Junjin was scared, actually, scared was an understatement, he was terrified.

It had started a month ago, the dreams, small flickering fleeting images of a figure engulfed in flames. As the days passed the dream became more clear, the figure came closer every night, it touched him, burned him, but it wasn’t painful. The flames shot up, blinded him, and then he woke up, hands glowing.

He had told his dad about it, how the dream went, how his body reacted, and his dad hadn’t been in doubt, Junjin was ready, his powers were waking up.

Junjin liked sleeping, he liked the power he felt from the flames, he liked how they warmed him, empowered him, made him feel, whole.

But one thing bothered him in his dream, he knew now for sue that he was a Flame, it was certain with the fire and all, but, his dad had said he had met his Wave in his dreams, so, why hadn’t he?

He didn’t even know if it would be a man or a woman, how was he supposed to point his Wave out at the ceremony?

He had kept telling himself he still had time, there was a month to the ceremony, three weeks, two, one, a day…

He had one night’s sleep left, and he still had no clue about his Wave. What If he didn’t have one? What if there had been a mistake? What if the magic had messed something up, and he hadn’t been assigned a Wave? Or, if his Wave had died already, as a kid?

He took a deep breath and decided to go to sleep, it was the best thing to do, he needed to use this last chance, and if he saw nothing, well…. He would just have to deal with it at the ceremony.

The familiar black shadow approached him, touched his shoulder. He felt the power entering him, the flames shot up. He looked at his hands, burning, he lifted his gaze and the shadow was gone. He turned his head to look for it, but he was alone in the white nothing, no sight of the shadow, or his Wave.

 “Junjin?...” he groaned as he heard the familiar man’s voice “You have to get up, you can’t miss the ceremony, you can’t miss becoming an adult…” he felt his bed moving slightly as his dad sat down, pulling the blanket off of him.

“But dad…” he kicked the blanket off fully and rubbed his eyes “I didn’t see her, my Wave…” his dad looked at him with a smile, he was definitely trying to calm him, but Junjin could see the confusion and worry he was hiding.

“Who knows, maybe it’s not a she…” he rubbed Junjin’s arm and got up.

“Well I should still see him in my dream right? How else will I pass the test? Without a Wave?” his eyebrows frowned deeply as he voiced his worries, but his dad just squeezed the arm slightly and walked off.

Junjin sighed heavily as he got up, putting on the festive ceremony clothes his dad had bought for the occasion.

They had been expensive, used almost all of their savings, but they were required, you couldn’t get in without them.

They looked good, the clothes, better than anything he had worn in a long time. The golden flames almost seemed to glow on the red and black robes, it looked like real fire, its way up his sides. Honestly, he was happy he became a flame, sure, the Waves had nice clothes too, but there was just something more powerful about Flames.

His Mother had been a Wave, naturally, most Flames married their Wave, that’s why he was hoping his Wave was a girl, it would save him a lot of trouble finding a girl who wasn’t going to marry her partner.

But in a way, if he did get a man, that meant he didn’t have to marry a Wave, he could marry a Flame. But did he want that?

Flames were powerful, dominant, acted fast, without thinking, they were stronger, better leaders, but too stubborn, and, even though he hated to admit it, too prideful, and not the best strategists.

Waves on the other hand, were smart, they were calm and collected, they needed more protection, but they were the perfect other half to a Flame.

His mother had been the perfect other half to his dad, but she had gotten ill and died when he was still a small child. He always knew he would become a flame, he knew that since he only had his dad to raise him, he would only learn the Flame way of thinking, so how would he ever be able to develop a Wave personality?

He did a final check in the mirror, he had to admit he did like how he looked, he looked important, rich even, it was something that didn’t happen often, his father wasn’t too rich.

Not many places hired half a pair, a Flame without his Wave, since then, they’d only have half of the personality. A Flame was not worth much without his Wave, and likewise, A Wave wasn’t much without his Flame.

He walked to the kitchen and looked at the food his dad had prepared, but honestly, he couldn’t eat anything.

“Are you ready?” his father smiled as he stepped in front of him and grabbed his shoulders.

He returned the smile and nodded once.

“Son?...” he looked straight into his eyes “…I’m proud of you…. I know you can do it…” He squeezed his shoulders again and followed him to the door, this was it.

The door closed behind him as he stepped into the streets, people were looking at him, smiling, they all knew what he was doing, where he was going.

He walked fast, wanting to get to the auditorium as fast as possible. He knew he wasn’t running late, but for some reason, he just feared getting there and meeting closed doors and a security guard telling him it was too late.

The closer he got to the town square, the big circular grey building housing the government, the more young Flames and Waves he met. It made him feel better, more normal, knowing he wasn’t alone, who knew, maybe he wasn’t even alone in not having seen his partner?

He slowed down when the building towered over him and the other teens started splitting into two groups, entering through two separate doors, a Flame door and a Wave door.

He stepped into the queue, getting behind a much smaller guy, he looked like a flame looks wise, his face was stern and powerful, but his height, was incredibly Wave like.

The guy looked at him with a smile, creasing his eyes so they were almost like two moons, he really looked like a Wave when smiling, was he really a Flame?

“So?...” the smaller guy began, ok he was for sure a Flame, beginning to talk like that, not being the tiniest bit shy “are you exited to meet your Wave?” He asked, smile brightening his whole face, a glint in his eyes, his Wave must be amazing if he can look like that after only meeting in a dream.

He must have been too slow at responding, cause the smaller guy kept going.

“I’m so excited, I can’t wait to meet him, he’s perfect, he’s like, everything I’m not, and he isn’t even too much taller than me!” He laughed and