Chapter 33: Seeds of Power
The next morning dawned heavy and gray.
A mist clung to the scarlet fields, swirling around their ankles as Riku, Airi, and Kaoru stood in a circle with Sera.
The boy they had saved — whose name they learned was Toma — slept quietly beneath a thick blanket near the fire, his breathing steady but shallow.
"He needs time," Sera said softly, her voice barely more than a breath against the morning fog.
"And so do you."
She turned her piercing silver eyes toward them.
"Today, we don't fight.
Today, we grow."
---
The training Sera led them through was unlike anything before.
No shouting.
No tests of strength.
Instead, it was slow. Patient.
They stood barefoot in the scarlet soil.
They closed their eyes.
"Feel the heartbeat beneath you," Sera instructed.
"The Bloom is not a weapon.
It is life itself."
Riku tried.
At first, there was nothing but the chill air and the faint wetness of the morning dew.
But then —
something.
A low, thudding rhythm, like a giant heart beating deep within the world.
Steady.
Ancient.
Alive.
He gasped.
Airi opened her eyes too, wonder blooming on her face.
Even Kaoru, who had been skeptical at first, looked shaken.
"You feel it," Sera said, smiling faintly.
"Good."
---
They spent hours standing still, listening.
When they moved, it was slow — deliberate.
Sera taught them to breathe with the rhythm of the Bloom.
To move with the pulse instead of against it.
To bend like a reed in the wind rather than break.
At first it felt useless — childish, even.
But gradually, something changed.
Riku could feel his own body moving smoother, lighter.
He didn't tire as quickly.
His steps felt rooted, powerful.
And deep inside, something was awakening.
A seed.
---
As the mist began to burn away under the rising sun, Sera finally let them rest.
They collapsed into the soft grass, panting but smiling.
"You did well," she said, her voice kind for once.
"But the most important trial is yet to come."
Riku sat up, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"What is it?"
Sera knelt in the dirt, tracing a complex symbol into the earth with her finger.
It was a spiral, wrapping inward around a single point.
"This," she said, tapping the center, "is yourself."
"The Bloom amplifies what is already within.
If your heart is strong, your power will be strong."
"But..." she added, her face growing darker,
"If your heart is weak — if there are cracks — the Bloom will find them."
"And it will break you."
---
The words hung heavily between them.
Airi shivered.
Kaoru frowned, clenching his fists.
Riku stared at the spiral, feeling a cold sweat break out along his spine.
He thought of Toma.
Of the Hollowed.
Of his brother.
Ren... what happened to you?
Were your cracks too deep?
Or did someone break you on purpose?
Sera stood, brushing dirt from her hands.
"The next step is the Binding," she said.
"A pact between you and the Bloom."
"You'll enter the Bloom's Dream — a place where your spirit will be tested."
She looked at them, serious.
"You may not all return."
---
The night before the Ritual, they gathered around the fire again.
Toma stirred weakly, muttering in his sleep.
Kaoru sat nearby, sharpening a piece of wood into a rough spear.
Airi tended to their meager supplies, humming softly under her breath.
Riku sat alone, staring at the stars.
The same stars he and Ren used to watch together, lying on the roof of their childhood home.
"Think we'll ever leave this city?" Ren had asked once.
Riku had laughed.
"Yeah. Together."
A promise.
Another broken one.
Riku closed his eyes, feeling the familiar burn behind them.
He couldn't afford to break any more promises.
Not now.
---
Sera approached, silent as a shadow.
"You carry a heavy burden," she said, sitting beside him.
Riku didn't answer.
After a moment, she spoke again.
"Most Seekers chase strength for power," she said.
"To conquer. To control."
"But you... your strength is different."
She studied him, as if seeing something invisible.
"You carry Bloom King's Blood."
Riku blinked.
"What?"
Sera smiled sadly.
"There were once kings who could command the Bloom without losing themselves."
"True rulers, chosen not by bloodline, but by heart."
"Rare.
So rare."
She placed a hand over his chest.
"The Bloom remembers. And it has chosen you."
---
The fire crackled between them.
Riku stared into the flames, feeling a strange tightness in his chest.
He didn't want a crown.
He didn't want to be a king.
He just wanted to find his brother.
To protect his friends.
But maybe...
Maybe they were the same thing.
Maybe true kings weren't born with crowns.
Maybe they were just boys who refused to let the world break them.
---
At dawn, the Ritual began.
They stood in a circle, hands linked, as Sera chanted in an ancient, musical language.
The air grew thick, shimmering with unseen power.
The scarlet flowers around them trembled.
Riku felt a pulling sensation deep in his gut —
as if something inside him was being drawn outward.
Then — the world split.
The ground vanished beneath his feet.
The sky turned inside out.
He was falling —
falling into a sea of scarlet light.
Into the Bloom's Dream.
---
When Riku opened his eyes, he was standing in an endless field of red.
The sky above him was cracked and swirling, like a shattered mirror.
A figure stood across the field.
Tall.
Familiar.
"Ren...?" Riku whispered.
The figure turned —
but it wasn't his brother.
It was himself.
A twisted, broken version — eyes black, hands clawed, mouth twisted into a cruel smile.
"You'll never find him," the dark Riku hissed.
"You'll never save anyone."
"You'll fail — like you always do."
---
Riku clenched his fists.
The fear rose inside him, cold and suffocating.
But he remembered Sera's words:
The Bloom amplifies what is already within.
He stepped forward.
"I know I'm not strong enough yet," he said, voice shaking.
"But I'm not alone."
He thought of Airi's stubborn smile.
Of Kaoru's unshakable loyalty.
Of Toma's tears.
He thought of Ren's laughter.
And he smiled.
"I'm not afraid of falling anymore," he said.
"Because every time I fall — I get up again."
The dark Riku screamed, a sound like shattering glass —
and exploded into a million petals.
---
The field shifted.
Before him, a new path opened — lined with brilliant, glowing flowers.
At the end of the path stood a throne —
ancient, overgrown with vines and blooms.
But Riku didn't sit.
He knelt instead, placing his hand on the earth.
"I'm not a king," he whispered.
"I'm just me."
The throne pulsed with light — and then crumbled into dust.
From it rose a small, simple seed.
Glowing scarlet.
Riku took it in his hand.
And when he closed his fingers around it, the world exploded into light.
---
When he woke, he was lying in the field, Airi and Kaoru beside him.
Both of them stirred, blinking groggily.
Sera stood over them, smiling.
"You did it," she said.
"You are Bound."
Riku felt the seed still burning inside his chest —
a steady, comforting warmth.
A new power.
A new beginning.
But also — a new weight.
Far away, in the heart of the scarlet fields, the woman in crimson silk felt the shift.
She smiled.
"So the Bloom King awakens," she purred.
"Let the real game begin."
---