The Pale-Touched

Stage One � First Exposure. The subject reports a persistent humming in their bones at night, as if a distant string had been plucked somewhere behind the sternum. Their eyes catch moonlight differently. Sleep becomes optional. The Dominion records the name of every newly touched subject. They are watched. Stage Two � Translucence. The skin begins to thin. Not dramatically � a faint transparency at the temples, at the wrists, along the collarbone. Veins become visible beneath the surface, carrying a dull silver shimmer. The subject can see their own blood glowing in dim rooms. This is when most realize they will not recover. Stage Three � The Bleed. Soul erosion accelerates beyond the body's ability to compensate. Emotions flatten. Memories develop gaps � not forgotten, but missing, as if pages were torn from a book. The subject becomes calm. Dangerously calm. The Dominion promotes them to sainthood at this stage. They are paraded through the Pale Spire in silver robes while the faithful weep at their passing. Stage Four � Luminescence. The glow is active now. Veins burn silver-white under the skin, visible through clothing. Magical output triples, sometimes quadruples. The subject can cast spells that would kill an ordinary mage. They are at their most useful and their most dangerous. The Dominion confines them to ceremony. They are saints who must not be touched. Stage Five � Cognitive Fray. Paranoia. Time distortion. The subject begins speaking to people who are not there � Yssara's voice, they claim. They forget faces, including their own reflection. They carve symbols into their own skin, trying to hold onto a self that is dissolving. The Dominion no longer parades them. They are kept below, in the lower chambers of the Pale Spire, where their light is still useful. Stage Six � The Hollowing. The subject stops. No madness. No pain. No self. The body remains, animated by residual moon energy, but the person is gone � consumed entirely. The Pale-Touched call this the Silver Peace. The Oathbound Remnants call it death, and they mercy-kill any Hollowed they find. The Dominion calls it the final offering. All three are correct. Most reach Stage Six within five years of Stage Two. Some faster. None have survived past it. The Pale-Touched do not reproduce � they are created, one exposure at a time, by a moon that will not stop falling.