Morning never reached the underground. Time passed only by the rhythm of the machines. Kael was already awake when Lira entered the chamber carrying a small metal case.

“You’re getting a field test,” she said simply.

He frowned. “Field test? You said I wasn’t ready.”

“I said you weren’t safe,” she corrected. “But the Federation’s already sweeping the lower sectors. We can’t stay here. You need to learn to blend your heat signature, or they’ll trace us in minutes.”

She opened the case. Inside were a pair of compact wrist guards made of matte alloy etched with Pyronite channels. “These will stabilize your output. Think of them as filters between your fire and the world.”

Kael slipped them on. The metal was cool, pulsing faintly in response to his heartbeat. The glow under his skin dimmed. “Feels like wearing silence,” he said.

“That’s the point.”

They moved through the back tunnels, heading toward the surface. Lira knew the old subway routes like a map in her veins. Kael followed closely, senses sharp. Every vibration, every drop of water felt amplified. Since awakening, his perception had changed—he could feel heat sources through walls, sense the faint hum of electrical life around them.

When they reached a broken stairway, sunlight streamed down through the cracks. The air above was heavy with smoke and dust. Kael blinked against the brightness. The world outside felt too open, too alive.

The city above was a skeleton of glass and iron. Federation patrol drones drifted through the streets, their sensors glowing like cold eyes. Far away, Kael could see the spire of the central tower—once the heart of the Pyronite reactors, now the headquarters of the Flame Division.

Lira crouched behind an overturned vehicle, checking her scanner. “Two patrols nearby,” she whispered. “Keep your heat level low. Think cold.”

Kael nodded, though his chest already tingled with warning heat. He pictured ice, rain, silence—anything to dampen the pulse. For a moment, it worked. His body cooled.

Then a shadow crossed above them. A drone hovered directly overhead, its red lens flaring.

“Target detected!” it blared.

“Run!” Lira shouted.

They sprinted through the wreckage as beams of plasma scorched the ground behind them. Kael’s instincts screamed to fight, but he remembered her warning—any large surge would expose their location to every scanner in the district. He clenched his fists, forcing the fire to stay dormant even as pain crawled up his spine.

Lira ducked into an alley, pulling him after her. “There’s a maintenance shaft ahead—north wall!”

They ran until the roar of engines filled the sky. Dropships descended between the ruins, their searchlights slicing through the dust. Armored troops spilled out, forming lines.

Kael turned to Lira. “There’s too many!”

“I know.” She slammed a device onto the wall—a cylindrical charge with blinking lights. “That’s why we don’t fight them. We erase ourselves.”

The charge detonated, releasing a burst of white fog mixed with magnetic interference. All scanners went dark. For a few precious seconds, the world became blind.

“Move!” she yelled.

They dashed into the shaft, sliding down a steep chute into the lower tunnels. The walls blurred past in a rush of heat and smoke. When they finally landed in the darkness below, Kael could barely breathe. His body shook from holding back the fire for too long.

“Lira…” he gasped, “I can’t… keep it down.”

She reached out, gripping his wrist. “Then don’t. But direct it—now!”

He released it in a single breath. Flames erupted around them, but not wild this time—tight, contained, forming a barrier that sealed the tunnel entrance behind them like molten glass. The pursuing soldiers’ voices faded on the other side.

Kael fell to his knees, exhausted but alive. Lira crouched beside him, her face lit by the faint orange glow.

“Not bad,” she said softly. “You’re learning.”

He managed a weak grin. “Guess fire makes a good door.”

“For now,” she replied. “But they’ll come again. And next time, they won’t stop until they burn the whole city to find you.”

Kael looked at the flickering flames sealing their escape. “Then I’ll burn first,” he whispered. “But this time, on my own terms.”

Above them, the city groaned under the weight of smoke and war. Deep underground, two fugitives rested beside their handmade fire—one hiding from the world, the other slowly becoming its spark.