Lightbringer

The walk through the campus at midnight should have been comforting – but instead, she felt like the older brick buildings would fall down around her if she dared turn around.

Before long, she was running.

There was something magical that drew her to the school in the first place, that mix of old and new. The gothic architecture coupled with the modern amenities of the early 21st century. That beckoning of ancient texts in the library where she could read Socrates and Aristotle, Kant and Marx, Locke and Sartre, without interruption for days on end. She could pursue her degree in philosophy in a place where that was not so uncommon, where she didn't get strange looks from her classmates wondering why she would choose to pursue such a drab course of study.

What exactly was her purpose here?

It was a question she had asked herself a dozen times since she arrived here for her junior year. Her advisor was adamant that she start looking for jobs — what exactly are you trying to do with your degree? Philosophy has given you a wide berth, sure, but how does that translate into a career I wonder — and Julia could have cared less. A week after that ill-fated meeting with her advisor, she saw it for the first time.

It was a figure, a man, shrouded in black. But what was most peculiar was when he started to move. He would always hold his hand out, as if in invitation, and as he did so, his fingers would illuminate in a bright green haze.

The first time she saw him, she had been on her way back to her dorm from the Killigan Library. She had closed her eyes and shaken her head vigorously to try to wake herself up from the dream she was sure she was having. When she awoke, the figure was ten paces closer to her. She had hauled her bookbag over her shoulder and broken in to a run after that. She had locked her dorm room door tight, slamming the door hard enough that her roommate, Ivy, had awoken and demanded to know what the hell was up.

She turns the corner towards the parking lot, shivering into the cold air of the night. This was going to be the real test. She always parked close to the entrance to this alleyway because the buildings provided shelter from the Washington rain that was all too common here. But that also meant that she now had to travel through the alley in the dark of night with some strange creature after her.

And what was she going to do when she got to her car anyway?

She didn't know, not exactly — all she knew for certain was that she couldn't spend another minute here. Not when it was after her.

She knew what this had to be. Her mother had told her stories about the Lightbringers. Trainers of those with magical talents. She had also heard the stories of them turning children into weapons, and was warned against ever taking their offer. We will find someone to train you, she had promised. But not a Lightbringer. Never a lightbringer.

She cut straight through the alley and began her rush to the car, when the figure suddenly descended from the rafters above her.

"Fuck," she gasps, taking a step back as the man advances towards her.

"Please, I'm not here to hurt you," the man says. "My name is Alexander, I'm a—"

"Lightbringer," Julia finishes. If Alexander is surprised that she knows what he is, he doesn't let it show on his face. "You're a Lightbringer and you've come to take me home. Or whatever story you're going to spin for me."

"Yes," Alexander says simply. "That's correct."

"I'm not going," Julia replies. "You can't make me."

Alexander smiles at her with pity, like you would a child who had convinced themselves they were unmoving. "I could, but I would really prefer not to. Just come with me," he says.

Julia shakes her head in denial. "I won't."

Alexander takes another step forward. "Why are you afraid?"

"I don't want this," Julia murmurs. "I don't want any of this. Take someone else."

Alexander shakes his head, stepping forward into the light. "There is no one else. I will show you the depth of your power. All you have to do is say yes."

Julia looks up at his outstretched hand and closes her eyes, inhaling deeply.

"No," she whispers, and she unwinds herself, magic whipping out from her fingertips to knock the man off his feet. The man is quick to recover, springing back to his feet, arms outstretched with green shadows swirling around his hands.

"I am your equal," he hissed. "You're striking at me with nothing but rage and pain. You're not channeling anything but negative emotions. It's making you —" he stepped to the side to deflect another blow of golden energy — "it's making you weaken quicker."

Julia couldn't stop. She hadn't ever felt the depths of her power, not like this, had reserved it in small uses over the last 20 years of her life. And here, in this parking lot, with this strange man, she was unleashed.

"I am really sorry for what I'm about to do, but one day I hope you will understand," he says, and he throws his hand out, palm outstretched and turned up to the sky, and wraps his magic around her hands. She does not dodge fast enough, suddenly restrained, and her remaining magic rushes out of her chest with a whoosh.

"You asshole, let me go!"

"Sorry Julia," he winces, tying the shadows off so her hands remain bound while he goes free. "It's just until we get to Hicamsi."

Julia sighs, admitting defeat. "That's a children's story."

Alexander's smile is vicious. "Aren't all children's stories based in a kernel of truth?"

He takes a step forward and places his hands on hers.

"Let's fly."