Let there be light? Or let there be only one photon?

This is how I imagined the universe at some point, and I still don't know how it compares with reality.

A fundamental question is raised as the following: "If there are one candle and one mirror, are there TWO candles?". Similarly, "If a candle lies inside a box made of 6 mirrors, are there infinitely many candles? Is the resulting illumination infinite?".

The answer is no. Physically, a mirror is not perfect, and as it is shown in the image, the reflected candles are not as bright as the original one. The total illumination is then finite.

But suppose that the mirrors ARE perfect, is the illumination infinite? The answer is still no, because of the occlusion. Indeed, the flame of the candle (as an emitting source) is very small compared to the candle itself. So even if we imagine infinitely many candles reflected through perfect mirrors, the illumination is not infinite because the light coming from a distant flame is most likely to be occluded by another candle (wax stick or support).

We can go a step further. Suppose a candle light can exist without a support. In other words, suppose that a flame can exist by itself inside a box made of perfect mirrors, is the illumination then infinite?

Can fire occlude fire?

This picture is about this "open" idea. The small box is a theoritical perfect situation where a light source can exist on its own without any occluder. As time goes by, the light intensity or density increases indefinitely inside the box. After a sufficient while, even the smallest pinhole would eject a huge blast of light.

So one should take care of a single candle, because it could become brighter than thousands of noon suns.