A cramped 35 square foot cell. Walls white, ceiling low.

  The light never went out. 24 hours, white light.

  There were no dark corners.

  One mat on the floor. Food twice a day, silver capsules emerging from a slot in the wall.

  No taste. No smell. No texture, no reason to chew.

  From the cell's speaker: "Give thanks to the Mother of Light... Darkness is extinction..."

  Repetition. Words. Sentences. Tone. Every morning, drugs were administered.

  Psychostabilizers. Emotional balance regulators.

  Thoughts remained clear, but sensations gradually dulled.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  When prayer time came, the monitor activated and the priest in the screen spoke quietly.

  "Repentance is the first step to recovery."

  Elion bowed his head. Opened his mouth.

  "Mother of Light, That I have defied your will..."While muttering, inwardly he said nothing at all.

  He knew he was an aberration in this society. Mother had always been unyielding.

  Never mistaken in a single verse of doctrine, Never doubted even once.

  Elion couldn't understand.

  Why was he alone feeling increasingly hollow every time he heard those sentences?

  Why did no one ever speak of shadows?

  Night never came.

  In prison, time did not exist.

  He lay down with his eyes closed. But the light still penetrated his eyelids.

  In that moment, he imagined darkness.

  Not a distinct form. Just, everything disappearing and nothing seeing him that kind of state.

  It was the first time.

  That he felt darkness not as "fear" but as "liberation."