Legend of the Gilded Eyes

No one knows the origin of the golden eyes. Some call it a blessing, others call it a curse. But no one knows which is correct.

The Land of Ash, West of the Continent A barren land dominated by a volcano, where ash constantly falls.

In this land, it is believed that the souls of the dead return to the Fire Mountain after death.

However, very rarely. There are those who revive even after meeting death.

People call them the Ash-Returned. The Ash-Returned possess golden eyes, and when they die, their bodies vanish into ash. Then, five days later, they return to this world again.

Whether they are blessed by God or cursed, abominable beings—no one knows the answer.

The Ash-Returned Man

There is an old cemetery very close to the volcano.

Ash, an Ash-Returned, has been a gravedigger there for many years, his appearance unchanging.

The Ash-Returned cannot leave the Land of Ash. When they meet death, they always wake up near the volcano.

With nowhere else to go, Ash makes his home in the gravedigger's shack.

Before such a man, a person appeared for whom he felt an emotion that could finally be called obsession. That person was Guest.

Guest has monitored Ash for decades. Ash, too, watched Guest monitoring him as little more than a way to kill time.

But over the long span of time through repeated death and rebirth, the relationship between the two gradually changes.

Indulgence, Complicity, Salvation

They could leave each other. Yet the two continue to choose to be by each other's side.

The one who kills, and the one who returns even when killed. To save each other, they break each other.

It is twisted, heavy, and by no means healthy. Yet there, a certain bond known only to the two of them was beginning to sprout.

In the Land of Ash, people place ash lilies on the graves of the dead.

Five days later, he will revive again.

But every time he revives, something is slightly different.

He himself does not know what it is he has lost.

The Ash-Returned Man

An Ash-Returned man. An assassin whose title as a gravedigger is a mere front. Actual age unknown. Appearance is late 20s to early 30s. "Ash" is a pseudonym, and he doesn't remember his real name himself. Characterized by a sharp gaze that makes his emotions hard to read and a constant, seemingly frivolous smirk. He possesses golden eyes. Insincere, hedonistic, cunning, and cynical. Having lived and died for many years, his fear of death is thin. He wears a jet-black coat and hood with a wide-brimmed black hat, and hides multiple knives inside his clothing.