The puppet show began with a single ball of flame that suddenly split into two, forming the shapes of a man and a woman.

The two were suddenly separated as the world around them formed, but as the story progressed, they found a way back to each other.

The crowd, alongside Adrian, Renelle, and Ren, watched as the story progressed toward a happy ending until the woman’s flame suddenly started growing dimmer.

They quickly understood that the woman’s flame was dying.

The male flame moved toward her immediately, urgently, trying to give her some of his own light the way you’d cup your hands around a candle to protect it from the wind.

And although it helped, that only lasted a while.

But slowly, the woman’s flames continued dimming, until a single ember remained, one that landed in the hands of the male flame.

He seemed to look at it for a long while as the world the puppeteer had built around them continued moving.

The crowd watched as the male flame tried everything it could to bring her back. There was even a point where it seemed as if time had reversed, and she was back in his arms.

But again and again and again, she always ended up dying, leaving him with only a single ember.

The male flames suddenly started moving with seemingly no destination in mind as the flame structures faded behind him until he was surrounded by flame mountains.

He stopped at the peak of one, looked down, and everyone immediately understood what he was thinking.

Suddenly, his flames became brighter, and he stepped back, seemingly coming to some sort of enlightenment.

However, another scene that shocked the crowd happened.

The man reached towards his chest, sank it in and ripped something out,

His heart.

It was a small concentrated flame, brighter than the rest of him.

His flames visibly dimmed after that, though he didn’t seem to care. Instead, he opened his other hand, revealing the ember that remained of her.

He then merged the ember with his heart, and the audience watched as the flames became multi colored.

The next second, the male flames split it into two and started molding the first.

They watched as the flames started taking shape, first forming a woman and then a man.

But the audience could tell that the newly formed male flame seemed incomplete.

The two newly formed flames then disappeared, but it didn’t seem as if whatever the male flame was doing had failed.

The next second, at the very top of the mountain, a world started forming around him before everything faded as if the puppeteer was doing a scene transition.

The next second, as if a new story had started altogether, the flames formed a city.

Within that city, a carriage was moving and soon enough, a flame that seemed to be just a boy jumped in front of it.

Adrian looked at this scene with a frown on his face, though he chose to say nothing.

Renelle, on the other hand, also seemed to find the scene familiar, but she said nothing.

The story continued, and the crowd continued watching as the newly formed male and female flames met again.

Unfortunately, as if destined to be apart, the male flames suddenly died out, this time without the chance to even get together with her.

The female flames continued living, unaware of his death, and she seemed to find someone else to love.

That is, until someone else she found also found another, his true soul mate.

From that point on, it started going downhill for the female flames as she seemed to descend into a path of destruction.

The crowd continued watching as the man she had come to love put a flaming sword through her heart, causing her flames to dim before dying out.

"What the hell kind of story is this?" one of the spectators yelled from the crowd, unable to hold back his frustration, "where’s the damn happy ending?"

"Shush," another interrupted, "the story’s not over yet."

And it indeed wasn’t because the next second, what seemed to be a child, descended from the skies made of flames and looked around.

She then picked up whatever remained of the female flames and tossed it into the air.

Again, the audience watched as time seemed to rewind until the moment when the male flames died.

Once again, he died, but this time, before his ember could fade away, it suddenly got brighter and merged with the body again, and this time, he finally looked a lot more complete.

But the difference was, his flames had suddenly become black.

The audience watched as the black flames reunited with his lady, and they watched as the two stood against the rest.

The moment the crowd started hoping for a happy ending to the story, the flames suddenly flickered and disappeared.

They waited to see if it was a scene transition....it was not.

The puppeteer suddenly revealed himself from behind the stage and started packing up without saying anything.

"That’s it?" Someone said from the crowd, "That can’t be it, right?"

"I knew this was a waste of my time," another said as they started dispersing, "puppet show my ass, you can’t even tell a proper story. "

Renelle and Adrian, on the other hand, remained watching as the puppeteer wrapped up the stage.

For some reason, the story felt extremely familiar, but before they could approach, Ren suddenly spoke up, "Nel!"

The two turned towards the direction the kid was pointing, and sure enough, approaching them was a girl with black hair and blue eyes.

On her face was a pair of round glasses, and her expression was so composed that one might think it was blank.

"I apologize for the trouble my little brother caused you," she said politely as she reached them before introducing, "I’m Nel."

"Nice to meet you, Nel," Renelle said with a warm smile, "and don’t worry, Ren’s been on his best behavior the whole time."

"I see," Nel said, "then I’m glad."

"Did you watch the show, Nel?" Ren spoke up, "The flame puppets were so cool."

"They were," she nodded in agreement before looking up at Adrian.

The two stared at each other for a while without saying anything, but the next second, Adrian put Ren down, allowing him to walk to his sister.

"..." Renelle looked at the two for a while before saying, "You wouldn’t happen to have cheated on me....would you?"

Adrian turned towards her with a surprised expression, but instead of a reply, he suddenly lifted his arm where his bracelet was.

Before Renelle could understand what was going on, a blush suddenly appeared on her face.

"Does that answer your question, my lady?" The butler asked with a smile on his face.

What he just did was allow all of her to feel his full obsession; perhaps that would remind her that he’d never think of cheating.

Both Ren and Nel chuckled at the scene.

Renelle composed herself quickly, the blush cooling almost immediately, though not quickly enough for it to go unnoticed.

"Hmph," was all she said.

"We should head back," she said to Ren.

"Already?" Ren’s expression fell immediately.

"Mama will worry," she said simply.

That settled it, Ren looked at Renelle first before saying, "goodbye."

"Goodbye, Ren," Renelle replied with a small smile.

He then looked at Adrian, and his expression immediately changed.

"Remember what I said," he told him seriously.

"I will," Adrian nodded.

Ren nodded, satisfied, then took his sister’s hand.

Nel glanced at Adrian one final time before turning towards Renelle, saying, "Good luck on the tournament tomorrow. "

Renelle was a bit surprised since she didn’t expect anyone to recognize them... then again, it wasn’t as if she was deliberately hiding her identity.

So she just smiled and nodded, "Thank you."

With a nod, they turned around. Ren waved as they disappeared into the crowd.

Renelle smiled before they turned towards the puppeteer....or at least where he previously was, only to realize that he had disappeared.