Hard Light (NaNoWriMo15)

Chapter 3 - Heroes

Leah could barely believe her eyes.

She stood there, staring at the spire--the crystalite walls--everything, until Asriel coughed politely. Two Radiants grabbed her bags, and as she went to follow them, Asriel called her back.

"They'll take your bags," he said as she turned back to him. "But I thought you might like to meet the team you'll be working with? I have to return there myself and you won't be expected to do anything today, so it'll be a nice introduction."

He didn't have to ask Leah twice.

As it turned out, the main research lab wasn't far from the Spire they'd Displaced in on. After barely two minutes of walking, Asriel approached a secure-looking door with four guards posted outside.

The door itself wasn't much, but it was secure. All four of the guards and Asriel placed their hands on crystals embedded in various places in the walls. With a flash of Light, the crystals gleamed, and the door rose into the ceiling.

"Welcome to the research lab," said Asriel, gesturing wide with a hand, the other tucked behind his back as they stepped inside. "It's not as fancy as the rest of the League, but it gets the job done."

They stood in a foyer of sorts, but had a full view of the main room.

It appeared to be one, large space. The crystalite ceiling flooded everything in sunlight, causing glimmers and gleams from every angle of the room in a gorgeous display of Light. Between the benches and tables and shelves, a sea of soft pastel colours bobbed at various heights as the Radiants moved around, attending to their work. The walls, the furniture--everything was semi-transparent, grey crystalite.

The strangest thing was the way the room was almost completely devoid of shadows. Mirrors reflected the sun to every angle of the room, illuminating every crevice and crack.

As Leah craned her neck to see more, Asriel waved her over to where what looked like a rack of clothes and several changerooms were against the wall. She'd been wrong about her shadow observation--that only held true to the main room. This foyer still had solid walls.

"We have strict dress code requirements while working in the lab," said Asriel, handing her a suit that appeared to be her size. "To minimise shadows, we wear these. Very expensive, crystalite-integrated fabric. It'll reflect the light and cover what it needs to preserve modesty. If you would...?"

Leah accepted it and ducked into one of the change rooms.

It took her one painful minute to figure out how it went on. At first glance, it looked like a blanket with a hole for her head, but upon further investigation, had several clips that made it cling to her arms, chest, waist and legs. Surprisingly, it was comfortable and out of the way, but Leah had a feeling it wasn't going to win any awards for fashion any time soon. She felt like a giant fleck of sunlight.

She stepped out, gaining Asriel's nod of approval, and placed her other clothes in a box beside his before following him up the stairs and taking her first steps into the lab.

She'd never seen a more beautiful thing.

A Radiant with hair like soft seagrass drifted over to them--Leah couldn't call his movement 'walking'. It was too damned smooth.

She was really going to have to work on curbing her Teridian habits.

"Asriel!" called the Radiant. "I presume this is Leah?"

"Indeed it is," said Asriel. "Leah, this is Emrys, our lead researcher. Everything we do is passed by him."

Mechanically, Leah reached out her hand. "I'm--wow, I didn't expect that. I thought you'd have more important things to do than meet me."