Chapter 5 – A Flame Beneath Snow
The second assignment came swiftly.
A message from the Knight Council directed Jean to Frostveil, a mountain settlement near the borderlands. Reports spoke of an "unnatural fire" burning through the snow, leaving behind glassy craters and scorched bodies—melted armor, burned flesh. Survivors were few.
Jean rode hard, snow beginning to fall, Whitney at her side.
Frostveil was a silent ruin when she arrived. Half the town had been reduced to blackened rubble. The survivors huddled inside the chapel, eyes sunken with fear. One muttered over and over, "The boy… the boy is the fire…"
Inside the chapel, she found him.
A child, no older than ten. Pale. Unmoving. Surrounded by charred stone. His eyes glowed red—not with aura… but magic.
Jean knelt carefully. "What's your name?"
He said nothing.
Whitney sniffed the air. "He carries a curse. His soul burns."
A survivor whispered from the pews, "He was taken by Magisters. Experimented on. Escaped."
Jean's blood went cold. The Magistery again. Magic bred and broken.
That night, the boy awoke screaming. Fire erupted from his chest—not flame, but pure plasma, melting stone. Jean leapt into action, creating a dome of aura light to contain the blast. Whitney tackled the boy gently, flooding him with divine aura to ease the pain.
Jean reached into the chaos—her aura against his magic.
"Stop." Her voice pierced the flame. "You're not a weapon. You're a person. Hold on."
The light from her soul met the boy's.
And something snapped.
The flames died.
The boy wept.
He whispered, "My name… is Cael."
Jean held him. "You're coming with us."
The townsfolk begged her to leave him behind, but she would not. "He's not your enemy. Not anymore."
Whitney gave her a long look as they departed Frostveil with Cael riding behind.
"You'll be hated for saving him."
Jean didn't look back. "Good. Let them fear what kindness looks like."
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