Hard Light (NaNoWriMo15)

Chapter 25 - Truth

Asriel's soft words didn't match his body language. "I'm sorry, Leah. If there were any way to convince Emrys otherwise, I would. I tried, I promise you that."

The cold sank a little further into Leah's being. "What are you going to do to me?"

"Emrys has ordered that you and Kieran are to be placed in the chamber until he is satisfied," said Asriel.

Leah was almost too scared to ask. "The chamber?"

One of his white-haired peers replied. "You'll see its nature soon enough. It has ways of bringing the truth out of Radiants like yourself. Either you'll repent, or your sins will tear you apart."

This time, Leah's fear won out.

Kieran emerged in the white robe. Leah kept checking over her shoulder to see if he was still there was they were led to a staircase that burrowed into the ground. Once, she caught the back end of a reassuring smile before she was told to face the front.

The staircase stopped several metres below the surface at a wall of opaque crystalite. A white-haired guard stepped forward. At the touch of a crystal, a slab slid aside, revealing the dark room within.

The chamber.

Leah's Light was already coagulating inside her heart as she realised what it was. Her feet wouldn't move. When she was nudged from behind, she dug her heels into the ground and shoved back, fighting to get away from that doorway, from the pool of shadows it contained.

Leah lashed out at the guard as they grabbed her wrist. "No--no, please!"

"In."

She tried to yank her wrist free. The guard's grip was iron and soon trapped both of her wrists. Leah dropped her weight into the ground, but that didn't stop them either. Despite her pleas, they simply picked her up and carried her inside.

As soon as she was dumped unceremoniously on the ground, Leah was back on her feet, trying to reach the door before it closed again.

She didn't make it halfway before the last cracks of outside light were sealed away.

The orb glowed just enough to see the door. Leah threw herself against it, driving her shoulder into the unyielding surface again and again until it ached. The darkness was closing in, sticking to her skin, sucking up her Light. They couldn't leave her down here--they wouldn't. Would they? Her shoulder cracked against the door. No, they couldn't. She pulled back, readying for another strike, and--

Arms wrapped around her body, pulling her back.

Leah squealed. She thrashed around wildly, digging her nails in, trying to break free. Was there something else in here with her? Had they--

"Hey, hey!" said Kieran's voice. "Shh. Calm down."

Leah stopped. "Kieran?"

"Beating yourself to a pulp on that door isn't going to fix anything," he said. "I need you with a clear head and a preferably working body."

She couldn't soften her grip on his arms. It was a lifeline in the near perfect darkness. "I thought I was alone in here."

"You were a little preoccupied."

He still hadn't let go, and Leah was more than okay with that. If she closed her eyes and pretended that the darkness was self-inflicted, that they weren't trapped in an underground room, she could breathe.

"I'm--I'm sorry," she said, allowing him to sit her down beside him. When Kieran went to let her go, she latched onto his wrist and dragged it back. "Please don't let go. I--I can't deal with the darkness like this."