Three-year-old Bali sat on the floor with charcoal and paper. His mother Hiotmi had given him drawing supplies to keep him busy.
"What are you making, Bali-kun?" she asked, folding laundry nearby.
"Pictures," Bali replied, carefully drawing curved lines.
To everyone else, it looked like random scribbles. But Bali was drawing his training methods.
He drew a simple nose with two dots for nostrils. This represented his breathing exercises.
Next, he drew a circle with wavy lines around it. The moon with energy flowing.
Then a bigger circle with straight lines shooting out. The sun meditation.
"Very creative, dear," Hiotmi said with a smile. "Show Grandpa when he comes back."
Bali nodded. Only Raigen might understand what the drawings really meant.
That evening, Raigen studied the drawings carefully.
"This one looks like breathing patterns," he murmured.
"Yes! In and out, in and out," Bali said, pointing to the nose drawing.
"And this circle?"
"Moon teacher! Cold energy goes down, down, down."
Raigen's eyes widened. The boy was documenting his meditation techniques.
"Bali, where did you learn about energy going down?"
"Dream teacher shows me. Fire goes up, water goes down."
"Fire goes up?"
Bali pointed to another drawing - wavy lines moving upward through a stick figure.
"Dangerous fire. Dream teacher says be very careful."
A chill ran down Raigen's spine. "What kind of dangerous fire?"
Over the next few months, Bali continued drawing his training methods. His parents and grandmother Mina thought it was adorable.
"Such detailed scribbles," Kirito said, ruffling his son's hair. "Maybe he'll become an artist."
"Or a seal master," Raigen suggested quietly.
But privately, Raigen was concerned about the "dangerous fire" drawing. It kept appearing in Bali's artwork.
One day, Bali approached him with a serious expression.
"Grandpa, I want to try big fire technique."
"Big fire?"
"From dream teacher. Fire goes up spine to head. Makes body very strong."
Raigen frowned. "That sounds dangerous, Bali. Maybe wait until you're older."
"I'm ready! I practiced breathing for whole year!"
"Your body is still growing. Fire techniques can be harmful."
But Bali had already made up his mind.
The next morning, while the family was busy, Bali snuck away to a quiet corner of the compound.
He sat in perfect lotus position, spine straight like his Himalayan teacher had shown him in his previous life.
"Okay, breathe in and imagine fire at the bottom of spine."
He closed his eyes and focused on the base of his spine. In his mind, he saw a small flame flickering there.
"Now breathe in and pull the fire up through the center."
The visualization felt incredibly real. Like actual heat was rising through his body.
His breathing became deeper. The imaginary fire climbed higher - through his stomach, chest, throat.
"At the crown, visualize the blazing eye opening."
Bali imagined a third eye opening at the top of his head, burning with intense fire.
The heat sensation grew stronger and stronger.
For months, Bali practiced this technique in secret. Each session made the fire feel more real.
His body temperature during meditation rose noticeably. Sometimes he'd be sweating heavily even on cool days.
Raigen noticed the changes but didn't know their source.
"The boy seems feverish lately," Hiotmi mentioned to her husband.
"Maybe he's growing," Kirito replied. "Children get warm when they're developing."
But Raigen suspected something else. The heat around Bali was becoming more intense.
During family meals, sitting next to the boy felt like sitting near a furnace.
"Bali, are you feeling sick?" Mina asked, touching his forehead.
"No, Grandma! Feel very good!"
His skin was hot but he seemed perfectly healthy. Energetic even.
After practicing the fire visualization for a full year, something went wrong.
Bali was doing his morning session when the heat suddenly became unbearable.
The fire in his visualization turned from warm orange to blazing white. It felt like molten metal flowing through his spine.
"Too hot!" he gasped. "Too hot!"
His body temperature spiked beyond anything human. Steam started rising from his skin.
"GRANDPA!" Bali screamed like a wounded animal. "HELP ME!"
He stumbled to his feet and ran toward the house, his small body radiating impossible heat.
Raigen rushed out at the sound of the scream.
"Bali! What's wrong?"
"WATER! NEED WATER! THROW ME IN WELL!"
Without thinking, Raigen scooped up his grandson.
The moment his hands touched Bali's skin, pain shot through his palms.
"AHHH!" Raigen cried out. It was like grabbing red-hot coals.
But he didn't let go. His grandson needed help.
Raigen ran toward the compound's well, his hands blistering from the heat.
"Hold on, Bali! Almost there!"
The boy was barely conscious, his skin glowing with internal fire.
At the well, Raigen didn't hesitate. He threw Bali directly into the cold water.
The effect was immediate and dramatic.
Steam exploded upward as Bali's superheated body hit the water. The entire well started boiling.
"What's happening?!" Hiotmi screamed, running outside.
"Stay back!" Raigen shouted, clutching his burned hands.
The water in the well was evaporating rapidly, creating a thick cloud of steam.
Then, as suddenly as it started, the heat stopped.
Bali surfaced in the now-warm water, gasping for air.
But something was wrong with his appearance.
"Bali!" Hiotmi cried, reaching for the well.
"Don't touch him yet!" Raigen warned.
The boy was covered in black substances. Dark, foul-smelling liquid oozed from his pores.
The entire area reeked of burned impurities and toxins.
"What is that smell?" Kirito asked, covering his nose.
"His body... it's changing," Raigen realized.
Bali climbed out of the well slowly. The black substances continued flowing from his skin like old poison being expelled.
"Grandpa," Bali said weakly. "The fire... it burned everything inside."
His voice sounded different. Deeper. More mature.
For three days, Bali's body continued expelling black substances. The smell was unbearable.
They kept him isolated in a storage room until the process finished.
"Is he dying?" Mina asked tearfully.
"No," Raigen said, studying his grandson through the window. "He's transforming."
When the black discharge finally stopped, they allowed Bali to bathe properly.
What emerged shocked everyone.
His body looked completely rebuilt. Muscle definition that shouldn't exist on a four-year-old. Skin that seemed to glow with inner health.
"How is this possible?" Hiotmi whispered.
"Dream teacher's fire technique," Bali explained simply. "Burns away old body, makes new one."
Raigen looked at his scarred hands, then at his transformed grandson.
"What else did dream teacher show you?"
Bali smiled - but it wasn't a child's smile anymore.
"Many things, Grandpa. Many powerful things."
The ancient fire had done its work.