The roar shook the cave.
Heat exploded outward, turning the air into fire. Rocks split, molten cracks crawling up the walls like veins of light.
Zhen Yu drew his silver sword — the metal flashed white against the red glow.
"Liang Hu! To the left!"
The general didn't hesitate. He rolled aside as a torrent of flame struck where he had stood, the ground hissing under his boots.
The creature stepped from the smoke — half-tiger, half-man, its body a mass of molten stone. Its mane burned like a crown, and its breath melted the air.
It growled, a voice made of fire and fury.
"Anger. You bring anger into my den."
The heat clawed at Zhen Yu's lungs. Every time he moved, the rage pressed closer — small sparks of fury igniting inside his chest. He felt his heartbeat quicken, his sword hand shake. The monster fed on it.
Mei Lian's eyes burned crimson. She moved in front of them, both hands raised. Her fingers sliced through the air in a rapid motion.
Don't speak. Don't feel. Control it.
The tiger lunged.
Zhen Yu swung his sword, steel meeting molten claw. Sparks flew; the sound was like thunder trapped in a jar. Liang Hu attacked from behind, his blade striking the creature's side, but every wound he made closed with fire.
Zhen Yu shouted, "Its heart—aim for the chest!"
The Flame Tiger turned, its molten eyes locking on him.
"You—Duke of Jing. I smell your fury. Betrayed. Denied. Forgotten."
Zhen Yu's breath hitched. The heat deepened into his mind, stoking the buried flame of his past. His brother's sneer. The lost throne. The oath he never wanted.
Rage flared — and the monster grew stronger.
"Zhen Yu!" Liang Hu barked. "Control yourself!"
Zhen Yu gritted his teeth, forcing the emotion down, his vision swimming red and gold. He focused on the sound of Mei Lian's breath behind him — slow, steady, controlled.
The creature's claws struck again. He ducked, countered, and drove his sword deep into its side. Flames burst, searing his arm, but he didn't stop.
Mei Lian stepped forward through the storm of heat. The crimson veins glowed brighter, her hair whipping in the fiery wind.
Her fingers stilled, and darkness gathered in her palm — not cold, but hungry, a void that drank the light around it.
The Flame Tiger roared and lunged. She met it head-on.
The moment her hand touched its chest, the fire erupted into screams.
Light poured out of the monster's body — fire twisting into ribbons, fury becoming sound. Mei Lian's crimson veins pulsed, spreading up her arm as she began to absorb the flame. Her mouth opened, but the voice that escaped was not hers.
It was the monster's.
A guttural, furious roar tore from her throat — the sound of the Flame Tiger's dying wrath echoing through her. The entire cave shook, flames swirling into her like rivers of molten glass.
Zhen Yu ran toward her, shouting, "Mei Lian! Stop!"
But she couldn't hear. Her body convulsed, light bursting from her skin. The monster's fire clawed inside her, fighting not to die.
Then, silence.
The flames vanished, swallowed whole. The cave dimmed to ash and smoke. The Tiger's body shattered into black dust.
Mei Lian fell to her knees. Her breath came in shallow gasps, her fingers trembling. Zhen Yu caught her before she collapsed, his arm around her shoulders. Her skin burned hot beneath his touch, veins glowing through her sleeve.
"Mei Lian, can you hear me?"
She tried to speak, but no sound came — only a broken whisper of flame that flickered from her lips before dying away.
Her crimson eyes fluttered open for a brief moment, dazed and dim.
Then she fainted in his arms.
Liang Hu stood back, eyes wide, sweat streaking through soot on his face. "By the gods… she devoured fire itself."
Zhen Yu looked down at her, his voice low but fierce. "No. The fire tried to devour her."
The fire in the cave died with her silence.
Only the sound of their breathing remained.