File No.: EP00372Ω Clearance Level: OMEGARED (Top Secret / No Reproduction / Cinematic Ban in Effect) Submitted by: U.N.A.R.C. (United Nations Anomaly Response Command) Date: April 6, 2027 Status: ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT / Codename: ECLIPSE
[CHIEF INTEL OFFICER'S BRIEFING]For generations, we've dismissed ancient myths as quaint relics of humanity's ignorant past. But the sudden loss of contact with Eidolon-13 shattered that illusion. Hydraon, a being long confined to the realm of legend, now stirs from its slumber. Our modern civilization, for all its technological prowess, is shockingly ill - prepared to confront the full force of its awakening.
Dr. Renée Takahashi's unique genetic anomaly, coupled with her recurring, disturbing dream sequences, may hold the key to our survival. These phenomena could be the only countermeasure we have against the impending threat. In light of these developments, this file has been upgraded to Omega - level threat status. Any unauthorized disclosure will be treated as an act of global treason, and the full weight of international law will be brought to bear on the perpetrator.
General C.L. Marcus, UNARC Global Defense Joint Executive
[APPENDIX ΩA / CONFIDENTIAL MEMO HIGHLIGHTS] 1963: A fragment of a ukiyoe print titled *The Moon Devoured by Nine* was discovered in Nagano, Japan. 1999: Professor Yuki Takahashi, a renowned Shinto scholar, vanished without a trace. He left behind an annotated codex detailing multiheaded serpent deities (Cataloged as File EP00372ΩB). 2026: Contact with Eidolon13, the Artemislinked lunar outpost, was lost. Seismic anomalies were detected near the Mare Orientale Crater. 2027: Dr. Renée Takahashi experienced 48 recorded oneiric disturbances. Genetic testing confirmed a DNA anomaly with a 99.7% correlation to the unclassified PatternSerpent genome.
[DREAM SEQUENCE TRANSCRIPT - FILED BY R. TAKAHASHI / EP00372ΩC]April 3rd, 2027. Dream Log #48
I was thrust into a realm where reality frayed at the seams. Beneath my feet, a bridge woven from smoldering lotus leaves crackled and hissed, its flames casting an otherworldly glow. Below, a thick, viscous river of blood churned, its surface rippling with an unsettling, almost sentient energy. Across the river, silhouetted against the smoke - veiled moon, nine colossal figures emerged from the shadows. Their forms were a grotesque blend of the human and the monstrous, each bearing an aura of ancient malevolence.
As they stirred, a chorus of inhuman syllables escaped their lips, a language that seemed to vibrate in the very marrow of my bones. But as quickly as the sounds registered, they faded from my memory, leaving behind only a lingering sense of dread. Behind these spectral beings loomed a throne unlike anything I'd ever imagined—constructed from the headless bodies of countless victims, it reached skyward, a macabre testament to unfathomable power.
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Their eyes, each a different, unnatural hue—crimson like freshly spilled blood, cobalt as deep as the darkest ocean trench, emerald green with a sickly, otherworldly sheen, and acid yellow that seared the retinas—flickered to life. Each gaze was fixed on a distinct quadrant of the sky, as if they were keeping watch over some cosmic secret.
In that moment, the very fabric of the heavens seemed to contort. The stars above twisted and re - arranged themselves, forming a sigil that burned itself into my consciousness: a clockwise - spinning ouroboros, devouring its own tail in an endless, cyclical dance of creation and destruction.
The air was thick with scents that didn't belong in any dream I'd ever known—sharp cedarwood, the acrid tang of ash, and the briny taste of salt, as if the ocean itself had been dragged into this nightmare. But the most chilling sensation was the fear that coursed through me—a fear that didn't originate from within, but seemed to be a borrowed emotion, a fragment of some ancient, primordial terror.
[END LOG]
[LIVE FEED EXCERPT – ARTEMIS III MISSION / EARTHSIDE OBSERVATION CENTER – HOUSTON]"Telemetry lost. Initiating secondary sync... No response. I repeat, no response."
Dr. Renée Takahashi rubbed her eyes for the third time in as many minutes, her gaze fixed on the static fuzz marring what should have been a live feed from Eidolon13, the lunar farside base established by the Artemis III expansion team.
"Switch to spectrogram. Conduct a passive scan in the VLF band," she ordered, a hint of irritation creeping into her voice.
Moments ticked by.
"We've got something," the technician whispered. "This isn't an RF signal. It's... something else. Maybe a vibration? A nonacoustic harmonic."
The waveform on the screen pulsed rhythmically, like a heartbeat.
Renée leaned in, a shiver running down her spine. Her recent dream had ended with a similar pulse.
[LUNAR FEED CLASSIFIED FRAME / REDACTED LOCATION]Eidolon13’s final captured frame, timestamped 03:19:42 UTC: A crater ridge crumbled, revealing a structure embedded in the bedrock. It hadn't been constructed—it had grown. Concentric rings of obsidian, metallic veins resembling capillaries, and at its core, a cathedralsized, headless serpentine fossil.
Before the collapse, monitors registered a sudden spike in isotope X97, an element previously unknown in both terrestrial and lunar compositions. Simultaneously, highspeed footage captured a dust spiral defying gravity, twisting upward in a corkscrew motion that, upon framebyframe analysis, appeared to be running in reverse.
A flickering glyph materialized on the stone—a ninestroke spiral.
Then, darkness.
[PERSONAL LOG DR. TAKAHASHI / ENCRYPTED ADDENDUM]“Nine awaken beneath nine cities. The Moon only screamed first.”
She discovered these words scrawled on her notepad upon waking. The handwriting wasn't hers.
Thousands of miles away, deep within Kīlauea's caldera, magma began to roil. Something ancient stirred beneath the lava, arching upward like a spine rousing from eons of slumber.
Hydraon was awakening.
