A young man, no more than 20, could be seen walking under the low glow of the evening sky, his hoodie covering his head. His head looked down, facing the ground as he walked beside the pavement in tired steps. Every few steps, a tear could be seen dropping from his eyes. His fist clenched inside his hoodie pocket as he gritted his teeth, trying to fight the feelings welling inside him.
His name was Liam, and just a few moments ago, he had gone to see his girlfriend of five years, the person he had shared most of his life with, all the way from high school till date. The person he trusted more than even his own family. The person he would give his all for at any given moment. But as he opened the door, he saw her twisted on the bed with someone he never thought would betray him: his very own best friend, his childhood friend who had been with him since he was only a kid.
They had been through thick and thin together, and yet he did this to him. He looked at them on the bed, stunned and frozen, and when she tried to explain, she said she didn't feel the spark they once had and she was searching for someone who would make her happy.
He exploded in a fit of rage, speaking of how he gave everything to make her happy. Even as she was an orphan, he put in extra work to ensure she could have a better life, aiding her through her fees in school and everything. He gave everything to ensure she was happy, and yet it came to this.
The heartbreak was horrendous. The pain was intense. He walked without knowing where he was going, up until the point where the smell of burning wood hit his nose. All of a sudden, a wave of heat washed against his body. He lifted his head only to see a bright orange light shining.
A house was on fire, and people around were screaming. He looked at the house, the flames rising. It seemed people all around were dialing the fire service, but they were yet to arrive. That was when he spotted someone through the window of the house. A small girl, curled in her room, shaking.
From the angle he was in, he could see her, but nobody else could see her from the front, and the crackles of the flames drowned out her cries. Not knowing what to do, he looked around for who to tell. But then, what would it matter if the firefighters weren't here yet?
He looked at her again, her silhouette trembling, the flames getting higher. In a few more seconds, the fire would swallow her whole.
He gritted his teeth.
"What's the point? I already lost everything," he muttered, before dashing toward the house.
No one expected it. No one saw him until he was already past them, reaching the burning house. He crossed the doorway and entered through the flames. People screamed at him to stop, but he didn't. He didn't even look back.
Why did he do it? Why did he run into the house? Why did he choose to save a stranger he had never met?
Partly because he was human. And partly because a part of him felt there was nothing left in his own life anymore. If there was anyone who should risk their life to save someone, it should be him. What else would he do? Sit alone in his room, drowning in agony and depression till death? At least if he tried doing something here and died, he would die for a cause, not for nothing.
He wasn't planning to die. Not really. But the logic made sense to him.
He waded through the heavy flames that burned the house from the inside out. He could feel his skin searing, burning in real time. He ignored it, using the side of his hoodie to cover his nose, trying to filter what little air he could as he pushed deeper into the inferno.
He reached the girl's door. It was half-melted and burning, but still standing. He kicked it open. Embers burst and landed on his legs, burning him. He groaned but kept going.
Inside, he found her curled on the bed, the mattress already burning from underneath, flames creeping in around her. Screaming. Crying.
He rushed in, grabbed her, lifted her to his side, and turned to escape. But the doorway was already swallowed by fire. The heat was suffocating, his vision blurring from the smoke. He wondered how she had survived this long.
Then part of the wall collapsed from the burning support beams, opening a small gap. He didn't think, he ran. Through the hole, through the smoke, through the cracking beams.
He reached the door.
Someone outside saw him, sprinted forward, arms outstretched to grab the girl. Liam pushed her through the opening. The person pulled her out safely.
He followed.
Or tried to.
The flaming doorframe collapsed at that exact moment, crashing onto his back and pinning him halfway—half his body outside the house, half inside.
People screamed. The man who took the girl rushed forward to help, trying to reach him through the flames.
He could hear them shouting. He could feel his skin peeling. He could taste the smoke burning down his throat.
But before they could reach him,
the entire house collapsed.
The flames swallowed him whole in an instant, covering him in a blazing cascade of burning wood and debris.
He died only moments later, his body buried beneath the ruin.
But he didn't die a coward like his friend and girlfriend.
He died saving someone else.
As everything went black and he died, burning, hurting, crushed beneath collapsing debris—Liam felt something strange: peace.
A quiet numbness washed over him, the kind that only comes when the suffering ends and there is nothing left to fight for. It should've been the end.
It was the end.
But only for a heartbeat.
Because a moment later… awareness returned.
It didn't return gently. There was no breath, no heartbeat, no eyelids fluttering open. Instead, he was suddenly there, conscious without a body, awake without waking.
And he could see.
Yet not with eyes.
It was as if the world itself was feeding him information—shapes, colors, sensations—all at once, flowing into him from every direction. The perception wasn't confined to a front or back, left or right. He saw in a full sphere, in every angle, simultaneously.
He recoiled instinctively… except he had no limbs to recoil with.
No hands.
No legs.
No body.
What… what is this? Am I hallucinating?
He tried to calm himself, but even that was strange. The sense of breathing didn't exist anymore. His fear didn't come with racing heartbeats or trembling muscles. Everything he felt was internal, pure thought and emotion with nothing physical behind it.
Slowly, he focused on his surroundings.
A forest.
But not any forest he recognized. This one was… alive. Too alive. The trees towered like ancient titans, their leaves shimmering with faint glimmers of mana. He didn't know how he recognized it, but he did. The air carried a warmth and vibrance that felt otherworldly.
He was resting on a long cracked piece of wood.
Or rather,
he thought he was.
Because the wood wasn't just cracked—it was burning, softly crackling away as a single flame ate through it. And that flame,
that tiny flickering spark, was him. Realization hit him like ice water.
No arms.
No flesh.
No heartbeat.
No breath.
Just fire. A small flame, clinging to life on a burning branch in the middle of a mystical forest.
No, no, no… what is going on?! I died—how am I—what am I?!
His thoughts spiraled, jumping from fear to disbelief to confusion in rapid succession.
And then—
A sound cut through everything.
Not through the air, through him. A calm, resonant voice, mechanical yet strangely alive, echoing deep inside his consciousness.
The forest dimmed around him as glowing symbols formed in the air.
[System Activation Complete]
[Welcome Host]
[Lesser Flame]