The Big Bang, a theory proposed by the Catholic priest Georges Lemaître, is a theory that suggests the universe originated from a single point and has been expanding ever since.
Just like the Big Bang, they had something called "The Blooming." From the void, nine divine petals unfolded, each one creating a Realm, each Realm a law. Fire, Water, Light, Shadow, Wind, Stone, Metal, Time, and Spirit.
The gods who shaped the Realms vanished without a trace. Their voices became echoes. Their bodies became roots. And within those roots, humanity finally bloomed.
Every soul was born with a heart, just like a regular human one, but there were exceptions. There was a small chance you were born with a Soulroot, a seed connected to the heart, a seed tethered to one of the Nine Realms, guided by Astral Threads—divine spark inherited from forgotten celestial bodies. These people were called Bloomers, people who could bend the world around them in beautiful or terrifying ways.
But nothing is eternal.
A million years ago, in the end of the Petal War, a man in a crown made from unbloomed thorns stood atop the battlefield with legendary gods and heroes. He did not command storms, nor flame, nor spirit.
He commanded truth.
The skies cracked open, and the Nine Realms shattered.
And with that, the world fell into silence.
The man vanished. History erased his name. His legend was buried behind fear and dogma. He became known only as the Hollow Crown—a myth. A mistake.
A curse.
After a few thousand years, the Nine Realms eventually healed from the Soul Tree.
The Soul Tree is humongous in the middle of the Realms, providing the power and health to each Realm, allowing the Bloomers to use their astral powers. Whenever someone gets injured, the Soul Tree restores them, giving back their Astral Bloom.
17 Years Before Present
On the night of the Astral Eclipse, when the stars stopped moving and the moon split like a cracked mask, a child was found near the ruins of a dead temple.
The monks who found him noticed something off about the child. He wasn't crying or breathing, but the petals around him... were alive. Blooming backwards.
They realized this child was different from everyone else. The monks quickly took the child in and locked him away in a hidden cave in a mountain.
Not to protect him...
...but to protect the world from him.