The blood-red fire devoured everything.
The wooden beams of the house cracked under the bite of the furnace.
Kael stirred from his stupor and slowly rose from the floor. His movements were mechanical, driven by a single thought: to search. Search for what, exactly? A helping hand? A miracle? He didn't know. He rummaged through the burning wreckage, lifted everything he could, thrust his arms into the embers.
Each breath tore through his chest. Hell poured into his lungs.
His eyes, as dry as the desert, burned red with pain.
But he kept going, again and again, stepping through the scorching ashes.
He moved forward alone, a wavering silhouette in the heart of the blaze, until his legs gave out. He collapsed, overcome by dizziness. His head spun to the point of nausea. His eyelids begged to shut and never open again.
But beside him, something caught his eye. That was what he had been searching for, buried under the searing wood.
— Mother! Father!
His hoarse voice faded into the roar of the firestorm. He crawled toward them, struggling to stay conscious. Failing was not an option. He shook his parents' limp bodies over and over, but nothing. Not a sign of life. Their ash-covered hair slowly caught fire, and their faces, pressed close together, bore an oddly peaceful expression. Not sorrow—relief.
Kael's tears wanted to fall, but the heat dried them before they could. So instead came a scream. A raw, ragged cry, strangled by smoke, echoing through the ruins of a past reduced to ash. His heart shattered. His guts twisted. He could no longer think. He felt only emptiness.
A voice called out in the distance.
— Over here! I heard someone!
Slowly, he slumped to the ground beside his parents, when another voice, more familiar, echoed in his mind.
— Not now, my son. You still have to move forward.
A warm voice, crystalline and soft like a lullaby. Shadows darkened his vision as his mind began to wake. The world crumbled beneath his feet… the colors faded… and everything vanished.
He jolted upright, panting, drenched in sweat, in a trance.
In this dark room. Cold as winter.
He caught his breath slowly, lungs still burning with the memory of fire, trying to piece together the fragments of that harrowing dream. No… not a dream. A painful memory. The last one he had of his parents before falling into the claws of those dogs.
Before he could do anything, hot tears ran down his hollow cheeks. He wiped them away instantly with the back of his hand and slapped his face, forcing himself out of his pity.
I need to figure out how to get out of this hell.
His gaze fell on the black steel clamped around his ankles.
With these, it's impossible… Better wait until we're outside.
— You won't be able to take them off anytime soon, if you ask me.
Kael jumped. He spun around and spotted, in the dark, the mysterious boy sitting against the wall a meter away. The boy smiled and continued.
— What's your name?
Surprised, Kael stammered.
— Kael, and y—you… Wait, what are you doing here? And you're awake?
The boy didn't answer right away, fiddling with his tattered cotton shirt.
— Call me Ley. And, well, I don't exactly need much sleep...
He paused, studying Kael with a mocking smirk.
— And you were making all kinds of weird noises in your sleep. Kinda hard to drift back off.
He chuckled softly from the shadows. Kael's face turned red with embarrassment. He shook his head to regain composure.
Why is he acting like this since yesterday?
— Do you want something? he asked curtly.
Ley examined him, then stood up and took on a more solemn air. His constant smile faded slowly, like ink dissolving in water. He tilted his head back, as if searching for an answer in the darkness above. Finally, pointing to the sleeping bodies further into the cell, he said calmly:
— You seem different from the others. Less driven by fear.
Kael's thoughts were muddled. He didn't know what to make of this boy.
Is he just being kind? Or does he want something? But what could he possibly gain in here?
Kael decided to answer frankly, pointing at his ankles.
— Fear won't get these chunks of metal off.
Ley's bright smile returned instantly. As if that answer had confirmed his suspicions. Confident, he stood, radiant in the dark, and extended his hand toward Kael.
— Then... I propose an alliance, Kael.