Flame sat against the wall, thinking about the future he just saw. More importantly, himself and the end. "So... That's what this new kind of fire is?" He sat in silence for a few more seconds.

"So they think they can betray me and Father, huh?" Flame began to grin; his new fire type, Devouring Flames, burned away and consumed the chains.

"Devouring Flames... That's what this is." He conjured the same green and purple flames, turning them into jaws. "Hm..." Flame began to grin, walking toward the bars.

He gripped them, beginning to melt them with heat alone. "Wonder why they didn't make these fireproof." He walked out of the cell, looking around and sniffing the air. He could smell much better.

He heard footsteps coming toward his direction, and so he hid. He climbed onto the ceiling instinctively, which is something he wouldn't normally do.

He gripped onto the cobblestone and watched as a guard walked down the dampened hallway. Once the guard turned, he noticed the bars being melted off. Alarmed, he turned to run to the new king, but Flame dropped onto him.

Immediately, he used the Devouring Flames to chomp onto the guy's neck. The guard's head came clean off, Flame using the flames to consume the rest of his body.

"Killing... Felt good." Flame grinned as the memories of the guard flooded his brain. "Vent Gorish, 32 years of age, born on the 82nd Lunar Cycle of the year 1173. Wife and two kids... Bummer."

Flame didn't feel bad at all. If anything, from now on, everything was just survival to him. He picked up the sword that the guard had and wielded it with a practiced ease. "Time for the fun!"

---

Emberessa sat in her room, carefully brushing her hair. She thought back to Flame, her youngest brother, and let out a small sigh. "Backstabbing him and throwing him into the dungeon wasn't necessary. We could've just convinced him; he's only thirteen, after all."

There was a knock at her door. Rosemary, the youngest sister of the three, seventeen years of age, stepped into the room. "Sister, dinner is ready. Do make haste."

Emberessa sighed, nodding. "I know, I know. Do tell Ash I shall be on my way." She said, standing and fixing her dark red dress. She would brush her hair a little more, making sure there were no tangles before turning around.

Rosemary was nowhere to be found. "Hm? She must've run to the dining room. That girl was always such the glutton." Emberessa giggled to herself.

She stepped out of her bedroom, turning to the right and seeing a pair of feet being dragged into another room for a brief moment. Confused, but largely unconcerned, she believed it was the middle sister, Marcia. She sighed, and with careful steps (as to not step over her dress), she made her way to the room.

The door was slightly ajar, a faint flickering light coming from the inside. However, she quickly noticed smoke starting to come from the room. "Marcia?!" She called out, the urgency in her voice evident. She burst open the door, having to shield herself from the smoldering blue blaze that began to fill the room.

Emberessa, not wanting to inhale the smoke, covered her mouth. Due to her being Moltsarian, she was immune to fire. She rushed into the room, looking around for anyone. She then notices Marcia, incapacitated on the ground. "Marcia!"

She rushed over, picking up her younger sister. They shared the same blue hair, much like the rest of her family.

As she began to walk toward the door, she felt a sharp pain from her back to her chest. Looking down, she saw a sword piercing right through her chest.

Shlick...

Thump.

The sound of Emberessa's body falling to the ground faded to the crackling fire that began to spread outside the room. Flame stood over head body, a cold, indifferent look in his eyes.

"More food to fill me." A giant maw of flames formed beneath them, consuming both Marcia and Emberessa. Once again, memories began and knowledge of things he never knew about flooded his brain, causing another nosebleed.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

As he thought, none of them initially were thrilled about killing his father, nor him. All except for Ash, his eldest brother. However, they still followed through.

"I guess they all have to die." Flame thought as he walked out of the room. "Ash was the one who presented the idea."

The fire began to spread throughout the corridor and halls. After all, there was carpet on the ground. While killing his family was on his mind, another thing bugged him as he thought.

His future self had given him memories as well, but some were purposely erased; at least that's what he deduced. One such memory was the working of Devouring Flames.

While the name was there, how it worked was a mystery. So far, it stole the victim's memories, knowledge, and attributes/traits down to a tee. It was good for getting strong fast, but he had a feeling there was more.

"Marcia always had a talent for making fire weapons." Flame said as he grinned.

---

The sound of cutlery clinking filled the dining hall as Ash had invited some royal friends over. Chatter and laughter filled the room, everyone oblivious to the chaos that had brewed.

"Say, Rosemary, where are the rest?" Ash asked, food still in his mouth.

Currently, there were 125 people at this meeting. In the ballroom opposite of the dining hall, people were dancing and having a wonderful time to themselves.

"Hey Ash, I'm sorry to hear about your father. I hope he didn't suffer too much while ill." A random woman said. She was a human, bowing to Ash slightly.

"It's okay... It was all just so sudden..." Ash said, putting on a facade of sadness.

"I already told them to hurry." Rosemary said as a flaming arrow suddenly shot through her head.

The people in the dining hall sat in shock, the sudden attack catching them all off guard.

"Greetings, brother!" Flame said, walking through the door from the right.

Ash's eyes widened. "How are you—" Before his sentence was finished, an arrow was shot through his throat, then his head.

With the situation setting in, people began to scream, scrambling around to escape. However, Flame had other plans. "Oh no, dear friends..." Fire began to circle around the room, keeping people from escaping.

"Regardless of the story concocted by my brother, you have heard. Whether you meant to celebrate my father's death to honor or mock him, I'm still weak and hungry, and I must get stronger." Flame said, a smile flashing his teeth toward the guests.

---

"Come back, Nora!" A boy with short black hair and quite the build ran after a dog made of shadows. Shadow being the boy's name, he was also part of a warrior race, though it was not named. They were human for the most part, except for their unnatural physical prowess, more than their magical ones.

He stood quite tall, and his eyes were as black as his hair. He had begun to hear whispers around his village that the Lanrock kingdom, home to the Moltsarian people, had collapsed from the inside.

This sudden collapse left not only trade routes disrupted but also a huge power vacuum. When investigated, the kingdom was found burnt to ashes, and strangely, there were no bodies.

But that wasn't on Shadow's mind. His shadow dog was getting away! He chased after it; the sound of dried leaves and twigs crushing beneath his feet was all he could hear besides the panting of his breath.

His dog disappeared, however, returning back to his own shadow. "Nora!" Shadow groaned as he immediately stopped in his tracks. "Whoa!" He stopped only a few inches away from a massive cliff. He looked down. "That's a pretty long drop."

Coincidentally, as he said that, the loose dirt beneath his feet gave out, causing him to fall. Luckily, Nora appears below him, catching him on her back.

"Ugh..." Shadow groaned and sat up as Nora disappeared. He looked around and wondered where he was. His village had told him about uncharted territory and how it was most likely Dead Lands.

Dead Lands were lands that have never been explored. Among his people, there were legends that Dead Lands were responsible for much of the disappearances of explorers.

Cautious, Shadow managed to conjure up a greatsword made of... Well, shadow.

He moved through the dense forest, looking left and right to be aware of any monsters or predators. However, nothing turned up strangely. If his survival skills taught him anything, it's that forests like these would be home to lots of animals and at least some predators. Here, there wasn't even a trace. That's what he thought until he stepped on something soft and squishy.

He looked down, looking at his feet to find he had stepped on a half-eaten bird. "So there are predators here..." He continued to walk forward, now more alert.

The trees started to become more sparse and spread out as he pressed on. He then came to a clearing, a desecrated shrine of an unknown figure being in the center.

Atop the shrine where the head was supposed to be sat a boy about Shadow's age. He had long red hair, red, predatory eyes, brown skin, and only wore pants. There sat Flame, the rumored sole survivor of the incident.

"Oh? A visitor." Flame said, a grin forming on his face.