Chapter Four: Before the Fire

I never cared for magic. It always felt distant, something for scholars, sorcerers, and fools who couldn't accept the world as it was. Power always comes at a cost, and I never wanted to pay it.

Before the fire, my life was simple. I lived in a quiet town, surrounded by familiar faces and the steady rhythm of ordinary days. I spent my time tending to the small garden behind our house, listening to my father's stories, and rolling my eyes at my brother's obsession with magic.

He was the gifted one. The ambitious one. The one who wanted more.

Especially when it came to fire magic.

I never understood his fascination. To me, fire was something natural—something to be respected, not controlled. But he was drawn to it, studying every spell he could get his hands on. He could summon flames with a flick of his wrist, bend them to his will like they were an extension of himself. I always thought it was reckless. He thought it made him powerful.

But the night our home burned, even he was powerless.

I remember the heat, the light, the way the flames moved like they were alive. My brother tried everything—summoning water, drawing protective runes, even attempting to command the fire itself. But it didn't listen. It didn't weaken. It didn't even acknowledge him.

That was when I knew. This was not normal fire. This was something else. Something ancient. Something beyond magic as we understood it.

By the time the fire died, our house was gone. My family was gone. And I was left standing in the ashes, watching as the rest of the town carried on as if nothing had happened.

Because to them, nothing had.

Their homes were untouched. Their lives were unchanged. Whatever force had set that fire, it had come only for us.

I couldn't stay after that. The town felt hollow, a cruel reminder of everything I had lost. And more than anything, I needed answers. Who did this? What did this? Why?

So I left.

I abandoned the only home I had ever known, stepping into a world I once wanted no part of. I turned to the very thing I had spent my life avoiding—magic, knowledge, power.

Because now, I have nothing to lose.