The air inside the tiny, one-room apartment smelled like copper and panic.
Flame didn’t care about the peeling wallpaper or the annoying, buzzing neon sign right outside their window.
His whole world had shrunk down to this one bed and the shallow, rattling breaths of his brother.
“Hold on,” Flame muttered, his voice shaking just a bit.
“Just hold on, Reian.”
Carefully, trying to keep his hands steady, Flame started untying the blood-stained tie he had wrapped around Reian’s hand earlier.
As the fabric came off, Flame’s heart dropped.
The cut wasn’t just bleeding—the skin around it was turning a sickly, bruised blue.
The dark color was spreading up his arm like frozen ink.
“The bleeding stopped, but…
Reian, your skin is turning blue!” Flame’s voice cracked.
He was usually so calm, but right now, he was terrified.
“What is happening to you?”
Reian’s eyelids fluttered, looking heavy as lead.
Sweat poured down his face, matting his hair against his forehead.
He could barely see, the room blurring into shadows, but he managed to reach up and grab Flame’s sleeve.
His grip was incredibly weak.
“The blade…” Reian choked out, coughing weakly.
“It wasn’t a normal cut.
It had a rare poison on it.”
“Tell me how to fix it,” Flame pleaded, leaning closer.
“There has to be a cure.”
“There’s a special herb,” Reian whispered, his voice fading fast.
“It’s the only thing that works.
It grows way up on the mountain near the edge of the city…
Flame, please…”
“I’ll get it,” Flame said firmly.
He gently let go of Reian’s hand and stood up.
In a split second, the panicked brother vanished.
Flame’s posture straightened, and his eyes turned cold and sharp.
Reian thought his brother was just a regular guy—an ordinary orphan who worked random jobs to pay rent.
He had no idea about the brutal training Flame had gone through, or the secrets he hid.
Reian didn’t know that his brother was secretly a highly trained ninja.
Flame threw the door open and sprinted out into the dark night.
The city lights faded behind him as Flame hit the base of the mountain.
To anyone else, climbing this steep, rocky path in the pitch black during a storm would be suicide.
But to Flame, it was easy.
He didn’t bother with the walking trails.
He went straight up.
Flame leaped across massive gaps in the cliffs, his body flying through the air.
He ran right up the side of a tree trunk, defying gravity, before jumping onto a higher ridge.
The wind howled, throwing rain and mud into his face.
Suddenly, a huge boulder cracked loose from above, rolling right toward him.
Flame didn’t even blink.
He twisted his body mid-air, the rough stone scraping past his jacket as it plunged into the darkness below.
I will save him, Flame thought, his lungs burning as he pushed himself harder.
I don’t care if I have to show my secret.
I am not letting my brother die.
hope you enjoyed the fourth chapter!