Ch.200Ignition (5)

Light piercing through pitch darkness.

The radiance emanating from the girl illuminates the city.

It burns away the nightmare that was like despair, and passes a spark of hope.

The Dawn Keeper who commanded evil. The woman is pierced through, her breath held straight.

A single ray of brilliance soon becomes the dawn that ignites a spark.

It was a pure starlight.

Whoosh!

The dazzling pure white folds away the night.

The night, folded like a sheet of paper, reveals the morning on its reverse side.

Even the deeply settled nightmare gradually dilutes.

The black fog departs, and light-filled scenery fills the kingdom.

Following this, people who had fallen asleep in the city begin to regain consciousness one by one.

Even the land contaminated with Demonic Energy is gradually purified.

“Still, will you forgive me?”

The light did not burn its surroundings.

It merely brightened the shadows and wrapped life in warm colors.

A light that no longer hurts or saddens others.

A star that became someone’s home, or comfort.

Neria had escaped from her detestable fate.

Furthermore, she took steps on the path to becoming who she wanted to be.

Instead of burning the world, she chose to become a morning that embraces it.

The girl’s name was neither monster nor disloyal.

Neria Lightny.

She was the Dawn Lighter.

“……”

Meanwhile.

In one corner of the city, there was an old man looking up at the sky.

He was gazing at the meteors pouring onto the ceiling.

A deep contemplation settled in his golden eyes.

The old man’s name was Monarch.

He was the master of this city.

“I see.”

Had he just awakened from the nightmare?

The old man was somewhat disheveled.

However, his gaze fixed on the ceiling remained clear.

More precisely… the trace of the girl who had floated high enough to touch the ceiling.

Neria was floating like a star in the sky at the center of the kingdom.

So that her light could reach every corner of the city.

“…How beautiful.”

A murmur that escaped unconsciously.

As the Monarch appreciated, the star that rose in the underground was beautiful.

Even the darkness splitting under the rays of light now seemed enchanting.

The old man, who had been lost in thought for a while, smiled.

It was a smile tinged with bitterness.

“Child full of all kinds of malice.”

“You were born with the fate of misfortune, so you will surely burn everything around you to white.”

“Please do not hope for happiness from the outside world.”

What lingered in his ears was the prophecy he had left behind.

Words he had whispered to Neria imprisoned behind iron bars.

But at this moment, the Monarch had to admit.

The fact that his prophecy was wrong.

“You’ve grown well… far beyond my expectations.”

The old man reminisces about the past.

If he were to count, it would be the memory of the day he first met the girl.

A child wandering the snowy fields in tatters. A monster. A loner.

The moment their eyes met, the Monarch read destruction in Neria’s eyes.

He was convinced that she would surely become a calamity that would burn the continent later.

Therefore, he concluded that she must be suppressed.

“Was I wrong?”

But.

The girl had strayed far from the old man’s expectations.

She became a star illuminating the dawn, not a calamity burning the continent.

What led to such a result was none other than the narrow-eyed boy.

The Monarch chews over his aged monologue.

“I did something regrettable.”

To whom.

There was no such footnote in the old man’s words.

He merely fiddles with the rosary in his possession, as if filled with new emotions.

Perhaps the aftermath of the nightmare still remained, as his complexion remained sunken.

Then, the Monarch reflects on a scene that flashed momentarily.

A somewhat ancient memory.

“Your Eminence Cardinal.”

The voice of a young child.

The old man recalls the girl’s eyes that were slowly fading.

They held questions full of resentment and doubt.

Though brief, his brow furrows.

“Is this too the will of God…?”

His wrinkled hand tightly grips the cross.

Unlike usual, the atmosphere sinks to calmness.

A bitter smile on his lips.

“……”

The Monarch simply rose from his seat.

The inner thoughts of an adult were something no one could know.

The old man exhaled.

***

Meanwhile.

While things were being settled outside, I was spending time in the nightmare.

From what I had consistently observed, it seemed Neria had finally overcome her trauma.

She had accepted the aspect of herself she so hated, and even became a star.

The journey that began on that distant winter day had reached its end.

I felt a newfound sense of pride.

‘That’s a relief.’

Although it was a game set up for her from the beginning, I didn’t expect her to overcome it so admirably.

I knew how difficult it was to shake off past sorrows.

The current scene was proof of that struggle.

I wear a faint smile.

Soon, an innocent voice is heard.

“Brother!”

Before my eyes was an angel dressed in white.

Her wide smile was cleaner than anything in the world.

So much so that I thought I didn’t want to let go of this moment I was holding.

Of course, that wasn’t possible. Because every moment must have an end.

I stroked my sister’s head with complex emotions.

It was a warm, cozy temperature.

“Were you okay today? You didn’t cry?”

“Yes…! I had fun playing with the nurse!”

“Well done.”

“Hehe! Because I promised you, brother!”

“I wonder who you take after to be so admirable.”

“Yes! I take after you, brother!”

A scene from the dream replaying.

But was it because of Neria’s starlight casting over?

The clear boundary of the nightmare was gradually crumbling.

It meant it was time to wake up soon.

I look down at my sister one last time.

Inwardly, a few monologues flow.

‘Regret.’

That short arrangement of letters sometimes hurt more than scars pierced by cold weapons.

Throughout my past life, you were the only regret I left in those days.

Perhaps it was a natural sentiment.

Days I never forgot for even a single day.

‘I should have kept more promises, had more conversations…’

I should have stayed by your side longer, told you I loved you more.

The past times remained like ink smeared on fingertips.

No longer staining, but colored and indelible.

Such depth was called lingering attachment.

I gently move my body closer.

“Brother?”

It was really time to return to reality now.

So, even in the nightmare, I wanted to convey my words.

The feelings of a miserable liar that you couldn’t hear.

I embraced the angel.

“I’m sorry.”

The approaching end.

At that time, I couldn’t be by your side.

I was moving from construction site to construction site, saying I needed to earn money for hospital bills.

Perhaps due to a low battery, I couldn’t receive the hospital’s call either.

And so, you departed lonely in a hospital room without me.

Only after everything was over did I face you in the mortuary.

You, who now wore a white shroud instead of a patient gown.

Your hand, which I quietly held, was chillingly cold.

Unlike now, it wasn’t alive.

“Brother…?”

I probably will never be able to forgive myself.

Because I gave you a terrible loneliness and end.

So you too…

“I hope you don’t forgive me.”

Even in this situation, tears didn’t come.

I was just reminiscing the warmth in my arms.

Was it because emotions had dried up?

Or.

“I love you, my sister.”

Before my thoughts could conclude, I parted my lips.

Simultaneously, the scene before me began to crack one by one.

The nightmare spreading cracks like a broken mirror.

“…!”

Beyond that, I heard my sister’s response, but I turned away.

Perhaps I lacked the courage to hear it.

I closed my eyes in the fading consciousness.

Swallowing a deep sense of loss.

‘Forever.’

And so, I escaped the nightmare.

***

Starlight cast over the kingdom.

Along with the faded pitch darkness, consciousness awakened.

The city maintained a bright scenery that belied the word underground.

“Awake?”

The first to greet me as I woke up was the Monarch, who had also lost consciousness alongside me.

He was sitting on a plaza bench, looking up at the sky.

At the scenery where stars were clearly falling.

“When did you wake up?”

“Quite a while ago. While you were sprawled out sleeping soundly.”

“It seems your old age has taken away your night’s sleep.”

“Such manners from a young friend. Well, it’s not entirely wrong.”

“It seems… the kingdom has regained its original form.”

“Yes, everything has returned to normal,”

The city had regained its original light.

People rising one by one from the streets.

It was still a place full of waste, but it was better now that the pitch darkness had lifted.

The Monarch’s royal guards, who must have been asleep somewhere, also gathered in the plaza.

They all looked quite disheveled, but at least none had died.

I turned my gaze.

“Master…!”

Following that, a girl running from the end of the plaza.

Silver hair flutters in the backwind.

At the center of her delicate steps, white starlight shimmered.

Because of this, Neria revealed a bright presence just by existing.

She was that beautiful.

“Oops.”

I gently receive the body that jumps in.

With the warmth unique to starlight, Neria’s body was heated up.

It was to the extent that even the word winter no longer suited her.

Tear stains remained on her cheeks.

Traces of overcoming.

“Master… I, I…”

Was it because of her intense emotions?

Neria couldn’t quite complete her sentences.

I embrace the girl’s shoulders, signaling her to calm down.

There was plenty of time to talk. I whisper.

While patting her slender back with my hand.

“You did well, Miss Neria.”

A sky no longer black.

The morning star that feared light finally found her calling.

As if to illuminate the eternal moment of nightmare and loneliness.

The girl was no longer a loner.