The stench of rotting petals clung to Kael's skin long after they dragged him from the bloom sphere. His throat burned, raw from vomiting black petals, and his vision still swam with fractured echoes—dead kings, swaying thrones, Kane's voice whispering through the roots.
Sarnel hadn't touched him since the glass shattered.
She stood across the cell now, her brass goggles replaced, lenses gleaming like insect eyes in the low light. One hand pressed to her temple, where a single black petal had embedded itself just beneath the skin.
"You," she said, voice stripped of its false sweetness, "are a problem."
Kael spat another petal onto the floor. It writhed briefly before dissolving into smoke.
"Good."
Sarnel's halo flickered, rust eating at the edges faster now. The flower in Kael's palm pulsed, vines tightening around his wrist in warning.
A guard stepped forward—some hulking brute with rustflower veins crawling up his neck. He raised a fist, knuckles studded with thorns.
"Should I shut him up, Warden?"
Sarnel held up a hand. "No. He's mine to prune."
She leaned down, her breath reeking of spoiled nectar. "You think this changes anything? You're still a seed in my garden. And seeds break before they bloom."
Kael grinned, teeth stained black. "Then you'd better pray I don't grow."
The guard snarled and backhanded him.
Pain exploded across Kael's cheek, but he barely felt it. Not when the flower in his palm shrieked, not when the roots beneath the prison floor twitched in response.
Sarnel's goggles dimmed.
A system alert flickered in Kael's vision:
[Warning: Echo Resonance Detected]
[Root System Synchronization: 12%]
Then—
Boom.
The bear hit the glass again.
This time, it shattered.
Shards rained down like frozen petals. The beast roared, crown-shaped scars glowing as it lunged—not at Kael, not at the guards—straight for Sarnel.
She barely dodged, her halo screeching as the bear's claws grazed it. The rust spread faster.
Kael didn't wait.
He moved.
The flower in his palm was screaming now, vines lashing out, carving through the nearest guard's throat like a blade. Blood hit the floor—black, glistening, alive. It slithered toward the roots.
Sarnel turned, eyes wide behind her goggles. "STOP HIM—"
Too late.
Kael slammed his fist into the ground.
The prison shuddered.
And the roots—
The roots rose.