[RAI]
The fire didn't just speak to me anymore.
It showed me.
Not dreams.
Memories.
Visions.
And each time I let it in, I started to feel him more clearly.
He didn't hide in the dark corners of my mind like a parasite.
He stood beside me now.
Sometimes in silence.
Sometimes in tears.
He had a name.
But for centuries… he had forgotten it.
Until now.
"Ash."
That was his name.
The first bearer of the Black Flame.
And the first to be consumed by it.
[ASH]
There was a time when I was a child too.
Hungry. Hunted. Hated.
Born into a world that feared the unnatural.
I didn't have a family.
I had fire.
It kept me warm.
It kept me fed.
But it also made me dangerous.
Villages chased me.
Temples cursed me.
I didn't care.
Because the flame told me I was chosen.
And when I believed it…
I became unstoppable.
They came in white robes.
With weapons glowing like sunlight.
They said I was a mistake.
That my existence broke the balance of magic.
That the flame I carried came from a fallen god — one who once tried to burn the heavens.
They weren't wrong.
But they weren't right, either.
Because I didn't want to be a god.
I just wanted to be safe.
I burned their towers.
I destroyed their seals.
Not because I wanted revenge.
But because every time I closed my eyes…
I saw their blades coming again.
So I struck first.
Over and over.
Until the world believed what they feared was true:
That I was a monster.
[RAI]
His memories are heavy.
They don't come like stories.
They come like pain.
Like grief that never healed.
Sometimes I feel myself falling into them.
Losing my own shape.
My name.
My voice.
But then I hear his whisper again.
"I don't want you to become me."
"That's why I chose you."
I don't know how to carry a soul that's burned a thousand times.
I don't know how to walk with someone else's rage curled around my spine.
But I'm trying.
Because if I let go of Ash…
I might lose the only person who understands what I'm becoming.
[ASH]
She was the only one who didn't run.
Her name was Sera.
A holy knight sworn to the Light Court.
She found me one night, bleeding in a cave, barely able to breathe.
She could've killed me.
Should've.
But she didn't.
She healed me.
Fed me.
Sat beside me while I screamed in my sleep.
She told me I wasn't a monster.
And for the first time in my life…
I believed her.
I loved her.
Not like fire.
Like rain.
Like stillness.
Like forgiveness.
And for a time… I forgot the fire.
I wanted to live as Ash.
Not the flame.
Not the god.
Just Ash.
But the world remembered what I was.
The Order found us.
They gave her one choice.
Kill me…
…or die beside me.
She chose me.
But they didn't let her.
I burned the world to save her.
And still—
She died.
By their hands.
In my arms.
And her final words were:
"Don't let them turn you into something you're not."
But they already had.
[RAI]
I wake up crying sometimes now.
From grief that isn't mine.
From love I never felt.
From a name I never knew until yesterday.
But I keep holding on.
Because Ash isn't a monster.
He was just alone.
For a long time.
So long, he forgot how to be anything else.
And maybe that's what I'm afraid of too.
That one day I'll wake up…
And I'll only be fire.
No Rai.
No dreams.
Just burning.
[ASH]
He's stronger than I was.
Not because of power.
Because he still laughs.
Still feels.
Still resists.
I didn't.
I let the fire have everything.
And when I lost Sera, I stopped being human.
But Rai still has people.
That girl with the moonlight.
That annoying instructor who pretends not to care.
Even the ones who fear him… they haven't walked away yet.
I envy him.
And I will protect him.
Even if it means fading into ash again.
[RAI]
I opened my eyes tonight and felt something new.
Not fire.
Not fear.
But clarity.
Ash's power isn't a weapon.
It's a story.
One that was never finished.
He burned the world.
But he never burned the ones who deserved it.
He died in pain, misunderstood.
So maybe…
It's my job to carry the ending he never got.
Not with vengeance.
But with truth.
They think I'm a threat?
Good.
Because I've seen what the real threat looks like now.
It's coming.
And it's worse than demons or gods.
It's the people who call themselves righteous.
And burn others for not fitting their definition of light.
Ash burned too much.
I've burned too little.
Let's fix that balance.
Together.
Somewhere Far Away…
In a cold chamber beneath a royal palace, a High Priest reads a prophecy aloud:
"When flame remembers its name, the false Light shall tremble."
Outside, a thousand soldiers prepare.
Their swords don't shine.
They shimmer with blessed silver.
"Bring me the E-Rank boy," the priest says.
"Bring me the god they fear."