Chapter 10: "The Other Half"
The cloaked figure stepped fully into the light. His face was young—maybe sixteen—but his eyes were ancient. Worn. Like someone who'd lived a hundred lifetimes in one.
Yui's white flame flickered defensively, but he didn't attack.
The black-silver fire around the figure pulsed with equal intensity, responding in rhythm, as if drawn to Yui's.
"You made a pact too?" Yui asked.
The figure nodded slowly. "Not by choice. But like you, I wanted power. I was weak. Powerless. I hated it."
Yui's jaw clenched.
"What's your name?"
The figure hesitated. "I had one. Doesn't matter anymore. They call me Voidspawn now."
Yui took a cautious step forward. "What does the flame want from me?"
"Same thing it wanted from me," Voidspawn said. "Your body. Your will. Your soul."
Silence fell between them, broken only by the quiet hum of their burning energies.
"It doesn't take all at once," Voidspawn continued. "It gives you strength… then whispers… then waits. Until one day, you're not you anymore."
Yui's heart pounded. He thought of the whispers. The sleepless nights. The tempting promises.
"I've been resisting."
Voidspawn's lips curled into a sad smile. "So did I."
He extended a hand. "Come with me. There's a place beneath this school. Forbidden. Hidden. The truth about the flames… about the power we carry… it's buried down there."
Yui hesitated.
"Why help me?" he asked.
Voidspawn's gaze hardened. "Because I don't want to watch someone else vanish the way I did."
---
The descent began at midnight.
They passed through old passageways—dusty and crumbling, abandoned before the academy was built. Arcane sigils flickered faintly on the stone walls, warning of long-forgotten wards. The air grew colder, the silence deeper.
Eventually, they reached a sealed door made of black obsidian, etched with a mark that burned against Yui's skin even without touching it.
Voidspawn placed his hand on the seal. It hissed, then cracked open.
Inside, a massive chamber stretched out—domed, silent, filled with floating crystals of dim white light. At the center stood a monolithic pedestal, and atop it: a stone tablet wrapped in ancient chains.
Yui's flame pulsed wildly.
Voidspawn winced. "It remembers this place."
"What is this?"
Voidspawn stepped forward. "This is where it began. The first pact. The first Flamebearer. The tablet holds the name of the being that gave us this power."
Yui's breath caught.
"You mean… the flame has a name?"
"Yes," Voidspawn whispered. "And if you say it… you become its vessel."
They stared at the chained tablet.
Yui's fingers twitched. His white fire surged.
The voice returned—louder than ever.
"Say it. Just say it, Yui. And all of this ends."
Yui fell to one knee, clutching his head. Heat burned through him like wildfire.
Voidspawn tried to reach him. "Don't listen!"
But Yui was already slipping, the chamber spinning, the flames seizing control.
Then—
A memory.
Aera's voice: "You don't have to win by yourself."
Lucen's words: "Flow with it… or it crushes you."
And finally—his own.
"I don't need anyone's approval. Only strength."
But now… something had changed.
He forced himself to his feet, trembling.
"No," Yui said aloud. "Not your way."
The flame shrieked inside his mind, furious. The tablet glowed—cracks forming. The name began to form in ancient letters, one by one.
Yui turned away.
Voidspawn stared at him in disbelief. "You resisted?"
"I'm not ready to know its name," Yui said, breathing hard. "Because if I do… I stop being me."
He looked up at the massive crystal chamber. His flame dimmed, but did not vanish.
"I'll use this power. But I'll do it my way."
Voidspawn's smile returned—this time, not sad.
"Then maybe there's hope for you after all."
---
End of Chapter 10