Zagan sets out alone to uncover the truth behind the Blooming Destroyer. What he finds in the ruins is a name — one he's never heard, yet one that feels destined to change everything.
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[Scene 1 – Solareth Southern Watchpoint, Just Before Dawn]
The first crack of light hadn't yet broken the horizon, but Zagan was already halfway down the cliffside trail that led to the docks below Solareth. The guards at the watchpoint barely stirred as he passed — most were used to him wandering at odd hours.
Only this time, he wasn't returning by noon.
He wore no insignia. No emblem of the royal house. Just a travel cloak, reinforced boots, and the faint hum of his blade hidden beneath the folds.
ZAGAN (internal)
He's hiding something.
That sword… its magic isn't just divine. It's emotional. It bleeds history.
He paused at the edge of the dock and stared into the morning fog where his hired ferry awaited.
ZAGAN (internal)
If I find proof… I'll decide what to do next.
But no more guessing.
He boarded the sky-ferry bound for Felyndra — a ruined island lost in time.
---
[Scene 2 – Aboard the Ferry "Silverline"]
The sky currents were unusually calm. Zagan stood at the stern as wind licked through his cloak. The floating island of Felyndra emerged slowly from the clouds — jagged, broken, ancient.
Legends called it the Blooming Grave — said to be the place where divine energies first fractured during the early wars of the gods.
Long-abandoned. Half-buried.
And yet, beneath the moss and stone, Zagan felt the weight of presence.
ZAGAN (internal)
The twin-blade crest again… always this symbol.
It's on Vinam's hilt. In the chapel. And here.
He didn't know if the gods were watching.
But he felt like something was.
---
[Scene 3 – The Outer Ruins of Felyndra]
Zagan stepped lightly across cracked walkways swallowed by roots. The air here was thinner — not just from altitude, but age. Like the ruin itself had stopped breathing long ago.
The walls around him bore faded carvings — two flowers intertwined at the stem:
One blooming, vibrant.
One wilted, dripping downward like blood.
He passed beneath a shattered arch and entered the main courtyard, where a moss-covered sarcophagus sat upon a dais of stone.
It was covered in divine sigils. Some broken. Some still glowing faintly.
Zagan brushed away the moss.
And there it was.
A name, glowing faintly in sacred script:
"Serena."
He stared at it, confused.
ZAGAN (aloud, low)
…Who is Serena?
No answer.
Only the wind.
ZAGAN (internal)
I've never heard that name.
But why… why does it feel so heavy?
He stepped back slowly, eyes locked to the name like it might blink.
---
[Scene 4 – Spiral Descent: Beneath the Shrine]
He found a staircase hidden behind a collapsed pillar — ancient and spiraling downward, cut deep into the floating island's core.
The deeper he went, the colder the air became. Runes flickered on the walls, reacting faintly to his presence.
At the bottom, the chamber opened into a half-flooded hall. On the far wall: a massive mural, cracked but still detailed.
A single man stood in the center — a warrior, face obscured, holding two swords crossed behind his back.
One radiated blue light.
The other bled crimson shadow.
Behind him was a falling star.
And beside him — a silhouette of a woman, reaching out toward him with one hand.
Zagan stepped forward, torch raised.
ZAGAN (softly)
That's… the Blooming Destroyer.
He traced the outlines. The blue one looked like Heavenbloom. But the red sword…
Something about it disturbed the air itself.
---
[Scene 5 – Vision Triggered by Zagan's Magic]
As his gloved fingers brushed the edge of the mural, the room shifted. Light pulsed from the mural — not dangerously, but remembering.
Suddenly, Zagan saw:
A battlefield of ash and screaming winds.
Vinam, younger, kneeling — covered in soot and blood — clutching a lifeless body in his arms.
The swords, both glowing violently — reacting to his anguish.
Zagan couldn't see the woman's face clearly. But her name echoed through the vision like a cry across eternity.
Whispered Voice
"Serena…"
Then silence.
And Vinam's voice — broken.
"She's gone… and still, I can't let her go."
---
[Scene 6 – Back to Reality: Zagan's Collapse]
Zagan snapped back, gasping. He fell to one knee, drenched in cold sweat.
His heart pounded. His hands shook.
ZAGAN (internal)
That wasn't just illusion magic. That was… real. A memory. A moment.
He turned toward the sarcophagus above. The name.
ZAGAN (aloud)
Serena.
…Who are you?
He had no answer.
Only more questions.
And a deep, sinking feeling in his gut that whatever this woman meant to Vinam — it wasn't over.
---
[Scene 7 – Departing the Ruins]
He left the ruin as the first rays of afternoon sun pierced the clouds. No relics. No scrolls. Just the weight of what he'd seen.
He looked back only once — toward the shattered mural and the stone that bore Serena's name.
ZAGAN (internal)
She's the root of it.
Of the Blooming Destroyer…
Of him.
But he didn't speak the truth yet.
Because he didn't have the whole story.
Only the feeling that something inside Vinam was breaking — and Zagan was now part of it.
---
[Scene 8 – Solareth Cliffs, That Night]
Back home. Same winds. Same stars.
Kris had asked nothing. Jessica had teased him for disappearing again.
But Zagan said nothing. Not yet.
He stood alone on the cliffs, staring out into the night sky.
In his notebook, he scribbled one word over and over:
Serena.
And beneath it, just one question:
> Is she the key to saving Vinam… or the reason he's already lost?
---
END OF CHAPTER 11