Park Chanyeol was the last descendant of the Park bloodline. It was the excessive loss of blood during labor that claimed the life of his mother and the possibility to birth more children into the family. According to his father, she was a wonderful woman who wanted nothing but the best for him. But those who dared to speak behind his father’s back laughed at the sound of her name and addressed her as the disgrace of their generation.

               For pyrokinetics, the number of children is the determining factor of respect and nobility. A family with seven or more children will be ranked at the top of the hierarchy while a family with one child will receive little to no honor. The story goes that Chanyeol’s father was one of the few remaining Parks without children even though he’d been married to his wife for many years. His mother was a petite woman, and with her petite body came fragile health. Although they were both aware of the effect that it might have on his mother, his parents continued their attempts to conceive. Little did they know that she would not survive during child labor and that her son would have to live through the humiliation of it all.

               As a result, his father kept him hidden in the cupboard every time he had to step out of the house. “It’s for your own protection,” he would say before shushing Chanyeol into the darkness. Sometimes Chanyeol was granted the permission to have a few visitors, but they were never ones that he favored. It was always one of his father’s friends, and to make matters worse, his requests to hear stories about his mother were always declined.

               At the age of nine, Chanyeol witnessed a conflagration for the first time. He had seen his father combust objects in the house out of anger, but he had never seen a flame as powerful as the one he saw that night. Her name was Gim Bogyeong, and all he really knew about her was her age—but only because of the ill words that were spoken about her. Rumors were spread throughout the village about the irresponsibility of a nineteen-year-old girl and how her actions dragged upon them the peril of being exposed.

               Earlier that night, Bogyeong had insisted on traveling to the village up north with her friends. Her father demanded to at least wait for her brother’s return to have a male accompany them, but Bogyeong never favored her brother’s presence. He was always the center of attention if ever she were forced to drag him along. And in order to prevent that from happening this time, she snuck out of the house while her father fetched for food. Her friends had promised to wait for her at the village gate but they were nowhere to be found. Bogyeong then decided to travel alone, hoping to run into her friends along the way.

               The night was dark. Bogyeong was greeted by a group of drunkards not too far from her destination, and before she could react to their malicious behavior, they were dragging her into the fields.

               It was then that the colors of red and orange reflected off the walls of Chanyeol’s bedroom, and the young boy jumped out of bed towards the window only to fall back in horror. What used to be the faint lights of a distant village was now consumed in a fire that turned the entire night sky gray.

               He had expected everyone to be frightened but he didn’t expect to run. Without an explanation, Chanyeol’s father dragged him out of the house and they ran all night with the other residents. Though he knew that she was immune to the fire, Chanyeol never saw Gim Bogyeong again.

               Her actions resulted in the separation of The Five Families. The Gim Family fled to the South while the Sagong Family traveled East. It was rumored that the Jeong Family eventually turned around and returned to the old village, but there was no evidence to prove the rumors. The remaining families, Dam and Park, migrated together to the West where they found a new home. All Chanyeol knew at that point was that The Five Families were now in grave danger.

               He turned twenty in the year of 1634.

               Shortly after Gim Bogyeong’s outburst, the emperors of Korea sent for the heads of the remaining pyrokinetics to avenge the innocent lives stolen that night. The Five Families were no longer in communication because it was imperative to stay hidden from the world. By that time, Chanyeol was living in complete isolation. As the years passed by, most of the individuals in his family slowly branched out to find shelter in new areas; and somewhere along the way he had lost sight of his father. Chanyeol rifled through many villages day and night until he finally accepted the fact that there was absolutely nothing he could do to change the way things turned out.

               If there were one thing that never changed, it would be the fact that Chanyeol still couldn’t suppress the burning ember in his veins. The young pyrokinetic was not so lucky when the time came to actually find a permanent home. He traveled to many villages but the result was always the same: one way or another, Chanyeol’s flames would destroy whatever he had built in a matter of seconds. The only thing that couldn’t be ruined by his random outbursts was metal, and so he began to search for a market rather than a home.

               A few months after beginning his venture, he had overheard two men discussing rumors over dinner. There was to be a celebration in the far city tomorrow for the return of the emperor’s children. Chanyeol sat in place and eavesdropped to catch more details, all the while wandering if it would be safe for him to seek residence there. Of course the option was quickly ruled out when he remembered how much danger he could bring to those innocent civilians, and even to the remaining pyrokinetics in hiding.

               But not long after finishing dinner, Chanyeol found himself packing his few belongings for the far city that would be hosting a grand celebration tomorrow, Dongducheon.