The firestorm hit like a hammer.

  Fmes roared through the vilge square, tearing through carts and rooftops as people screamed and scattered. The air shimmered with heat. The sky burned orange.

  Riva yanked Anshul back just in time.

  > “Move!”

  They ducked behind a stone wall as another bst of fme tore through a wooden archway, splinters flying. Anshul coughed, heart thundering in his ears.

  > “Who the hell is that guy?”

  Riva’s eyes were locked on the armored figure advancing through the fire.

  > “I don’t know. But he’s not alone.”

  As if summoned by her words, two more figures emerged—one cloaked in smoke, the other trailing crimson sparks with every step. Their movements were unnaturally smooth, like shadows that had learned to walk.

  > “They’re after you,” Riva said grimly.

  “Can you fight?”

  Anshul blinked. “I’ve never—”

  The sunmark on his chest fred suddenly. Heat surged through his veins.

  His hands ignited.

  Golden fire.

  Not like the enemy's twisted fme—this was pure, like sunlight in liquid form.

  > “Guess we’re about to find out,” he muttered.

  Riva smirked. “That’s more like it.”

  In the chaos—

  Vilgers fled. Bells rang. Buckets of water were useless against the supernatural bze.

  The lead attacker—the one cloaked in bck armor—stepped forward.

  > “Reveal yourself, Sunborn,” he thundered.

  “Or I will burn this pce to cinders.”

  Anshul stepped out from the smoke, fire crackling around his fists.

  > “You want me? Come get me.”

  The armored figure’s helmet tilted, then nodded.

  > “As you wish.”

  He charged.

  The battle began.

  Fmes collided—red against gold. The ground cracked under the force. Sparks flew like meteor showers. Anshul moved on instinct, dodging a fire-bde that sliced stone in half. He punched forward—a sor burst bsted the air, knocking one attacker into a cart.

  Riva fought too—swift and brutal, wielding twin iron rods. She smmed one into a shadowy attacker’s chest, then flipped over another and kicked him into a barrel of oil.

  But the bck-armored warrior… he was something else.

  Stronger. Smarter. Ancient.

  He caught Anshul’s wrist mid-punch and whispered—

  > “Your fire is newborn.

  Mine has consumed empires.”

  He smmed Anshul into the ground. The world blurred.

  > Get up…

  Get up!

  A memory fshed.

  The glowing man.

  “You are the weapon.”

  Anshul roared—and the sunmark exploded with light.

  A bst wave erupted, sending the attackers flying in every direction. The sky split with golden streaks. Time itself shuddered.

  When the light faded… only Anshul stood.

  Gasping. Glowing.

  Burning.

  The armored figure y sprawled—armor cracked, facepte shattered. Beneath it, skin pale as bone… and eyes like molten coal.

  > “He… awakens…” the figure whispered before disintegrating into bck ash.

  Aftermath

  Ash covered the vilge. Buildings smoldered. People wept. But they were alive.

  And they’d seen it.

  They’d seen Anshul glowing like a god.

  Riva stood beside him.

  > “There’s no going back now,” she said.

  Anshul nodded.

  > “Then we go forward.”

  > “Where?”

  He looked toward the dark mountains beyond the vilge.

  > “To find out what I really am.”

  To be continued…

  Final Chapter of the Arc — Next: CHAPTER 5 — THE FIRST SUNRISE