Every world begins with a spark.
In the newly written realm of Votari Reach, sky-fire drifted lazily between clouds of glowing ember mist. Giant mountains floated like lost memories, while rivers burned slow and red — not with lava, but with emotion.
Here, power didn't come from cores or systems. It came from feeling.
The deeper your pain, the stronger your flame.
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Scene: Emberfield Slums
She was small. Too small for the weight she carried.
Liu Yanyu had eyes like ash and hair like dying coals. A branded orphan raised in the ember slums of Ashgate Hollow, where the weak were given one rule:
> "Do not burn."
Fire, in Votari Reach, was feared. Because once awakened, a soul flame could never be extinguished.
Yanyu's mother died clutching her throat, consumed by her own wildfire during a grief-spasm. Her father was unknown.
Now twelve, Yanyu scavenged broken emberstone shards and traded heat to old beggars for food rations.
Her flame had not awakened. But her pain? It was boiling.
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Trigger: Spark of Defiance
Today was different.
A group of armored enforcers known as the Cold Brand marched into Ashgate Hollow. They enforced flame registration. If someone ignited without a permit, they were executed.
Yanyu was hiding in an alley, wrapping her stolen shard in cloth, when she heard a cry.
A child. Not much younger than her.
Being dragged.
> "She flared," said a Cold Brand officer. "Her grief flickered. Potential threat."
The girl screamed. Her body wasn't even glowing — not yet.
Yanyu's hands shook. She looked down at her shard. Felt something pulse.
Rage.
> "Don't you dare…" she whispered.
But it was too late. They drew a suppression brand — a red-hot chain of soul-restriction magic.
The girl screamed louder.
> "STOP!"
Yanyu stood.
---
Awakening: First Flame
Pain. Rage. Loss.
It surged through her like molten iron. The cloth around her hand caught fire. The emberstone exploded.
And her eyes — once ash — turned golden red.
The alley melted around her. Air cracked. And from her chest, a flame burst upward, taking the shape of a phoenix winged with broken chains.
The Cold Brand officer turned.
> "Unauthorized ignition!"
They attacked.
She didn't know what she was doing. But her flame did.
She ducked instinctively, fire swerving to catch the soldier's branding chain and turning it into smoke.
Another lunged. She screamed. A ring of fire spiraled outward — forming a wall.
Her body burned — not with heat, but memory. She remembered her mother's death. Her own silence.
> "I WILL BURN!" she roared.
The flame accepted her truth. And made it her weapon.
---
Revelation: The Phoenix That Remembers
After the fight, she stood alone. The girl had escaped. The soldiers? Gone or unconscious.
Yanyu stared at her hands.
The fire hadn't died. It pulsed — a silent rhythm beneath her skin.
A voice whispered in her mind:
> "Flame does not ask permission." "It only asks... what do you burn for?"
---
Scene Shift: Tianming's Observation
Far above, in a place beyond time, Li Tianming watched from the Edge of Echoes.
He did not interfere. He could only witness.
The Chaos Pen floated beside him.
> "She's the first," he said. "Let her fail. Let her rise. Let her write herself."
Behind him, echoes stirred. New stories. New wars.
But for now, he watched a girl in the slums ignite history.
---
Transition: Word Spreads
By nightfall, all of Ashgate Hollow buzzed. A rogue flame ignited. No permit. No suppression.
The Cold Brand was humiliated.
And deep in the citadel of Furnace Spire, a council of highflame users discussed the girl.
> "Track her. If she burns again, bring her in." "Or burn her out."
Yanyu had no idea. She returned to the alley. Sat with trembling hands.
The girl she saved appeared, offering stale bread.
> "You're a Phoenix," the girl whispered. "Not yet," Yanyu said. "But maybe one day."
---
Cliffhanger: A Hunter Assigned
Elsewhere, in a hidden chamber of ashglass, a figure kneeled. Tall. Lean. Cloaked in soulsteel.
A voice echoed:
> "Your next target: Liu Yanyu. Age: 12. Power: Unknown variant flame. Potential threat to structure."
The hunter nodded.
Eyes like extinguished comets opened.
> "Then I'll smother her before she learns to fly."
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