand. The moment he touched it, faint code symbols burned along his wrist—the mark of Sanguis, glowing crimson and gold.
As they walked toward the House gates, the air shimmered with static red light. Reflections bent around them. Some mirrors showed Ketsuraku as a child, others as a man, others as something beyond human.
Above them, the Blood Moon flickered like a dying sun.
From somewhere far beyond the world, Ix laughed quietly, the sound echoing through every shard of broken glass.
And beneath that laughter, Hel's calm voice whispered through the blood rain:
"Flow with the current, my child. But never let it carry you away."
That night, Lunaris Academy remembered the name House Sanguis again —the house of blood, illusion, and code,the house of Hel and Ix,and the boy born to rewrite the world.