My girlfriend is trapped in my superpower

The Devourer roared, a sound that split the very air. Smoke poured from its wounds, but its body— it was blackened and cracked though —refused to fall. Each step sent tremors through the square, claws dragging across stone, sparks flying.

I hovered above the ground, fire wrapping around me like a living cloak. My chest rose and fell with ragged fury, every breath laced with embers. Lyra floated beside me, not inside, her hair flickering with the flames, her smile sharp and dangerous.

"Careful," she said with mocking cheer. "Monsters like this don't die easy. Though… I suppose neither do we."

The Devourer lunged.

I threw my arms wide, fire exploding outward in a wall that split the ground, forcing the beast back. It smashed through anyway, tearing chunks of stone like paper, its shadow swelling over me. I spun, flames shaping into a blade that hissed as it cut through the air, clashing against the monster's claw. Sparks scattered like meteors.

Bram stumbled from the wreckage, sword drawn though blood soaked his arm. "Oi! Save some of that fireworks for us mortals, would you?"

Mira darted beside him, weaving wind to push rubble away from fleeing villagers. "Stop joking and hold formation, Bram!"

The Devourer's tail lashed toward them. I roared, fire bursting from my palm, intercepting it mid-swing. The blast lit the entire square in white-hot brilliance, the monster howling as the flames chewed through its scales.

For a moment—just a moment—it faltered. The square fell eerily still except for the crackle of fire.

Behind us, the masters watched. Not with relief. Not with pride, but with calculation.

I caught the way Covin leaned toward Korran, his lips barely moving, his gaze fixed not on me, but on Lyra.

"You see? The spirit is no myth."

Korran's eyes narrowed, hungry, dark. "Bound to the boy, yet separate. If she can be pulled free—"

"—then his fire becomes ours," Covin finished, a smile slithering across his face.

Lyra's laugh cut through the chaos, sharp and unkind. She'd heard them, of course.

"Scheming worms," she muttered under her breath, eyes glinting. "Try it, and I'll burn the marrow out of your bones."

I couldn't spare a glance toward them. The Devourer shrieked, staggering, its form cracking apart. From within the charred wounds, something else writhed—shadows crawling like worms, stitching flesh, rebuilding.

"It's not dying," Mira gasped.

"It's learning," Bram spat. "Hell's teeth—it's adapting."

The beast's eyes glowed brighter, its frame swelling as shadows armored over flame-scorched flesh. With one earth-splitting roar, it surged again, faster, stronger, the air bending around its fury.

My aura flared higher. Heat rippled from me in waves, my vision burning with fire and shadow.

Lyra's voice cut through, wild and exultant.

"Kael! No more holding back. End this—or it ends you."

I clenched my fists, fire pouring from every pore of my body, swirling into a storm that shook the heavens.

The Devourer came. I met it head-on. When we collided, the world itself seemed to shatter.

It surged, shadows wrapping around its limbs like armor. Its claws carved furrows in the earth, its eyes blazing with a hunger that was more than beast, more than curse. It was a will—the will to consume. I had nothing left but fire.

"Kael—" Mira's voice wavered, desperate.

"Don't!" Bram barked, pulling her back. "This isn't ours anymore. It's his fight."

My body screamed in protest. My veins burned, bones aching as if they might split apart. Lyra hovered beside me, her expression fierce, her form trembling like a flame in high wind.

"You can't half-do this, Kael," she hissed. "It's all or nothing."

I closed my eyes. Drew in a breath. And gave everything.

The fire didn't just pour out of me—it tore through me. My feet lifted from the ground, aura exploding into a blazing storm. Flames turned black at their edges, swallowing light, devouring air.

The square shook. Buildings crumbled from the force. The Devourer lunged—too fast, too furious. Its shadow-wrapped claws stretched to pierce me.

I screamed, and the voidflames answered.

They erupted in a torrent, a sun colliding with the earth. The fire swallowed claw, body, shadow, everything. The beast shrieked, its voice splitting the sky as it twisted in agony, shadows unraveling, burning to ash that dissolved before it hit the ground.

One final cry—then silence. The square glowed red, the air thick with smoke. Nothing remained of the Devourer. Nothing but ash drifting through the fire-lit ruins.

I hovered a moment longer, flames devouring themselves around me. Then the world tilted sideways. My aura guttered. My eyes rolled back. And I fell.

Darkness

I don't know how many hours—or days—passed. Only that I sank deep, deep, far from the pain, far from Lyra's voice, far from the square or the Devourer's ashes and in that silence, memories began to surface.

I was small. Barefoot. Sitting on cold stone steps before an orphanage door, a blanket wrapped around me. In my hands, a wooden charm, worn and cracked, with a single rune etched into it—a flame bound by a circle.

A woman's voice whispered. Not near me,but inside the dream.

"My son… forgive me. I cannot keep you. Not with the blood you bear."

I saw her—just a shadowed figure, hood drawn, hair long and black. Her face was hidden, but her trembling hands lingered on my cheek before she set me down. And then she was gone. The door opened. Gasps, hurried voices.

"A child? At this hour—?"

"He's burning up! Feel his skin—he's… gods, he's burning—"

They carried me inside, but the charm remained in my fist. Even as I thrashed in fever, even when fire licked from my tiny hands, I clung to it.

Other images followed, half-formed. Murmurs in the night. Hushed arguments.

"They say he's from the Voidflame bloodline. The cursed clan."

"They were wiped out generations ago—don't say such things."

"Then explain the fire that eats the air itself. If he's one of them… he's a danger to us all."

The words blurred, fading back into the darkness.

All that remained was fire. Fire, and the ache of being abandoned.

Somewhere distant, I heard voices. Urgent. Shaken.

"…three days and he hasn't stirred."

"Yet the fire lingers around him. Even in sleep."

"Do you see now, Korran? Covin? This is no ordinary gift. This is… ancient."

Covin's voice, low and eager.

"If we can pry the spirit from him, the boy will be nothing but a husk. All the power, none of the risk."

Lyra's laughter, sharp and venomous, sliced through the dark.

"Try it. See what happens."

And though I drifted in shadows, part of me smiled. Because even here, in the abyss of sleep, I was not alone.