The sky was smeared in crimson hues when Reyan stirred from his forced slumber. Everything felt foreign. The scent of incense and metal lingered in the air. A thick fog clouded his senses, limbs heavy as if he were underwater.
He wasn't dreaming.
He was submerged up to his neck in some kind of ceremonial pool, the surface rippling with faint reddish light. Herbs, dark powders, and something heavier—perhaps blood—tainted the liquid. His clothes were gone, replaced with ceremonial linen etched in cryptic patterns. Across his chest were strange symbols drawn in dark ink. His skin stung.
Reyan's throat was parched, but when he tried to speak, only a strained breath escaped. His arms wouldn't move. His mind screamed, but his voice was lost. Fear slithered through him like vines, choking.
Footsteps.
He froze.
A door opened. Voices entered—low, almost reverent, as if worshipping something ancient and cruel. Hidden behind a stone screen, Liora watched them move around Reyan's pool. She clutched her breath like it might betray her.
"His blood is reacting faster than expected," a hooded man whispered. "Prepare the second stage."
Reyan's eyes fluttered open—just long enough to see the shadows shift, the glint of knives, and a red moon painted on the ceiling above. Then darkness took him again.
Hours earlier, Liora had escaped the mansion after witnessing the ritual's beginnings. Her heart pounded as she reunited with kairi, her sharp-witted college friend and data analyst, and Rishan, the logistics planner from her Sahana project team.
"They're preparing to sacrifice him," she said breathlessly, pacing the safe house floor. "I saw them marking his body, submerging him in something—he's being drugged daily."
Kairi tapped her laptop, pulling up files. "We traced the car that hit us to a fake license—no match in the registry. But CCTV caught it rerouting from an abandoned estate that was last linked to Sura Group."
" Orinth.mm... Reyan's biological father's company?" Rishan asked.
"Exactly. It's a front. They're funneling assets into off-record rituals, ancient blood sacrifice rites from a banned sect. And get this—"
Kairi pulled up an old journal.
"Their belief? The blood of the firstborn, sacrificed under the Red Moon, brings eternal prosperity and dominion. Reyan's mother ran away before the ritual could be completed 17 years ago. Now that she's under surveillance... they waited until Reyan resurfaced."
Liora's eyes burned. "Then we don't have time. He'll die if we wait for warrants. We need proof. We infiltrate. Tonight."
Back at the mansion, the butler escorted Reyan's father into the ritual chamber.
"You look just like me at that age," the man said, kneeling beside Reyan's unconscious body. "It's poetic. I gave you life. Now you return it to elevate the family."
He smiled, like a man admiring a painting. "Your mother failed to understand her place. But you—your blood understands."
Outside, the night thickened. Liora and her friends, dressed in dark gear, climbed nm estate's walls, armed with gas bombs laced with a paralyzing sedative—not deadly, but effective.
"We go in quiet. Kairi handles cameras. Rishan covers the west wing. I'll take the east," Liora ordered. Her voice trembled, but not with fear—rage.
Inside, Reyan was moved from the bath to a ritual altar, laid on obsidian stone. Candles flickered. Chanting began.
Liora slipped through a hallway, heart pounding as she ducked under a tapestry. The ritual room was nearby.
She waited for the signal.
Kairi's voice crackled through the earpiece: "On your go."
Liora rolled the gas bomb into the hallway.
Chaos erupted.
Masked cultists staggered, falling unconscious one by one. Liora darted into the room, eyes locking on Reyan's limp form.
"Reyan!"
She ran to him, shaking him gently. "Wake up. Please. We have to go."
No response.
Footsteps.
She hid behind a pillar. Two figures entered.
"In two nights, the sacrifice will be ready," one whispered. "He's completely immersed now. No dreams, no resistance."
They left.
Liora bolted back to Reyan, tears stinging her eyes. "You're not dying here. Not like this."
She hoisted him with Rishan's help when he arrived, carrying him through the smoky hall as the sleeping cultists lay sprawled around them. Sirens howled in the distance. Kairi had sent the footage to authorities.
They made it to safety. Police stormed the mansion minutes later.
Reyan stirred in the ambulance, lips trembling. "...Mom? Liora...?"
His eyes opened—but they were blank.
"He doesn't remember," Kairi whispered.
Liora's heart shattered.
But she gripped his hand tightly and whispered, "Then we'll help you remember. We'll build it all over again."
The Red Moon faded from the sky, but their story had only begun.