Chapter 10—Dark Matters

234's arm was still black when Fang walked in, and the sense of euphoria he got from terminating his luminance was quickly fading. Before the color had completely returned, he was sneering, and when it had he was growling at Magician even as he glared at Fang.

“Did you call her here?” He said, loathing the impassive look in her dark eyes.

“No,” Magician replied, his voice empty of any grievance of his own.

“Then I think you should leave.” 234 said to the girl.

“I won’t be doing that.” Fang said back.

He heard a challenge and stepped forward, height and muscle making her seem all too small. He couldn’t bring himself to strike her unprovoked, however. Beyond the animal idiocy of it, there was another animal part of him yelling that it’d be a bad idea.

"If he didn't call you, how did you know where we were?" They were in an unmarked room meant for meetings. Maybe it'd be used for planning an upcoming simulation any other day, but today, it was just him and Magician. It should have been easy to miss.

“The darkness told me.” She replied and somehow, that felt like a slap.

"The darkness?" A fire blossomed between 234's eyes. The darkness told her? The darkness that he had just met, that only just started feeling like home? His home reported on him to her?

“Yes,” Fang said, still easily calm. “It told me about him too.” She looked at Magician. “You have a name now?”

He smiled, “Magician.”

She looked back at 234, “And you?”

He hadn't begun to think of it yet, but that was beside the point. How the hell had the darkness spoken to her? What did that mean for this new power?

“I think we should hear her out.” Magician said.

234 growled. He wanted to object, but he never fought for pointless pride. Magician had a higher leadership and technical score than him. If most people didn't see his combat score as a liability, he would have easily climbed the ranks. Furthermore, Fang's leadership score was better than theirs. It still didn't make sense that only she and the other two came back, but they did come back.

He sighed, “Fine. What do you want?”

“To answer your questions,” She replied. “And see if you can help me answer mine.”

“Then we get to start! What do you mean the darkness told you?” He jumped on the chance. He was sure Magician had plenty of questions of his own, but he had to answer this one first.

Annoyingly, she smiled.

“I suppose saying it told me wasn’t the right words. It’s more that I felt you two connect to it.”

“How the hell?” 234 sneered, but Magician lit up.

“It’s all connected isn’t it? There’s no break in the darkness!”

"It's called Umbra," She looked at him and back. "King concluded that it is everything the light isn't. The space between photons."

Magician grew even more excited, twisting a ball of darkness together in his hand. Or, 234 supposed, a ball of umbra. It was somehow mist, ink, and a dark flare all at once. He didn't know if this was Magician's doing or if this was just Umbra itself. Fang had answered a lot of his questions in one sentence, but 234 still sat, unironically, in the dark.

“What does that mean? It’s everything the light isn’t? That doesn’t make sense.”

Magician ran over and flicked off the light. “Is the room empty right now?”

"What? No. You just turned off the lights."

"Exactly!" He flipped the switch again, revealing a toothy grin. "We see things because light bounces off it and hits our eyes. But light disperses as it travels. What she's saying is that our power comes from everything that's not illuminated. Or, or, or…" He searched the room frantically.

234 held out his hand. “Chill. I get it. It’s like how they couldn’t see the other planets back when the world was normal.” He sighed and Magician nodded.

Fang let out a joyous laugh. He glared at her and she held out her hand.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, I came from a room that wanted to step away from physics to explain this power. I think Micaela may be annoyed that Magician immediately went to it.”

Despite himself, 234 laughed too.

“Well, how does she explain it then.” He saw Micaela during the interview. She was the survivor their group brought back. He supposed now though, that she was more important than that.

Fang seemed to think. After a moment she said, "The conversation wasn't for people like us but people like everyone else."

“People who have a luminance.” 234 filled in the blanks.

“Yes, and as she explained it, a luminance is spiritual energy.”

234 pinched his forehead. “When she said this, did she think about how it doesn’t make sense either?”

Fang smiled, “I think the ghost and things we dealt with in the city got in her way.”

That raised too many questions for him, but Magician seemed ready.

“It’s just about what luminance means to start.” He said. “It’s a measurement of light’s intensity, so for us to have no luminance it means we have no light. Everyone else gets to train their luminance to make it stronger, but we’ve got nothing. If we translate the terms that means we have no spiritual energy.”

“But what does that mean?”

“A lot,” Fang answered. “But in short, and I mean short, it means we’re not human.”

Magician lit up again. "It means we're umbral!"

234 looked at him, and his annoyance must have been clear because he went on.

“If Umbra is the absence of light and we have no measurement of light…” He left the rest for 234 to answer.

“Then we’re made of umbra.” He sighed, in part because he was starting to understand. If darkness was everything between the sun and the Earth and they were made of it, then he could understand how Fang knew they terminated their luminance. If a pond was alive, it might be able to tell if someone dumped a bucket in it. So, she knew because the volume of darkness increased? What was he even thinking?

“How are we made of umbra?” Magician asked Fang.

She found a seat and sat, essentially telling them they should too.

“The graduation mission took us to New Dawn labs. There we learned, in part, that we are what they call Dark Disciples. At that point it was described as people who were reborn of the darkness instead of the light. We answered the dark call because we were still new born souls when the city fell.”

“You’re not just talking about the three of us, are you?” 234 asked.

“No, every child who was found in the city alone.”

There had been twelve of them at a time. Now, with her group, him, Magician, and the two still too young to break 800, that left seven. It also raised questions.

“Wait. Shouldn’t that mean we’re all the same age?” He looked at Magician and back to her. “The three of us aren’t even the same age.” Magician was the youngest.

“We weren’t reborn the same way. For people like King and Ace, there was a dark master who taugh them to make spiritual energy…no, let’s say they were taught to capture it.”

“And us?” Magician was almost glowing. It made 234 laugh. All this talk of darkness and yet he was beaming.

Fang thought for a moment. “I can only guess for you two, but the dark call took me deeper into the abyss. It’s probably safe to say we all saw the Twilight Grove. My master wasn’t someone who taught me to capture the light, though.” She smiled warmly. “She taught…no, encouraged me to explore the darkness.”

Suddenly, 234 heard a mumbling in his ears and mind, words he couldn’t understand echoing up from the depths of him. A question? It seemed like a question. But what was it asking?

Magician looked around. Had he heard it too?

“You heard the question?” Fang asked.

“Yeah,” 234 answered for them both. “What is it asking?”

“Do you really want to know?” She replied.

234 looked at Magician. He was clearly thinking about it, and in a way, 234 was too. It felt important that he figure it out by himself, but then, looking into her eyes, he knew the words would be worthless without the true meaning.

"Sure." He shrugged, either way.

“What is your dark name?”

234 looked at Magician again. He shrugged, and Fang nodded.

"What did you find in the dark?" Magician moved them forward.

Fang closed her eyes. “Everything between the Earth and the Sun and the furthest stars. Names and places and the nightmares of those lands. I found form. Maybe a lot of forms. But mostly, no reason to covet the light. Ace said that the abyss was filled with hells, some that pretend to be Earth, some not even trying because you couldn’t escape.”

234's eyes went to the mark on the back of his left hand, a pyramid of three hexagons. A reward? No, a badge. He held his hand up.

“What is this mark?”

“New Dawn called it the Mark of the Beast.”

“But you have a different name for it?”

She smiled, "Maybe…the Umbral Crest."

Magician nodded emphatically. “That’s right! It’s the mark the darkness granted us for passing its test. It’s a badge! And a reminder we don’t need the light…”

“Maybe not exactly.” Fang shook her head. It represents three keys. The power to control the dark, the power to grasp the light, and the power to give it a command.”

“Control the dark…” 234 murmured.

“Give the light a command.” Magician murmured. “Fang…that was your name, right? Are the weapon bands made of…shadow energy?”

Her eyes widened, 234’s did too. Was shadow energy the dark parallel to spiritual energy?

"Yes." She smiled, and he nodded. 234 wondered what it was like to hear one thing and see so many doors open up. It was definitely the right choice to let her come in. More so for Magician and what his plan was.

He looked at Magician and saw a person he never met before. Not 403 or whatever number he was before that. Not the man who became him. This was a different person altogether, and everything he learned revealed more of himself.

"Fang opened her eyes. "Any more questions?"

Plenty, but there was only one in particular. “You said we can control the dark, right?” She nodded. “Does that mean we can control ourselves…or I guess…change our bodies?”

“I don’t see why not.”

He grinned. “Then that’s all I’ve got.”

“I have one.” Magician said. “What do you want to ask us?”

“I want to know how we can use the Umbra better. If you two meet me in the Grading Grounds I’ll tell you more, but for now, I feel like we would all use it in different ways.”

“So you came to us in the first place to learn to master this power?”

“Nah,” 234 shook his head. He knew what type of leader Fang was. “She wants to recruit Dark Masters.” He said, and the dangerous look in her eyes confirmed it.

Assassin was 214, right? And he was dead. 234 didn’t doubt he used the Umbra differently than Fang and Magician. His death was a loss and they needed to right it. They needed people for whom darkness wasn’t something to fear. Which meant…the light was the enemy?

234 laughed, then grinned again. “Fine! We’ll work with you. I’ll just decide if your orders will get me killed when I get there.”

“Yeah. I’m willing too. I think I’ll learn a lot from you.” Magician said.

“Then I have one more question,” Fang met 234’s eyes. “What’s your name?”

He didn't hate what they called the Umbral crest before. The mark of the beast fit, because he'd rip anything that stopped him apart. He wasn't just fangs or claws, nor was he whatever elegance would make you a magician. He was a beast, the whole beast, and he'd have this world know he couldn't be tamed.

“Raptor,” He answered.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Then Magician, Raptor, what comes next?”

“First we get him above 400. Then we join you in the grading grounds.”

⁘⁛Light Rites⁛⁘

Andra had to fight her nerves as Micaela explained refraction to her and her brother. Hope now, she guessed, and watching him take in the woman's words, she felt like his name made sense. Hope wasn't just what he had, it was what he wanted to be. Hope for their parents, hope for her, and hope for the Enclave, while she chose the name Andra.

No one questioned it yet, and she couldn't decide if she wanted them to or was fine with it. Hope made such clear sense, she thought, even to these people who barely knew her brother. But could they guess where Andra came from, and did it even matter? She wanted to focus on Micaela's lesson, but she was too focused on the name. She was Andra now and felt like she had to earn it.

“Any questions?” Micaela said, snapping her out of the thought.

"Refraction sounds like it can make our luminance into anything…how does the spirit become something else?" Hope asked.

The ghost laughed.

The ghost that was casually sitting on a table behind Micaela, barely earning a glance from anyone else in the room. When Micaela did look at him, her eyes were telling him to hush up. Andra watched her and asked herself why this woman thought she was normal.

“I guess the simplest answer is…” She started and quickly realized she didn’t know where to go. “King, help me out.”

“Think King’ll have a simple answer?” Khalaf—the ghost even had a name—laughed again.

"It's hard to keep it in the rules," King said. "But if I had to try, it's because the spirit is connected to the soul. Our soul shapes our body, so our spirit has some ability to take shape too."

Hope went silently. Andra knew the look of contemplation in his eyes. This would be the perfect chance for her to ask something herself, and she regretted that she hadn’t really paid attention.

"What about you?" Micaela said to her as if to read her mind.

"No questions," She replied, crossing her arms. "I think I get it better than my brother even. It's why we have different weapons. We “shape what makes sense to us,” like they said in training.”

Micaela clapped, pointed, and nodded. “So you’re not just a pretty face.”

“Micaela,” Khalaf scolded with a smirk. “Just got done with Ms. Darling and you’re already setting your eyes on someone else.”

"It's not that!" Micaela coughed.

"She couldn't get me anyway." Andra scoffed.

Khalaf covered his mouth as Micaela’s brow furrowed.

"You're cute, but not that cute." She said, crossing her arms. Khalaf let out an obnoxious cackle.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just not interested in girls.”

“Is now really the time for this conversation?” Ace piped up, and Andra clenched her fist.

“We don’t need your permission to talk about anything!” She turned on him quickly.

“You don’t, but I figured you’d want to get stronger instead of joking around.” He replied far too calmly.

Andra's nerves went to war with her embarrassment. She wasn't paying enough attention to have the right questions and she couldn't admit that to him when she snapped first. He didn't even seem to care about it like her rage was common and expected. She clenched her fist harder, and his eyes dropped to her hand.

"I am…" She quickly said before he could comment. "I'm just thinking…"

Khalaf nodded. "I would be too. On top of all that business about Cerulean, Micaela just threw the whole lecture at you. Didn't even give you a chance to breathe and process it." He floated over and leaned on her. There wasn't a weight on her shoulder, but his presence was clear.

Andra unclenched her fist and sighed. He just gave her a way out.

"In Cerulean your royals had the power of a god on their side. Won't that make us too weak to compare to them? Not like there are any gods or goddesses around here."

Micaela beamed, “What if I tell you there are!”

“Where?” Andra replied.

Micaela pointed at herself and Ace and Andra’s brow made a deep furrow.

"Are you kidding me?" She pointed sharply at Ace. "He's a god?" She didn't really believe Micaela was one either, but Ace felt worse. If he was a god, how could she even get her place above him back? No, besides that, if he was a god, why was he here instead of out there, fighting the monsters the girl talked about?

“I’m not,” Micaela smiled. “We’re gods, and that’s important.” She nodded as if she said something profound.

“Which means we don’t have to go out into the city to get stronger.” Hope spoke again at last. “I was thinking, we probably can’t do all that much with the refraction bands, so we probably need gods too. If you two are right here, we get to skip several steps.”

“And skip back a few more.” Khalaf said.

King went on, "It's not as easy as just finding a god and forming a connection. I don't know how bad it could get, but I know that you're not going to be able to connect with a god whose luster doesn't match your luminance."

“So they have to be the same color?” Hope asked.

“Bingo,” Khalaf nodded.

"And the problem is that we only have Micaela's blue and Ace's orange." King nodded. "But there is a solution," he continued but stopped as Hope shook his head.

“My luminance is blue.”

The ghost and two smarties brightened as he said it.

“How are we going to do this though?” Micaela turned to King.

“Belief still won’t work, probably. Hope, is there any chance you could see Micaela as a goddess?” King asked, and Hope shook his head.

“She looks like a normal person.”

“She could always not look like a normal person.” Khalaf floated over to Micaela. She swatted him away.

“I don’t think that’ll help.” King shook his head. “It goes back to perspective.”

"Probably lore too," Andra added without thinking.

All eyes turned to her and her brow furrowed.

Was it that surprising that she had something to add?

"Gods aren't just how they look, they have a whole bunch of mythology to them too. They aren't just normal humans with powers, they're born from storms and chaos itself. Zeus does things like split his head open and makes other gods." As they listened their eyes widened and her fist tightened. "What!" She barked.

"It's a good thought!" Micaela nodded. She looked at Ace, "It's kinda like the way people were afraid of you when you were fighting Christoph. They knew about the intruders—you guys were propped up like enemies to entire the castle."

Andra nodded. “Meanwhile, we saw Micaela on Keke’s show before we met her. We got the impression that she’s human and that she’s sleeping with Keke, but besides that? Nothing.” She shrugged. “You could tell us she’s a god, but from our experience, with the way she talks about magic and wants to make us stronger, she’s more like a faerie or a witch. She fits that a lot more, talkin about energies and stuff like that. Hell, throw in the castle Cerulean stuff and she might as well be a faerie princess.”

Micaela stared at Andra for a long moment.

“What!” She barked.

"I was just thinking…for a girl who's not interested in me, you sure know how to flatter."

Andra flushed and Khalaf cackled.

“I like where her mind goes.” He said, nudging Micaela.

“But how can we make this work in that case?” King asked.

“Well, if she’s a witch of a faerie, normally people would get power by making deals or pacts.” Andra answered.

Khalaf snapped his fingers and took Micaela's hand. Andra was surprised the ghost could lift it but didn't have a chance to comment as he ushered her brother over. He stepped closer and Khalaf took his hand too. He raised them both to face each other and between them, a circle of glyphs appeared.

"I'll outline the contract." He smiled.

“A contract for me to draw on Micaela’s powers?” Hope asked.

“I’m game with that. First things first, you work for us. I’ll grant you my power so long as you stand by Fang’s side.” Micaela smiled.

“No deal,” said Hope, and Micaela’s smile twisted. “If Fang and I have the same goal I’ll fight with her, but I don’t want to be limited if I see a better option.”

Andra snickered to herself. Most people didn’t know this side of her brother.

“Fine,” Micaela sighed. “In that case, I’ll still grant you my power, but if you do anything to act against Fang’s plans, I get your life.”

Khalaf snickered. “How viciously godlike of you, Micaela.”

“Deal.” Hope nodded. “It just means that if I’m going to betray her, I’ll have to break and make a new pact.”

“Which means I’ll know and can warn her.” Micaela said, then looked at Khalaf. “It means that, right?”

“I can make it so.” He nodded. “Now then, does that mean he gets full access to what you can give him?”

“What does that mean?” Hope asked.

King answered, "Micaela's godly powers are different than what you might be best fit for. Adale wasn't a goddess fit for combat. Micaela isn't either. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have other tricks. It'll just be a question as to whether you can use them or not."

Hope nodded and Micaela did too.

“Let’s add one more thing to this then,” Khalaf said. “Since Micaela wants to stay comfy at home, while Hope here wants to go fight demons with his bare hands, if necessary, how about we strengthen your connection. Micaela sees the world through Hope’s eyes, and Hope can call upon Micaela for advice.”

“Do I get to turn that off when I want? I don’t wanna see a dude going to the toilet.” Micaela looked at him.

“How about we make it fun and say he needs to give you permission to see what he sees.”

“I’m fine with that. I want to be able to ask as many questions as necessary.” Hope nodded, and the glyphs brightened.

“Then how about some iconography, Micaela. What is the symbol of your coven?” Khalaf grinned.

"A hydrangea bud, with a fish swimming on its petals," Micaela said, and the look in her eyes was almost as intense as the look in Hope's.

The glyphs came undone and swirled around both of their hands. Micaela’s icon appeared, and both of their eyes glowed as her divine energy and Hope’s spiritual energy connected. The glyphs turned to dust on the breeze, and Hope clenched his hand.

“I already feel different.” He said.

"Wait till we really get started." Micaela grinned.

Andra's jaw tightened, as a spark of envy formed in her chest. She didn't have a blue luminance or an orange one. Hers was pink, and that reality alone told her that her brother would soar further past her. He was already leaving her behind, and this pact felt like a door being slammed in her face. She clenched her fist to try and hide it, but of course, all eyes turned on her.

“That leaves you,” Micaela said. “And I’m guessing your luminance is a different color.”

“It is.” Andra held her head up.

“Which means we’ll have to take drastic measures.” Micaela sighed.

“Which means?”

"We'll be terminating your luminance," King answered, gesturing to the chamber in the back.

"I'm going to be real with you too, it sucks. It happens in an instant for other people, but for you, it feels like it lasts forever. To make matters worse, Ace is going to reignite you, and he might not know how."

“What! Why him? Why not you?”

“Because we don’t need two blue lightbearers.” Ace said, and she gritted her teeth. “Besides that, we’re trying to test some theories here.”

“Which are?” She turned to him.

“Mostly focused on teaching people how to use their luminance.” King answered her instead. “Like Micaela represents a different school of practice than Ace.”

“We could always break my pact with Micaela and terminate my luminance instead. I mean, if that’s an option there’s no reason we can’t just make Andra blue instead.” Hope offered.

“No!” Andra refused. “I’ll do it.” Not just because she didn’t want him taking the bullet for her, but because she wanted to set out on a path her brother hadn’t seen yet. She wanted to earn her name too, and there was no way to do that without meeting certain challenges.

She didn’t give him a chance to object before she entered the chamber, swallowing hard as Micaela turned to a counsel.

“Ace, go stand in the circle in front of it.” She said as she started typing. Ace did, and Andra found herself staring into his eyes.

She felt like it was the first time she saw him, and didn't particularly like it. With his olive skin and brown hair, he looked like he was from a different world than her with her rosy complexion and pale strands. He was, she supposed, in the way the world was before, with different bloodlines carrying different nations to the streets of New York. Where was Ace's bloodline from? She knew he was Asian, probably southeastern, but did he know? Did he care? Did it matter?

She let this thought distract her as the arcane circle under her feet began to glow, and lost her breath as she felt something inside her get taken whole. It was like a cold hand pushed into her chest and grabbed something next to her heart. No…more, it was more like it grabbed onto something smaller than that and was pulling it free slowly, breaking little chains that held it inside her. She covered her mouth as a scream almost roared out, and realized only then that she was crying. She reached out to Ace to free her from this prison she so foolishly stepped into, wept at this injustice, wept at all the things that made this world so painful.

“Not fair…” She whimpered, and for too long, it felt like there was nothing.

Then there came a stream, flowing down the chasm that had just opened up. Fire hot like molten metal, it sealed this fresh wound, cauterized it, and reminded her of everything she was.

She remembered the first time her parents cheered when they saw her walk. She remembered the first time they came back severely injured, and didn’t look like they wanted to brave the city again. She remembered the look on her brother’s face, the way a boy so young could have so much determination, and she remembered that she just felt small in comparison.

And then they found the Enclave and everything was safe. Her parents recovered, but her brother never changed back. He became a Score and she followed. He became a Number and she followed. He climbed the ranks and she stayed on his tail, following him so that wherever he went he didn't have to brave it alone. She followed, because she was born second, and following him felt intrinsic to who she was.

Until it didn't and she realized she was a girl who could love. Until she met the boy who made her smile and laugh and forget that there was a dangerous world out there that she had to brave. Her first kiss. Her first time. That first feeling of another warm body pressed against her own, the smell of him filling her nose. How it all felt right, up until he broke her heart and she wanted to cry, but not to her parents and not to her brother. She remembered how it made her remember the city because training to fight monsters felt easier than enduring a broken heart.

She remembered, and remembered, and remembered until she remembered she was standing in that chamber staring at Ace, who looked like an orange-bodied thing garbed in darkness until she blinked and saw him again. She blinked and saw knowing eyes looking back at her. Her jaw tightened and she flushed. When the chamber opened, she didn’t try to look at him.

“Is that it…?” She asked of Micaela. “Do we have to make a pact?”

“No, that’s it. Because he reignited you, your connection should be good enough.” The woman answered, and almost forced Andra to look at Ace. There was no judgment in his eyes, and that made her blush worsen.

She looked back at Micaela and saw a pink jewel floating in a jar.

“Is that my luminance?”

“Your old one, yes.” Micaela nodded.

“I want it.” Because it was hers, yes, but because she didn’t want to share her memories with anyone else.

“It’ll be useless to you.” Micaela said.

“I don’t care!” Andra barked, all too loudly.

Micaela shrugged and brought it over, then just as easily turned to address the room. "I think that's enough for today then guys! At least before lunch. Let's eat and talk about the finer details when we're done!"

Khalaf floated toward King and began to sink into him. “I thought you’d never say. I’m so hungry I’m all out of skin and bones.” His voice trailed on as he disappeared.

King and Micaela left the room first, but Hope came over to her.

“You alright, Andra?” She didn’t know if she hated him or not for how easily he adjusted to her new name.

“I’m fine…” She murmured, wanting to talk to him the least about it.

He nodded and followed the others out, leaving her all too aware that Ace was looking at her.

“What…” She wanted to put more energy into it, but she couldn’t.

“I think Andraste is a good name for you.” He said, and she turned on him, brow furrowed.

Of all the things, it was that? Not her intimate memories, not her vulnerability, it was where she got the name from. She wanted to be mad, but he was smiling.

"Raven was the name of the girl I always hung out with. I don't know if you ever noticed us, but she used to hang around Abigail too." His smile changed a bit. "She died first out there. I didn't realize I was in love with her until then…it hurt so much. It still hurts. I didn't know who to talk to about it. I still don't know, even after King lost Knight and Fang lost Assassin…it's not the same but, I get the heartbreak."

Andra sighed and wiped her eyes. “Is this your first message to me as my god?” She laughed.

He laughed back. "No. I don't think you'll be accepting me as your god after all." He turned to leave the room but stopped and turned back. "And you're not my follower, you're my ally. You're at least that worthy." He smirked and she crossed her arms.

"Yeah? Well, don't start feeling high and mighty. All of this just makes you the first person I need to surpass." She walked out of the room alongside him, somewhat mad at herself for how his presence made her feel…

[Chapter 10 ends…]