The ruins stretched for miles—broken towers draped in vines, their steel bones swallowed by green. No one had walked this far south in years. The air carried the scent of rust, earth, and old dreams that refused to die.
Seren Cael knelt beside a cracked pillar, brushing soil from a tiny sprout that had dared to be born in the middle of decay. A single green leaf trembled in the wind, fragile but stubborn.
"You really shouldn't be here," he murmured, a soft smile flickering across his lips. "But… I'm glad you are."
He had no home anymore. Only a trail of forgotten lands where he coaxed the earth to breathe again. The world had lost its colors long ago—but sometimes, the ground still whispered back to him in shades only he could see.
Closing his eyes, he pressed his gloved palm into the dirt.
For a moment, the world held its breath.
Then—A pulse.
A soft green shimmer unfurled from his fingertips, like dew awakening after a century of sleep. The vines shivered in response. Tiny flowers burst open—glowing for a heartbeat before fading into dust again.
Seren exhaled, the sound shaky. His ability always felt delicate, like trying to cup sunlight in his hands.
"It's never enough," he whispered. "There's still so much gray."
But then he heard it.
A tone carried by the wind—soft, pure. Not sound exactly, but memory. A thread of warmth brushing gently against his mind.
His aura flickered, uncertain.
"Who… are you?" he asked the empty air.
No answer—only the melody. Rising, falling. A heartbeat made of light.
And beneath him, the ground began to glow.
Roots twisted upward, weaving themselves into a path—a trail of luminous green stretching toward the horizon. Far in the distance, beyond the ruins, something shimmered: a faint silver light. The same radiance Lyra had followed days ago.
The whisper came again, hidden inside the wind:
"Come to the Academy."
Seren's chest tightened. For the first time in years, the air around him pulsed with color.
He looked down at the trail. Then at the small leaf resting in his hand.
"Alright," he breathed. "If the world wants to grow again… maybe it's time I do too."
The glowing path brightened beneath his boots as he began to walk—step by slow step—out of the ruins,with the soft sound of blooming echoing behind him.