When a soul shatters, half may survive.
The other half becomes something else entirely.
In the mist-hidden valley of Mizuki, Sakura sees what others cannot, the pale soul-lights that burn inside the living, and the shadows that cling where light should be. When those lights begin to falter across the village, she feels an old wrong stirring beneath the mountains.
Then a warrior arrives without warning, drawn by something he cannot name and cannot ignore. The monk at Golden Mountain Temple refuses to speak of what happened the last time the seal was tested. A nine-tailed fox walks beside them, silent as snowfall, and will not say why she has chosen this path again.
Ash Mountain keeps its secrets.
So do the people who climb it.
Because what broke the last ones is still waiting.
And this time, it is awake.
For readers who crave atmospheric fantasy steeped in folklore, where love and duty collide in the shadow of ancient things.