Flames of Defiance

A snarl echoed across the barren wasteland. The deserted shinigami ringed Emiko, their vacant eyes glowing with hunger. Their human forms had been twisted into twisted parodies of what they once were—shadows of warriors consumed by darkness.

Emiko's breathing was even, but her arms and legs hurt. Her heart pounded against her ribcage, but she would not give in to fear. The ember in her glowed, its gold flame burning through her from the inside out, propelling her forward.

She had no weapon. She had no friends.

She would not die here.

One of the monsters responded first, moving at a speed the eye could not keep up with. Its claws scraped towards her throat.

Emiko had scant time to shift. She writhed aside at the very last instant, the blast of the blow scorching the side of her face. A second lashed up behind—she turned, throwing up an arm as though otherwise she might have been exposed. Her bones shrieked with pain, but she set her teeth and rode through it.

They didn't give her any quarter.

She didn't think.

Another shinigami dropped down from above, its twisted form outlined against the darkened sky. Emiko's feet hardly had a chance to touch the ground before she launched herself to safety just as the creature's claws flashed down where she'd just been.

She landed in a crouch, panting for air with burning breaths.

The cursed shinigami growled. They weren't going to leave her be.

She had to put an end to it.

The ember in her beat faster than ever before.

Emiko clenched her fists.

And for the first time, she did not run.

The monsters attacked again. Emiko did not budge this time.

Her body acted before her brain. She dodged out of the way of the first attacker, her foot scrabbling on the torn earth as she turned quickly to the side, thrusting her elbow into its ribs. The monster staggered but didn't go down.

The second one struck from the side. Emiko whirled, raising her arm to defend—too late.

Claws sank into her forearm, tearing cloth and skin.

A hiss of pain escaped her lips as agony flashed through her.

But she didn't yield.

The ember within her blazed hotter.

Her blood was flame.

Something within her was shifting.

The beasts charged again, relentless. Emiko clenched her teeth and raised her hand—

And the world exploded in gold light.

A shockwave burst from her hand, striking the empty shinigami with a blast that sent them stumbling. They broke against jagged stones with the sound of shattering bone, their emptiness screams shattering the silence.

Emiko stumbled, her chest burning.

The auroral light lingered on her fingers.

Did she just.?

She had power.

But she did not yet command it.

A slow, measured sound struck her ears.

The slap of footsteps on stone.

She ceased breathing.

Out of the darkness came a figure unlike the cursed shinigami. He was not a mindless beast.

He was a warrior.

Wearing dark armor, his face half-hidden under a frayed hood. His eyes were not empty—his eyes blazed with silver fire.

He was suffocating.

This was not a test.

This was a real test.

The warrior shinigami drew out his long, curved sword from his belt. Its black tip shone in the otherworldly light of the wasteland.

He lifted his blade, his voice low and emotionless.

"Prove yourself."

Emiko's heart pounded.

"Who are you?" she snapped, her voice harsh.

The warrior said nothing.

He struck instead.

His sword thrummed through the air.

Emiko barely escaped, her body in automatic pilot. The rush of the wind from the blow brushed against her cheek, and a jagged tear ripped the earth apart beneath where she had been an instant before.

He was quick. Quicker than the hellish shinigami.

She didn't have time to think. She hardly had time to breathe.

The warrior spun nimbly, swinging his sword in a second attempt.

Emiko retreated backward, sliding over the broken ground.

A booming voice boomed across the air. "If you do not act at once, death awaits."

Emiko clenched her teeth. "Then I shall not hold back."

She rushed forward, bridging the space between them. The amber ember in her flashed into hot life, channeling energy through her limbs.

She struck—a side blow.

The warrior was gone.

Her blow flew into thin air.

Fear thudded through her heart.

A flash of movement—a whisper—

Pain.

Burnt, gnawing pain lanced through the side of her body.

Emiko gasped, stepping backward. Blood dripped onto the stone floor under her.

The warrior was already behind her, sword smeared with red.

"You are not ready," he told her.

Emiko held her wound.

She could hardly stand.

But she would not fall.

The ember inside of her flared again.

Brighter.

Hotter.

"Not ready?" she breathed, trembling.

Her golden power burst out.

The warrior's silver eyes narrowed.

And then—Emiko charged.