The tap of wood on wood grew closer as he worked.

“It won’t work.” She says, the door frame creaking as she leaned against it, rubbing her closed eyes.

“You don’t know that for sure.” Unperturbed, he responds, as if he saw her coming. He continues to mold the weave.

“I know it with a lot more certainty than you do.”

“You of all people can’t know anything for certain.”

“Perhaps, but we both know that this will fail more likely than not..”

“So I’m taking a risk - it means nothing.”

“It means everything. There is no logic to this, no reason, just a maniacal desire!”

“And yet the benefits outweigh the risks.”

“They do not.”

“You say that like it will change my mind when we both know for certain it won’t.”

“Don’t make me stop you.”

“Don’t make me show you that you can’t.”

“You’re blind to the danger.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“To the contrary, I’ve seen it in even greater detail.”

“You do not understand the price of your actions.”

“I understand the price of our complacency!” He yells, the first pause in his concentration. His face softens, like it did long ago. “There is a price beyond any reason we pay - all of us. Even a chance at escape from that would be worth disaster. Even if the chance is as slim as you believe - that reward is still great enough to warrant the risk. I know what we have lost - I have seen before we were blinded.”

“You are a fool blinded by ambition.” Her face remained unchanged, unreacting, despite her anger.

“Better than being blinded by fear. I’ve seen what is possible and reach, you’ll hear of what we once saw and hide away, blind yourselves further if you could. Cowards, each and every one of you.” He spat, his mind dedicated to the delicate task before him. His eyes were not on her.

The heat of the working could reach her, even from the doorway - it was singeing his clothes, and yet he continued.

“This isn’t worth it.”

“Because you have not ever known what it is that you have lost. You were born after we blinded ourselves to it all. Our power, our nature, our selves… the world around us was the last thing we lost sight of, and what we must regain.”

“You cannot restore the sight! It is forbidden with cause!”

“That cause is idiocy and weakness, and I am not so powerful as to restore it - it was never destroyed, simply locked away.” He opened his eyes as his weave was completed. The heat rose, the painful heat turning to a burning sensation in an instant.

“For a reason-” a blast of heat struck her, and she fell backwards, crying out as her arms pinwheeled back, abruptly reunited with the floor with a thud. Her staff fell and rattled somewhere nearby. She sat up and searched with her leg, feeling for her stick, eyes still shut.

“OPEN YOUR EYES!” He yelled, standing. Singed and yet with a maniacal grin, eyes crazed and directed straight at her. She continued to grope along the floor blindly. He grabbed a book off the desk next to him and threw the book at her, striking her in the stomach. She felt herself involuntarily having the air driven out of her, her eyes and mouth opening in surprise, her breath failing when she saw what was in front of her.