It happened quietly.
No alarms.
No fire clash.
Just a missing name on the roll.
Lao Yun.
The first Coalspark student to ignite her flame.
She was gone.
Wei Lin stood before the empty space in the forge circle.
His fingers hovered over the still-warm slate where her flame used to pulse.
Shen Tai arrived minutes later.
"No word?" he asked.
Wei shook his head.
Then, from the west wall of the school, a soul-encoded whisper arrived.
A warning.
"Do not send fire to retrieve her. She is being studied under containment."
"Your path is being evaluated for safety."
"Do not escalate."
There was no name on the message.
But the seal was clear:
Sable Stone Sect — loyalist remnants of the old Heavenly Court enforcement division.
Wei looked at Shen Tai.
"She trusted us."
"She built the first spark."
"Now she's being 'evaluated' like a relic."
Shen Tai's voice was steady:
"They think because we're unranked, we'll stay passive."
"They don't understand…"
He closed his eyes.
And when they opened again, his flame burned cold but clean.
"This path is chosen. And we choose to go get her back."
Wei turned to the students.
No one objected.
No one looked away.
Because if they didn't protect their own…
Coalspark would just be a slogan.
Not a path.
That night, they packed quietly.
No banners.
No war calls.
Just a single movement:
Step forward, even when you fear you shouldn't.
Kindling Courage.
In the old ruins west of the valley, behind stone forged during the Devourer Era, Lao Yun sat in a containment ring.
Her flame flickered behind a glass field of runes.
The sect leader studied her without speaking.
But she didn't cry.
She smiled.
Because she had written one last word into the forge before they took her:
"Trust."
And far away, beneath a moon the old gods never lit…
Coalspark began to march.