Light out into darkness: chapter 02
Awesome — let's continue the story.
Here's Chapter 2 of Light Out into Darkness, following Lucy after the last beacon goes out and the light awakens inside her.
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Chapter 2 – The Spark Within
The world was too quiet.
Lucy stood at the edge of the tower, staring down at Blackmere. The torches that had once painted its narrow streets in trembling orange light were gone. The only glow came from her hands — faint, shifting like a heartbeat.
The light was inside her.
She could feel it pulsing in her veins, humming beneath her skin, steady and alive. It should have terrified her. Instead, it filled her with something she hadn't felt since childhood.
Warmth.
It burned softly, like a secret she was never meant to hold.
Then the cold returned — the sound of wind that wasn't wind, and whispers that had no mouths. The shadows around the tower moved again, gathering at the base like a rising tide.
The creature's voice slithered up the stones.
> "Little lightkeeper… what have you done?"
Lucy backed away from the edge. The light inside her flared in answer, spilling out in threads of gold that coiled around her arms. The darkness hissed, retreating for a moment.
> "You shouldn't have touched the flame," it said. "Now it will consume you."
Her heart thundered. "Then I'll burn," she whispered. "But I won't let you take what's left."
She ran. Down the tower steps, through the cracked doorway, into the dead streets of Blackmere. The light followed her like a halo, flickering across broken windows and silent doors.
Everywhere she looked, the town was empty.
Too empty.
Where were the people? The guards, the children, the priests who once sang to the fire? Gone — all of them. Or maybe something worse.
The mist thickened as she reached the square, curling low and heavy. And in its depths, shapes began to form — outlines of faces she knew. Her mother's eyes. Her friend's smile. Twisted, warped, hollow.
> "Lucy…"
The voices echoed, overlapping, pleading. "Stay with us… you promised…"
Her grip tightened on her dagger. "You're not them."
The figures lunged.
Light erupted from her in a flash of white. It wasn't gentle this time — it tore through the mist like lightning, scattering the false faces into smoke. When the brightness faded, the square was empty again.
She fell to her knees, shaking. The dagger clattered beside her. Her breath came ragged, and the light dimmed slightly, exhausted by the outburst.
What had she become?
"Still alive," a voice said from behind her. "Impressive."
Lucy turned sharply.
A man stood there — or at least, something shaped like one. Cloaked in black, his hair silver as frost, eyes reflecting her faint glow. He didn't move with the hunger of the shadows. There was something… aware about him.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
He inclined his head. "A guide, perhaps. Or a fool who came to see if the stories were true."
"What stories?"
"That a light would rise again from the ashes of the last flame." He stepped closer, unafraid of her glow. "It seems the world wasn't done burning after all."
Lucy's pulse quickened. "If you're here to take it—"
He lifted a hand. "Calm yourself, spark-bearer. I don't serve the darkness. Not anymore."
There was something in his tone — weary, familiar — that made her hesitate. The light inside her pulsed in curiosity rather than warning.
"What do you want?" she asked quietly.
He smiled, faintly. "To make sure you live long enough to learn what that thing inside you truly is. Because if you don't…" His gaze flicked toward the horizon, where the mist churned darker than ever. "…the shadows will swallow everything before dawn."
Lucy stared at him, the truth dawning in her chest like a slow ember.
The last flame hadn't just chosen her. It had changed her — made her into something new.
A weapon.
A hope.
A target.
The man turned away, his cloak stirring the dust. "Come, lightkeeper. If you want to survive, we have to leave before they smell your fire."
She glanced once more at her dying town, then at the faint glow in her hands. The fear was still there — but beneath it, something stronger had begun to burn.
Determination.
Lucy took a deep breath, tightened her cloak, and followed him into the dark.
The world had lost its light.
But now, it had her