The Firelight Festival lit Emberreach like a living flame. Lanterns glowed in the sky like stars that had forgotten their way home, and the scent of roasted figs and cinnamon filled the air. Music danced between buildings, and everywhere, people wore ribbons of red and gold — the Ember colors — to honor the fire that protected them.
Kael drifted through the crowd like smoke.
"Seventeen years old and still brooding like an old man," teased Dain, elbowing him with a grin. "You know, most people celebrate their birthdays with laughter. You, my friend, look like you're about to fight the wind."
Kael smirked. "Wind started it."
Dain laughed louder than necessary, earning annoyed glances. "Come on, lighten up. There's fire-dancing in the square and the Ember King's speech at the ninth bell. Let's find something explosive."
But Kael's mind wandered.
He kept feeling it — a rhythmic pressure in his chest. A pull, like a rope tied around something buried deep inside him. It came in waves: not painful, but heavy. As though his blood remembered something his mind didn't.
He didn't tell Dain. What would he say? "Hey, sometimes I feel like I'm not real. Like something else is inside me… waiting."
Yeah. That'd go well.
They reached the plaza just as the crowd gathered for the main event. At the center stood the festival pyre — a towering sculpture of wood and cloth shaped like a phoenix, the symbol of Emberreach. Flames licked its base, waiting to rise.
A line of dancers in flame-colored silks twirled and flipped in front of it. The final performer — a young girl — carried a torch in both hands. She leapt into the air for her finale, spinning midair.
And she slipped.
The torch flew. She screamed.
Time slowed.
The fire hurtled toward the stage, where cloth banners hung, dry as tinder. The crowd gasped, but no one moved.
Except Kael.
He didn't think. He didn't speak. He just reached out.
And the fire… stopped.
It froze midair, hovering like a bird caught in windless sky. Black mist coiled around it like smoke in reverse — and then, with a sharp hiss, the flame snuffed out.
Silence.
The girl landed safely. The crowd stared. Then came the whispers.
"Did you see that?"
"That boy—what was that?"
"Shadow… that was shadow magic."
Kael stepped back, heart pounding. His hand still tingled, black tendrils retreating into his skin.
Dain stared at him, horrified. "Kael… what did you just do?"
He didn't have an answer.
But someone in the crowd turned too slowly. A figure in a dark hood, watching intently. Then he vanished into the smoke.
---
Kael ran.