It's been over 500 years after the sealing ritual and by using what little consciousness that their Boy left behind, the Fire was able to grow and understand more complex thoughts and ideas.
It learned that it had a new name after being separated from its Boy, it was now called the "Samahdi Fire".
Personally it didn't really care for the name but it was acceptable at the very least. Being known as the "ultimate wildfire" helped it to soothe some of its grief even though it was stuck within a family of dragons.
Speaking of which, it had learned through many context clues that its original jailor (Ao Lie) was known as the "dragon horse" that had helped to carry the great Monk Tang Sangzang and journeyed with Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing.
(It felt some satisfaction that it now knew who it wanted to burn first if it ever escaped.)
It learned that Ao Lee was also the son of the "Dragon of the West" who had apparently made a powerful sword that was "imbued with the power of the dragon to protect their family".
And that apparently that sword was rather effective in helping to prevent their flames from burning every single dragon it was passed down to into ash.
The Samahdi Fire thought that was bullshit.
Though it found solace in that its flames at least burned the longevity of each dragon it was passed down to. Thus giving them a human lifespan.
(The Samahdi Fire had a firm belief that if it had to spend the rest of eternity stuck inside dragons while it had to be forcefully separated from their Boy then it was only fair that the dragon family should know the grief of losing their loved ones!)
It's rage at the world only seemed to fester throughout the years as it watched the different dragons play and grow into adulthood.
(It was envious, it wanted to play.)
It watched as those dragons would start families of their own.
(It wanted that freedom, it wanted to laugh with its parents like it used too so long ago.)
Watching through the eyes of its hosts but being unable to communicate, to have any connection to the outside world was far too cruel in its opinion.
(It wanted it's Boy, the sliver the Boy had left behind was not enough.)
The Fire's only solace it found was when the dragons would go to sleep and it could dream.
It would dream of its flames growing, consuming all in its wake.
It would dream of laughing as it would burn everything to ash.
It dreamed of burning the beings that had torn it apart and away from its Boy and nearly killed him in the process.
Even Father and Mother were not spared. It wasn't family after all, they wanted to be rid of "it". They wanted to separate the "Samahdi Fire" from "their son".
Its Father and Mother didn't even consider it their kin just a mindless flame of destruction.
(It didn't want to feel the pain of their rejection anymore so it decided to reject them. It ignored how it used to love being held by Father and praised by Mother.)
But the best part of their dreams is that could feel the faintest connections to the other part of itself!
To its Boy!
The flame it left with it's Boy only grew with time and as a result it could faintly feel his presence!
Their Boy was shown to be just a small orange flame, not as destructive or strong as the fire it was made out of but the Fire loved it dearly.
It couldn't communicate to the Boy but it could feel faint impressions of the Boy's feelings through their fire.
Those wisps of emotions that the Boy expressed were the only thing that kept the Samadhi Fire sane during its imprisonment.
(It was relieved to know that their Boy had survived on only a sliver of its power.)
During the dreams when it knew the Boy was scared and lonely the Fire would imagine itself holding the orange flame to its chest just like their father used to.
(It happened nearly every time they slept and the Fire had some guilt in knowing that it wasn't suffering alone. Their Boy didn't feel joy often anymore, he felt so lonely.)
The Samadhi Fire felt peace in those moments, comforting that small part of their Boy and imagining being united once again.
But then it would wake up and the cycle of grief, hatred, and longing would continue.
Then the Samadhi Fire was passed down to Mei Dragon.
The Samadhi Fire found that it's latest host was…..unusual to say the least.
Admittedly it found the young dragons' antics amusing.
The races, the parties, the way the girl would seek chaos everywhere she went certainly made its life just a little more interesting compared to the more serious and boring hosts it had in the past.
(Better than the girl's Father at least, the only interesting thing about that particular Dragon was that he was a pinball fanatic.)
It still didn't care for its imprisonment inside of the girl but at least it's current life was just a bit more interesting.
But then one day the dragon went out for a ride on her bike. She saw her friend playing a game of "tag" and decided to play along.
But then the Samadhi Fire saw him.
The red hair.
The orange flames.
That split second of eye contact and it could see familiar ruby red eyes.
Sure they didn't have their body now lacked a tail, horns, and claws….
But it was the Boy!
That was their Boy!
Their Boy had grown!
Their Boy was here!
Their Boy was so close!
The Samahdi Fire's joy was so intense that all it wanted to do was rip its way out of the girl and go back to him, to their body!
Even if the Fire was still in three other directions iit would be worth it just to feel their Boy's presence once more!
To be able to communicate and play games with him again!
But its joy was doused by the knowledge that it still couldn't escape.
It was bitter sweet but all it could do was to continue and watch their boy through it's jailors eyes.
Being so close and yet so far.
And so it was forced to watch its Boy leave again.
It experienced so many odd new emotions as it watched nearly an entire year pass by.
It felt pride as it watched the Boy wield its fire beautifully.
Sure their Boy's flames were weak, it didn't even resemble the Samahadi fire any more, but he used that small sliver to create new objects, inhance his speed, move items, and even teleport!
It was amazing! The Samahdi Fire never knew that flames could be wielded like that before!
But…
But…it wasn't enough.
It hurt that the Boy couldn't sense it from inside the "dragon horse girl".
It hurt even more being forced to watch as their Boy fail time and time again to not only it's jailor but also to the "noodle boy" and the rest of their group.
Each night it felt their Boy's frustration and disappointment
And the Samadhi Fire knew, it knew things would be different if they were one!
But as usual all it could do was be an observer.
Trapped inside an overly enthusiastic dragon girl who would probably pass it down to the next generation, its existence unknown and forgotten.
But then….
But then…the Lady Bone Demon escaped.
And it seemed like freedom was finally within reach.