🔥Chapter of Red: Beyond the Flame — That Which Flaps in the Crimson Sky 1

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Chapter 1: Beyond the Scorched Earth

The pre-dawn sky was dyed a scorched red, as if a giant flame had just burned itself out.
It felt less like the sunrise of hope and more like a harbinger of ominous things to come.
The wind was bone-dry and blew with a fierce heat, carrying not just the scent of soil and ash, but a distinct, burnt metallic smell, like iron being seared.

Hozumi and Leon had finally reached the entrance to the uncharted volcanic region after a long and grueling journey through the wilderness, dragging their exhausted bodies along.

Beneath their feet lay a scorched landscape, one that made it impossible to imagine it had ever been a lush, green land.

—Was this the remnant of a massive eruption from the distant past, or perhaps the trace of some more recent, evil power?
The rock surface was blackened and crisscrossed with countless fissures, and from these cracks, lukewarm heat rose steadily, like the sigh of the earth itself.

The air shimmered constantly, distorting the scenery in the distance.

“...So this is where the volcanic region begins.”

Leon muttered with a grim expression from beneath the brim of his deeply pulled-down hat.
He wiped the sweat from his brow with a casual motion while surveying the desolate landscape.

The dry, hot wind scorched his skin mercilessly, yet his expression showed no sign of pain; if anything, he seemed somewhat accustomed to this harsh environment.

His body, forged in the desert, likely possessed a certain level of resistance to such extreme nature.

But the heat was more than just a high temperature.

As the sun climbed to the center of the sky like a flame of fury, the volcanic region transformed into a crucible of scorching heat.

It was an inescapable pressure that not only seared the surface of the skin but slowly drained one's stamina and eroded the very depths of the spirit.

It was as if an invisible, giant hand was constantly pressing down upon them.

The obsidian-like ground spread countless cracks in every direction like a spiderweb, and from between them, heat resembling white steam rose incessantly, like the breath of the earth's agony, distorting their field of vision.
On the blackened, reddish rocks, there was no shade to offer a moment's respite, and the intense, searing light poured down like countless needles, leaving them nowhere to hide.

“Haa, haa...
I-it’s still... only around noon... and yet...
it feels like... walking on top of a flame...”

Meanwhile, Hozumi, who had grown up in a snowy country, fanned himself busily with his small hand, his face contorted as his small body screamed at the brutal heat, until finally, unable to endure it any longer, he stumbled and crouched down on the spot.

The needles on his back stood up slightly, heated by the air, as if resisting the hot wind.
His delicate skin seemed to be screaming at the mercilessly beating sun and the heat rising from the ground beneath him.

“Haa, even in the middle of the hottest summer in the Village of White Mist, it never gets this searingly hot...”

The sweat erupting from his forehead showed no sign of stopping, like a broken faucet.
His breathing was shallow, and his shoulders trembled slightly.
The cool climate of his hometown now felt like a distant dream.
The sweat flowing from his small body was instantly absorbed into the ground.
His round cheeks were deeply stained with the color of utter exhaustion.

“...Hozumi, are you alright?
You don't look well. You mustn't push yourself.”

Leon bent his sturdy frame with ease and crouched right next to Hozumi.
Although sweat was also beading on his face, his expression remained calm.
However, deep within the gaze he fixed on Hozumi’s pained appearance was a quiet, unspoken anxiety for his companion.

“Thank you... very much... Leon-san.
But, I... I’m feeling a bit dizzy...
And somehow, it feels like... the ground is pulsing...”

Hozumi apologetically accepted the canteen Leon offered, moistened his parched throat, and gently placed his trembling little hand on the【Ritsu's Brooch】that shone softly at his chest.
The white jewel embedded in the center of the silver circle emitted a faint but certain light from time to time, and that gentle glow seemed to soothe the anxiety rising in his chest, swaying quietly as if to comfort him.
The faint warmth of the jewel provided a small measure of solace to his heart and body.

“This heat... no,
this land... I feel like something is not right.
It’s as if... it’s alive...
Deep beneath the ground, something massive is slowly, but surely, beginning to wake from a long slumber...
I have such an eerie premonition.”

At those words, Leon frowned sharply.

Hozumi's words resonated with the vague anxiety that had been crossing his mind.

...Yeah.
I feel it too.
This unpleasant vibration, transmitted directly from the soles of my feet...
It's as if the heart of the earth is beating with rage.
Every time I breathe, the heat invades the depths of my lungs, as if I'm being burned from the inside.

Leon held up the polished [Silver Feather Necklace] hanging around his neck toward the scorching sky of the volcanic region, as if asking it a question.
However, the necklace, which usually pulsed faintly, was strangely quiet today, and there was no further mystical response.

The Spirit Necklace is... unusually quiet today.
It's as if its power is being sealed away by the overwhelming heat of this land.

Hozumi nodded slightly at Leon's words, while taking out the [Exquisitely Crafted Compass] she had been carefully keeping in her pocket, and checked the direction with trembling fingertips.
—But the needle, which should have pointed to a single spot as if guided, was trembling faintly and seemed to be clouded by hesitation, as if it were suffering from heatstroke.

Is it because of the heat...
Or is the distorted energy of this land driving the magnetic field mad and confusing the directions...
Either way, it is difficult to get an accurate position.

Either way, we have no choice but to proceed with caution.
If we advance recklessly, it could cost us our lives.
...If you feel even the slightest bit wrong, we turn back immediately, Hozumi. That's a promise.

Yes... but I have already seen the light of hope released from the top of the Tree of Life that day.
I want to see that light again.
I want to fill this world with that radiance. Therefore, I cannot turn back.

Hozumi, while trembling, gritted her teeth and stood up unsteadily, as if to renew her resolve.

An indomitable spirit resided within that small body.
Her eyes, though moistened by the heat and filled with hesitation, held a light of certain will.

Leon narrowed his eyes at her small, never-giving-up back.
Deep respect for Hozumi and a renewed determination to continue this harsh journey together welled up in his chest.

...You're something else.
Even though you seem like you're going to collapse time and time again, you always stand up in the end.
Your strength is truly admirable.

Hozumi carefully took out a fragment of a map with painfully scorched edges that she had obtained during their journey, and held up the [Exquisitely Crafted Compass] with her other hand, its needle trembling faintly.

Leon nodded powerfully while staring at the red-stained rock surface visible in the distance.

The map only remains for part of the way, but the seven-colored path the Tree of Life showed us, that vivid red light, must be ahead.
I have a feeling.
The sensation from that time is telling me so.

Hozumi nodded deeply as if to trust Leon's words, and took a step forward, stumbling but determined.

Let's go.
Because there is no turning back now...
If there is hope ahead, no matter how hot or painful it is, I will go on.

—A sharp gaze watched the conversation between the two, who were supporting each other, from the shadow of overlapping, heat-laden rocks a short distance away.
It was a black silhouette that could be mistaken for the surrounding rock surface, but upon closer inspection, it was undoubtedly a living creature.

The presence of flames grows stronger...

Before the path of the scorching volcano, hope, the future, and the winds of an irresistible fate had begun to blow—quietly, yet surely.

Will it become a light that illuminates the path to rebirth, or will it become a hellfire that burns everything to ash? No one knows yet...

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