The air is red... no, it's not air, but a hot breath rising from the bowels of a burning earth.
In the middle... stands "He."
A creature taller than any human. Half of him is a slitted shadow, the other half is fire burning beneath his skin. Black eyes that glow a strange red... when he looks.
He holds an unknown boy, trembling as if he were being pulled from life.
With one hand he lifts him, with the other... he digs his fingers into his chest.
No blood. Just a white flash of light rising from the body like soul smoke.
And the being... swallows him.
The boy crumbles, not falls, but turns into luminous ash floating in the heavy air.
Then he looks at Cairn.
An inhuman gaze. No anger in it... only knowledge.
Then:
> "You're late."
The voice throbs inside him.
And suddenly...
The earth explodes.
The sky burns.
And Cairn falls into nothingness.
Cairn falls...
Not into the void.
But into himself.
As if the fall wasn't external... but an internal collapse.
He could hear the echo of his heart... but the sound wasn't a human heart.
A heavy sound... triple-pulsing... as if three souls inside him were striking the ground at once.
> Knock... knock... knock...
Then...
Cairn stands.
But this time... in a giant stone room.
Chains hang from the ceiling, and on the walls are signs carved in a language he doesn't know, but familiar... frightening... as if his skin knows them, even if his mind doesn't.
And in the middle of the room...
A girl is chained.
Her face is covered in hair.
Her legs are bare and dusty.
The chains are taut around her wrists and ankles, as if she's nailed to the spot, not just tied down.
Cairn approaches.
The closer he gets, the more his chest heats up.
The girl doesn't move.
But her body trembles...
Then, suddenly, she lifts her head.
And then...
Cairn freezes.
Not because she's terrifying.
But because she looks like him.
She's not his twin.
But the features are familiar...
Her face is as if someone has taken his own and "reversed" it.
Her look...is sad.
And her voice...comes out as a whisper:
> "You're late."
> "Again."
> "You left me... here?"
Cairn is confused.
- "Who are you?!"
> "I am the one you deny."
> "I am the one the door was locked on, so you can't speak."
> "I am the one who burned...before you were born."
The air around her begins to shake.
The chains move.
And the room begins to melt.
Cairn grabs his head.
- "Enough... enough!!"
The girl screams:
> "Open the door!"
> "You're the key!"
> "Open it!!"
Then...
Something emerges from the ground.
A red flame, like a flame... but with a face.
The face of a being... half skull, half fire.
The face looks at the girl, then at Cairn, and says:
> "No more time."
Then...
The whole dream explodes.
Cairn slams back into his real body as if slapped from the sky.
Cairn opens his eyes.
Slowly.
The light is dim, a wooden ceiling above him, and a strange scent fills the air... as if it were a room that hasn't been used in a long time, but is far too clean.
He tries to move, but his body feels heavy... as if someone has poured sleep and lead over him at the same time.
Then he hears voices.
Speech… faint, but clear enough to penetrate the walls.
"What's strange… it's not just District Six."
"What do you mean?"
"District Four… started freezing. Literally. Everything… stopped."
"Frozen?!"
"Yes. The snow covered every building in minutes. We found some survivors, they were in shock, but the rest… no one knows where they went. They disappeared."
"Are there survivors from Six as well?"
"A few… it's beyond expectations."
Cairn gasped quietly.
He tried to get up, but felt a prick in his arm. He looked… a small needle attached to a tube. He was on a very comfortable bed, covered in clean, white sheets. Something that didn't look like the hospitals in District Six at all.
Everything was… so clean.
So strange.
He opened his mouth slowly, his voice hoarse:
"Where… am I?"
The two voices stopped behind the door.
Then the sound of footsteps.
The door opened quietly.
A man in his forties, with black hair streaked with gray, entered, accompanied by another young man who looked to be about sixteen. He smiled, but watched closely.
The man approached and said in a firm voice, "Stay where you are. Your condition hasn't stabilized yet."
Cairn blinked twice.
He didn't know who it was.
But he... knew the smile.
He turned to the young man standing next to him.
The young man raised an eyebrow and said, "Hello again, Cairn."
Cairn whispered, "Raynor...?"
Raynor smiled and pointed to his chest.
"Point to me. This is the second time you've recognized me after a disaster."
The man said, "I'm Dr. Elam. The emergency supervisor for the Upper City."
"We found you after the explosion… unconscious. Your condition was unstable, and there was… an unnatural heat emanating from you."
He stared at him for a moment.
"A heat that nearly burned the ground beneath you."
Cairn's eyes widened… but he said nothing.
Raynor chimed in:
"Don't worry, no one saw anything strange. Most of those around you died, and those who survived… were in no condition to see anything."
Cairn said hoarsely:
"Alicia… Nero…?"
Dr. Elam looked at Raynor.
Raynor lowered his head, then said:
"Alicia… is in a safe place. She was injured, but relatively well. As for Nero…"
He was silent.
Cairn tugged at the blanket.
"Where is he?"
Raynor shook his head slowly:
"We didn't find him."
Everyone was silent for a few seconds.
Then Dr. Elam said, looking at the file in his hand:
"Cairn… do you remember anything?"
"Something that happened?"
"You saw something unusual?"
Cairn looked at him.
He didn't answer.
How could he tell them about the dream?
How could he tell them about that girl?
About the fiery creature?
About the voice that screamed in his chest?
About the eyes that burned in the darkness?
He just… closed his eyes.
Then he said quietly:
"I was sleeping."
**
The two men exchanged quick glances, then the doctor left silently, leaving Raynor alone with Cairn.
Raynor approached the bed, sat in the chair next to him, and whispered:
"I think… big things happen. And no one understands what they are."
He then smiled half-mouthed and added:
"But at least… we have you."
Cairn didn't respond to Raynor.
He turned his face to the ceiling, as if trying to escape this reality that was unlike anything he had ever known.
But there was no escape.
The heat in his chest was still there… silent, but like embers refusing to cool.
Then… there was a soft knock on the door.
A knock that didn't involve any hesitation.
The door opened slowly… without anyone waiting for permission.
A man entered.
He was tall, with a heavy presence… as if he filled the room without moving.
He was wearing simple navy clothes, but everything about him suggested he wasn't "simple."
His steps were measured.
His eyes were a strange color… somewhere between gray and amber.
He stopped himself at the edge of the bed, then said in a quiet, accentless voice:
"Hello, Cairn."
Cairn blinked, then looked directly at him.
In his mind:
Who is this? Why does his voice make me feel like I know him?
The man raised a slight eyebrow, as if he'd caught the question out of thin air, then continued:
"Are you feeling better?"
He paused for a moment, then smiled slightly.
"You're no doubt wondering who I am."
He sat in Raynor's chair, then said in a tone that wouldn't detract from the argument:
"My name is Raiden Redant."
"From this day forward... I will be your caretaker."
He pointed to Cairn's chest.
"Not just because I'm a doctor, a warden, or an official in the Upper City."
"But because what's inside you... needs someone who knows how to watch it, contain it... or awaken it, if necessary."
Cairn's face paled.
He was silent.
"What's inside you...?"
Was he talking about the dream? The girl? The fire creature? His voice? The eyes?
But Reid wasn't waiting for a response.
He continued in the same tone:
"I'm a trainer. And not just any trainer."
"I worked with… rare cases."
"People who saw things no human should ever see."
"People who went through something similar to what I went through…"
Then he leaned forward a little and whispered in a very low voice:
"But none of them were like you."
Cairn felt a cold sweat trickle down his neck.
Every sentence from this man seemed calculated… frightening in its precision.
"What's happening to me?" he whispered, barely getting out of his mouth.
Reid looked at him for a long time, then said:
"That's… what we'll try to figure out together."
"But first, you have to decide."
He raised a finger and pointed to his chest:
"Do you want to understand?"
"Do you want to know why you're… alive now? When everyone else isn't?"
"Are you willing to learn… how not to burn out?"
Then he stood.
He straightened his short jacket.
"If you're ready… I'll start your training tomorrow at dawn."
He stepped toward the door, and before he left, he turned and said:
"But if you're not ready… that's okay."
"Those who are will come… to take you."
Then he opened the door and left.
No noise.
Without a trace.
Cairn was left alone.
The light on his face.
His chest was still hot.
And his eyes… were no longer what they had been before the fire.
…
> Outside, a light wind passed through the windows.
But it wasn't cold.
It was… warm.
Very warm.
It was like a reminder that something inside… was still burning.