Si Past

Amal lay still among the broken rocks, her body aching, her vision spinning. Hours passed. The moon had risen, and smoke from the forest drifted into the sky. She stirred, groaning, and blinked. A shape beside her also moved—Exile.

"Wake up, you monkey," she said weakly.

Exile rubbed his head, wincing. "Did we get him?"

Amal looked away. "No. We lost him."

Exile sighed, shoulders sagging. "I'm sorry…"

She stood slowly, wobbling. "Save your sorry for your kingdom."

He looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"I'm leaving."

"You're what?"

"I said I'm leaving, Exile. This whole thing... I'm done."

He stumbled forward. "No—you can't. We have to stop him—"

"No. You have to stop him," Amal interrupted.

Exile dropped to his knees, eyes wide, pleading. "Please… Amal, please don't leave. I can't do this alone."

Her voice cracked. "There are twenty thousand soldiers burning this forest. Look at the smoke—can't you see it? If they find me, they'll kill me."

"But if we don't stop him," Exile said through trembling breath, "he'll burn everything—the forest, the kingdom—my people."

Amal clenched her fists. "All I hear is not my problem."

"Please…" His voice broke. "Please, Amal."

She turned away from him, trying to steady her voice. "You have a kingdom, Exile. A kingdom has an army. Fight with it."

Exile began to cry. "You're all I have left. You saved me. Please don't leave me alone."

Amal didn't speak. She turned to leave, biting her lip, eyes stinging. Shi… Tai… Sai… what would you think of me now? Am I a coward? Or just human?

She wiped her eyes before Exile could see the tears.

"Why?" Exile called behind her.

She stopped.

"Why are you leaving?" he asked again.

"Don't you hear it?" she said quietly.

Exile looked around. Thumping. Smoke. Heavy footfalls.

A deep voice boomed from the forest:

> "Do not run. I have you surrounded."

Si emerges

Amal and Exile turned. Sai—Si now—stood at the edge of the flames. His armor dark and regal, his cape burned at the edges. His soldiers behind him like shadows of death.

But when Si looked at Amal, his voice softened. "Amal… leave. This doesn't concern you."

"What did that kingdom do to you, Si?" Amal asked. "What was so cruel that you have to destroy it?"

He paused. His army stood silent behind him.

Then he spoke—not like a general, but a wounded man. "You want the truth? Fine. You're already dead to them anyway."

Si stepped forward. "I was abandoned in the forest as a child. A woman found me—her name was Vema. She brought me to her village in the Bear Realm. I thought I'd been saved… but it was just a different kind of hell."

He exhaled. "She raised me as a servant. A slave. She hit me if I made noise. She had me polish her husband's blades with bare hands. I still have the scars."

He pulled off one glove, showing burn marks.

"She let me out once a week… the villagers saw me as nothing. The adults spat near me. The children—Sharo, Brix, Tila—they used to chase me, stone me, laugh when I bled. 'You're not a like us human,' they'd shout. 'You're just forest trash.'"

Amal's lip quivered.

"One day," Si said, his tone low, "on my seventeenth birthday, I snapped. Vema screamed at me because the stew was cold. I picked up one of her husband's swords… and I drove it through her heart."

Exile flinched.

"I waited for him to come home. When he saw the blood, he didn't shout. He just looked at me and said, 'First blood, huh? Maybe you're more than trash after all.'"

His voice was a knife. "That was the first time I felt free ."

Amal whispered, "Si…"

Exile laughed bitterly. "Wow. What a story."

"It's true," Amal said.

Exile looked at her in disbelief. "You're not falling for this, are you?"

She shook her head. "No… I just know it's true."

Si's eyes narrowed. "Don't switch sides. I'll kill you too if you stand in my way."

Amal stepped forward. "I'm not switching. But I can't blame you. Me and my friends destroyed the kingdom that made us suffer."

She took a breath. "But I had nothing to do with your pain. Still… if I walk away now, my friends—Shi, Tai, even Sai—what would they think of me?"

Exile looked at her. "Amal…"

She turned to him. "I have no weapon, Exile."

He stared at her, not understanding.

"Why aren't you like Xei?" she snapped. Then, she screamed and ran toward Si, unarmed, heart broken, but courage blazing.

Amal whispered with a tired grin,

"You owe me, Sai. Big time

Do not mistake my fire for madness. See it for what it truly is — the storm that lives inside all of us, waiting to burn. I just had the guts to light the match.

And one day, Amal... you will light it