ECLIPSED VEINS — Episode 2: "Sunwarden's Light"
The world tilted.
The sky above the rooftop flickered between night and something darker—an eclipse swallowing color and warmth. Tendrils of shadow writhed across the ground, slithering toward Seong-min's trembling hands.
He felt the bones in his arms shifting… reforming… becoming something monstrous.
"Yuna… run," he managed, each word a struggle.
She shook her head violently. "Stop saying that! I'm not leaving you like this!"
The Shade Priest watched quietly, his mask unmoving. The silence he carried was suffocating, a void that swallowed sound.
Seong-min's vision blurred. His heartbeat thumped like war drums. Every pulse sent another wave of silver light crawling under his skin.
A voice—his voice, but not his—echoed inside him:
"Let go.Let me out."
He clenched his jaw, teeth sharpening.
"Yuna… please…"He didn't finish. He couldn't. The change was accelerating.
The Shade Priest floated forward, robes brushing the ground though he had no feet. He extended a claw-like hand toward Seong-min.
"Do not resist, child of eclipse. Your true nature calls. Accept the blood that sings to you."
A low growl escaped Seong-min.
Yuna stepped between them again, heart pounding so hard it hurt.
"Don't touch him!"
The Priest's head turned slowly, almost curiously.
"You dare stand between light and its extinction?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Yuna shot back, "but I'm not letting you take him."
Her fear was real, but so was her resolve.
The Priest chuckled, a sound like glass scraping stone.
"Very well, Sunwarden. Let us see… what you have inherited."
As the Priest lifted his hand, a wave of black mist shot forward—fast as lightning.
Yuna screamed—
—and a burst of blinding light exploded from her palm.
The rooftop flashed gold and white.
The black mist evaporated on contact.
The Priest recoiled, hissing.
Yuna fell backward on instinct, staring at her own glowing hand in shock. A golden circle—intricate, ancient—pulsed on her skin like a living tattoo.
"What—what is this?!" she gasped.
The Priest steadied himself, voice rising with something like exhilaration.
"So… the Sunwarden's blood truly runs in you. Fate has a cruel humor."
Seong-min, half-conscious, forced his head up.
"Yuna… your eyes…"
She blinked, unaware they were glowing.
"W-what about them?"
"They're… gold."
She reached up—but her hand shook too hard to touch her face.
Seong-min's body spasmed again.
His shadow surged upward, forming monstrous claws around him, like a guardian or a cage—he couldn't tell.
The Shade Priest pointed at Yuna.
"Your duty, Sunwarden, is to slay that creature before you."
"Shut up!" Yuna shouted, tears forming. "He's not a creature!"
"He is Eclipsed," the Priest said softly. "Born to devour light. Born to destroy you."
"That's a lie!"
The Priest paused.
"It is destiny."
Yuna stepped back, refusing to believe it—but the sigil on her hand pulsed violently whenever Seong-min's shadow swelled.
"Stay away from him!" she cried again, more desperate this time.
The Priest's tone dropped like a blade:
"Soon, child, you will not have a choice."
A scream ripped out of Seong-min's throat—raw, animalistic.
The shadows engulfed him, forming a cocoon of writhing limbs.
Yuna reached for him.
"Seong-min!"
"Don't—" he gasped. "Yuna, don't touch—"
But she ignored him, grabbing his wrist.
Instantly, a shockwave of energy blasted outward—half shadow, half sunlight.
The force threw Yuna back, slamming her into the railing.
Her breath left her lungs in a painful gasp.
Seong-min collapsed onto his hands, trembling violently.
His voice was barely human now.
"I… I can't hold it back… Yuna… I don't want to hurt you…"
She crawled toward him, shaking but determined.
"You won't. You won't hurt me."
"You don't… understand…"
His head lifted.
Those eyes—black sclera, silver irises—were filled with fear.
Not of the Priest.
Not of the shadows.
But of himself.
"Please," he whispered. "Stay away… before I stop recognizing you."
The Shade Priest raised his arms.
"Enough. The eclipse is nearly complete. Shadowborn—rise."
The rooftop darkened further. Mist thickened around Seong-min, and the cocoon of shadow tightened.
Yuna forced herself to stand, legs trembling.
"Stop! Stop it!"
"You cannot stop what has already begun."
A cold wind whipped across the rooftop. The moon above shifted into perfect alignment.
The eclipse crowned the sky.
The air trembled.
And Seong-min's body arched as a surge of power ripped through him.
Shadow exploded outward—
—only to be met by a sudden blinding blaze of golden light that erupted from Yuna's entire body.
The Priest hissed and shielded himself.
"What—?! Impossible—she's awakening too fast—"
Yuna didn't hear him.
She only heard Seong-min screaming.
And she stood tall despite the pain, golden light spiraling around her like a miniature sun.
"Let. Him. GO!"
Her voice wasn't just her own—it carried a deeper, ancient resonance.
Her light struck the shadow cocoon.
For a moment, the rooftop was split—
Half in shadow,Half in light,Locked in a war neither could fully win.
Seong-min felt the warmth piercing through the darkness swallowing him.
A hand—Yuna's hand—reached through the shadows and touched his face.
"Seong-min… come back."
The shadows trembled.
His heartbeat stuttered—then steadied.
The monstrous silhouette behind him shrank. His claws receded. His eyes flickered between black and normal gray.
"Yuna…?"
"I'm here," she whispered. "I'm right here."
The rooftop quieted.
But only for a second.
The Shade Priest snarled.
"This is not over. The eclipse will return. The Eclipsed God will rise. And when he does…"
His mask tilted slightly toward Yuna.
"…no light of yours will be enough to save him."
Before Yuna could respond, the Priest dissolved into mist—vanishing as if he had never existed.
The tension snapped.
The shadows around Seong-min collapsed.
Yuna rushed to his side.
Seong-min's breathing was ragged, his body shaking from exhaustion.
Yuna knelt beside him.
"Does it hurt?" she asked softly.
He forced a weak laugh. "Everything hurts."
She didn't smile. She gently placed her glowing hand over his.
He flinched—light burned him slightly—but he didn't pull away.
"…Yuna," he said hoarsely, "what happened to you?"
She swallowed.
"I—I don't know. But I think… I think I saw something. Memories that aren't mine. A voice calling me Sunwarden."
He closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For dragging you into this."
She squeezed his hand.
"You didn't drag me anywhere. I'm the one who ran toward you."
He looked away.
"Yuna… I heard something. A voice. It said one day you might… kill me."
Her hand trembled.
"…I won't," she whispered.
"You don't know that."
"No," she said fiercely, "but I know you. And that's enough."
For now, the rooftop was quiet.
But neither of them could ignore the truth anymore.
Seong-min was changing.
Yuna was awakening.
And the eclipse had only just begun.
END OF EPISODE 2