The Emberheart Pavilion's lower arena roared with heat as Kai entered for his first official spar. High stone walls enclosed the circular ring, and torches lined the perimeter—though their flames bowed toward Kai as he passed.
He wasn't imaging it anymore.
The fire here recognized him.
Across the ring stood Linya, her crimson robe tied tightly around her waist, a flame-inscribed dagger in each hand. Her gaze was sharp—not angry, not arrogant, but calculated.
"You survived the Baptism," she said, pacing. "Not bad."
Kai cracked his knuckles. "You too."
Linya nodded once. "Don't hold back. If you do, you'll bleed."
Then she moved.
Linya's form was swift and clean—she struck like a serpent, using rapid dashes and smoke bursts to obscure her path. Kai dodged the first dagger, blocked the second, but the third came at an angle he hadn't predicted.
He hissed as it grazed his shoulder.
"She's fast," he thought, "but her flame isn't wild—it's controlled. That's her style."
Kai stepped back, planted his feet, and reached inward.
A golden flare erupted from his palm as he summoned his flame sabre once more.
The crowd of disciples gasped. Linya's eyes narrowed. "You already formed a flame weapon?"
Kai didn't answer.
He struck me.
Their blades were met with a crackle of energy. Flame against flame. Heat danced along the walls of the arena.
Linya twisted under Kai's blade and slashed toward his leg, but Kai countered by blasting the ground with a shockwave of fire, launching himself above her.
She rolled aside as his sabre cleaved the stone where she had stand.
For a moment, the two stood across from each other, panting.
Then Linya smirked. "You're strong. But you waste too much power."
With a quick flick of her wrist, she hurled a dagger—not at Kai, but at his shadow.
The flame blade flickered.
He blinked. "She… attacked my spirit flame?"
Too late. She was already inside his guard.
Kai caught her strike just in time, redirecting her with his elbow, and letting out a pulse of dragon fire that sent both of them flying in opposite directions.
They hit the stone floor at the same time. Silence fell.
Then a voice rang out: "Enough!"
Elder Xuan stood above, arms crossed. "Both of you. Very good."
He pointed at Kai. "You burn too freely."
Then look at Linya. "You cut too coldly."
"To master fire, you must not just fight with it—you must be with it."be with it."
He turned and vanished in a trail of smoke.
After the match, Kai sat beneath a steaming waterfall in the inner gardens, feeling the bruises along his ribs.
Linya approached, tossing him a potion bottle. "For the cut."
Kai took it, nodding. "Thanks."
She sat beside him, silent for a moment. Then:
"You're different. Your flame doesn't act like the others'. It's… older."
Kai didn't respond.
Linya looked at him. "You're not just here to join Emberheart, are you?"
Kai's eyes narrowed. "Why are you?"
She smirked. "To become strong enough to kill someone."
The silence between them was heavier than the heat in the air.
Then she stood. "See you at the next trial. Don't die before then."
That night, in his chamber, Kai meditated. The sabre hovered in front of him. He could feel the fire trying to communicate—testing him, urging him to push further.
And in the back of his mind, the dragon stirred.
"Your flame is not yet yours. But soon, you will awaken the first seal. And the world will remember what it fears."
Far away, in the cold north, a dark-robed cultivator stepped into a pool of blood.
"He has awakened," he said softly. "The heir of the dragon flame has entered Emberheart."
A dozen black-robed warriors knelt.
"Prepare the Blood Sect. The hunt begins."