PART I: THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE CONFEDERATIONS
Kingdom of Afrade, Capital New Llion. Forest of the Jaws of Loret.
The thunderous roar of the fifteen sacred bells shook the Forest of Loret, announcing the start of a new cycle. The Siert Confederations Academy was opening its doors for the third generation. Families from across the continent of the Northern Titan crowded before the headquarters, anxious to hand over their children in exchange for the promise of turning them into the elite capable of facing the growing plague of demons.
In the main office, Founder Hikamika Toshi, a dryad of millenary wisdom, observed the portrait of the second generation.
"It's ironic, mother," commented one of the confederates. "We protect and educate them to be children of the Confederation, yet we send them out to hunt entities that devour souls."
"I wish they could be safe," the Founder whispered with a melancholy smile. "But peace between kingdoms and demons is a shattered glass."
PART II: THE CHILD OF TWO MOONS
The atmosphere outside the academy grew thick, almost unbreathable. The crowd parted as two hooded figures stepped forward, emanating a mana so pure it made the ground vibrate.
"Halt!" ordered a guard. "Identify yourselves."
The women cast off their cloaks, revealing eyes that were not human: one bore the symbol of the Golden Moon and the other the Quartz Sun. They were Linnert and Cruz, attendants of House Borniert.
"My name is Linnert, attendant to Lord Edgar Borniert, direct descendant of the Fire Moon," she declared with pride. "We have come to enroll his firstborn son: Wistert."
Linnert uncovered the child she held in her arms. A collective gasp rippled through the plaza. The boy's left eye glowed with an intense cobalt light.
"It's a Blue Moon..." the onlookers murmured. It was a lineage that had not been seen in the world for three millennia.
Even the princess of the Valguier Empire, who minutes before had resisted studying there, was fascinated. "Albert, change your mind," she told her butler. "I want to be near that boy. Legends say the Blue Moon created the Titan of the Void. They say he is more powerful than an angel."
However, behind the doors of the Founder's office, the reality was darker. Upon examining little Wistert, Hikamika recoiled in horror. The child's right arm was crisscrossed by black cracks, as if his very flesh were broken porcelain.
"What have they done to him?" the Founder asked.
"His father attempted something forbidden," Linnert explained through tears. "Wistert inherited the lineage of the Blue Moon, but also that of the Red Moon—the entity that nearly annihilated God and the Demon King eons ago. His father tried to seal the Red Moon, but the energies fused. The child is now a living experiment of two powers that should be opposites."
Hikamika looked at the three-year-old boy with sadness. While the adults discussed his fate, little Wistert, in silence, moved pieces of a complex circuit on the table, solving portal engineering problems in seconds that would take sages years to master.
PART III: THE PACT OF DESPAIR
Forest of the Kalbores. Village of Shijoko.
While the light of the Blue Moon was being born at the academy, crimson fire devoured the village of Shijoko. Rebel demons had turned the forest into a slaughterhouse. Amidst the rubble and dismembered bodies, a nun protected her little sister.
Before her, a high-ranking demon laughed, wiping blood from his claws.
"It's pathetic," the demon said. "You pray to gods who do not listen to you."
"I have heard..." the nun raised her head, her eyes clouded by hatred and illness, "that demons can turn humans into their vassals."
The demon paused, intrigued by the darkness blooming from that woman of faith.
"You want to be cured," he guessed. "You know that demonic blood eliminates human diseases."
"Convert us," she pleaded. "Me and my sister. No matter the price."
The demon smiled, baring sharp fangs. "Even the purest faith succumbs to the fear of death. Very well, little ones. Welcome to the Kingdom of the Demon Queen."