So What Is A Light Stealer?

Light stealers are creatures I conjured up for my world of Solstice.  They are living crystals that grow for an unknown amount of time with a strong collective consciousness and playful personalities.  The following is an excerpt from my first book, The Last Prospector.

THE LIGHT STEALER’S SONG

It has been said that the light stealers were the first creatures that ever came to be on Solstice.  But it is more truthful to say that Solstice came to be because of the light stealers.  Light stealers are misnamed, as Ylumya’s light is always given freely, but the light stealers are an impish lot and enjoy playing the rascals.  They are also extremely social creatures and can only survive in the company of their kind.  The bonds they form with one another are so strong, so tangible, that matter flowed in and around them, growing slowly until they were all connected by the ground from which Solstice sprang.

Light stealers come in an untold array of shapes and in every one of the thousands of shades in the spectrum.  Each family group has its own ‘personality’ and many are happy to share their glow with all creatures.  There are also more reclusive varieties that are very adept at hiding and are rarely seen by people.  Most light stealers continue growing until they die which can take hundreds of years and there might even still be ‘stealers alive that were here before the beginning.

In addition to glowing, the light stealers also sing although most people have trouble hearing anything other than a buzz or hum.  They sing to each other constantly; they even sing as they slumber the day away, and it is that song that binds the little particles of Solstice and holds them together.  They are the wisest of Oneno’s creations because they understand that substance is in fact not at all substantial and everything hangs on wispy threads of sheer belief.

It is ironic, because the light stealers made Solstice, that the blooded creatures which had sprung up profligately did not even know of the light stealers’ very existence for centuries.  It wasn’t until the Second War of the Twins, when the girls were fighting over the torch.  That particular skirmish set the torch on its perpetual path up, down and around Solstice.  Until that time, the land had always been bathed in light and it was all the blooded creatures knew.  So when the torch started dipping that very first time over the eastern edge of the land and the sky began to darken ominously, no one knew if the light would ever come back. 

The creatures panicked as they had never been cold before, never before been blind.  But just before the torch disappeared completely, something amazing happened.  The ground all over Solstice exploded into islands of warm colorful light, throwing back the darkness and revealing the glory of the light stealers for the first time.  The first night passed with joy instead of fear, which they would never have known if they had not been thrust into the darkness.