Everyone was startled by the sudden appearance of Luminous, especially
since he looked equally surprised to see them. Then Phantom’s eyebrows folded
back into a scowl, and he glanced away, as if just LOOKING at him made his eyes
hurt. Aran looked astonished and muttered something to Maha, and Evan studied
the Light Mage with interest. Mercedes seemed startled, but then resumed back
into her emotionless expression.
As for Lania…..she didn’t know what to think. Her long lost father that
she was sure she was NEVER going to see again was now right in front of her,
but something seemed…..wrong. Something about his expression
seemed….un-Luminous-like, if she could only place her finger on it…..
And then it hit her: fear. His
expression right now mimicked a little girl in a horror movie when the monster
came out. As Mercedes stood up and walked towards him, opening her mouth to say
something to him, he flattened himself against the wall, his eyes wide in fear.
He looked pretty much the same since he had left her, and that made her feel
funny, for some reason. As if this thing was all a dream she had yet to wake up
from. It pained her to see him so frightened, even though she didn’t know why,
and she knew it wasn’t her fault.
“Luminous,” Mercedes began, coming
closer. “What are you-?”
“No!!” Luminous shrieked it fear, and Phantom jerked his head up from
his sulking position, his face a mask of bewilderment. Obviously, Luminous’s
frightened voice was something he had yet to hear. Luminous rammed his hands on
his ears, which mimicked Lania when the beating in her mind became unbearable
and screwed his eyes shut. “It’s all so loud! Everything is….and you’re only
making it worse!!!”
“What in the-” Mercedes began.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no!!” Luminous mumbled, sliding down against the
wall, cowering in front of Mercedes like she was the most dangerous monster in
the world. “Please, don’t come any closer. Don’t come any closer!! You’re all
too loud!!”
“He’s snapped,” Phantom groaned.
“Luminous,” Mercedes said gently like he was a child throwing a tantrum.
She placed a hand on his shoulder, but he jerked away from her touch like her
skin was deadly poison. Mercedes pursed her lips tightly together, but did not
give up. She shuffled closer to him, but he pushed her away. “No….it’s already
so loud….” He sounded like he was pleading now.
“Luminous?” Lania said, getting to her
feet.
Luminous opened an eye – his blue one – and Mercedes turned to look at
her. Lania had to calm to thousands of feelings bubbling up inside her. Her
father was here……right in front of her. How could she ignore that? Her lips
stretched into a smile, something she didn’t do in awhile, and she had to blink
back her tears. She had never known how much she missed him. Ignoring the
shouts of warning behind her, she took a step towards Luminous.
And he snapped.
It was like he couldn’t take it anymore; like he had bottled it up, but
now, the ‘loudness’ of Lania coming towards him had surfaced his insanity. He
drew out his staff and twirled it around, then pointed it at Lania. In a flash,
thousands of light arrows materialized in the air and shot towards the unarmed
girl. In all the shock, she could just stand there in horror.
Evan tackled her just in time and
they stumbled out of the way as the arrows peppered the ground where Lania
stood. Lania yelped in shock and Phantom leapt to his feet, ready as if he had
suspected this would happen. Aran threw herself at Luminous and together with
Mercedes, helped bind his hands behind his back. He was kicking and screaming,
and as Lania hit the floor after getting tackled away by Evan, she wondered
what had happened to him.
There was a flash, and Rhine appeared before them. Lania’s heart grew
hope. Rhine would fix this. She would know what to do. Her hand balled up into
a fist, and without a second thought, she punched Luminous right at the
stomach.
******
Mercedes and Aran weakened their grasp on his wrists as he fell back,
unconscious. Evan peered from behind his shoulder, and Phantom calmed a tad. It
was Lania still screaming her head off. She scrambled to her feet and raced
towards Luminous, slumped against the wall. “What did you do that for?” Lania
shrieked at the goddess and knelt down to examine the man.
Rhine seemed unfazed by Lania’s anger towards her and she drifted down,
her hands patting Lania on the back. “Relax, my child,” she said, and Lania’s
tense body calmed down a bit. She looked up at the goddess with her crystal
blue eyes, and Rhine smiled, her smile reassuring as she brushed Lania’s fringe
out of her teary eyes. “It had to be done. The darkness made him sensitive to
some things, and therefore, caused him to go….a bit crazy. When he awakes, he
should be fine.”
Lania didn’t seem convinced. It was hard to believe someone who just
punched her father to the point of unconsciousness. She stared back at her
father, the thrumming at the back of her mind starting again. She sighed. Even
when her father was not in dark mode, or ‘psycho mode’, as Phantom called it,
she could still sense the darkness. It had grown worse since their last
meeting.
Lania brushed her father’s long gray-blue hair out of his eyes and as
soon as her fingers touched his forehead, the ground disappeared beneath her
feet.
******
Lania fell onto a big, fluffy bed, pillows and cushions bouncing about
as she crashed onto the mattress. She groaned as she got up, working the kinks
out of her body, and she looked around. Where was she? How did she get here?
Everything seemed so unreal. The bed she was on was far too extravagant, if she
had her judgment. The mattress was inky black, and the pillows and blankets
were crimson red. It seemed like the sort of bed an evil king would slumber in,
and that made her insides squirm. She needed to get out of here.
As she slid off the bed, she realized most of the things here were red
and black and gold. The walls were painted black with red splatters marking the
wall, like someone had carelessly splashed a can of paint on the wall. Or
blood. After closer examination and realizing it looked more like blood, she
raced out of the bedroom and into what looked like a living room.
Her heart stopped in her chest.
Hung by their throats by the ceiling were multiple corpses, one she
vaguely remembered as Angela’s brother. Blood covered the walls, and the
cushions and sofas were blood red. The room seemed empty of things except for
the corpses and two sofas, and a single wooden coffee table sitting in front of
the sofas, draped over it a blood red tablecloth with gold markings. Sitting on
top of the table was a tray of coffee, steam pouring from the cup.
It took her awhile to realize she
wasn’t alone in the room.
Sitting in one of the sofas was what looked like a negative-colored
Luminous. Instead of gray-blue hair, his was red-black. BOTH his eyes were
crimson red, all the light gone from them, dead. He wore a black tuxedo with
red cuffs, and a red napkin slipped into one of his pockets. He held a white
tea-cup in his hands which he sipped quietly and silently, as if not to bother
someone.
Whoever this person is, he sure was a weirdo. But what surprised her
most was the fact that, other from the color of his eyes, his hair, and his
skin (which was pale to the point of white) and his attire, he looked JUST LIKE
Luminous. It was unnerving, and the way he looked at her made a chill run
through her spine. It was nothing like the warm glances Luminous throws her
way.
“Ah, Lania,” he said, chuckling as he set his cup down on the tray.
Lania’s blood froze in her veins; he even SOUNDED like Luminous…..and knew her
name. Who was this WEIRDO? She thought of running back the way she had come and
try to find some sort of exit to this place, but the man just crossed his hands
across his chest and smiled up at her, an evil, mocking smile. “Are you
considering running away? How foolish. I thought we just wanted to meet? No
matter….I shall forgive you, but only this once.”
Lania froze just as she was about to run.
Could he read her mind?
The man gestured to the other sofa opposite to his. “Sit, my dear. We
have much to discuss.” Awkwardly, Lania decided against running and sat down
uneasily on the chair, sitting on the edge in case she needed to run. The man
sat back in his chair, smiling at Lania like she was some sort of prize, and
that made Lania uneasy. She cleared her throat, and asked in the most confident
voice she could muster: “Wh-What do you want? Who are you? Where am I?”
The man chuckled, then picked up his tea-cup and sipped for awhile
before setting it back down. “Ah, Lania. You like delving deep, don’t you? Oh
well, one would expect you to. Okay, let us start with the basics; first off,
what I want from you is…..well, that is a hard question to answer, so let’s set
it aside for now. Second….who am I? I would think you would now, my child…” he
seemed disappointed, and Lania shifted uncomfortably in her seat. When he got
disappointed, she sensed a strange going-to-kill-her vibe emanating from the
man. She hoped he didn’t want something she couldn’t give, and hoped she could
get out of here soon.
The man recovered himself quickly and smiled that prize-smile again,
which curled Lania’s blood in her veins and froze her cold. “No matter, I shall
refresh you, then……my dear, I am Luminous.”
“You’re lying,” Lania blurted before
she could control herself.
The man chuckled, and Lania felt her anger level rising. Who was this
FREAK who CLAIMED himself as Luminous!? Sure, he looked like him and sounded
like him, but his demeanor was ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. He was a DIFFERENT PERSON,
no matter what he SAID. Either he was playing with her or he was MAD, but Lania
sensed it was probably both.
The man grinned, and sipped from his cup. “Oh Lania, how TYPICAL it is
for you to think I’m MAD and PLAYING with you, hmm?” He laughed then, and Lania
swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Okay, this freaky guy can DEFINITELY sense her
thoughts. She pondered whether she should think of something to lead him off
when he continued: “And on to the third question……where you are. That’s a
frightfully easy question, my dear; you are in your father’s mind.”
“What?” Lania gasped in shock. The man’s grin changed from frightfully
sweet to just wicked, enjoying Lania’s dumb-struck expression. As he picked up
his cup, Lania realized it was true; how she had just fallen into here by just
touching Luminous’s forehead, why this person had told her she was
Luminous…..suddenly, she understood.
“You….you’re his dark form, aren’t you?” Lania said, her voice quivering
in new found fear. The smug expression on the man’s face explained everything;
it was true. She was standing in front of the very person who ruined her
father’s life, killed a boy and nearly murdered a hero. She stepped back,
afraid her earlier comments might make the man do something drastic.
“You’re bright, aren’t you?” the man chuckled, and shook his head, his
dark hair falling into his crimson eyes. “But that’s not quite it, my dear
Lania. You think I am a ‘soul’ myself, the one who killed the boy? No. That was
PURELY Luminous, my container. My job is to lead him to the path of darkness,
not take over him. I am not a soul, my dear; I can do no such thing.”
Lania’s body shook in fear. “Wh….what
are you saying?”
The man leaned back, sighing, but the smile still evident on his face. “I
am saying, I am NOT a soul. I am pure DARKNESS. The only reason I am talking to
you now like a living person is that my container’s soul is currently taking
over now so that leaves me not much to do other than sit here and wait until
he’s vulnerable enough to take control again.”
Seeing Lania’s blank expression, he sighed and continued: “My dear, has
anyone told you you are IMPOSSIBLE to explain things to? Oh, well. Darkness is
peculiar that way; just know that I am NOT A SOUL. I am PURE DARKNESS, you get
it?”
“Uh…..yes?” Lania said a bit
uncertainly.
“Excellent,” he said, smiling broadly. He set the tea cup on the table
and continued: “What you have to know is ALL of us darkness are born with one
and ONLY ONE goal: Get into a body, and TAKE HIM OVER. Yes, I told you us
darkness DO NOT HAVE SOULS, but we are born souls. In the olden days, darkness
was a dreadfully powerful energy, and the only way humans could get their hands
on it was by sacrificing human SOULS.”
“Human SOULS?” Lania gasped.
“Yes,” the man mused, crossing his legs. “Have you watched Fullmetal
Alchemist Brotherhood? Wonderful animation. You see, the old way to harness
dark power in the hands of humans is the same way you make a philosopher’s
stone in the animation….by sacrificing the souls of MORTALS. Then, we turn back
on our owners; take over his body, then take over his SOUL.
“The Black Mage is an old-fashioned man, therefore he uses the
old-fashioned way of harnessing the power of dark; by using the souls he KILLS.
Therefore, we darkness are born with the SAME goal, but the Black Mage is Too
powerful for even ALL of us to take over, and therefore we must do his bidding
until the time comes when he corrupts one’s soul and it’s up to us to take
over.”
“T-that means,” Lania said, shaking with new found anger and fear.
“You….your purpose here is to take over your ‘container’, also known as MY
FATHER.”
“Foster father, my dear,” the man said in disgust, twirling a rose in
his hands before crushing it. It was beyond her where he got it. Lania slammed
her hands on the wooden table, causing the cups to tinkle together as their
glass surfaces clashed against each other. The man seemed unconcerned.
“You….you will NEVER take over my father’s GOOD SOUL!! Don’t even try because
you will FAIL!!” she roared.
“Highly unlikely.”
“WHAT!?”
The man sat up, his warm demeanor from just now completely gone. He
stared at her with those cold, red eyes. “Lania dear, if you must know…..light
is weaker than darkness; FAR weaker. Everything light; like light bulbs, fire,
and even the most POWERFUL source of light, the sun – will burn itself out
eventually. Darkness, however, is ETERNAL. And another thing…..even the most
POWERFUL light will not fill up EVERY dark corner in the room, hmm? EVERYTHING
makes darkness; even you.” To prove his point, he gestured to her shadow.
“Light and darkness are very different,” the man laughed; his laugh was
cold, joyless. It sent tingles up one’s spine. Lania swallowed hard and did her
best to look confident, but she was collapsing inside. Those eyes looked into
her very SOUL. “You see, if you took chemistry and you were to mix light and
dark energy in a container, your result would be very interesting; light
RECOILS from darkness, like, let’s say, an octopus recoiling from threat. It
retreats, because it is SMART, knowing it will NEVER win against darkness.
Quite right, but light doesn’t know ONE THING; Dark energy can TAKE OVER.”
“What do you mean….” Lania breathed,
her clenched fists shaking.
“What I mean is….” The man smiled wickedly. “…your little ‘daddy’ will
not hold out for much longer; being the light mage that he is, he is even
EASIER to corrupt than an average human being. Light is frightfully EASY for
darkness to corrupt, and when we corrupt light….it becomes new darkness. The
more we corrupt, the more powerful we get….the less control your father has
over us.”
“HOW MUCH DID YOU CORRUPT!?” Lania
shrieked, and the man grinned.
“My dear….” He said, letting what he
said sink in. “…he’s almost GONE.”
With that, the floor disappeared
beneath her feet.
*******
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