Chapter 32: The Weight of a Choice
The scarlet field seemed different this morning.
Heavier.
As if the world itself was holding its breath, waiting.
Riku, Airi, and Kaoru trudged through the whispering flowers in silence.
Every step they took stirred petals into the air —
tiny, fragile pieces of a much larger story they barely understood.
The choice hung over them like a storm cloud.
Accept the Bloom — and change forever.
Or refuse — and live with an emptiness they could never explain.
There was no middle ground.
---
As they climbed a gentle slope toward the broken tower, Riku caught a flicker of movement from the corner of his eye.
A shadow, darting through the flowers.
Gone in an instant.
He froze.
"Airi. Kaoru," he hissed.
They stopped immediately, following his gaze.
For a moment, the field was silent — only the soft sigh of the wind through the petals.
Then — another flicker.
Closer.
Kaoru clenched his fists.
"Not liking this," he muttered.
"Stay sharp," Riku said, narrowing his eyes.
They edged closer together, forming an instinctive triangle — backs protected, ready for anything.
---
Without warning, the ground beneath them shifted —
and a figure exploded upward from the sea of petals.
It was a boy — around their age — but there was something wrong.
His eyes gleamed with an unnatural crimson light.
Strange markings ran up his arms, glowing faintly under his skin.
He moved impossibly fast, swinging a curved blade wreathed in blooming vines.
Riku barely managed to shove Airi out of the way.
The blade slashed through empty air where her head had been a second ago.
"Friendly!" Kaoru shouted sarcastically, dodging a second strike.
The boy said nothing.
His face was blank, mechanical — like a puppet.
Controlled.
---
Riku felt something stir deep inside him —
a flicker of heat, a ripple of power.
But he didn't know how to reach it yet.
Instead, he grabbed a broken branch from the ground, wielding it like a staff.
Not much, but better than nothing.
Kaoru rushed the attacker from the side, aiming a heavy punch —
but the boy moved like liquid, slipping away effortlessly.
Airi grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it into his face.
The boy stumbled, blinking rapidly —
and for a split second, Riku saw something flicker across his expression.
Pain.
Fear.
But it was gone just as quickly, replaced by that eerie emptiness.
---
Riku didn't hesitate.
He lunged forward, knocking the blade from the boy's hand with a desperate swing of his branch.
It clattered to the ground, sinking into the petals.
The boy stood there, trembling, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly.
Then — to their horror — he began to cry.
Tears streamed down his face, though his expression stayed frozen in that awful blankness.
It was like his soul was screaming inside a cage.
"What the hell is happening?!" Kaoru demanded, backing away.
Airi stepped forward, heart hammering.
"He's being controlled," she whispered.
"Just like Sera warned us. Some bonds... corrupt."
Riku reached out, slowly, carefully.
"Hey," he said gently.
"It's okay. You're not alone."
The boy's eyes widened — and for a moment, the crimson light dimmed.
He collapsed forward into Riku's arms, sobbing silently.
---
They carried him back to the grove beneath the trees.
Airi tended to the cuts on his arms while Kaoru kept watch, his fists clenched and ready.
Riku sat beside the boy, who had finally passed out from exhaustion.
"What do we do with him?" Kaoru asked.
"We can't just leave him here."
Riku shook his head.
"We won't."
He looked down at the boy — at the faint, flickering light inside him.
Someone had twisted the Bloom's gift into a weapon.
Someone had turned a living person into a tool.
And if they didn't accept their bond soon...
they could be next.
---
As the sun climbed higher, Sera returned — stepping from the field like a ghost.
She looked at the unconscious boy and sighed, her expression grave.
"You see now," she said.
"Not all who are chosen are blessed."
Riku stood, facing her.
"Who did this to him?" he demanded.
Sera's silver eyes glinted.
"There are others," she said.
"Seekers who rejected the Balance.
Seekers who chose power without restraint."
"The Hollowed."
"The what?" Airi asked, wiping her hands on her skirt.
"The Hollowed," Sera repeated.
"Beings who devour the Bloom's gifts to grow stronger —
but lose themselves in the process."
She knelt beside the boy, brushing his hair back from his forehead.
"This one still has a chance," she murmured.
"Thanks to you."
---
Riku set his jaw.
"Teach us," he said.
Sera raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Airi and Kaoru stepped forward too.
They said nothing — they didn't need to.
Their eyes burned with the same fire.
Sera smiled, a strange, almost wistful expression.
"Very well," she said.
"Your real training begins now."
---
The day that followed was brutal.
Sera wasted no time, driving them harder than any coach or teacher they'd ever known.
She taught them how to feel the pulse of the earth beneath their feet.
How to draw the Bloom's energy into their blood without losing themselves.
How to listen to the whispers of the flowers —
the warnings hidden in the wind.
It was exhausting.
By nightfall, they could barely move.
But there was no anger.
No complaints.
Only a quiet, stubborn determination.
They would survive.
They would protect each other.
No matter what.
---
That night, as they sat around a tiny fire once more, Riku pulled the dried crimson flower from his bag.
He stared at it for a long time.
In the flames, he could almost see his brother's face again —
laughing, alive.
Not hollow.
He made a silent promise:
I'll find you, Ren.
I'll bring you back.
Even if I have to walk through hell to do it.
He tucked the flower carefully away.
Tomorrow, they would begin the final Ritual.
The true Bonding.
And after that... there would be no turning back.
---
Far away, hidden deep in the scarlet fields, a figure watched them through narrowed eyes.
A woman, draped in black vines and crimson silk, smiled coldly.
"So... the new lambs have entered the fold," she whispered.
Her voice was like honey and poison.
"We'll see how long they last."
The flowers at her feet shivered —
and somewhere in the distance, something ancient stirred awake.