Flames of Fate

The blast ripped through pyron academy core.

Students screamed, glass shattered and a thick cloud of smoke and embers poured from the entrance of the academy. The earth shook and flames rolled across the courtyard, devouring the banners that had once displayed the school's emblem.

Ren's breath caught in his throat as he stared at the figures climbing out of the wreckage. Draped in dark robes, their hands bound in flame, their very being engendering dread.

The Hellfire Cult.

Next to him was Sera Asahina, tense and unyielding. Even she, always so confident, seemed tense.

"Why are they here?" Ren muttered.

Sera's sapphire eyes flicked to him. "They aren't the type of people to attack without cause."

A distorted, low voice rang out above the smoke.

"He who carries the cursed flame, where is he?"

Ren's stomach turned to ice.

They were looking for him.

They knew.

Sera's eyes swung to him at once, her sharp mind making the connections. But before she could say any more, another explosion rocked the courtyard.

"Scatter!" she ordered, shoving Ren away just as a wall of flame shot up between them.

Heat scorched his skin, and Ren tripped, narrowly regaining his footing. He gritted his teeth, squinting against the dazzling light.

Sera had vanished — cut off by the flames.

But that was not the only problem he had.

One of them stepped through the flames, the scraps for a body blackening under that burning light. This Cultist wasn't hooded, unlike the others. He had a tall, fierce-looking frame with a pronounced scar going down the side of his face, and his eyes were a burning, unnatural shade of blue.

Ren's chest tightened.

"Blue flame?"

The man let out a long breath, and the tone was silky, but weighted with power at the same time. "So it's true. Another one has awakened."

He knows about me.

Ren balled his fists, forcing himself to remain calm. He couldn't show fear, not if he wanted to survive. Not now.

The Cultist took a deliberate step forward, eyeing him. "You don't even know what you are, do you?

Ren didn't answer.

The man smirked. "Typical. They never tell you. They allow you to roam, disoriented and befuddled — until it's too late."

He raised his hand. A ball of blue flame came to life in his palm.

Ren's breath caught.

"He can use it, too?"

The man tilted his head. "Let's find out if you deserve it."

Then he struck.

A wave of blue fire rushed forward, coiling through the air as it struck directly toward Ren's chest.

Move!

Ren's instincts blared, and he barely had time to roll to the side before the attack pulverized the stone floor where he had stood.

The blast was violent enough to roll him across the courtyard, his hands brushing rough gravel.

He coughed, trying to lift himself up. He ached all over, but there was no stopping him. Not now.

The Cultist was already upon him.

Ren barely had time to react before the man was on top of him, his fist cloaked in blue flame.

"Too fast—!"

The punch landed hard against Ren's forearm as he went to block, but the jolt resonated in his bones.

Seized with pain up his arm, but worse than the shock was the cold.

The fire wasn't consuming him—it was depleting him.

His energy, his strength — it was being drawn from his very center.

"What the hell is this?"

Ren broke free, stumbling away from her. His arm was numb, his veins beneath the skin crackling with abnormal energy.

The Cultist smirked. "Starting to understand?"

Ren's breathing was ragged. He heard the panic in his voice, and then he stepped back.

It wasn't like Dante's Red Flames or even Sera's wind magic. This was something else.

Something worse.

The Cultist straightened and tilted his head. "The Blue Flame is different than the other ones. It does not just burn — it devours."

He held Ren's gaze, and it was almost a pitying look.

"And if you don't know how to harness it … it will devour you, too."

Ren's fists clenched. He didn't know what angered him more — the words themselves, or the fact that some part of him recognized their truth.

The Cultist sighed. "I would've liked more time, but I think we've been interrupted."

Ren blinked, bewildered — until he sensed it.

A shift in the air.

Then—

BOOM.

A streak of silver and blue light ripped across the battlefield, a hailstorm of gale-force wind knocking the Cultist reeling backward.

Ren raised his arms and shielded his eyes from the wind.

And then—he saw her.

Sera.

Her robe drifted gustily around her, her blade of condensed energies twinkled out at her. The Cultist looked on in fury while her eyes were filled with fire.

"You talk too much," she said, her voice cold.

The Cultist chuckled, stroking his chin. "Impressive. You know how to use your power, don't you, Asahina?"

Ren's head whipped toward her. "You know him?"

Sera didn't look at him. "Not personally."

The Cultist smirked. "Oh, but your father does."

Ren barely saw Sera's momentary hesitation before she lunged, blade shimmering toward the Cultist's throat.

But he was gone before her blade could touch him.

Ren blinked—he hadn't moved. He had simply... vanished.

An unfamiliar voice called from behind them.

"We'll meet again, Blue Flame."

And then—nothing.

Slowly the smoke began to lift, the Cultists fleeing as quickly as they had arrived.

But the damage had been done.

Ren's hands trembled as he stared at the clearly-scorched ground where the Cultist had vanished.

They had come for him.

And worse — they would return.