🔥 ARC20: The Impulse That Wouldn’t Stop

Morning still hadn’t come.

The sky was black, and the night wasn’t over.

And yet the world was quiet—

as if only it had already ended.

Leon didn’t move.

Lumia didn’t understand that fact.

Not exactly.

It was more like the part of her that understands had fallen somewhere out of reach.

Her feet stepped forward on their own.

She got close.

She dropped to her knees.

She tried to touch him.

Her fingertips trembled.

Cold.

There was no warmth anymore.

In that instant, something turned over inside her chest.

Not pain.

Not grief.

Something more primitive.

Her body moved before she could understand it.

She stood.

She turned.

She grabbed a bundle of firewood that was there.

There was no reason.

She just crushed it in her hands.

Crack—

the sound snapped through the dark.

One.

Two.

Three.

Before she knew it, she was splitting the logs with both hands.

No axe.

No magic.

Just bare hands.

Skin tore.

Blood welled.

And still she didn’t stop.

Split.

Break.

Slam.

Wood chips scattered.

Splinters sank into her fingers.

Nails cracked.

There was no pain.

No—there should have been.

But whatever recognizes it had gone somewhere else.

“...ngh.”

Her throat made a sound.

Did she want to scream.

Did she want to rage.

Did she want to cry.

She didn’t know.

Not knowing, she destroyed.

When the wood ran out,

she started hitting the ground.

Her fists sank into the soil.

Sand packed under her nails.

Blood and mud mixed.

It wouldn’t stop.

She couldn’t stop it.

The light pulsed.

At first, weak.

Then stronger.

As if answering her insides, her magic swelled.

Control?

That word didn’t exist right now.

Shock ran from beneath Lumia’s feet.

The ground split.

The air shuddered.

Trees groaned.

Far-off rocks shattered.

It was indiscriminate.

No enemy.

No ally.

No purpose.

Only force—

meant to vent the pressure inside her, outward.

The light went wild.

It painted the night white.

Again.

And again.

Her breathing was ragged.

Her lungs burned.

Her vision shook.

And still it didn’t stop.

There was no reason to stop.

If she stopped, she would think.

Leon’s face.

That stone.

That moment.

Before she could remember, she wanted to break it—

break everything.

Herself.

The world.

The light.

“...Stop.”

Whose voice was it.

From outside.

From inside.

She didn’t know.

But for an instant, her hands stopped.

Fists soaked in blood.

Shattered wood.

Gouged earth.

At the center of the ruined space,

Lumia stood.

She couldn’t draw breath properly.

At the edge of her vision,

Leon lay there, unmoving.

That reality finally took shape.

Something heavy sank into her chest.

No matter how much she broke.

No matter how much she hit.

No matter how violently the light raged.

It wouldn’t come back.

She couldn’t protect him.

Even though she’d said she would.

Her knees gave way.

Her fists dropped to the ground.

Blood and mud slowly blended together.

The night still wasn’t over.

But—

something inside Lumia

had ended for certain.

— Lumi🪄💕