The Mage of the Abyss, Episode 2: 'The Dragon Returning to Spring' | Creative Awards 2026 | Fantasy Novel Category | Light Novel

One hundred years ago.
The sky was filled with black wings.
They were not clouds.
They were not a storm.
They were a swarm of the Dragon race.
A single petal danced onto the scorched battlefield.
Amidst the black smoke, that color alone was far too soft.
Pale pink.
The color of spring.
"No."
Heine's voice was close to a scream.
"Don't come."
Saying only that, Heine closed her mouth.
She couldn't call out the name.
Because she felt that if she did, it would become the truth.

"...Ms. Flower?"
Called by her name, Flower Mandy snapped her head up.
This was not the scorched battlefield.
It was a warm, wooden entryway.
Morning light fell onto the polished floor, and an old grandfather clock ticked quietly.
Yet, deep in her chest, the smell of scorched earth still remained.
"Are you alright?"
Before her, a man wearing a long coat smiled gently.
Headmaster Melstein.
The person who uses time magic, who appeared with Heine in the schoolyard sky yesterday.
"I, I'm sorry...!"
Flower hurriedly bowed her head.
"I just, I spaced out for a moment..."
"It's no wonder. You saw something like that yesterday."
At those words, Flower's shoulders trembled.
Yesterday.
The swarm of the Dragon race.
The scorched flower field.
The black-purple abyss.
Heine floating in mid-air.
And Heine's words.
—I think I might raise this child.
After that, the schoolyard, the students' memories, everything was rewound.
No one remembers.
But Flower alone remembers.
That fact had been heavy in her chest ever since yesterday.
It's scary.
But I don't want to forget.
I don't want to forget, yet it's scary to remember.
That was Flower's honest feeling right now.
"Are you scared?"
Melstein asked.
Flower hesitated for a moment, then gave a small nod.
"...I am scared."
She couldn't lie.
"But I don't want to forget."
Melstein narrowed his eyes just a little.
"I see."
It was just one word.
Yet, his voice was strangely kind.
It was as if it were the voice of someone who knew well the fear of not forgetting.
At that moment, from the back of the house, came the sound of unsteady footsteps.
"Melstein... who, came..."
A sleepy voice.
When Flower turned, a girl in fluffy, hooded pajamas appeared from the hallway.
Her black hair was slightly sticking up from sleep.
Her eyes were only half-open.
One sleeve had slipped down to the back of her hand, and her gait was wobbly.
Heine Berserk.
The Mage of the Abyss who sank a thousand dragons into the netherworld yesterday.
It was hard to believe she was the same person.
"...Ah."
Heine's gaze stopped on Flower.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
In an instant, Heine's face turned red.
"F, Flower-san...?"
"G, good morning..."
"Eh, no, wait, I knew you were coming, but now!? Melstein, why didn't you tell me first? No, I feel like you did tell me, but I was sleeping, so, this is different."
"Calm down, Heine-chan."
"Impossible."
Saying only that, Heine retreated to the back with incredible speed.
Thump, crash, clatter.
There was a sound of something collapsing at the end of the hallway.
Flower looked at Melstein involuntarily.
"...Is she, alright?"
"She's probably losing to a pile of clothes."
Because Melstein said it so naturally, Flower laughed just a little.
The shoulders that had been stiff with tension relaxed just a bit.
That person is the Mage of the Abyss.
Thinking that makes her scared.
But seeing Heine run away in a panic in her pajamas, she also thinks she isn't just a scary person.
When Heine eventually returned, she was wearing a black dress with a thin robe over it.
She seemed to have fixed her hair, but she couldn't hide that her ears were still red.
"...Sorry to keep you waiting."
"N, no."
An awkward silence fell.
After Heine let her gaze wander, she gave a small cough.
"Today... there is someone I want you to meet, Flower-san."
"Someone you want me to meet...?"
Heine lowered her eyes just a little.
"An important person."
Her voice was much quieter than when she opened the abyss yesterday.
Yet, that one phrase had a strange weight to it.
Flower couldn't ask any further.
Melstein took a silver pocket watch from his pocket.
The lid opened.
There was a small click.
The space rippled like the surface of water.
A silver magic circle spread out at their feet, gently enveloping the three of them.
"Shall we go?"
Melstein said.
"Today, we are going to a spring from a little while ago."

The sensation of her feet disappeared.
She thought she was falling.
But the next thing that brushed against Flower's cheek was a soft breeze.
The moment she opened her eyes, her breath stopped. There, cherry blossoms were in bloom.

It was not just one or two trees.
The hills, the paths, the slopes leading to the sky, everything was dyed a pale, light pink.
Every time the wind blew, countless petals danced up, melting into the sky like grains of light.
A spring that continued forever.
It felt less like somewhere in this world, and more like she had wandered into someone's prayer.
"This is..."
Her voice trembled.
"The Sanctuary of Sakura."
Melstein answered quietly.
Heine was looking up at the cherry blossom scenery.
She didn't have her usual sleepy expression.
It wasn't the face she had when she wore the abyss yesterday, either.
She just stood quietly, like someone facing something they hadn't been able to touch for a long time.
"One hundred years ago."
Heine opened her mouth.
"The Great Flower Mage Sakura turned the Dragon race into cherry blossoms in exchange for her life."
A petal fell onto Flower's shoulder.
"The petals that scattered at that time took root in this land and continue to bloom even now."
Flower looked at her feet.
Small white flowers.
Pale pink cherry blossoms.
Pale yellow wildflowers.
They were all blooming.
Even though they were just blooming, for some reason, it was so beautiful it made her chest ache.
"The Dragon race cannot step into this sanctuary where flowers never cease to bloom all year round."
Heine's voice was matter-of-fact.
"Because the Sakura flowers are protecting this place."
Protecting.
At that word, Flower pressed her chest.
Her own flowers burned in three seconds.
The flower field that stopped the dragons also burned down from Labby's flames.
But the flowers here have been blooming for a hundred years.
They have been repelling the Dragon race and protecting someone's memories.
Even though it's the same flower magic.
It was far too distant.
"For me..."
Starting to say it, Flower closed her mouth.
It's impossible for me.
She almost said that.
But Heine looked at her.
"It's fine if it's impossible for now."
As if her mind had been read, Flower's eyes widened.
Heine returned her gaze to the cherry blossoms.
"Sakura wasn't Sakura from the beginning, either."
Her voice was just a little bit gentle.
The three of them walked along the flower path.
Every time they walked, the grass and flowers at their feet swayed slightly.
She heard the sound of water from somewhere.
It wasn't that a stream was flowing.
It wasn't raining, either.
Yet, there was a sound throughout this place as if life were circulating.
The wind blew.
Petals danced.
She felt that someone's memory resided in every single one of them.
Flower reached out her arms and caught a petal.
The pale pink petal glowed faintly in her palm before returning to the wind.
It didn't disappear.
It was circulating.
She felt that way.
Eventually, the three of them stopped in front of an especially large cherry tree.
That tree alone was different from the other cherry trees.
It was big.
That wasn't all.
She knew it without touching the trunk.
Someone was there.
It was a tree, a flower, a prayer, a memory, and a gravestone.
"This tree is..."
Flower's voice became small naturally.
Melstein said quietly.
"It's Sakura."
With that one word, she felt even the sound of the wind change.
Flower looked up at the cherry tree.
This tree is Sakura.
The person who turned the Dragon race into cherry blossoms in exchange for her life.
The person who has been protecting this place for a hundred years.
For some reason, Flower bowed her head.
She had never met her.
She didn't know her voice.
She didn't know what kind of person she was yet.
Even so, her chest felt full.
That was when it happened.
A strong wind blew.
A blizzard of cherry blossoms swirled up.
Pale pink petals gathered as if to circle around Flower.
One, then another.
The petals, imbued with light, overlapped and formed a long, thin shape.
"Eh..."
It appeared before Flower's eyes.
A flute.
It was a flower flute that looked like glasswork, imbued with a pale light.
Patterns like cherry blossom petals were carved on the surface, and the light of water flowed inside the tube.
After it floated in the air for a moment, it fell quietly into Flower's arms.
The moment she held it, spring filled her chest.
It was warm.
But it wasn't light.
It was as if she had been handed someone's final wish just as it was.
"T, to me...?"
Her voice trembled.
Heine said quietly, still looking up at the great cherry tree.
"I think Sakura has acknowledged you."
"No way..."
Flower shook her head.
Before she could feel happy, she was scared.
Her flowers burned.
Stopping the dragons was only for an instant.
Someone like her shouldn't be receiving something like this.
"It's too heavy for me..."
At the words that spilled out, Heine was silent for a moment.
Then, she stood in front of Flower.
"It is heavy."
She didn't deny it.
"This is probably not something you should hold lightly."
Flower's fingers gripped the flute.
"But if you can think it's heavy, you can hold it."
"Why..."
"Because it wouldn't be given to someone who treats it lightly."
Heine's voice was small.
But it was straight.
"However, please do not use that flute until I say it is okay."
"Eh...?"
Heine's expression became just a little stern.
"Because it's still too early."
"Too early...?"
"Flowers are magic that connects life. But magic that touches life takes life if you make a mistake."
Flower gasped.
She felt the flute in her arms become a little heavier.
Heine didn't say much more than that.
Only, her eyes looking at the flute were terribly cautious.
"Please promise me."
Flower held the flute to her chest.
It's scary.
It's heavy.
There are so many things she still doesn't understand.
Even so, this is something entrusted to her now.
"...Yes."
Flower nodded.
"I won't use it until Heine-san says it's okay."
Heine exhaled as if she were a little relieved.
At that moment, a little distance away, Melstein was sitting at the base of the cherry tree.
From empty space, he took out a small sake bottle and two small cups.
One in front of himself.
The other, at the base of the cherry tree.
"It's sake from the land of Sakura."
Melstein said that and poured the sake quietly.
Glug, glug, glug.
The clear sound melted into the air where petals were falling.
Neither Flower nor Heine said anything.
Melstein was staring at the cup placed at the base of the cherry tree.
He didn't have his usual lightness.
Not his face as a headmaster.
Not his composure as a time mage.
What was there now was a man who had lost someone important a hundred years ago, and yet came to see her every time spring arrived.
"You bloomed properly this year, too."
The words spilled out.
That alone made Flower's chest tighten.
Melstein lifted his own cup.
But he didn't drink it right away.
He looked up at the cherry blossoms.
"...As promised, I came to remember."
His voice was far too quiet.
A cherry blossom petal fell onto Melstein's shoulder.
He tried to smile.
But that smile crumbled just a little.
There was something shining in the corners of his eyes.
A single drop.
It fell into the cup without a sound.
Small ripples spread on the surface of the water.
As if to hide those ripples, a cherry blossom petal landed gently in the cup.
Melstein said in a low voice,
"A toast."

And then, he drank the sake in one breath.
Flower couldn't move.
She had thought that sadness was something you cried and screamed about.
But it was different.
There is a sadness that remains quietly like this even after a hundred years.
A sadness of remembering the same person in the same place every time spring comes, every time she sees flowers, every time she pours sake.
It hasn't disappeared.
It is just breathing quietly under the flowers.
Heine was looking up at the great cherry tree.
In her profile, there was a pain different from Melstein's.
She wasn't crying.
But she looked like she was enduring something in a place deeper than crying.
The wind blew.
Petals danced.
Eventually, Melstein opened his mouth with eyes that saw the distant past.
"A hundred years ago, the cherry blossoms were dancing like this, too."
With that one word, the spring of the sanctuary changed into the memory of the scorched battlefield.

One hundred years ago.
On the battlefield, Sakura was watching the two of them.
In the sky, a swarm of the Dragon race.
On the earth, flames.
The screams of people and the sound of crumbling defensive walls.
Amidst that, only Sakura was calm.
"You two, don't make faces like that."
"Of course I'm going to...!"
Heine's voice was trembling.
There was no strength left in the hand holding the black grimoire.
Due to the recoil of continuing to open the abyss, her knees and fingertips were near their limit.
Melstein, too, was standing there unable to say anything, while clutching his silver pocket watch.
Even if he stretched time, there was a limit.
Even if he sank them in the abyss, there were too many of them.
At this rate, the empire would be swallowed.
Sakura looked up at the sky.
Black wings were hiding the sun.
"Flowers, you know,"
She said quietly,
"aren't just magic for blooming."
A single petal danced from her fingertips.
The moment it fell onto the scorched ground, a small flower bloomed.
"Magic that connects life. Magic that keeps thoughts. Magic that leaves a place to return to."
"Stop it."
Heine took a step forward.
"Sakura, stop it."
Sakura shook her head.
"Heine. You protected the world alone fifty years ago, didn't you?"
"I'm not talking about that!"
"This time, it's my turn."
"No!"
Heine's scream echoed on the battlefield.
"It's not about turns. It's not about order. A world protected by someone disappearing, that kind of...!"
The words didn't continue.
Sakura smiled with a face so kind it made her want to cry.
"You're kind, Heine."
"Stop it."
"But you know, it's not like I'm disappearing."
Pink light quietly grew stronger around her.
Petals danced.
One.
Ten.
A hundred.
The direction of the wind on the battlefield changed.
"I have one request."
Sakura looked at Melstein.
Melstein's lips trembled.
"...Don't say it."
"Listen."
"I don't want to."
"Mel."
At that way of being called, Melstein's expression crumbled.
Sakura smiled gently.
"When the cherry blossom season comes, I want you to remember me."
Melstein couldn't say anything.
He felt that if he said something, he could stop her.
But in truth, he already knew.
He couldn't stop her.
Sakura intended to turn her own life into magic.
Heine tried to open the black grimoire.
"No. I won't let you do that. With the abyss, I will—"
"Heine."
Sakura's voice quietly stopped her.
"Just sinking them won't end it."
Heine's fingers stopped.
"Even if you sink the hatred, it will surface somewhere else again. That's why I am returning them to spring."
"Returning them...?"
"I won't let the dragons end as just enemies."
Sakura looked up at the sky.
"Life isn't just about taking from each other. It can change its form and remain."
Pink light rose to the sky.
The roar of the Dragon race changed slightly.
It wasn't anger.
It wasn't fear.
It was like the voice of something that had touched a distant memory.
Sakura looked at the two of them one last time.
"Spring will come properly."

At that moment, the world was dyed cherry blossom color.
From the earth, flowers bloomed.
From the scorched soil.
From the shattered stone pavement.
From beside the fallen soldiers.
From the base of the broken flags.
Countless cherry blossoms sprouted all at once, stretched their branches, and opened their flowers.
Those flowers reached the sky.
They enveloped the giant bodies of the Dragon race.
Scales turned into tree bark.
Wings turned into branches.
Claws turned into roots.
The roar turned into the sound of dancing petals.
It wasn't magic to strike down.
It wasn't magic to kill, nor was it magic to sink.
It was magic to return the violence itself to spring.
One.
Then another.
The dragons were turning into cherry blossoms.
The black sky was being dyed pale pink.
And, at the center of it.
Sakura's body, too, was enveloped in light.
"No..."
Heine's voice was already weak like a child's.
"Sakura, no."
Sakura was smiling.
Her body was unraveling into petals little by little.
From her fingertips.
From the tips of her hair.
From the contours of her cheeks.
As if melting into the spring breeze.
Melstein took a step forward.
But he couldn't reach her.
Even if he tried to stop time, it wouldn't stop.
Even if he tried to rewind time, it wouldn't return.
Sakura herself was turning the time of her own life into magic.
To stop it was to break her wish.
Melstein fell to his knees.
"...Sakura."
Sakura looked at him one last time.
"Don't cry."
"That's impossible."
"Then, it's okay to cry."
Sakura smiled a little mischievously.
"Come see me in the spring."
Tears streamed down Melstein's cheeks.
Sakura looked at Heine once more.
"Heine."
Heine shook her head.
"I don't want to hear it."
"Don't come to hate flowers, okay?"
At those words, Heine's eyes widened.
"Your abyss, too, exists to protect someone."
"No... I am..."
"It's not different."
Sakura's voice was already melting into the wind.
"You have protected by sinking. I remain by blooming. That is all."
Petals danced.
Sakura's outline was fading.
"Someday, if a child who inherits my flowers appears,"
She smiled.
"Please find that child."
Heine couldn't say anything.
She didn't yet know that those words would reach her a hundred years later.
Sakura's body melted into the wind as countless petals.

The Dragon race that had covered the sky also all turned into cherry blossoms.
Spring returned to the black sky.
And on the battlefield, only Melstein, who was breaking down in tears, and Heine, who stood still while clutching her black grimoire, remained.
Heine reached out her hand toward the scattering petals.
But she couldn't grasp anything.
Only the scent of spring remained on her fingertips.

The wind stopped.
Flower was standing still in front of the great cherry tree.
The scenery of a hundred years ago had disappeared.
What was there was only the spring of the quiet sanctuary.
But Sakura's voice still remained deep in her chest.
Flowers aren't just magic for blooming.
Magic that connects life.
Magic that keeps thoughts.
Magic that leaves a place to return to.
Flower was crying without realizing it.

It wasn't just because she was sad.
It wasn't because she was scared, either.
It was just that the weight of the flute she was holding was no longer the weight of an object.
This is not power.
It is not a weapon, either.
It is the continuation of spring that someone left behind using their life.
Now, she was holding such a thing in her arms.
The moment she thought that, her knees almost gave out.
"Flower-san."
Heine called out softly.
With that voice, she managed to hold her ground.
She must not drop the flute.
She thought that.
Rather than not dropping it, she didn't want to let it go.
Melstein was staring at the cup placed at the base of the cherry tree.
There was still a little of the sake poured earlier left in it.
A petal was floating on top of the sake.
He said quietly,
"Even after a hundred years, I don't get used to it."
Flower couldn't say anything.
"Every time spring comes, I think that it bloomed this year, too. I think I'm glad it bloomed. But at the same time, I think that she isn't here this year, either."
His voice was far too gentle.
Because it was gentle, it was painful.
"Even though I am a time mage, the time I want to return the most is the time I cannot return."
Melstein smiled.
"It's ironic, isn't it?"
Heine was silent.
Flower hugged the flute to her chest.
"I..."
Her voice trembled.
"I still don't understand anything."
Heine looked at her.
"I didn't know that flowers were such heavy things."
The wind blew.
Cherry blossom petals brushed against Flower's hair.
"But..."I don't want to forget."
She felt like she had said the same thing yesterday.
It's scary.
It's heavy.
It's still too far away for her.
But she doesn't want to forget.
"About Sakura-san, about Heine-san finding me, and the meaning of these flowers."
Flower slowly raised her face.
"I don't want to forget."
Heine didn't say anything for a while.
Eventually, she softened her expression just a little.
"...I think that is fine."
"Is that all that's needed?"
"At first."
Heine looked up at the great cherry tree.
"Because it only starts from not forgetting."starts from not forgetting."
Melstein stood up and gently put away the cup at the base of the tree.
His movements were careful.
As if Sakura herself were still sitting there.
"Let's go back soon. If we stay too long, Heine-chan will make a difficult face again."
"I'm not."
"You are."
"I'm not."
That exchange was light.
But after seeing the toast earlier, even that lightness looked like something to hide the sadness.
As they were leaving, Flower looked back at the great Sakura tree one more time.
The cherry blossoms were blooming quietly.
Ever since a hundred years ago.
While returning dragons to spring.
While carrying someone's sadness.
Flower wrapped the flute at her chest with both hands.
Will a day come when she, too, understands?
What it means to protect with flowers.
What it means to connect life.
What it means to be a place for someone to return to.
She doesn't understand yet.
But she didn't want to easily let go of what Heine had found for her.
A silver magic circle spread out at her feet.
The spring of the sanctuary was moving away little by little.
Finally, the wind blew.
A single petal touched the flute in Flower's hands.
At that moment, she felt like there was a faint sound.
The flute, which shouldn't have been played yet,
played the sound of spring for just an instant.
It was not a sound of blessing.
It was a small sound of beginning,
audible only to those who chose to carry the burden.
To be continued in Episode 3.

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