Darya was staring at me with a worried look on her face, wanting to say something but unable to form the words.

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“Uhm … you’ll have to see it for yourself.”

I sat up in bed and felt lightheaded on top of my head hurting something terrible. A vague recollection of what happened at the [Mineral Springs] last night was coming back to me, but I couldn’t recall returning to the abbey afterwards. All I could remember was killing the boss, and that it dropped a ring. Then while enjoying the hot springs, Darya got more than a little friendly. Though after that was … pain?

She brought up a mirror to where I could see my face. I recoiled at the sight, bolting up out of bed.

“What the hell is that?!” I yelled.

She winced. “It’s … it’s not that bad.”

“A-Are you serious?! It’s a fucking eye in the middle of my forehead!”

To make matters so much worse, I felt the eye move, and blink -- all on its own.

What. The. Fuck!

Darya narrowed her eyes. “I never heard you curse so much before.”

“Yeah, well, I never had a fucking eyeball pop out in the middle of my forehead. What the hell is it? What are people going to think when they see it?”

“That you, uhm … that you have the snort?”

“T-The what?!” Whatever it was, it didn’t sound very good.

Darya winced. “It’s uhm … it’s-” she took a deep breath, growing redder by the second.

I started to worry. “What? What is it?”

“It’s a sexually transmitted parasite,” she finally blurted out.

I scoffed. “A what?!” A fantasy-sized, magical STD? This world really took things to the next level, didn’t it? “But, I didn’t, you know? This can’t be what you say it is. Or is it? … Did I get it from you?”

Her eyes went wide, glaring at me. “What? No! We didn’t do anything! And I didn’t have it to start with. I have no idea where you got it from.”

“Where I got it from? What happened last night? At the Mineral Springs?”

She winced, taking a step back. “I-I fell asleep? And we were returned back here to the inn when the timer expired. I think? I just woke up a few minutes before you did.”

I pointed a finger at my forehead. “So this is a … parasite?”

“It sure looks like it.” She gave me an accusatory look. “It’s why you don’t sleep with anyone who wears a headband.”

“But I didn’t! What the hell. How do I get rid of it now?”

“You, uhm … you pass it on.”

“Pass it on? Like .. what? How?”

She tilted her head, gave me an incredulous look.

It took me a moment to realize. “Oh! Oh my god.”

If things weren’t bad enough, I heard someone speaking inside my head, addressing me.

A deep, synthetic sounding voice rang out in my mind.

“It’s talking to me,” I said. “Is that .. is that nor-”

“It’s talking to you?!” She looked at me like I was crazy.

“Yeah, I hear it in my mind.” I tapped on the side of my head. “Right now it wants me to look around so it could take in the place. It also wants to go outside.”

Her mouth fell open. “T-That’s .. that’s not normal. You might have something else going on there. Can you … can you talk back to it?”

I asked, directing my thoughts to the eyeball in my forehead.

I demanded.

The voice laughed nervously.

The voice sighed.

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I shook my head, sighing.

I moved to the window, facing east.

I sighed, cursing on the inside at my terrible luck. This was a problem for present Kevin, and he was not happy with it.

I felt the eyeball glance from side to side, then get fixated on the chair.

I went with my tried and true go-to name.

“Are you alright?” Darya asked me.

I sighed. “Yeah, sorry, having a conversation with it. His name is Bob.”

Darya looked disgusted. “Ugh, your parasite has a name?”

“Yeah, apparently.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I need to cover it up, but aren’t people going to assume that because I’m wearing a headband that I-”

Darya nodded. “Pretty much.”

“Fuck. I need a helmet.”

I asked Bob.

I felt something move inside my head and an excruciating pain jolted me. I yelled.

A moment later the pain vanished, as whatever Bob was doing had stopped.

Bob’s voice changed to a more sinister tone. < That I could cause you pain.>

The jolting pain returned, now worse than before.

Bob’s voice boomed.

On instinct, I clawed at the eye with my hand and the pain ceased in an instant, replaced by Bob’s screaming. Now he was the one in pain and asking me to stop.

I moved my clawed finger out his eyeball.

Bob pleaded.

I looked in the mirror and saw blood coming out of Bob’s eye.

Darya had recoiled at my sudden yelling. “What did you just-”

“Can this sort of parasite get removed with surgery?” I asked Darya. “You know, has anyone tried to cut the eyeball out?”

“I-I … I’m not sure? Do you think I’m some kind of an expert on these parasites?”

“No? Then again, I imagine if it was so simple as to cut it out and heal the damage using a healing spell, these parasites wouldn’t be getting passed around like a hot potato, right?”

Bob chimed in.

“Darya,” I asked, sighing. “Could you run down and get Amelia please? I need some healing.”

“For the … parasite?”

I groaned. “I’m afraid so.”

“S-Sure.”

While Darya went downstairs, Bob and I settled into a conversation. About what he needed and what he could do for me. His instant impulse to subjugate me through the threat of pain had backfired. I knew I couldn’t trust him.

I asked Bob.

The thought that he might somehow sabotage me instead of ‘tuning’ me up had crossed my mind, but what would he gain from doing that? The two of us were locked in a stalemate, and he needed me alive and well so I could deliver him to my creator. Harming me would go against his goal. At least I hoped that was the case.

I couldn’t trust this damn parasite to keep his word. He had tried to control me by causing me a great deal of pain. I needed to get rid of him, and the sooner the better.

Bob told me.

I wondered if he read my mind, or if it was a mere coincidence.