The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere is an ongoing science-fantasy murder-mystery web serial written by Lurina and published on Royal Road (here
). It deals with themes of immortality, identity, and metafiction, and is also inspired by Umineko: When They Cry, so expect lots and lots of Mind Screw.
It is the far future of humanity, and following the destruction of the old Universe, the Ironworkers were able to rebuild the world piece by piece, with... mixed results. The largest settlement, the Mimikos, is a planet-sized bowl whose sun is quite literally a giant lamp. Thanks to the Power and the Arcanists who wield it, humanity has entered a golden age, with scarcity all but eliminated and people regularly living in the 500s. However, cracks have begun to form as the younger generations struggle with the reality of their virtually unaging elders hoarding all the finite resources like land to themselves.
Amidst all this turmoil, the Exemplary Acolyte's Class, a group of gifted young arcanists from a prestigious academy of medical sciences, are invited to the headquarters of the Order of the Universal Panacea, a mysterious group devoted to pursuing immortality, who recently went public. Several of the classmates have ties to the order and ulterior motives for attending, including Utsushikome "Utsu" of Fusai, a young Thanatomancer whose late grandfather used to be a part of the Order. Her grandfather did something to her, and she's hoping to undo it by contacting an old friend of his who is currently a guest of the Order.
However, things soon go awry as Utsu uncovers details of a conspiracy that threatens everyone at the conclave, and that there may be an uninvited guest among them that is not entirely human. Not only that, but she has the distinct impression that she's done all of this before...
Also found on SpaceBattles.com here, though this one is severely out of date compared to the Royal Road version.
Tropes applying to this series:
- After the End: The old Universe was destroyed by a false vacuum decay. However, the Ironworkers managed to save humanity by sheltering inside a black hole, and then building a new plane of existence anchored to the Tower of Asphodel, an iron megastructure which contains the bodies and Pneumas of the humans they could save.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Iron, which has the ability to bend the fabric of reality and meddle with the laws of physics. Because the foundation of the new plane of existence was built using iron, it can only exist inside said plane in very special circumstances.
- Cosmic Keystone: The Tower of Asphodel is an Iron megastructure built by the Ironworkers of seemingly infinity length that can be seen from anywhere. It anchors all the planes that make up the Remaining World and contains the bodies of about 100,000 people that all the inhabitants of the remaining world are derived from.
- Complete Immortality: The stated goal of The Order Of the Universal Panacea.
- Crapsack World: The present day setting doesn't quite qualify, but the world before the Collapse certainly does. It was a Space Opera-like setting setting ruled by the Iron Princes, people who replaced most of their body with machinery and ruled over most of the populace with an iron fist. As the collapse front approached the solar system, different factions emerged and started warring for ressources, each intent on enacting their survival plan at the expense of the others. As it turns out, the Tower of Asphodel wasn't supposed to contain only 100,000 people, that's just the amount that the Ironworkers were able to save.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: As Utsu goes through the weekend at the Order's sanctuary, she gets the distinct impression she's done all of this before. As it turns out, the weekend has replayed 1,213,649 times, all of them having different scenarios that still end with everyone dying at the end, and the iteration we're seeing in the story is the very last one. Both Balthazar and Utsu are capable of remembering the loops for some reason, though Utsu has intentionally suppressed her memory, with the instances of deja-vu being the memories slowly returning. The exact mechanism of the loop is unknown, though it probably has something to do with the Apega, a giant machine built by the Order with the intention of reversing entropy.
- Fair-Play Whodunnit: Rules are explicitly established by the Playwright and the Director to facilitate this in interludes. Some examples include Utsushikome not withholding information when narrating unless she has an explicitly established reason beforehand, and that a corpse being described in red is guaranteed to be a dead human body. Turns out to be enforced in-universe. The Playwright and Director really do exist, and can influence the events of the story while inside the time loop.
- Precursors: The Ironworkers, who used their command of the titular metal to build the infrastructure that sustains what's left of the universe.
- Longevity Treatment: It's fairly standard for humans in the setting to live over 500 years by utilizing Power to keep the body in prime condition and eliminate things like cancer. Given the limitations on using the Power on the brain, one of the largest problems in the society is a form of dementia. The Order of the Universal Panacea's stated goal is moving humanity to complete immortality.
- Magic from Technology: The Power wielded by the main characters is entirely artificial, a tool left behind by the Ironworkers to ensure the prosperity and security of their successors.
- Metafiction: There are several interludes written in the style of a stage play, where two characters called the Playwright and Director explain the rules of the Fair-Play Whodunnit to the reader. It's slowly revealed that not only do the Playwright and Director exist in-universe and are capable of affecting the events of the loop, their audience also exists.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: A non time travel variant due to the unique circumstances of the Tower of Asphodel. Iron, a necessary component of human biology, cannot exist outside of the Tower. To get around this, around 100,000 people are entombed in the foundation of the Tower and every human in the remaining world is a metaphysical reference to one of these 'Seeds'. This can lead to Prosognostic Events, in which even seeing the face of the wrong person can cause brain hemorrhages. Veils and gloves are worn in public to prevent this. 'Distinction Treatments' can also help reduce the likelihood of this happening to a person. As it turns out, Prosognostic Events are an intentional defence mechanism to protect against the real problem, contact paradoxes. If any body part from two different people from the same seed ever come into contact, it will instantly liquefy not only the people that touched, but any iron based lifeform (i.e. humans) in a particular radius that depends on the severity of the contact.
- Our Souls Are Different: The Pneuma is an extradimensional structure connected to the human brain that contains much of a person's memories and personality. The Pneuma somehow developed naturally through the course of human evolution, but nowadays in order to prevent newborns from reconnecting with their seed body's pneuma, the connection is severed and an artificial organ known as the pneumaic nexus is implanted in their brain, allowing them to create their own Pneuma.
- Painting the Medium: To facilitate the Fair-Play Whodunnit, the Playwright and Director introduce two instances of colored text within the story:
- If an apparent corpse is described in red, then it is guaranteed to be a dead human body. However, this does not guarantee the identity of the dead person. Both Vijana, who turned out to not be dead, and Yantho, whose cause of dead couldn't be determined, have their "corpse" described in the usual color.
- If a segment from the perspective of a character other than Utsushikome has its first word in purple, then it is guaranteed to be literal and subject to the same rules as when Utsu is narrating. So far, only Nindar and Isaac's interlude have used this.
