The beginning of light

1

"Mom!" the girl exclaimed, frightened, and rushed over to the young woman who suddenly fell unconscious. "No... Mom, no... please! It's... the end of the world"
"It is the beginning of light," a man answered calmly and quietly, as if by the way. Dressed in a strange white windbreaker and sweatpants, he happened to be nearby on an almost deserted embankment. He leaned over the woman, watching as burns appeared on her face and arms very quickly.
"She wasn't doing anything! She just fell down and that's it. I do not understand what happened!" The little girl stood next to her mom, trying not to slip into hysterics. A little girl who talked in a rather grown-up way and didn't act like an eight-year-old at all.
"She simply touched the light. And soon, everyone will have touched it. Only those who choose to be the light will survive..." He wasn't very good at consoling someone at all.
The child did not understand what these words were supposed to mean, but for some reason she felt the protection emanating from the stranger. She could sense that the man knew what was happening and could help them somehow.
"What can be done to save her?" she asked without a second's hesitation, her desperation making her look demanding and even assertive, as if she had the intention to keep him there until he answers and saves her mother's life. "You must know."
The man chuckled and shook his head, looking at her. "You are quite brave. Is that your mom?"
"Yes."
"Then be the light yourself. This is the only way you can help her, because you two greatly influence each other energetically."
The man sighed and carefully took the woman in his arms, lifting her gently.
"Are you with me?"
"Yes," the little girl blurted out without thinking. Of course she was with him. Somehow, the girl knew that he was good. She felt that he was the only one who could help them. Whereas the rest of the adults, whoever they were, understood absolutely nothing about what was happening, which she already noticed. Doctors, physicists, rescuers, or scientists could not explain what was going on, she had already Googled it. People around the world started dying for no apparent reason about six months ago, while some ended up in the hospital with severe burns, similar in symptoms to both radiation exposure and thermal burns at the same time, even though these people have not touched anything and did not have anything in common. There was no exposure to radioactive compounds or another type of radiation, not even enlarged holes in the ozone layer; initially, all sorts of theories were put forward by scientists. Even the solar radiation remained the same as before. It did not matter if a person was at home or in the mountains, in a hospital or underground, burns could suddenly start appearing on their skin, and nothing could stop this process.
The man nodded and closed his eyes for a second, as if submerging deep into his mind and tuning in to something. "Take my arm and hold on as tightly as possible, with all your might," he told the girl, and she unquestioningly grabbed his forearm, and a few seconds later, seemed to have dissolved into space, without even having time to exclaim from fright and the strange sensations that permeated her whole body for a couple of moments. It was as if her body had been split into atoms, shuffled, then reassembled once again.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, she collapsed, discovering in surprise that her muscles felt like cotton wool for a moment and her heart pounded wildly.
"Ahh!" she shouted belatedly and a little indignantly, as if in protest that she had not been warned that it would be so strange.
"I'm sorry I didn't warn you. There was no time, and this is not something that can be adequately described. But don't worry now, everything is going to be fine and your muscles will be back to normal in a few seconds. You're just not used to it."
He walked across the soft carpet of grass and rested the woman on a round wicker sunbed under a huge sprawling tree.
Disoriented, the girl didn't even immediately consider where she was, and only now began to look around. A green expanse of strange soft grass, similar to a long pile carpet, except alive, opened up to her gaze. The place was a little hilly, neatly divided by a series of paths into sections like honeycomb, on one side spanning all the way to the horizon, as far as the eye could see, and on the other abutted against low-rise houses. In addition to the endless fields underneath the blue sky, there were a few sprawling trees, mighty and wise, with large, strong roots.
"Where are we?"
"This... How should I explain this," the man sat down next to the girl on a nearby sunbed and tried to find the right words. "This is a safe place compared to what is happening across the entire planet Earth. An adaptation hospital, you might say, for those who would potentially choose the light, but may not survive unless they have help adapting to the new energies of the planet. We created it along with other people for earthlings like your mom. What is your name?"
"Mila..." the child said, shocked and confused. Now that the girl felt a little calmer, she wanted to burst into tears more than ever. The shock finally reached her in full, and tears started rolling down her cheeks. She pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around herself and wept with all her heart, her face buried in her legs. She cried like never before in her life, so openly and freely, without suppressing a single emotion; even the girl herself was surprised she was experiencing such strong feelings. Mila sobbed and sobbed loudly until she gradually began to calm down and steady her breath more and more, but she still kept her flushed face down.
"Is mom going to be okay?" she clarified again, just in case.
"Yes," the stranger assured her soothingly, doing something on his, as it seemed to Mila, luminous wristwatch.
The girl gradually relaxed more and more. The surroundings seemed to wrap her in love and warmth, her consciousness and mind unwound with each breath, all the worrisome thoughts fading away. Even the strange grass underfoot seemed to be trying to calm her down. Mila lay down on her side, curling up with her hands under her head, and then, without even noticing, she gently slipped into a deep restorative sleep.