The pink energy began to gather in front of Sera slowly. At first, it had been nothing more than a vortex of light spinning in the air. But the scattered strands of energy began twisting around one another and drawing closer together, gradually taking on a distinct shape before her eyes.
The upper part of the body formed first, followed by two arms made of pink light extending from its sides. The hands and fingers took shape, and then the body continued downward until the legs and feet appeared. Every part of it was made from the same energy, as though it were being woven together before Sera, moment by moment.
It was not yet a complete human form.
It was merely a creature made of pink energy, slowly taking shape within the empty space.
Then the energy rose upward.
A neck began to form, followed by the head. After that, the features of the face gradually appeared. The eyes formed last and slowly opened, revealing a clear pink color that glowed from within the energy-filled body.
Long strands of pink hair flowed from the top of her head, forming from the light as well, moving gently with the currents surrounding her.
After a few more moments, the figure was complete.
It was a girl.
She floated silently before Sera, a faint pink glow surrounding her body, while her eyes remained fixed on Sera.
Sera did not move.
She simply stared at her.
The appearance of that girl was completely different from everything that had happened moments ago.
When the spirits appeared inside the hut, Sera had not felt afraid of them despite the strangeness of their existence. There had been something familiar in their voices and their presence, something that made her want to approach them and discover the truth about them.
But this girl...
Sera's feeling toward her was completely different.
She did not feel comfortable.
On the contrary, she felt a strange tightness in her chest, as though the presence of this pink energy was stirring something inside her that she could not understand.
She did not know why.
And she did not know who the girl was.
But she felt that she needed to remain cautious.
Her eyes moved between the girl's face and the body formed from energy, observing every detail without saying a word.
Countless thoughts raced through her mind at once.
Who is she?
Why did she appear before me?
Why do I feel this uneasy around her?
And why does her presence feel so different from that of the spirits that appeared moments ago?
The questions continued to pile up inside her mind, but she could find no answers.
Even Sera herself did not know which question she should ask first.
So she remained silent.
She did not ask the girl for her name.
She did not ask where she had come from.
She did not attempt to approach her.
She simply kept staring.
She could feel the pink energy radiating from the girl's body, and she could feel the weight of her presence despite the fact that her feet were not touching the ground.
Something about that energy stirred a deep unease within her.
Something she could not explain...
But something she could not ignore either.
And while Sera remained lost in her thoughts, the pink-haired girl continued floating before her in complete silence, her pink eyes never leaving Sera.
The pink-haired girl began to smile.
It was not a welcoming smile, nor did her expression contain any trace of warmth that might have made Sera feel at ease with her presence. It was a strange, slow smile, carrying something closer to mockery deep within it, as though she knew something that Sera did not.
Sera continued staring at her without moving.
What did that smile mean?
Why was she looking at her that way?
What did she know about her?
Thoughts crowded Sera's mind, one after another, but she could not find a single question she could bring herself to speak aloud.
She could still feel the force of the wind around her, yet her attention was no longer fixed on the storm. Everything around her had begun to fade into the distance, as though that pink-haired girl was the only real thing left in this place.
Then...
The girl finally broke the silence.
She spoke in a calm voice, as though she had been waiting for this moment for a very long time:
"At last, you have awakened from your slumber, Sera."
Sera froze.
The words did not feel normal to her.
Slumber?
What did she mean?
And why was she speaking to her as though she had known her for a very long time?
Sera slowly raised her body and stood upright before her, continuing to stare into the girl's face without taking her eyes away from that mysterious smile.
She was trying to understand what she had just heard.
What slumber?
When had she slept?
And what had happened to her that she was awakening now?
But what disturbed her most was that the girl was not speaking to her as though she were a stranger.
Her words carried an unmistakable certainty...
As though she knew exactly who was standing before her.
Sera remained silent for several seconds before finally speaking:
"What do you mean by 'slumber'?"
The girl's smile widened slightly.
She did not answer.
At that moment...Eileen and Rafa were still struggling against the fierce winds that had swept through the forest.
The trees swayed violently, and some of the larger branches snapped and crashed to the ground, while other trees began to be torn from their roots by the tremendous force of the storm.
Eileen was still clinging tightly to the trunk of a nearby tree to keep herself from being swept away by the powerful winds, while Rafa struggled to remain beside her.
But something else caught Rafa's attention.
Something that had not been there moments ago.
She lowered her eyes toward the ground.
Then she froze.
Sera's body, lying motionless on the grass, was surrounded by something strange.
At first, Rafa thought that the reflection of the light had made the ground appear red.
But the color grew clearer.
Then thin strands of red energy began seeping directly from the ground beneath Sera's body.
The grass around her trembled.
And small tongues of flame began appearing among it.
Rafa's eyes widened, and she shouted over the roar of the wind:
"Sera!"
Eileen turned toward her with difficulty.
Rafa pointed toward Sera.
"Look at her!"
Eileen tried to raise her head toward the place Rafa was pointing at, and the moment she saw it, her expression changed.
The ground beneath Sera had begun to burn.
The flames were not natural.
They were different.
Their color was an intense red, threaded with strange energy that spread from beneath Sera's body into the surrounding grass. Then it began to spread through the earth in branching lines.
As though something beneath it...was awakening.
Rafa shouted again:
"The ground beneath her is burning! What do we do?!"
Eileen did not answer immediately.
She was trying to get closer.
But the wind threw her backward.
She took a step.
Then she was forced to retreat when a massive branch, torn from one of the trees by the storm, suddenly flew toward her.
She raised her arm to protect her face, then shouted:
"I can't reach her!"
Rafa looked at Sera again.
The flames were growing around her.
The red energy was expanding.
And the grass beneath her had begun to glow completely.
But Sera herself...did not move.
Her body remained perfectly still, as though it were being held to the ground by an invisible force.
Rafa cried out:
"Sera!"
She did not move...did not answer...and showed no reaction whatsoever.
Eileen and Rafa exchanged a worried glance.
They wanted to reach her.
They wanted to pull her away from the flames, but the storm was growing stronger with every passing moment, until several nearby trees began to be torn from their roots before their eyes.
One of the trees was lifted into the air before being hurled away into the storm.
Rafa gasped as she watched it.
Then she turned her eyes back toward Sera.
Real fear had begun to appear in her eyes.
"What if..."
She stopped.
She could not finish the sentence.
But Eileen understood what she was thinking.
What if Sera were torn from the ground as well?
What if the earth could no longer keep her anchored?
What if the energy that had begun burning beneath her was the beginning of something much greater?
The two of them stood facing the storm, helpless to approach, while Sera remained motionless amid the fire and the red energy.
And above all...
Neither of them knew what was happening inside her.