That night, the rain hadn't stopped. The sound of droplets hitting the dorm roof felt like a lullaby of storms — soft, endless, haunting.
Yohan couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, the golden runes beneath his skin pulsed — a quiet rhythm that didn't belong to his heartbeat.
He sat up, breathing slow. Lily had fallen asleep across the room, exhausted from keeping watch.
But the whisper… it hadn't stopped since Kael's warning. It was faint at first, like wind brushing against fire:
"Come closer… to the truth you already feel."
He pressed a hand to his chest. The mark glowed faintly, golden threads spreading up to his neck. And then, in an instant — the world shifted.
The rain vanished. The dorm melted away. He stood in a vast expanse of black glass, cracked with molten light. Above him, a sun that wasn't a sun — a swirling inferno trapped inside a crystal sphere — pulsed like a living heart.
Yohan turned in slow confusion. The air felt heavy, each breath burning slightly.
"Welcome, heir of the Flame."
The voice came from everywhere. Then — from the molten cracks beneath his feet, a figure rose.
Tall. Shadowed. Its eyes burned like coals, its form shifting between man and fire. It looked almost human — almost like him.
Yohan stepped back, his throat dry. "Who are you?"
"The one your ancestors sealed away. The origin you carry in your blood."
The figure tilted its head slightly.
"You felt it during the duel, didn't you? The hunger. The raw pull to survive, no matter what burns."
Yohan clenched his fists. "That power almost killed me!"
"Because you resist it," the voice said. "But fire doesn't destroy by nature — it transforms. You were born to bear the First Flame. Yet you fear your own light."
The black glass beneath him shuddered. Fractures glowed, forming symbols he didn't understand.
Yohan shouted over the growing hum, "What do you want from me?"
The figure smiled faintly.
"To remember."
Light flared — and for a moment, Yohan saw flashes of another time.
A war under a burning sky.
An ancient warrior wielding golden fire.
A seal breaking — a world turning to ash.
He gasped and fell to his knees. The visions faded. The whisper quieted.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his dorm — heart racing, sweat dripping, the mark on his chest dimming.
But just before it disappeared, he saw something new — a small crack running through one of the runes.
And from that crack, a faint ember flickered out… and vanished into the air.
He didn't know it yet, but the First Flame had awakened — and now, it was watching him.