The light around them gradually faded, leaving behind only a faint glow lingering in the air. Yet they were no longer the same — something had changed in their hearts. They could feel it, even as the space before them returned to its usual darkness.
Lumis and Eili stood in silence, their eyes fixed on the place where, just moments ago, the source of light had appeared. The feeling that they had left everything behind didn’t release them. They didn’t know what awaited them ahead, but they felt certain it was the right decision — to accept what could not be changed and move forward.
“What now?” Eili asked, turning to Lumis.
“Now we must learn to live in the emptiness,” he replied. His voice was calm, but there was a deep resolve in it. “This is not the end; it’s only the first step. Emptiness is what connects everything. Only through it can we understand everything that came before and everything that will follow.”
She looked at him, and in her gaze, there were as many questions as there had been just a few hours ago. The world they had entered felt unfamiliar, yet somehow familiar at the same time. Everything they had sought now seemed so simple — here it was, the truth that seemed to hide behind every step.
“How do we find our way back?” she asked, though her words seemed less like a question and more like a plea for reassurance.
Lumis looked at her face and understood what she meant. The path back to the familiar world seemed so distant and irrelevant now. Their journey was no longer about returning. They were already part of something greater.
“We won’t go back,” he answered. “But that doesn’t mean we’ve lost everything. We’ve become part of something indescribable. What awaits us doesn’t have boundaries. It’s broader than time, greater than everything we’ve known.”
Eili felt her heart tighten at the new reality. She didn’t know what exactly awaited them, but it no longer frightened her. She sensed that now they were no longer just two people on a journey. They had become part of something extraordinary.
Lumis extended his hand forward, and her gaze followed him. They walked, not knowing exactly where, but certain of one thing — every step was bringing them closer to something important.
And though the world around them remained uncertain, they knew: the emptiness, which once seemed frightening, had now become the space in which they could find everything.
Now, they had the chance to understand what it truly meant to be alive.