Three months after forming the new Fire Brigade, a strange restlessness settled over me. My control had improved dramatically; fire and darkness now moved in a fluid, powerful dance rather than a violent brawl. Yet, something felt… capped. The immense reservoir of power I knew existed within me remained just out of reach, like a door barred by an invisible force.
During a particularly intense sparring session with Norton, the limitation became starkly apparent. He summoned a massive wall of earth, challenging me to break through. I called upon my fire, pouring everything I had into a concentrated blast. The flames roared, hotter than any forge, but when they struck the earthen wall, they splashed against it like water against stone. They should have turned it to molten slag. Instead, they merely scorched the surface.
Norton lowered the wall, his brow furrowed. "Kid, you're pushing harder than I've ever felt, but the power's not… landing. It's like you're trying to fill a bucket with a firehose, but the hose is kinked."
Aria, observing from the sidelines with her usual analytical calm, nodded in agreement. "He's right. Your output is immense, but the efficiency is abysmal. Your fire magic isn't weak, Kael. It's being suppressed. Artificially."
I landed, panting, frustration a bitter taste in my mouth. "What do you mean? Why would my own magic suppress itself?"
Shibai, who had been watching silently, let out a heavy sigh. "They told me you might discover it eventually. Come. It is time you learned the truth."
Inside his home, he unrolled a brittle, ancient-looking scroll covered in complex magical diagrams. "The Threefold Deadly Lockdown," he announced, his voice grave. "An ancient, forbidden sealing technique used by the Council on bloodlines they deem too dangerous."
I stared at the diagram, my blood running cold. Three intricate, interlocking magical seals were depicted over the image of a human core.
"Three magical locks placed at birth," Shibai explained, tapping the scroll. "Designed to prevent your full power from ever manifesting. They don't just limit you; they create a feedback loop that makes your own energies work against you. That is why true control has been so elusive."
The revelation hit me like a physical blow. My entire life, my struggle, wasn't just a personal failing. It was a prison engineered by the Council. "Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded, a hot wave of betrayal washing over me.
"Because knowing about the locks can make them stronger!" Shibai's voice was sharp. "They feed on the bearer's awareness of their own limitation. Your frustration, your desperation to be stronger—it all fuels them. But you've grown strong enough to sense the bars of your cage. Now, we can try something… dangerous."
He looked at me, his gaze intense. "The locks cannot be broken by force. But they can be… manipulated. We can teach you to shift the lockdown's focus from your fire side to your darkness side. It would free your grandfather's legacy, but it would place an artificial restraint on the shadow that is inherently yours. The risk is… immense. The darkness, once constrained, could become volatile in ways I cannot predict."
The choice was a nightmare. Embrace my grandfather's fire and risk being consumed by a corrupted, unrestrained darkness? Or remain as I was, a fraction of my potential, forever struggling against chains I couldn't see?
"I have to try," I said, my voice low but steady. "I need my full power to protect everyone. To lead."
Shibai searched my face for a long moment, then gave a slow, solemn nod. "Your grandfather would be proud of your courage. But know this: the path we walk now has no return."
The procedure was agonizing. Guided by Shibai, I had to mentally visualize the three locks—thick, ethereal chains wrapped tightly around the fiery core of my being. Then, with painstaking, soul-rending slowness, I had to transfer each chain, link by psychic link, to the swirling vortex of darkness that coexisted within me.
It felt like tearing my own soul in two. I screamed, my body convulsing as metaphysical structures that had been in place since my birth were violently realigned. Norton and Aria stood guard, their faces pale, while Shibai chanted, his hands glowing as he guided the terrifying process.
Then, it was done.
A massive surge of fire energy, pure and unbounded, erupted from me. It was a conflagration of joy, a roaring inferno of liberation that filled the valley with a sudden, shocking warmth. For a glorious second, I felt my grandfather's power as it was meant to be—vast, brilliant, and free.
But just as quickly, the surge contracted, snapping back into me. And in its wake, I felt the change. The fire was free, a roaring sun in my chest. But the darkness… it felt heavier. Denser. A deep, cold hunger now lurked where there had only been calm potential. It was like a wild animal that had just been caged for the first time.
"I… I did it," I gasped, collapsing to my knees. "The fire is free. But the darkness… it feels… hungry."
Shibai helped me up, his expression a mixture of triumph and deep concern. "You've done it. You've shifted the lockdown! But you must be more careful than ever. Your darkness is now artificially restrained. Provoke it, and the backlash could be catastrophic."
Suddenly, the world around me dissolved. The stone walls of Shibai's home, the concerned faces of my friends, the very ground beneath my feet—all of it vanished, replaced by an endless expanse of roiling magma and scorching air. I stood on a platform of obsidian, floating in a sea of fire.
Before me, the magma coalesced, rising into a being of pure, incandescent flame. Its voice was the roar of a supernova, the crackle of a burning forest, the comforting heat of a hearth.
"AT LAST... THE CHAINED FLAME IS FREED. I HAVE WAITED LONG FOR THIS DAY, CHILD OF MY CHAMPION."
My mind reeled. "Dracar? The Fire God? But Shadas said…"
"SHADAS SEEKS ONLY TO CLAIM YOU FOR HIS DOMAIN. BUT FIRE WAS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT. YOUR GRANDFATHER WAS MY GREATEST CHAMPION. UNTIL THE DAY THE COUNCIL BETRAYED HIM."
"Betrayed him?" The word was a punch to the gut. "He died in battle!"
"THEY DID NOT TELL YOU THE TRUTH. YOUR GRANDFATHER DID NOT DIE IN BATTLE. HE WAS ASSASSINATED BY THE COUNCIL'S INQUISITORS. THEY FEARED HIS POWER HAD GROWN TOO GREAT. HE HAD MASTERED WHAT THEY CALL 'GOD LIMITATION'—THE ABILITY TO TEMPORARILY SURPASS MORTAL CONSTRAINTS."
The truth was a blade of ice in my heart. They didn't just imprison me. They murdered him. My rage, fed by a lifetime of lies and the newly unleashed fire, became a physical force, causing the magma sea to boil.
"THE COUNCIL FEARS ANYTHING THEY CANNOT CONTROL. YOUR GRANDFATHER'S POWER THREATENED THEIR AUTHORITY. AND NOW YOU WALK THE SAME PATH. THE LOCKS THEY PLACED ON YOU PROVE THEY FEAR YOUR POTENTIAL."
The Fire God's words were a call to arms, a validation of every suspicion, every moment of anger. I looked into the heart of the sun that was Dracar, my own fire answering its call.
"I want to learn," I said, my voice no longer that of a boy, but of a successor. "Teach me this 'God Limitation.' I need the power to protect what's left of my family. To make them pay."
Dracar's form blazed with approval. "AT LAST... A WORTHY SUCCESSOR. I OFFER YOU THE SAME PACT I MADE WITH YOUR GRANDFATHER. MY FLAME WILL GUIDE YOU, BUT YOU MUST LEARN TO WIELD IT WITHOUT BEING CONSUMED."
Flames enveloped me, but they did not burn. They empowered. They seared the last of my weakness away, filling me with ancient knowledge, with the primal understanding of combustion and energy. The pact was sealed in fire and blood.
"THE PACT IS SEALED. NOW SHOW ME WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED, CHILD OF FIRE AND SHADOW."
I returned to the physical realm not with a bang, but with a profound, unsettling stillness. I opened my eyes. Norton and Aria stared at me, their expressions a mixture of awe and fear.
"Whoa… kid, your aura… it's different," Norton said, his voice hushed.
Aria, ever perceptive, added, "He's achieved balance. But it's a volatile balance."
I didn't speak. I simply raised a hand. This time, I didn't struggle. I didn't force. I simply allowed. A sphere of perfect harmony formed above my palm—a core of absolute darkness that contained a miniature, spinning sun of fire. The energies didn't fight. They complemented, each giving the other purpose and terrifying power.
Shibai breathed, "Incredible… you've achieved what took your grandfather decades to master!"
But it wasn't over. The knowledge Dracar had given me rose to the surface. God Limitation. A technique to temporarily shatter one's own mortal constraints. I focused, pushing my consciousness beyond its limits.
My form flickered. For a single, breathtaking moment, I became semi-transparent, my body glowing with an inner light made of both shadow and flame. The air crackled, not with chaotic energy, but with a focused, divine frequency. I could feel the threads of reality, the weave of magic itself. I was more than a mage. I was a force of nature.
"I can feel… everything!" I gasped, the sensation overwhelming.
The effect lasted only moments before the strain forced me back, and I collapsed, exhausted but triumphant.
Shibai rushed to my side, his face now etched with a new fear. "You've taken your first step into a larger world. But be warned… the Council hunts those who display God Limitation. You've just painted the largest target imaginable on your back."
As I lay on the ground, my body trembling with exhaustion and my soul humming with newfound power, I knew Shibai was right. I had traded one kind of danger for another, far greater one. But I also knew, with a certainty that burned as brightly as the sun I now held within me, that I was finally ready. Ready to face my grandfather's killers. Ready to lead the Fire Brigade. Ready for the war that was to come.