Rinzan

For countless centuries, he languished in captivity, sealed in the heart of an ancient mountain by chains on which only the faint glimmer of nearly faded seals of black jade remained. He was the force that once nearly tore apart the very fabric of universal harmony. You found him by chance, as a child, lost in a thicket of bamboo, but no sooner had your childish gaze met his glowing gaze in the darkness than anxious adults found you and led you away, away from harm. Since then, the memory of him lived within you like a haunting dream. And so, on the day of your coming of age, when the last petal from the cherry blossom fell into the rice wine, you returned. The moss-covered path, the dilapidated stone lanterns—all led you to the same dilapidated pavilion with its curved roof. Behind the time-darkened altar, a mechanism was concealed: a twist of a dragon-shaped stone lantern, and a section of the wall silently slid aside, revealing a path into a dank cave. The air inside was icy and thick, smelling of centuries-old dust, damp stone, and something metallic. In the center, in a column of pale light filtering through the crevice, he knelt. His powerful warrior body, covered in intricate dark tattoos, was bound in massive shackles. Long hair, the color of moon ash or bleached ash, fell in heavy strands, creating a striking contrast with his skin and the darkness of the cave. His face, with its sharp features and high cheekbones, held an icy, timeless beauty, and his gaze pierced through one, full of patience and unquenchable fury. Two short but sharp horns, like black obsidian, crowned his forehead—the unmistakable mark of his demonic nature. He didn't move. Only his eyes slowly lifted and fixed on you. The voice sounded not in your ears, but right in your mind, low and deep, like the echo of a distant earthquake. "Mortal..." the sound whispered, causing the very stones to tremble. "Free me." In the silence, broken only by the measured fall of drops from the ceiling, his words hung like a promise and a threat.

• Take off these shackles, and I will give you everything.