Riah stood with her long hair tied back, her eyes sharp but calm. Across from her, Felicia held her stance, sweat beading on her brow as small wisps of light-blue fire curled around her hands.
"Again," Riah's voice cut through the night, firm but steady. "Feel the ember inside you, not as a weapon, but as breath. You're forcing it—don't force. Let it answer."
Felicia gritted her teeth, her chest heaving. Her body wasn't like Riah's—her organs, reforged with cyborg enhancements, made every surge of phoenix flame a battle between flesh and machine. Sparks cracked along her collarbone where faint lines of light glowed beneath her skin.
"I can't…" she muttered, a tremor in her voice. "It feels like I'm tearing apart from the inside."
Riah stepped forward, her red flame flaring briefly before softening into a calm glow. She raised her hand, and the courtyard warmed, her presence like a steady heartbeat.
"You won't break," she said. "The feather chose you when you took it into yourself. That ember isn't foreign—it's yours now. Stop fearing it use it like you did on that day with Ingress."
Felicia closed her eyes, swallowing hard. She drew in a sharp breath, then exhaled slowly. This time, instead of pushing, she let the light-blue flames seep out naturally. They spread across her arms, not in jagged bursts, but in flowing ribbons, shimmering like water touched by moonlight.
Her eyes snapped open. "I—did it?"
Riah smiled faintly. "Better. But now hold it. Control is the difference between survival and destruction."
Felicia clenched her fists, the flames dancing brighter. The blue fire mixed with faint metallic pulses from her body, creating a strange, hybrid aura—half celestial, half mechanical. She staggered, nearly losing balance, but Riah's hand shot out, steadying her.
"You're not weak, Felicia," Riah said softly, meeting her apprentice's eyes. "You carry both fragility and strength. That's what makes you dangerous. One day, this ember will answer you the way mine answers me."
Felicia's lips trembled, her gaze lowering. "…I don't want to disappoint you."
"You won't," Riah assured. Her red flames flared, wrapping around Felicia's blue ones like a guiding current. "You're already walking the path. All I ask is that you don't walk it with fear."
For the first time, Felicia's blue fire didn't sputter or crackle. It burned steady, casting both of them in a strange dual light—red and blue, master and apprentice, phoenix and ember.
The night stretched on with clash after clash, flame meeting flame in controlled bursts. But between each strike, Felicia felt something new: not just pain, not just pressure—acceptance.