The Darkest Souls

The Twenty-Third Chapter: A Transparent Soul

I woke up to blurry vision and a blurry mind. My thoughts were scrambled and out of order. I only had a vague memory as to what had happened. The only thing I knew for certain was that I had apparently blacked out. (  I was honestly getting sick of blacking out so often. I had no idea it was possible to black out as often as I had ever since I got involved with this whole ordeal. ) I stared up at a white canvas roof. I had seen it before. I was in the medical tent on World's side.

I tried to use my limp arms to push myself up, but they shook too much so I rolled over onto my side to view the rest of the room. It was small, and like Nadia's. I was worried that I might have actually been in her death room, but that wasn't something I needed to concern myself at that point in time.

My eyes glanced around and came over Michael. He looked up and saw me staring at him. My eyes asked everything when my voice couldn't.

Michael stood up from his sitting position and he walked over to my cot. He stared down at me and sighed in relief. Nobody else was in here. I could hardly even hear the shouting of the war outside.

"What happened? Be honest," I stated weakly. My voice was thin and it exhausted me to speak.

Michael looked pained for a moment before he had started speaking. "Lacey... you blacked out. You were in too much pain. Will got what he wanted. So they let me carry you back... with a couple escorts to make sure I got you here safe," he replied.

I raised my eyebrows. "They made sure we got here safe?" I asked increadilously.

"Well..." Michael started, "That was more because of Nathan Litford's influence. He felt bad about hurting you. So he convinced Will to send two of his men with me."

"Oh," I sighed. That explained the generosity.

"Why then? Why did I black out?" I asked nervously.

"Because you were under pain..." Michael replied vaguely.

"I know that part," I sighed tolerantly. "I want to know why I felt the pain. Why Michael? Surely Litford explained it to you...   Why did the light enhancement effect me the way it did verses the way the dark hadn't?" My voice shook badly. I felt sore all over my body.

"That doesn't matter Lacey. It is irrelevant at the moment. For now, all we need to do is wait for you to recover well enough," Michael replied avoiding my question.

"I am well enough okay?!" I shouted back. I felt faint after using so much energy to shout not to mention I felt guilty for getting frustrated with Michael when he hadn't really done anything bad towards me.

Michael grimaced. "Well, maybe you should at least get a little more rest to make certain of it," he suggested.

"No," I replied. My voice felt stronger. "I will be okay. I don't need to rest more than I have."

He sighed resentfully and said, "Okay then."

"Now," I said, "Tell me what happened to me. I need to know this Michael. I need to know how concerned I should be..."

"You shouldn't be concerned at all, Lacey. You're a good person," Michael replied softly.

"Michael, please tell me," I begged. "You're worrying me more and more the longer you keep evading the answer."

Michael took one of my hands into both of his and messed with it on a nervous instinct. "Okay then Lacey... but, no matter what I am about to say- don't think anything bad of yourself. My opinion on you hasn't changed, so yours shouldn't either. Litford... he said you DO have both the Light and Dark enhancements to your soul. It's just- the only thing unexpected... is that they aren't even. The light aspect, it is hardly there. It is strong though. It is as if your soul is Dark, but there is a thin layer of the Light around the Darkness, to keep it contained and to stop it from possessing your entire soul to where you have no control over your actions," Michael said wearily.