The Orchard of Hollow Seeds

In the withered kingdom of Iranthia, no crops grow, but twisted trees that bear fruit from corpses. The orchard, planted in soil steeped in death, produces strange, glowing fruits, each bearing the memories—and sometimes the voices—of the dead. These "memorial fruits" are harvested, consumed, and revered as sacred gifts that keep the past alive. Elira, a girl born from the orchard itself, is one of these fruits—born of the orchard, a child grown from buried bones and magic. Haunted by fragmented memories that are not her own, she begins to question the kingdom's true harvest. When the trees begin to bear living children, not just memories, Elira discovers a terrifying secret: the orchard does not preserve the dead, but prepares to replace the living. With the help of Kyle, a boy woven from the voices of many souls, Elira descends into the "root of the Grove," its heart, where a divine being called "The Remembered" seeks to rebuild a perfect world from the remnants of those long lost. To stop a future in which no one truly lives—but rather brings it to life again—Elira must break the curse, burn the Grove, and plant something new. A haunting tale of memory, identity, and rebirth, "The Grove of Hollow Seeds" explores what it means to honor the past without being consumed by it—and the price of choosing life over legacy.