CHAPTER ONE

"No,no,no, this can't be." An old man said repeatedly, walking out of the hut he was staying with a stick in his hand.

Rain splattered through their clan, but this was no ordinary rain. It was a red rain! Everyone ran helter-skelter through the rain, trying to look for shade as the rain beat their back. Each drop of it made red marks and bruises on the body of the people, just like its name predicted.The old man rushed back to his room, walking to his bedroom to pick a calabash that he placed beside his bed. The rain got heavier, each of its drops resounding on the roof of the hut.

"How! How is this happening?" the old man yelled through into the calabash.

"I need answers!" the man said to the calabash.

Immediately, the water on the surface of the calabash started brewing and the image of two students showed in front of it. The old man widened his eyes at this.

"Th...this.." he stuttered.

He looked closely into the calabash, widening his eyes at more than he already did.

"Dy..dylan." he managed to say out loud.

His mouth went agape as he could not close it. The two students were coming from opposite sides when the girl hit her leg on something and tripped to the floor. The prince of their clan had rushed to help her pick up her books from the floor. Before he could help her up, the girl was already on her feet.

"Thank you," the girl said as she collected her book from him.

Dylan was mesmerized by the beauty of this girl. How can someone be as pretty as this, he thought.

"It's nothing. I'm Dylan." he said, bringing his hand forward for a handshake.

The girl curved her lips upward, showing all the front row of her teeth.

"Im Kate." she said, receiving the handshake.

Immediately, there was an earthquake, which led to the downfall of the red rain. The calabash fell from the old man's hand, still in shock about what he just saw. Their prince had just caused havoc to all the people in the clan. He fell to his butt with a loud thud, the sounds of the rain bringing him back to his senses.

"No,no, no. I must do something." he said to himself.

He hastily stood up from the floor, walking further into the but. He stopped in front of a room covered with a black curtain. He shoved the curtain aside as he entered the room.

"I appease the goddess. Make this stop." he said, as he went to his knees.

He bowed his head to a certain level, crawling to get to the front of a statue.

"Please make this stop! We would deal with anything that comes with this but make this stop. The people of the clan are in pain already. The rain is causing more havoc than it's supposed to be. Please make it stop!" he yelled through the room.

The moon goddess floated into the room after his last sentence, landing on the statue created for her. The old man raised his head a little to see her, overflowing in her white garment. Her fan was always in her hand, eluding the aura of a great warrior. Her hair flowed angelically at her back, as if it was following a rhythm.

"Are you sure you can take anything that comes after this?" the moon goddess said, her voice as light as paper.

"I'm sure we will be your majesty. Just spare us from this first." the old man said with a shaky breath.

"I'll ask you one more time. Can you withstand anything that comes with it?" the moon goddess asked.

"We would be able to withstand it. Just spare us from this one." the old man yelled.

"Then so be it." the moon goddess said as she closed her eyes.

The splattering of the rain started to reduce, thunder echoing everywhere as lightning followed. The old man chanted some spells, blocking his ears from all the noises that came with it. After some time, he opened his eyes, casting the spell again as everywhere was already silent. He raised his eyes to see the moon goddess starting at him;

"I'll get back to you in the next three days. I hope you'll be able to keep your promise. There is war." the moon goddess said before floating away.

The old man calmly crawled back to the entrance of the room, supporting himself with his stick after he got to the entrance. He started hearing loud knocks on his door as he got out.

"Answers. They want answers." he murmured to himself.

He rushed to the door to see different people standing, some with tears on their faces, some carrying their sons and daughters who has been wounded from the rain.

"Come in, come in." he hurriedly said to them all.

He went inside his room, coming out with some potions and other things. He started from a young boy who was coughing profusely.

"Part of the red rain must have entered his mouth." the old man thought.

He poured some of the content of the potion into the boy's mouth, after which the coughing started to reduce.

"Take him home and wrap him up with a lot of clothes. Make sure there is a bowl beside him, in case he wants to vomit. You can now leave." the man said to the mother of the boy.

"Thank you." the mother said in between tears.

The old man moved to the other person who's back was just filled with red bruises. He hurriedly poured a white powder on it, making the man hiss out in pain.

"You can go now, make sure not to let water touch it, and do not rest your back on anything." the old man said to the man.

The man bowed his head to the old man before walking out of the room. Two guards barged into the hut after, staring at the man with a hardened expression.

"Rikito, your attention is needed by the head clan," one of the guards said.