A small sphere of light, lit by a small fire that pushed away the darkness, was the world for her.

The girl, eight years of age, found comfort as she sat beside her father on the concrete floor; legs folded aside. Her eyes had adjusted to the light poorly and had taken months getting used to. Months, every hour before sleeping, for the stinging pain to finally disappear. Then, what came after, were lessons from her father.

‘This, right here.’ Her father tapped his pointing finger on the page of a book that rested on his laps, pulling Nueve’s attention to a drawing of a circle with—spikes? ‘What color is it?’

Again with colors…

Nueve didn’t understand her father’s emphasis on learning colors. No matter how she perceived it, colors were unnecessary memorizations and were useless knowledge for her daily life. Sure, colors appeared when there was light and they looked pretty, but that was all there was to it.

Regardless, despite her reluctance in learning colors, Nueve endured the lessons because she loved her father.

Because when his emotions were exposed by the light, when she could see a smile in his expressions, she could tell that he was happy teaching his beloved daughter lessons.

‘It’s…’ Nueve looked at the color he pointed. Similar to a fire, she thought. Definitely not blue. ‘It’s…’ She strained her head trying to remember the name. ‘It’s ya-low.’

Her father chuckled. Then, with a gentle voice, ‘Ye-llow.’

‘Ye-llow,’ she repeated.

‘Good. You’re getting better and I’m proud of you.’ He patted her head with his large; warm hand. Nueve loved this compassionate gesture. Always made her happier. ‘Now,’ her father continued, ‘what does this say?’

He pointed at the writings under the drawing.

It’s the name of the shape, Nueve guessed. Thankfully, unlike colors, she found letters easier to remember—though she considered them still as useless, since braille was better. Letters needed light, whilst braille did not.

‘Sun,’ Nueve read.

‘Good. Do you know what it is?’

‘I hear people use it sometimes!’

‘Oh? How do they use it?’

‘In conversations. “By the sun!” they would shout. Or “At least the sun used to shine before it went out! You, meanwhile, were never even shini—"’

‘Right!’ her father abruptly cut. ‘Forget you ever heard that, Nueve. That’s a rude way of saying it. Must’ve been the neighbor you heard it from?’

‘Yes.’ Nueve nodded.

‘Try not to imitate them...’ her father said, concern in his tone. ‘Back to what we were discussing before, it seems that no one has ever told you about the sun yet.’

‘… What is it?’ Nueve asked, curious.

Initially, in her mind, she thought “sun” was a ball with sharp spikes. Then, she thought better and considered that it might be a flower, as the drawings looked similar—though “sun” was pointy.

Her father looked at her with a kind stare.

‘It’s a special kind of star.’ Her father turned his head toward the window; Nueve followed his gaze. Through the frame was the sky, crowded with sparkles of tiny lights, the stars. ‘One so bright that it lights the whole world. Paints the skies light blue during first peak, then orange during first low. Noon and dusk, they used to call it.

‘Our ancestors said that’s how it used to be…’

Nueve had difficulties imagining the colors, but she knew it would look pretty.

A special kind of star…

‘Wouldn’t it be painful to look at?’ Nueve asked. If a small fire that made a sphere of light was already hurtful to the eyes, she couldn’t imagine how much pain the sun—that could light up the whole world—would inflict.

Her father laughed. ‘Definitely.’

Ting… Ting…

Rung a calm sounding bell outside, twice. It had been two hours after first low.

Her father closed the book and rose.

‘It’s bedtime, come.’ He offered his hand. ‘We’ll continue about this tomorrow.’

Nueve yawned as she took his hand and stood up. As always, the sleepiness came right after the lessons. Her father had explained that the sudden sleepiness only meant that she enjoyed the lessons enough to keep being awake.

He adjusted his steps to match with her pace; and led her to her bedroom.

When near, he lifted her onto the bed, then covered her with a comfortable blanket. He sat on the edge, caressed her head, and gave her forehead a kiss.

‘You’re the best daughter I could ever ask for,’ he whispered.

‘Love you too, father.’ Nueve smiled.

His hand reached onto the pendant on her chest. A small metal tube which had a fire inside, currently open and leaking light. The same light which had been used to read the book and push away the darkness.

To-day, he didn’t immediately close the light.

‘Ask,’ he said. ‘I know there’s something bugging your mind. Your expressions are very vivid.’

‘… Where did the sun go?’ She wanted to know.

‘… Perhaps someday we’ll find out.’

Finally, he slowly closed the pendant.

And the darkness crept in.

*

Flamedancer

Chapter 1

The World to Nueve

*

11 years later…

BONG!

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Rung a rough sounding bell, once. An hour after first peak.

Her figure a silhouette, Nueve looked at her closed pendant. This keepsake, a small metal tube—which was a flat oval in the darkness, had brought her into so many troubles.

Not useless, but bothersome to keep, she thought.

‘She should be around here!’ shouted a man, his tone irritated. Footsteps followed in a rush.

Nueve gripped the pendant in her fist, thinking of taking it off and throwing it away. In her hesitance to do so, the sound of her chasers grew closer and closer. Forced to make a quick decision, she gritted her teeth, kept the pendant under her shirt, and stepped out from the alley.

She had to be fast; but took the caution to alter the rhythm of her gait, as sometimes that was an identifying factor for the enforcers.

On the sidewalk, lit by stars above and by glowmoss—an artificial source of dim light—under, Nueve walked with fluidity in her motion and avoided bumping the silhouettes of people.

She needed only to pass through a marketplace, and it would be a straightforward method to reach one of her hideouts.

However, from afar, Nueve could see three figures stationed at the entry point of the marketplace, each wearing an armband coated with glowmoss. Enforcers. Two of them were conducting body search for every passerby, while one stood guard.

Not seeing good prospects of passing through there, Nueve was about to take a turn, but saw enforcers closing in and checking each passerby. No matter what happened, the enforcers’ invigilation was not something she could avoid.

Thus, Nueve took off her pendant and hid it inside her mouth.

*

The one enforcer who stood guard at the marketplace’s entry point, knew the truth of the current matter.

As proven from the two stripes on his armband, visible because of the gap of glowmoss coating, he was a high-ranking enforcer. This current matter had been guised as a fugitive chase, but in truth it was to obtain a so-called undying fire.

The two low-ranking enforcers, who were conducting body searches, knew nothing of the truth.

‘Halt,’ one of the low-ranking enforcers ordered a passerby. ‘Your identification?’

The silhouette passerby pulled out a metal card from her pocket. The enforcer then began feeling the braille with the tip of his thumb.

‘Raya, thirty-two, woman,’ he said.

Unfortunately, the passerby wasn’t their target. However, the high-ranking enforcer knew better that identification could be faked. Looking at the figure, and knowing that she was female, he noticed that her physique was awfully similar to the description he had received: slim, about one-sixty height.

The low-ranking enforcer conducted a body check on her. Patted the side of her body, along with the front and back professionally. In which, he only found a wallet, keys, and nothing else.

She wasn’t wearing a pendant.

‘You may go ahead,’ he declared.

The high-ranking enforcer watched her pass. Nothing from her gait gave any anxiety or worry or concern.

‘Wait,’ he demanded. The high-ranking enforcer wasn’t letting her pass just yet. ‘… For a woman being checked by a man, you had been awfully quiet. Which led me to believe that you’re either used to men, or you could not speak.

‘Now, you might be a mute, the possibility is there. But I’m inclined to believe that you chose not to speak. And that would be because you hid an object inside your mouth.’

Momentary silence hung in the air.

The passerby had a surprising abandon; and instead of letting the enforcer check, she spat the object out on her palm and showed to them an oval-shaped object the size of a pendant.

Years of experience was warning the high-ranking enforcer that something was off. This was too easy. Because of that, he was able to realize what she was about to do, and instead of reaching for the handcuff on the side of his waist, he reached inside his chest pocket and dipped his finger in glowmoss powder.

The passerby, the young woman, the target, Nueve Noir, opened the pendant and light leaked out from it.

A small fire, to unadjusted eyes, was enough to temporarily blind the enforcers.

*

Nueve had hoped that she would be able to pass the invigilation peacefully. Unfortunately, she never learned how to swallow an object and spit it out. Suppose that she tried and failed, surgery wouldn’t be within her reach without the light from the pendant; and that carried more risk than blinding the enforcers.

Even for Nueve, the maneuver would rob her sight along. But she was prepared, for she had closed her eyes and she was used to the light; and thus, regained her vision faster than the enforcers.

Time to make my escape, she thought. Since the marketplace was crowded, it would be easy for her to lose the enforcers.

However, she felt a touch on the back of her head.

Nueve jumped away in response; and turned to see the silhouette of the enforcer who was still blinded. The hand he used to touch her had a dim glow.

She touched the back of her head; and saw her hand dimly glowing. Her heart skipped a beat.

‘I tagged her!’ he shouted with a victorious tone. ‘I tagged the target! She’s here!’

He had tagged her with glowmoss. Now, if Nueve were to blend into a crowd, she would stand out like a false note because of the dim glow.

Fading enforcer, she cursed.

Nueve saw people with dim glowing armband gathering near the entry point, each heading toward her.

She immediately made a run into the marketplace.

*

‘Halt!’ shouted the enforcers in pursuit.

As if, Nueve thought and kept on running as fast as she could.

‘Criminal!’ shouted the passersby she went by. They might not physically be trying to stop her, but them announcing her position made it impossible for Nueve to hide. Thankfully, she didn’t need to hide.

3 more turns, Nueve counted. As long as she could make her three turns, she would escape the enforcers.

Many enforcers were chasing her from behind, but Nueve was confident in her agility. As long as they didn’t take out their long-ranged weapon, they would never be able to close the distance. The crowd might be helping them actively, but passively they were helping Nueve because their presence was the reason the enforcers couldn’t use their long-ranged weapon.

They can’t risk misfiring and hitting innocents.

Ahead, there was an enforcer stationed inside the marketplace who had heard the commotion and spotted the glowmoss tag on her. He abandoned his station and charged recklessly at her.

With lightness in her step, Nueve stepped to the side and dodged.

She could hear him crashing to a wall and grunting in pain.

Nueve had dodged him, but because of this maneuver to evade however, she was running toward a food stall at the center of the path. Not wanting to slow down, she vaulted the obstacle swiftly and continued the pace. Then, she turned left.

2 more turns.

In this new path, the absence of passersby was a concern to Nueve. She knew exactly what that meant.

‘Halt!’ shouted one of two enforcers at the far front, the voice was female and carried a serious tone. ‘Stay where you’re at or we will shoot! This is the final warning!’

The two enforcers were each pointing at her with an object.

Rune weapon.

Nueve could spot a slight motion from each enforcer: the pull of a trigger.

The rune weapon began glowing dark red. Its shape a curved rectangular handle, a cylindrical barrel, and a triangular pointer at the head of the barrel. The gun was aimed at her.

Nueve saw the line of fire; immediately stepped to the side with more emergence than compared to dodging a charge, and in an instant a blazing literal line of condensed fire was shot.

One had gone between her head and shoulder; its light during its passing revealed her red hair, her crimson eyes, and her pink lips, along with the shoulder of a white jacket she was wearing. For that instantaneous duration, she could feel the heat; could hear the zing as it passed her, and she saw her life flashing before her eyes.

The other shot, thankfully, had missed her completely.

As much as her legs would like to collapse; and as much as she wanted to yield, she decided to take this opportunity and picked up her running pace. Rune weapon was lethal, but they needed short seconds to charge before being able to shoot again.

Nueve stepped on the ground with more force, moving the world underneath.

The enforcers were surprised by her continued resistance; as most fugitives they had shot at had usually yielded without second thought if the shot had missed.

Them being delayed by their unfamiliarity with the situation, Nueve closed in and they were within range. She spun her body clockwise, kicking one of the enforcer’s gun away with her heel. Then, with the same momentum from the spin, used her hands to snatch the other’s gun.

After that, she continued making a run. For, if the enforcers behind her were to catch up, they would have free reign to shoot her.

Nueve took a turn right.

1 more turn.

This path was packed with people. One which had been used to store the people from the previous path it seemed. Their numbers did obstruct Nueve’s running route, but she was able to skillfully run past them.

With the crowd around, the enforcers couldn’t use their rune weapon, and suppose they tried to tackle her, Nueve would prove to be too slippery for them.

There was one building with a spiral staircase toward the roof, and Nueve headed there. She needed to height to get over the walls.

Final turn.

Summoning the remain of her strength and agility, she climbed the stairs with all the speed she could gather.

‘The criminal is going up!’ One of the people shouted upon noticing a dim glow going up. Then the others followed suit in screaming her position. But they were too late, for Nueve had reached the roof.

All that was left was a short straight path to run on.

This was the world to Nueve.

She ran on the rooftop. A shot was fired and grazed her upper left arm, but the searing pain wasn’t enough to stop Nueve on her track. At the end of the roof, she jumped over the walls. Behind it was a river which would carry her to her hideout.

SPLASH!

She submerged under the water. The noises: many loud shouts from the people and enforcers, were replaced by the tranquil silence of the water.

Her world was cold and solitary.