The wind howled like a living thing.
It tore through the narrow streets of the village, slipping between wooden homes and rattling loose shutters as snow fell in endless waves from a sky that had long forgotten the sun. Frost clung to every surface — roofs sagged under its weight, fences vanished beneath drifts, and even the trees at the forest's edge bowed under the burden of white.
It was always like this.
Always winter. Always cold.
Haruki pulled his threadbare scarf higher over his mouth, his breath fogging faintly as he trudged forward. Each step crunched against packed snow, boots worn thin from years of use. His fingers, tucked deep into his sleeves, had long since gone numb — but that was nothing new.
No one here complained about the cold anymore.
You either endured… or you didn't last.
He passed familiar houses, their doors shut tight against the storm, faint trails of smoke rising from chimneys. People were awake, living their quiet, careful lives. Surviving. Just like always.
Just like him.
And yet—
Something felt wrong.
Haruki slowed, his brow tightening slightly. His chest felt… heavy. Not from the cold, but from something deeper. Something he couldn't name.
A faint, restless stirring.
Like something was calling to him.
"You're up early."
The voice broke through his thoughts.
Haruki turned slightly, and there she was — Karin.
Her red hair stood out against the endless white like a flame refusing to die, strands shifting gently in the wind. Her presence alone seemed warmer than the air around them. As always, her eyes glimmered faintly — soft, ember-like light flickering within them.
The Eyes of Firelight.
She'd been born with them. A rare gift among their people.
Haruki gave a small, tired smile. "Couldn't sleep."
Karin studied him for a moment, then stepped closer, her warmth almost immediate. "This morning… feels different, doesn't it?"
He blinked. "You feel it too?"
She shrugged lightly. "Not like you do. But yeah… something's off."
Haruki hesitated, then nodded slowly. "My eye's been bothering me all night."
Karin raised a brow. "Your gut again?"
He let out a quiet breath. "Yeah… I guess."
Though it wasn't just his gut.
His left eye throbbed faintly, a dull, persistent ache that had kept him awake through the night. It wasn't pain exactly — more like pressure. Like something inside was trying to push its way out.
Haruki had heard the stories.
Stories about children born with special eyes — Ganseisha, people touched by something beyond the normal world. People who could see things others couldn't. Fight things others couldn't.
But those were just stories.
At least… that's what he had always told himself.
Because if that were true—
Why him?
He wasn't like Karin. He couldn't summon flames or wield power. He wasn't strong like the hunters who guarded the village.
He was just…
Haruki.
Average. Replaceable. Someone people didn't expect much from.
He'd made peace with that a long time ago.
"Come on," Karin said, nudging him lightly. "Let's head to the forest edge. I heard the hunters spotted something weird there yesterday."
Haruki nodded, though that strange feeling in his chest tightened.
The two of them walked side by side, boots crunching in rhythm as the village slowly gave way to the forest. Tall pines loomed ahead, their branches heavy with snow, creaking softly in the wind.
The deeper they went, the quieter it became.
Too quiet.
Haruki's steps slowed.
"…Karin."
She glanced at him. "Yeah?"
"I…" He hesitated. "Do you hear that?"
She frowned slightly, listening.
"Just the wind."
But Haruki wasn't so sure.
Because beneath the wind—
There was something else.
A whisper.
Faint. Distant.
Unfamiliar.
His eye throbbed harder.
And then—
Everything changed.
A deafening boom split the air.
The ground trembled violently beneath their feet as the forest ahead twisted — space itself tearing open with a jagged, unnatural crack. Light spilled out, wrong and shifting, like something that didn't belong in this world.
A Rift.
"Haruki!"
Karin grabbed his arm as the air warped, pulling violently toward the opening.
Dark shapes began to emerge.
One… then several.
Rift-Beasts.
Their forms were twisted and jagged, limbs too long, mouths filled with uneven teeth. Their eyes glowed with an unnatural hunger as they stepped into the world, dragging shadows behind them.
Screams echoed from the village behind them.
Hunters rushed forward, weapons drawn, shouting orders.
But Haruki—
Couldn't move.
His eye burned.
Then the other.
Pain surged through his head like lightning, and suddenly—
He saw.
Flashes.
Fragments.
A village burning in the distance.
A warrior cloaked in light, standing against endless darkness.
A hand — his hand — reaching toward something just beyond his grasp.
Past.
Future.
Possibilities.
All colliding at once.
"—You can see it, can't you?"
The voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
Haruki gasped, his vision snapping back into place.
Someone stood in front of him.
Tall. Unmoving.
A man with silver hair that shifted like mist in the storm.
And his eye—
It glowed.
Pale blue, crackling faintly with arcs of lightning.
"Haruki," the man said calmly, as if he'd always known his name. "Your Eyes of Memories have awakened."
Haruki blinked, breath unsteady. "My… what?"
"Eyes of Memories," the man repeated. "A rare power. One that allows you to perceive fragments of time — what was, what is, and what may come."
Another Rift-Beast lunged.
It never reached them.
The man moved.
No—
He was movement.
A flash of sound and light tore through the air, and the Beast was obliterated mid-leap. The force shattered it into fragments that scattered across the snow, steam rising where they fell.
Haruki stared, frozen.
The man glanced back at him.
"You're not strong," he said plainly. "Not yet."
Haruki's chest tightened.
"But strength isn't what defines you."
The man's gaze sharpened slightly.
"Endurance does."
Another Beast roared in the distance.
"You will suffer more than others," he continued. "You will struggle. You will fall behind."
Haruki's fists clenched.
"But if you endure—" the man said quietly, "you will become something far greater than talent alone could ever achieve."
A spark lit deep within Haruki's chest.
Fear still clawed at him.
But beneath it—
Something stronger began to rise.
Resolve.
Karin stepped beside him, her hands igniting with soft, glowing embers. "Together," she said, her voice steady.
Haruki looked at her.
Then at the Rift.
Then at the monsters emerging from it.
His eyes burned again—
But this time, he didn't look away.
"…Yeah," he said, voice trembling—but firm. "Together."
More Rift-Beasts advanced.
The wind howled louder.
Snow swirled violently around them.
And with the strange man standing behind them like a silent storm—
Haruki took his first step forward.
Into battle.
Into pain.
Into a future he could barely understand.
But one he would face—
No matter what.