My girlfriend is trapped in my superpower

Darkness…

Not the soft kind of darkness that came with nightfall, but a suffocating void—endless, oppressive, alive. I floated in it, weightless, powerless, as though the flames that once raged through me had been snuffed out like a dying candle.

And then—light. Not sunlight, not fire, but a flame that bent like a crown, licking the shadows back.

She appeared from it, arms crossed, hips cocked, smirk tugging her lips. Lyra—only not as I'd ever seen her. Her hair glowed faintly, eyes burning with a predator's calm. Not the loyal companion who teased from my shoulder, but something older. Sharper.

"Pathetic," she said, voice smooth as molten gold. "Three days of sleep, Kael, and you're still lying there like a broken toy. Tell me—does it hurt? Knowing the world nearly ended while you were busy collapsing?"

I frowned, floating helplessly in the void. "You think I chose this? I gave everything I had."

She snorted, tossing her hair. "Everything you had? Don't flatter yourself. You've barely touched what you are."

My jaw tightened. "What I am? I'm no hero. I'm just—"

"A boy dropped on a doorstep? Raised among people who whispered curses behind your back?" Her smirk widened, cruel but almost… fond. "Yes, yes. I know. Poor little Kael, lost and unwanted. But here's the problem—you're not 'just' anyone. You're the blood of fire, the ember of a dead throne. You're royal, Kael. My royal."

The void pulsed around us. My throat went dry. "…royal?"

Her voice dropped, velvet and venom all at once.

"I wasn't just born from flames, Kael. I was forged to rule them. I am Lyra, Queen of the Voidflames. And you—" She jabbed a finger into my chest, though we floated in nothing. "—are my chosen king. The last of your cursed bloodline."

The words crashed over me. My stomach twisted. "That's impossible. My clan—my bloodline—it's gone."

"Gone?" Lyra laughed, sharp and bitter. "Extinct, yes. Forgotten, yes. But gone? No. They live in you. In your marrow. In that pretty little fire that eats shadows whole. Do you think ordinary flames burn the way yours do?"

Her eyes narrowed, mocking, daring me to deny her.

"You're not meant to fight monsters, Kael. You're meant to end them. You're supposed to save the very people who now call you demon. And if you don't—if you cling to this pathetic little orphan act—those monsters you fight so hard against will claim you."

"Claim me?" My voice cracked.

"Oh, Kael." Her smile softened, almost pitying, and it terrified me more than her laughter. "The Devourer was nothing but a hungry dog. The real beasts—the ones that crawl in the dark, whisper in your dreams—they don't want your death. They want your awakening. They want their king. And guess what?" She leaned close, lips brushing my ear like a hiss. "That king is you."

The void shook. My chest tightened until it hurt. "You're saying… they're after me because of my bloodline. Because I'm—"

"—their missing crown." Lyra finished, cruel and calm. "And unless you grow up, Kael, unless you stop whining and start owning what you are, you won't save anyone. Not Bram. Not Mira. Not the people who hand you flowers before screaming when you burn."

Her words cut, each one a blade.

I tried to laugh, but it broke in my throat. "You think I can carry all that? I'm not some… savior. I can't even hold myself together."

She tilted her head, eyes blazing, smirk curling like flame.

"No one ever can at first. But that's why I'm here. To break you. To push you until you either shatter…" She reached out, cupped my cheek like a queen claiming her knight. "…or burn bright enough to blind the monsters forever."

The void quivered, fire whispering at its edges, calling me, daring me.

And I realized that for the first time, I wasn't just fighting for survival. I was fighting for a crown I never wanted.

The void trembled. Lyra's mocking smirk burned into me long after her words had faded. The cursed bloodline. The crown. The monsters that didn't want my death, but my awakening.

And just as her voice hissed in my ear "Burn bright, Kael, or burn away". light split the darkness.

My eyes snapped open.

The scent of herbs and smoke filled my nose. A heavy blanket weighed on me. Wooden rafters stretched above, candlelight flickering in the corners of the small chamber. My chest heaved like I'd been underwater too long.

"Kael!"

The voice broke with joy. Mira. She flung herself to my side, hair messy, eyes red from sleepless nights. Bram hovered behind her, stiff but clearly relieved, though he tried to mask it with his usual stoicism.

"You're awake," Mira whispered, clutching my arm. "We thought—you weren't…" She bit her lip, unable to finish.

Bram folded his arms. "Took you long enough. Three days of drooling on that pillow. You almost gave Mira a heart attack." But his voice softened. "Good to have you back, idiot."

My throat was dry, but a weak laugh escaped me. "Missed you too."

Before I could say more, the door creaked open. A hush swept the room as villagers pressed inside—faces I barely recognized, faces that had once looked at me with suspicion, even fear. Now their eyes shone with something different.

Gratitude.

An elderly man bowed his head. A mother pulled her child close—the same girl who had given me flowers, her small eyes wide and awed. She clutched a new bloom in her tiny hand and held it out shyly.

"He saved her," the mother whispered, voice thick with emotion. "Saved all of us. Demon or not, he stood between us and the monster."

The word demon still stung, but it didn't carry the same venom now. Not when spoken beside gratitude. My chest ached with something I didn't know how to name.

Master Covin entered next, stern as ever, with Master Korran shadowing him. Their expressions betrayed nothing, but I felt their eyes linger too long on me—calculating, measuring. They knew something. Perhaps they'd always known.

Mira noticed it too, narrowing her eyes at them, but before anyone could speak, a chill draft rolled through the open door. Boots scraped against the threshold.

Every head turned. A stranger stepped inside, cloaked in ash-gray robes, hood drawn low. His voice was rough, carrying weight like old stone.

"Kael," he said, speaking my name as though it belonged to him. "At last, I've found you."

The room stiffened. Bram's hand drifted to his blade. Mira edged closer to me. Even the masters looked unsettled.

The stranger lowered his hood. His hair was black streaked with silver, his eyes—void-black with flickers of flame. My stomach twisted. I'd seen those eyes before. In the void. In Lyra's smirk.

"My name is Sareth," the man said, bowing with a cruel grace. "And I bring word from your clan. The royal blood of the Voidflames is not as extinct as you believe."

The room went still. My heart thundered.

The crown Lyra had mocked me with, the destiny I had denied—was standing at the door, demanding to be claimed.