The spatial folds at the entrance to the base had completely sealed shut.
The cool-toned light patterns had drawn inward from the edges toward the center like a net being slowly tightened—the lines at the edges began contracting first, each arc moving toward the circle's center. As they moved, the curvature of the arcs gradually increased and the spacing between them shrank. At roughly one-third of the radius from the center, adjacent arcs began to overlap. The overlapping sections were about one level brighter than the non-overlapping sections, visually forming a series of alternating light and dark concentric bands. Those bands continued to converge inward. In the final instant before complete closure, the entire system of light patterns underwent a brief full-field flash—the brightness surged to its peak in less than a tenth of a breath, then plunged to zero. The flash lasted so briefly that the retina's persistence effect had not even had time to activate before it ended, yet it was bright enough to leave a fleeting complementary-color afterimage in the visual systems of nearby observers.
After the flash ended, the light patterns vanished. The space at the entrance returned to its proper density parameters, and air molecules once again filled the area at their normal distribution density. The localized pressure difference caused by the distortion of the folds balanced out within a few breaths. A faint current of air spreading outward from the folded area swept across the ground of the porch, stirring several dry leaves and sending them sliding along the ground for roughly two feet before they stopped beside the roots of a cluster of vines.
The vines outside the porch retained their original outlines beneath the starlight. Their leaf edges continued to turn in the breeze, flipping roughly two or three times per breath.