SSS Rank Dragon Tamer: Unleashed
Chapter 64: Flame Dance

Chapter 64: Flame Dance

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The second lesson was Control. The Matron raised her wings, and a dozen ember wisps floated into the air like tiny suns.

"Reach for one." She commanded.

Fenna extended her hand toward the nearest flame mote. As she did, the ember danced erratically, lashing out in every direction like a scared animal.

"Calm it," the Matron warned. "It reacts to your fear."

Fenna shut her eyes again. She pictured the ember as a baby bird lost in the wind—not wild, just afraid. Her heartbeat slowed to match its pulsing rhythm.

The ember drifted into her palm. It hovered gently, spinning like a lazy firefly. She didn’t flinch. She smiled.

"It dances with you," the Matron said. "Good."

The third lesson was Bonding.

Dusk fell slowly. Emberling, the baby phoenix, stirred from her curled-up sleep and sneezed a small puff of smoke. The chubby chick blinked its golden-orange eyes and waddled toward Fenna on stubby legs.

"She is drawn to you," the Matron murmured. "But she does not understand you yet. Speak not with words, but with presence."

Fenna reached out instinctively. Emberling nuzzled her hand and flopped into her lap, snoring again almost immediately.

"She accepts you," the Matron said. "But that is only the beginning."

Fenna looked up, confident in her voice. "I can do this. I’ve got the feathered beast affinity. I awakened with A-rank talent. I can tame the winged beasts."

The Matron regarded her with something between amusement and solemnity.

"A-rank is admirable," she said. "It grants you dominion over falcons, gryphons, sky-ravens... even thunderbirds with effort. But I am not a hawk. My daughter is not a raven."

Her wings unfurled, flames rippling through the lava chamber like solar tides.

"We are phoenixes. Flame born and ash reborn. We do not obey tamers. We burn through them. Unless..."

"Unless?" Fenna asked, her confidence dimming just slightly.

"Unless you are reborn too."

The Matron stepped forward, her claws clicking softly against the stone. "The child you hold is fire in its most sacred form. To raise her... you must be reborn in fire as well."

Fenna’s breath caught in her throat. "You mean..."

"Yes." The Matron leaned closer. "I will pass to you a fragment of the True Phoenix Flame. It is not power. It is purification. It will remake your affinity. It will test you. If your heart wavers, it will consume you."

Fenna clenched her fists. "I’m not afraid."

"You should be," the Matron said. "But if you survive... your affinity will no longer be A-rank. It will become something beyond ranks. A flame that only the chosen few in history have carried."

Fenna swallowed, sweat pouring from her brow. She looked down at Emberling, who was nibbling on her tunic.

Then she looked up. "Do it."

The Matron spread her wings fully, eclipsing the lava chamber in a shimmering blaze. A single feather, burning white-hot, drifted down like a petal of sunlight.

"Hold your breath," she whispered.

Fenna took the feather into her hands. The moment she touched it... Fire exploded through her.

A scream echoed inside her mind. It was her own and yet it sounded distant, swallowed by the roar of ancient power. Her skin didn’t burn, it peeled, like layers of old weakness falling away. Her heartbeat stopped... and then returned, beating to a rhythm not her own.

She didn’t die. She changed.

When the flame receded, Fenna dropped to one knee. Her breathing was ragged. Her veins glowed faintly gold. Her eyes shimmered.

The Matron’s voice was gentle now. "You are reborn. Now... you are ready."

Fenna looked down at her hands, still trembling but glowing. She didn’t feel pain. She felt clarity.

The Matron moved to her side and gently lifted Emberling from her lap, placing the chick on the stone between them.

"Tomorrow," the phoenix said, "I will teach you the Flame Dance. You will not tame her. You will grow with her."

Fenna nodded slowly. "Thank you... for trusting me."

"I do not trust easily," the Matron said. "But your heart is true. That’s why I chose you."

Emberling chirped in agreement and hopped into Fenna’s arms again.

As night fell over the heart of the volcano, the chamber pulsed with warmth, not of danger, but of promise.

The promise of rebirth.

The promise of flame.

The heat had become her second skin.

Fenna rose with the soft rumble of the lava below, her newly awakened flame still humming beneath her ribs. Her breath came slower now, deeper, as if the fire that once threatened to consume her now flowed with her every heartbeat. Her skin bore no burns, only a faint shimmer like heat mirage under her freckles. The air around her shifted, as if the volcano itself had begun to breathe with her.

"Tonight is very fragile. Sleep now."

Next day...

The Ember Matron watched silently from her obsidian perch, wings folded, eyes ancient and unreadable.

"You survived," the phoenix finally said, voice low. "That alone makes you one in ten thousand. But survival is only the start."

Fenna nodded. "I’m ready."

"You believe you are," the Matron replied. "But you must prove it to her."

She pointed with her beak toward Emberling, who had awakened and was now preening her downy chest feathers. The chick let out a startled sneeze, puffing a small ember that curled harmlessly toward Fenna.

"I’m going to raise her right," Fenna said, kneeling to meet the chick’s gaze. "I’ll earn her trust. Day by day."

"She does not need a commander," said the Matron. "She needs a mirror. You must be to her what I once was—guardian, flamekeeper, soul-guide."

The lava rippled.

"Today," the Matron said, "you will learn the Flame Dance."

Fenna straightened. "What is it?"

"A rite older than language. A ritual of resonance. It is how phoenixes imprint their legacy onto the next generation. You will not teach her commands. You will show her how to burn."

She stepped aside, revealing a wide ring carved into the stone floor, edged with blackened feather shaped runes.

"Enter the ring."