I. Teyvra, the city he never chose
Teyvra was famous for one thing: her ability to avoid conflict. During the Age of the Tree, she didn't take sides in trials. When trial fell, she didn't embrace blossoming either. She remained an observer, neutral, and pragmatic. Her motto was clear: "Nothing blossoms unless someone treads on it."
Its citizens lived under the Non-Participation Agreement, a self-imposed treaty that prohibited all use of spiritual resonance, all forms of judgment, and any approach to doctrines of redemption. No blame, no punishment, no forgiveness. Only stability.
And for centuries, it worked.
Until a nameless child accidentally planted a white root in the center of the public forum.
II. The ignored root
The root wasn't fought. It wasn't celebrated. It was denied by omission. Teyvra authorities simply fenced it off, posted a sign reading "Unauthorized Decorative Element," and prohibited any public interaction.
But even without touching it, the root began to change things.
The public fountain, which had been dry for decades, flowed again. A woman, mute since childhood, uttered a single word: "I'm sorry." An unfinished stone mural completed its design all on its own.
And the strangest thing: the root didn't grow. It curled inward. As if it didn't want to expand... but rather remember itself.
III. The Return of the Coal Agreement
Teyvra, alarmed by the disruption, requested the intervention of the defunct Carbon Settlement , whose structures still lay dormant underground. A squad of former mediators was reactivated, including Ilhena Dyne , a former echo regulator and partial override specialist.
Upon arriving, Ilhena didn't destroy the root. She looked at it for hours. Then she asked for silence. She touched the shoot.
And he cried.
—"I didn't know that silence could hurt too," he said.
And at that moment, the gray root sprouted right next to him.
IV. The vote that was not unanimous
Faced with this phenomenon, the Teyvra Council decided to put the matter to a public vote: allow the roots to coexist or eradicate them and restore silence.
The whole city voted.
The results were exact: 49% in favor of flowering, 49% against, 2% blank.
There was no consensus. For the first time in its history, Teyvra didn't know what to do.
And then something happened that they had never contemplated: the black root sprouted from under the forum.
Not by choice.
For lack of it.
V. Akihiko and absolute dissonance
Akihiko arrived late, accompanied by Kazun and Lior. What they found was a field of intertwined roots, each one blooming in a different direction: white, gray, and black.
The three didn't fight. But they didn't live together either.
It was a static garden. An agonizing balance. A halted flowering.
—"They didn't choose here," said Kazun.
—"And that's why all the roots came," Akihiko added.
Akihiko sat in the center, on the roots, and said only one word:
—"I do choose."
He didn't impose. He didn't cut. He didn't guide.
just resonated with everything at the same time.
And the roots began to intertwine of their own free will.
VI. Serak understands the true danger
From his tower, Serak watched Teyvra in silence.
—"Neutrality was my ally. But even those who don't decide flourish…"
And he didn't finish the sentence.
Because in his palm, the black root began to bleed.
For the first time… I refused.
Not Akihiko.
But to herself.
END OF CHAPTER 122