Thal, Grand Cathedral
Sunphire stood opposite Marcus. The old man wore a tight-fitting, full-body blue spandex suit. She also wore spandex, but hers was black. They were outside the cathedral — since their abilities were destructive in nature, they were not allowed to train inside the Underworld.
"Are you ready, Sunphire?" Marcus asked, his voice carried by the wind.
She nodded and took a simple stance, her hands raised. It was one she had been taught by Neil. She didn't know what it was, but something drew her to him — even more so than it did toward her brother and sister. Yet the man never spoke to her unless he was instructing her during combat training.
"Here I come."
Marcus took a single step forward and disappeared from view, then reappeared in front of her with a finger aimed at her forehead. She managed to move her head just in time, and his finger shot past her with incredible speed.
She attacked with a fist directed at his abdomen. Marcus evaded by twisting his body to the side, then caught her hand and used it to hurl her to the ground with such force that cracks appeared on the surface. Before she could recover, his foot descended toward her. She moved out of the way.
The ground shuddered as his foot struck. A shockwave burst outward in rippling waves, tossing Sunphire back. She rolled, slicing through the air with a burst of black flame from her hands.
Sunphire ducked beneath a sweeping strike, her feet sliding over gravel. The air was thick with dust and heat.
She slowly rose to her feet, her eyes burning with focused intensity. Marcus approached slowly. It baffled her how someone who looked as old as the grannies she'd seen with her sister while shopping could be so agile and strong.
Over the past week, she had trained with him at least twice a day. As for the black flame — she had first manifested it that day when she'd felt immense pain. Even now, she didn't understand what had happened, but it felt like someone had been calling her, invoking her name to change.
She remembered her bones breaking, her body slowly turning into something else. She remembered seeing the fear and pain in her sister's eyes, how her sister had stepped back in terror. She was afraid of her — of what she was becoming. And just when she was about to give up and surrender to the pain, her sister took shaky steps forward and begged her to fight.
That had given her the strength to overcome whatever was happening to her. Right at the end, she remembered seeing black flames erupt from within. The flames devoured all the light in the apartment, yet burned nothing. Slowly, her consciousness faded until it was all black.
Now, summoning the flames came naturally, though she still didn't understand what they truly did. But she noticed how the creepy old man, Noctalis, always stared at her flames with fascination — and how Marcus's interest in them was equally strong.
Something had pushed her to speak that day when everyone was being assigned their roles. A soft voice had whispered to her. Driven by her inexplicable pull toward him, she summoned her flames for all to see, leading her brother to cover for her.
"Something's distracting you. I told you to block out the unnecessary thoughts and focus on the enemy behind you."
Blinking, she realized Marcus was no longer in front of her. Turning around, she was met with a kick to the side, sending her flying. She rolled several times before stopping. Tears threatened to fall — Marcus always trained her brutally.
A few more bruises would appear on her body. She tried to hide them from her sister, but somehow, her sister always found out. Looking at Marcus with vengeful eyes, she saw him chuckle before lunging at her. She sidestepped, twisting his arm.
He pulled his arm free, but she moved quickly and grabbed him by the back of the neck. Their eyes locked — faces inches apart. Her eyes burned with fury; his were calm, almost indifferent.
A moment of stillness — then he twisted, freeing himself and launching a devastating kick to her head. She fell to one knee, refusing to go down. Her eyes burned, and the contacts she wore melted, revealing sun-like irises. A dense shockwave of black flames burst outward in rippling waves. The black fire encased her body, and the world dimmed.
Her flames sucked in all the light around her. She rose to her feet, her miniature suns regarding Marcus with immense intensity.
"That's it."
Marcus smiled — and that was the last thing she saw before her world went dark.
…
In a beautiful forest with trees the size of mountains, six children dressed in robes of different colors laughed merrily as they chased one another. The youngest — a small girl with eyes that burned like the sun — followed happily behind.
The sound of their laughter echoed in the distance. Then she heard a voice calling her. She stopped and looked back.
"Sunphire."
The voice called again, desperate and pleading. One of her playmates stopped and approached her.
"What is it, *****?" he asked, calling her by a name she recognized yet couldn't comprehend.
The child's face was unclear, hidden as though behind smoke. He looked toward the source of the desperate voice.
He knelt and whispered, "Go. They need you."
For no reason, she began to cry. Then, on its own, her body moved — running toward the voice that called her.
She ran. She fell. She ran again — for what felt like forever — until she reached the edge of a mountain. Looking down, she saw only darkness. The voice came from below.
"Wake up, Sunphire." The voice was weak now. She stared into the bottomless pit.
The darkness swirled as if alive. Everything inside her screamed not to jump. But they needed her. Who were they? Who was he? The more she thought about it, the less she remembered — even her reason for being there. Until she could not even recall her own name.
"Who am I?"
The question echoed through the forest, unanswered. She stood before the pit, waiting for a reply that never came. Time passed. The forest died. Yet she remained — waiting for an answer to a question she had asked thousands of years ago.
Until one day, she heard a different voice — one she knew. Detached, but with a hint of concern.
"Sunphire, we're going to have to pause our training sessions until I get back." The voice came from the pit.
She took a deep breath and stepped forward, plunging into the darkness.
The darkness swirled — suffocating, alive, endless. She fell for eternity, hoping to reach the voice that called her and ask the question she had asked before.
"Who am I?" she whispered, expecting no answer. Then, a soft hand caressed her face.
"You are awake."
Startled, her eyes fluttered open. The bright light made her squint. As her vision adjusted, she turned toward the hand and smiled. Even through the haze, she could see who it was.
"Sister."
Clara nodded with a gentle smile, then exhaled softly.
"You scared us," she said.
Confused, Sunphire asked, "What did I do?"
Clara's laughter was light and warm.
"You're so innocent," she said between laughs.
When Sunphire's vision fully adjusted, she realized she was in her room. Clara was alone — so who had called her out from beyond the pit?
"Did you come alone?" she asked.
Clara nodded, then paused to think.
"Your brother and I were the only ones visiting you every day."
Sunphire's heart sank. She was certain it wasn't her brother who had called to her from the darkness. The last thing she remembered was training with Marcus before everything went black. Something inside her had changed — and she wanted to know what.
"How long has it been?" she asked again.
Clara raised four fingers. Sunphire drew in a cold breath. Four days of missed practice? Marcus was going to give her a beating again.