All Chapters of Crimson Bloomed: Ascend: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Chapter 22: Shadows, Love, and the Endless Chase Vaethea woke slowly, as if surfacing from a dream that slipped away before she could hold on. Her senses flickered erratically, like a broken screen glitching between signals, the edges of her awareness blurring in and out of focus. She was somewhere else — not the dark, suffocating void that had imprisoned them before, but a place unfamiliar and strange. A place that somehow felt less oppressive, almost… hopeful. The air around her was thin but breathable, a fragile veil that whispered against her skin like a breath held too long. It carried a faint, almost imperceptible hum — a quiet pulse beneath the stillness, like the steady thrum of a distant engine or the faint beating of a hidden heart, a rhythm threading through the emptiness and anchoring this place to something alive. It was the kind of sound you might miss if you weren't listening closely, but once noticed, it wrapped around her senses like a slow, steady lullaby. The real

Chapter 24: If I See Her Again, I'm Never Letting GoThe smell of smoke clung to her jacket. It wasn't fresh anymore, but it had soaked into the seams — like everything else she couldn't wash off. Blood. Dust. That ache behind her ribs that never really left, no matter how many miles she ran.They said the safe zone was breached. Again.That made four this month.Jules — no, Layla now — had stopped counting after the second. She was just lucky she got out before the gates collapsed and everyone behind them either burned, turned, or simply disappeared. She didn't look back. She never did. Not after the last time she made that mistake and saw someone she almost loved get swallowed by flame. That lesson carved itself into her bones: in this world, hesitation gets you killed.But it wasn't just the infection that made her run this time.It was the way the guards had started separating people — first by age, then by blood type, then by whatever half-truth medical screenings they were prete

Chapter 26: Restless Flame, Hungrier FrostThe afternoon sun cast long shadows as the girls returned to their temporary shelter, the heat outside clinging to their clothes like sweat - slicked glue. The house they'd claimed was tucked between two gutted storefronts — quiet, empty, safe enough for now.The moment the door clicked shut, Aria moved.She dropped her pack without ceremony, turned on her heel, and wrapped her arms tightly around Selene's waist."Mm?" Selene blinked down, hands instinctively settling on Aria's hips. "That's new."Aria's face buried into her neck, breath warm, voice a low hum. "I don't know what's wrong with me."Selene ran a calming hand along her back. "Wrong?""I… I feel restless." Aria's words were muffled, thick with tension. "Hot. Flushed. And it's not the weather."Selene stilled. She'd noticed.The extra changes of clothes. The way Aria kept fidgeting, tugging at fabric that clung too tightly. The way her skin shimmered just a bit more than before. He

Chapter 28: Ice Burns Like FireThe first sign was the heat.It rolled over the cracked street like a furnace exhaling through the empty ruins. Aria's eyes narrowed, sharp and alert, sensing the wrongness in that sudden wave of warmth. She pulled on Selene's arm."Selene — stop. Wait."Selene froze mid - step, boots scraping against broken cement, breath puffing out in small clouds. Her gaze flicked toward the alley ahead. Heat wasn't just heat here. It was angry, alive, burning.The silence shattered with a guttural roar — deep, rough, a bellow that carried focused intent. This wasn't some aimless roamer drifting through the wastes. This thing had power. Elemental power.From the shadows, it stepped out.Bigger than any roamer they'd fought. Broad - shouldered, muscles twitching under charred, cracked skin. Veins like molten rivers pulsed beneath the surface, glowing crimson with a heat that warped the air. Flames licked along its arms, alive and hungry.It didn't stumble.It charged

Chapter 30: The Whisper of Strife IITo them, Riri was just a strange, docile pet Aria had adopted.But she was more.She was a goddess, ancient and wild, born from war and fury.And she followed no one.Except Aria.Always Aria.She was the only one who could make Strife lie still, quiet, and content — curled in her arms like something tamed by love, not force.And Aria?Aria loved her back.Even when she didn't say it out loud, even when she thought Riri couldn't feel it — she did.And that was enough to keep chaos leashed… at least for a while.Yet, every time Aria's other lovers approached, the snake shrank back, bruised by the closeness she was denied. Lys's mischievous laughter, Iris's crackling charge, Selene's icy intensity, Nova's curious spark — they all filled the spaces the serpent could not claim. Athena's steady wisdom, the way her hands grounded Aria like thunder held in restraint, and Elara's fire — bold, possessive, leaving bite marks like declarations — only deepened