The fractured sky no longer moved.
It hung there like a massive painting nailed into the heavens dark violet cracks reflecting faint lightning from whatever lay behind them.
Space did not collapse.
Did not break.
Did not heal either.
The fracture… simply stared back.
As if something beyond it was holding its breath.
Waiting.
Listening.
The Ancient Ancestor stood tall, white light pulsing faintly across his body, ready to erupt if the fracture dared to open.
Hana was still clinging tightly around his neck.
"Big bro… why did we stop?"
He didn't answer immediately.
He was watching something.
Not the crack.
Not the voice behind it.
But… the thin edge of the world shifting.
Small dimensions layers of reality sliding like sheets of paper caught in a breeze.
This wasn't just a cosmic fracture.
This was… a call.
"Are they trying to come down?" Hana whispered.
The Ancient Ancestor shook his head slowly.
"Not yet. They're only peeking."
"Peeking? Like… peeking at someone taking a bath?"
He exhaled deeply.
Only a child would dare compare primordial entities to bathroom voyeurs.
"But why?" Hana continued. "Why does everyone want to look at me?"
That question hit harder than the crack in the sky.
He studied her face for a long moment.
Her expression was still innocent, her skin pale from fear yet in her eyes… a faint glimmer.
A glimmer not belonging to any human.
"Because," he said quietly, "you carry a light they desire."
Hana frowned.
"But I don't have anything… I only have my plushie, my drawing book, and bad math grades…"
"That's exactly why," he murmured. "The light… is hidden inside you."
Hana opened her mouth to ask again, but
Shff.
Something moved in the sky.
The fracture narrowed.
Not closing
But focusing.
Like an eye sharpening its gaze.
Hana hugged him tighter. "Big bro… something's staring at me…"
"I know."
"You can see it?"
He looked at the sky for a moment before answering.
"I cannot see its shape. But I can see its intent."
And that intent… was vile.
The intent of something older than the first spark of light.
Suddenly
from the tip of the fracture, a thin streak of violet energy emerged.
Brushing the air.
Probing.
Searching.
Hana's body went stiff.
"Big bro… what is that…" she whispered.
The Ancient Ancestor hardened his aura, forming a barrier of light.
"Don't look," he said firmly.
"But"
"I said don't look."
Hana bowed her head, trembling.
The violet strand touched the barrier of light.
Scratched it.
Tried to slip through.
The sound it made was like cosmic nails scraping glass.
kirrrrrkkhhh
"Big bro… don't let it in…" Hana's voice cracked.
"I won't," he replied.
The white light thickened.
Coiled.
Formed ancient star-like patterns that spun around him.
The violet strand burned before it could breach the barrier.
But that wasn't what tightened his jaw.
Because as the strand burned…
the fracture in the sky smiled.
Not with a mouth
But with curved lines bending like lips.
A cold smile.
Threatening.
Patient.
"You cannot protect the Seed of Light forever…"
The voice echoed across sky, land, and bone.
"She will awaken… sooner or later…"
The Ancient Ancestor clenched his fists.
"And I'll be here when she does," he answered.
"Then you will die."
"Big bro! Don't say that!" Hana cried.
He gave her a faint smile calm, but tired in a way only immortals understood.
"I've died many times, Hana. It's fine."
She pinched his shirt. "Don't say it like that…"
The fracture hissed, then slowly withdrew
not healing, but retreating behind the sky.
Before it vanished completely, the voice whispered:
"We will return… when the Light within her opens its eyes…"
And silence followed.
Seconds passed.
Minutes.
Only when the world stabilized did he set Hana down.
She collapsed to the ground, shaking.
"Big bro…" her voice hoarse. "What did they mean? What's inside me? Why do they all want it?"
He sighed deeply.
Knelt before her.
Looked into her eyes with seriousness and gentleness woven together.
"Hana…"
He touched her chest with two fingers.
Right above her heart.
"There is a light inside you that can save the world… or destroy it."
Hana swallowed hard.
"I… can destroy the world?"
"If they awaken it the wrong way yes."
Hana stared at the ground.
Slowly.
Sadly.
"So I'm… dangerous, big bro?"
He shook his head.
"They're the dangerous ones. You're just… too precious."
Hana lifted her gaze.
"Then… what do we do now?"
For the first time since descending to this world…
The Ancient Ancestor didn't immediately know the answer.
The crack in the sky was a warning.
Enemies wouldn't come one by one anymore.
"…Now," he said at last,
"we leave this place."
"Go where?"
He looked far toward the city, toward the dungeons, toward humanity's core.
"There is a place that can withstand them," he murmured. "At least… for a while."
"You know the place?"
He gave a thin smile.
"I created it."
Hana blinked. "Big bro, seriously?!"
"Yes. But don't get excited."
"Why not?"
"Because that place…" he stood, eyes glowing faintly,
"…is also where the Hunters of the Primordial Light gather."
Hana tensed.
"Big bro… that sounds like a bad place."
"It is a bad place."
"Then why are we going there?!"
"Because," he looked at the now-normal sky,
"the enemies coming for us… are far worse."
He extended his hand.
"Ready?"
Hana gripped it tight.
"…Ready."
And they walked.
Toward the city.
Toward danger.
Toward a destiny even the heavens feared to witness.