The light began differently that day. It wasn't just strong. It was sharp, too clean, as if someone had polished the sky until every imperfection was stripped away. When we left the old folded plaza, I immediately noticed what was wrong.
There were no shadows.
Not from us, not from the houses, not from the twisted trees of the Labyrinth City. Everything was illuminated evenly, with no defined direction.
Vespera raised her hand, turning it toward the light. "Okay, this is officially weird. Where's my shadow? Since when did the city turn into artificial lighting?"
Elara adjusted the bow on her back. "This isn't natural. Not even common magic does this."
Liriel was already studying her grimoire. "The light is coming from multiple sources… but none of them truly exist. It's as if the city decided to erase the concept of shadow."
Rai'kanna narrowed her eyes, uncomfortable. Her wings revealed a strange blue sheen. "For dragons, shadow is a visual reference. This is disorienting."
Lyannis moved closer to me. "Takumi… your flame is strange too, isn't it?"
Yes. I could feel it. The flame seemed restless, as if it were searching for something it couldn't find.
"The city is changing again," I murmured.
The moment I said that, a wave of light swept across the street. The walls of the houses seemed to stretch, becoming even brighter, as if the glow were being forced into them. And then, the first creatures appeared.
They looked like insects made of glass, with translucent bodies that reflected the light into twisted beams. They moved quickly and silently, leaving trails of heat in the air.
"What are those…?" Lyannis began.
"Photomorphs," Liriel said. "Creatures that only appear when shadows don't exist. They're part of the city's defensive mechanism."
"Defensive?" Vespera raised an eyebrow. "So this is defense? Great, we're officially being attacked by public lighting!"
Rai'kanna drew her sword. "They're approaching."
And they were. Fast, climbing walls, skimming the ground, and emerging from rooftops like droplets of solidified light.
"Don't let them touch you," Liriel warned. "They absorb vital energy."
I was the first to attack. The flame reacted immediately, creating a burning arc that cut through two of the photomorphs. But instead of exploding or melting, they unraveled into luminous dust, disappearing into the air.
Elara fired an arrow — but it evaporated before reaching the target.
"They nullify shadows and heat," she murmured, surprised. "That's bad."
"And they love fast movement," Rai'kanna said, dodging a leap of light that nearly struck her neck. "We need to change strategy."
Vespera took a deep breath. "Then let's go with wind!"
She spun her arms and unleashed a powerful gust. But the wind passed through the photomorphs without effect. Worse — the creatures multiplied along the current's path.
"Okay, that just made it worse!" Vespera shouted.
"They split when illuminated," Liriel explained quickly. "Wind creates friction, and friction creates light. Not useful right now."
The photomorphs advanced and surrounded the group.
Lyannis raised her spear. "Takumi, what do we do?!"
I looked around, thinking fast. The city was completely lit — but there was something strange: the light didn't come from the sky. It came from the ground, the walls, the air itself.
"Liriel, is there any way to create artificial shadow?"
Her eyes widened. "Shadows? Takumi, you mean— yes. That's it! They don't function in the absence of light. If we create darkness, even for an instant—"
"They'll fall apart," I finished.
"Or freeze," she added. "But that already helps!"
Rai'kanna nodded. "How do we create shadow in a place that erased them all?"
"We need to find something the city can't illuminate," said Liriel.
That was when I realized.
The map of the city in my mind — the result of everything we had seen — showed certain areas that never changed, no matter how much the city transformed. Fixed places, which not even the light of the Labyrinth City could alter.
"Behind the Statue of the Mother of the Labyrinth," I murmured.
Elara frowned. "That statue that looks like a woman holding a cube? We passed by it yesterday."
"Yes. The light doesn't touch its back. It creates a blind spot."
Rai'kanna smiled. "Then run!"
We took off immediately, with dozens of photomorphs racing after us like a silent swarm. At every corner, more creatures appeared. They looked like drops of pure light — threatening and fast.
The distance to the statue seemed to increase as we ran. The city stretched the streets, changed directions, tried to slow us down.
"She doesn't want us to get there!" Vespera shouted.
"That means we're right!" Elara replied.
The photomorphs were closing in.
Fast.
I felt the flame churn in my chest — a sense of urgency, as if something inside it were trying to push me forward.
"Takumi," said the voice of the flame, low, almost inaudible. "Don't stop."
I took a deep breath and accelerated. I ran through a street that folded like paper and jumped over a step that hadn't existed the day before. The statue rose before us, imposing, the stone cube glowing faintly in her hand.
"There!" I shouted.
Everyone ran.
The moment I turned behind the statue, the shadow appeared — small, narrow, but real. And the photomorphs that touched its boundary disintegrated instantly, like ice exposed to the sun.
Rai'kanna, Liriel, Elara, Vespera, and Lyannis arrived moments later, entering the protected area.
The photomorphs surrounded the statue, but they could not advance.
Liriel took a deep breath. "We're safe… for now. But this won't last long."
Rai'kanna touched the base of the statue, examining it. "The city erased shadows, but this one remained. Why?"
"Because it is one of the pillars of the construction," said Liriel. "A fixed point of the original structure. And fixed points cannot be altered by the living city."
Vespera watched the photomorphs piling up outside. "And how do we get out of here when this ends?"
"We're not going to wait for it to end," I replied.
Everyone looked at me.
"The city wants to stop us from seeing something. And every time it tries to stop me from moving forward, it's because the artifact or the truth is close."
Elara crossed her arms. "So you think the next artifact is connected to this shadow?"
"Not exactly," said Liriel, touching the surface of the cube. "But this statue is a map."
The glowing lines on the cube lit up.
And the light traced a new route.
An underground route.
Lyannis took a deep breath. "So… we're going down again."
Rai'kanna nodded firmly. "If this is what the city is trying to hide, that's where we're going."
Behind us, the photomorphs began to crack, as if something were calling them back.
The light in the city flickered.
Darkness tried to return…
…and failed.
But only for now.
Because it was clear that the Shadowless Day was only a warning.
The real danger was underground.
And the city knew it.