The world dissolved into fire.
One moment, Marcus was standing in the scorched crater. The next, he was surrounded by flame—endless, roaring, suffocating. But it didn't burn his skin. Not yet.
[Pyre Trial Initiated][Mental-Sync Environment Established][Warning: Emotional Anchors Unstable]
"Welcome to my truth," Ember Rune's voice echoed all around him, layered like a chorus of a hundred burning souls. "This is what I see. Every second. Every breath."
Marcus turned, searching for her, but the fire obeyed only her will. Shapes flickered in the smoke—memories twisted into nightmares. A school hallway burning. A child's scream. A man's hand reaching through flames before vanishing into ash.
"This is your mind?" Marcus asked, voice steady.
"No," she replied. "This is yours, reflected through mine."
The fire shifted again, pulling Marcus backward. He stumbled—and suddenly he was back in his classroom. Just before the red rain.
Kaylee sat in the front row, smiling. Damon tapped his pencil with that familiar impatience. Outside, the sky was already turning crimson.
"No," Marcus whispered, frozen.
[System Defense Compromised – Emotional Overload Detected]
A drop of red hit the window.
Then another.
Then the door exploded inward.
Marcus didn't look away this time. He watched as Kaylee's face split open again. As Damon's bones cracked and twisted. He heard his own voice scream for them to run—and then silence.
The scene repeated.
Again.
And again.
"Why are you showing me this?" Marcus snapped, fists clenched.
"Because you haven't let it go," Ember said, stepping through the flame. Her eyes glowed with sorrow, not rage. "You think evolving is strength. But your fear of this moment? It chains you."
Marcus fell to his knees as the System inside him buckled.
[Reflex Enhancement Suppressed][Predator Speed: Unavailable][Evolution Locked: Psychological Barrier Detected]
"You can't move forward until you burn it away," she said. "Feel it. Choose to rise from it."
Marcus breathed deeply. The memories crashed into him—but this time, he didn't fight them. He embraced the pain. The failure. The horror. It hurt, but it didn't consume him.
He stood.
[Barrier Overcome][New Evolution Pathway Unlocked: Cognitive Flame][Skill Acquired: Phoenix Nerve – Temporary Immunity to Fear-Induced Paralysis]
Flames coiled around his body, no longer hostile. They bent to him. Respected him.
Ember stared, surprised. "You took from me."
Marcus nodded. "You gave it freely. You just didn't know it."
Her lips curved into a slow smile. "Maybe you are what you claim to be."
The fire world collapsed inward like a dying star. In an instant, they were back in the crater—Marcus kneeling in the ash, Ember standing before him, her flames dimmed.
Lucien clapped once, slow and loud. "Well, that was dramatic."
Danny exhaled the breath he'd apparently been holding the entire time. "I thought his brain was going to catch fire."
Ember extended a hand to Marcus.
"I will follow you. For now. But know this, Marcus Chen—your trial has only just begun. The fire you carry now is only a flicker. The real inferno lies ahead."
Marcus took her hand and stood.
"One step at a time."
Behind them, the land shifted, as if watching. As if listening.
Far away, deep in the code of the Legacy Protocol, a subroutine activated.
[Subject: Marcus Chen – Ascension Risk: Rising][Directive: Elimination Protocol Prepared][Agent Class: Seraph-Type Infiltrator – Deployed]
And the hunt began.