Kaede wiped the sweat from her brow with the sleeve of her training gi, her chest rising and falling with steady breaths. She glanced sideways at her brother, who stood silently, his gaze lost in the horizon. Ren rarely spoke after their morning sparring. He claimed it was when he did his best thinking. Kaede suspected he was replaying every moment of their match in his head, searching for the single instant he could’ve gained an edge.

Their master’s footsteps creaked across the wooden boards.

“You’re both improving,” Shiro said, voice gravelled by age but sharp as any katana. “But strength without control is like a blade without a sheath. You may cut down your enemies but you’ll also cut yourselves.”

Kaede nodded. Ren remained still.

“Walk with me,” their grandfather ordered. Not a request. Never a request.

The twins followed him down the winding path that led into the heart of the forest surrounding the dojo. Birds chirped above them, the scent of damp earth and fallen petals heavy in the air.

“We’ve trained you to be warriors,” Shiro said as they walked. “But even warriors must face truths greater than steel.”

Kaede frowned. “Is this about the dreams again?”

Ren looked up. “They’re not just dreams, Kaede. I see things fire, blood, a black sun rising.”

Kaede hesitated. She had seen them too, in flickering fragments: shadows with no faces, a twisted symbol glowing in crimson, a voice that called her name in a language older than time.

Shiro stopped before a stone shrine hidden beneath a moss-draped tree. He knelt, placing two fingers against its weathered surface.

“This is the Shrine of the Eclipse,” he said. “It marks the seal between our world and a darkness that once tried to consume it.”

Ren crouched beside it, his fingers brushing strange runes etched into the stone. “This symbol... I’ve seen it in the dream.”

Kaede’s stomach turned. She had, too.

Shiro looked them both in the eyes, his own shadowed with memory. “You were born beneath a blood moon. The monks of Tenryu Temple believe your births fulfilled the Bladebound Prophecy twins of unmatched skill who would either save the Empire... or destroy it.”

A cold wind swept through the trees.

“I didn’t tell you before because I hoped it wasn’t true,” he said. “But now... the signs are gathering. Raiders near the border, reports of corrupted beasts, temples burned. The shadow is returning.”

Kaede’s voice was quiet. “What do you need us to do?”

Shiro stood, his expression hardening. “In three days, you will travel to the capital. You’ll enter the Trials of the Ten Houses.”

Ren’s eyes narrowed. “The bloodsport tournament? That’s for nobles and warlords, not samurai heirs.”

“No,” Shiro replied. “It’s for the strong. And if the prophecy is true, you must face what’s coming not just as warriors, but as symbols. The Empire must see you. Fear you. Follow you.”

Kaede glanced at her brother. His jaw was clenched, his fists tight.

“But,” Shiro added, voice softer now, “you must also remember this: the danger is not only from outside the Empire.”

He stepped back from the shrine, his voice falling to a whisper.

“There are enemies who wear the face of friends.”