The Missing Bloom

In a land far away, in the enchanting Kingdom of Solaterra, lived King Chronos and Queen Mother Nature, sovereigns of time and life. Together, they ruled a realm where the rhythm of the world flowed through their four children: Summer, Winter, Spring, and Autumn—the Seasons.

Princess Summer was warm, sweet and radiant, with skin as golden as the rays of sunlight, and sunlit hair. Her laughter ripened fields and warmth that filled Season Town with joy.

On the other hand, there was Prince Winter, an envious, cold and brooding prince, often shrouding the town in frost out of envy for the warmth and joy the other seasons brought. Princess Autumn was tender and a sweet princess who sang lullabies to the harvest, although wistful as the leaves dry up, gently guiding the leaves into their final dance, knowing their fading marked a new beginning.

Last, but not least, Prince Spring was the joyful and curious one. With every step, he awakened blossoms and breathed new life into the town.

In Solaterra, each season had its time to flourish—three months to shape the land and tend to the needs of Season Town. Every time, a festival was held to celebrate the upcoming season. When Winter's reign ended, it was Spring’s turn to rise.

But Winter, the cold prince, was envious. He longed to linger, even though the people of Season Town could no longer bear the bite of his bitter winds. He loathed the cheers for Spring’s return, the bright flowers, the warmth. In short, everything they celebrated that was not him.

The night before the festival, Spring walked into the snow-covered forest to bring a flower back to life to start the season, but what the Prince didn’t know was that someone loitered in the shadows.
After looking around, he found a little flower, moonlight shining right at it, which surprised him, considering the fact that the forest had such tall trees, it was pitch black and freezing cold.

When he was about to crouch down to touch the flower, suddenly, someone crept up behind him and placed their hand over his mouth, trying to muffle his screams, and dragged him into a cave.
***

“Oh, Autumn, isn’t this just amazing? The spring festival is finally here and I’ve been waiting all winter to wear this ball gown. I just love the sparkle and the colour. I’ll look like a sunbeam!” said Princess Summer excitedly while hopping into the dress.

“That dress truly looks stunning on you, it would get everyone turning heads… after cheering for Spring of course,” teased Autumn.

“That looks simply dreadful, too bright and tacky, you look like a walking flowerbed!” said Winter. “Well, at least you don’t have to try to look like a dark forest!” Summer snapped back. Autumn was so used to Summer’s and Winter’s endless bickering, but something was off. The star of the party was nowhere to be seen.

“Have you seen Spring?”

“No!” Summer and Winter replied in unison. Then, they still kept on arguing.

Autumn was suspicious as Spring was never late to any event, let alone his. So what was the matter? Autumn ran to every chamber in the palace, rushing down flights of stairs, searching every possible place her brother might be.

He wasn’t in his room, the royal garden, or other places he would normally be at. She recalled seeing him walk into the forest last night and had been meaning to ask him about it in the morning.

Anyway, she decided to go to the forest. When she turned to the place, she saw a trail of flowers. As she got closer, she saw something so odd; the flowers were black.

Nevertheless, she decided to follow the trail.

“Spring! Where are you?” she cried out to her brother till she spotted a beautiful flower, shining under the sunlight, the same one her brother had spotted before his disappearance.

She tried to look further for more trails, but to no avail. So, she ran back home, crying.

Once she reached the palace, she sprinted to her parents, telling them what had happened. The festival had already started; it would be too soon for it to end. However, they had to, as it was still snowy, and not a single plant being able to withstand the cold was to be seen.

The King announced that winter would continue till Spring was found. The townsfolk were upset, as they had no food. Crops weren’t growing, and there wouldn’t be any to feed livestock. Nevertheless, the Kingdom sent their soldiers and hired magicians, detectives from afar to help search for Spring.

Finally, Spring felt a warm breath on his face and heard a small growl. Just as he was about to cry out for help, a fire was held out in front of him. It was a huge grizzly bear.

“Hello, Prince, what are you doing here?” She said to him.

This surprised Spring. “The last night of winter was supposed to be yesterday, right? Why is it still snowy outside?”

Spring explained everything that had happened to him. “Could you please help me, Bear?” he pleaded.

“Of course, Prince! It’s because of you that I’m able to enjoy some fresh honey, enough to plump me up and keep me warm for hibernation… I’m grateful to you.”

The bear opened the cave immediately and let the prince hop onto her back, and took him home.

When they both reached the Kingdom, everybody was shocked to see Spring in a bad state. Then, before Spring could even point out the culprit from the crowd, Winter had frozen into a statue.

“Goodness!”

“My poor brother,” Spring rushed to Winter, “you shouldn’t have done this… You’ve wished to take over and now you can’t even bear your own cold.”

Without losing a second, Spring let a fresh breath on Winter, saving his life. As Winter was alright, he hugged Spring, “Please forgive me.”

“I already did.”