It began with laughter.
Not the cruel kind. Not the kind Kai had learned to flinch from. This was warm, reckless, and real—the sound of his younger brother, Eli, sprinting down the alley behind their apartment, hoodie flapping like a cape.
"Come on, slowpoke!" Eli called, skidding to a stop and turning with that grin—the one that made everything feel less broken.
Kai jogged after him, breath fogging in the cold. "You know I'm faster than you."
"Not in spirit," Eli said, tapping his temple. "You think too much. I move."
Kai rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. Eli had always been the spark—bright, impulsive, full of ideas that never quite landed but always lit something up. They were opposites. Kai was logic. Eli was fire.
That night, they were supposed to stay in. But Eli had insisted—"Just one more test run. I swear, this prototype's gonna change everything."
The device was small. Sleek. A neural interface Kai had built from scraps and sleepless nights. It was meant to sync with thought, to translate emotion into digital signal. Eli had volunteered to test it.
They sat in the apartment, wires snaking across the floor, the hum of the city outside like a lullaby.
Kai adjusted the settings. "Ready?"
Eli nodded. "Let's light it up."
The moment the device activated, something went wrong.
The lights flickered. The air grew heavy. Eli's smile faltered.
"Kai… it's hot."
Kai reached for the power switch, but the device sparked violently. Eli convulsed, eyes wide, mouth open in a silent scream. The room filled with light—blinding, violet, unnatural.
Kai shouted his name.
Then silence.
Eli lay still, the device smoking beside him. His chest didn't rise. His eyes didn't blink.
Kai dropped to his knees, hands shaking. "No. No, no, no…"
He tried CPR. He tried everything. But Eli was gone.
And in that moment—grief cracked something open.
The air shimmered. The lights surged. Kai felt heat bloom in his chest, wild and wordless. The flame didn't come from the device. It came from him.
He screamed.
And the world went white.
Back in the ruins of Virellen Hollow, Kai gasped, staggering as the memory released him. The stranger stood nearby, silent.
"You saw it," Kai whispered. "Didn't you?"
The masked figure nodded. "Grief is a spark. But love is the fuel."
Kai's hands trembled. The flame inside him pulsed—no longer just power, but memory. Eli's laughter. Eli's light.
"I won't let it consume me," Kai said.
"No," the stranger replied. "You'll let it guide you."