Welcome to the dark age

Chapter 2 - Now they've left us with nothing.

Lillian couldn't remember when the Luma first came. No one did. They were like the universe in a way, as they simply showed up one day and immediately set themselves as the centre and holder of everything. They declared it a perfect utopia. And ever since then that's all it has been. Except no matter what they said, Lillian could never fully believe it was perfect. As even with a utopia being all she had ever known, her dreams were quickly shattered the moment she dared speak them in someone's presence. She learned quickly. You don't get individuality here. You don't get to dare question or discuss the Luma rule. Your future was in their hand. Your light was them.

It would be better for everyone to work for them and to keep quiet. And so that's what everyone did. After all, the dark ages was not a punishment the Luma were afraid to roll out if needed.

The work they made people do was just like normal work. Of course with the Luma overseeing everything. Advertising had to have the Luma aspect to it. Teachers must follow the Luma curriculum. And the librarians and writers... well Lillian knew those rules far too well. Being a librarian all she was surrounded by was books of fakery and the Luma ideals. It didn't matter if the books were written by others, the Luma would steal it for their own credit. It was something Lillian despised, she wanted to be a librarian to have some peace, to have some form of escape from the Luma influence. But perhaps she should have known that there was no escaping from their utopia. It wasn't a utopia or a cure. It was a plague, one with no cure that people believed was not something that restricted them, rather it was something that saved them. The people had been influenced for so long they did not know what else existed from the Luma, people feared and dreaded what life would be like without the Luma influence and without all their "talents" and knowledge. Lillian knew exactly what life would be like without them:

Better.

She was sitting in the desk in the library. Still sipping tea with shaky hands. The intercom went off earlier which was never a good sign as the intercom didn't come into effect unless someone was in trouble. She didn't dare ask anyone what happened as she could have a guess. Most people didn't even come to the library, as they believed that even if the Luma wrote the books, they didn't trust words that weren't said directly from them which she found idiotic. There was one student who did visit her. Surprisingly from the Cygnus house. Cygnus was a character to say the least... most of the people at the school were young enough to only know Cygnus as the "black hole" of the Luma, someone who was stood-up and charismatic and terrifying to cross, but those lucky (or rather unlucky) few knew who they were before. Lillian was one of those. Remembering how the five Luma became six was disturbing and was an event they tried to make everyone forget and wipe it from history. And it worked for most people, although Lillian certainly was not most people.

Cygnus wasn't always the black hole of the Luma that they are now regarded as but now they can't escape what they have become. And now there are six members running the lights and making life "better for all" and into their utopia. Cygnus was regarded as the "worst"... but then again they are all frankly as bad as each other. Altair was named after the brightest star in a constellation, they certainly lived up to that by making themselves the centre of attention with all eyes on them at any time. They were full of pride and held a self-centred nature and yet also knew how to work with a team to make something work. Then you had the twins.. Adeona and Allende. An asteroid and a meteor. Adeona was the one regarded as a main threat if someone dared to upset the Luma and the one who would easily kill if asked or if the action ever needed to happen. Allende was also ruthless, albeit less focused on, like the middle child. Then there was Dagon, the planet. Probably the one who cared the most for life, although he was a bit thick. But Lillian couldn't blame him, being the newest and least influential member of the Luma would scare her too. But she would have dealt with it by herself, Dagon had another way of dealing with it; by being a little teachers pet to the main out of the six - Pollux. Regarded as the Sun, which made sense as to why Dagon revolved around them. Pollux was disturbing in the way they spoke and how nonchalant they were regarding topics. They always had a wide smile on that looked like it hurt to do, and even with that they were regarded as their main light and hope. Lillian never shook the feeling that there was something wrong with Pollux. The suns of the group could snap at any moment...

She was sitting there watching all the children pass in the hallway. Doing her daily tally of how many were in each house. Just like always Pollux reigned over all. Dagon, like always, was the smallest. It was the newest of the Luma as mentioned... but she did wonder why they didn't get more influence to them. Perhaps it was because they weren't ready. Or perhaps they didn't want anything from them that they didn't understand. Whatever the case Dagon was being kept back. But Lillian certainly didn't mind it. She felt it was better if they weren't all powerful. She knew what she wanted out of this, and it was to escape. But she was too scared too. Those dark ages. Even she didn't know truly what it was. But she had plans in case it ever happened, paranoia ran in her family she supposed. It was like a family curse. Her grandmother was taken by the dark ages. Her mother was taken by the dark ages.

Would she dare follow the trend?

As she sat there she heard the door open. And she knew who it would be, the one student here who she found agreed with ideals of the perfect utopia and how it was better burnt down. Viktor Braum. Viktor was a good kid, which is why he was never sent to those camps as a child. Which is why he questioned things more than the others. He was always coming to her for questions on the Luma and their reign. Lillian knew she could trust Viktor, they were like family to each other in a way. He had someone who would tell him things that were supposedly "better left forgotten", and she had someone who would listen to her dreams.

"Morning Miss Lilian. I.. need some help." The boy walked towards her with a slight shuffle in his feet and a shiver in his voice. She knew he would be here for the reaper. She just had to be secretive about it.

"Let me guess. Reaper?"

"Well... actually, I was wondering something about Cygnus. And the Reaper but more Cygnus."

That caught Lilian off guard... Cygnus. Of course it was Cygnus. But then again she supposed there was a reason he used to be leader. She brought Viktor around to her secret library and pulled out one of her books. A book she had written when she used to work for the Luma personally as a curator of the media. A book she hadn't read since she wrote it.

"Now Viktor. You must swear this book nor its contents leave this room understand?"

He nodded and shuffled close to the book. Which just so happened to be titled "The life of a dying star". She flicked through the pages and got to Cygnus' page, forgetting she had put a warning before it. Then again it was worth it. The life of such a creature was disturbing as it was horrid. She sat down and lit the candle, holding the book and reading the title aloud. She couldn't read the year of it, she scribbled it out. She was paranoid that someone would find it and link it back to her. But she could at least read some of it.

"12th May. The being which refuses to let light shine, the one that used to be a beacon of light itself: the being that is Cygnus."