Japan-1562

  Scholar Souma Kiyohiko adjusted the brass rings of the armillary sphere. A sliver of moonlight caught the polished metal, reflecting the pale glow that would soon vanish from the sky. He leaned closer, his breath fogging the metal, then glanced over at the piles of scrolls to his right. He sighed, checking an old scroll from 200 years prior, a mention of ‘the sky bleeding.’ He bit his lower lip, anxious, comparing the old document to his current one. Almost the exact same scenario, only with one small difference, the moon would appear larger than life this time around.

  As he checked another scroll, this time from 500 years prior, a shiver ran down his spine, “It cannot be.”

  Suddenly, the man stood up, left the room, and returned with four other scholars. They all compared what Scholar Souma had discovered to the old documents, one right after the other, bewildered. Finally, the eldest of them all, Akita Hidemune, stepped forward and conducted a few cross-references, tracking his own records from the past 50 years, as all the others held their breath, hoping they weren’t seeing what they thought they were seeing.

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  Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Scholar Akita spoke up, “I think…you should go tell our lord, Kiyohiko…”

  Scholar Souma nodded, bowed, and quickly wrote down his findings before rushing to their lord. As he entered the shadowy room, Scholar Souma took a deep breath, then said, “My Lord, Kinoshita, I bring news. News of a celestial event unlike any living person has seen before.”

  “What is it, Scholar Souma?” Came the voice of a young man.

  Scholar Souma swallowed hard, then cautiously approached the young warlord, hesitantly handing him the paper. The young man, who Scholar Souma couldn’t help but think looked alarmingly like his older brother in this moment, gently took the parchment and read it once, twice, then burned it in one of the braziers.

  “In three days’ time?” Lord Kinoshita asked.

  “So my reports say, My Lord,” Scholar Souma responded, taking a small step back from the imposing young lord.

  “Then we must prepare, you know what must be done,” Lord Kinoshita responded.

  “Of course, My Lord,” Scholar Souma replied and left the room.