Inside Granny Tel’s home lay Fay, her eyes showing signs of disappearing. Her eyes bordered this reality and another.

“Tel, what’s happening to Fay? I thought watching Daval’s forging would strengthen her soul? Where are her eyes?” the Chief anxiously inquired.

“I don’t know; it was said that the curse would end with the thunder of the hammer and its resonance with her soul. With the flame’s presence, the curse should have ebbed away.” Granny Tel explains as she picked up a green cloth that had been soaked on some herbs before placing it on top of Fay’s eyes.

She looked around and then shouted, “Ela, Lisa, where’s the Seventh Star Flower? I need it to ease the swelling of the curse!”

Ela and Lisa, Granny Tel’s students, searched for the ingredient she asked. The teacher-student trio continued their work.

“Daval, what happened?” Chief Hal asked.

“I do not know. Fay said she saw dark spots and some world while I was forging, and then she began pointing me the cracks in the Spearhead’s creation. I followed her commands, I struck the places she said to me, and we managed to create an almost perfect spearhead.”

Grandpa Daval explained.

Grandpa Hal was still worried, he did not know what would happen next, but he saw Ilia entering Granny Tel’s hut as he looked to the side.

“How is she, Granny Tel?” Ilia asked with a calm tone.

“I can’t tell. Fay has a fever, and her body is being corrupted by death. Her lineage cannot hold the power of death, and we cannot retrieve the eyes that have been stolen by the underworld. We knew this would happen; we knew that this was an inevitability…”

A warm and soft smile appeared on Ilia’s face; she knelt down and caressed her child’s auburn hair, “Granny Tel, Granpa Daval, Grandpa Hal, I think you know three know why I sought out the three Master of their Crafts, right?”

Grandpa Hal’s brows creased, “Ilia, are you sure about this?”

“I am… I’ll do anything for my daughter… even if it means defying the Will of the Gods.” She said as she touched her left eye.

Grandpa Hal took a deep breath, stood up, and then sighed, “If you’re going to be like that, then I’m going to take care of the Undead being attracted by the scent of Fay’s eyes.”

===

Fay’s POV

Darkness as far as the eye could see. Earlier I could still hear Grandpa, but now, there’s nothing.

I had my eyes closed; I didn’t have it in me to look at the darkness. At least with my eyes closed, I can reason why everything is dark.

“Open your eyes.”

Why should I? Am I going crazy that I am hearing things now?

“Open your eyes and see for yourself.”

The voice stated, and I was compelled to follow its commands. I saw someone, a figure, but the first thing that came to my mind was a single question, how? I thought my eyes were gone, so how is that I can see?

What’s more, I can clearly see who this person is… he’s not just a blur.

“This world is somewhere within you, and outside existence, the eyes you possessed in your first life can be retrieved here. From what I can retrieve from your memory, you can call this place Limbo. Hmm, do you even remember me, child?” it asked me.

I cannot understand his meaning, Limbo? The edge of hell? I want to understand but, I have no strength to inquire. I simply decided to answer him.

Of course, I do remember, are you not the devil who hit me with the hammer soon after my death?

That’s right, it was the devil that possessed those terrifying black gold eyes and the giant hammer. Its massive figure was wrapped in an ephemeral light, its hands bigger than my body, and its right hand was a worn-out hammer.

Its face had no feature other than a pair of peculiar eyes. It had a black sclera and a golden pupil; it was as demonic as before.

“So, you do remember the time you spent in Limbo, your mind is stronger than I thought. I only wished for you to become a vessel, but it seems like the past stuck with your present. But how peculiar, I think your perception of time in there was messed up after drifting within was that the reason why you think I struck you with the hammer soon after your death?”

Why was I wrong?

“You have a blunt personality, fearless even. For you to speak in front of a being, you cannot even comprehend without a hint of respect that’s new. Do you even know who I am?”

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I do not even know who you are,

“… is that why you don’t fear me? Or is that you do not even know fear.”

I know it; can you not see that even now, I tremble?

“What do you fear, then?” it asked.

The thought of being alone in this darkness. The ones with me, Granny Tel, Grandpa Daval, Mother, and everyone else… I fear they’re nothing but figments of my imaginations. Was I making them up in this darkness?

The figure extended its empty left hand. It touched my face and gave me a questioning gaze.

“If I remember correctly, did you not say you hate the sun?”

I don’t like the sun. It is too bright for someone like me, it burns as though it hates me, but I do not hate it despite that.

However, as for the darkness, I loathed its existence… no, I was more scared of it.

“Ooooh, I can finally feel the fear within you… explain.”

Why should I? Can you not retrieve those from my memory? From what I can tell, you pulled some information from me before; why is this no different?

“What I gathered from you is nothing but information. Memories are hidden in a place protected by their psyche. Come on, tell me a good story; it’s going to be a while until you awaken.”

What do I get for telling you my story?

“I’ll tell you what I am and how you got here.” Its answer was concise and neat.

When I was young, I was a loner.

My eyes looked fierce. I was scary, unapproachable, that’s what they said to me, and I just kind of accepted the fact that I would always be alone.

And so, I just gave up. I became alone, and those around me laughed because they needed someone to pour their insecurities on.

But when I reached middle school, I found someone who extended her hands to me, someone who wasn’t turned off by my eyes, someone who was willing to become my friend.

That person was Julia.

One time when I was young, my parents and I fought about something I wanted from them. I have forgotten the reason, but it was a big argument that resulted in me shutting myself in my room.

Then the day after — I heard they died in an accident.

My parents died after going to the next town; reports said they left to buy something for their daughter… I was left alone. I wallowed in my emotions.

Without anyone, and the more I thought of the fight I had with them, the more I grew angry with myself. I pushed everyone away; I was left alone, huddled in a single corner of a dark closet.

I couldn’t bring myself to raise my head, I was ashamed, and most of all felt guilty. I covered my eyes as if afraid to see others, and I covered my ears, afraid to hear judgment.

I was afraid, and being in the dark did not do me good. Slowly, I spiraled into depression, losing myself to the darkness that led me to almost losing my way. Help cannot come; I pushed everyone away, no one could help me, and only then did I realize how scary the dark truly is.

I understood how it can swallow you if you are not careful.

Thankfully despite my desire for isolation, one person stuck with me, and that was Julia.

My only friend helped me stand up again. She showed me the light and pulled me out of the darkness. I overcame the darkness with her by my side… and now that she’s not with me, I feel scared again.

I am afraid of being alone… fearful that my own weakness will swallow me… I become paranoid of how others would look at me. My insecurities surface, my thoughts clouded... my mind devolves to ideas I cannot stomach.

When in the dark, I fear my own self-loathing will cause me to kill myself. I fear the darkness within me more than anything else.

Julia was my anchor before, and not it is everyone in the village, and if I am to fall in this darkness… I know that I will lose my life by my own hands. Ha, that might be why she brings me to her vacations more often than not... I never even got to thank her for that.

Haha, it is not so much a happy story now, is it? Well, that’s everything I have within me.

“A tale of self-loathing I see, stemming from the death of one’s parent and carrying the hate to your own body, it seems like the two of us is not different after all.”

Huh? What do you mean?

“I cannot speak of it entirely, but due to my greed of wanting my parents to come together, I caused them their deaths; my father had his head claimed by a warrior and my mother captured and tortured. I see now why you drifted to my prison, and for you to survive until this point of your life could only mean that you will live past this age… oooh, she actually did it? How amusing, well, I have to uphold my end of the bargain then—

He-Hey! What are you doing?

“So, you truly will become my only descendant. So, it was right of me to answer her prayers at the same time even if it risked my destruction—

His laughter echoed in the void and caused it to shake, his eyes showed glee, but I am left unsure, for he had already dug out the two jewels in his eyesockets earlier. With his left arm, he extended his arm left hand in front of me, handing me his two eyeballs.

“Lily — Fay-Aine, remember that you are unlike the rest of this world. When you return to the other side, you will be given a wonderful gift. This gift is not limited and cannot be abused, but it will nonetheless be useful to you… when you see your Mother, tell her that I judged her wrong.”

Hey, don’t raise your hammer yet; that means you’re going to send me out of this place, right? You haven’t told me what the hell is happening!

“I didn’t say I’ll tell you what’s happening, ask your mother. Oh yeah, I almost forgot — I am the God of Forge.”

His hammer reached me and crushed my figure, and his freshly gouged out eyes — BANG!

“AHHH!” I screamed as I abruptly opened my eyes.

I stood up and then looked around… something’s wrong, my eyes… it’s no longer shrouded by darkness? What are these dust particles flowing around me? Hmm?

I reached out and touched the red light.

“HOT!”

“Fay, you’re finally awake.”

I heard a familiar voice, “Mother! I can see something new… mother? Huh?” I rubbed my eyes in disbelief.

Flowing long auburn hair, lips like lustrous pearls and a perfectly shaped nose, and a golden eye that’s more beautiful than any diamond or jewel I have seen.

Mother crouched and got on the same eye level as me; she looked at me straight and smiled, asking me, “How does your mother look?”

A tear escaped my eyes.

For almost ten years, I spent my life in darkness, incapable of seeing anything other than the souls of other people. But now, though still limited, I can see how my mother looked like, and she was, “…Beautiful.”

But I just had to ask, “Mother? Did you… lose your left eye somewhere?” so mother wore an eyepatch embroidered with the image of a lotus flower.

“Hmmm? Yes, it happened a long time ago, you do not have to worry about it. Why, is mother not as pretty as you thought?”

“No, no, of course, is the prettiest.”

“How can you claim that when you haven’t seen anyone else before?”

“Haha…” a peal of dry laughter echoed from me.

For some reason, when I opened my eyes, I can now see the world with much more clarity, the darkness still loomed over my eyes, but I could now at least see my mother’s face.

"Come on, why not let everyone know of the good news?"

"Yes!"

I let out a hearty laugh to celebrate, then ran outside, letting everyone know that I can now see. I celebrated with mother quietly smiling as she watched me from afar.