Prologue

The flames roared upward, blazing into the moonless sky.

The smell of the burning wood entered my nostrils as I stood there completely stunned. I inhaled without knowing, then exhaled without feeling anything besides the tightening around my chest. It felt hard to breathe.

An overwhelming bright light assaulted my vision, etching the image into my retina, and then the heat started to spread to the atmosphere, to the air until it touched my skin.

However, my eyes kept glued into the fire, as if it were absorbing me in, and my body didn't move an inch. I know that something was burning. The flames were consuming something yet I was not afraid nor unsettled. How could I? An unknown emotion was welling inside me, a weird feeling that kept my heart from beating.

The scenery of the flickering flames that contracted, danced, and swayed along with the night breeze as it burned. It radiated like a sun, and lit a fire into my heart.

It was burning… Burning brightly. It's as if the fire itself had discarded its past and its future for this very moment and shone with everything it had.

The one that was burning was a house…

And it was beautiful.

My foot took a step forward, as my hand stretched over trying to touch the fire. But at that moment, a shadow suddenly moved and dropped itself to the ground. It stayed down, gazing at the magnificent flames.

"What…the hell…is…this?" Amidst the crackling noise of the wood, a whisper entered my ears and brought me back to my senses.

—Someone was kneeling before the fire.

I gasped for air, realizing what had happened. My chest beat rapidly, my feet shivered, and then as if I was possessed, I bolted away from the light, and dived into the darkness.