Prologue

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A side character.

That is what she was all about. She had been born to a family with amazing supernatural power, a high class one in fact. But she was nowhere amazing compared to her siblings; hence her father paid almost no attention to her.

She spent her days locked up in her house. She never went to play with her sibling, nor create troubles like they did. She will be an obedient daughter, she thought. Maybe that way, her father would at least tolerate her. Or perhaps, he would start to look at her. She knew she was hoping for something impossible, and she was okay with that.

It was her father's birthday, and she had been almost six. She drew him lilies, his favorite flower. And she colored it orange. Just like the color of his flame. She smiled; it was a perfect gift for his father.

Her father had to see, that she was strong. She was just as amazing as her brother.

So she tried to be strong. She tried not to cry. Even when her father burnt her gift for him.

"If you had time to give me this, you should've used your time for training."

Then she spent more time training. She trained hard. For years she did and she finally earned her father attention.

It was a sunny day when her father decided to take a look at her practice. And she gave everything she got.

But why-

Why did she see only disappointment in his eyes?

When her father turned to leave the family dojo, she saw her brother who had been standing next to their father turned to leave too. The sight of his mismatched eyes raged her. She hated those eyes. She hated him. She hated him for gaining all the attention from their father. She hated him for being stronger than her.

She clenched her hands.

Don't look at me with those eyes. I hate you.

I have to be strong, stronger. Stronger than this.

Her eyes filled with red. It was as if her flame burnt her eyes. It was perhaps her impudent hope that finally burnt her.

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"You want to be strong, o bearer of flame?"

She opened her eyes to see a flame in the middle of endless darkness. Where am I…?

She squinted her eyes to when the enormous flame in front her started to look like something. A vermillion bird?

"Come to me, and you shall gain the power you seek."

Her obsession for her father's attention had driven her need for power. And it was unhealthy. It blinded her and she was desperate and she did not realize she had stretched her hand to reach the flame.

"Wise decision, my child. Then you shall receive this power of eternal flame."

She screamed when the flame engulfed her. It hurts. It burns. She felt tears in her eyes when the pain had become unbearable. She was going to die.

But she didn't.

She opened her eyes to see she was back in the dojo and her father was still walking towards the exit. She did not think. She ran as if her whole life depended on it.

Her brother did not even flinch when she had landed the first hit. And of course, she expected that immediate counter-attack. It was her brother after all, the boy who received intense lessons from the almighty Endeavor.

It then turned into an unexpected fight where she and her brother fought for whatever reason. She fought for his father's recognition and her brother was perhaps fighting to remind her who she was. A side character. A forever second place, a second strongest.

But dear brother, I am not the same person as the person who clung to you for comfort years ago. I am stronger.

It was a fight between her flame and her brother's ice. Why he hadn't been using his flame, she did not know. One thing she was certain is that she gained the upper up in this fight. She felt the flame of the vermillion bird burnt inside her. It was strong yet terrifying.

The fight became somehow uncontrollable when her flame started to grow bigger. She was losing control. The power had been too much for her.

Ironic, indeed. One was granted power yet could not even use it.

Her brother had noticed her unusual behavior and started to be more careful. His punches had become less and less painful. Don't underestimate me, brother. So she all the strength she got and aimed to whatever in front. And she ended up hitting his brother's left eye with her flame.

Her brother fell and clutched his left eye. When his hand uncovered the part she hit, she froze. It wasn't supposed to hurt her brother, flame could not injure flame. It was impossible. And god, his left eye she injured, the same turquoise eye they shared, reflected an emotion she could not identify. Betrayal?

"You are indeed my daughter, Kohaku. I am impressed," her father spoke up.

Kohaku. Amber. The color of her father's flame, and now hers.

Her father had finally acknowledged her, but why did she feel no happiness?