Leah’s eyes fluttered open as the first rays of dawn peeked through the blinds, splashing streaks of golden light across her bedroom wall. She rose groggily and shuffled to the bathroom, flicking on the light switch. But instead of the overhead bulb flickering to life, it was Leah herself who began to glow, bathing the small room in an ethereal luminescence.

This had been happening for weeks now, ever since her 21st birthday. At first, Leah thought she was losing her mind. Random parts of her body would start emitting light at the most inconvenient times – while in class at university, on the bus, even on a date with that cute guy from her chem lab. She took to wearing long sleeves and pants regardless of the weather, desperate to hide her strange new ability from the world.

But Leah was a scientist at heart, and her curiosity soon got the better of her. Late at night, she’d sit cross-legged on her bed, staring at her hands as she tried to summon the light intentionally. It took practice, but she eventually learned she could make any part of her skin glow at will, and even control the intensity. Her whole body could act like a human flashlight.

At first, Leah used her power for selfish reasons. Midnight snacks without waking her roommate. Lighting her way across campus after late nights at the lab. Saving on her electric bill. But one fateful night, everything changed.

Walking home alone from a study session, Leah took a shortcut through a shadowy alleyway. Suddenly rough hands grabbed her from behind, shoving her against the brick wall. Her heart seized with terror as she stared into the wild eyes of her assailant, his face shrouded by a dark hood. Instinctively, Leah unleashed the full force of her power, her entire body exploding in blinding white light as she screamed.

The would-be mugger cried out in shock and pain, shielding his eyes. Leah kneed him hard in the groin and took off running, her body still pulsing like a star as she sprinted all the way home, not daring to look back.

Safely in her apartment, Leah collapsed onto the couch, overwhelmed. She gazed at her reflection in the window, her face awash in its own ghostly glow. At that moment, she knew two things for certain. One, that she could never tell anyone about what had really happened that night. And two, that it was time to stop hiding her gift. It was time to illuminate the darkness.

Over the next few weeks, Leah fashioned herself into a secret protector of the night. With a ski mask to conceal her identity and a skintight black bodysuit to blend into the shadows (and more importantly, contain the light), she patrolled the city streets after dark. Whenever she spotted someone in trouble, Leah would unleash a blast of illumination to blind and disorient criminals until the police arrived or the victim could get to safety.

At first, eyewitness reports of her heroics were dismissed as hoaxes or hallucinations. But grainy security camera footage soon emerged online, showing a vaguely human-shaped beacon of light disarming a knife-wielding thief outside a liquor store. Social media exploded with speculation about the city’s mysterious new vigilante, dubbed “the Nightlight” by the press.

Leah knew she was playing a dangerous game. She couldn’t keep this up forever without getting caught, either by the cops or worse, the criminals who would surely be gunning for her now. But the thrill of using her powers for good was intoxicating. For the first time, she felt truly alive, embracing her destiny. She was no longer just a freak with a nightlight under her skin. She was an illuminator, a literal beacon of hope.

But Leah’s newfound purpose was put to the ultimate test when a string of abductions began terrorizing the city. Young women were snatched off the streets at night without a trace, save for scorch marks on the sidewalk that almost looked like lightning strikes. Leah pored over the news reports, a horrible realization dawning. She wasn’t the only one with powers. And whoever was taking these girls, they were harnessing something far more sinister than light.

Leah knew what she had to do. She had to find the other illuminated and stop them before more innocents were lost to the darkness. Because she wasn’t just Leah the college student anymore, or even Leah the vigilante.

She was Leah, bringer of light, destined for something greater than she ever could have imagined. And she would not go gently into the night. She would rage, rage against the dying of the light.