Chapter Four – Fire Knows Her Name
806 Words
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📖 Chapter Four – Fire Knows Her Name
📌 Word Count: ~1,000+ Dreame-optimized
📌 Theme: tension, foreshadowing, and emotional pull
📌 Ready to paste directly into Dreame
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Chapter Four – Fire Knows Her Name
Greymoor was nothing like Ashenmoor.
Where Nyra’s village had been cold and watchful, Greymoor was busy and loud. Merchants barked from their stalls. Children ran through the muddy streets with sticks pretending to be swords. No one gave her a second glance.
And still, she felt watched.
Kael walked beside her now, his hood low over his eyes. The mark on Nyra’s wrist pulsed with heat beneath her cloak. The closer they got to the center of town, the warmer it burned.
> “She’s here,” Kael murmured. “I can feel it. So can you.”
Nyra nodded. She didn’t know how, but he was right. The girl’s energy—raw, unfocused—rippled through the air like static before a storm.
They stopped at the edge of the square.
A fountain trickled quietly in the center, chipped and mossy. Nearby, a group of women sold bread from a wooden table. Behind them, children played with marbles and sticks.
And there she was.
Small. Barefoot. Tangled curls and a red scarf around her neck. The moment Nyra’s eyes met hers across the square, the girl froze.
The world hushed. Just for a second.
Then the child blinked and looked away, pretending nothing had happened.
But she had felt it too.
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> “Her name’s Lira,” Kael said as they ducked into a narrow alley. “She’s lived here with a foster family since the last culling. They think she’s normal.”
> “She’s not,” Nyra said.
> “No. And she’s starting to lose control. Last week, she melted a glass cup in her hand and didn’t know how. The woman raising her is terrified.”
Nyra leaned against the brick wall. The sun was starting to dip low, casting long shadows across the alley.
> “Then we take her,” she said. “Tonight.”
> “And what if she’s afraid of us?” Kael asked. “What if she won’t come?”
Nyra didn’t answer right away. She thought of the fire in her own chest. Of the first time it whispered to her. Of the silence she buried herself in afterward.
> “We don’t give her a choice,” she said. “We protect her. Even if she hates us for it.”
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That night, Nyra moved like a shadow.
Kael kept his distance, letting her lead. She wore darkness like armor, slipping through the village unseen. Her body remembered how to be invisible. Her power stayed quiet—just enough warmth in her palms to keep her balanced, just enough light in her eyes to see what others couldn’t.
She reached the house by the edge of town.
It was small, crooked, with ivy strangling the sides and a chimney puffing tired smoke. A lantern flickered inside. Nyra peered through the cracked window.
There—Lira sat on the floor, legs crossed, hugging a threadbare doll. The woman who raised her paced nearby, muttering.
And then—
The candle beside them exploded.
The flame tripled in height, then shattered the glass cover. Sparks hit the ceiling. The woman screamed. Lira backed into the corner, trembling.
But her hands weren’t raised.
> She hadn’t meant to do it.
Nyra’s hand went to the window latch, but Kael appeared beside her, silent as breath.
> “Let me,” he whispered.
Nyra shook her head. “No. She looked at me today. She’ll trust me.”
Before Kael could argue, she slipped through the side door.
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Inside, the heat clung to the walls. The woman had fled the room, screaming for help.
Only Lira remained.
The girl looked up, eyes wide and glowing faintly red in the dim light.
> “Who are you?” she asked.
Nyra knelt, not too close. “Like you.”
Lira frowned. “I’m not… anything.”
> “You are. And that’s why you’re not safe here.”
Footsteps thundered outside. Voices. Shouts. The villagers had seen the fire.
> “Come with me,” Nyra said, holding out her hand.
> “Are you going to burn me?” Lira whispered.
> “No. I’m going to teach you to stop burning everything else.”
The door slammed open behind them.
Kael stood in the threshold, eyes glowing like embers.
> “We have to go. Now.”
Nyra looked at Lira. The girl hesitated—then placed her small hand in Nyra’s.
And just like that, the fire inside Nyra’s chest quieted.
They ran into the night.
And the flames followed.
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🔥 End of Chapter Four
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- Writer
