The sky above Emberglow Academy burned gold and crimson as the sun dipped below the jagged mountains. Beneath the radiant twilight, hundreds of students stood in neat rows in the Awakening Arena, nerves flickering like candles in the wind.
Today was the day destinies would ignite—or crumble into ash.
"Aira Flameheart," the announcer called.
She stepped forward, heart pounding like a war drum.
Her crimson hair caught the dying sunlight, making it shimmer like fire. At seventeen, she was barely more than a scholarship student from the outskirts, surrounded by nobles in tailored uniforms and spotless boots. She wore a patched-up coat, but her back was straight and her eyes—ember-hued—burned with quiet defiance.
She placed her palm on the obsidian Awakening Crystal.
A pulse shot through the arena.
Suddenly, the crystal flared.
Boom.
Flames exploded outward in a dome of red-gold fire, sending instructors stumbling back and shielding their eyes. The crowd gasped. Some screamed. Even the principal stood frozen, wide-eyed, his artifact staff trembling in his hand.
The sky turned blood-red.
An ancient glyph burst from the crystal, spiraling upward into the clouds like a divine brand.
SSS-Rank Talent: Primordial Flame.
A pause. Silence thick enough to smother breath.
Then—
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
"She—she awakened Primordial Flame?!"
"That talent hasn't appeared in over 300 years!"
The instructors scrambled to activate shields as the heat scorched the very air. Several noble students collapsed from mana shock. But Aira stood still in the center of the blaze, untouched. Her hair whipped behind her like living fire. Her eyes glowed brighter than the molten runes dancing around her.
She heard something no one else did—a whisper, ancient and female, echoing in her soul.
"The vessel has awakened. The Fire Goddess watches."
Then, just as suddenly, the flames sucked inward, vanishing in a single breath.
Aira staggered slightly. Steam hissed from the crystal as the temperature fell.
Her name now glowed at the top of the Awakening Monument:
AIRA FLAMEHEART — SSS-RANK — PRIMORDIAL FLAME
Aira looked up, breathing hard. The silence returned, but now it was reverent. Fearful. Curious. Every eye burned into her, and she knew—
She would never live a normal life again.
And somewhere, far away in the scorched ruins of an ancient temple, a dormant flame lit itself once more.