Hard Light (NaNoWriMo15)

Chapter 28 - Caught

For two hours, Leah struggled to reason out the parasite enough to satisfy her.

She kept getting stuck on the details. How it spread, its containment, its aversion to Light, its survival--there were so many holes. The best she could come up with was that infected Radiants were immune until they ran out of Light upon which it Shattered them, but how did that explain the Lightless? How did it explain Kieran's ability to use Light? Was it a matter of blood? Those with enough Radiant blood Shattered anyway upon losing their Light. Why did a parasite make a difference?

She started thinking bigger. Outside the parasite.

In theory, if it didn't exist, who was benefitting from the lie?

It started clicking. For someone inside the League with malicious intentions, what could be a better cover than a mindless, unpredictable parasite?

She took the facts. She had a voice that had wanted her to find the ritual room that could 'cure' the parasite. That same ritual had bleached Kieran's hair and given him back the ability to use Light without pain. He'd warned her. He'd told her to run.

She had no intention of doing so.

Leah tapped her pencil on the page. If she assumed that the voice was someone in the League--most likely Emrys--and that he had other intentions behind the ritual, then the parasite propaganda was perfect. The rest of the world didn't care if he held hundreds of Lightless captive. They were infected. They were dirty. He was free to experiment and kill as many of them as he needed to figure out how to hit his end game.

Which the ritual had let him do.

The only question was what he planned to do with it. Asriel had mentioned streamlining the process, and no one was going to object to the supposed 'curing' of the Lightless. The idea of mind controlled army kept appearing under her pencil, but that seemed insane.

Yet... that voice had taken control of Sef. It wasn't impossible.

That brought her to the next problem which was probably the most terrifying of all. If Emrys could truly get inside the heads of the Radiants, if he could Shatter them at will, then none of them were safe. The only bright spot Leah could find was that whatever this ritual was, it was different. It wasn't direct possession, more like a blanket of influence over the core of the Radiant's personality. It might still be possible to break without Shattering Kieran.

Leah read back through her notes, now spanning to the back of the notebook, and took a page to summarise her thoughts.

- Parasite is a cover for other actions inside the League -> Allows capture of Lightless.

- Voice is likely whoever is behind it. Able to take direct control of Radiants (Teridian blood blocks?). Uses Light -> Is ritual a slightly different, more efficient version of this? Changes personality, not entirely, but turns hair white. How does it work? Possible to break control? Kieran is the test subject?

- Are Slayers involved? Always around, take orders from Emrys.

She scanned the page, glancing at the orb, still hovering over her shoulder and added one more.

- Why is the orb important? Heals injuries, uses Light. (Appears in murals of Ancients until disappeared--purpose?)

Once more, Leah read it over, questioning every sentence, trying to find a hole in her theory. She was missing things still, she knew that, but neither was she going to figure them out in her room.

She had to see Kieran.

Quietly, Leah closed up her notebook and slid it under her mattress. She glanced at her Hilt where it rested under her pillow. She knew it wasn't going to save her from Emrys or a Slayer if they really wanted her dead, but its weight made her feel a little more confident.