The light from the spatial explosion hadn't fully faded when the world changed texture.
The air that had been empty now felt like thick smoke.
The floor began forming patterns like living ancient letters, shifting and pushing against one another.
Hana blinked several times.
"Bro… why does the room look like it's re-rendering itself?"
The Great Ancestor pulled her aside. "We've crossed the memory boundary. We are now in the system's domain."
"Bro, whose system?"
"Not a human one."
Okay, that made everything worse.
When Reality Is No Longer Stable
Suddenly, the letters on the floor rose, arranging themselves into a circle.
Not an ordinary circle.
More like… a door segment.
[PROTOCOL 07: SHIELDING]
Status: FORCED ACTIVATION
Room stability: 12%
Hana jumped like the floor hissed.
"Bro! I don't wanna step on something that's at 12% stability! My emotional stability is already like… 18%!"
The Great Ancestor sighed. "That number is concerning, Hana. We must move before reality collapses."
But before they could
The ceiling split open.
A Line of Light That Shouldn't Exist
A straight line, thin as a thread, opened in midair.
From within came a light that was too calm…
too cold…
too aware.
Hana ducked. "Bro… is that… him?"
"No."
Hana exhaled half a sigh of relief.
"That is his attention."
Hana:
"…Bro why do you always drop info like grenades?!"
"Focus."
The line began widening, like an eye awakening from a long sleep.
When the System Realizes a Fatal Error
More text appeared in the air faster, frantic, glitching.
[BREACH DETECTED]
Unauthorized entity attempting entry.
Attempting to isolate host…
FAILED.
Attempting emergency shunt…
FAILED.
Re-route: LAST RESORT PROTOCOL?
That last line seemed to tremble, afraid of itself.
Hana read it and felt her heart drop.
"Bro… why is the system asking us? Like it needs permission?"
The Great Ancestor swallowed.
"Because the Last Protocol… was never meant to be activated."
"What Last Protocol?!"
"The one created for a single person."
"…Who?"
The Great Ancestor turned slowly.
He stared at Hana for a very long time.
"Only the bearer of the First Light can trigger it."
Hana panicked instantly. "Bro PLEASE tell me the 'bearer of the First Light' is our neighbor with the 60-watt bulb. I'm begging."
"Hana."
His voice echoed, heavy.
"That's you."
When the Room Starts to Give Up
The line of light widened faster.
The walls melted like wax meeting hellfire.
The room lost its color not darkening, but turning gray, like a memory being forcibly erased.
Hana's ears rang sharply.
"Bro! We need to run!"
"We cannot outrun this."
"But the system said to run?!"
"The system doesn't understand… He isn't something you can escape on foot."
Hana:
"Bro please stop saying stuff that makes me regret being alive."
But the Great Ancestor wasn't focused on her jokes anymore.
He stared at the crack of light with the face of someone who had seen the end of the world twice.
"We must activate the Last Protocol."
Hana froze.
"Bro… if that activates… what happens to me?"
The Great Ancestor finally looked at her
not as a student, not as a burden, but as the center of something far older.
"That protocol does not protect your body."
Pause.
Silence.
It felt like the world stopped.
"It protects the light inside you… by sacrificing everything that isn't light."
Hana shivered.
"…Bro. Meaning… I"
"Yes."
"will disappear?"
"That depends on how long you can hold on."
"Bro what does 'hold on' even MEAN in this context?!"
Before he could answer
The line of light shattered.
And the voice entered.
Not loud.
Not booming.
But very… very near.
"You… returned to me."
The System Takes Over
The room halted.
The air froze.
Even Hana's thoughts felt like they were being dragged outside her body.
Then:
[FINAL PROTOCOL CONFIRMATION REQUIRED]
Does host permit activation of the Last Protocol?
> YES
NO
The two choices floated before her.
Numb.
Quieter than the collapsing room.
The Great Ancestor looked at her.
"Hana. Choose quickly."
Behind the cracked wall of light, something moved slow, inevitable, unstoppable.
Hana clenched her trembling hands.
And for the first time since all of this began…
her eyes didn't look at the Great Ancestor.
But at herself
and at whatever she felt waiting for her inside that light.