Chapter Two: Fire in the Veins
"They taught him how to kill before they taught him how to feel. And by the time he could tell the difference, it was already too late."
The first time Kael burned someone alive, he was thirteen.
He remembered the scream more than the smell. The way the sound curved in his ears like a violin string snapping — sharp, quick, final. His hands didn't shake back then. They were trained not to.
Now they did.
He sat crouched over a fire, far from the rebel tunnels, on the edge of Blackvale. Alone. Again. The flame flickered in his palm — controlled, but trembling. He pressed it shut until the heat licked his skin and hissed out.
It wasn't punishment.
It was memory control.
Pain kept him grounded.
Pain reminded him that he was not the Authority's weapon anymore.
Flashback: 3 Years Earlier
The Authority Citadel—cleaner than a hospital, colder than death. White walls. Silver floors. Red uniforms.
They called it the Academy. But Kael knew it was a lab.
"Subject KA-42," barked Instructor Vren. "Focus!"
Kael stood shirtless, surrounded by steel targets, wires embedded in his spine. The metal collar on his neck blinked red. Heat coiled in his gut. The moment he hesitated, the collar would shock him. It always did.
He hated when they used his number.
He preferred when the other trainees whispered his name — Kael the Inferno.
The heat surged through his veins. It always came with anger. With guilt. With loss.
With her face.
He didn't know her name. Just that she burned when he didn't want her to.
The collar jolted him. A warning.
He raised his hands. Fire exploded outwards.
Targets melted. Cameras rolled. And the scientists smiled behind their glass walls.
Present Day
Kael snapped out of the memory when a twig cracked behind him. He didn't turn. He already knew who it was.
"Did you come to stalk me or to save me again?" he asked without looking.
Nyah's voice came softly, from behind a tree. "Neither. I came to ask... if you've ever wanted to burn this whole place down."
Kael turned slowly. Her hair was wet from mist, her eyes tired. There was blood on her temple — not hers, but recent.
"I did," he said. "Once. Before I realized fire doesn't change anything. It just exposes what's already dead."
She stepped closer. The fire between them dimmed. Her voice cracked. "I think I'm losing control."
"You think I'm not?" Kael stood. "You think this"—he raised his palm, flame dancing—"is control?"
She looked at him, really looked.
Then whispered, "We're both broken."
Kael exhaled. "That's the only reason we survived the Academy."
Scene Break: Flashback Two
Authority Dossier Entry — KA-42
Subject shows signs of emotional regression. Firepower linked to memory triggers.
Recent Mission Outcome: Failed. Civilian casualties. Subject refused direct kill order.
Recommended: Terminate KA-42 if rebellion contact is confirmed.
Status: Under Surveillance
Later That Night
Kael returned to the tunnels after midnight. He found Dez patching the walls with steel panels, Sora meditating over a flickering map of the Divide, and Lira pacing like a ghost.
Only Nyah looked calm. Too calm.
She was drawing. A tree with roots made of eyes.
He didn't ask what it meant.
As he passed her, she stopped him with just one word:
"Tomorrow."
He turned.
"We go after the transport train," she said. "The one carrying the serum."
Kael hesitated. "That's suicide."
"Maybe," she said. "But the Authority started this war with experiments. I say we end it by stealing them back."
He thought about the girl he burned.
And the name they gave him: Inferno.
"Then let's give them fire," he said. "The kind they can't control."
As Kael walked away, a red light blinked faintly beneath his shirt — the tracker embedded in his chest still alive.
He hadn't told Nyah.
He hadn't told anyone.
The Authority was still watching him. Still waiting for him to lead them to the rebellion.
And Kael... might not be strong enough to stop them.
END OF CHAPTER TWO