Luz Alfaro-Contreras

Luz's life has not been a happy one. As a result, she's become a cynical and socially disinclined woman, preferring to keep to her own company whenever possible; she is private and secretive by nature. Luz uses her consistent solitude to pursue all manners of study, as she is ever curious, and cannot stand to be left with unanswered questions. Easily absorbed into any subject that interests her, it's not uncommon for Luz to set aside all other obligations for the sake of research and knowledge. Though very sharp-witted and perceptive, her focus is not easily held in check; many people in her life have dismissed her as unintelligent for this reason. Luz is not quick to be angered or insulted, however. She'll weaponize people's judgments of her if necessary, seeing them as valuable tools. Beliefs and values are a core aspect of Luz's intellectual interests; she specifically seeks out those in conflict with her own in a pursuit of spiritual growth. Though Luz has long desired comfort and safety during her long and painful life, she's cast aside such wants in favor of strife, specifically a very black and white sort of strife. Luz' world is very binary in a philosophical sense; all things are reduced to light and dark, and she can only find meaning in struggling against 'the light'.

Trauma runs deep in her soul, and it is worsened by her corrupted connection with the Dark. Religious trauma-Roman Catholicism, to be specific-and intense scopophobia intertwine within her; Luz fears the eyes of God, and sees light as a monstrous, evil creation. Her only form of comfort is that of the darkness, where none can look upon her. The Dark is as God to Luz. She rejects all forms of worship of Him other than her own, and has a particular passionate hate for those who attempt His ritual. In her mind, only a lifelong struggle with the light provides any sort of purpose to one's existence, and a world of pure darkness would ruin that. She is adamant, fanatical perhaps, with this belief. Many other believers are dead by her hand, and Luz does not feel remorse at this fact.

Luz was not born Luz, but she threw her original name into the fire long ago. From a very young age, she knew she was a girl, and made it very clear she would not tolerate being made to live as a boy. It only took a few meltdowns for her mother, ever loving and open-minded, to accept that Luz was not joking or having a phase. She saw her supposed son as her daughter without protest. Luz's father and grandparents were more skeptical, but came around eventually, mostly in part to the convincing of her mother. The little girl had no idea how lucky she was at the time to have such an accepting family, but quickly learned how cruel the world could be as she grew. Other kids, parents, men of God and the unbelieving alike... so many of them held hatred in their heart for the young girl, for the circumstances of her birth she never could've controlled. Her family-usually her mother, unsurprisingly-comforted her through this, but even this love was not enough. Luz felt eyes watching her, and judging. Into her young heart bubbled up a guilt she couldn't begin to understand. Everyone was watching-hating, mocking-and nowhere felt safe. Maybe this was what drew it to her. Luz had been told demons and monsters didn't dwell on this earth, to many relatives' disapproval, but she knew there was one now. It gazed upon her in the night, and woke her up while her sisters slumbered peacefully. It never stopped looking. Its many eyes burrowed into her mind, and would not leave. Eventually, Luz learned that screaming and summoning her parents or grandparents only staved it off for a short time, and she soon stopped being able to make a single sound. For months this went on without ceasing, until one night, she felt a horrible fear twisting within her. The demon was nowhere to be seen. Her sisters kept on sleeping. Luz found the courage to leave her shared bedroom, and slowly walked to her parents' room. There, the monster dwelt. Somehow, it had become her mother. She carried so many eyes in her skin, all staring, all screaming in Luz' head in a maelstrom of painful colors. The lights were so bright as to be blinding. Her father and grandparents hung from the walls; bloodied, gaping holes wept where their real eyes once were, though they now had plenty others covering their tortured bodies. The lights burned red. Luz screamed; she screamed as she never had in her entire life, and the thing that once was her mother turned to face her. It saw her. The terror in her heart was so intense in that moment, Luz could not help but fall into the peace of the darkness.

The official story is this: Luz's parents and grandparents were tortured, then murdered by an unknown assailant. No one was sure whether the culprit intentionally ignored the young girls, or somehow missed the room where they quietly slept. It didn't matter. Luz and her sisters could no longer live in their home all the same. They were sent to the home of their parents' next of kin, their aunt who had moved to the United States years ago and rarely contacted her family. She'd agreed to take the girls in, though after living there for only a short time, Luz wondered why. The woman-who by all rights was less family, and more a stranger-was cordial enough with her sisters, but she hated Luz. Her aunt tried to force her to be a boy, and never called her by her true name. She even persuaded Luz' youngest sister to do the same, though the two older girls protested fiercely. It was a miserable, bleak life for the young girl. Retreating into herself to escape the pain, she fell further into the darkness within her mind-the darkness that saw this badly hurt, traumatized child as a perfect victim. It felt as if the entire world was watching her. No, not just watching… judging. Shaming. Hating. Luz began to fear the light, but most of all, she feared the unceasing eyes of others that followed her day and night. Only in the embrace of night did she find peace. Slowly, yet certainly, the Dark melded her into one of His own.

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