Warmth.That was the first thing Aren felt.Not the pain of the rope, not the crack of vertebrae—only warmth.
He opened his eyes.
Above him, burned leaves fell like black snow. The air shimmered red, heat rippling through the ruins of a forest. The smell of smoke clung to everything.
He was alive.
Aren lay half-buried in ash, his shirt in tatters, his skin faintly glowing with crimson lines. The pendant against his chest pulsed softly, as if breathing.
He coughed, the sound raw. "Where…?"
"About thirty leagues from the city," came a voice—female, sharp, and entirely unimpressed. "Though judging by how you were hung, I'm surprised you remember what a city is."
Aren froze. "Who's there?"
"Down here, boy."
A small creature stepped out from the shadows—a cat, its fur a deep midnight black streaked with faint golden markings that glowed like embers. Its eyes, molten amber, regarded him with casual disdain.
Aren blinked. "A… cat?"
The creature's tail flicked. "Rude. I am Mira, the Exalted Flame. Don't confuse me with your street vermin."
He tried to sit up, groaning. "I must be dead."
"If you were dead," Mira said, "you'd be far less noisy. Your pendant saved you. Impressive little trinket—though it burned through more power than I've seen in decades."
Aren looked down at it. The small red crystal, now cracked, still glowed faintly. "It saved me?"
"Saved, yes. Whole, not quite." She sniffed the air. "Your meridians are fractured, your bones half-charred. You're lucky to be breathing."
He frowned. "How do you know all that?"
"Because I see Qi, boy. You reek of imbalance." Her tail flicked again. "But there's something else… beneath the burn. A seal. Ancient."
Aren clenched his fists. "I don't understand any of this. What do you want from me?"
"Want?" Mira smirked. "Curiosity. And maybe a bit of entertainment. It's not every century someone drops from Heaven wrapped in Phoenix fire."
He went still. "Phoenix?"
She padded closer. "That pendant around your neck bears the sigil of the Phoenix Sovereign. Either you stole it—or you're something far more troublesome."
Aren hesitated, then shook his head. "It was my mother's. I never knew what it meant."
Mira's expression softened—slightly. "Then she wasn't just anyone." She circled him once, studying his aura. "Tell me, boy. When you tried to absorb Qi before, what happened?"
"I… couldn't. My body rejects it. Every time I tried to cultivate, it felt like my veins were tearing apart."
Her eyes narrowed. "So it's true. You have the Condemned Physique."
"The what?"
Mira sighed. "The curse of Heaven. Once in an age, the Heavens brand a soul as forbidden to ascend. Every breakthrough you make draws their gaze. Every ounce of progress—summons calamity."
Aren felt cold despite the heat. "So I'm doomed no matter what?"
"Not doomed," she said. "Challenged. You can crawl in the dirt forever, or climb until the Heavens themselves try to kill you."
He looked away, silent.
For a long moment, the forest crackled quietly around them. Then Aren clenched his fists. "If they want me dead, they'll have to keep trying."
Mira's grin was all teeth. "Now that's more like it."
She flicked her tail, and fire leapt from the ground, reshaping itself into faint, swirling patterns in the air. "If you want to survive, we start training. I'll teach you a breathing method once used by the Phoenix Sovereign himself—the Ember Cycle."
Aren stared at the patterns, heart pounding. "Can I even learn it?"
"You'll learn or die trying." Her tone turned sharp. "Close your eyes. Breathe in through the navel, let the air sink to your dantian. Feel the warmth of your blood."
He obeyed. Slowly, the warmth gathered—first as faint sparks, then rivers of heat flowing through his body. His nerves screamed in protest.
Pain. Fire. The sensation of his veins burning from inside out.
He grit his teeth. "It hurts."
"Good. Pain means you're alive. Pain means the world hasn't taken everything yet."
The fire built until he thought he would burst—then suddenly, it flowed. Qi surged down his spine, exploding through a channel near his heart.
Mira's eyes widened. "Impossible…"
Aren gasped, light erupting from his skin. A faint, transparent line burned across his chest—a newly opened meridian.
The first.
When he opened his eyes, sweat poured down his face, but his heart beat strong. He'd done it.
He looked at Mira. "That… worked?"
Her grin returned, fierce and proud. "Congratulations, boy. You've just opened your first meridian. The path of fire has begun."
Above them, thunder rumbled in the distance. The sky darkened for a heartbeat—then stilled.
Mira's tail twitched. "Heaven felt that. The Condemned Physique always leaves ripples."
Aren stared up at the sky. "Let it watch."
End of Chapter 2 – The Fire and the Cat