Chapter Text
As long as the sight went, till the horizon of a darkened sky without stars, gray sand painted the ground on waves that never stilled. doubt creeped on her mind ‘where i am?’ she thought and tried to say but no word left her mouth.
Confusion and fear started to creep up her spine, turning from side to side, only the immense empty space caught her sight. ‘ok, luz, try not to panic, this is just a dream, you’re gonna wake up in your bed, sound and safe, soon enough’ hugging herself as a cold wind passed by she continued to murmur soundlessly ‘just a dream, just a dream’ grasping at the words like a prayer, in an attempt to convince herself they were true.
“It doesn't make it any less real”
A voice spoke from the void. She could feel it from behind her, a presence, a shadow growing and looming over her. Her first instinct was to turn and see with her own eyes who or what had suddenly made itself known. But her body was frozen in place.
“I found at last, a human with light in her soul”
Luz realized now that what she thought was a voice was actually a collection of clicks and buzz, an inhumane sound that translated easily into her head like a language she once knew, long ago.
“Tell me, lonely light…”
The shadow moved forward lowering its head to look Luz in the eyes. And the moment it did, the girl saw herself face to face with those eyes encompassed in darkness, black pupils, dark pearls that reflected her entire being.
“Tell me, what is it that you wish from the bottom of your heart?”
—------------------------------------------------
Screaming herself awake, Luz panted desperately for air, her gaze immediately running from side to side, making sure she wasn’t anywhere besides her bed.
And just as expected, with a sight of relief, and a calming breath, the annoying beep of her alarm, the soft colors of her walls, the low light of a starting day, all made clear, she was still just in her room.
The space was comforting and modest, surrounded with her figurines up in shelves besides some books, a wardrobe with stickers and a body mirror for a door, a study table containing her computer, and, of course, her bed with a bedside table.
Putting a hand to her still beating heart she focused on steading her nerves and controlling her breath.
“What was all that?” she murmured slowly to herself.
“Mija, estás bien? estas despierta?”
A voice called from her door with a soft knock, her mama, taking her out of her thoughts.
Without much thinking she answered.
“Si mama, i am just getting up”
a pause
“Then hurry, breakfast is getting cold!”
“understood”
Heavy steps signalized the woman’s departure, and the following high pitched screams of an excited toddler signalized her little brother was also awake.
Giving one last passing thought to the surreal dream she just had, Luz threw the blankets off and jumped out of bed, dressing herself with a jacket colored in purple and white stripes, shorts and leggings, the girl looked in the mirror. Her pixie brunette hair and usual clothes were a match she always felt comfortable in, combing a bit of bed hair, she deemed the look satisfying, but didn’t give it much thought besides that ‘no one else will care either way’ she thought with a tinge of melancholy.
Grabbing her school bag she almost walked away, but suddenly remembered something most important. At her bedside was a device, rectangular and robust like a controller, large as half of her forearm, A PCS it was called, short for ‘Portable Computer System’, the ultimate combination of a cellphone, a computer and a portable video game, not mentioning the latest invention of her step-mother.
It was still in the test phase and Luz had been given one to test out for a few months now, and already she couldn’t imagine her life without it. Attaching the device to her jacket sleeve she finally made her way downstairs.
Without her noticing, the mirror in her room didn’t stand still, rippling as a lake disturbed.
Jumping the last two steps and rounding a corner she entered the kitchen. The first thing to hit her was the smell, the delicious aroma of pancakes and coffee, ‘the best way to start the morning’ she thought while inhaling and exhaling.
“good morning familia!” she exclaimed in excitement, cheerfulness coating her tone and melancholy bolt all but forgotten as she made her way to the table.
“Good morning mija. sit down quick before the food gets cold. Or our growing boy decides to take your breakfast again.” her mother complimented right after. Camila Noceda was dressed in medical scrubs and had her brown hair tied in a messy bun, the eyes behind her red glasses bearing tired eyebags of long night shifts, but her face only contained an easy smile that she reserved for her family.
“Weh, Weh, morning. And I only did that one time!” Grumbled her younger brother while hitting the table with his fist before diving at his plate, eating his food like a little vacuum cleaner. King Noceda-Clawthorne was an eight year old with black hair and vitiligo marks all around his face, he never left home without his horned hat and his trusted ‘lieutenant’, a bunnie plushie he called francois.
“Awn ain’t you the cutest when you’re grumpy?” Luz said while ruffing his hair.
“The king of demons is not cute in any way shape or form and I'm too old for your incessant medelening!”
She snorted at the toddler’s attempt at fancy words
“Oh them, the oh mighty king is suddenly not interested in some hugs is that it?”
“Weh? hugs? I mean maybe I can make a tiny exception for my trusted general, but just this once-gwah!” He gasped as she suddenly pulled him in a bone crushing hug
“oh you’re so so cute i want to hug you till you explode!”
“AH i regret my decisions! mama save me!”
“Ay ay luz let your brother go and sit down.”
the girl laughed cheerfully. and let go of her favorite buddy
“Yes mamá”
Plopping down in her usual place at the kitchen table the girl started eating her food, and a few minutes later, her mother joined them, the family together as they enjoyed the calm of morning. Luz ate with gusto but not haste, breakfast was one of her favorite parts of the day, just sitting down with her family, enjoying each other’s company over food. It was almost perfect, the only exception being the fourth chair at the table, sitting empty in its place almost like a direct mockery to her happiness.
Shaking her head, Luz pulled the thought down, not letting something like that put her spirits down, instead she enjoyed the atmosphere of calm and serenity that came with having breakfast with her favorite people in the world.
She was biting into a second serving of pancakes and preparing to take a big gulp of her coffee with sugar and cream when she noticed, looking in her cup, what was supposed to be just her hot beverage, seemed different, for an instant, she thought she could see… something, something in her image reflected in the liquid… something different, it was looking at her… her image turning, growing, a shadowy figure looming in its place. Eyes wide, Luz extended a hand reaching for it, and then…
“Mija look at the time you’re gonna get late!”
Her mother exclaimed. Coming out of trance and looking at the clock over the kitchen luz saw she was right.
“Oh dang it!” weirdness momentarily forgotten she swallowed one more bite and took one last deep gulp of her coffee chanting “hot hot hot” all the while before quickly getting up and pulling her bag up she made a run for it.
“Bye king” a kiss to his forehead. “Bye mama” a deep hug
Before they knew she was already running out of the door listening to her family calling before leaving completely.
“Be safe bebe, te quiero” and “Bring me candy!” from her mama and brother respectively.
Out of the door the day immediately looked more bleak, and while the more urban parts of the city close to her house were still places that held some joyful memories to her, walking the road to school was always a surefire way to drain her of all excitement.
Sometimes she wondered if it was the company, the other students that walked the same direction almost robotically, following the path of the sidewalks like a line of ants. Maybe it was the routine, the pattern, the boring same walk in the same direction in the same silence. Maybe it was the loneliness, even in a crowd.
Walking the path, she made a point to not eavesdrop on any conversations happening around her, instead she passed the time of the mundane walk deep in her mind, thinking about what she had experienced.
What had she seen? What was that in her reflex? What does it mean? Could it be some kind of sign?
She scoffed “maybe I'm getting a cold” she murmured lowly to herself continuing to walk.
BZZZZZ
She stopped. ‘What was that?’
BZZZZZ
Once more, the bizarre buzzing in her ear, like a fly passing around.
BZZZZZ
No, not around. Looking up, the telephone wires stood above her, and right there, on top of the wiring, she saw a shadow, a big and twisted form without features obscured by the rising sun on its back and the cables on its front. .
BZZZZZZ
The sound came as it moved, his form flicking, like a bad video recorded in low definition.
Transfixed by the unnatural occurrence the girl didn’t dare break eye contact, or move, or even scream, she just looked, and something told her that it was looking back at her.
“Move” Someone said as they bumped into her, disorienting and almost sending her falling, Luz didn’t even have time to see who it was before they were already lost in the masses of students.
Looking back up, no sight of an unreal monster greeted her, nor the sound of weird buzz pierced her ears. She didn’t find relief in that, instead, a weird kind of anxiety filled her chest. Not the type that you get when you forget your homework, or when you mess up and fear the repercussions.
The dread that broke the last smudges of her cheerful morning was the paranoia of a bird who noticed the cat, an uncertainty for her safety in every step of the way as she followed the rest of her colleagues to school, looking over her shoulders all the way inside the building.
Entering school she felt even worse somehow, the amount of people side by side making the corridors feel narrower and claustrophobic, power walking she got to her class, sitting at the far left corner, close to the window, seeing what came and as far as she could from the door.
Trying to distract herself she took her material from the bag, said material including a personal computer and a medium sized case with ‘chip case’ engraved in its side.
While the computer turned on she separated the PCS from her sleeve and opened both its screen and the case, revealing a group of chips with different names written in each one with black marker. Removing a chip with ‘OPS’ marked she inserted it on the machine and watched as it instantly turned on.
Normally a device had default programs installed from the factory, but in the PCS’s case, the device worked as the shell with the real programs coming in the form of chips, making it able to change from a functional computer operational system to a video game focused unit in a simple switch. ‘Mom’s work is amazing as always’ she thought in pride, momentarily forgetting her fears and proceeding to type away.
As the teacher arrived and class began, Luz made her routine, writing everything strange she had noticed around her during the day on her PCS, while occasionally swapping for her computer to take notes for the class.
The dream, the coffee incident, the shadow, every detail she could record, while also searching for conditions that may match what was surely an inbound mental break she was probably about to have.
Half her classes passed this way, the only sounds around being of the professor’s lecture and the background noise of keyboards being tapped, every student sitting in front of either a school issued computer or a personal one.
Tab open, tab closed, remember something, write it on her notes, focus on the last thing the teacher had said so she didn’t get that much behind. Rinse and repeat. While reading through pages and pages of medical conditions, the bizarre anxiety, stronger than she had ever felt continued to pulse inside her chest.
Something was looking at her, even now, in the middle of classes. tab open, tab closed, typo, erase, rewrite. a flicker.
She stopped.
the screen on her PCS, and only on her PCS, flickered with static.
“What the?” she murmured lowly to herself. Incessant typing completely paused, she gave the side of her machine a light tap and watched in confusion as a symbol was drawn in the static. It wasn’t something she couldn’t completely discern, but it looked like a pair of wings drawn around a face.
Attempting to film it she turned around to take her phone, but when she did, was when she finally saw it. Outside the windows, standing in the street outside the school. The shadow gazed in her direction, and even from so far away she could discern the piercing red eyes.
bzzzzzzzz ‘L’ bzzzzzzzzzz ‘i’ bzzzzzzzz
The sound was back, but now way lower, and more discernible, it wasn’t a random sound, a collection of buzzings, it was a word.
‘li’ bzzzzzzz ‘gh’ bzzzzzzzzzz
She could understand it and she could hear it.
‘LIGHT’.
‘TRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM’
As the bell rang, students packed their computers and took out their lunches, Luz blinked, over the sound of chatting students and the teacher’s final notices, she looked outside the window and saw nothing where once the shadow had stood.
‘Am I really going crazy?’ she thought while biting her lips, a nervous tick. She slapped her cheeks ‘No, bad luz, you’re just seeing things because you put too much sugar in your coffee, stop thinking about it! Instead think of… think of…”
She took a look around, her gaze lingering at the expressions of her colleagues, the ones she somewhat knew, but had yet to have a conversation longer than three words with.
‘Think of them.’
Willow park was a very careful and sympathetic looking girl who was in the gardening club, but she also looked somewhat fierce which also made her a bit unapproachable for luz.
Augustus Porter was a master on recording and editing, he had given a whole lecture on special visual effects once and had skipped a few grades, he was a genius really. Luz thought he would probably be bored to death if she attempted a conversation.
And there was of course, Amity Blight, prettiest girl in class, top student in most subjects, ex-athlet, the full combo, but also, completely out of Luz league.
She felt the need to talk to them. Amity normally had lunch with her friends from another class but Willow and Augustus always ate together only the two of them, so she could just go there, present herself, make small talk, heck just asking them to compare notes in class, anything!
They got out of their seats, Luz tapped her fingers on the table, they talked quickly while moving towards the exit, her legs trembled, they passed the open door, she opened her mouth to call out to them, to say anything, to do anything.
No words were ushered, they left.
A sigh. One more day and one more failure. ‘That wasn’t the best moment, they were gonna enjoy lunch, they don’t need a complete stranger to barge in’ she thought to herself. ‘You're gonna get it next time Luz’ she didn’t believe a word.
Strapping the PCS back on her sleeve, Luz grabbed her lunch and made her way to her own lunch spot. Not noticing that, in the window, instead of her reflex, ripples of a shadowy image watched over her.
The rest of the day followed as normal, classes as always, teachers as normal, and throughout it all Luz felt as she normally did, empty, invisible, unimportant. A professor entered, another left, a lecture here and an exercise there.
Her eyes were never far from the window, and her anxiety never truly subsided, but as the day went her focus also changed, and just as during lunchtime, when the bell sang the end of the day, she had once more gotten completely deviated from the strange occurrences happening around her, focusing instead on the entrance gates, ready to leave, she watched the same two students going home, talking excitedly.
Her mouth opened and the words in her mind were ready to cut the air ‘hey!’ ‘wait up’ ‘hi’ ‘my name is luz…’ she bit her lips ‘anything, anything, just say anything, just walk at them’ her legs trembled and didn’t move an inch, cemented in the ground.
“I never change, do I?" she wondered aloud, watching the distance between her and the two students grow by the second. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes. “Will I be alone forever?” a hand to her heart. A pain that hurt deeper than any wound, the beating of a fracture never seemed to close.
“It 's here.”
A voice, but not a voice. Eyes wide, the young latina turned her head around searching for the source.
“It’s searching for them.”
‘Them? who’s them? who…’ her gaze fell at the figures of Augustus and Willow, the setting sun illuminating their shadows in the walls of the buildings around the street, but instead of their forms, what engulfed the walls was far more sinister, the creature that she had felt observing her the whole day, its shadow projected on the wall, now, looking directly at her two colleagues.
“Its hungry, and it wants them”
The voice crept in her ear once more, ‘it wants them’ ‘it's hungry’ the words chilled the spine and their meaning bubbled up in her mind, as the two made their way around a corner she felt the wind hit her face.
Suddenly, an explosion, right inside her chest, no, inside her very soul, an explosion so powerful that her vision went blank, her senses stopped and when she came back to it she caught herself running, running as fast as she could as far as her legs could carry and as fast as her lungs allowed, and she didn’t stop, and she didn’t think.
Through the streets where students still followed their own paths home, around the corner where she had lost sight of the other two and through an empty street she chased after the creature. The weight of her burning lungs was nothing compared to what her mind conjured, turning another corner just to find the two people she so desperately wanted to befriend, hurt or worse, dead, that creature without form lumbering over them, this weight she wouldn’t carry, that loss she wouldn’t have on her shoulders!
At the first intersection of that empty street she found it again, moving slowly in a stalkish manner, luckily for her that meant that Augustus and Willow were still very far away, barely seen in the distance as they continued to walk disappearing behind another corner.
Losing sight of its targets didn’t seem to worry the creature, and as they went their way, the creature continued to follow.
Preparing to rush at it, she breathed deeply and…
“Hm? You’re the strange one from that same building, are you following those two as well?”
Luz felt her pressure drop. And as the creature addressed her, red eyes once more piercing into her soul, words cutting her peace with a sound that was, equally as alien, but still clearly different from the one in her dreams, she found her legs stuck once more.
“So you can actually see me uh? I thought you had gotten a glimpse of me from the window, back at that building. Oh well, that must mean you already did your part. lucky you.”
The words lost meaning inside her brain, her mind was captured by a single thought.
‘Move. Move. Move!’
“You came in at a bad time, see I'm about to grab my own targets.”
‘move, move, move!’ she hit her legs with the side of her fist, biting her lips with strength.
“So let's leave the bloodshed for after I'm done with them, how is that? will be a much fairer fight that way.”
‘move, move, move!’ to run away or right at the thing she didn’t know, she didn’t need to know, she just needed her body to do this one thing.
“Or better yet, if you help me catch one of them…” the sound of drooling escaping the mouth and hitting the ground was as nauseating as it was disturbing.
‘Move, Move, MOVE!’
“...Them we can share the bodys”
An explosion. Once more, her mind felt like it went blank, her muscles tensed, her bag slipped from her shoulders and with strength she didn’t think she had, Luz threw it at the creature just a few meters ahead!
And as the shadow finally dissolved partially from the creature, she bore witness to a monstrous and lengthy grey arm that ended in a claw, catching the offending object from the air, without trouble, books and pencils and her case flying out and hitting the half-shadowy form before falling to the ground.
“Ok them. hard way it is.”
The shadow dispersed completely and now Luz could see the form of her opponent, a grey humanoid for the most part, with legs bending in an impossible degree, one arm ending in claws and the other in a scythe, the head reminded her of a praying mantis, but a horribly mutated and disfigured one, with four elongated mandibles ticking against one another, producing the sound she recognized as a voice.
“Don’t think that you having a body will change anything, I'm gonna rip your puny shell apart and devour your soul whole!”
Luz couldn’t even blink, the creature surged with inhumane speed, its claws rising high and falling with tremendous power.
“DIE!” it screamed.
And darkness swallowed her whole.
—------------------------------------------
Images flooded her brain, the ones she cared about ‘Im sorry Mama, King, Mom, Aunty i’m not gonna get home for dinner today.’ the ones she wasn’t even able to meet ‘Amity, Willow, Augustus I wonder what type of people you are, im sorry i wasn’t brave enough to ask’ to the task she failed ‘Im sorry, i couldn’t stop it, i couldn’t protect you, i couldn’t do a thing.’ her knuckles clenched.
Luz opened her eyes.
As long as the sight went, till the horizon of a darkened sky without stars, gray sand painted the ground on waves that never stilled.
“Aren’t you tired of living like this?”
The voice asked, the familiar buzzing sound was back, and in front of her, a shadowy figure.
“Aren’t you tired of holding yourself back? Or waiting for a perfect moment that might never come? Hiding in your own shadow instead of shining like we both know you can?”
Luz faced down, she couldn’t speak but she didn’t need to
FEAR.
“Hmph, and you are gonna let yourself be controlled by your fear forever? let it mold you and dominate every aspect of your life? Or are you going to take your destiny in your own hands and wrangle it into what you want it to be?”
She looked up. The shadow started to dissipate.
“With my power, you will not bend for either foe or fate, and if your will is strong enough, then you shall never again feel fear.”
A grey limb, like an arm but thin and ending in three long claws, akin to an insect’s paw, extended in her direction.
“All you need to do is make a wish. And all of it can be yours.”
Memories flowed like a river, failed attempts at making friends, opportunities she missed, all that she had and all that she wanted to share, the loneliness that plagued her heart. Tense and afraid, she extended her own hand, and grasped the monstrous arm. Its eyes narrowed. The shadows disappeared, revealing a great gray moth, its black orb like eyes narrowing.
“What is your wish?”
Her mouth opened but no sound was heard.
—------------------------------
CLANK!
The claws hit her side, but instead of tearing through flesh, it was repelled.
“Tsk, i thought being in your human form meant you were vulnerable, seems like i underestimated you”
Luz was speechless, around her body a form flicked, it didn’t stay long enough for her to discern its details, but she could feel its presence now, covering her like a shell, protecting her, comforting, like a gentle hug that guarded her from harm.
“You’re… protecting me?”
“My power resides in you and until your wish is realized do not think i will let a low life like this put even a finger on you” she could tell where the voice was coming from, inside her, inside her very soul, shining protectively.
“Thank you.” she whispered back.
The Mantis creature made the closest approximation of a growl with its mandibules “I won’t commit the same mistake twice!” it yelled. Positioning its scythe arm back, a green energy started to accumulate around the blade. ‘Observe my technique and die!”
“Dodge!”
“WIND CUTTER!”
Luz jumped and a second later a wave of wind came crashing behind her, she was thrown forward, screaming, she rolled and landed on her knees. Looking back, the place she was standing a second ago now a large gash cut it down. A gulp ‘it cut concrete like butter’
“Impressive uh? though i guess you didn’t hear me I said! observe and die!” the creature screamed and pulled its arm back charging another attack.
Panicking, Luz looked around for something, anything that could help her fight back. “what do i do, what do i do, what do i do!”
“Calm yourself.” the voice raised. “My power that resides in you, use it.”
“WIND CUTTER!”
Another slash, and another jump, this time she didn’t have any space to land right, scraping her knees and arms, while debris hit her from the side.
“My power girl now!”
“But how!? How can I?”
BA-DUMP
Her eyes landed on it.
BA-DUMP
One of the chips from her PCS, the same one she had used in class earlier.
“OBSERVE AND DIE!”
time seemed to stop. Getting up, her hand reached for the device, taking it from her sleeve she opened it with trembling fingers, the screen was filled with static and a symbol, a symbol she now recognized
BA-DUMP
In her hands, the chip seemed to change, it suddenly had the same symbol from the computer, the face of a purple mouth with four wings surrounding it, written under the mark were the letters L.U.X.
Inserting the chip, she watched the screen clear, revealing the purple mark over a white background and a text, ‘start?’
BA-DUMP
She was moving on automatic as if pure instinct drove her actions, she knew what she had to do, but she didn’t know what it would do. All she understood was that her life would never be the same again. Pressing a button to accept, the screen locked and a sound echoed.
‘Light on, stand by.’
“WIND CUTTER”
Closing the PCS, and putting it over her waist, she locked eyes with the mantis creature. Fierce determination arose as her eyes shone purple.
“HENSHIN!”
She screamed from the bottle of her soul.
The flying attack connected, exploding dust and debris in all directions, vision of the girl was obscured for a moment.
“Did it hit?” the creature wondered before gasping, its eyes growing wide.
As the dust settled the form of the girl was no more, in its place there was neither human nor another horrifying monster, instead, a tall figure with a purple armor stood stoically.
The armour was composed by a black vest and purple plates, covering legs and arms, ending in heeled boots and gloves with sharp long fingers. The chestpiece had a gem in the form of a triangle in its center, a golden belt cape and a belt with a pouch were held by the PCS that now had the mark, the Purple sigil of the moth, imprinted on its back. The helmet had two round visors in the form of eyes, two antennae rising from the forehead.
The mantis creature seemed horrified. “what… are you, really?”
Clenching its fingers, feeling the gloves' texture, Luz did not hesitate.
Before the creature could even think, she was on top of him, dashing with a punch to the gut, Mantis gasped and green blood spewed from its mouth. In a quick sequence Luz connected a left hook followed by a punch to the face with her right hand. Her adversary was thrown back, at the perfect distance for her to backflip, hitting him with a kick to the shin that took him out of the ground and gave her even more distance.
Landing perfectly on her feet, she waved her belt cape. “I am Lux, the light in the dark, and I will not let you hurt anyone.”
The creature landed on the ground with a loud ‘thud’, then roared. “Don’t get so full of yourself, im sure i missed the last time but before you get closer…” rearing its scythe back it charged its attack. “I'm gonna slice you! OBSERVE!”
“This trick again?”
“AND DIE!”
The attack hit its target true, and this time the mantis viewed by itself that it did, and contemplated in despair as the energy passed through the armor and exploded, but didn’t leave a single scratch.
“I would say disappointing, but I wasn't expecting anything better.”
Pressing the side of the PCS Lux removed the current chip, from her belt pouch she pulled a second chip, this one had ‘drawing tools’ marked on it, before it also was transformed, in its place the image of a sword, and the word ‘Needle’ were now seen.
Inserting the chip, the device spoke once more.
‘Sword: Needle. on!’
From the sky a thin sword with a round guard fell down and struck the ground. Lux clasped her hand around the handle, removing it from the ground and giving a twirl and a few test swings, then looked right at the creature.
Its eyes met the visor of the helmet and before a word was ushered the mantis-like monster ran forward in a last attack of desperation, charging its scythe without releasing the attack in the air, making it sizzle and burn with the heat.
Screaming it heaved its weapon and deferred an attack.
SWISH.
Needle stood high, a loud noise was heard as the scythe broke and half its blade was sent flying away.
‘with a single cut!? it's impossible, i have to flee, i have to flee now!’ the creature thought in true fear, but it was too late, swinging down the armored enemy slashed against its chest, once, twice, and then sent him back with a punch from her offhand.
On its knees and at the brink of death, Mantis saw the enemy reaching down for her belt once more. Opening the PCS the screen now exhibited the words ‘final attack.’ Lux pressed the enter button.
filling herself full with energy, her armour now shining unleashing a great power.
“Final attack: Needle. Stand by.”
Closing the device and holding the sword with both hands, the girl screamed, dashing at her opponent, piercing him without resistance. Mantis screamed as the sword connected with a thrust to its chest, whining in pain. The light from the armour spread in lines to the sword and them throughout the monster, consuming its form.
“Go back to the ground where you belong, and make sure to be reborn as a kinder soul in your next life.”
Removing Needle from the body, Lux turned back and walked away, behind her, the now corpse, exploded in flames that consumed its form whole, not even the cut blade being spared.
On that night, under the light of the moon, Luz Noceda was made aware of her potential, and with her life at stake, she decided to grab it with both hands.
On that night, she was reborn as Lux, a shining light that pierced the night.