Smoke hung heavy over the ruins, and Aaryan could taste ash in the back of his throat—not the old, settled kind, but fresh. Angry.
The guards had come and gone, but what they left behind was clear. A warning.
His old shelter was burned to the ground. His blankets, his books, even the broken kettle—all reduced to soot and twisted metal. The last familiar piece of his old life, erased in a single act.
Rivka coughed as she leaned against a cracked wall. Her cheek was swollen, her lip bleeding. She didn't complain.
"They were looking for you," she whispered. "Said there were reports of fire coming from the western cliffs. They think you're summoning something."
"I'm not," Aaryan muttered.
"You are," she corrected. "Whether you mean to or not."
Aaryan turned his back to the destruction. He could feel it now—beneath his skin, beneath the earth. The pendant around his neck was pulsing again, and his heartbeat followed its rhythm. Steady. Furious.
---
That night, back in the cave, Aaryan didn't train. He demanded.
The Veiled One stood silently as Aaryan threw sparks into the air, trying to shape them, control them.
"I'm done pretending this is a lesson," Aaryan growled. "I need power."
"You need balance," the Veiled One replied.
"I need strength!" His voice echoed through the stone walls. "They will keep hunting me. And anyone near me."
The Veiled One stepped forward. For the first time, there was heat behind their words.
"You think fire is strength? Fire is chaos. It consumes. It blinds. It makes you the danger. Do you wish to protect? Or to destroy?"
"I don't know anymore," Aaryan admitted, trembling. "I only know that I can't lose anyone else."
The Veiled One studied him. Then, slowly, they lifted a scroll from the chamber wall.
"This is the Sigil of Kindling," they said. "One of the Nine Flame Seals. It will let you summon fire without a source. A breath becomes a blade. But it takes more than will. It takes cost."
Aaryan nodded. "I'll pay it."
---
The ritual was etched into his skin.
Not with ink—but with heat. The Veiled One chanted, and the pendant around Aaryan's neck lit up with crimson light. Symbols burned themselves into the skin over his forearms, glowing with soft gold. It hurt—but he didn't scream.
When it was over, Aaryan fell to one knee. Steam rose from his arms. The pendant had dimmed, as if resting.
"You've taken the first seal," the Veiled One said. "But remember—each flame awakened calls to its opposite. You will not only draw power… but attention."
---
They were right.
The next morning, the first shadow came.
It appeared as a man. Cloaked in black silk, eyes like dying embers. He entered the cave without sound, as if the earth itself didn't notice him. The Veiled One stood between him and Aaryan.
"I thought you were dead," they said.
"I was," the man replied. "Then your apprentice stirred the ashes."
He turned to Aaryan, smiling.
"So you're the one. The fire's little echo."
Aaryan raised his hand, sparks forming at his fingertips.
The man's smile widened. "Cute."
In a blink, he crossed the chamber. Aaryan barely had time to react—he threw out his palm and released the Kindling Sigil. A torrent of flame surged forward, crashing into the man's chest and throwing him against the wall.
But he laughed.
His cloak was singed. His skin, untouched.
"Raw power. No control," he mused. "You'll make a fine offering."
He vanished into smoke.
---
The Veiled One was silent for a long time after that.
"That was a Watcher," they said at last. "A servant of the Black Pyres. They were destroyed long ago… or so we believed."
"What do they want?"
"Your flame. Your soul. Your name."
"Then let them come," Aaryan said.
"No," the Veiled One said. "You must go to them. Find the others before they do. There are still remnants of the Flameborn scattered across the kingdoms. You are not the only ember left."
"Where do I start?"
The Veiled One walked to a corner of the chamber, revealing a map—ancient, cracked, but still readable. A red mark burned over a region to the east.
"Start in Ruunvale," they said. "A city ruled by silence and silver. There is one there who remembers the old songs. She will teach you your second flame."
Aaryan reached for the map, then hesitated. "What if I'm not ready?"
"You're not," the Veiled One said. "But you will be. You must be."
---
When he returned to Rivka, she was already packing.
"I figured you wouldn't leave me behind," she said.
Aaryan smirked. "You figured right."
They stood at the edge of Narah, staring into the unknown. Ruins behind them. Shadows ahead.
The pendant burned warmly against Aaryan's chest.
The journey had begun.