Theirs was a small settlement on the outskirts of Illumnis, a quiet place where the hum of magical innovation from the great city barely reached. It was a place of simplicity, where most people lived their lives tending to crops or maintaining the trade routes that connected them to the greater world. Few children born there ever left, content to follow in the footsteps of their parents.

But Elias was different.

Even as a boy, Elias had always been fascinated by the distant glow of Illumnis on the horizon, the city lights flickering like an invitation. He’d ask the traders who passed through about their lives, peppering them with questions about the magical academies and the towering spires of the city. His relentless curiosity and burning ambition had always set him apart, earning him equal parts admiration and exasperation from the townsfolk.

Kiran had grown up watching Elias chase his dreams with a fervor he couldn’t always understand. While Kiran was content to pass the time honing his own quiet talents—perfecting his control over sand in order to one day aid in his family's small business—Elias had thrown himself headfirst into the study of fire, his passion burning as brightly as the element he loved.

But with that passion came chaos.

Elias’s experiments with fire often spiraled out of control, leaving a trail of singed crops, charred fences, and panicked villagers in their wake. Once, he’d decided to test how large he could make a single flame. The result was a towering inferno in the middle of a wheat field that had the entire settlement scrambling to contain it.

“Elias!” Kiran had yelled, running toward the blaze. “What did you do now?”

“I was testing something!” Elias shouted back, his face a mix of panic and defiance. “It got a little…bigger than I expected!”

Kiran rolled his eyes and raised his hands, summoning a wave of sand that swept over the fire, smothering it with practiced ease. The flames hissed and sputtered, leaving behind a smoking patch of blackened earth and a lot of angry villagers.

“‘A little bigger’? You nearly roasted the entire crop!” Kiran scolded, brushing soot from his sleeves.

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Elias sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “I had it under control.”

“Under control?” Kiran scoffed, gesturing to the still-smoking field. “If I wasn’t here, the entire settlement would’ve gone up in flames!”

The village elder arrived moments later, his face red with anger. “Elias! This is the third time this month! If you can’t learn to control yourself, I’ll ban you from practicing anywhere near the fields!”

Kiran crossed his arms, glaring at his friend. “He has a point, you know.”

Elias just grinned, unabashed. “That’s why I’ve got you, Kiran. You’re my safety net.”

Kiran sighed, kicking at the scorched earth. “One of these days, I’m just going to let it burn.”

“Ha!” Elias laughed, patting Kiran on the back. “You’re too soft for that.”

Despite the trouble Elias caused, the villagers begrudgingly tolerated him. “That boy’s going to leave this place someday,” the elder often muttered. “And when he does, we’ll finally get some peace.”

Kiran, however, couldn’t help but admire Elias’s relentless drive, even as he spent half his time putting out fires—sometimes literally.

“You know, most people around here would be happy staying in the village,” Kiran had said once, watching Elias conjure flames in their shared backyard. “Why can’t you just be like that?”

Elias didn’t look up, his hands shaping a fiery orb with practiced ease. “Because being happy isn’t enough. I don’t want to just be good. I want to be the best. And the best don’t stay in the outskirts.”

Kiran had only smiled, tossing a handful of sand into the air and letting it fall in shimmering patterns. “Maybe. But you might burn yourself out before you even get there.”

Now, years later, Kiran stood frozen, his eyes wide with horror as Elias’s workshop was completely engulfed in flames. The inferno roared, licking hungrily at the wooden beams and sending thick plumes of smoke into the air.

“Kiran!” Elias’s voice rang out from somewhere within the chaos, muffled but unmistakably alive.

“Elias, what did you do this time?!” Kiran shouted, already raising his hands to summon a wave of sand.

Before Kiran could release his magic on the blazing workshop, the fire abruptly extinguished itself, collapsing into a smoldering cloud of embers and smoke. Kiran hesitated, his outstretched hands frozen mid-spell, as a figure emerged from the charred remains.

Elias stepped out of the wreckage, his clothes singed and his face streaked with soot and blood, but his expression radiated triumph. In his hand, he held something glowing faintly, its surface shimmering with heat.

“I did it,” Elias said, his voice uneven but filled with satisfaction. His bloodied lips curled into a smile, defiant and proud despite his battered appearance.

Kiran stared at him, incredulous. “You did it? Elias, you just burned down your entire workshop!”

Elias looked back at the blackened ruins and shrugged. “Small price to pay for greatness.”