The classroom felt… wrong.
Too quiet.
Clouds rolled over the sun, dimming the light until the room sat in an uneasy gray. A strange pressure settled in the air, heavy and suffocating.
Jinx gripped her head suddenly, her breath hitching.
"Jinx?" Pixie leaned closer, worried. "You okay?"
Jinx's voice came out in a whisper.
"It's happening again…"
Then
Her body jolted.
Her vision shattered.
Flames.
War.
A battlefield stretched endlessly beneath a blood-red sky.
A younger Dante stood there covered in blood, eyes burning with rage.
Across from him…
Her.
Jinx but not the Jinx she knew. This version glowed with fire, calm and powerful.
"You were born to destroy us," Past Dante said, voice rough. "And yet… you're saving me?"
Past Jinx smiled faintly, flames dancing in her palm.
"Maybe love," she said softly, "is the only flame strong enough to stop a war."
The vision snapped.
Jinx gasped, collapsing forward onto her desk.
Moments later, in the infirmary
Dante rushed in, panic breaking through his usual calm. He dropped to his knees beside her.
"Jinx?! Talk to me what did you see?"
Jinx blinked slowly, still shaken.
"You… and me," she whispered. "But not now. Before. Another life."
Dante froze.
For a second, he said nothing.
Then he looked away.
"So… you remembered."
The words were quiet. Heavy.
Jinx's chest tightened. "Remembered what?"
Dante exhaled slowly.
"Then it's true," he said. "You're the Phoenix Soul."
Later that evening, deep in the library basement, glowing threads of magic floated around an ancient book.
Dante stood in front of it, explaining.
"Every few centuries," he said, "the Phoenix Soul is reborn. A force of balance."
Jinx listened, her hands trembling slightly.
"She ends wars," Dante continued. "She ends demons."
Jinx looked up at him.
"But… I don't want to end you."
Silence filled the space between them.
Dante's gaze softened but only slightly.
"That's the cruel part," he said quietly. "You might not get a choice."
The rooftop was alive with energy as the eclipse began.
Candles spun in the air. Students gathered, whispering nervously as the sky darkened.
Rika stood among them, smiling like everything was perfectly normal.
"How romantic," she said lightly. "The end of the world… at golden hour."
Pixie narrowed her eyes. "You don't belong here."
Rika tilted her head.
"Neither do you."
Then
She moved.
A sharp slash through the air.
Dark magic exploded outward.
The sky cracked.
"Rika?!" Jinx's voice shook. "What are you?!"
Rika's body shifted horns emerging, her presence turning monstrous.
"I'm the thing your fire was meant to destroy."
Her tail lashed out, sending Pixie flying
but Dante caught her just in time.
The eclipse reached totality.
Darkness swallowed the sky.
Jinx's body lifted into the air, light bursting from her as flames spread behind her like wings.
Dante stared, breath catching.
"She awakened…"
Rika lunged
But Dante moved first.
He stepped in front of Jinx.
The attack hit him.
Jinx screamed. "DANTE!!"
He fell.
Time seemed to stop.
Then
Something inside her broke free.
Jinx rose higher, her eyes glowing white, her voice no longer fully her own.
"I am fire reborn," she said, ancient and powerful.
"I am judgment."
Flames erupted.
A massive wave of fire burst outward, consuming everything in its path.
Rika disappeared into the blaze.
Silence followed.
The flames faded.
The rooftop was left in ruins.
Dante lay motionless.
Pixie sobbed beside him.
Jinx dropped to her knees, her glow fading, her body trembling.
"You weren't supposed to die…" she whispered. "Not again."
Her hand burned softly as she pressed it to his chest, marking him with a glowing sigil.
"My flame… your life," she said gently. "Don't waste it."
For a moment
Nothing.
Then
Dante's chest rose.
His eyes fluttered open.
Jinx collapsed forward into his arms.
Dante let out a weak breath, barely able to speak.
"…Stupid girl," he murmured. "Always saving me…"