"Water," Kiera rasped. "Water. Please, give me water."

"She's awake!" Claire announced. "What do we do?"

"Give her some time," Fiona replied.

Kiera felt stiff. When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying flat on a stone altar, under the watery glass roof of the Lake Rath temple. Whoever had moved her there had not even bothered to give her a mattress or a pillow. She did not know how much time had passed since she fell unconscious, but thankfully she was no longer naked. Her witch costume was gone, replaced by strange regalia that she did not recognize, half red and half purple, split down the middle.

She sat up and glanced around the chamber. There was a maze-like pattern cut into the metallic gray floor, and below sturdy sheets of glass the depressions were filled with glowing teal water. Dozens of oculomancers knelt on the floor, arrayed around her, their heads bowed in reverence. The whole space was filled with dancing white-blue caustics.

"What are those oculomancers doing?" Kiera asked.

"They say that you are the new Remembrancer," Fiona said. "There has not been a Remembrancer among the oculomancers for hundreds of years. The last Remembrancer was very old when Reyndell died. I completely forgot the title existed."

"What does it mean?"

"I'm not sure," Fiona admitted. "The oculomancers had been living on this world for a long time before the witchstone appeared. Neither Reyndell nor Annatiki forbid the oculomancers their traditions. If you want to know more, you're going to need to ask them yourself."

"How long was I asleep?"

"Just a few hours," Claire said.

Thankfully, it appeared to Kiera that the operation was successful, because Claire's new eyes looked healthy and alert. Kiera thought the child looked somewhat uncanny with glowing purple eyes and teal fractures. It might take some time to grow accustomed to seeing her like this.

"You should look in a mirror," Claire said.

"And try not to soil your knickers," Fiona added.

After being led through the temple to the bathrooms, Kiera concluded that a woman must have designed the entire structure. The stalls were spacious and clean and they provided a great deal of privacy. There was a very long mirror with plenty of room for the oculomancers to paint their faces with cosmetics. Kiera deliberately refused to look at her own reflection until she was on the way out, and when she finally worked up the courage to look in the mirror, her heart sank.

She looked like a demon.

It looked like somebody had spilled molten gold on the left side of her face. She lacked the glowing teal fractures common to most oculomancers, and instead the molten gold extended across her eyes onto the right side, spreading out in the familiar spider-web pattern. Her eyes were not purple, but brilliant red-gold, dusky and haunting, like the hair of a Gold Dragon whelp mixed with the color of blood. She looked into her own red eyes and felt terror, and while she knew her own thoughts, she could not imagine what the other women felt when they beheld that demonic visage.

Back in the hallways, she found Fiona and Claire waiting for her. A gaggle of oculomancers knelt in a semi-circle, facing her, but they said nothing.

"How did this happen?" Kiera asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me that," Fiona said. "What the hell did you do?"

"I remember pain," she replied. "There was a bright light, a single star in the sky, surrounded by colors like an oil slick. There was a voice. I think it was an Elemental."

Fiona looked skeptical. "A bright light surrounded by colors? From what you say, it sounds like you were looking at the witchstone. That's what it looks like to us. If you shift your eyes and look into the darkness, you should be able to see the witchstone in the sky. Can you try?"

"I can do it!" Claire said. "I can see your soul Kiera!"

"How?"

"It's a bit like focusing on something far away," Fiona said. "Just let your eyes relax and see if something changes in your vision. When your vision starts to get dark, just focus on the darkness and you should be able to shift your vision that way."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Kiera tried. She looked away from everyone, toward the shining maze-like patterns on the gray metal walls of the temple. When she relaxed her eyes, her vision began to brighten in places, glowing with an inviting gold. She imagined herself looking through that gold light, into the space beyond, and her eyes responded. The gold spread, consuming her vision, revealing another sky.

"Wow!" Kiera said. "This is beautiful!"

"That's not how I would describe it," Fiona said.

The sky was pale gold and filled with billowing white-gold clouds. Far away, and high overhead, there were planet-sized teardrops made of brilliant crystal, glistening in the gold light with a rainbow sheen. In the distance there was a city of glass which rose out of a grassy park atop an inverted chandelier of crystal. A golden tower dominated the very center of the city, rising high into the sky. Like a sundial, it cast an uncanny shadow across the distant city.

"I think I remember this place," Kiera said. "From the final chapters of The Binding of Ashe. It looks like the Elemental Plane of Light."

"So you cannot see into the darkness," Fiona said. "Fascinating."

Kiera allowed her eyes to relax and her vision returned to normal. Fiona looked deeply concerned.

"But also very inconvenient," the blue-haired witch continued. "It means you are almost completely useless as an oculomancer. You won't be able to tell if somebody is lying. You would be able to see witches before they gain their powers. Here I thought I was being clever by bringing you to Annatiki."

"I'm sorry," Keira said. "I don't know what I did wrong. I was talking to that Elemental, and then I swore I would tell the truth, and then I felt pain everywhere. There is a command burned onto my arm, it says 'Speak only truth, dream-soul.' I remember that much."

"So you cannot lie?" Fiona asked.

"Hey Kiera!" Claire said. "Are you in love with Sir Zachary?"

"I love him," Kiera said, involuntarily.

"Do you want to sleep with him?" Claire asked.

"Yes," she admitted. Mother Summer!

Claire giggled. "This is fun! Soon we'll know all your secrets!"

"You behave yourself!" Kiera snapped.

"Useless," Fiona muttered. "Damn. Not only can you not see into darkness, but you also run your mouth off and answer every question truthfully. Annatiki is going to rip you to pieces if she finds out. And if she ever sees your eyes she will start asking questions."

"You said you can see my soul. Is there anything different about it?"

"Nothing that I can see," Fiona replied. "I've seen lots of souls and yours looks perfectly normal."

"That's a good start," Kiera said. "Oculomancers wear masks, right?"

"That's true. We'll get you a mask and hope Annatiki doesn't ask you to remove it." Fiona glanced around uneasily. "In the meantime, we need to make sure the other oculomancers don't reveal your secret."

"We will never betray the Remembrancer," one of the oculomancers said.

"What is a Remembrancer?" Keira asked.

"The leader of the oculomancers," the woman replied. "One who can see the secret histories written in Light. We have been lost for so long. The new generations need to remember their past."

"You must travel to the Memory Plates," a second oculomancer insisted. "You must go on a pilgrimage so that we might remember."

"I agree," the first oculomancer said. "There is a Memory Plate here in the temple, and a second one at the top of Spire Titania, and a third at the top of Spire Erika. There are also plates outside each of the Founder's Tombs."

"Who made them?" Kiera asked.

"You must tell us yourself."

"Then lead me to the first plate. I will see what I can do."

Back in the chamber with the glass tubes, a handful of surgeons fussed over an unconscious girl who was about to get her eyes. On the far side of the room, under a huge glass wall, framed by towering green kelp in the blue sea, they came upon a curved metal plaque embedded in black-gold marble. Symbols were carved into the plaque, ones which resembled the marks branded into Keira's arm, however she could not read them. Not wanting to disappoint the other oculomancers, she allowed her eyes to shift into the Plane of Light, and there she finally saw the glowing golden text suspended in the air.

The meaning forced itself into her mind, and she spoke: "Plane of Heaven ecological testing station zero-three. Anna, the Queen of the Purple Dragon Tribe, lost her Daughter-Heir when Ashe attacked. We hope this facility will help appease the Purple Dragon. Vaska says that this station has produced the most promising results. The aquatic parasites here have evolved to see into the Plane of Darkness and the Plane of Light. However, the Queen of Light disapproves of our work here. We may need to abandon this approach altogether."

"So it's true then," Fiona said. "Vaska was involved in this world somehow, and the Queen of Light is responsible for creating the witchstone. That's good to know."

"You must speak to the others," the first oculomancer said.

"Can you write down what I said?" Kiera asked.

"Who would believe it? By long tradition, the oculomancers reject all knowledge except that which is spoken by the voice of the Remembrancer."

"But you can see if somebody is lying already," Kiera said.

"Many people believe that what they say is true, and we can detect no lies. But a Remembrancer can speak only truth. It does not matter what you believe. The command in your flesh will prevent you from speaking falsehoods. You must continue to read the memory plates and tell us of our past."

"Is that alright?" Kiera asked, looking to Fiona.

"You can do whatever you want," Fiona said. "As long as Annatiki doesn't decide you aren't contributing enough to her quest."

"Then I will visit the other memory plates," Kiera said. "Maybe there will be a clue that will help me heal her."

"Good luck with that."

The witch turned to face Claire Aden.

"I hate to ask this of you, child," Fiona said. "I'm afraid you're going to be stuck with Kiera for... basically forever. She cannot see into the darkness, so she'll need another oculomancer to fill that role. However, Annatiki might become suspicious unless we exploit your existing friendship."

"I don't mind babysitting her," Claire said. "As long as she doesn't take all the cute men for herself!"