Lumis and Eili stood atop a hill, surveying their new world below. The sun rose slowly over the horizon, casting warm light across the still fresh, untouched lands. The silence was nearly complete, save for the whispering wind that gently played with the grass.
— Look, — Eili pointed downward where the first figures began to materialize in the valley.
People. They appeared bewildered, but their eyes glimmered with curiosity. They surveyed the new world, a realm devoid of clocks or hands to dictate their days or nights.
— They are truly free, — Lumis said, observing intently.
— But this is just the beginning, — Eili replied. — They will still have to learn how to live without a system.
She carefully descended toward the people. Lumis hesitated, remaining on the hill. Something in his heart tugged him back to what they had destroyed.
— What now? — he asked himself.
Eili was already among the new inhabitants of the world. She communicated with them, their voices soft yet filled with life. Lumis noticed a child approaching her, holding a small stone that glowed with a gentle light.
— What is this? — Eili asked, bending down to the child.
— I found this in the river, — the child replied. — It… speaks.
Eili looked closely at the stone. Its light pulsed, and suddenly, she felt her mind filled with images. These were remnants of the old world—traces of the system that perhaps still lingered in these lands.
— Lumis! — she called, turning back to the hill.
Lumis made his way to her, carefully taking the stone into his hands. The images flooded his consciousness as well. He saw mechanisms, clocks, fragments of the Tower of Memories that seemed to still influence the new world.
— It’s not over, — he whispered, clutching the stone tightly.
— What does this mean? — Eili asked.
— The system hasn’t vanished completely. Its remnants still exist here, and they might return.
Eili gazed at the people around them who began crafting their first shelters, taking the initial steps in their new lives.
— We must find these remnants and destroy them, — she said. — Otherwise, everything we’ve done will be in vain.
Lumis nodded.
— This will be a different battle. A battle not for destruction, but for preservation.
They exchanged glances and understood that their journey was just beginning. The stone they held became their first key to understanding that the past always seeks a way into the future.
The world before them was new and pristine, but its balance had yet to be secured. Lumis and Eili realized they were no longer mere observers or destroyers. They had become the guardians of this world and its freedom.
— The first breath of the new world is always the hardest, — Eili said softly, gazing at the sun that had risen high in the sky. — But it is worth every sacrifice.
Lumis looked one last time at the valley, where new life began to unfold.
— Let this world be what we have always dreamed it to be.
And they moved forward, leaving behind the first hill of the new world to embark on their next journey.