Kai's fists were like hammers, each strike landing with the force of a battering ram. His skin glowed with a heat that distorted the air around him, turning the battlefield into a furnace. Khalid swung his axe, but Kai blocked it with his arm, the blade barely cutting through the searing aura that surrounded him.
Kenshin darted in and out of Kai's reach, his movements quick and precise, but each attempt to land a blow was met with a scorching wave of heat that forced him back. Kai laughed, the sound deep and echoing. "You think you can stop me? You're nothing but children playing with fire!"
Khalid gritted his teeth, sweat pouring down his face. Every breath he took burned his lungs, and his hands were blistered from gripping his heated axe. The heat was unbearable, relentless. His mind flashed to his burn mark, the scar on his chest that had haunted him for years. **If I can barely resist the heat of this boy**, he thought, **how am I ever going to face that thing?**
His thoughts drifted back to that day, the day his life had changed forever. He was a young boy, maybe Five or Sixth, living in a small, quiet village nestled in the mountains. He could still remember the laughter, the warmth of the sun on his face as he played with the other children. His mother's voice calling him for dinner, his father's strong hands lifting him up onto his shoulders. The village was his world, and he had been happy.
Then came the fire.
The sky turned red as blood, the air filled with the roar of flames. People screamed, running in every direction, but there was no escape. The creature had descended upon them like a storm, its scales the color of molten lava, its eyes burning with a fire that consumed everything in its path. It breathed out, and a torrent of fire washed over the village, setting houses ablaze, reducing everything to ash.
Khalid's mother had grabbed him, dragging him towards a small stone shelter behind their house. "Stay here!" she had shouted, her voice panicked. His father pushed him inside, the door slamming shut just as a wave of fire roared towards them. Through a crack in the door, Khalid could see his parents outside, their faces twisted with fear. Then the flames came, and he heard their screams cut off abruptly. The door shut, blocking his view, and he was alone, surrounded by darkness and the muffled sounds of burning.
When he finally emerged, the village was gone, nothing left but charred skeletons of buildings and the blackened remains of the people he had known. Smoke filled the air, and the ground was hot beneath his feet. He stumbled through the ruins, calling out for his mother and father, but there was no answer. Only the silence of death and the crackle of dying fires.
Scavengers came soon after, looking for anything of value among the ruins. They found Khalid, alone and crying, and took him. They saw a potential slave, a child who could be sold for a good price. Khalid had fought, but he was weak and small, no match for the men who grabbed him. They bound him, put him in chains, and took him away from the only home he had ever known.
Khalid's eyes snapped back to the present, his rage boiling over. The pain, the heat—it was nothing compared to the loss he had felt that day. The memory of his village burning, his parents' screams, the fire that had scarred him, both inside and out. His grip on his axe tightened, his vision narrowing until all he could see was Kai, the embodiment of fire and destruction before him.
"I won't let it happen again!" Khalid roared, charging at Kai with renewed fury. His axe swung down with all his strength, and this time it met its mark, biting into Kai's shoulder. Kai growled in pain, stumbling back, but the heat around him intensified, the air shimmering with waves of fire.
Kenshin took the opportunity, darting in and slashing at Kai's legs, trying to bring the giant down. Kai kicked out, catching Kenshin in the chest and sending him flying. Khalid rushed to his friend's side, standing protectively over him as Kai advanced, his wounds already closing, the fire within him burning hotter than ever.
"You can't stop me!" Kai shouted, his eyes wild with bloodlust. "I'll burn you to ashes just like everything else!"
Khalid stood firm, his axe raised. "I've faced fire before," he said, his voice steady. "And I survived. I'll survive you too."
Kai lunged, and Khalid met him head-on, the clash of their weapons sending sparks flying. Kenshin, still gasping for breath, struggled to his feet, ready to fight. The battle raged on, the firestorm of Kai's power clashing with the determination and resilience of Khalid and Kenshin.
In the distance, the shouts and cries of the other children echoed across the battlefield, the war for the flag still raging. But here, amidst the heat and the fire, it was a personal war, a battle of wills, of past traumas and present rage, as Khalid faced the embodiment of the nightmare that had haunted him for so long.