LIGHT 01：The Body Beginning to Collapse

LIGHT 01：The Body Beginning to Collapse

The collapse had already begun.

Part of the ceiling had fallen away, exposed steel groaning overhead. Cracks spread slowly across the walls, and each time they widened, fragments of debris scattered across the floor. Dust clouded the air white, swallowing the far end of the corridor from sight.

If she stayed here, the next collapse would take her with it.

Evacuation was no longer optional.

Lumira made the decision instantly and turned to leave. There was no reason to remain here — and she had no hesitation in that conclusion.

Then something caught at the edge of her vision.

A motionless shadow.

In the middle of the collapsing space, only that shape remained unnaturally still.

Her feet stopped.

Through the drifting dust, a faint outline slowly emerged.

A person.

“...Elia.”

The name came before confirmation did.

Under normal circumstances, she could have ignored it. Prioritizing the safety of the whole over a single individual was the rational choice.

Even abandoning her here could have been justified.

And yet, Lumira was already moving toward her.

She could not explain why.

Only one feeling remained clear:

She could not leave her there.

Stepping over scattered debris, she closed the distance.

The closer she came, the more wrong the scene felt.

Elia sat slumped against the wall without moving. There were no visible wounds. No blood.

And still — something was deeply wrong.

Experience told her before logic did.

This was dangerous.

“Elia, can you hear me?”

No response came immediately.

Several seconds later, Elia’s face lifted slightly, but her eyes never focused.

She wasn’t looking at anything.

Even her breathing was broken.

She inhaled, stopped, then tried to inhale again before exhaling fully.

The rhythm itself had collapsed.

This was not an injury.

That conclusion remained painfully clear.

Lumira crouched beside her, reaching forward to pull her away —

and then she noticed it.

Elia’s fingertips were touching the floor.

From that single point of contact, a thin line of light stretched outward.

At first, Lumira thought it was a reflection inside the cracks.

But it wasn’t.

The light continued to spread slowly, tracing the fractured floor as if forming something beneath it.

It was activating.

“...Stop.”

She reached out instinctively, but the light moved faster than she could.

Lines curved into circles.

More patterns layered over them.

A structure was assembling itself.

It resembled a magic circle she recognized — but the scale was wrong.

The density was wrong.

The output was wrong.

Elia herself didn’t seem aware of any of it.

She was only touching the floor.

And still, the activation continued.

The point where it could be stopped had already passed.

A delayed realization lingered heavily in Lumira’s chest.

The air changed.

Pressure thickened around them.

Dust slowly lifted into the air, floating weightlessly.

Even the sounds of the collapsing structure became distant and muffled.

This was no simple malfunction.

Something had clearly gone beyond normal limits.

Lumira reached her conclusion immediately.

Control impossible.

Termination impossible.

Already activated.

If it could no longer be stopped, then she would have to endure whatever came next.

The light contracted inward.

Then space itself twisted.

The corridor shook violently as debris lifted from the floor and scattered into the air.

At the center of the distortion, shadows appeared.

One.

Two.

Three.

Wrapped in lingering fragments of light, they descended slowly onto the shattered ground.

They were shaped like people.

But inside them, light still flowed.

A summoning.

The instant Lumira recognized it, Elia’s body collapsed sideways.

“—!”

Lumira caught her reflexively.

She was light.

Too light.

As though something inside her had already been stripped away.

Her breathing had weakened further, almost impossible to feel.

Her condition was deteriorating rapidly.

The cause was obvious.

The activation had taken something from her.

Lumira should have realized it sooner.

And still, she hadn’t stopped it.

At this rate, Elia would not survive.

A presence behind her.

She turned.

The three summoned figures stood there silently.

There was no hostility in them.

But neither did they understand the situation.

They were simply waiting.

Waiting for instructions.

Lumira organized the situation instantly.

These beings existed through Elia’s power.

They possessed combat capability.

And right now, they were the only force available.

Using them would consume her further.

That much was obvious.

Only two choices remained.

Stop here.

Or continue.

If she stopped, Elia would die.

If she continued, the damage would deepen.

Either choice meant losing something.

But refusing to choose would end everything.

Elia’s body temperature continued to fall inside her arms.

Lumira took one slow breath.

The hesitation remained.

But the decision could not stop with it.

“...Use them.”

She lifted her head and looked directly at the three figures.

“If you can move, then follow my instructions.”

She lowered Elia carefully onto the floor and knelt beside her.

This was no longer a battle.

It was an attempt to preserve time itself.

Even knowing something would continue to be lost —

“Keep her alive.”

That was the only part she did not hesitate on.

Lumira moved immediately.

And then it happened.

A faint sound echoed behind her.

She turned.

One of the three figures had moved.

Not toward her.

Not toward Elia.

Its gaze was fixed on empty space.

...No.

In the place where nothing should have existed,

a faint distortion still remained.

— Lumi 🪄💕

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