Burn Out: The Fire God who wanted peace

"There's no turning back after this," Kagari warned, strapping on her combat cloak.

"I know," I said.

But I didn't.

Not really.

Because I had no idea what kind of monster Calderon had become.

[Sector 12: Silver Forge District – Quarantine Zone]

Once, it was a forge-city, powered by divine flame, smithing relics for the old gods. Now it was a ghost sector. Smoke-choked. Walled off with steel and silence.

Only patrol mechs moved through its ruins.

No civilians.

No comms.

No sun.

And in the center

A heartbeat of fire pulsed like a buried volcano.

Access Protocol

"ID check: Unauthorized."

"This zone is closed. Turn back or be incinerated."

"Guess they're not accepting visitors," Kagari muttered.

I stepped forward.

A mecha drone locked onto me.

"Divine signature detected, uncategorized."

"Searching archives…"

"Match found: Codename, Incendios, Class Omega Prime."

"Access… granted."

Kagari blinked. "What?"

"Old privileges die hard," I muttered.

As the gates opened, the heat hit us like a wall.

The streets were half-melted. Lampposts curved like wax. And in the distance, a forge-fire climbed into the sky like a flaming tree.

"He's building something," Kagari said.

"No," I replied. "He's remembering."

We passed a crater full of molten armor.

Divine-era weaponry. Scorched into slag.

Then, a wall. Carved with ancient runes.

I knew the language.

I had carved it myself.

"The World Burns Clean," I translated.

"That was your motto?" Kagari asked.

I didn't answer.

Then he appeared.

A silhouette in the flame.

Not cloaked in armor, made of it.

Blackened steel fused to muscle. Glowing vents lining his limbs.

Eyes like burning brands.

And two flaming wolf heads spiraled behind him like phantom fangs.

"You came," he growled.

"Calderon," I said.

> "You're late," he snarled. "The world is already ash."

His voice carried weight. Not just heat, but war. Each word felt like it could break bone.

Kagari drew her weapon.

I raised my hand.

"We didn't come to fight."

He laughed. It was not kind.

"Then you shouldn't have come at all."

He leapt.

Faster than any mortal.

I caught his punch "barely" but the impact cratered the ground and sent shockwaves down the street.

"Still soft," he spat. "Still pretending to be human."

"I made a choice."

"Then unmake it," he roared.

The air around him shimmered, then ignited.

Divine Spark Active

🜂 Host: Calderon the Ember-Wolf

🜂 Sync Rate: 53%

🜂 Spark Class: "Infernal Loyalty"

🜂 Ability Manifest: Flame Familiar: Lupine Phantoms

🜂 Domain Zone Expanding…

The world twisted.

Suddenly we weren't in Sector 12 anymore.

We were standing on a battlefield of fire, one that only existed in his soul.

"I forged this domain in your name," Calderon snarled.

"And you left it to rot."

"I didn't want to be a god anymore!"

"Then you don't deserve your Sparks!"

The flame-wolves howled.

They charged.

I raised my palm. My aura flickered "Hellfire, still unstable" but enough to knock them back.

Not destroy, Just hold.

I didn't want to burn him.

I didn't want to burn anyone.

"Calderon. The war is over."

"Not for me."

Suddenly, he froze.

The flames around him trembled.

"She's coming," he said softly.

I blinked. "Who?"

He turned to the sky.

"The Saint, Tsukiko, She's already reached 42% sync."

"She sent you a message."

He thrust a sigil into the air, flame-written.

A burning script appeared, glowing with her aura.

"Rin. They remember you. More than I ever could."

"They are waiting."

"When the Seventh Flame awakens…"

"We will come for you."

The fire dimmed.

The domain shattered.

And Calderon stepped back.

For the first time… he bowed.

"When that day comes," he said, "I will stand at your side."

Then he disappeared into the smoke.

🜂 SYSTEM LOG

📍 [Spark 2: Calderon – Status: Dormant Ally]

📍 [Fragment Sync Rate: 53% – Suppressed]

📍[Location: Known – No threat currently registered]

🧠 Core Memory Restored: 12%

🜂 Title Hint Acquired: "The Forsaken Flame"

"He didn't want to fight you," Kagari said.

"No," I whispered. "He wanted to remind me."

"Of what?"

I stared at my hand.

Flickering with fire I hadn't summoned.

"That I left them behind."

It started with a dream.

A battlefield without end.

Flames danced across the horizon. Screams echoed in the air like a chorus of agony. And there "floating above it all" was me.

Not Rin.

Not a student.

A god.

Crowned in fire, Eyes molten with judgment. Cloaked in solar storms.

The world bent beneath my will.

And I

"Burn."

spoke the word that erased cities.

I woke up choking.

My room was dim, My sheets damp with sweat.

The flames were gone, but the memory lingered like smoke in my lungs.

"Another vision?" Kagari asked, entering without knocking.

I didn't answer.

I didn't need to.

She saw the scorch mark on my wall.

The one I didn't remember making.

"The closer you get to the Sparks," she murmured, "the more of him you remember."

"I'm not him anymore."

"Aren't you?"

I threw on my uniform and grabbed my bag.

The city outside felt colder somehow. As if the dream had stolen all the warmth from my bones.

Kagari walked beside me in silence.

Until we reached the academy gates.

"There's something you should know," she said suddenly.

"About Tsukiko."

She handed me a dossier.

Unmarked, Sealed.

Inside: surveillance footage. Blurry, but unmistakable.

Tsukiko. In an alley.

Standing face to face with a boy I didn't recognize.

And around him wind that cut through steel.

"Who is he?" I asked.

"We don't know. No records, No ID."

She paused.

"But the spark inside him, it's not yours."

I froze.

"Another god?"

"Maybe, Or maybe just another weapon pretending to be one."

She leaned closer.

"Whatever he is, Tsukiko's recruiting him. And she called him by name."

"What name?"

She looked at me.

And whispered:

"Zephyrion."

The name hit like lightning.

Not because I remembered it.

But because I didn't.

And that scared me more than anything.

"Why would one of my Sparks follow someone else?"

Kagari was quiet.

"Maybe because they don't want peace."

"Maybe… they want vengeance."

I skipped class that day.

My mind was too clouded, The dream still clung to me like soot.

So I went to the rooftop.

To breathe.

To burn, just a little.

Just enough to feel in control.

But when I reached the top

He was there.

Not Zephyrion.

Kaito.

That loud, annoying assistant rep with perfect grades and smug smirks.

Sitting on the rail like it was his throne.

"Yo," he said.

"You're not supposed to be up here," I muttered.

"Neither are you."

He grinned.

Then reached into his bag…

And pulled out a flame crystal.

My flame.

"Where did you get that?"

He tossed it in the air casually.

"Oh, this? Someone mailed it to me. No return address. Just a note."

I snatched it from the air. The moment my fingers touched it, it roared to life.

My fire.

But warped, Like it had passed through something ancient.

Twisted with another energy.

Wind, Frost, Shadow.

"What did the note say?" I asked quietly.

Kaito leaned closer.

His eyes gleamed with something dangerous.

"It said: 'Give this to the Fire God.'"

"And then tell him…"

He paused.

Then whispered

"'The sky remembers.'"

Everything went still.

The rooftop.

The city.

Even the sun.

Because that phrase

"The sky remembers."

was something only one being ever said to me.

A being I thought was long dead.

"Who are you really?" I asked.

Kaito grinned.

But it wasn't his grin.

"I'm just a courier," he said. "But the message?"

He stepped back onto the rail.

Balanced perfectly.

Even as wind began swirling around him.

"The message is: your past isn't done with you yet."

Then

He vanished.

🜂 SYSTEM NOTICE

[New Signal Detected – Class Unknown]

🜂 Flame-Type Signature Crossed with Wind: Hybrid Spark

🜁 Codename: "Zephyrion"

🜂 Status: Observing

🜂 Alignment: Unknown

🜂 Sync Candidate: Active – "Kaito Amagi"

I clenched the crystal in my hand.

The flames inside whispered secrets I didn't want to hear.

And below me, the city moved on.

Oblivious to the war awakening beneath its feet.

I wasn't just remembering.

I was being remembered.

📘 End of Chapter 10