LIGHT 16: Invasion

LIGHT 16: Invasion

In the passage that had been rewritten as unobservable, the collapse had begun advancing in even more irregular patterns.

The boundary light running along the walls continued to tremble faintly, and the sealing displays flickered on and off. White particles drifted against the current of the air, while the outline of the entire passage kept warping by small degrees.

Lumira stood unable to move, still supporting Elia.

The shadow of the exceptional person remained still at the center of the passage.

But its outline was still swaying slowly.

Immediately after that—

Fine white luminous markings appeared on Lumira’s arm.

Pale lines surfaced as if flowing beneath her skin, flickering thinly for only a few seconds. They resembled the markings of the guardians. But they were not quite the same shape.

Different.

And yet similar.

Then, for a brief moment, those markings swayed in the same direction as the exceptional person’s shadow.

Lumira instinctively hid her arm.

I have to hide it.

Her body moved before the thought was complete.

But Elia’s gaze was already turned there.

Elia’s white light trembled briefly.

She saw it.

Lumira said nothing and only looked away.

At the far end of the passage, the boundary light sank slightly.

From that point on, Lumira herself began sensing the spatial tremors before anyone around her did.

The air at the far end of the passage sank.

The moment she felt it, the wall actually distorted a few seconds later, and white particles rose into the air.

The same phenomenon happened somewhere else.

Before the outline of the floor collapsed, only Lumira was looking at that place.

It is coming.

I can see it.

It was as if she knew where the distortion would appear before it happened.

One of the guardians added that change to its observation targets.

The luminous pattern on its dark chest flickered, and a thin identification light stretched toward Lumira. New surveillance items began layering intermittently onto the management display as well.

Abnormal reaction.

Observation error.

Danger judgment pending.

The pale strings of text would not stabilize. They appeared, then vanished.

Lumira tried not to look at the display.

But the light remained at the edge of her vision.

In the middle of it, Lumira’s shadow shifted for an instant in a different direction from her body.

Her body had not moved.

But only the shadow cast on the floor slid several steps sideways, as though separating from her.

Elia held her breath.

Lumira immediately lowered her gaze to her feet, but the shadow had returned to its original place as if nothing had happened.

It returned.

But it shifted.

Only the white particles drifted slowly between the two of them.

Some of the residents had begun noticing the abnormality as well.

Someone who had been about to pass nearby changed direction.

Another looked away.

Without anyone saying why, a small space began opening around Lumira.

They are avoiding me.

Lumira did not let go of the hand supporting Elia.

Meanwhile, the stable area that had existed around the exceptional person had begun spreading little by little toward Lumira.

Only the place where Lumira touched the wall slowed in its distortion.

The outline that had been on the verge of collapse returned slightly, and the flow of white particles weakened.

Am I stopping it?

Or am I becoming the same?

Because of that, the classifications among the guardians fell even further out of alignment.

One treated Lumira as a protection target.

Another prioritized the danger reaction and strengthened its surveillance.

The last one kept intermittently losing Lumira’s identification altogether.

The luminous patterns flowing across their dark garments continued to flicker without synchronizing.

Danger reactions began appearing layered over the management display as well.

Identification impossible.

Invasion reaction.

Boundary interference.

The display trembled again and again, rewriting itself without ever settling.

It has not decided.

Not yet.

Around that time, a wavering afterimage of Lumira began appearing inside the passage.

The place where she had stood a few steps earlier remained behind at a delay.

The outline she had held just before turning her head lingered for an instant in the air.

The residents took distance from those wavering traces as if avoiding them.

Lumira made her movements smaller.

But the wavering did not stop.

Each time she tried to move, a delayed outline remained in the space behind her.

The shadows of the stopped residents slowly began turning toward Lumira as well.

The bodies did not move.

But only the shadows changed their angles across the floor, stretching quietly toward her.

She was being watched.

By something that was not human.

The air in the passage cooled slightly.

Elia’s white light reacted again in broken intervals.

Each time the faint light touched Lumira’s arm, the flow of white particles reversed. The particles that had been floating upward now began falling as if sinking toward the floor.

Was Elia’s light rejecting Lumira?

Or trying to protect her?

Lumira could not tell.

Only that each time the white light touched her, the markings on her arm grew slightly stronger.

One of the guardians began treating Lumira as a quarantine target.

A sealing line made of light stretched along the wall, unfolding as if to surround only Lumira and Elia.

Quarantine.

Only that word remained, cold and sharp.

Lumira did not let go of Elia.

She could not.

Immediately after that, the shadow of the exceptional person began moving again.

It stretched as if sliding across the floor, this time approaching Lumira’s own shadow.

Only the distance between the two shadows began to close in silence.

It is coming.

Lumira could not take her eyes away from her feet.

Her own shadow did not run.

White particles sank between the two shadows, and the light in the passage dimmed slightly.

In the next instant, only Lumira’s shadow trembled a fraction ahead of her.

Then, belatedly, Lumira’s own arm lifted slightly, as if drawn by something unseen.

Lumira held her breath.

She had not moved it herself.

— Lumi 🪄💕

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