Blightflame

The village was abandoned.

Nestled in a hollow between burnt hills, it stood silent under the midday heat. Roofs caved in. Ash clung to every surface like a memory that refused to be forgotten. There were no bodies. No cries. Only the strange stillness of a place that should’ve been alive.

"We'll rest here," Sakura said. “Just for a few hours.”

Kazuha nodded, but not without suspicion. Stillveil twitched gently at her side, never fully at ease. I scouted the perimeter — collapsed fences, half-burnt effigies of unknown gods, and dried blood that hadn’t yet drawn flies. But nothing moved.

Not yet.

We made camp inside what could have been once a chapel or a temple. Stained glass now shattered into amber shards on the floor as the boards creaked softly where we step. Kazuha sat near the altar, eyes half-lidded, brushing her hands gently along Stillveil. Sakura leaned against a wall, her hand resting on the Temporal Vow, tracing lines in its cracked surface absently.

"I don't like this place." The Compass whispered in my head.

"The Compass says it doesn't like this place," I echoed for the others to hear.

"Neither do I," Sakura replied, "but the Compass does not like everything but Stillveil." She jokes lightly, earning a soft chuckle from Kazuha while Stillveil pulses faintly as if... embarassed? I wasn't sure, then again, I never am with these relics. "And it pointed us here," she added.

"You snitching on me, kid?" the Compass threatens me non-threateningly.

I chuckled. "If I did, you'll know, we're stuck together every second of every minute of every hour." I quipped. "Or you're probably just that obvious." I added teasingly.

"Well if not you, then.... oh I see..." The Compass seems to have come to a conclusion, a conclusion which I conclude was not very good.

"Its that pendant. That damn Temporal Vow is gossiping on me." He whispers, again, non threateningly. "When I get my needle on that bastard's... " I interrupted him with a chuckle.

"Come on Compass, we have first watch, and I'll have to listen to you dribble about your non existent lovelife." I teased as I took position near the chapel's doors.

"Oh. Obnoxious are we. Just because you were kissed by a hottie of an angel while the other one is aching to have her turn does not give you the right to step on my heart."

"You don't have a heart, you're a compass."

"My soul has one!" He replied indignantly. "And it aches for Stillveil. Oh to be wrapped by those soft silver fabric contrasted by the black fabric's roughness." He shifts tone like a beggar kid admiring a princess she can't have.

I chuckled. "You know, if the Temporal Vow is snitching on you, I don't blame it. And what do you mean by Sakura aching for her turn?"

"Only seems fair that I snitch on the Temporal Vow's owner."

"The Temporal Vow's not snitching on you, Compass." I said in frustration as I laid my bags on the wooden floor.

"Do you have evidence?" The Compass argued.

"Do YOU have evidence?" I countered.

"Compasses always point in the right direction, kid."

"I'm pretty sure that's irrelevant."

"Overruled."

"What?!"

"Anyway, back to Sakura. Haven't you seen how she looks at you since Kazuha kissed you?" He whined like a gossiping old lady.

I took a glance at Sakura as I sat down on the floorboards. Our eyes met for a fraction of a second, a fraction which once again felt like hours before she broke eye contact and everything seemed to flow right again.

"So, what do you think?" The Compass asked like a giddy puppy.

"I think you're full of crap, Compass."

"Hey! I'm just trying to be a good needleman!"

I chuckled as we settled in a comfortable silence, too comfortable.

That’s when I heard it.

A hum.

Low. Melodic. Alien. Unholy.

It was followed by a heat, like hot ash pricking the skin.

It didn’t come from outside.

It came from under the floorboards.

I unsheathed my dagger and tapped twice against the wooden beam near Sakura. Her eyes opened immediately. Kazuha was already standing.

The hum grew louder.

No. It wasn’t a hum. It was a hymn.

"Pain is pride. Rage is rot. The Flames of emotion must be expunged."

The floor collapsed — and they rose from beneath us — hands clawing out of the wood and soil, faces once human now stretched by something not their own. Villagers, dressed in scorched robes, branded by Blightflame sigils that pulsed faintly beneath their skin. Their eyes glowed with hollow light, and their mouths sang the same twisted melody.

"Purify the Fallen. Burn the rebel’s voice. Drown the fire of emotions. Turn their legacy to ash."

"Broken Enlightened!" Kazuha hissed as she whirled forward. Stillveil flashed like moonlight through smoke, swirling protectively around her in streaks of black and silver as she swayed slowly, Fallen and relic both poised for battle.

Sakura shouted a warning, but it came a second too late.

A new presence spilled into the room — silent and vast, and it seemed to suck off the oxygen from the room.

A Purity Wraith.

It did not shimmer like the others. It was skeletal-white, wrapped in flame so pale it seemed made of memory. Its fire did not burn. It bled, like lava flowing down a volcano. I felt my emotions retreat, like they were being pushed down by invisible hands. My grip on the daggers faltered.

Kazuha cried out, stumbling back.

"They’re not just Broken!" Sakura gasped. "They’re being purged from the inside out."

"By who?" I managed to choke out. The Wraith turned its head, slowly, too slowly.

"You burn for her. Her fire now burns for another." The Wraith began, its voice dry and lamenting. "You carry her sorrow — after it's done with her, she won't have need of her emotions." The voice is haunting, every word seemed to burn its way right through my ears.

The voice didn’t come from the Wraith.

It came from all of them.

A dozen villagers, speaking in perfect unison.

"She is not the fire. She is the fuel in the altar. And the Flame Without Pain sings to her soul." The chorus chanted.

Sakura’s eyes widened. "Ignariel."

The name hit like a firestorm.

Even Kazuha froze for a breath too long. Stillveil trembled.

The Wraith moved then — not with rage, but with certainty. It struck the chapel’s floor and a wave of pale flame washed outward. I felt my anger weaken. The grief I carried for my home felt distant, fogged. All my emotions felt slowly being burned away.

Kazuha staggered.

She looked at me, eyes wide. "I can't feel—"

Her voice caught. Stillveil dimmed.

"Throw your dagger to Kazuha! Now!" The Compass shrieked in my mind.

"What?! Why would I?"

"Just trust me kid!"

I trusted the Compass and threw my blade at Kazuha. I saw her face contort in fear, the question in her mind was so clear to me — is this the betrayal the Broken envisioned?

Time seemed to slow down even without Sakura's intervention as I watched the dagger twirl in the air towards Kazuha — then I felt a tug in my gut and a flash of light blinded me for a split second. When my vision settled, I was in front of Kazuha, my thrown dagger back in my grip.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed groggily.

"You're welcome." The Compass exclaims weakly. Did it seemed, exhausted? No time to worry about it now when we're surrounded by a score of Broken Enlightened and one burning Purity Wraith.

Sakura manifested in front of us and threw a time barrier between us and the Wraith, but even she was pale. “It’s burning our why — the reason we move forward," she exclaimed weakly.

I pulled her behind me. "We have to get out—"

"She hears the Hymn now," the villagers whispered. "And it soothes her. She believes the pain was always a lie and soon, she will believe that emotions are the bane of existence.

Then — Kazuha screamed.

It was not fear.

It was rage being suffocated — then forced to be released.

Stillveil ignited again.

Barely. Faintly. Kazuha drops to one knee.

The Wraith lurched forward — hands glowing with that sanctified flame — and touched Sakura’s arm. She gasped as her golden shimmer dimmed. Her breath stilled.

"Allow us to cauterize what makes you weep, we shall snuff out what makes you burn," the cultists whispered.

"Back off!" I shouted, slamming my dagger through the Wraith’s chest.

It did not scream.

But it shivered.

A moment of hesitation. Then laughter.

Then, Sakura finally has had enough — she dropped a time-fracture in the room, the Temporal Vow working overtime — slowing the cultists and the Wraith. Kazuha lunged at the Wraith, Stillveil wrapping itself around it and locking it in place.

I slashed at its throat. The slash felt rough, like slashing through sand and ash.

Final.

The Wraith burst into cold flame — no sound, just a sigh.

Then the villagers writhed. The same ashen figures peeling their way out of their skin. They glowed red, dangerously red, before I registered Stillveil wrapping around the three of us while the Temporal Vow's light shone bright gold from within our silken bubble. Another flash and we were outside the chapel just as it exploded in a fiery inferno.

We were breathing heavily as the structure collapsed to ashes.

"I think... I think we should get out of here..." I panted.

"I think so too..." Sakura replied.

We rushed forth as the silence returned and a strange clarity settled as the night creeps at the twilight sky.

Kazuha leaned on her knees, panting — Stillveil was dull again. Sakura sat on the dirt road, clutching at the Temporal Vow, checking if its cracks have worsened. I reached for the compass, its needle ticking faintly to the north east, its light dimmed, exhausted.

"She's losing herself," Sakura whispered. "Yunjin’s Blightflame… it's not her own anymore."

I sheathed my blades slowly.

"She's being manipulated," Kazuha concluded. "Used."

Sakura nodded. “By Ignariel. That... thing wants her fury purified. Wants to turn her into something else.”

“Into a vessel,” Kazuha spat. “No rage. No emotion. No purpose.”

A single remaining villager stirred from the ashes of the chapel. His lips moved slowly.

"The Flame Without Pain is coming."

We kept our eyes on it as we backed off slowly and away from the village.

We stepped into the night.

Stars watched.

And for the first time since we began this journey, I felt something worse than fear — I felt hollow.

------------

We made camp by a river that night. We thought it made sense as we were being chased by fire entities. The wind was quiet. The sky wide. Stillveil hung like a curtain over Kazuha’s shoulders, comforting and no longer tense. The Temporal Vow pulsed faintly in Sakura’s lap, its usual golden shimmer dimmed to a tired glow.

The Compass was silent.

Even it had nothing to say after what happened at the chapel although I had a lot of questions for him — like what the hell was that teleporting thing when I threw my dagger?

We sat in a triangle around the fire — not close enough to touch, but close enough to feel the weight we each carried.

It was Sakura who broke the silence.

“Ignariel,” she murmured, staring into the flames, “should not exist anymore.”

Kazuha stirred. “But it does.”

“Yes,” Sakura said, voice flat. “Because someone kept singing its name long enough for the hymn to be heard again.”

"Our awakenings probably caused those," Kazuha responded.

Sakura sighed wearily, "Perhaps, our fates are tied together, after all."

I tilted my head. “What is this 'it', exactly?”

Sakura didn’t answer right away.

So I pressed.

“And what did it mean? When it called Yunjin the fuel? When it said she wasn't the fire?”

Kazuha’s eyes flicked toward Sakura. She didn’t speak either. Only waited.

Finally, Sakura sighed.

“You’ve seen Wraiths — creatures of suffering and rot, born from unresolved pain. They were chaos made flesh.”

"Then there are those who made those Wraiths against us during our rebellion. Five they were who opposed us - one for each of us who fell — a Counter." Kazuha added. "Ignariel must have been spurred to action after mine and Sakura's awakening."

"So you mean, there are four others like it? Meant to counter one of you?" I asked.

They both nodded, dread visible in their eyes. I don't need magic to read that they are thinking about their respective Counter.

"So, about this Ignariel," I said, trying to focus on the problem at hand.

“Ignariel was obssessed with order. The wrong kind. He believes emotions are the cause of chaos — and stripping it from the world means finally establishing absolute order.” Sakura answers.

"And Yunjin thrives the stronger her emotions are — desire, passion, rage, love. Anything that pushes people to do something irrationally is her domain. This is why Ignariel was the perfect foil for her." Kazuha added.

My temple furrowed as I frowned. “That sounds—”

“Contradictory? Like how Kazuha is both stillness and motion?” Sakura gave a tight smile. “Exactly. Ignariel believed the world could be made clean if it burned everything imperfect from the inside. It hunted emotions. Joy, desire, anger, guilt. Any deviation from its doctrine of stripped emotions — ‘Cold Flame,’ it called it.”

I remembered the hymn, the pale fire that hollowed me from the inside out. How it drained us of will, of fury.

I shivered.

“So it’s... brainwashing Yunjin?”

“Worse,” Kazuha muttered. “It’s sanctifying her.”

Sakura nodded slowly. “Blightflame.. wasn't always Blightflame. It was the Flame of Defiance born of Yunjin’s rebellious tendencies. The Silver City called it rebellion, she called it freedom. Her rage. Her sorrow. Emotions that we were forbidden to feel, or at the very least — told to suppress in the Silver City. But now that flame is… shifting. This cult calls her the ‘Scorched Truth,’ but Ignariel is trying to carve a cleaner version of her. To make her a vessel for its truth.”

"That having emotions is unnecessary." I murmured.

Both Fallen nodded.

I leaned back, eyes to the stars.

“And the relics?” I asked after a beat. “What even are they?”

That question made Sakura tense — just slightly, but I caught it. Kazuha noticed too. Stillveil twitched at her side.

“I mean,” I continued, softer, “I’ve been fighting with the Compass long enough to know it’s not just a tool. It talks. It protects. Sometimes it feels like it… remembers things I don’t. But it was the first time it... did magic in combat. Like, teleporting me to where my dagger was, I've never done that before. We've never done that before.” I said, placing a hand on the Compass.

"Relics all have special abilities. They manifest only when their bond with their wielder is strong." Sakura smiled at me, that sweet, gentle smile which makes my heart melt. "You should be proud of yourself for bonding with a relic and have that bond be strong enough to unleash its ability. It will only grow stronger from here on out, you and the Compass." She said, placing her hand over mine and giving it a squeeze. I looked at her eyes and there it was again, the feeling that time seems to slow down to a crawl every time our eyes meet.

“Stillveil controls gravity and space.” Sakura looked at Kazuha, breaking our eye contact and returning time to its usual flow. “Its powered by her movements, the more graceful she is, the more powerful Stillveil becomes.”

Kazuha lifts a hand, Stillveil flutters and dips low, as if to bow.

"That's why you were weakened at the Chapel." I realized. "The Wraith pinned you down." Kazuha didn’t move her eyes melancholically watching the flames.

“And the Temporal Vow?” I asked.

Sakura hesitated.

“It allows me to control time.” She said flatly.

I gave her a look.

"Fine." She relents. "The more I control time, the more I... lose myself... I might start thinking like I'm living in another timeline, planting memories I might have lived if things turned out slightly differently. Versions of me from other possible timelines might attempt to crawl out of me. The Temporal Vow, stabilises that, but if its exhausted..." I let her words hang, understanding what she means and recalling the after images that were trying to emerge from her back when we released her from her stasis. I then observed the Temporal Vow pulse faintly, as if sighing.

“And the Compass?” I asked, staring down at the device clipped to my belt. Its needle twitched once, as if it heard me.

“That one...” Sakura trailed off, then glanced at me. “I don’t know. Not fully.”

The Compass hums faintly, as if reflecting my disappointment.

“Seriously?” I asked.

“I’ve looked through dozens of timelines. The Compass appears in nearly all of them, but never with an origin. Only function.”

“What function?”

“Balance,” she said. “Judgment. Guidance. It doesn’t fight, most of the time. Usually, it chooses and guides.”

I frowned. “Chooses what?”

She looked away.

That was answer enough.

I wanted to push, to press the edge of that silence, but Kazuha shifted suddenly.

“Ignariel’s weakness,” she said, changing the subject. “You said it couldn’t stand emotion.”

“Uncontrolled emotion,” Sakura clarified. “It thrives on control. Uniformity. Doctrine. But the raw, unfiltered kind — passion, joy, grief, rage — it can’t sanctify those. That’s why it needs Yunjin broken first.”

“So what do we do?” I asked.

Sakura opened her hand. The Temporal Vow flared faintly, then pulsed once.

“We remind her who she was. Before the hymn. Before the flame.”

“We make her feel again,” Kazuha said, eyes shadowed. “Even if it burns us.”

We fell into silence again. But it wasn’t empty.

It was watchful.

Like the night was holding its breath.

---

The fire crackled softly. Kazuha fell asleep first, head tilted toward her shoulder. Stillveil shimmered faintly at her side.

Sakura sat across from me, not looking at the stars, nor the flames.

She was watching me.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” I asked quietly. “About any of this.”

Sakura didn’t answer immediately.

Then she said, “Because once you know, you can’t unknow. And the more you know..."

"You don't need to protect me, Sakura," I interjected softly, "if I am to walk this path with you, I'll need to know everything that I need to know."

Sakura merely sighed and nodded yet hesitation remained in her face.

I decided to change the subject, "Your counterpart, the one created to foil you..."

"Seraphiniel, The Clockwound Eye." She says silently, almost with... reverence?

"Yeah. Him. Her? Or it?"

Sakura chuckles melodiously, "Her."

I nodded, "How is her time different from yours?"

Sakura considers the question before sighing heavily. "My time... frees. It finds suppressed memories and guides one how to be free of that burden. Seraphiniel..." she paused, ".. her time torments. It rips out your darkest memories and lets you relive it, although she alters it, each version darker than the last."

"So why didn't you?" I asked.

Sakura turned to me. Her golden eyes inquisitive with curiosity. "Why didn't I what?"

"Find my suppressed memories, guided me to be free of it." I replied.

"It's... not yet time." She answered weakly.

"That's convenient." I replied and felt the Compass hum in agreement.

"It's complicated, Seren."

"Again, very convenient." I said in a mix of irritation and sarcasm.

"A memorywalk... takes time." She said with a heavy sigh. "It is time we don't have, yet." She sighs, sounding almost disappointed in herself for disappointing me. "I promise once we have enough time, I'll sift through your memories," she said gently as she turns her head, her eyes looking at me pleadingly and I felt my irritation and annoyance fade like sand on the wind.

"I'll hold you to that," I said.

"What if, just, what if, Seraphiniel is working with Ignariel?" I asked after a brief moment.

She then turns her gaze towards the night sky. "Ignariel's already a problem for all of us. We don't need to worry for another one to be placed in the mix," she said. The implication was clear, we can't beat two Counters with how we are right now.

"Fair." I said, although I get the feeling she's not telling everything.

I looked at the Compass.

Its needle spun slowly, like it was thinking.

A silence settled over us, comfortable yet heavy — and a thought was eating itself inside of me. "There was something the Compass said..." I began, I felt the Compass vibrate slightly, the nosy bastard. "... about you.." I continued awkwardly. "After Kazuha and I.. uh..." I stuttered, thinking back to when Kazuha kissed me and the Compass saying that Sakura is waiting for her turn. Sakura tilts her head curiously to face me, her golden eyes reflecting the flames.

"Actually.. nevermind.." I said. And as I turned to face Sakura, I was met with her lips, soft and sweet like Kazuha, but also fragrant, like cherry blossoms in full spring bloom. Time stretched as our lips connect. A part of me screams to let it stretch forever until Sakura pulls away, her gaze avoids mine but her teeth bites her lower lip.

"You can forget that if you want, or you can think that's just another Sakura from another timeline," she whispered shyly, clutching the Temporal Vow in her chest before lying down with her back facing me.

Forget the kiss... impossible, I thought. Not even if time ends this very moment.

"One lucky bastard..." I was broken from my trance as I heard a faint whisper in my head. I chuckled and placed a hand on the Compass, hoping that this first watch won't be as eventful as the last one.