Order Of Illumination - Unquiet Shades

Even here, in the Abbey, the spirits clamoured for his attention. Shades that had passed on many years ago, they were little more than insubstantial shadows, even to his eyes. Their whispers could barely be heard, whatever past crimes they asked forgiveness for or confessions they made went unheard. The courtyard was shadowed still, the weak light of dawn had barely crept over the roofs and gables of the Abbey and did little to illuminate the square of flagstones. He stood motionless in the centre of the square, eyes closed, breathing steady and controlled. He could feel the rough cotton of his robes against his skin, the cool air on his cheeks. The Abbey was still silent, the monks who made their home there would not rise for another hour and his Brothers and Sisters who were here would wake accordingly. For now silence and the spirits were his only companions. He opened his eyes and met the accusing gaze of the boy. Half hidden behind an ivy-twisted pillar, the boy was barely into his teens and wore simple rustic clothes. Blood sheathed his face and torso and the clothes he wore were torn and dirty. The boy held his gaze but did not speak. Moments passed, boy and man holding each other in cool regard. Then he moved, drew his sword and began the kata. Smooth slow ritualised movements calmed his mind and focused it, each arc of the sword describing a killing blow or defensive block. Each slow controlled sweep of the blade demanded focus and concentration, helping to block out the whisperings of the spirits and the flickering movement of their shades that danced in the corners of his eyes.

As he moved through the kata, he could sense the boys eyes still on him, holding him in the accusing glare of the betrayed young. He stopped, resting the tip of the blade on the flagstones, his back to the boy. When he spoke it was barely more than a whisper but his voice was steady.
"I am sorry it has to be this way. We did not think the...Investment would have pushed you aside so thoroughly."

The boy replied, a voice only he could hear. He had not expected this, this seperation of his two selves. The boy had been intended to become one with the Light, not merely thrown aside while his body was used as a vessel. He replied to the boys accusation, his voice still low and steady.

"No. The Investment was intended to be a mixing of us, to make us stronger. It was not intended to throw you aside. The power of the Light was too great, too much to be controlled."

He turned to face the boy, the shade of what he had once been. A faint sadness crept over his features, though its touch was fleeting. Emotions were....unwelcome guests in the vessel of the Light, felt as if from a distance, as if they belonged to someone else.

"I still have your memories in me. I remember all that you did, all that you are. You have not died in the truest sense."

The young visage of the boy twisted, suddenly ugly with emotion through the mask of blood he wore. Words of recrimination echoed in the mans mind, the words of a child who did not fully understand what had happened to him and raged against it with all the strength of the young.

"There is no way back child. I am the Scion and cannot be anything other. I regret that you had to be...discarded..but this cannot be changed."

He looked into the boys eyes, the twins of his own. This in truth was the mirror of his soul. Everything that the boy had been and could have been had been pushed aside into this shade, this echo of a life. He was one body, but with two souls - one of whom had had its future cruelly torn away by a twist of fate. The Scion could not be allowed to feel, could not be allowed to show weakness and the Light had burnt away everything in the vessel. The boy...the boy had been meant to become as one with the Light. Instead...He was riven. Unfeeling yet feeling. A man and yet also a child. The emotions he sometimes felt were but echoes of what his twin soul felt and he was still unused to them.

The shade of the boy was weeping now and he felt a dim echo of that sorrow in his own mind. Unmoving he watched as the shade of his past wept for the life he had lost, wept for the family that had died and left him and wept for the Scion, who could not.

A cough at the courtyards gateway. One of his Brothers stood there, clad in simple leathers. Grey eyes were hooded and fixed upon him and the Brothers expression was veiled. This one hid deep hatred, he could feel it. It wrapped itself around him in chains and sank hooks deep into his heart. Spirits of his own followed him, those same chains linking them. He doubted his Brother could see them, could sense the unquiet shades that screamed his name and cried for justice. The Scion held his gaze cooly and nodded in greeting.

"Brother." The newcomers mouth twisted at hearing that word, as if tasting something sour. The reply was short and terse, almost spat out before he turned away into the Abbey.
"The Lord Militant has arrived. He requests your presence."

Alone once again in the courtyard, the Scion gathered himself. The boy had stopped weeping now but still gazed accusingly at him. Some vestige of his anger filtered through, though it was dulled and weak. The Scion smiled bitterly.

"I make no excuses child. I am Evangelist. I am the Scion of Light. Its purpose flows through me and me alone. Accept your place in this."

He turned and walked into the Abbey, leaving the boy alone in the dawns weak sunlight. The boys shade held still for long moments, remembering what it felt like to play in the sun. Then it lowered its face to the Abbeys entrance and followed the path of its twin.