Lumina lay stiffly under the sheets, and though her limbs felt like they were being pierced by hundreds of needles, her voice remained steady and quiet.
"I need you to support me, Celia," Lumina said, her voice small but steady in the quiet room. She turned her head slightly and looked directly into the Healer's swollen, bloodshot eyes. "I'm not worried at all, because I know you are always standing right behind me."
"Lumi..." Celia choked out, her hands trembling against the edge of the mattress.
"Please, Celia," the child whispered, her dark eyes reflecting the flickering lamp light with a cold, terrifying resolve. "I want to do this."
---
The terrifying cycle continued over the following weeks. It became a dark, unspoken routine between the two girls that the rest of the party completely failed to understand. Kian did not notice the change, but every time Lumina recovered, her floating spell lasted a little longer than the last.
Three weeks later, after Lumina's body had barely recovered from the second shatter, Lumina did it for the third time. They were resting near a subterranean river when the float spell suddenly dissolved, and Lumina fell sideways into the wet gravel like a discarded doll.
Celia was by her side within a heartbeat. She jammed the blue fruit into Lumina's mouth with trembling, sticky fingers until the child's heart began to beat again. Though Lumina's recovery was even shorter this time, she spent five whole days completely unable to speak a single word.
Two weeks after that, the fourth attempt happened in the middle of a battle against a pack of dungeon wolves. While Brown and Red were busy fighting off the beasts, Lumina intentionally pushed her remaining power past the safety line to cast Kian's defense barrier while simultaneously casting the floating spell.
Her core cracked for the fourth time, and she collapsed onto the floor with blood leaking from her nose, but Celia rushed through the chaos of the fight. She ignored the snapping jaws of the monsters, and shoved the crushed Glisberries down Lumina's throat just in time to pull her back from the void.
Each time she survived, the internal container inside her chest expanded to fill the broken gaps, and her total power began to climb to heights that were completely impossible for a nine-year-old child, but the physical toll was turning her skin pale and her eyes hollow.
Then came the fifth time.
It was a quiet afternoon in the deeper sections of the stone ruins, and the air was thick with the scent of old dust. Lumina walked slowly behind Kian, and her wooden staff trembled in her thin hand while she held the heavy floating spell for the seventh consecutive hour. Her body was already exhausted from the previous runs, but she refused to stop, and she deliberately drove her remaining energy straight down to complete zero.
The bright light around Kian's body already vanished into nothingness.
Kian hit the ground feet-first, but Lumina collapsed entirely. She fell forward like a puppet with cut strings, and her forehead hit a jagged rock with a heavy thud.
Celia was already moving before the sound echoed through the chamber. She dropped to her knees on the floor while she pulled a fresh Glisberry from her pouch. Her hands shook so violently that she almost dropped the fruit, but she managed to force Lumina's mouth open and crush the blue skin against her tongue, pouring the sticky, sweet juice down her throat.
The terrifying void around Lumina's body did not fade away. The child's skin stayed completely cold and white, and her eyes remained shut while the purple juice began to leak out from the corner of her lips, staining the gray dirt beneath her head.
"Lumi, wake up," Celia whispered rapidly. She pressed her glowing green palms onto the child's chest. "Please wake up. Do it right now."
Celia waited for the familiar gasp. But nothing.
Lumina did not wake up.
The cave remained entirely silent. Ten seconds passed, and then twenty seconds slipped away into the cold dampness.
Lexi stood a few meters away. Her eyes suddenly widened in pure horror while she stared at the unmoving child. As a Thief, she was naturally tuned to the biological hum of living things, so she pushed her radar toward the fallen girl to check her condition.
The result was a complete void.
There was no hum. The air around Lumina was entirely empty. From Lexi's perspective, the young Mage was already dead, because she was no longer emitting a single drop of Life Force. The natural energy that flowed through every living creature had vanished into absolute nothingness.
Raze and Alden stood completely frozen near the tunnel wall. They tightly gripped their heavy weapons, but they were utterly stunned by the sudden, violent collapse. They just stared on the floor without knowing what to do.
Kian watched the chaotic panic from a safe distance. He kept his hands stuffed inside his expensive pockets. His face looked perfectly bored, but a frantic mess was running through his mind.
What's happening right now? Kian thought while he stared at the pale face on the ground. She probably just skipped breakfast again to avoid carrying the bags. The sweet fruit worked the last time, so why is she still lying on the floor? Did she crack her skull on that stupid rock? No. She's strong. This has to be a trick to get out of her daily chores. She's just being stubborn. I'm going to give her an earful later.
Kian tried to convince himself that it was all a joke. He stared at the unmoving shape on the floor, waiting for her to jump up and laugh at his frustration, but the cold reality would not let him look away. A heavy, unfamiliar knot tightened right behind his chest. It was a chaotic surge of raw panic.
It was not a prank.
But Celia knew the terrifying truth. She pressed two fingers firmly against Lumina's small neck and waited for a tiny throb of blood to push against her skin. The flesh was completely cold. There was no pulse, and the small chest did not rise or fall even a fraction of an inch. From a Healer's perspective, the body on the floor was already an empty, lifeless shell.
The purple juice slowly leaked out of Lumina's mouth and pooled on the gray dirt.
"Lumi!" Celia screamed.
The loud sound tore through the damp tunnel. It carried a raw, suffocating grief that made every single member of the party flinch backward.
They buried her body the very next day.
The sky outside the city gates was covered in thick, rolling gray clouds. A freezing wind blew through the tall trees. They found a quiet patch of land near the edge of the woods, so Alden spent two long hours digging the deep hole with a heavy iron shovel.
His big shoulders slumped forward, and a deeply sad expression was permanently fixed on his face while he silently threw the wet soil to the side. Every scrape of the metal against the rocks sounded like a loud crack in the quiet morning air.
Raze stood near the edge of the tree line. He stared at the small wooden box they had bought from the local carpenter early that morning. A sudden, violent wave of anger boiled in his chest.
He kicked the hard ground with his heavy leather boot and sent clods of dirt flying into the bushes. It was a chaotic mix of deep frustration and bitter sadness that he simply could not put into words. He wanted to swing his sword at something, but there were no monsters to fight.
Lexi leaned against the rough bark of a thick tree. She usually maintained a perfectly calm and composed attitude no matter the situation, but warm water suddenly blurred her vision.
The salty tears fell down her pale cheeks without her even noticing. She just watched the soil hit the wooden lid in complete silence. Without wiping her face, she let the cold wind dry the drops on her skin.
Kian stood a few paces behind the rest of the group. His face showed a calm and neutral expression, but he was completely shocked internally. He watched the soil slowly cover the small box. His brain simply refused to process how a basic dungeon run had ended like this. He thought the kid was just hungry or tired. He never actually expected her to die in the middle of a dungeon.
Celia did not stand up when the burial was finished. She stayed on her knees on the ground right next to the fresh grave and cried until her throat was completely raw. She clawed at the soil with her bare hands and loudly begged the gray sky to give her best friend back, but the woods remained quiet and uncaring.
Eventually, the others began to step back toward the path. Raze cleared his throat softly and touched Alden's shoulder, and they slowly walked away to give her some space. Lexi lingered for a few seconds longer, but she ultimately turned around too, leaving the elf alone in the damp silence.
Celia pressed her forehead against the soil.
"You promised me you wouldn't leave me behind," she whispered into the earth, her voice cracking into a broken sob. "You said you weren't worried because I was right behind you. So why are you all the way down there now, Lumi? How am I supposed to protect you from this?"
She clutched a handful of the cold soil against her chest, but no answer came from the grave.