Colors : The Spectrum of Light

Chapter 11

The gathering clouds danced over the dull sky as the forest trees scattered the bits of the sun through the cracks of the leaves. Little rays of white light beamed down onto the greenery through the canopy as it illuminated both its leaves and the ground below in speckles. The littered spots of daylight touched down on any surface that wasn't blocked, brightening the white skin on Alabaster's hands.

Bolt who was sitting beside him had noticed the bright glow that reflected from his pale pigment. He squinted at the light. Staring directly at it almost hurt, he was glowing but Alabaster hadn't even noticed he was.

"Hey." Bolt said, catching the other's attention.

Alabaster hummed in response.

"Myths say true Whites glow under the sunlight."

Alabaster looked down curiously at his hands to see the bright light shine right into his eyes. He grunted and squinted, catching him off-guard. "It's like looking into a flashlight—" He paused for a moment before dropping his hands and looking up to the other. "Wait... what do you mean by "true Whites"?"

Bolt raised an eyebrow. "Oh, right. Well, I guess you haven't really been around much to really know the spectrum of colors that there are out there. White, as you know, is very rare because unlike most of the other colors, it can only come in one true shade. Other colors like red or blue come in varieties of shades and hues that can sometimes be pale, vibrant, dull, dark, or light. The only color this doesn't apply to is black and there's a reason why it's not as rare. Think of it like this, have you ever messed around with paint before?"

Alabaster tilted his head. "Yeah, why?"

"Well," Bolt continued. "For me personally, it has been pretty difficult to find myself in a situation with paint but I managed to get ahold of it a few times and think about mixing the colors. When you take red and yellow, you make orange. A completely new color that came from two. Sure, it might be made up of two completely different colors but in its creation, it has become something completely new, thus making it distinct and specialized to become its own category and hue. Now, having said this, when you mix certain colors, you get all sorts of shades but if you keep adding, it'll only get darker and darker and darker. You can't do this with white. White has to come only in its purest form. Any hint of a slightly more prominent color taints its purity and now makes it a very light shade of the color you've added. There are some very pale shades out there that appear to be white but aren't quite there. White is the only color that can't be seen in any multicolor. Just like the paint, it seems that nature has a hard time making it as well."

Alabaster processed the information he was just given as well as giving himself a moment to think about it. "If that's the case, then how did you know that I was—"

"Your abilities and just now, being able to see you under direct sunlight. The light pretty much reflects right off of you," Bolt laughed. "You would draw so much attention if it was a sunny day and you were walking through a crowd. You literally look like you're glowing."

Alabaster laughed along with him. "Well stop calling me out on it! What's next? Are you going to call me a walking light bulb?"

"More like a walking sun—" Bolt said as he snorted and burst out laughing.

Alabaster playfully pushed him by the shoulder, covering his mouth as he laughed along. "That's just mean. Unfortunately, it's true."

They both let out their chuckles until they finally got it out of their systems, letting out large sighs after their loss of breath.

"I don't even know how this works," Alabaster starts, turning his hand. "Why does it look like that? It never has before."

"We all get pigments in our skin that are the same hue as our hair." Bolt explained, pointing to his skin which was paler than Alabaster's. "Even if you're clearly darker than me," He says with a chuckle, putting their hands next to one another. "These small pigments kind of come out and show like microscopic shards or sequins that have that pigment and reflect light in that hue. Yours are white so it looks like you have a white aura. It's just another way of determining your exact pigment when they test you." He said, looking between the bright hue compared to his pink and yellow one.