The crown’s world cracked apart. The gray sky split with jagged holes, showing endless blackness beyond. The soil beneath their feet pulsed faster, beating like a dying heart. Roots tore up from the ground, writhing like snakes, trying to drag everything into the void.The Gardener’s true form loomed above them, his body made of roots so vast they stretched into the heavens. His face was a mask of bark split with glowing veins, and his voice rolled like thunder. “If the heir will not kneel, then the heir will break. You all will.”Darius pulled Kai to his feet, his arms straining against his brother’s weight. Kai was pale, blood dripping from his mouth, but his eyes were sharp and blue. “No,” Kai rasped. “We fight.”Lira and Kevin rushed to his side. Lira’s hands glowed faintly, pouring light into Kai’s broken body. Kevin’s small glow pulsed brighter than ever, wrapping all of them in warmth. “You’re not alone,” Kevin whispered. “Not anymore.”Kai’s throat tightened. For the first

The air in the void was heavy, thick like tar. The ground trembled under their feet. The light from Kai’s sword burned bright, but it could not hide the dark truth creeping up his body.The black roots wrapped around his arm like chains, glowing with a sickly shine. They pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat, digging deeper into his flesh. Lira’s eyes widened in horror. “Kai! Stop moving, don’t let it spread!”Kai clenched his teeth, his face pale. He held his burning sword in his right hand, but his left was lost under the roots. His voice was ragged. “I… can’t stop it. It’s inside me.”Kevin ran forward, his small glow flaring like a lantern in the night. He grabbed Kai’s arm with both hands, as if he could pull the corruption away. His voice shook, but it was steady with courage. “You’re stronger than this! You’re not him, Kai! You’re my family!”The Gardener’s laugh rolled across the void, deep and mocking. “Family? How sweet. The boy clings to you like a shadow clings to light. Bu

The abyss exploded in light. The cracks split wider, swallowing the black soil and tearing through the endless sky. The shadows of Kai’s family screamed as they dissolved into nothing, their empty eyes fading into ash. The Gardener’s roar thundered through the collapsing world, his roots writhing in rage.Kai held Kevin’s small hand tight, pulling the boy close. The glow around Kevin spread wider, shielding them both as the abyss shattered like glass.“Hold on!” Kai shouted, wrapping his other arm around Kevin as the ground gave way.There was no ground left, only a freefall through white fire. The light seared their bodies, not with pain but with something deeper, like it was peeling away the weight of despair.Kevin buried his face in Kai’s chest. His voice was muffled but strong. “We’re going back to them, right? To Lira and Darius?”Kai tightened his grip, his chest pounding. “Yes. We’re going home.”…Lira’s shield was cracking. Darius stood in front of her, his fire burning lo

The explosion swallowed everything. Lira’s light shield shattered into dust. Darius was hurled through the air, his fire snuffed out by the storm. Kevin clung to the void’s soil with trembling hands, his small glow nearly swallowed whole.All around them, the world had broken apart. Chunks of black soil drifted in a sky of fire and shadow. Roots whipped through the air like torn wires, lashing and retreating, and in the middle of it all, Kai.He floated above the broken ground, his sword still buried in the Gardener’s cracked core. His body was half-covered in black roots, half-burning with white fire. His eyes glowed both blue and black, flickering like two flames fighting for the same space. Darius forced himself up on shaking arms, his voice raw. “Kai!”Lira staggered beside him, clutching her chest. Her eyes filled with horror. “He’s… he’s not moving.”Kevin’s glow flickered wildly as he scrambled forward, tears streaming down his small face. “No! He’s still here, I can feel hi

The boardroom stretched like a cavern of glass and steel, high above the city. Night pressed against the windows, and the glow of towers below rose like fireflies, faint and restless. The long black table was polished until it showed warped reflections of the men and women seated around it, directors, shareholders, and rival heirs. Their eyes burned with suspicion.Kai stepped inside. His boots struck the marble floor, steady but heavy, carrying the weight of days spent in battles no one in this room could imagine. Kevin walked close behind him, pale but unshaken, while Darius and Lira stayed at his shoulders, silent guardians.The air smelled faintly of old wood polish and something sharper, fear, though none of them would admit it.“Crest,” one of the older men said, leaning back with fingers steepled. His suit was gray, his hair silver, his eyes cold. “We thought you were lost. For weeks, there was nothing but silence from you. And yet, ” his lips curled, “, here you stand.”A wo