Lumina walked an endless plain for what felt like eternity. It was formless at first, only assuming shape as her perception began to return. Through primordial valleys she wandered, over bridges of clouds and beneath the earth.

She was not alone, either. Ahead and behind her were people, some old and some young. Members of either race and any gender. Crying infants floated past on clouds, their wails piercing the fog around Lumina's mind. The noise aided in the sharpening of her focus.

Then she stopped, blinking owlishly at her surroundings. Her head turned as spectres continued to move around her, then she slumped. With focus came memory and so she remembered.

This was it. A final death.

Some of her remained on Remnant, but she was too weak to drag herself back. Wherever she was going now, it was the final destination of every mortal being.

She failed.

Disappointment crashed over Lumina like a physical force. Her own arrogance brought her low yet again. She fell to her knees, forehead pressed into the rough stone that met her from the unformed void. Lumina shook silently, not quite sobbing but oh so close.

An undetermined amount of time passed before she slowly righted herself. It was not over yet, to that thought she clung even though she knew better. Something still drew her further along the path. An endless stream of people walked it, unaware of her or each other. Their eyes were blank but their Essence flickered; they shed their physical body just like her.

If nothing else, curiousity as to this anomaly drew Lumina forward. Step by step she began to walk again.

She did not know how long until it happened. Right after following the curve of a river, she found another sitting at the roadside just at the edge of a woodland. Where everyone else was but vague shapes and wisps, this person remained fully formed. Just slightly taller than Lumina and with pitch black, red-tipped hair. Her black and red corset, the cloak that was white on the outside and crimson within, even her facial features were too familiar to be a coincidence. Lumina recognised them all, yet not.

Her feet carried her to the woman who was busy drawing circles in the dirt. Only when Lumina's shadow fell over her did she look up. Silver eyes widened at the sight, the other struck speechless by another actual person.

"Who are you?" Lumina asked her.

The other woman blinked owlishly, though the question roused her somewhat.

"...Summer," she introduced herself softly. "I'm Summer. Who are you? Is something holding you back, too?"

There was real sympathy in her question, given freely for a total stranger.

"I do not know what you speak of. I merely just arrived," Lumina answered with a glance at the people along the road; none acknowledged their conversation.

"Do you know what this place is?"

Summer barked a bitter laugh at that. She never even made an attempt to stand, perfectly content to crane her neck.

"I do. Congratulations, kiddo. You're dead, and this is the road to reincarnation."

Lumina frowned back.

"I am aware that I died," she snapped. The reminder did well to rouse her dampened emotions; irritation began to simmer, its effect far more pronounced without a physical body: she began to glow. "And she better hope I am dead for good."

Her growl made Summer crack an actual smile. "You got spunk, I give you that," she praised. "I doubt it'll help you, though. This road is one-way unless you're stuck here like me. What's your name?"

"Lumina." And despite it all, she was curious. "Do you know what holds you back?"

"Nope, no idea."

"Unfortunate."

Lumina leaned closer to Summer, intrigued by the similarities to her partner. The other woman arched an eyebrow. When Lumina continued to peer into her eyes intently, Summer began to grin.

"Sorry, but I'm happily married," she quipped. "And the only woman I put out for is my bestie."

While Lumina was confused however, Summer became thoughtful. "I wonder how she's doing? How long has it been since I died?"

It was clear that Summer got used to following meaningless tangents to pass the time. Lumina did not care for them, she simply pulled their conversation back on track with a few words.

"You have silver eyes."

This simple comment was enough to earn the other woman's full attention. Lumina did not let her intent stare stop her. "The physical resemblance is too much to be a coincidence," she reasoned. "You are Summer Rose."

Summer nodded, dumbfounded. Her eyes widened when the implications caught up with her. "You know them? Did you see my little Ruby? Is she doing well?"

She stood in a heartbeat, grabbing Lumina by the shoudlers. Though startled, the moth mused about how mother and daughter were equally intense, if about different matters. "She was, last I saw her," she reassured the other woman. Though the reminder of Ruby saddened her; a friend she now lost.

Summer let go and dropped back down with a sigh.

"How old is she now?"

"Fifteen."

"I already expected it. My baby is all grown up and I missed it."

Her previous joy was wiped away. Summer hit the ground weakly, even as her expression contorted into an angry snarl. "And I can't even come back to her in another life because I'm stuck! Damn you, Salem!"

Her anger dissipated as fast as it appeared after that outburst. She waved her hand toward the path with a melancholic smile. "Just keep going. If you got the chance to move on, you should. Don't stay here with me."

Lumina had paused after hearing Salem's name, but disregarded the notion as irrelevant. "You do not want to hear more of Ruby?" she inquired, somewhat surprised. Summer just shook her head.

"Don't tempt me. It will only hurt more. I can bear it as long as she smiles."

"I see. Is this a mother's prerogative then?"

She received no answer, not that one was needed. Lumina nodded at the seated spirit.

"Farewell, Summer Rose."

"Bye."

She left Summer behind and continued to wander for a timeless instant. She knew she traversed an entire world, swam through deepest seas, but it all faded away in her memory. Perhaps no time passed at all.

Only in the end did she behold a pillar of pure light connecting heaven and earth. Her eyes widened at the alluring sight as it called to her. Lumina picked up speed, then spread her wings to fly over the final hill. There she dropped, mesmerised.

An axis of golden light grasped for the sky, surrounded by waves of silvery white. The stream of people ceaselessly approached it; every single person who passed the threshold dissolved and became another wave of silver cresting skyward.

All Lumina needed was a single glance to tell the pillar's function. Knowledge of its purpose almost pushed itself into her mind: this light washed clean each soul on its path to reincarnation, then guided them back to Remnant once it was their time. The process was perfect, though it included a complete loss of memories and ego to begin the cycle anew.

Moreover, she could feel it resonate with her. Strings of spun gold loosened from the pillar with but a thought and connected to her ethereal form. Slivers of Essence entered her system, chasing away the last bits of fog from her mind.

Lumina took a shuddering breath as her cocoon began to appear from nowhere. Each string was silver like the light of these souls; spikes of steel jutted out in various spots. She stared at the impossiblity before her.

She could regain divinity right now if she took it all. It was all there, ripe for the taking. She could have it all back, punish Salem with a flick of the wrist. Burn the pest away just like she did Cinder. She could spite the Wyrm that conspired against her, even the vessel that struck her down.

No one would ever know.

Yet Lumina hesitated. Something held her back. A sense of foreboding, only confirmed when more knowledge came unbidden as she strained herself to understand the pillar's function. Understanding arrived with ice-cold clarity: this structure was created by the Brother Gods. Moreover, it was needed.

Humans were a species the twin gods engineered. Their souls did not form quickly enough to sustain the species; they needed reincarnation to survive. If this were taken away, ever more children would end up stillborn or come out adjacent to the vessels the Wyrm once conceived. Even Lumina could not tell which of these two was more likely.

She had to decide between her divinity and the survival of humanity. It gave her pause, froze the moth in indecision.

And into that silence, a male voice shouted her name.

Lumina whirled around, startled; she knew that voice, if faintly. The moment her head turned, she recalled where from.

The boy sprinted her way even while only halfway defined. His black hair fell in gentle waves, framing a pale face and the brightest smile she had ever seen. He outright beamed at her and fell to his knees, prostrating himself.

"Finally!" he cheered, face in the dirt. "I was waiting so long for you!"

Lumina was taken aback by the sheer reverence on display. She did not even remember his name. The boy from Shiroyuri, the same one her actions inadvertently broke. Simple curiousity and interest in her were rewarded with insanity.

"Why are you here?" she asked him, a little put out. "You should have moved on."

"I wouldn't dare, oh Radiance!"

He failed to notice Lumina twitch due to his face still pointing down. When he did look up, it was with a fervent smile. "I was waiting for you, so you can reap me and take my Essence. It's only right that I do my part to raise you to your true might! Please accept it!"

His form began to collapse fully with these words; the fleeting energy approached Lumina, who stood frozen in place with wide eyes. Her wings drooped and the offering slid off her like water, reforming into the confused boy.

"What's wrong?" he pleaded. "Am I not palatable?"

Something heavy came to rest in the pit of her stomach. Lumina's chest constricted. Somehow the light felt bleaker. She did not answer the questions he asked, rather examining this feeling. She never truly felt something like it before and needed a while to realise that this was guilt.

This boy and his current state, they were her fault. Well and truly. She made a grave mistake and turned one who could have been great into a blabbering shell, content with being sustenance. Just like the Wyrm.

What was more, she murdered everyone when they became understandably upset over the matter. Even if the original sin was not hers but an accident, what followed certainly was not.

Lumina stepped forward as if in a daze. She needed to think. But first of all she needed to make this right as best she could.

The boy stilled when a pair of slender arms wrapped around him.

"Worry not," Lumina whispered into his ear. "All will be well."

She held him in her embrace for a long moment, then pushed him into the pillar of light. The last his wide eyes could behold was her brittle smile. "Better luck in your next life," Lumina wished him earnestly. Only in parting did she finally remember his name: "Onyx."

His Essence was washed away in a matter of seconds, leaving Lumina alone with her thoughts. Alone with the guilt. She sat down at the hole, feet dangling in a stream of light. Even now it would not affect her unless she let it and so she pondered.

Her thoughts went in circles for a long time. The more she thought over her stay on Remnant, the more she realised the colossal mistakes made. For the first time Lumina saw clearly how often her endless pride was her downfall.

She could absorb this light. It would be cruel, forcing the friends she made to be lost in oblivion. Callous even, after everything. And what about before Remnant? The Pale King? Her moths?

"Grimm?"

Her weak call needed no repetition, He arrived by Lumina's side in an instant. His form was that resembling Ruby, yet behind Him seemed to rest an endless line of creatures. Though their particulars differed, every single one bore the same crimson eyes. Grimm met her gaze evenly, waiting for Lumina to ask the question plaguing her.

"Was I wrong?"

Each word almost hung in the air, heavier than the universe.

Grimm mulled it over in silence, though He scooted a little closer to sit by her side. Lumina absently rested her head on His shoulder; the Nightmare's flame burning within Him spent comforting warmth.

He ultimately shrugged ever so slightly, the motion more felt than seen.

"It is not for me to pass judgement upon your actions, dear sister. You and I both do as we please with little regard for those we pass by along the way. I may care in the moment while my caretakers are yet in front of me, but before long I will cease. You truly cared for your moths and all the other worshippers. Being upset by the Wyrm's actions is perfectly understandable."

"Understandable, you say. But not right. The lengths to which I went, the scourge. Had I not, that vessel never would have come for me. The Hollow Knight, I could wear down over time." She sniffled. "How many times do I need to fail, how low do I need to fall before I stop destroying myself?"

"I do not know," He told her honestly.

Before them flew images of desolate caverns and a city which lay dead. Husks that once haunted this realm were no more, leaving but a handful of survivors. The void was silent, since calmed. For just a few moments they beheld a living being; a crescent-shaped mask hid her face while a red cloak covered her body.

She rested within a dank tunnel, but her head snapped up as they watched. Hornet looked straight at them and the image was cut in twain.

Grimm chuckled weakly.

"Sharp as ever, that one is."

Lumina could only agree. "The gendered child may yet return prosperity to Hallownest. I will not interfere with them anymore." She certainly did enough there.

After letting Grimm's flame warm her a little longer, she straightened up and wiped off her tears. Then Lumina stood, expression growing more determined as a plan began to form. Grimm stood, too.

"Is this it, then?" He asked of her.

She did not respond at first. A single step into the pillar she went before turning around. Streamers of gold connected to her again as she displayed a nasty grin.

"Oh no, little brother. This is the beginning."

Ordinarily, she would be too weak to leave. Yet with this surge of Essence she could reconnect to the pieces of her still on Remnant. All the memories within so many people guided her back. The Radiance yet lived, it was not over.

Soon enough the streamers disconnected from her fully corporeal self. She simply stood bereft of shadows, unaffected by the light's splendor.

"Salem puppeteers Remnant as she pleases. She acts in the shadows and hides her actions behind people," Lumina ruminated, her grin feral at this point. "Unfortunately for her, two can play that game. This is a dream shared by Remnant's dead and I am still the ruler of dreams. The curtain closes on Lumina, but the seeds of Salem's demise have since been sown."

As she spoke, Cinder's corpse stirred and rose. The body had lain dead too long to be fully functional, but she did not decompose too much just yet. It would work fine as a substitute. Lumina forced the heart to beat once more and suffused every cell with light. Outwardly, Cinder was perfectly fine. She even shared her owner's cheshire grin and began to walk.

In the Grimmlands, even though Lumina's body was completely dissolved by the void, her Essence remained. A mere trace it was, yet enough. Unbeknownst to Salem, a heartbeat echoed in the very depth of the pool she had the corpse thrown. Gleaming orange slowly spread through the unformed void.

It was the day of the summer solstice; the day a vengeful goddess had originally been reborn. Now it was also the day she set events into motion that would forever change the course of Remnant's history.

With enough power siphoned off to ensure her connection to Remnant, Lumina stepped out of the pillar. Grimm was smiling also; He inclined His head and vanished.

Lumina's gaze turned to the path she came from.

"And there is one more who will be interested in destroying Salem."

So she left her cocoon and the pillar behind, intending to find Summer Rose.