Chapter 2: A Step into Lumina
487 Words
SALLY
I stood before the barrier that separated our two worlds.
For as long as I could remember, I had heard stories about the guardian of Lumina.
The one who protected a world beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Elias Celestine.
A name known throughout Murk.
Some believed he was only a legend.
Others believed he had watched over Lumina for centuries.
No one truly knew.
Curiosity drew me closer.
I slowly reached out my hand.
The moment my fingertips brushed against the invisible barrier, gentle ripples spread across its surface, as though it had recognized my presence.
Then...
I saw him.
The guardian I had only known through stories.
---
Elias
I watched the girl standing on the other side of the barrier.
The moment our eyes met, my gift quietly awakened.
A name.
A birth date.
A world.
Sally Fortis.
Murk.
Nothing more.
It never showed me where a person lived.
It never revealed their memories.
And it could never tell me the story their heart carried.
For centuries, that had always been enough.
Yet somehow...
It wasn't enough this time.
Her presence felt strangely different.
Not because of what my gift revealed...
But because of what it couldn't.
Before I realized it, I had already spoken.
"My name is Elias Celestine."
She looked at me quietly.
Then a gentle smile appeared on her face.
"I'm Sally Fortis."
For a brief moment...
Neither of us spoke again.
We simply looked at one another through the barrier.
Two people.
Two different worlds.
Two paths that should never have crossed.
---
Sally
As I looked at Elias...
I couldn't look away.
For the first time...
I saw someone who reminded me of the sun.
Warm.
Radiant.
Alive.
He carried a light that belonged to a world I had only dreamed of reaching.
And somehow...
Even with the barrier between us...
That light never felt far away.
---
Elias
I drifted toward the barrier until I stood only a single step away.
Slowly...
I reached out my hand.
"Please..."
I waited.
Never moving any closer.
Never asking for more than the choice she was willing to make.
"If you trust me..."
"Step through the barrier."
---
Sally
For a brief moment...
I stared at the hand he was offering.
The stories I had heard echoed inside my mind.
No one from Murk had ever crossed into Lumina.
If I reached for him...
There might be no turning back.
I should have been afraid.
I should have hesitated.
But somehow...
I didn't.
Without another word...
I placed my hand in his.
The instant our fingers touched, a gentle warmth spread through me.
Then I breathed in the air of Lumina.
It was light.
Peaceful.
Gentle.
As though the world itself had welcomed me.
It felt as if every burden I had carried had become just a little lighter.
For the first time...
Breathing no longer felt so heavy.
- Writer
