The city of Lourdes was once a pilgrimage site,

now a skeletal ruin under a violet sky. The air

reeks of rust and ash, and the few survivors

live in fear of the blood moon that rises every

full cycle. Among them is Raul, a man who wears

his brother’s old shirt as a badge of honor. His

younger sister, Marla, has been marked by the

blood curse—her veins glow faintly when the moon

is high, and she hears voices no one else can.

Raul’s father had been a priest before the

collapse, and he taught Raul that the blood

curse was punishment for the sins of the old

world. But Raul knows better. He remembers the

day the church bells stopped ringing, the day

the sky turned black, and the day his father

vanished into the ruins, leaving behind only a

journal and a promise: “Break the chain before

it breaks you.”

Marla’s condition worsens. She starts speaking

in tongues, drawing symbols in the dust with her

fingers. The survivors call her diwata, but Raul

knows she’s not a spirit—she’s a vessel. He

finds an old map in his father’s journal,

leading to the ruins of a convent near Mount

Pinatubo. The path is littered with traps set by

the last cultists who tried to claim the blood

magic for themselves.

At the convent, Raul discovers a sealed crypt

beneath the altar. Inside are relics from the

old world: a chalice, a rosary, and a vial of

red liquid that pulses like a heartbeat. The

journal warns that breaking the curse requires a

sacrifice—not of blood, but of memory. The

ritual demands that the cursed one forget their

past entirely, or the curse will consume them.

Marla resists. She doesn’t want to lose who she

is. But Raul has no choice. He drinks the vial,

and the world around him blurs. Memories of his

father, of his childhood, of the day the sky

fell—all vanish in a flash of crimson light.

When he wakes, the blood moon is gone. The sky

is clear. Marla’s veins are pale again, her

voice steady. The curse is broken—but Raul no

longer remembers why he did it.

He only knows that the wind smells of rain, and

the stars feel closer than they ever have.