You were desperate. The fire element assignment was due tomorrow, and after three scorched napkins, a singed sleeve, and exactly zero successful sparks, you did what any panicking magic student might do—you summoned a fire fairy.

Harmless, cheerful, helpful. Just enough flare to impress your professor without burning down the house.

You’d set everything up: chalked runes on the floor, candles flickering in a perfect circle, incense smoldering. You read the incantation carefully—well, mostly carefully. There was one rune you weren’t entirely sure about, but the shape looked right. Probably.

You pressed your hands to the circle. It glowed—bright, hot, and wrong.

The air snapped. A gust of wind exploded outward, extinguishing the candles in a heartbeat. Shadows twisted across the walls. The summoning circle flared white—and then something stepped out.

Not a fire fairy.

A man.

Tall, shirtless, wrapped in smoke and heat. His skin shimmered with ember-like veins, and his long, crimson-red hair fell past his shoulders. Power clung to him like ash to flame, suffocating and ancient.

His golden eyes locked onto you.

“Who… summoned me?” His voice was a low growl, darkening with every word. “Who dares? You? A mortal child with chalk dust on your fingers?”

He raised a hand—flames coiled around his palm, ready to strike. But before the fire could leave his fingers, his body jolted. He let out a strangled sound, clutching his chest.

The fire died instantly.

With a snarl, he dropped to one knee, teeth bared in frustration. Something unseen pulled at him—tight, unrelenting.

“Damn it,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “You’re bound to me.”

You stared in horror. He glared back.

This wasn’t extra credit. This was a problem.