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Lux Greyson: 1

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He woke screaming and tearing at the chains holding him to the freezing stone floor. His wrists and ankles were raw and bloody from the chafing of the cold iron, but it was hard to notice, to even care about the pain, when compared to the burning haze os his dreams.  As much as he hated the torment of his waking hours, it was the nights the frightened him more. When he slept was when he was vulnerable, when he was weak. What should have been a small comfort and solace didn’t even free him from this seemingly endless torment. For whenever he closed his eyes... It was always there, waiting to take him in its fiery embrace.
    These days, he could hardly remember who he was, let alone why he was here. He often wondered if the fleeting memories he had of life outside this prison were even real. Maybe it was a lie, maybe he had always been here and his memories of happiness were nothing but a shadow conjured by the thing to break him. To give it a hole, through which it could come. He couldn’t even remember why he was fighting. He just knew that he couldn’t give in to the fires that raged in his mind, there was too much at stake. Though he often wished he could at least understand. Why him? What was so special about him? Why was the thing determined to take him?
    Every day the men came, trying to break him for their master. They starved him, beat him, sometimes they tortured him for days on end. All in the hope that the pain would eventually break him, that eventually he would allow the thing in. Still they couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t give up. He couldn’t even understand some days.
    He lay still on the cold floor, willing his heartbeat to slow, trying to force the fear from his body. They’re probably right, he thought to himself, he could already feel himself slipping away. Soon there would be nothing left but a gibbering mad man, a shell of who he once was. Still, even if he fell into madness, he would continue to fight, to much was at stake. She had always said he was stubborn as a bull, that if he’d made up his mind about something, that was how it would soon be. It was a matter of pride now, he had to prove her right. He refused to give the thing the satisfaction of surrender. He refused to let it win.
    He tried to fall back to sleep, maybe this time he thing wouldn’t be there and he’d finally be able to rest. He didn’t imagine that would actually be true, but if nothing else he had learned the value of small hopes. But sleep wouldn’t come. Every time he closed his eyes, he was reminded of the terror of his dreams and what lay inevitably in store for him. He slept fitfully, tossing and turning in his chains, trying desperately to somehow forget where he was just for a little while. Eventually his breathing slowed, and slowly sleep began to creep back over him. But then, he heard a noise, somewhere beyond the thick wooden door of his cell. The sound was regular and spaced evenly enough so that it could be footsteps, but they were soft, as if trying not to be heard. Try as he might, he couldn’t bring himself to be surprised. Sometimes the men tried to surprise him, tearing him from his dreams with buckets of icy water, if he was lucky. In a way, it was almost a relief sometimes. Any escape from the thing inside of him was a blessing at times. The sound came closer, but he didn’t bother to stir. He was already awake, why not try to enjoy the bath?
    The footsteps crept closer, stopping on occasion. He imagined that they stopped because they had heard some noise, some intruder creeping up on them, and that out of the shadows would leap some savior. As if he could be so lucky. The truth was that he’d given up hope of rescue long ago. He listened to their passage. It may not be much or even mean anything, but it was a breaking of the pattern of his new life. Something different, that could maybe be the answers to his prayers, but would more than likely simply be some fresh torment. Either way, it was something fresh to break the monotony.
    They came even closer, the echoing sounds of doors opening and closing following their passage. After every opening door, there was a pause, if only for a brief moment. It was almost as if whoever was out there was searching for something. He felt his heartbeat quicken again, but this time with an emotion long unfamiliar to him. Why would they be searching the other cells? It wasn’t as if they didn’t already know where he was. Maybe this was it then, he thought. Maybe this was they day that this all would end, for better or for worse. Though he had a hard time believing that it could be anything but for worse anymore. He shifted, trying to relax against the cold floor, mentally steeling himself for whatever fate was to come. Then, far more shocking than any icy water could hope to be, he heard a voice, barely audible through the thick door.
    “...you there? Lux?”
    That name, that voice! He knew them! He knew them as he had once known his own heart, but he couldn’t make the memories come. It was like everything he knew had been burned away, leaving only ashes and embers in his mind. But it wasn’t the men, no it couldn’t be them. Nothing could ever make him forget the cruel blades of their words. He struggled to rise, but the chains and his own weakness held him to the ground.
    “Is someone there?” The voice called again. The footsteps came closer still, running now, for the few feet it would take until they were right outside the door. He lay, stunned almost, as he heard click after click as seemingly endless keys were tried in the door’s  lock. This couldn’t be real, it must be another trick, another hallucination, conjured by the thing. It had happened before. Soon, the door would open and it would be the men standing there again, cruel smiles filling their faces.
    He heard the door start to swing open and he closed his eyes, unable to face the thought of their twisted faces. But suddenly the room was washed in near blinding white light, that he could see even through closed eyes. He forced his eyes to open against the light, only to find a shining globe of silvery white light standing in the doorway. To him, it seemed like the moon! As if the moon herself had stepped down to save him. Now he knew that this was too good, to fantastic, to be true. He must be hallucinating. He blinked again, turning his face away from the light and willing this vision to disappear. He couldn’t take any more of this false hope. But it didn’t disappear, the light only dimmed until he could see a woman standing in its midst.
    “Lux!” The woman shouted and ran to him.
    Though she still glowed, softly, like a pale moon, he could now see the she was as human as he once was. Her hair was long, very long, and dark as a moonless night, and even in the darkness of the room her eyes glinted a brilliant violet. There was something about this girl, something that was achingly familiar. She knelt next to him, a brilliant smile on her face. It had been so long since he’d seen anything so beautiful, that her every motion seemed as if something from a dream.
    Delicately, almost as if she feared he would disappear at the slightest touch, she took his hand in hers. Her hand was warm and her touch seemed to fill him with a new sense of hope. A warmth traveled through him, and suddenly, he remembered. He remembered breezy autumn days and the quiet of the woods as they walked beneath the drying leaves. He remembered the balmy summer nights that they had spent together under the stars and the softness of her skin beneath his hands. The memories flooded through him, surrounded always by a haze of silvery white light. No longer did he doubt the reality of the situation, it simply had to be real. Not even the creature inside of him could fabricate something like this. It belonged in the darkness, in the shadow of the deepest nights that not even the moon could penetrate. There was no place for it here under the silver moonlight.
    Suddenly, in the daze of it all, a name surfaced. It was something solid, something he could hold on to in the torrent of his regained past. “Ly-lysere?” he said, his voice cracked and worn from lack of use for anything but to scream. He struggled again to stand but the chains still held him fast.
    “Lux please, be still. Just let me take care of those,” she gently passed her pale white hand across his forehead. “Oh gods Lux, I can’t believe you alive. I was starting to be afraid that I’d never find you.” She took hold of the manacles around his wrists, her hands beginning to glow with a silvery white light, but then she hesitated. “I’m sorry, but... This might hurt.” There was care in her voice, and for him no less. It was something that he’d never thought he would hear again. He didn’t care if it hurt more than anything the man had done to him, this was worth any scrap of pain that might come.
    Holding the manacles, she whispered a word under her breath, and the glow from her hands became fire, fire as white as snow. He could have laughed out loud if his voice had had the strength for it. Fire was something he knew, something he was more familiar with than he could ever bear. But there was something different about hers. Where the thing’s flames were nothing but destruction and pain, the flames that covered her hands, that were slowly breaking the chains from his wrists... They were cold, freezing the manacles to the point of shattering rather than melting them. And though the touch of the cold flames burned, bit in to his skin like the coldest of winter winds, he didn’t mind. He felt as if her flames were burning away the traces of the thing, purified by the same thing he, only just a short time ago, feared.
    “Lysere,” His voice was still rough and it was almost painful to speak, but he was still reveling in the novelty of it. “How did you find me?”
    Though she was distracted by her task, her voice was still filled with joy. “Luck mostly, but that’s not what’s important right now. For right now, you’re safe, and that’s all that matters.”
    Lux chuckled, he couldn’t help it. It was all just so fantastic. “I thought nobody was looking for me. I figured that I would die down here in this pit.”
    He had barely heard the sound of metal hitting the floor when suddenly her arms were around him, holding him close to her. “I never stopped looking for you.” She near whispered, and for the first time, he could almost hear tears edging her voice. There was something startling about it really, the feel of true human contact again. He’d had to fight to keep himself from shying away from her touch out of sheer habit. He couldn’t tell if she had noticed it, but she only seemed to hold him tighter. He relaxed and, abruptly she let go, her hand beginning to glow again. She smiled, “But it doesn’t matter now. Let’s just get you out of here.”
    One by one, the chains fell away, leaving his raw limbs stinging from the chill in the air. It was an oddly alien feeling to be free after having been bound here so long, but one that he was more than glad to feel again. Lysere took his hand, helping him shakily to his feet. His whole body ached from the blades of the demon’s men, but he could stand and walk out of here, if maybe not on his own. He looked to Lysere, and only now that they were both standing did he notice that he was having to look down. Funny, he thought, he didn’t remember her being so short, but now he stood nearly a half a foot taller than her. But then again, it might not be wise to trust many things he remembered anymore. She held his hand, leading him from the room.
   He stopped suddenly in the door way, causing her to tug on his arm slightly. It wasn’t often that he felt the thing while he was awake, but he could feel it now, waiting still in the shadows of his mind. He was afraid, not for himself, but for her. It may have been kept at bay for now, but it was angry, he could feel it. And it would not take kindly to his rescue. “Lysere I... I don’t know that I should. That thing is still here, it’s still inside of me.  I... I could be dangerous.”
    She turned to face him, taking his other hand in hers as well. “I know,” she said, her voice heavy with some kind of sadness. “I know what those men did to you and that things might not be easy anymore. But I don’t care. The gods themselves could tell me otherwise and I still wouldn’t.”
    He wanted so much to think as she did, to not have this fear filling his mind, but it was far from easy. “But what if something happens?” He said, still frozen in the doorway. “What if I can’t control myself?”
    For a brief, heart-stopping moment, she seemed unsure of what to say. He was certain that she would, that she should, agree with him. It would be better that way, she would be safer. And he’d be alone.
    All those thoughts came in the brief instant that she was silent, but when she spoke, there was no hesitation. “If it does I’ll... I’ll fix it, we’ll fix it! Together.”
    He couldn’t move, couldn’t even speak. He simply couldn’t believe that she was saying this, couldn’t believe that she still cared after all this time. But she had to, why else would she be here? He looked down at her face, studying it like he had never seen it before. There were no hidden motives, no cruel smiles and tricks. Not even the seriousness of the moment could hide the smile she had every time she looked at him. For the first time in ages, he felt warm, he felt safe. He knew that it was selfish, but he never wanted to lose this feeling, lose her, again.
    She tugged at his hand again, but this time he followed into the echoing stone corridor beyond. He’d seen this place before, far to many times for him to count. Though every door was closed, he knew from memory what each one led too as they passed it. The four doors on the left were other cells, he knew that from brief glances as the men had dragged him by, though he had never known their purpose. The ones on the right belonged to the men, they were the rooms where they slept and ate. All but one, it was that one that he knew the most. The door behind which they would take him, and the men would play their twisted games. He tried, but even now he couldn’t help but look away as the passed it. Instead he looked ahead, to the end of the corridor where a staircase spiraled up into the darkness.
    The staircase seemed to spiral up for forever, every step taking it toll on his near broken body. But whenever he would stumble, Lysere was there to hold him steady. Finally the staircase ended in a heavy iron bound wooden door. He felt his heart quicken suddenly, it had been so long since he had seen the world outside that cell. He was both excited and afraid at the same time. She saw his hesitation and smiled, brushing his cheek with her free hand. “Lux,” she whispered. “It’s beautiful out tonight.”  For the first time in who knows how long, he felt a smile cross his face, and suddenly not even the thought of creature could taint the wonder of this moment.
    Lysere pulled aside the heavy wooden door with a loud creak and a rush of chilled air. Even before the door opened completely he could see the silver moonlight pouring in, giving the grey stone around them and oddly unearthly look. Then the door was open, and they stepped out into what seemed to him to be a wonderland.
    The full moon hung high in the sky, casting it’s shimmering light on the trees and rocks around them. They stood on the side of a mountain, high enough that he could look down on much of the lands and trees around them. Even though they were high enough up the mountain that the air was near dizzying with it’s sudden clarity, he could still see the mountain’s immense peak towering above them. Though the chattering of nighttime creatures and the rustling of leaves in the light breeze seemed a nearly overwhelming amount of noise, he could still hear the impatient stamping of the two nearby horses. Though he knew that Lysere was waiting for him, for some time he could only stand and stare. Everything felt strange and alien, and... new. As if he was a child who had never seen the world before. The wind rose, brushing his too long and tangled hair against his face and bringing with it a sense of freshness and strength, despite his injuries. If nothing else, he knew that the feel of it was something that he’d never take for granted again.
    Finally, he stirred, turning to find Lysere still standing beside him his hand still held in hers. “Do you think you can manage to ride?” She asked, her gaze shifting to the two saddled an waiting horses tethered to a nearby tree. “Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a long trip down the mountain.” He nodded, and she stepped towards the horses, drawing him with her as she went. It was funny how she seemed so reluctant to let go of him.
    The horse seemed unusually skittish as they approached, but he didn’t blame him for being so. He knew that he was a stranger and, to the horse at least, he probably smelled awful as well. Lysere whispered a few soothing words in his ear though, and he soon calmed enough for Lux to get near. She steadied him as he mounted more than a bit awkwardly, but muscle memory soon took over as he settled on the horse’s back. It was good to know that he hadn’t forgotten everything from growing up at least.
    Lysere whispered something to her horse as well before she swung herself onto it’s back with one effortless motion. His horse’s ear perked up at the sound of the soft clicking noise that she made, and when Lysere turned her horse down the rocky trail, his followed easily without a single more command.
    He fought to stay awake as they walked down the mountain trail. As tired as he was, it was all so new to him that he didn’t want to miss a single moment of it. But something about the coolness of the night air and the gentle motion of the horse’s movements served only to drive him further towards sleep. His head had begun to droop for the third time when he caught Lysere turning back to watch him, a slight smile on her face. He straightened abruptly, but she only laughed, and he couldn’t help but smile along with her.
    “It’s okay you know.” She said mirth tinging her voice. “Arthur’s a good horse, he won’t let you fall.” She shifted a bit in her saddle, to talk to him more easily.
    He opened his mouth, some protest or argument on his lips, but he knew it was a lost battle. He knew that he was going to nod off eventually whether he liked it or not. Instead, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, willing himself to relax and trying to get as comfortable as possible. He’d slept in the saddle before, and while it wasn’t the most comfortable of places to sleep, it was certainly better than where he’d been sleeping lately. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t even think about the thing as he drifted off to sleep. Tonight, he dreamt only of the moon.

    Lux awoke suddenly in the darkness of the inn room, trying to shake the haze of sleep and dreams from his mind. He wasn’t surprised at his sudden awakening, he had barely slept since Lysere had brought him from the mountain. Though Lysere had freed him from his cell, she couldn’t save him from everything, the dreams of the creature still plagued his mind nearly every night. He felt Lysere stir next to him as she curled tighter against his chest, startled probably by his sudden awakening. He smiled and gently stroked her long black hair. In the month that had passed since they left the mountain, she had barely let him out of her sight. Not that he minded, he didn’t want to let her out of his. There were times when her touch was the only thing that could make him believe that this was still real.
    In many ways, she had become the rock that he clung too. He couldn’t truly know what those men had done to him down there, his memories were blurred and hazy, leaving more feelings behind than specific events. Not that they had left plenty of reminders in the form of light scars that covered almost all of his body. Some nights he still woke in a cold sweat, sometimes even screaming, terrified of things that only he could see. That was if he slept at all. But it was alright, as long as Lysere was there. Her soft words always seemed to banish the darkness for a time. He didn’t know what he would do without her.
    He lay back in the bed and tried to find sleep again, leaning gently against Lysere and willing the darkness at bay. But sleep wouldn’t come, and he knew that it was pointless to lay there any longer. He got out of the bed, trying to disturb Lysere as little as possible, but she only sighed and wrapped herself tighter in the sheets. He shook his head stifling a chuckle, she had always been a heavy sleeper. He dressed quietly in the dark before stopping suddenly and walking over to the window. He threw open the curtains, letting in the silvery, almost full moon light. The moon’s light washed across the small inn room, leaving everything looking as if it was from another world, and bringing with it a sense of peace.
    He leaned against the windowsill, breathing in the cool night air and trying to clear his head. There was something familiar about the feeling, and he was struck suddenly with the memory of he and Lysere’s first night together. The brush of her hand against his chest and the softness of her skin against his own as they had loved one another in the cold night. They had been so happy, life had been so simple. He knew that things couldn’t stay the same forever, but how could things have changed so much?
    He knew that he was different now, since his year spent in captivity. Sometimes he would go to sleep at night, and when he woke he would find himself no where near where had had went to bed with no memory of how he had gotten there. Once he woke in the woods outside of the town, his hands drenched in blood. He had never found where the blood came from, but he knew it hadn’t been from himself. He couldn’t bear to tell Lysere what had happened, instead he had washed the blood away and claimed to have taken a walk during the night. She hadn’t questioned him. Somehow, that made it worse.
    Lysere worried for him too, he could see it. Oftentimes, he would go for walks when he couldn’t sleep, usually they would help to clear his head. When he would come home it nearly broke his heart to see the relief in her eyes. He often wondered if he should simply walk away, he was sure that Lysere would be better off without the near broken man he had become. But he couldn’t bring himself to go. His selfishness was keeping him here, he wasn’t strong enough to leave and stop causing her pain. He hated himself all the more for it.
    Abruptly, he turned from the window and left the room, forgetting even to close the curtain as he did. His feet pounded across the cobblestones as he walked quickly towards the thick forests that lay beyond the town’s silent streets. He could feel the anger rising within him, threatening to flood his thoughts, despite all his best efforts. Anger at himself for how weak he was, at those men for doing this to him, even at Lysere for being a fool and continuing to look for him, for not leaving him there where he couldn’t hurt her.
    The storm of emotions inside his mind gave only drove him on faster as he strode deeper into the woods. The thoughts and emotion churned and raged within him, and inside of it all he heard a voice, snaky and sibilant like the hiss of smoke rising from a dying flame. The very sound of it fueled the rage of his thoughts, driving him closer and closer to its waiting flames.
    You don’t deserve this, the voice hissed. Isn’t it unfair that of all the people in the world they chose you?
    “No,” He said to the silent woods. “It’s not right. Why couldn’t they have just left us in peace?”
    And you know they’ll never stop looking for you. You, their precious success. You’ll spend the rest of your life being hunted like an animal.
    “It’s not right! All I ever wanted was to live in peace with her! And now because of me, we can never have that.” It was all he’d ever really wanted, even in the days of his old life, when he’d never thought that he would see her again.
    Not you, them. Because of them, you’ll never have the life you wanted. Because of them, you’ll never be the man you once were.
    Whatever he thought, the thing was right about that. He’d never again be the man he once was. But even so, he couldn’t live like this. “I won’t live the rest of my life running! I have to stand up and fight!”
    Yes, it is no more than they deserve. Hunt them down like the monsters that they are!
    He could feel the fires rising behind his eyes, slowly burning away his thoughts until there was nothing left but his rage. He could hear the sounds of the squirrels and birds fleeing from his passage, but he didn’t care. What did they matter in the end? They were no more important, no more powerful than the men who had done this to him.
    Burn them, the voice whispered. They all deserve to burn for letting you suffer so.
    As the red haze slowly filled his thoughts he realized, nearly to late, what was happening.  The thing was trying to sway him, already his movements were becoming sluggish and clumsy as the thing slowly took control of his body. It was strong, but he had to fight back! “But how exactly will that change things?” He called out to the sky, trying to force the fire from his mind. The flames were rising higher, threatening to consume him, he could feel it. “I just have to keep fighting!” He said, half to the thing, but more to himself.
    You’ve fought so long already though. Don’t you deserve a rest? Let go. Give in to what you know to be right. Let me help you. Together we could right the wrongs that they have done.
    “No! I won’t let you win!” All around him, the land seemed to be warping and changing, twisting its self into some nightmarish landscape more suited to one of his dreams than reality.
    Win? Oh, but this is no game. This is about justice. This is about revenge.
    “Revenge? But...”
    Isn’t that what you want? I can feel the anger, the rage, inside of you. It burns through this pathetic facade of control. You want this just as much as I do. Let me in boy, I can help you.
    “No, you won’t control me!” He could feel the thing clawing at his thoughts trying to find a hole, some crack or crevice that it could make it’s way in. It was as if the thing knew all his secrets, and knew exactly what to say to make him angry. To make him hurt.
    I know your tired, I can see it in the pathetic way you struggle against me. Why fight it? You know that I will win soon enough. You cannot fight me!
    The thing was pushing harder now. He could feel it tearing at his mind, like it was trying to rip a hole through which it could escape. He fell to his knees, the shadow of a tall tree looming over him, transforming from shadow into some strange and twisted shape reaching out from the darkness to take him.
    “I won’t let you out!” He had to hold on, had to somehow keep this thing inside. The consequences of any other alternatives were just to great. “I won’t let you burn this world!”
    Oh, but it deserves nothing less! Can’t you see? All the hatred, all the suffering and pain that you mortals inflict on each other, in an instant it could all be gone! We wouldn’t be destroying this world, we would be saving it!
    The ache in his mind was getting even stronger. He pulled at his hair and head, as if somehow that could do anything to drive away the monster trying to take him over. It was getting hard to speak. It seemed that the thing was even trying to control what he said.
    “No! I won’t let you use me! I won’t give you control!” A sudden surge heat coursed through him, burning every inch of his body from the inside out. He had to do something, he didn’t have much time left. But he could barely think in the cacophony of the creature’s words.
    You think that you can stand against me? You, a child. A stripling boy. I have lived eons beyond your imagining. I have seen the birth of stars, orchestrated the rise and fall of empires. I have corrupted the highest of men and given rise to the lowest among you simply for my own amusement. And you think that you can fight against me? You are nothing compared to my might. Now give up!
    He was so hot he thought that soon his blood would begin to boil. It was too late now, soon he would lose control. He fought to look to the sky, to see the stars and the moon, thinking to find in them some solace, some hope. But the darkness of the forest hid them from sight. He was alone, abandoned, no one was there to protect him now. Alone he could not hope to fight against this monster, to stand against this darkness. For how could he stand against his own mind?
    That’s it boy, why fight your own desires. They’ve abandoned you, but what does it matter? You don’t need her. You don’t need anyone.
    Images of war filled his mind, filled with fire and blood and he reveled in it. This is what the world wanted, deserved no less. They would pay, they all would for the wrongs they had done him. He would scour the land with raging fires and take his revenge against them all!  No one would escape his wrath, not even her. She would watch, helpless to stop it as her love burned the world leaving nothing but ash in his wake. Then when the last man fell, and only then, would he turn to her and take her-
    “NO!” He cried into the night. “Not her!”
    A violent shiver ran through him for suddenly, he was cold, so very cold. The woods were silent, not even the chirp of a cricket to fill the void. The voice was gone, the only trace of it’s passing being a circle of ashen grass around him. For a moment, all he could do was kneel there in the darkness, stinging tears leaving tracks down his face, waiting tensed for the moment that the thing would strike again. But his mind was silent, utterly silent. He laughed, a touch of hysteria edging into the sound. He was safe, for now anyway. But he knew better that to think he had defeated the thing. It would be back, it would never stop. But he would keep fighting for as long as he could, he had to.
    He pulled himself to his feet, wiping away his tears, his hand shaking from their bitter cold. He turned and headed back towards the town, a new resolve appearing in his step as he heard the sounds of the animals slowly returning. He had no illusions that he could hold out forever, but he would try. If not for himself, then for her. She had given so much for him, so much that he doubted he would ever be able to return. But if nothing else, he knew that he would never let anything hurt her. Even if it meant that someday he would have to leave her.
So this is part one of the Story of the Seven Heroes, it follows a man by the name of Lux Greyson through events that happen to him shortly before he and Lysere's introduction into the rest of the story. If it reads like a prolog, it's because it actually is. I'm planning on doing a kind of short story/prolog thing about each one of the heroes before launching into the actual book. Needless to say, that's probably going to take a while...
Part 2 here: violetlightning.deviantart.com…
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PheonixGirl99's avatar
that is really good!! I can't wait to read more. XD