It all happened too fast.

Libulan only remembered the warmth of that moment, his pale hands gently weaving the glass-like, silken hair of his dearest little sister, Lisuga, as she hummed the sweetest melody the heavens had ever known. Their two elder brothers, Likabutan and Liadlaw, laughed and sparred nearby, playful yet powerful, their movements echoing the strength they had inherited from their divine parents.

Above them, their godparents—Lidagat, goddess of the sea, and Lihangin, god of the wind—were far away, sharing their divine essence through sacred rituals that brought life and balance to the world below. They trusted their children to enjoy their play in peace.

It had always been peaceful. Libulan remembered no quarrels. No storms. Only love.

Then, without warning, heaven cracked open.

Thunder tore across the skies, lightning split the clouds, and a violent surge of celestial energy hurled their family into chaos. The heavens wept as if the stars themselves mourned.

Libulan stood still, caught between heaven and earth. He could only watch as his eldest brother plummeted from the sky, his divine form shattering into the mountains, valleys, and fields that would cradle mortal life. Liadlaw's light, once the comforting glow of their home, faded slowly before being swept away by divine winds. His last look—gentle, apologetic—was seared into Libulan's memory.

And Lisuga... Her soft song turned to screams. Her fragile form shattered mid-air, crying out his name before being swallowed by the darkness.

Libulan tried to scream, but his voice collapsed into silence. Tears traced frozen lines down his pale cheeks as he reached out, calling their names-begging the heavens to stop.

But above them all, casting down the bolts of judgment, stood Bathala, supreme god of the sky-grandfather, creator... executioner.

That was the day Libulan lost everything he knew.

And on that day, the world of mortals began anew.

His body, weakened by grief, was cast into the sea. Days passed—maybe even eons—before the moon deities finally found him, drifting in the void. Recognizing the divinity within him, they took him in and, by the command of the Supreme Ruler, erased the memories he owned that might one day lead him to seek vengeance.

Against the Supreme Being of Kaluwalhatian.

On Bathala's orders, the Seven Moons became his guardians. Wracked with guilt, the god ordered Libulan's celestial essence to be sealed, and his link to the Sky Realm cut off, hoping to stop the ancient prophecy from coming true.

The last heir shall rise. And when he does, he shall challenge me. He will rule the heavens-not with grace, but with grief.

Bathala had tried to atone. Likabutan became the earth. Lisuga, the stars. Liadlaw, whose dying flame was cradled by the sun god Apolaki, was taken to the Solar Realm to recover what little remained of his once-bright fire.

But Bathala knew... No offering can erase the blood of your kin.

Libulan grew up surrounded by celestial rituals, bathed in silver light, his memory veiled in shadows. He became the most praised and protected deity in the Lunar Realm-untouched, unspoken of, and unseen.

No one knew his face.

No one dared speak his name beyond worship.

To all but a few, he was simply the Moon God.

Whispers called him divine. Beautiful. Sacred. He bore the softness of his mother and the grace of the ocean's ebb and flow. Yet in his stillness, there was the quiet might of his father's wind held in reverence.

He could not comprehend the reasons behind his occasional tears in dreams.

Why he feared the sound of thunder.

Why he felt empty when gazing at the stars.

But someone knew.

Beneath the world, in the dark lake that bridges the ocean of deities and mortals, something ancient stirred.

A serpent, older than memory, with scales like obsidian and eyes like eclipses. A god neither fully celestial nor mortal: Bakunawa.

He had lived through it all.

He had seen Bathala's wrath.

He had watched the fall of the sky's children.

And he remembered Libulan-not as a moon deity, but as the lost heir of the sky.

And now that he has found him, the prophecy begins to stir.