The flames were flowing, spreading through every corner of the space like water.
Daphne felt as if she had fallen asleep, and within her dream she seemed to have transformed into a mass of flowing fire inside a cavern. She wandered curiously through the cave, and wherever she moved, the flames followed and spread.
In that moment, though made of fire, she could flow like water.
Sitting beside her, Rhys was the first to sense that something was wrong. Immediately after, Astoria also noticed the changes happening to her sister: Daphne's body temperature was rising rapidly—sitting next to her felt like sitting beside a blazing fire.
Rhys: !!!
This scene was all too familiar to him.
[Salazar, look, I've turned into a mass of fire—]
A familiar yet distant voice seemed to echo in Rhys's ears, and the figure of a red-haired man flickered across his mind, though the man's features were already blurry.
"R-Rhys, what's happening to my sister?" Astoria's voice drifted over and pulled Rhys back to reality. With a complicated expression, he glanced at Daphne, then quietly drew Astoria aside and told her that Daphne seemed to have grasped something extraordinary.
Hearing this, Astoria looked at Daphne with a similarly complex expression and whispered, "Is my sister… awakening a domain?"
"Hard to say." Rhys shook his head. Awakening a domain wasn't something that happened so easily. Even with all the advantages Helga had given the exceptionally gifted Cedric, he had only managed to grasp the tiniest shred of it.
To say Daphne could awaken a domain just by staring at a fireplace—Rhys wasn't buying that.
"She's touched the edge of a domain. What lies between her and truly possessing one is only a few steps… but those few steps might take a lifetime to cross. Most people, however, don't even qualify to touch the edge."
Rhys tried his best to explain to Astoria the level her sister was currently at. At the end, he gave a small smile. "Ninety-nine percent of the wizarding world doesn't even know what a domain is."
After explaining, Rhys and Astoria both fell silent, quietly watching Daphne stare blankly into the fire—the flames inside the hearth were now burning extremely intensely, almost as if they were about to erupt outward.
Rhys's emotions were a tangled mess. On one hand, he was sincerely happy for Daphne—this was a domain. Once awakened, it would benefit her for life. On the other hand… why did her domain have to be fire of all things?
It was infuriating.
It felt like tending a carefully cultivated field, only for a wild weed named "Godric" to sprout out of it.
Rhys even began doubting himself: was it a mistake to let his students explore domains on their own? If he had guided Daphne the way Helga guided Cedric, would she have followed his path and awakened a water domain instead?
But after calming down and thinking it through for a moment, Rhys still felt he had been right.
Although he disliked fire-type domains, that distaste existed only because Gryffindor had left his mark on that branch of magic—its power was not the problem.
In terms of sheer strength, a fire-type domain was only slightly inferior to his own water-type domain. Just a tiny bit.
For Daphne to comprehend something of this level was more than enough to make him feel proud.
Besides, Rhys truly didn't understand why people always associated fire with Gryffindor. Was it mandatory to submit a written application to Godric before using a fire-type domain?!
As long as Daphne was strong enough, the first person everyone would think of in connection to a fire-type domain would definitely be her. Or perhaps Dumbledore.
Right—Dumbledore also possessed a fire-type domain. Maybe that influence played a part too.
Yes, of course. What was so strange about a student being similar to the Headmaster?
Rhys felt that he had fully reasoned it out.
After some time, the fireplace was finally "filled" with flames—just like a water tank reaching its limit. The fire spilled over the edge, crossed the hearth, and spread across the floor, flowing everywhere like water.
The miraculous part was that the flames didn't burn the expensive carpet laid across the floor at all. They burned in the air itself, as though they required no fuel whatsoever.
When the flowing flames reached Daphne's feet, they ignited instantly—like oil catching fire—and surged upward, engulfing her whole body and turning the girl into a massive sphere of fire.
Rhys reacted quickly. He covered Astoria's mouth, forcing her startled cry back down her throat.
Being disturbed while comprehending a domain was extremely dangerous and could easily cause someone to miss their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But Rhys was experienced. Under his supervision, nothing bad would happen to Daphne.
Even so, the development that followed surprised even him.
Normally, after completing elementalization, Daphne should have gradually returned to her human form. But the flames on her body showed no sign of extinguishing—on the contrary, they grew fiercer and fiercer.
"Is she really okay?" Astoria anxiously watched her sister, now a blazing fireball, feeling as though Daphne had definitely gone off-script.
"She's fine. This is normal." Rhys's voice was steady and composed, carrying a calm certainty that instantly soothed Astoria.
What had things been like when Godric awakened his domain…?
Rhys's mind spun rapidly.
His memory of that time was a little fuzzy, but it had been something cliché to the extreme—breaking through at the brink of death. Godric was precisely that kind of person, fitting everyone's stereotypical image of a bright, cheerful protagonist.
It had been the classic scene: the villain beating Godric to the brink of death, pushing him into a desperate corner. And then—according to Godric's own retelling—his mind suddenly replayed all the memories of his journey so far, and he ignited. Roaring like a madman, he burned through the enemy and won.
Daphne's situation was… not quite the same.
The good news was that Rhys could still clearly sense her life force within the flames. That was the only reason he hadn't interfered.
Right now, Daphne was like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon—the best thing he could do was let everything unfold naturally.
"We just need to wait," Rhys said. It was hard to tell whether he was reassuring Astoria or reassuring himself.
A few quiet minutes later, the flames around Daphne underwent a strange change.
If Rhys had to choose a word for it, it would be reduction. The fireball Daphne had become thickened, gaining an almost solid texture, like cola boiled down over high heat until only syrup remained.
Rhys narrowed his eyes, studying it, and soon realized something surprising: his student didn't seem to be comprehending a pure fire domain at all, but a variant of fire—magma.
Her direction touched on fire, earth, and even water. It was an exceptionally strong domain.
Without a doubt, domains had a hierarchy of power. The more fundamental the element, the stronger the domain—just like his water, Helga's earth, and Rowena's wind.
Domains formed by a mixture of several elements were extremely powerful, and more importantly, the domains of Rhys and the other founders had limited suppressive effect on such hybrid domains.
By contrast, variant domains of a single element were far easier to counter. For example, water had overwhelming suppressive force against domains like mist or frost.
As for those so-called "domains" that only provided some special effects, Rhys classified them as nothing more than complicated spells.
After the "reduction" phase finished, the flames covering Daphne's body gradually extinguished, leaving behind a layer of ashy black crust.
Astoria: "…"
Her sister did not look fine. Being covered in something like that—even if she survived, wouldn't she be horribly disfigured?
Astoria shivered.
Rhys, however, understood perfectly that Daphne's "metamorphosis" had ended. She had successfully touched the threshold of a domain.
His happiness for her was genuine—especially because she had pulled back at the last moment and avoided forming a pure fire domain.
It was truly remarkable. Some people had to brush against death to reach this step, while others only needed to stare at a fireplace until they zoned out.
Perhaps this was the so-called "balance of gains and losses"—the attribute points Daphne should have put into intelligence had apparently gone elsewhere.
Rhys shook his head, driving out that peculiar thought. No matter what, Daphne was his student; he couldn't secretly think of her that way.
"Put it this way—back in the ancient era, you'd have to address your sister as Your Grace."In an unusually good mood, Rhys winked at Astoria, teasing her lightly.
Astoria: "…"
She could feel her blood pressure rising. Why?! Why did my sister suddenly grasp it?! Is this what they mean by dumb luck?!
Puffing out her cheeks, she glared at the fireplace for a long time, trying to see what Daphne had seen. Her eyes stung, but she understood absolutely nothing.
Following her gaze, Rhys realized what she was attempting and instantly sucked in a sharp breath.
"When you've got nothing to do, go for a walk by the Black Lake. Who knows—maybe one day you'll suddenly figure it out like your sister." Rhys offered Astoria a gentle bit of guidance.
If both of his students awakened fire-type domains, he genuinely didn't think he could take it.
Crack!
While Rhys and Astoria were talking, Daphne finally regained awareness. As she began to move, the crust covering her body fell away like volcanic ash, sifting down her skin in soft gray flakes.
Astoria watched every detail intently—and then froze in shock.
Daphne's clothes were completely intact, and her skin looked even fairer and smoother than before.
"Elementalization is the process of turning the body into an element and then reversing it. During this process, the body's structure is reshaped, and impurities are expelled, making the body purer."
Seeing the strange expression on Astoria's face, Rhys took the initiative to explain the principle behind Daphne's transformation.
Hearing this, Astoria's desire for a domain grew even stronger.
_____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI
Also check out Marvel's Reality Editor. Be warned: it contains SMUT, but the story is highly plot-driven. (^///^)