Chapter 61: Beneath the Blooming Silence
The winds over the Garden had stilled.
A rare hush cloaked the world above and below. The Labyrinth no longer pulsed with shifting walls or spectral winds. Instead, a stillness had settled in—a deceptive calm after a tempest, like the space between heartbeats when the world waits for what comes next.
Riku sat on the edge of a shattered platform, overlooking the glass canopy that stretched above them. Cracks laced through its surface like veins of ancient sorrow. The stars beyond shimmered faintly.
He breathed slowly, hand resting over his pendant. The latest Seed had fused into it just hours ago, and its warmth still lingered against his skin.
"Feels like we're breathing inside someone else's memory," Airi said softly beside him. Her gaze traced the ruined dome. "Like we're trespassing in the dreams of something long dead."
"Maybe we are," Riku murmured. "But these dreams... they're part of us now."
Below them, the rest of the group had set up a small temporary camp. The glow from magical orbs swirled in the corners, casting long silhouettes. Sera sat with her back against a broken pillar, her hands faintly glowing as she healed Kohana's bruised arm. Kaoru paced silently in the background, blade in hand—not in preparation, but from habit, his expression distant.
Toma's voice echoed faintly from across the chamber. "We're all here... but it still feels like someone's missing."
No one replied.
---
[Flashback: Years Earlier – A Garden Before the Fall]
Moonlight fell gently on stone walkways lined with golden-petaled flowers. A younger Veyla stood at the edge of the Grand Observatory, hands clasped behind her back.
"Why do we guard the Seeds if no one's allowed to use them?" asked a voice behind her. It was another Guardian, cloaked in crimson, with eyes like storm clouds.
Veyla didn't turn. "Because even forbidden power has weight. And even silence remembers."
"But silence can't protect us forever," he replied. "When the children of the world arrive, what will we tell them? That their blood is full of keys to a door we sealed with fear?"
Veyla turned then, softly. "No. We'll tell them the truth. Even if it hurts."
---
[Present – Garden Campfire, Midnight]
Rei stirred the embers of the fire with the tip of a broken spear. Sparks danced upward like ghosts.
"Remember what the Remnant said?" he muttered. "That we carry the same seeds that once doomed them."
Toma nodded, his expression unreadable. "It wasn't just a warning. It was a challenge. A mirror. Whatever doomed them... it still breathes inside us."
Sera lifted her gaze. "Then we'll be the ones to end that cycle. The Bloom chose us. That has to mean something."
Kaoru, silent till now, glanced at Riku. "And what if it didn't choose us? What if we just... took it?"
Riku didn't answer at first. He looked down at his hands.
"I used to believe my brother was the answer. That he held the truth, the path forward," Riku said. "But now... I think he was just another echo. Like me."
Airi whispered, "Do you still hear his voice?"
"Only in the moments between fights," Riku said, eyes distant. "Like he's watching, waiting."
---
[Elsewhere – Deep Below the Garden]
Cracks in the crystal-lined walls wept black light. The Remnant stood before a colossal stone gate, its markings glowing with shifting language—each symbol rewriting itself again and again.
It raised one hand.
"Their hearts are open," it murmured. "But their roots are still shallow. They will shatter before they bloom. Or they will become like us."
Behind it, other figures stirred in the dark. No longer shadows. No longer sleeping.
The other Forgotten.
---
[Perspective: Kohana]
She lay beneath a collapsed arch, her arm still sore from the last battle.
But it wasn't the pain that lingered. It was the vision she saw during the Guardian trial.
Her old self. Weak. Terrified. Running.
She curled her fingers into the dirt. "Not anymore," she whispered.
Sera appeared beside her, quietly placing a cloth over her arm.
"You don't have to say anything," Sera said. "But... I'm glad you stayed. Even when everything told you to run."
Kohana turned her head. "And you? Why do you fight so hard?"
Sera didn't smile. "Because I remember the child in chains. And I want to become someone she'd believe in."
---
[Perspective: Toma]
That night, Toma dreamt.
Of a throne made of memory. Of petals that whispered lies.
He stood alone in the dream, his voice echoing through empty halls.
"Is it wrong to want peace, even if it means becoming a monster?"
From the shadows, a soft voice answered. "Not if you remember who you're becoming it for."
He woke before the answer could form.
---
[Next Morning – Final Gate of the Garden's Core]
The Garden's center towered before them now—a monolith of black crystal, its top lost in stormclouds. Runes circled its base, slowly spinning.
Riku stepped forward. "This is it. The last Seed lies within. The core."
Veyla, standing with staff in hand, looked toward the tower solemnly. "Once you enter, the Garden will know you as its children. Or as its enemies."
"Either way," Kaoru said, unsheathing his blade, "we don't turn back."
---
[As They Enter the Core]
The tower's interior bent space and time.
Stairways looped into themselves. Echoes of their own footsteps came from above and below. Whispers floated like ash in the air.
They saw memories—of their world before the Bloom, of cities swallowed in silence, of old Guardians choosing to die rather than speak.
Rei stopped. "These visions… they're not just memories. They're warnings."
"Or invitations," Airi said. "To see the truth. The one beneath everything."
---
[Final Scene – At the Threshold]
At the tower's heart, they found the last Seed.
But it wasn't a flower.
It was a person.
A boy, no older than them, suspended in crystal. His chest glowed with all eight Seeds fused into one.
Riku stumbled back. "That's… that's my brother."
The boy opened his eyes.
And smiled.
"Welcome," he whispered. "To the root of all things."
The chamber darkened as the final test began.
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