Darkness Consumes Even The Brightest Light (Short Story)

[Leanne Starlight]

-A Mother's Charm-

 

 

The morning light shone brightly onto Leanne's sleeping face. She opened her eyes slowly, squinting. She sat up yawning, her ears drooping lazily. She slipped out of her bed and put on her work clothes. She raised her arms above her head, stretching and sighed heavily. She walked out of her room and headed to the kitchen.

Rayne turned to Leanne and smiled sweetly. She handed her daughter a loaf of bread. Leanne smiled and took a bite. 

"Where's Laira?" Her ears twitched curiously. Her mother chuckled softly.

"She's still sleeping I believe. Don't worry she'll wake up soon. Why don't you get started? I'll tell her to join up with you." Leanne nodded and turned, stepping towards the door. Rayne took a step forward. 

"Leanne, before you go, I want to give you this." Rayne reached to the back of her neck and unhooked her chain. She gently placed it in Leanne's open palm and smiled sweetly. Leanne looked down at the small chain in her hand. It was a small silver chain with a crescent moon pendant. 

"Why are you giving me this, mother? You always kept it on ever since grandmother gave it to you before passing..." Rayne put her hand on Leanne's cheek, gently stroking it.

"It's a good luck charm...I give it to you now so that it may keep you safe." Leanne smiled and put the silver necklace around her neck, tucking it under her shirt. 

"Thank you, Mother." Leanne smiled before turning around and exiting the cabin.

 

-Illusions Shatter-

 

Leanne took a deep breathe, letting the cool morning air fill her lungs. She exhaled softly before slowly making her way towards the small plot of land which they use to grow their food. She bent down, her knees digging into the soft dirt, and began to pull out the weeds surrounding the crops. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and sighed. Having completed the first step, she moved on to the second. She examined the crops making sure they were all healthy and harvested all the ones that were mature enough. She mixed the soil up, preparing it for the next batch soon to be planted. Leanne stood up and stretched. She picked up a small wooden bucket and walked towards the river that was a few yalms away from her cabin home. 

 

Leanne's vision blurred for a split second. She put a hand to her forehead, squinting. A feeling of uneasiness washed over her. She stumbled slightly.

"W-what is this...?" She took a deep breathe, her body trembling. A strong breeze whipped past her. She caught the smell of something putrid. Leanne leaned against the nearest tree to prevent herself from fainting. It smelled horrible, yet familiar. Her stomach churned.

"Where is Laira...? Mother said she would be out soon to help..." Her head pounded, the uneasiness intensified, fueling her fear which was reaching it's peak. Leanne brushed her fingers gently across the crescent moon charm and sprinted towards the cabin.

 

Leanne threw the front door open and stopped abruptly. Her eyes widened at the site of Garlean soldiers in her home. They slowly turned to face her, their masks hiding malevolent smiles on each of their faces. Leanne's eyes fell to the Imperial's feet. The brutally mutilated bodies of her mother and younger sister laid spread out in a pool of their own blood. Leanne froze, her eyes widen in shock. She inhaled sharply and turned to dash out the cabin, but the Imperial soldiers were faster. They grabbed Leanne's arms and roughly pulled her to them. Leanne struggled, but to no avail. They were much stronger than she was. Leanne threw her head back, breaking the nose of the Imperial behind her. He stumbled backwards and she took that opportunity to sink her fangs into the arm of another Imperial. 

She felt a sharp pain at the back of her head. 

And then darkness washed over her.

 

-Broken And Defeated-

 

Leanne couldn't see a thing as she was being pushed and pulled Twelve knows where. The Imperial Soldiers who murdered her family, hastily muttered to each other. The Imperial guiding Leanne stopped, and roughly shoved her into a small dark room. She stumbled and tripped, hitting the cold hard floor loudly. The chains that bound her wrists and ankles clattered on impact. Leanne grunted loudly, her ears perked up alarmed as the Imperial ripped off her blindfold. She blinked a few times and glanced around the room. She bit her bottom lip nervously. The Imperials still had their masks on. Leanne's gaze lowered to her hands and feet. The tight chains dug into her skin. The Imperials muttered softly before turning and walking away. Leanne's head snapped up. She wanted to call out. Yell at them to release her, but the door slammed shut and the Imperials vanished. Leaving her alone in the dark, with no knowledge of where she was or what would happen to her. Leanne bowed her head and cried silently.

 

Leanne was woken up by the sound of her cell door being thrown open. She bolted upright, her heart beating rapidly. She watched the three Garlean men approach her hastily.

"Get up!" The tall one yelled, roughly grasping Leanne's arm, pulling her to her feet. She flinched away, her eyes widening in fear.

"No! Let me go!" Leanne struggled to get away. The tall Garlean growled angrily and pulled her to him, clenching his left hand  into a fist. Leanne squeaked and stumbled forward into the man's chest, her chains metallic ringing filling the small room. The  Garlean took a step back and raised his fist, and swung it full force towards Leanne hitting her right cheek. Leanne crashed onto the cold floor, hitting her head. She whimpered softly, her cheek throbbing in pain. The two Garlean bystanders snickered to each other as the tall Garlean stepped towards Leanne and roughly kicked her stomach. She yelped in pain. She rolled to her side coughing and wheezing. The Garlean grabbed a hand full of Leanne's hair and pulled her to her feet again. 

"You better listen to me next time..." He warned, his hot breathe warming her face. Leanne flinched, her ears flattening. She whimpered quietly before being dragged out of her cell and into a long brightly lit corridor.

 

 

-All The Pain In The World-

 

They wandered through the long corridor, passing by numerous doors which echoed with strange incomprehensible sounds. Leanne's ears flattened but didn't question the noises, fearing what they might actually be. The Garleans stopped in front of a red door. Leanne stared at the inscription above the red door carefully but could not read the foreign letters. The tall Imperial quickly knocked on the door before entering. He dragged Leanne into a brightly lit room with a lone chair in the middle. Leanne's ears flattened as she was pushed down into the chain and strapped tightly into it. Leanne watched the Imperial's mutter quietly to each other before turning towards another in a white coat. The white man slowly approached her and examined her carefully. He muttered to himself before reaching into his coat and pulling out a syringe with a strange fluorescent green liquid inside. Leanne's eyes widen.

"What is that?" She stared at the syringe in fear. The white man chuckled slightly.

"Don't be afraid. This wont hurt too much..." he walked up to Leanne and bent over slightly, to face her. An eerie smile plastered onto his face. He watched Leanne squirm in her seat, unable to break free from both the chains and leather straps that bound her. She let out a small whimper as the white man pinched her arm with his fingers.

"Please stop..." she begged. Her fear escalated quickly as the white man punctured her pale skin with the syringe and injected the unknown green liquid inside of her. Leanne shut her eyes tightly, feeling her stomach churn. She whimpered silently as the white man got up and examined her more thoroughly. 

"There. Any noticeable changes? Feeling hot? Nausea? Headaches?" he studied her for a while, looking at her eyes, fangs, pulling her cheeks, checking her reflexes, heartbeat, and temperature.

"This drug I injected into you will enhance your more...beastly attributes. Reflexes, sight, smell, hearing and instincts. We have yet to test it on any live specimen, so you will do nicely." he turned to the tall Imperial. 

"Return her to her cell. If any changes to her health develop, I insist you bring her back to me for examination." he turned back to Leanne who was feeling dizzy and smirked at her. 

"I will be seeing you again real soon, darling. And please, don't try to fight it." Leanne's vision blurred and faded into darkness.

 

 

The past few weeks were pure torture. After the injection Leanne developed a high fever, various headaches and was unable to move due to the lack of physical strength. The Imperials took that opportunity to take advantage of her, as they amused themselves with her body. Despite her weak protests, the Imperials paid no attention to her as she weeped silently, wishing that the strange liquid they injected her with would just end her pain and suffering. The white man visited her often, mostly to check for any major changes in her health. He always walked away dissapointed. Muttering about something missing. He'd always try to get her to drink some foul smelling white paste, but Leanne would refuse to cooperate, which resulted in an angry scientist and a beating for her.

 

Once Leanne recovered from her fever and was able to move on her own, the Imperials brought her to another room. This one dark and filled with different tools and sharp objects. The white man smiled upon her arrival and threw his arms open in a welcoming gesture.

"Welcome my dear. I'd like you to take a seat once again, but this time we shall try something a little different." Leanne's body trembled in fear but she slowly walked to the chair and sat down willingly. She closed her eyes as the Imperial strapped her in. She glanced at the white man. 

"Are the straps really necessary? They hurt..." she tried pulling her hands out of the straps but failed. She exhaled silently.

"For the little experiment we will be conducting, it would be in out best interest to have your movements...restricted." he smiled and turned to the tall Imperial.

"You may begin whenever you wish. Feel free to use all manner of tools assembled for you here." The white man smiled once again before moving to the end of the room, sitting down on a chair facing Leanne's direction. He pulled out a note pad and pen and started taking notes. Leanne's gaze fell to the tall Imperial that stood before her. She could feel a malevolent smile radiate behind the man's mask. Leanne whimpered as the man walked to a table covered in different metal tools. He chose one at random and slowly approached her. Leanne squirmed as he stopped in front of her. Her breathing quickened as the Imperial waved the rusted tool in front of her face. 

"Now, stand still. This is going to hurt a lot." he tightened his grip on the blade and swung it downwards, piercing the skin of Leanne's hand. Leanne screamed loudly and bowed her head. She moaned in pain as the Imperial wiggled the blade impaling her hand before quickly ripping it out. She screamed again, tears rolling down her face. The Imperial laughed wildly as Leanne groaned in pain. The white man looked at Leanne curiously, his eyes sparkling.

"You don't seem to tolerate pain very well...We can fix that. Soldier!" he motioned to the Imperial. 

"Continue." the Imperial nodded and laughed. Leanne stared at the Imperial in fear. He twirled the bloody blade in his hand and caressed Leanne's cheek, the tip of the blade threatening to slice her soft skin. 

"Now darling...hold still..." he pressed the blade into her skin, drawing blood. Leanne winced in pain as he slowly dragged the blade  from the bottom of her left eye all the way down to her chin. He let out an excited cheer and bent over to get a closer look at his handy work. Leanne recoiled away turning her head, her eyes stinging.

"Hey, look at me!" the Imperial roared, roughly grabbing her chin with his free hand making her face him. He grinned madly and brought his face closer to the bleeding wound on her cheek. He licked the dripping blood and thrusted the blade into her shoulder without warning. Leanne screamed in pain and sank her fangs into his exposed neck. The Imperial yelped out in surprise and punched her head, knocking her and the chair she was strapped to, over. The white man stood up and watched curiously. The Imperial kicked Leanne numerous times in the stomach, blowing off his anger and surprise before walking away to bandage his neck. Leanne coughed up blood and wheezed painfully. She struggled to move but the weight of the chair was making it difficult to move. The white man skipped over to the wounded Miqo'te and bent over to study her face. Leanne groaned and panted heavily, she narrowed her eyes at the man and growled softly, her pink eyes turning a more reddish shade. The white man smiled. 

"My...this is rather...interesting." he took out another syringe with bubbling yellow liquid. Leanne struggled pointlessly as the white man pierced her neck with the needle and injected the liquid inside. Leanne gasped loudly as the burning liquid flowed through her blood stream. She felt her body heat increase dramatically and struggled to breathe. The Imperial walked up to the two and looked down at Leanne. 

"Sweet dreams beautiful." he kicked the back of her head, knocking her out.

 

 

-Freedom At What Cost?-

 

Leanne woke up to a lot of commotion outside her cell door. Her mind was cloudy and her vision blurred. She slowly sat up, her body cried out in pain. She felt weak and everything was soar. She listened to the commotion for a while. Seems the Imperials believed the Ixal were ready to summon Garuda. That meant she was still in the Black Shroud. She glanced down at her chains. Leanne noticed that one of the cuffs wasn't as tight. She struggled with it before managing to remove her hand from the cuff. She rubbed her irritated wrist and removed the other cuff from her hand and finally, the ones on her ankles. She stumbled to her feet, dizziness washing over her. She leaned onto the wall for support.

"They're distracted...I have to get out...now..." she walked up to her cell door and slowly opened it part way, peeking through to make sure no Imperials were around. She heard the hurried footsteps and frantic voices of the Imperials a few corridors away and took that opportunity to run for it. She willed herself to ignore her body's broken state and ran as fast and as far as she could go. 

"I can't go back...I won't go back..." she muttered under her breathe, She sped through numerous maze-like corridors before she spotted the exit. She busted through the doors and continued to run. The cool night air felt refreshing, but she had no time to rejoice. She had to get away.

 

Leanne didn't know how long she ran before she collapsed onto the hot pavement that belonged to the city of Ul'dah. The last thing she remembered before passing out of fatigue was seeing the sun slowly lit up the sky. Something she hadn't seen for months, ever since the Garleans took her and her life away.

 

She willed herself to die as she closed her eyes. She heard the faint sound of echoing footsteps slowly approach her before her mind faded to nothingness.

 

The crescent moon pendant around her neck shimmering in the light of a new dawn.

[Kailia]

((Title is deceptive. That not short! Hehe but man what a good read! Good job Leanne!))