Eva stared at the window.
You have lost organs; Eyes.
(3) Flesh of the Beyond will be consumed to create replacement. Would you like to add any essences?
[Yes] [No]
The weight of the decision hung like a pit in her stomach. This was obviously a test, but what was the right answer? She knew what her failing had been before. Failings, she corrected herself. She had been arrogant, rash, and worst of all, too proud.
God had taken her eyes, but pride had blinded her before that. Now god had given her a path to new eyes. Had she learned her lesson yet though? She didn’t think so.
God had given her sight of a different kind. Was that not enough? She could see the Harbinger, shining in his brilliance, she could see her fellow servants as well. To her surprise she could even make out dim light from those others who had survived the trials.
Eva had been shocked at the deaths of those who had not survived. She had not seen them of course, but she had heard. She had known what was happening. She had been intent on taking a life herself that day.
She was glad now that God had interceded. Now instead of proceeding blindly forward, she had been given sight beyond seeing. Not just that but she had been given a measure of understanding of this gift. The nature of it was spelled out to her in plain english.
Beyond Sight
Increased Perception.
Passive: Sense pathways unto the realm of the Lord.
Behold a new light shines upon your world
Rereading this it seemed obvious now. The correct choice seemed obvious now, but it was not available to her. The question offered was only the option to add essences or not.
She understood that these essences were God’s reward for defeating the trials. They would flow forth in the presence of the Harbinger. Like manna from heaven. She knew she absolutely should use them. But for what?
The question of whether or not to use these gifts was not what worried her. Was there not some higher purpose she could apply them to? The window only showed yes or no to choose from It had been decided that she would get new eyes. The only question that remained was what form they would take.
Arrogance, again. She must be humble. She must question herself. She must submit truly to God's will.
Eva prayed and the correct words came to her in the moment.
“Lord, thank you for this test. It has made me stronger and wiser. Humbly, I reject what is offered to me. I do not wish my eyes to regrow but, instead, to continue down this path you have set for me.”
A new window appeared.
Consume (3) Essences to advance formation sequence Beyond Sight?
[Yes] [No]
Eva selected Yes. Another new window appeared within her mind.
Beyond Sight II
Increased Perception.
Skill: Identify the gifts bestowed upon others.
Passive: Sense pathways unto the realm of the Lord.
Behold a new light shines upon your world
As she looked around she could see so much more than before. The area surrounding her was filled with tiny openings. Most smaller even than pinpricks. Her mouth hung open as she stared around in wonder.
It was not just that she could see more openings either. Every opening into the Realm of the Lord was now a light casting divine glow upon the world. She could now see not just the openings but what was cast in their light.
The tiny openings painted a very vague picture of the world around her. As she looked at the brilliance of the Harbinger, she could see very clearly what surrounded him. Better even than she could see right next to herself, for she was sat in near darkness.
He was in a hotel room just like her, not far away. He was talking to someone else, a woman by the shape of her. Eva could not make out much more about her. Her entire body was dark, near invisible. Her face was a black mirror, reflecting the light of the harbinger. He looked worried.
It was probably that Dr.Lee woman, telling him he was a prisoner here. Eva had instinctually disliked that woman. She had spoken so familiarly of the Harbinger, referring to him only as Grant. Not even with respect, but with worry, and even pity.
After that she had gone on to describe how they were actively working against the will of God. They sought ways to suppress not just her but the Harbinger himself. They sought a means to stop them spreading God’s gifts.
Eva desperately wanted to reach the Harbinger. She needed to explain so much to him. Not the least of which was what she had just learned. He had defeated many of the trials and must have many essences. He could grow so much stronger.
Eva had only gotten the one fernling, and that had been split with a police officer, Greg McMillan. If every advancement took three she wouldn’t be able to do any more for now. She would have to gain more.
She looked around trying to find some other way to contact the messenger. The phone was cast in dim light from a few pinprick openings. She considered it, but she didn’t know her own room number, let alone his. She doubted even if she did that these serpents of AROG would let her reach him.
Looking around more, she saw the dimmer lights of her fellows in their own hotel rooms. A light was growing inside of them. It was in their eye sockets.
Oh no…
They had chosen to regrow their eyes. She was simultaneously worried that they had chosen incorrectly and that she had chosen incorrectly. She chastised herself.
It was not her place to judge, first and foremost. Second, how dare she feel bad that her fellows might have done better than she. She should rejoice that she was wrong if it meant they all were right. She shook her head.
Perhaps they and she had all chosen correctly for themselves. She still had much more to learn from this lesson. They were all so much better than she.
She watched as the light within them grew. New holy eyes began to emerge, budding into existence, blossoming with light. She reached out with the power bestowed upon her, Beyond Sight II. She looked first to her own partner Jacob. A window appeared showing her his gift.
Lesser Eyes of DO NOT LOOK UPON MY NAME
Item - Sensory Organ
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Lesser Eyes of … can see directly into the beyond.
Lesser Eyes of … automatically make attacks. Successful attacks convert matter into additional Lesser Eyes of … which are automatically equipped. Maximum number of lesser eyes are determined by the strength of the vessel.
Eva’s felt tears began to run down her cheeks. Her ruined eyes being gone meant that the tears fell directly out with no chance to hold them back.
“Jacob…” She whimpered.
She watched and prayed that he would be ok.
-—
Grant tried to explain again.
“So I got a window.” He said.
“Like on a computer.” Meera said.
They had turned on the TV and started a video conference. Grant found it helpful to have a face to look at while he was trying to explain it. In all fairness he had sort of rushed through and sounded like a crazy person the first time.
“Yeah, like in a video game.” He said. “I play a lot of video games in my free time, I think the Other took the idea out of my head.”
“Right… The Other. I’m still unclear on that.” Meera said.
“That’s not the important thing right now” He said, sighing. “The important thing, is the cultists are going to have weapons! Soon!”
Olivia had been watching with mounting horror as he had explained all that happened. He was trying to convince them of the danger of what was coming.
“Fine, continue,” She said.
“Right so I got a window asking if I wanted new teeth and if I wanted to add any essences.”
“Of which you had four kinds.” Meera said.
“Right, so I just chose one, Consuming Essence, because I thought it would help me kill the fernling.”
“The anomaly 4.”
“Yes, I could have chosen more essences, I'm pretty sure. Not sure what having more than one would do though. After what happened with my teeth, I didn’t want to mess around with my eyes.”
“Right, I'm a little vague on what you mean when you say your teeth destroy matter.” Olivia finally spoke up.
Grant huffed out a breath. He didn’t think he could be any more clear. He looked around and then picked up a notepad. It was sitting on the nightstand, the brand name of the hotel was emblazoned along the bottom of each sheet.
He held it up for the camera to see. Then he bit into it.
He spit out the chunk that was in his mouth. He held it up to the remaining portion of the notepad in his hand. It was obvious where it should have fit in, but it wasn’t a neat cut out. A strip, the exact size of his bite impression, was just gone.
Meera leaned in towards the screen trying to get a better view. Grant held it closer to the camera.
“So that matter… it’s just… gone?” She asked.
“That’s not possible.” Olivia said.
Grant rolled his eyes at her. “Olivia, hello!”
He waved the notepad in her face. She had a vaguely puzzled look on her face as she looked at it. He put the smaller broken off piece into his mouth. He chewed until it was wholly gone.
He opened his mouth for inspection, saying ‘aah’. He showed it first to Olivia, then to Meera.
“All gone! See!” Grant said, louder than he meant to.
He took a moment and a breath to calm himself before continuing.
“Now imagine if that was my eyes.” He said. “Imagine if I used more than one essence. Imagine if i was a crazy person, four crazy people!”
“I understand your concerns Mr.Walsh.” She said. “I cannot do more to prepare for unknowns though; tactical is at the ready as always. We are not far from you or from the…”
She trailed off and began looking at something else. All that Grant could tell was that she was looking away from her camera.
Olivia pulled out her tablet and brought up the camera feed. Grant Looked on and saw all of the camera feeds. Some were of the police officers, including Eric, one showed the room Grant and Olivia were in, and the others showed the cultists in their rooms.
Three of them were lying on their beds, clutching their faces. The woman who had pulled his mask off in front of the anomaly was standing, shaking her head. She seemed to be staring at the wall with her empty eye sockets.
His attention was drawn away from her though. One of the cultists had flesh erupt from his eye sockets. Stalks of flesh with little bulbous ends protruded from his eye socket. Five stalks per eye socket. They writhed at the end of their reach.
Olivia tapped that feed and it came up, enlarged. The sound also kicked in. He was screaming. It was the unintelligible cries of intense pain at first. They began to resolve into actual words though.
“No! Take it away! Take it back! Pleeease take it back!.”
His harrowing high pitched wail could be heard through the speaker, and more faintly through the walls. Grant looked up at the wall for a moment, looking towards where the sound seemed to be coming from.
The man, the cultist who had first approached Grant on the street, began to claw at his new ‘eyes’. He pulled out one stalk with each hand. They came free. Grant felt his stomach come up in his throat.
The stalks apparently did not like it either. The torn out stalks burrowed into the man’s hands until the eyes at the end were tight against his palm and the stalks were gone. In quick succession more eyes began to emerge from his forearms.
His arms shot out to his sides. Grant wasn’t sure but he got the sense from the way they were moving that the man had lost control of his arms. He fell to his knees and then dropped below where the camera could see.
Grant could still hear his screams. He and Olivia stood there staring at the now vacant view inside of his room. Small wet noises could be heard between the screams.
A window appeared in Grant’s mind.
That Which is Broken
Quest - Special Quest
Objective: Servant of the Harbinger, Jacob, has seen directly into the beyond shattering its mind. Repair its mind.
* Unequip all Lesser Eyes of … 0/17
* Repair mind 0/1
Reward -
* (3) Legendary Essences
* (12) Flesh of the Beyond
As Grant read the window the number of eyes he had to unequip kept growing.
He was pretty sure he didn’t want to do this; the guy had tried to kill him, or at least had planned to earlier today. He also didn’t know how to ‘repair’ a shattered mind.
So that was settled, Grant thought. The guy hadn’t stopped screaming though. The sound was still coming through the speaker and more faintly through the walls.
Heavy footfalls thundered down the hallway shaking the floor they were standing on. They rushed past the door to Grant’s room. He looked to Olivia, her eyes had gone wide.
“Containment?” Olivia said, turning towards the camera and the tv.
Meera looked back towards them, she held a radio in her hand. She had muted herself and had apparently been talking to someone. She had had a hard look on her face, but it softened somewhat as she looked at Olivia. She nodded slowly.
She unmuted herself. “Olivia… please return to command.”
The AROG soldiers hadn’t stopped to wait while that short conversation unfolded. Grant had heard the door open through the tablet that was still playing. Men had rushed in and were now visible on the screen.
Olivia shut down the tablet.
“I have to go.” She said, she gave him a quick hug and then headed towards the door.
She held a keycard up to the door with no knob on the inside. The lock chimed twice and she pushed the door open. She rushed out. Grant heard the door lock shut.
He walked over to it and tried to push it himself. Nothing happened. He sighed.
“Well fuck.” Grant said to himself.
The screaming hadn’t stopped since it began, but presently Grant heard it emerge into the hallway. He pressed his ear against the door. The same heavy footfalls rushed down the hall. The screaming voice came near and then receded further down the hallway.
His mind was racing from all that had happened. He didn’t feel delirious like he had earlier though. When the police had taken him away he had felt fairly loopy.
He tried to sort through his thoughts. He found he could think of nothing but those terrible screams.
Despite wanting to have a ‘fuck you’ attitude about the cultist, Grant was slowly realizing that he cared about him. About Jacob, that was the man’s name. Not like he would care about a friend, but like he would care that someone, anyone, was suffering.
It hadn’t been so long that he had made a mistake in his life, many mistakes actually. He had been very grateful for all the people that had been willing to help him.
“Dammit.” He said, slamming his fist into the wall.
Guess he had to figure out how to un-’shatter’ a mind. As if upon that thought the Quest window in Grant’s mind disappeared. It reappeared shortly after, changed. Grant’s legs went weak as he read it and he slumped against the wall.
He re-read it while sitting on the floor.
That Which is Broken
Quest - Special Quest
Objective: Servant of the Harbinger, Jacob, has seen directly into the beyond shattering its mind. Repair its mind.
Added objective: Servant of the harbinger, Jacob, has died. Secure sufficient raw materials and revive it.
* Collect (9) Flesh of the Beyond 9/9
* Collect (1) Regeneration Essence 0/1
* Perform Ritual of Undeath. 0/1
* Repair mind 0/1
Reward -
* (6) Legendary Essences
* (12) Flesh of the Beyond