Chapter Two: Traces of the Old Burn
(2/1000)
Rayen awoke the next morning to the sound of heavy knocking on the hut's door. Pale sunlight crept through the wooden cracks, brushing his tired face. His body still felt warm, and his eyes gleamed with a light he had never known before.
"Rayen! Open up, are you alright?!"
It was the voice of a man named Dark, one of the villagers who had helped him when he was found by the river.
He rose slowly, his steps heavy—as if the fire still coursed through his veins. He opened the door, and Dark burst in with a worried look.
"I swear I saw the sky glowing above your hut last night!" he shouted, glancing around inside. "What happened? And why does it smell like burning everywhere?"
Rayen pointed at the broken fireplace, then whispered, "A blue fire... entered me."
Dark stared at him for a moment, then stepped closer slowly. "Blue fire? Are you joking? That... that can only be..."
He stopped abruptly and examined Rayen's arm. The old burn marks had begun to glow on their own, as if responding to that strange flame.
"These aren't ordinary wounds... These are Soul Flame marks—but their shape is completely unfamiliar."
Rayen's eyes widened. "Soul Flame? What's that?"
Dark hesitated, then sighed. "In this world, some people are born with a special spirit known as a Flame. It's awakened through training and emotional balance, and grants strength based on its nature. But... not everyone can handle it. Some are completely consumed by it."
Rayen swallowed hard, his mind clouded. "And me?"
"You..." Dark stepped back. "You have something older, more dangerous, and far stronger than any Flame I've ever heard of."
"How do you know?" Rayen asked.
The man was silent for a moment, then looked at him seriously. "Because I was once a fighter who bore the Violet Flame. And because I saw that blue flame before—twenty years ago—when an entire continent burned in a single day."
Rayen's eyes widened in shock, but Dark raised a finger in warning. "Tell no one about what happened last night. And do not let the flame appear again. If the empires find out... nothing of this village will remain."
He turned to leave quickly, but paused at the door.
"Be ready, boy... You won't stay hidden for long. Your fate has already begun to move."
As the door shut behind him, Rayen sat on the floor, staring at his palms, where small blue sparks began to dance between his fingers.
He whispered to himself:
"Fate? Or a curse?"
And far away, in the city of Astrala, a young man sat in a dark stone hall, before a black mirror.
Within the mirror appeared an image of Rayen, the blue flame glowing in his chest.
The young man smiled coldly and said:
"At last... the bearer of the seventh flame has appeared."