LIGHT 02: Remaining Distortion

LIGHT 02: Remaining Distortion

Even after the summoning ended, the distortion in space had not disappeared.

The sounds of collapse had grown distant. Even so, the air refused to settle. White dust drifted across the floor, moving slowly as though being drawn by an invisible current.

Lumira remained on one knee, checking Elia’s breathing.

Shallow.

Thin.

But it had not stopped yet.

There was still time.

That was the decision she reached.

Then, immediately after, one of the guardian bodies standing behind her suddenly stopped moving.

Only its gaze had turned toward the far end of the collapsed passage.

Noticing the reaction, Lumira lifted her head.

The guardian remained silent, staring fixedly at that single point.

It did not look as though it had found an enemy.

It looked as though it had sensed something.

Lumira slowly stood and followed its line of sight.

At the end of the passage, there was nothing but a broken wall and scattered debris.

And yet, only that part of the space was faintly trembling.

A wavering like air bending under heat.

But it was not heat.

Nor was it light.

Space itself was pulsing at regular intervals.

It was different from an aftershock caused by the collapse.

The tremor repeated with a steady rhythm, clearly out of sync with the surrounding space.

Lumira narrowed her eyes.

Residual activation.

That was what she considered at first.

But no.

If it were only residue, it would not hold its shape for this long.

This was not a remaining ember.

The moment she reached that conclusion, a small disruption in breath came from behind her.

She turned.

Elia’s breathing had shaken sharply for just an instant.

The thin rhythm that had barely continued broke, and her shoulders trembled faintly.

At the same time, the distortion in space pulsed once, stronger than before.

Lumira did not miss the coincidence.

They were connected.

Elia and that distortion.

She looked back.

The other guardian bodies had already begun watching the surroundings.

None of the three made any unnecessary movement.

They stood in silence, yet each one was taking in the entire space with certainty.

The air grew heavy.

A different kind of tension from the collapse itself began to spread slowly through the ruins.

Elia should not remain here.

Lumira supported her arm and tried to move her away.

Even a little distance would be better.

That was her judgment.

But in that instant, one guardian body quietly stepped in front of her.

A restraint.

That was all the movement indicated.

“...What?”

Her voice came low.

There was a reason it had stopped her.

Before Lumira could fully receive that meaning, a small light flickered within the distortion.

White light.

It blinked in broken intervals.

Each time it did, the edge of the space crumbled slightly.

The air around them changed as well.

The distant sound of falling debris suddenly vanished beyond a certain point.

The echo had been severed.

Only silence had been cut out unnaturally.

Too quiet.

Then small stones on the floor began to roll faintly toward the distortion.

They were being pulled.

Not by wind.

Not by gravity.

Something unseen was trying to draw them toward the other side of space.

Lumira frowned.

This was not the aftermath of a summoning.

It was something else.

Something was still watching them.

Only that sensation remained.

Light ran again inside the distortion.

In the next instant, a shape like a human silhouette appeared for only a moment.

It looked human.

But the form could not stabilize, and collapsed as if falling apart.

One of the guardian bodies moved forward at once.

Its posture changed.

A combat stance.

The silence tightened by one degree.

It’s coming.

The moment Lumira thought that—

The distortion spread wide for a single instant.

Her vision shook as if space itself had nearly split open.

Lumira shielded Elia by reflex.

Her body moved before judgment could form.

Immediately after, a faint light began to leak from Elia’s fingertips again.

Pale white.

A small light, like a lamp on the verge of going out.

But it was clearly connected to the activation that should have already stopped.

It was starting again.

Lumira held her breath.

It was not over.

The summoning had not fully closed.

The distortion in space and Elia’s light were still connected somewhere.

And beyond that connection, something they could not yet see existed.

Then it happened.

One of the guardian bodies slowly turned its head.

Not toward the distortion.

This time, it was looking behind Lumira.

Immediately after, somewhere deep within the rubble where no one should have been, something gave a small breath.

— Lumi 🪄💕

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