Guardian? Mission?" Luna sputtered, her voice rising an octave. She looked from the piles of demon ash on the ground back to the boy she had thought was a serial killer just ten minutes ago. "Wait a minute. Did you just say your mission is to protect me?"

Jin sheathed his kodachi with a sharp click, his expression unreadable. "Yes. My mission is to ensure your safety and your awakening."

"But... why me?" Luna asked, her hands still trembling from the adrenaline dump. "I’m nobody. I’m just a high school student with a stalker problem."

"Because the Guardian Masters believe you are the one," Jin said calmly. He stepped closer, his dark eyes scanning her for injuries. "I was skeptical at first. But after seeing that display of power? I am positive."

"Okay, stop." Luna held up a hand. "Enough with the riddles. Can you please, for once, just give me a straight answer?"

Jin sighed, shifting his weight. "Luna, you don't just share a similar name with the Great Lunaclipseia. You are her. In a manner of speaking."

Luna blinked. "What in the world are you talking about? Lunaclipseia is a myth. A bedtime story."

"She is history," Jin corrected. "Everyone knows the story of how Lunaclipseia gave up her life to create the Great Barrier, sealing the demons of Gehenna away from the human world of Terria. But very few know what happened in her final moments. Before she died, she took the essence of her power—everything that made her the strongest Guardian to ever live—and compressed it. She sent it to be reincarnated into a child not yet born."

He pointed a gloved finger at her chest. "Luna... that child is you."

Luna stared at him, waiting for the punchline. When none came, she let out a nervous, incredulous laugh. "Okay, crazy guy. This has been fun, really. Thanks for saving my life, but I’m going to go now..."

She turned to leave, but Jin’s hand clamped onto her arm. It wasn't painful, but his grip was like iron.

"I know it is hard to digest," Jin said, his voice dropping to a serious, almost urgent tone. "Lunaclipseia had power far beyond any other Guardian. She rivaled the leaders of Titan and made the three Demon Lords of Gehenna tremble. Once you were born, the Grandmaster of my village approached your parents. He told them what you were."

Luna froze. "Wait. My parents know about this? They never said a word to me. Not once."

"Obviously," Jin replied. "Think about it. What if the Grandmaster was wrong? Filling a child's head with delusions of grandeur would be harmful. But if he was right... putting the weight of the world on a toddler’s shoulders would be cruel. I would guess that is why they named you Luna. A hope. A subconscious acknowledgement of who you really are."

"But... wait," Luna staminaered, her mind racing. "You said you were 'positive' now. Why? What changed your mind?"

"I didn't just jump in immediately," Jin admitted. "I stood back. I watched the situation unfold between you and those demons."

Luna’s jaw dropped. The shock was replaced instantly by white-hot anger.

Smack!

Her hand connected with Jin’s cheek. It stung her palm more than it seemed to hurt him.

"HEY!" Jin yelled, rubbing his face. "What the hell was that for?"

"YOU JUST STOOD THERE?!" Luna shrieked, shoving him in the chest. "I was about to be demon dinner, and you were taking notes? You watched those things corner me!"

"Oh, stop your whining!" Jin snapped back, losing his cool demeanor for the first time. "You big baby, I wasn't going to let anything actually happen to you! I can move faster than they can blink. But I had to see if stress would trigger the power."

"Trigger the what?"

"The Ki!" Jin gestured wildly. "Right before I stepped in, your left eye turned ruby red. A massive wave of energy exploded out of you. It knocked the demons down, it almost knocked me down. No regular human with zero training could do that. That was the proof."

"Ki..." Luna tested the word. "I heard the ugly one say that. What is Ki?"

Jin took a deep breath, composing himself. "The best way to describe Ki is Life Energy. All living things have it. You, me, animals, even beings in other worlds. Most people just have it passively. But if you are sensitive to it, you can control it."

He held up his hand, and a faint red aura shimmered around his fingers.

"Ki is multifaceted. It can heal wounds, reinforce your body to make you stronger and faster, or be weaponized into projectiles. The people of the world of Titan are masters of it—they taught humans how to use it. Demons from Gehenna aren't naturally sensitive to it, but the ones who are—like the three Demon Lords—are terrifyingly powerful."

He closed his hand, extinguishing the light. "Finding a human who is Ki sensitive is rare—maybe ten percent of the population. But you? The energy you released was on a level no human has ever touched. That is Lunaclipseia."

"And you're telling me I'm her?" Luna asked, her voice small.

"A reincarnation, yes. You don't have her memories. You are still Luna Yi. But her power lives in you. It was packaged deep inside you, designed to stay dormant until you were old enough to handle it, or until you were in mortal danger. Like today."

Luna slumped against the alley wall, sliding down until she hit the pavement. "This is... this is freaking great. I don't want any of this. I just want to be an average teenage girl! I want to hang out with Lynn, fail math tests, and stress about what to wear to prom. I don't want to be a magical battery for some ancient war. This isn't my fight."

Jin looked down at her, his expression softening slightly. "I'm sorry, Luna. But you don't really have a choice."

"Yeah, I guess you're rig—" Luna’s eyes widened as she looked past Jin’s shoulder. "OH MY GOD! WHAT IS THAT?!"

Jin spun around, hands flying to his swords, ready for another demon.

The alley was empty.

"Damn it," Jin muttered.

He turned back just in time to see the electric-blue blur of Luna sprinting out of the alleyway.

Not going to drag me into this BS, Luna thought, pumping her arms as she ran. I have a life to live! And when I get home, Mom is going to hear it. How could she keep this from me?

Luna ran the entire way home, her lungs burning, not stopping until she slammed through her front door.

Her little brother, Kit, was waiting in the hallway, bouncing on his heels.

"OOOOOH... Luna!" Kit sang, pointing a finger at her. "What’d you do? What’d you do? You’re in trou-ble. You have a visitor."

"What the heck are you talking about, you spaz?" Luna pushed past him, breathless.

"Mom!" she yelled. "Mom, we need to talk! Now!"

She stormed toward the kitchen. "You are not going to believe what just hap—"

Luna skidded to a halt in the dining room doorway.

Sitting at the family dinner table, calmly sipping a glass of water across from her mother, was Jin.

"Oh, hey Luna," Jin said with a smug smirk. "What took you so long?"

Luna stood paralyzed, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. "But... but... how?"

"Did you think you were going to outrun me?" Jin scoffed. "Ha! Did you not see me move earlier? I beat you here by five minutes."

"Well, what are you doing here anyway?" Luna shouted, throwing her hands up. "I already told you! I don't want anything to do with being a Guardian!"

"Whoa, awesome!" Kit popped up from behind the couch, eyes wide. "Are you really a Guardian?"

Jin nodded at the boy. "That's right, little man."

"So cool!" Kit cheered, throwing faint punches at the air. "I wish I could be a Guardian! But Mom won't even let me take karate."

Jin turned his gaze to Luna’s mother, Mrs. Yi. "Is that true, Mrs. Yi?"

Luna’s mother sat with her hands clasped tightly on the table. She looked tired, her usual stern demeanor cracking under stress. "That's right. I don't want Kit involved with that stuff at all."

"I am confused," Jin said bluntly. "You shield your son from basic martial arts, yet you named your daughter after the most powerful warrior in history."

Mrs. Yi sighed heavily. "Two reasons. One... their father." She looked at Luna, her eyes sad. "He was so excited about the possibility. He was a historian of the Guardian myths. When the Grandmaster visited us, your father was the one who believed it instantly. And secondly... I just knew. I had a feeling when I was pregnant with you. A heaviness. But Kit? Kit is normal. There is no reason for him to be anything other than a normal boy with a normal life."

"But what about me?!" Luna cried out, stepping into the room. "I want a normal life! I want to be a normal girl! Why does Kit get to be safe and I get thrown to the wolves?"

"CUT THE CRAP, LUNA!"

Mrs. Yi slammed her hand on the table, startling everyone. She stood up, her face flushed with anger and fear.

"You have just been told that you were born with one of the most important responsibilities in the history of our world! That living inside you is the power to save millions of lives! And all you can think about is yourself?" Mrs. Yi’s voice shook. "That is NOT the daughter I raised. If your father was still alive, he would be so disappointed in you right now."

The silence that followed was deafening. The words hung in the air like a slap.

Tears welled in Luna’s eyes. She didn't say a word. She spun on her heel and ran out the front door.

Jin watched her go, then looked at Mrs. Yi. She had collapsed back into her chair, face buried in her hands.

Jin stood up. He walked out the front door to find Luna sitting on the porch steps, knees pulled to her chest, sobbing.

"Well, congratulations," Luna choked out through her tears. "You turned my entire home against me in less than ten minutes."

Jin sat down next to her, leaving a respectful distance. He shrugged. "Still thinking about yourself, huh?"

"Oh, shut up. You ass," Luna sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "How would you feel if, out of nowhere, your entire life got turned upside down?"

Jin stared out at the suburban street, watching the streetlights flicker on. "I wouldn't know. I haven't had much of a life to turn upside down."

Luna stopped crying for a moment, looking at him.

"My life has consisted of training and missions. Missions and training," Jin said flatly. "I was chosen at age five. I had high natural Ki sensitivity—I moved a cup across a table without touching it. When that was discovered, I was immediately taken from my home and sent to Toji Village. Since that day, every hour of my life has been dedicated to becoming a weapon. I don't have 'proms' or 'math tests.' I have survival."

Luna looked down at her shoes. "Oh. I... I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. It's just... it's a lot for a girl to take in all at once."

"Look, I get it," Jin said, his voice softer. "But to be honest, no one is forcing you to be a soldier. Not yet. From my understanding, the immediate goal isn't to send you to war. It's to train you to control that power so you can protect yourself."

"Protect myself from what?"

Jin turned to her, his dark eyes intense. "From Lord Balthazar."

"Say what now?"

"One of the three Demon Lords of Gehenna. His plan sixteen years ago was to capture Lunaclipseia, extract the source of her power, and consume it to become invincible. That's why she sacrificed herself. To hide that power inside you."

"Yeah, but Lunaclipseia put up a barrier," Luna argued weakly. "To keep demons out."

"True. But as you saw in the alley, low-class demons slip through the cracks. Who is to say Balthazar won't find a way to send something stronger? Or come himself?" Jin leaned forward. "In your current state, you are a beacon of energy with no way to defend it. You would be helpless. That is why I am here. We need to go to Toji Village. We need to wake you up."

"But... we have school tomorrow," Luna said, grasping at straws. "Can't it wait until Friday? We can leave for the weekend."

Jin shook his head. "Luna, best case scenario? You will be training for the next six months to a year. Minimum."

"WHAT?!" Luna stood up. "So, yeah, for sure, my normal life is over. Just gone."

"Luna," Jin said, standing up to meet her gaze. "If you don't do this, your life could be over, period. Or worse... your family’s life." He nodded toward the door where Kit and her mom were.

Luna felt a chill run through her. "Well... how do you even know Balthazar will come after me? It's been sixteen years. Maybe he forgot. Sixteen years is a long time."

"Balthazar's goal is to eliminate the other two Demon Lords and then use their combined forces to conquer the Human World," Jin said grimly. "That is not the kind of ambition you just 'forget' about."

Luna looked back at her house. She thought about Kit wanting to learn karate. She thought about her mom, sitting alone at the kitchen table bearing the weight of a secret she’d held for sixteen years.

Luna dropped her head and let out a long, defeated sigh.

"Fine," she whispered. "When do we leave?"

"First thing in the morning."

"OM-effing-G. Fiiiiiiiiine." Luna glared at him, though there was no heat in it anymore. "I hope you know I really, really, really hate you right now."

Jin allowed himself a tiny, barely visible smile. "I can live with that. As long as you live.”