The Blooms Begins to Wilt
1 – Quiet Before the Collapse
The fire whispered low, like it knew something the others didn't.
Kris sat beside the flame, his sword laid across his lap. He wasn't sharpening it. Just holding it. Letting his fingers trace the worn edge where it had blocked Vinam's blade in battle… over and over. He wasn't sure why he felt the weight of that contact more now than ever.
Across the clearing, Zagan stood with his back turned, staring into the forest like he might rip it open with his eyes.
Neither of them spoke.
And then came the familiar crunch of footsteps.
Vinam emerged from the trees, his usual calm etched across his face. He carried a leather flask and a small pouch of herbs. He looked like any other teenage boy coming back from a walk—only he wasn't. Not anymore.
Kris noticed it instantly: his breathing was heavier, his fingers twitching at his side like they were resisting something. Something alive.
Vinam walked forward, stopping just a step short of the fire. He tilted his head slightly, smiling like nothing was wrong.
Vinam:
"Brought something to help Zagan's ribs. There's a plant nearby with—"
Zagan (coldly):
"Sit down."
The tension cracked like glass.
Kris flinched slightly, but didn't interrupt. Vinam blinked, then gave a tight chuckle, as if trying to brush it off.
Vinam:
"Someone's in a mood."
Kris (quietly):
"He's serious."
That's when Vinam's smile faded. His gaze shifted between the two of them.
Zagan stepped forward, just enough for the firelight to catch the hardened lines on his face.
Zagan:
"Tell us about her."
Vinam didn't move.
Zagan (sharper now):
"Serena."
The name landed like a blade against stone.
For a long moment, the only sound was the wind moving gently through the branches. Then Vinam finally spoke—his voice lower, quieter.
Vinam:
"I don't know what you think you found…"
Kris:
"You lied to us."
Vinam's jaw clenched.
Kris (softer):
"You kept everything hidden. Serena… the true nature of the Blooming Destroyer… even your own past."
Zagan's voice cut in again, colder than the forest air.
Zagan:
"Ruinbloom."
Vinam looked up at that.
There it was.
That flicker in his eyes. Like a pulse of fear and memory twisted together. Like a door opening just enough to see the darkness behind it.
Vinam (low):
"That word… shouldn't be spoken lightly."
Zagan:
"Yet it's burned into the ruins of a lost world. The same world you say you don't remember."
Vinam turned away, staring into the trees.
Vinam:
"You want answers?"
He took a few steps forward, just enough to put his back to them. The fire cast long shadows around his form, painting him like a boy wrapped in something older than him.
Then he turned, face hard.
Vinam:
"Then defeat me in battle. And take them."
---
2 – Lines in the Ash
Kris stood slowly.
Kris:
"This isn't a game."
Vinam (firm):
"No. It's not. That's why this is the only way I can answer you."
Zagan summoned his magic without hesitation. Black tendrils of shadow curled around his hands like serpents ready to strike.
Zagan:
"Fine."
Kris hesitated.
Even now… even after the lies… part of him didn't want to raise his blade.
Kris:
"We don't have to fight."
Vinam (with sad eyes):
"You do if you want the truth."
The Blooming Destroyer slid into Vinam's hand with unnatural grace. Heavenbloom shimmered to life—a calm, blue aura coiling around him like a protective spirit.
But it was flickering.
A hairline crack ran down the edge of the blade—barely visible, but definitely there. Like something inside the weapon was… fracturing.
Zagan noticed.
Zagan:
"It's already begun, hasn't it?"
Vinam (quietly):
"Too late to stop it now."
---
3 – Clash of Brothers
Zagan struck first.
A blade of shadow shot from his palm, twisting like a raven's wing. Vinam countered in a blink, spinning and cleaving it clean in two with a single slash of Heavenbloom.
Kris circled around, his body moving before his mind could catch up. Muscle memory. Training. Trust, now turned into necessity.
He slashed at Vinam's back—just as Zagan launched another volley from the front.
Vinam twisted midair, parrying Kris's strike while conjuring a barrier of pure light to block Zagan's. The forest lit up like lightning, branches snapping from the shockwave.
Vinam:
"Still fighting together, even while fighting me…"
Zagan:
"We never wanted this!"
Vinam (bitter smile):
"Neither did I."
Their blades locked—Kris and Vinam, face-to-face.
And in that frozen second, Kris saw it.
Vinam's eyes… were glassy. Not with anger. Not with bloodlust. But with something worse.
Fear.
---
4 – Breaking Point
Zagan vanished and reappeared behind Vinam, slamming his staff into the boy's ribs. Vinam staggered back, gasping. Kris pressed forward.
Kris:
"Tell me who Serena really is!"
Vinam didn't answer.
He roared and swung Heavenbloom with more force, but the blade jerked violently—its glow snapping from blue to violet for a single flicker.
Zagan backed away.
Zagan (under his breath):
"No…"
Then the color shifted again. Red. Pulsing.
Kris:
"Vinam… your sword—"
Vinam (in a whisper):
"…Run."
The word was like a broken prayer.
Zagan:
"What?"
Vinam (shouting):
"RUN AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! IT'S COMING!"
The blade shattered in his hands.
Not like it broke. No.
It peeled open—like a flower in reverse. And from its core came a blood-red crystal of unholy glow.
Ruinbloom.
The temperature dropped instantly. The fire died. The trees withered around them. The grass at Vinam's feet turned to ash.
Kris froze, his instincts screaming.
Kris:
"…This… isn't just a weapon."
Zagan:
"This is a curse."
Vinam fell to his knees, clutching his head.
Vinam (in agony):
"She's coming through—she knows I'm weak right now…"
Zagan (panicked):
"Who?!"
Vinam's eyes flickered—blue, then red, then black. He forced himself to stand, raising the newly-formed Ruinbloom. Its aura wrapped around him, twisting the wind, bending the light.
Vinam:
"If I don't leave, it'll consume me. And then… you'll be next."
Kris (shouting):
"Don't do this! Let us help—"
Vinam:
"You can't help someone who's already fading."
He sliced the air with Ruinbloom. A jagged portal tore itself open, like the world itself was bleeding.
Vinam looked back one final time.
Vinam (voice cracking):
"Forgive me. Please."
And then, he vanished into the portal.
Gone.
---
5 – Silence Like a Tomb
The portal collapsed behind him with a sickening snap, and the clearing was still.
Zagan dropped to one knee, his hands shaking.
Kris stood there, staring at the spot where Vinam had stood. His throat felt dry. His heart heavier than it had been in years.
He hadn't just lost a teammate.
He'd lost… a brother.
Kris:
"He didn't want to fight us."
Zagan (bitterly):
"He didn't want us to see what he's becoming."
Kris (quietly):
"…He's still Vinam. Somewhere in there."
Zagan looked at the scorched ground, the faint trace of ash from where Ruinbloom had pulsed.
Zagan:
"If we don't stop this… Ruinbloom won't just take him."
He stood.
Zagan:
"It'll destroy everything."
---