The cavern was quiet after the screaming. Quiet, but not peaceful. The Gardener’s shadow still lingered in the far hollow, watching, waiting. Its form had almost taken shape, a tall human silhouette with endless black eyes, but it did not strike yet. It was patient, as if it wanted to watch them bleed first.Kai knelt on the cracked stone floor, Amara’s body resting in his arms. His head was bowed, his tears dripping onto her face. The glow from his sword had faded to nothing. His strength felt hollow, his chest hollow. “Amara…” he whispered again and again, as if saying her name might call her back.He had fought so hard to reach her. He had promised to protect her. And still, here she was ,cold, silent, gone.The guilt pressed on him heavier than any wound. He had killed her. His blade had pierced the cocoon. His hands had failed.His breath came in sharp, ragged gasps. His whole body trembled. “I… can’t…” he muttered, his voice breaking. “I can’t do this without you.”Not far awa

The cavern shook as the Gardener spread his arms. The roots around him twisted, sharpened, and aimed. Thousands of spears of wood and shadow, thick as trees, thin as blades, then they fell. The sound was deafening, like the world itself cracking apart.“Move!” Kai roared, his sword lifting. He swung upward, cleaving through the first wave. Sap exploded across his arms, burning like acid.Darius staggered forward, fire flaring from his sword. He planted himself like a wall, swinging in wide arcs, his flames cutting roots before they could reach Kai. His body shook with every strike, blood spilling from his wounds, but he refused to fall. Lira shoved Kevin behind her, raising her hands. Light burst from her palms, forming a shield that blazed bright as the spears struck it. Each impact rattled her bones, splintered her skin, and sent shocks of pain through her burned body. Kevin cried out, clinging to her. “Lira! You’ll break!”“Stay down!” she screamed, forcing the shield stronger.

The cavern was silent for a heartbeat. Kai stood on the stone floor, sword in hand, his chest rising and falling with slow, steady breaths.His eyes were no longer blue. They were black, endless voids, with faint cracks of root-like light crawling across his skin.Darius staggered backward, his sword trembling in his bloody grip. His brother’s face, the same face he had sworn to protect, the same boy he had raised with fire and love, was now cold, empty, and wrong. “Kai,” he whispered. His voice broke.Lira clutched Kevin to her chest, both glowing faintly, but her light faltered. Her hands shook as tears blurred her eyes. “No,” she whispered. “Not him. Not Kai…”Kevin’s glow trembled, but he shook his head fiercely. His voice was small, but strong. “That’s not him. He’s still in there. He has to be.”The Gardener’s laughter echoed through Kai’s lips. “He is soil. He is crown. He is mine.”Kai lifted his sword slowly. Roots coiled around the blade, pulsing black and alive. His movemen

The cavern shook as the roots fused into Kai’s body. His scream echoed through the darkness, not human anymore but something deeper, rawer, filled with soil and shadow.His back split open, thorns tearing through his skin. Roots crawled up his arms and wrapped his chest, pulsing like veins. His sword fused with his right hand, glowing black-red, as if alive. When the light faded, he was no longer Kai.He stood taller, his frame stretched and twisted. His face was half-hidden behind a crown of living roots that grew from his skull. His eyes glowed black with faint streaks of blue flickering inside, as if his true self was drowning within. Lira covered her mouth, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Kai.”Darius gripped his sword tighter, fire burning faintly along the blade. He whispered under his breath, “Little brother.”Kevin trembled, glowing faintly. But his small voice broke the silence. “That’s not him. That’s not the real Kai.”The monster’s head tilted, slow and unnatural. Its v

Darius woke first. At first, he thought he was buried alive. His lungs screamed, his throat burned, and everywhere around him was black soil pressing in tight. But when he clawed at it, the ground split open like soft ash, and he stumbled out into the air. Except it wasn’t real air.The sky was wrong. It was pale gray, like dead stone. The ground stretched forever, made of damp soil that pulsed faintly, as if alive. And sprouting everywhere were roots, glowing faint red, writhing like veins under skin.Darius coughed blood and forced himself upright. His broken sword was still in his hand, the fire inside it weak but not gone. “Where?” he muttered.A faint groan made him spin. Lira lay nearby, half-buried in the soil. Her light flickered weakly from her cracked skin, her face pale. Kevin was curled against her chest, glowing faintly like a dying candle. “Lira! Kevin!” Darius roared, dragging himself to them.They stirred, groaning in pain. Kevin’s eyes fluttered open first. He look