The slums of Ember Hollow were places where even the moonlight hesitated to fall. Cracked rooftops leaned like broken ribs, and foul-smelling mist rose from open drains. Scavengers prowled the alleys—rats, thieves, and worse. In this forgotten corner of the realm, the cries of abandoned children were no more significant than the whistling of the wind.
Tonight, however, something stirred differently.
A faint, whimpering sound came from a dirty bundle near a collapsed wall. Two infants huddled together—one boy and one girl—wrapped in torn cloth that still carried the faint scent of phoenix ash. Their cheeks were smeared with dust, but their eyes glowed with unusual brilliance. The girl, Lyra, slept fitfully, clutching her brother's sleeve. The boy, Arin, remained awake, tiny brows scrunched as though he sensed danger crawling closer.
They were only a year old—soft, fragile, defenseless.
Or so it seemed.
A group of bandits moved through the slum path, boots splashing through muddy puddles. They weren't ordinary criminals. Their leader, a tall man with a jagged scar across his chin, carried a club studded with iron nails. He was known as Grath One-Eye, infamous for selling children to the darker markets far beyond the kingdom's borders.
He spat to the side and growled, "Spread out. Heard a babe cry earlier. Could fetch a good price."
The men snickered. "If it's healthy, maybe. If not, we toss it."
Grath's one good eye scanned the path. "We take whatever we find. Buyers aren't picky these days."
The slums held no laws at this hour. No guards. No mercy.
Grath stepped closer to the collapsed wall—and stopped.
"Huh?"
His boot nudged a bundle. A soft coo escaped from within. He gestured to his men, who quickly gathered around.
"Well, well," he chuckled, kneeling. "Look at this. Two kids for the taking."
He reached out and unwrapped part of the cloth. Lyra stirred, her small hands fluttering. Her dark lashes trembled, and her eyes opened—revealing irises like molten gold. They sparkled faintly, unnatural even in dim light.
One of the bandits recoiled. "Boss, their eyes… something's off."
Grath snorted. "Kids born strange all the time. Might fetch extra coin."
He reached toward Lyra.
And everything changed.
Arin, who had been silent until now, suddenly let out a soft, warning cry. His tiny hand rose, as if trying to push the man away. A faint ripple—barely visible—shimmered in the air around him.
Grath froze when a strange sensation crawled up his spine. "What was that?"
Before any man could react, Lyra whimpered louder. Arin's eyes snapped open completely—revealing a swirling mix of night-purple and ember-red, like shadows wrapped around flame.
The air thickened.
The bandits stumbled back.
The slums grew silent, as if the world itself held its breath.
A faint spark glimmered around the infant boy's body. It grew. Expanded. A small pulse of shadow intertwined with shimmering ember light rolled outward like a wave.
"What the—?!" a bandit shouted.
Then came the burst.
A sudden shockwave—silent but powerful—erupted from Arin. It wasn't a flame. Not exactly. It wasn't darkness either. It was both. A spiraling helix of black flame and radiant red luminance shot outward, slamming into the ground and the air with equal force.
The bandits screamed.
The one closest to the twins flew backward, crashing into a pile of broken crates. Another stumbled and toppled into the filthy gutter. The third dove aside, rolling desperately to avoid the fiery-black arc that grazed his sleeve and burned through the fabric as though it were soaked in oil.
Grath One-Eye scrambled back, fear replacing greed in an instant. "What monster child is this?!"
He tried to steady himself, but his hands were shaking too violently.
On the ground, Arin continued to stare at them—not with malice, not even with understanding, but with instinct. The shadow-flame spiraled higher for an instant before collapsing inward, as if sucked back into his tiny body. The aura vanished. The alley grew normal again, except for scorch marks carved into dirt and stone.
The bandits gaped in horror.
"Boss… let's get out of here," one stammered.
"Yeah, yeah! That ain't no child—that's a demon!"
"Run, fool!"
They fled so quickly they nearly tripped over each other.
Grath was the last to retreat. Even as he stumbled backward, his lips trembled with a mixture of fear and disbelief.
"That wasn't normal…" he whispered. "That was… power. Ancient. Forbidden."
Then he too vanished into the darkness, leaving the twins alone once more.
Silence returned—but it wasn't the same silence as before.
The air around the children shimmered faintly with the remnants of Arin's aura. The scorch marks glowed like dying coals before dimming to gray. Arin's tiny chest heaved as he breathed, exhausted. Lyra, startled but unharmed, reached for him with her small hands, as if asking for comfort.
Their fingers intertwined.
The world seemed to breathe around them.
From the shadowy corner of a nearby shack, the old beggar who had watched their abandonment earlier slowly emerged. His eyes, hidden behind grime and wrinkles, now gleamed with sharp awareness.
He had seen everything.
He had been waiting for this moment.
"Well, now…" he whispered, voice crackling like old parchment. "So the rumors were true after all. Heavenfire twins—born of forbidden blood."
He limped closer, leaning heavily on his twisted cane.
"Shadow and flame from birth… even the heavens fear what you two may become."
His gaze swept over the scorch marks. He chuckled softly—half in awe, half in anticipation.
"But power like this… will attract far worse than bandits."
He stopped a few steps away, eyes narrowing as he peered at the sleeping twins.
"And you, little ones… are already being hunted."
The twins stirred again, their tiny hands still clasped.
The beggar's smile widened into something unsettling—something knowing.
"The real enemies," he whispered, "haven't even arrived yet."
He glanced toward the sky, where faint embers drifted far above—too perfect, too steady to be natural. Someone was watching. Someone powerful.
The old beggar stepped closer and knelt.
"Time to choose," he murmured. "Do I leave you—to fate? Or…"
He reached out a trembling hand toward Arin's forehead.
"…do I claim you before the others find you?"
The twins whimpered.
The air grew still.
And then—a fiery crack split open the sky above.