Fire Awaken

Chapter Three 

*****

Morning sunlight bled pale across Roverthhood’s spires. Elara dressed slowly, Robert’s jacket still folded on the chair. The memory of last night lingered—Derek’s hand, the ruins, the temple’s glow. She hadn't slept much since last night.

They stopped talking when she finally entered the cafeteria. For a heartbeat, silence held. Then the laughter began.

“She ran into the woods like a scared rabbit!” a boy jeered.

Alice, ignoring him, sat at the center of her table, chin lifted, voice carrying. “Our little charity case thinks Robert Sinclair is her knight. Shame he’s blind.”

The room rippled with cruel laughter. Elara gripped her tray tighter. Heat rose in her chest, crawling up her neck.

“Look,” Alice cooed, “the orphan mutt shows her face.”

Elara forced herself toward the farthest corner, but before she reached it, a group of girls blocked her path.

“Going somewhere?” one sneered. “We want to welcome you properly.”

They knocked the tray from her hands. Food splattered the marble floor. Laughter rang louder.

Elara bent to pick it up, fingers trembling.

“Don’t bother,” another girl smirked. “Cafeteria’s no place for beggars.”

The laughter pressed harder, suffocating. Elara’s vision blurred. But beneath the humiliation, something inside her stirred. A warmth deep in her bones, coiling, rising.

“Move,” she whispered.

The girls smirked. “Or what?”

Elara lifted her head. A light other than her own burned in her eyes for the first time. Behind them, a faint, golden, and living fire flickered.

The air shifted. Heat surged.

With sudden force, she shoved the nearest girl. The impact sent her flying backward into the table, dishes clattering. Gasps broke the laughter.

Another lunged at Elara. She caught her wrist, twisted—too strong, unnatural—and flung her aside. The girl crashed into the floor.

Elara stood tall, chest heaving, fire sparking at her fingertips before fading. The room had gone silent.

The girls scrambled up, faces pale, eyes wide with fear. None dared touch her again.

Whispers spread.

“She’s not normal…”

“Did you see her eyes?”

“What is she?”

Elara’s breath slowed. The fire within dimmed, but it had marked her. She was no longer prey.

---

The day passed in murmurs. Everywhere she walked, stares followed. Not mocking—cautious. The balance had shifted.

By evening, as she crossed the courtyard, Derek appeared. He held a bouquet of roses, smile smooth, voice honeyed.

“Elara. About last night.”

Her body tensed. “Stay away from me.”

He stepped closer, extending the flowers. I just want to… you know, “I was… reckless and selfish. I hope we can put things right. 

In the warmth of the light, the flower glows red as he hands it gently with trained eyes. Too perfect.

Before Elara could answer, another voice cut in.

“Don’t touch them.”

Robert strode forward, gaze locked on Derek.

Derek’s smile sharpened. “Always interrupting, Sinclair.”

Robert’s tone was ice. “Tell her the truth. About your bet.”

Elara froze. “Bet?”

Derek’s smirk faltered. “Don’t.”

Robert didn’t stop. “He wagered with half the boys in your dorm, Elara. Said he could have you within a week. They put money on it.”

Elara’s breath caught. “You— how dare you Derek?”

Derek lifted a hand. “Elara, listen—  is it not what you think?”

“No.” Her voice shook with fury. “You wanted to humiliate me as you have always done to the girls in this academy, using their body as your goal of accomplishment and when they refused, you forced your way in and everyone accolades you as if there's no law no rule beyond your dad's power.”

The roses slipped from Derek’s hands, scattering across the stones. His smirk returned, brittle. “She was never worth the trouble anyway.”

Robert took a step forward clenching his fists at Derek, but Elara turned away, her skin like glass fragments and her chest aching with betrayal.

She muttered, "Don't follow me please," she disappeared into the hallway's shadows.

---

Her dorm felt colder that night. She gripped the jacket tight as she sat on her bed imagining father entering into the room telling her that this is all irrelevant.

A knock broke her thought.

“Elara Sterling?”

A tall man stood at the threshold, his uniform bearing the academy crest. The counselor. His face was grave, voice measured.

“The headmistress asked me to give  you this” He handed over a wax sealed envelope to her.

Elara’s name curled across it in Ariana’s elegant hand.

Her stomach twisted. She broke the seal with trembling fingers.

The letter unfolded, words sharp and final:

Your father, Robin Sterling, is dead. His heart gave out. Do not expect me to bring you home. Roverthhood is your future now. Do not shame our name.

Elara’s vision blurred. The letter fell from her hands.

“No… my dad is dead!”

Her kneel bucked as she fell against the bed, choking back a sob that ripped through her chest.

Robin. Gone.

 she gripped the letter. The words scream in her mind: “His heart failed.” She couldn't accept the reality though there's nothing she can do which breaks her more.

But she knew. She knew. Ariana’s hand was behind it. Something in her mind clicks though she let go of the flinging thoughts 

The counselor lingered, awkward. “I’ll… leave you.” He closed the door quietly.

Elara lay curled on the floor, crushing the letter  to her chest with tears in her eyes.

The fire inside her flickered again, sharper, darker.

And for the first time, grief burned into rage.The fire rages on two fronts: vengeance for our home and academic lawlessness.

 She knew she couldn't let go of Derek's ruthlessness because many girls had become victims of his misbehavior, and a student once committed suicide as a result of bullying, though the academy counselor mistook it for depression.

 She knows the truth now and will not remain silent in honor of the victim's life and all those who were unable to speak up for themselves, even though she has been deprived of her own since her mother died, but the battle has begun between the home she once had and the one she desired.