Chapter 3: The Flame Remembers

..."They called me fire, but forgot I could burn myself too." — Chanyeol...

Fire wasn’t always warm.

Sometimes, it seared. Sometimes, it destroyed. And sometimes… it whispered secrets in the silence of ash.

Chanyeol sat alone in the half-lit basement of a downtown music bar, his guitar case resting by his side. The room was empty now, the crowd long gone. Only a single red bulb swayed from the ceiling, casting flickering shadows against the walls. He leaned forward, his long fingers slowly twisting the guitar’s tuning pegs, but he wasn’t really paying attention.

He hadn’t been okay in a long time.

The applause never filled the void inside him anymore. People praised his energy, his charm, his voice—but none of them saw the crack under the surface. The growing heat he felt in his chest wasn’t just anxiety or stress. It was alive.

It had started three months ago.

Sparks in his palms when he got angry. Warmth radiating off his skin even in the dead of winter. Lights around him flickering whenever he got emotional. He thought he was going insane—until the dreams came.

He would wake up drenched in sweat, the bedsheets scorched, sometimes even smoldering. But it wasn’t the fire that scared him.

It was the memory of a world that didn’t exist.

Mountains that floated. Trees that shimmered with gold. A city in the sky where he stood, surrounded by eleven others. And always, in the center, a great flame—the Heartfire, it was called. He didn’t know how he remembered that name. It just… was.

Every night, the dream burned brighter, the voices louder.

“You are not who you think you are.”

“The flame is calling.”

Chanyeol tried to silence the voices with music, late-night drinks, and laughter with strangers, but the fire only grew stronger, waiting.

Until tonight.

He didn’t notice the door creak open. Didn’t hear the quiet footsteps until a soft voice pierced the air.

“Chanyeol.”

He turned slowly, his body already tensing. The fire responded before his brain could. A faint red glow pulsed under his skin.

Standing by the door was someone he hadn’t seen in years.

Wide eyes. Pale skin. Soft hair that framed his face like moonlight.

Kyungsoo.

Chanyeol blinked. For a second, he couldn’t speak. “D.O…?”

Kyungsoo nodded slowly, stepping further inside. “It’s me. And I’m sorry it took so long.”

Chanyeol stood up fast, the stool toppling behind him. “What is this? What are you doing here?”

Kyungsoo looked calm, but his eyes glinted with something deep—pain and purpose. “We’re waking up, Chanyeol. One by one. Baekhyun’s already awakened. So has Kai. Now, it’s your turn.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chanyeol snapped. “You can’t just show up after years and—”

“I never left,” Kyungsoo interrupted, his voice sharp but low. “None of us really did. We were scattered, our memories sealed, our powers buried. But the seal is breaking. The Red Force is rising again.”

That name. Red Force.

It lit something inside him, like a forgotten melody suddenly heard again. His hands trembled.

“You’re insane,” Chanyeol muttered, turning away. “This is a bad dream.”

Kyungsoo took another step closer. “Then explain this.”

With a flick of his hand, a swirl of stone and earth lifted from the floor and hovered in the air, floating with perfect control before returning gently to the ground.

Chanyeol’s breath caught.

“Your powers are coming back too,” Kyungsoo said gently. “You’ve felt it, haven’t you?”

Chanyeol looked down at his hands. They weren’t glowing… but they felt hot. Like fire was just beneath the surface, waiting to be unleashed.

“What if I don’t want it?” he whispered. “I didn’t ask for this. I just wanted to live. Make music. Be… normal.”

Kyungsoo’s expression softened. “None of us wanted this. But it’s not about what we want anymore. It’s about what we are.”

The fire responded again—stronger this time. Chanyeol closed his eyes as memories began crashing down.

Not dreams. Memories.

Of Sehun laughing as he floated through the sky. Of Suho conjuring rain with a wave of his hand. Of Chen’s voice bringing lightning down in a storm of glory. Of Kris, Lay, Luhan, Tao…

All twelve. One unit. One force.

EXO.

Chanyeol stumbled back, gripping his chest. “What’s happening to me…?”

“You’re remembering,” Kyungsoo said. “And soon, you’ll feel it all.”

Then the ground shook.

It wasn’t a tremor—it was intentional.

The floor cracked. The walls groaned. Lights burst overhead as something slammed into the building from the outside.

Kyungsoo’s eyes narrowed. “They found you.”

“Who?” Chanyeol gasped.

Kyungsoo didn’t answer. Instead, he extended his hand toward Chanyeol. “You need to awaken. Now. Or we both die.”

Chanyeol hesitated for only a moment before taking Kyungsoo’s hand.

The moment they touched, fire exploded around them.

But it didn’t burn.

It embraced.

Chanyeol’s knees buckled as a roar echoed through his ears. The flame inside him surged, memories flooding back in full.

He was the Guardian of Flame.

He once stood at the edge of a collapsing world and held it together with nothing but burning will.

He was EXO’s heartfire. The one who burned brightest when all else failed.

His eyes snapped open—glowing crimson.

Outside, the building tore apart as three figures cloaked in shadows descended through the ceiling. Their forms rippled, faceless, moving like smoke and poison.

Red Force agents.

Chanyeol stepped forward, the ground hissing beneath his feet. His voice was low, deadly.

“You picked the wrong night.”

Kyungsoo raised a hand, the earth responding immediately—pillars rising to shield them as Chanyeol lifted his palm and focused. The fire inside him answered eagerly.

He whispered a word that came naturally. “Pyra.”

Flames exploded outward, washing over the Red Force shadows, forcing them back. One shrieked—a piercing, unnatural sound.

The fight was chaos. Fire and earth clashing against shadow and void. But Chanyeol felt alive. Like the universe had finally remembered him, and he remembered who he was.

One agent lunged forward, claws outstretched—but Chanyeol met it with a punch full of fire. The impact sent the creature crashing through the wall, disintegrating mid-air.

The remaining two turned to flee, but Kyungsoo brought the floor beneath them up like a wave, slamming them against the wall with brutal precision.

Silence fell.

Chanyeol stood, breathing hard, flames dancing across his fingertips.

Kyungsoo walked to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You’re back.”

Chanyeol gave a slow nod, eyes still glowing faintly. “I remember everything.”

Kyungsoo looked proud—and sad. “Then you know what comes next.”

Chanyeol turned to the gaping hole in the wall, smoke rising in the distance. “We find the others. And we burn the Red Force to the ground.”

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