Controlling the Fire

The training hall may be deadly silent except for the distant sound of the wind outside.

Ren was in the middle, taking deep breaths, a trickle of sweat running down the side of his face. His muscles ached from having fought Dante so hard seconds before. But that was nothing compared to what now lay ahead of him—learning to master the Blue Flame.

Sera looked up from across the couple of feet separating her from Ren, narrowing her eyes at the waning ray of light. She had not spoken since they had entered the training hall, her usual easy confidence swapped for a steady resolve.

It was as if there was electricity in the air, with a space between them that barely existed.

"Alright, Kaizen." Sera's voice sliced through the silence, steady and authoritative. "If you want to live, you must learn to reign in that power.

At the mention of the Blue Flame, the hot spark inside Ren stirred. He could still feel it—the feral, tumultuous monster that galloped in his chest, threatening to devour him whole with each fleeting moment.

"Control? How do I even start?" His voice tinged with frustration, Ren asked.

Sera moved closer, never taking her eyes off him. "The Blue Flame cannot be made into your average fire. Her voice became soft, almost as if she were trying to explain a difficult concept to a child. **"It's born out of conflict — a union between the godly and the demonic. It devours its wielder if they do not master it."

Ren sure, but his head was an empty fog. "And how do I prevent it from devouring me?"

Sera waited briefly, weighing her response. "It's not about push[ing] the flame. It's about letting it—letting it come and go with you, in you, and still not losing yourself."

Ren's brow furrowed. "Embrace it?"

Sera's face turned grave. "Yes. But not in the way you think. The Blue Flame is a mirror of your feelings, your wants, your rage. But if you allow it to take over, it will consume you. But if you can learn to quell your own mind, it will be a part of your will. It's not going to burn you — it's going to empower you."

Ren let out a long breath as she processed what she was saying. It had not come easily — he had always depended on his instincts in battle, relying on his physical gifts to see him through. But this was different. The Blue Flame was alien, feral, savage.

"Okay, so what do I do?"

Sera walked closer, firm in her stance. "Everything is a possibility then, but first we need to saw the flame to the extreme.

Ren blinked. "What?"

Sera smiled, with a trace of steel in it. "We need to see how far it can go, how much you can control. I'm not going to let you run amok, but I need to know how much power you can channel before it consumes you."

Ren's heart leapt at her words. "You're asking me to push it...?"

She nodded, her eyes steady. "Yes. Only then we can understand it. Only then will you be able to keep it in check."

For a moment Ren hesitated, uncertainty sparking in his chest. But the burden of his history of battles, the specter of the Hellfire Cult ever hovering in the air above him, it drove him onward.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and concentrated.

Everything around him faded as his mind focused on the fire inside him.

He could sense it — the power, the energy, thrumming under his skin.

It wasn't the comfortable heat of familiar flames — this was different, darker, more threatening. He could sense where it was wild, where it led to untamable, like a current pulling him toward the brink of madness. But he held on.

He considered what Sera had said. "Embrace it."

He concentrated on that, shoving all his feelings aside. Anger, fear, doubt — locked it all away, sought the center of his being, the spot where he could be in control.

He, slowly, reached for the flame inside him. It reacted instantly, ramping up its power.

Ren sucked his breath in but instead of drawing away, he blew into it. The heat of the flame intensified, but he did not recoil.

It felt… different this time.

Sera watched closely, relaxed already but eyes sharp. "Focus."

Ren's grip tightened. The Blue Flame thrashed wildly within him, fighting to escape, but he forced his breaths to calm, to steady his thoughts.

The flames churned inside him for a long moment, but Ren would not waver.

Then the nature of the fire started to transform.

Rather than chaotic bursts of energy available to him, it started to flow—a constant, controlled surge that rippled under his skin. Ren's heart slowed when he understood what was happening.

He was controlling it.

Sera gave a surprised but happy eyebrow arch. "You're doing it. Don't lose focus."

Ren felt his body burning up, the atmosphere bending around him as if he himself were a flame, but he held on. The fire was no longer an adversary — it was his.

Ren raised his hand with a swoop, and a glowing orb of blue fire rose from his palm and twirled like one such storm in the mini-climate he had just created.

He fitted it there, his eyes trained.

"Good." Sera was softened but approving. "Now, let's see how much you control.

Ren's mind raced. He had to push further.

He pressed the flames up with a sudden movement, the orb wide and huge, the ball of blue fire swirling with dark, churning energy. It danced and writhed, more feral by the moment.

His body fought against the heat, sweat gathering on his forehead, but he maintained the flames, forcing them not to flare out of his grasp.

Sera stood with folded arms, watching closely.

"Don't get reckless." The tone in her voice was somewhat cautionary by nature. "It will incinerate you, if you lose control of it."

Ren nodded, having shaken off the fuzziness of his mind. He didn't fear the fire anymore. He knew it now—it flowed along with his blood.

Suddenly, he threw the ball of flames upwards, and it climbed and spun in the sky like a flying star, in the blink of an eye, it fell from the sky and disappeared in the air like the mist.

Ren sank to his knees, panting. His limbs quaked from the effort, but he had done it. He had controlled the flame.

Habitually, Sera came nearer, her eyes deep in thought. "Well done."

Ren mopped his brow and smiled slightly despite his evident fatigue. "That was... insane."

Sera smiled, men, but not a smile of mockery, but of approval. "You've come a distance in a short time. But don't settle in too deeply."

Ren raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Sera's eyes went marginally darker. "Managing the Blue Flame is just one thing. Knowing it, really knowing it, is one thing.

She knelt down beside him. **"You've come a long way, but there will come occasions when this flame will strike back. When it feels that you are weak or scared, it will want to possess your soul. "Remember — Don't let it control you."

Ren nodded solemnly. "I won't forget."

For a moment Sera's gaze softened, but then hardened. "The road ahead is still long, Kaizen. "Hellfire Cult is only the tip of the iceberg."

Ren rose slowly, dusting off himself. His body was still on fire from the exertion, but the weight of his training had settled into his bones. "I'm ready."

Sera gave him one last look. "We'll see. But for now… you have taken the first step."

Ren shot her a look, and then the empty world around them, and it felt like all the possibilities that lay ahead flashed through his mind.

This was just the beginning.

The Blue Flame had awakened.

And there was no going back.