The Arrival of the Luminants: The Awakening of a Coward

I ran without looking back. Without knowing where I was going.

I just ran.

As if I could outrun Ren’s scream.

As if I could leave behind the sound of his skull cracking in that monster’s jaws. At some point, my legs dragged me into an alley.

I hid among trash bags and chunks of broken concrete. That’s when I broke down.

The vomit came up on its own. Acidic. Burning. Filthy.

My throat burned. My arms trembled. My whole body convulsed.

And between retches, I knew it wasn’t just disgust.

It was guilt.

It was fear.

It was everything I would never get back.

The alley was dark and reeked of rotting garbage.

I sensed a Luminant about twenty meters away, so I curled up tighter between the torn sacks and rubble—trying to make myself as small as possible.

Outside, the world was falling apart.

Gunshots sliced through the air like metallic screams.

Distant explosions rattled my ears, mixing with the broken cries of people running aimlessly.

Screams of fear and despair—lives shattering like fragile glass.

My chest tightened, as if an invisible hand was strangling me.

Every breath was a knife. Fear overwhelmed me.

But there was something else. A sharp pain that wouldn’t let me forget.

“Why me? Why did I survive?”

My body shook, but my eyes refused to close.

I couldn’t stop hearing the sounds of death from across the street. Guilt consumed me. Drowned me.

I just wanted to disappear. To stop feeling this unbearable weight. But I knew I couldn’t.

I had to keep going.Because, even though I was a coward…

There was still something left inside me.

Something Ren left behind with his final whisper.

A flicker of hope.