Weight of Flame

The flames went out.

The universe went quiet.

Ren froze another moment, feeble blue fire burning around him, illuminating the broken battlefield with an eerie glow. His arms shook. His legs folded.

Then—

He fell.

"Ren!"

Sera's scream pierced the stillness as she and Kaela ran across the smoldering ground, their boots crunching into ash and shattered stone. She fell to the ground alongside him, her fingers dancing through the air before coming to rest on his shoulders.

His skin was hot to the touch—nearly unnatural. Steam misted off of him as if the flames in him had not yet dissipated.

"He's burning up," Kaela groaned, kneeling on the opposite side, her usually serene face contorted with concern. "This isn't a fever… it's something else."

"He overextended himself again…" Sera panted, nipping at her lip. "That power—it's killing him."

Kaela's gaze swept over Ren's injuries. His clothing was tattered, his body marked with bruises and cuts—but what frightened her most was the fact that his flame hung back. It didn't seem right.

Help me," she whispered urgently. "We have to get him out of here."

She and Tana lifted Ren between them, the girl on each side, arm over a shoulder. He groaned feebly, half-sleeping, making nonsensical murmurs.

".blue. not. mine."

Sera gazed at him, her heart breaking. He looked so young. So fragile. And yet—only a moment ago, he'd awakened a power that was godlike.

What had the Syndicate done to him?

What had he become?

—

They took him to the edge of the ruined part, into an abandoned warehouse Kaela had already checked out as a refuge. The walls were partially ruined, but it was dry and not on the streets.

Kaela laid Ren on an old bed. He huddled up, shaking as if he were cold. The instant he placed hands on the fabric, a burst of heat burst out of him, distorting the air.

"Shit," Kaela cursed, shielding her face from the flash wave's blast. "This is going into an oven inside. Here."

"He's not stabilizing." Sera knelt on one knee next to him, crushing his hand into her palm. "It's like his flame is struggling to keep burning. even if it kills him and burns him alive inside out."

Kaela pulled out the odd vial—thinning green, whining weak—from her pack.

"What is that?" Sera asked.

"Flame suppressant. It's alchemical—design-specific to blunt elemental overload. It won't cure him… but it may provide us with time."

Sera hesitated, and then nodded. "Do it."

Kaela uncapped the vial and poured its contents slowly into a cloth, and then spread it on Ren's chest. The reaction was instant—his body convulsed, blue fire burning wildly—then receding.

His breathing relaxed.

He did not awaken, but the rigidity in his body relaxed.

Kaela let out a sigh of relief. "That should keep him until morning."

Sera rested back, her hand still around Ren's. "Thanks."

They were silent for a few moments, the only noise that of the quiet crackling of dead embers on Ren's form.

Then Kaela spoke.

"That flame he used…" she said slowly. "That wasn't the normal Blue Flame. It was something else."

Sera nodded, eyes distant. "I've seen Ren angry before. I've seen him fight back. But that… that was like watching a god awaken."

Kaela looked at her, expression unreadable. "And it nearly killed him."

Sera didn't respond. She just tightened her grip on Ren's hand.

"He's attempting to master something too powerful for him," Kaela went on. "The Blue Flame… I'd always believed it was a myth. A cursed flame. But now I understand why the devils and the gods were afraid of it."

Sera looked at her sternly. "You believe it's evil?"

Kaela shook her head. "No. I believe it's dangerous. And if Ren loses control again—"

"He won't," Sera stated firmly. "He's not some boy with a fire. He's Ren. He guards people. He rescues people."

Kaela looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "Then we have to know. Because if the Syndicate knew he possessed this. then they're not finished."

—

Somewhere else in the city…

In the dimly lit corridors of the Black Ember Syndicate, the charred remains of the assassin lay on a blackened slab.

A tall man, wearing ritualistic red robes, stood over the body.

He gazed at the blackened body in silence.

Behind him, a younger agent spoke uncertainly.

"Lord Veyron… he was one of our best. But that blue flame—it burned him completely."

Veyron's eyes remained on the body. "The boy stirred… sooner than expected."

"So the rumors are true?" the agent said. "The Blue Flame really exists?"

Veyron whirled, his face a mask—calm, but icy as winter.

"It doesn't just exist," he told her. "It's awakened—and now, the world will be altered."

He cast a look over his shoulder at the fire hacked into the stone wall behind him.

"Tell them. Plan the next step. The Chosen Flame has come back."

—

He could feel the darkness around him growing deeper, like dark water seeping in.

Ren stirred weakly, half-asleep, half-memories.

Spoken words of fire. Shrieks.

His father's arms extended—rent back into darkness.

And ever—the fire.

Blue.

Burning.

Cruel.

He whimpered slept.

"Don't let me burn them… don't let me…"

Sera knelt beside him, running her fingers through his hair. "You're not alone, Ren. Never were."

Kaela by the window fixed her eyes to the horizon.

Because out in the distance—a second blue fire glowed.

Out of sight. Spying.

Waiting.