“Hazel!” Evelyn shouted while charging at Hazel with teary eyes.
As soon as she got close, the Healer wrapped her arms around her daughter and hugged her tightly. Hazel could feel her arms press against her back and limbs as she was embraced by her mother.
For a moment, she had no idea what to do. The situation still felt so surreal that a part of her feared that she was merely hallucinating. The touch of her mother’s hair as it caresses her face and neck, the tight embrace that told her she had no chance of escape, and even the soft sobbing from her mom as she continued to mutter, “My baby girl, I’m so glad.”
It was all too much for Hazel to fully register all of it in her mind. All she managed to do at that moment was simply return her mother’s embrace, hugging her just as tightly. As she did, tears began to build up in her eyes, but no one could see it, thanks to her blindfold.
In the background, Zoe and the others, including the players that were with Hazel’s mother, merely watched the mother-daughter reunion unfold. Some looked touched while others felt awkward, likely feeling that they probably should be there out of fear of ruining the moment.
After a few seconds of the hug-fest, Evelyn finally pulled away from her daughter, only to realize something about her.
“Y-your eyes...” She muttered in stark horror, staring at the blindfold around Hazel’s eyes. “W-what happened to your eyes?! Did you get hurt?!” She hastily grasped her daughter’s shoulders, growing more worried by the second.
“Unfortunately, yes...” Hazel told her mother, unable to say anything else.
And almost immediately, the mom started dragging Hazel over to where the other patients were. “Come with me, sweetheart. I’m healing those eyes right now.”
While being pulled over toward the rest of the patients, Zoe and the others laughed in the background, clearly amused by the sudden turn of events. Even Astrid was finding it difficult to keep it together while watching the scene unfold.
“Well, we’ll leave you two alone for now,” Zoe told them. “John and I need to go over our plans about what to do with the village near the building, along with our next move when the system begins.”
“Of course, I’ll leave you to it, then,” Evelyn said with a wave and a generous smile before proceeding to place her daughter on one of the seats where the other patients were sitting.
Zoe and the others didn’t say anything else and simply left the scene, not wanting to intrude on the moment any longer. The only person left was Astrid, who stood on the sidelines, watching Hazel from a distance, clearly not wanting to interrupt either.
Before Hazel could say anything to her dark elf companion, she was startled by her mother, who started getting a closer look at her, practically getting in her face as she examined her eyes.
“Sweetheart, I need you to take off your blindfold so I can heal you.”
“Mom, I don’t think that’s necess...”
Before Hazel could finish, she saw her mom give her the death glare, a common mom trope where the parent doesn’t care what their child is saying and simply demands them to listen. As soon as Hazel noticed the glare, she could no longer resist and simply followed her mother’s command with a heavy sigh.
As she took off her blindfold, Hazel made sure to keep her eyes closed. Not that her blindfold was off, but there was a higher chance of her opening them and accidentally activating her Evil Eye skill. She wasn’t sure if the rebound was still active, so she had no idea what could happen if she opened her eyelids, nor did she have any desire to find out.
Even with her eyes still closed, she was capable of seeing her mother with the help of Astral Eyes. Keeping the floating, transparent eye trained on the healer, Hazel watched her mother attempt to heal her eyes.
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She placed a palm over her face. A second later, the same familiar golden glow emanated from her hand before touching Hazel’s face. As soon as it did, she could feel something similar to a warm heat caressing her, as if she had her head too close to a bright lamp.
The sensation lasted for a few moments before fading away. When it did, Hazel’s mom then pulled her hand away, likely to inspect her handiwork. A heavy sigh escaped her lips, expressing her satisfaction and glee.
“There! That should do it, then. You can open your eyes now, Hazel.”
Despite getting the go-ahead, Hazel did not open her eyes, leaving them in an awkward silence.
“Hazel?” Evelyn spoke up, her tone growing more concerned by the moment.
Unable to keep her mother in the dark, Hazel let out a heavy sigh of her own while burying her head in her palms.
“Mom...we should talk about this somewhere else where we can be alone.”
Hearing this, all Evelyn could do in response while curiously staring at her daughter, not sure of what she meant by that. But she would soon.
...
Listening to Hazel’s plea, both mother and daughter soon left the area with the other patients and continued their conversation in the ladies' bathroom. After making sure they were the only ones inside, Hazel then explained what happened to her eyes and everything else that occurred within her dungeon.
And her mother’s reaction...was what she expected.
“What is the matter with you?!” Evelyn scolded Hazel, unable to contain her astonishment. “Haven’t I taught you not to mess with mysterious items without consulting with an adult first!”
“Well, it was a reward item, so I thought-”
“That doesn’t make it any better, young lady!” She snapped while palming her face. “Even rewards have a price, Hazel. You should know that by now.”
“Yeah, having a friend help you to where you owe them a favor, not having a mystery tablet of power blow up in your face and give you super eyes that you can’t turn off.”
Needless to say, Hazel was receiving a good scolding from her mother. Of course, a part of her felt that she deserved it after what happened. Sure, the system gave her that tablet, but even she should have enough common sense not to mess with something she clearly didn’t understand. The only reason why her rationality went out the window was because of her excitement to figure out how to make the tablet work.
If she had stopped for a moment to realize the gravity of the situation, she would’ve realized that she might be making a very bad decision that could potentially cause a lot of problems for her. Sadly, that didn’t happen, which was why she was currently stuck with Medusa eyes.
Not wanting this conversation to drag on any longer, Hazel believed that it was time for a change in topic. A more important topic.
“Anyway, is Damien here with you? Maybe somewhere else in the jetport?”
Although her brother wasn’t in her dungeon, it was still possible for him to end up with their mom. At least, that was what she hoped for. Upon mentioning her sibling, instead of getting the answer she desired, Evelyn simply hung her head in despair. And that was all Hazel needed to see to know that her brother wasn’t here.
“I...guess not,” Her voice cracked upon her realization.
“I’m afraid so,” Evelyn said, fighting back the urge to cry. “When I first got sent to that weird place with monsters and the like, the first thing I did was search for you and Damien. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I searched for you, I couldn’t find either of you two.”
Hazel expected her mom to do something like this. A parent’s first instinct was to ensure the safety of their children. Everything else was second. Just the thought of Evelyn desperately searching for Hazel and Damien, only to come up with nothing and fearing that they were alone in a dangerous and life-threatening environment...the witch was surprised that her mom was able to keep herself sane from those kinds of dreadful thoughts.
“Even if we can’t find your brother at the moment, I’m certain that he’s okay,” Evelyn declared.
“Considering how game-like everything is, he’s probably thriving right now.”
Between the three of them, Damien Thatcher had a much better chance of surviving in such an apocalypse due to the game elements being implemented into it, from the system to the levels and classes. He knows how RPGs work since he played them all the time.
It was because Hazel and Evelyn knew this fact that they currently weren’t pulling their hair out from stress over their last remaining family member’s well-being. Though, if they didn’t find him soon, that was bound to change soon.
Once Hazel explained everything on her end, she also told her mom to keep her Evil Eyes a secret from Zoe and the others. Although Evelyn vouched for them and told her that they were trustworthy, Hazel wasn’t one to take any risks. Especially when it involved one of her secret weapons, she needed as many trump cards as possible to have an edge in the battle.
Once Evelyn swore to keep her eyes a secret, the mother-daughter duo soon left the women’s restroom to regroup with everyone else.