Chapter 4: The Flames No One Could Touch
The forest still smelled of ash.
The storm had passed, Onii was gone, and only silence remained. But the silence was heavy, trembling with the remnants of power. Lailac lay collapsed against the scorched ground, her breath shallow, her crimson aura flickering violently like dying embers… and yet those embers devoured everything that dared come close.
Workers and guards from the manor, alerted by the unnatural storm, rushed through the trees. Their shouts carried desperation.
"My lady!"
"She's here! Quickly—help her!"
The first man, a stablehand who had cared for wind-chasing foals since his youth, threw himself toward Lailac without hesitation. His fingers brushed her sleeve—
And he was gone.
Not a scream, not a word. Just an eruption of crimson light that devoured flesh, bone, and soul in less than a heartbeat, leaving only red ashes drifting where he had been.
Gasps of horror tore through the gathered workers.
"Spirits protect us—"
"She… she burned him alive…"
Another rushed in, refusing to believe what his eyes told him. "She's hurt! We can't leave her like this!"
He too vanished in a flare of heat, his body unraveling into crimson dust that dissolved into Lailac's aura. One after another, two more tried, all loyal men who loved her as their young mistress. And each time, their lives were consumed. Their sacrifice fed the restless flames, thickening the aura around her until even the air shimmered with heat.
"Don't touch her! Stay back!" Linn's voice broke as she stumbled forward, tears streaking her face. Her trembling hands reached out… only to stop an inch away as the heat blistered her skin. "Please, Lailac… please, stop this…"
No one could hold her. No one—except him.
Lord Haines arrived. His black robes swept with authority, his stride steady, though his face was shadowed with fear. The prime minister of the empire, the man who stood equal to dukes and princes despite his common birth, now looked not at ministers nor kings, but only at his daughter.
"Move aside," he commanded. The crowd parted instantly.
The crimson flames licked hungrily as he stepped closer, scorching the ground beneath his boots, warping the air around him. And yet, he did not waver. His eyes softened as he looked at her trembling form.
"My foolish little one," he whispered. "You burn too brightly."
He reached down. The aura roared, crimson fire leaping to consume him as it had the others. But unlike them, he did not vanish. His arms, scarred from years of service, wrapped around Lailac's fragile body and lifted her gently from the blackened soil.
The flames recoiled, bending inward as though recognizing their master. In his embrace, they stilled.
The others fell to their knees in awe and fear.
"It is true…" someone murmured. "The Flame Sage… reborn."
---
✦
News spread like wildfire.
By nightfall, the manor's bells tolled, and messengers carried word to every corner of the Misty Valley. To the court of the Wooden Horse Manor. To the city. To the capital itself.
Lady Dinah, wife of Haines and mother to Lailac, received the report with shaking hands. The scroll slipped from her grip, her lips parting in disbelief.
"Our daughter…?" Her voice trembled between pride and terror. "The Flame Sage bloodline… in her…?"
Even the imperial palace stirred. Within days, the king himself dispatched a gilded envoy bearing his decree:
> By the authority of the crown, the young mistress Lailac, bearer of the revered Flame Sage bloodline, is to be brought to the Imperial Academy, where her gift may be nurtured under the guardianship of the Empire itself.
Such a summons was a command no noble could defy.
And yet, when the envoy arrived at the manor gates, it was Lord Haines who stepped forward. He bowed low, robes heavy with dust from sleepless nights beside his daughter's bed.
"My king is wise," he said solemnly, "but I must beg forgiveness. My daughter cannot yet travel. Her condition is… worse than it appears. The awakening has left her unstable, and if she is removed from the valley's protection, she may be lost forever."
The envoy frowned. "Prime Minister Haines, the decree is not a request. You dare—"
But Haines raised his head, his gaze steady, carrying the weight of the commoner who had risen to prime minister through unshakable merit.
"Tell His Majesty this: I decline not out of arrogance, but devotion. My daughter is not ready. She needs time, or she will become nothing but ashes. The king knows my loyalty, and he knows my truth."
The envoy hesitated, then nodded stiffly. The decree would return unanswered—but not rejected without cause.
---
✦
For three days and nights, Lailac lay in fever. Apothecaries from across the empire were summoned, their hands trembling as they worked under the heat of her restless aura. They placed talismans, brewed pills, and chanted ancient sutras. None dared touch her skin, for even unconscious, the crimson light pulsed dangerously.
At last, one apothecary dared to speak aloud the conclusion they had all feared.
"My lord, forgive me. Your daughter's bloodline… it is unlike anything in our records. She manifests her aura naturally, without cultivation. But when we examined the traces of essence around her… we found no sign of ordinary Chi."
"What do you mean?" Haines pressed, his jaw taut.
The apothecary swallowed hard. "The Flame Sage bloodline refines the energy of heaven and earth itself into… something new. Something we cannot measure or contain. She does not cultivate as others do. Her body rejects it. Instead, her bloodline transforms it into a power unique to her alone."
Another added hesitantly, "It is both her strength and her curse. She cannot follow the paths of other cultivators. She must walk one of her own making."
Haines's hand tightened on the chair. His heart ached, not from the words, but from the sight of her—his daughter, burning even in sleep, chains rattling in her fragile soul.
He whispered so only she could hear:
"Then you will walk that path, Lailac. And I will clear the way, even if I must burn the world to do it."