"Mac! Mac!"

I hear Ramon's distant shouting steadily drawing closer. My entire body has become numb, foiling my attempts at signaling that I'm fine. More or less. Never realized Ramon had such a strong grip. He's positively shaking me by the shoulders like a rag doll.

"Your friend is stabilizing." the Sage's bored monotone chimes in, "Look at the glow coming from the Logos. It has accepted him."

"MAAAC!" Ramon yells directly into my ear, ignoring the Sage completely.

"Gaaaaahh." I groan, my eyes fluttering open, revealing Ramon's concerned face right in front of me.

"GAH!" Ramon shrieks in alarm as he abruptly lets go of my shoulders, jumping clear away from me.

"Nice to feel wanted." I moan, rubbing my face tiredly, "How much of a fool did I make of myself this time?"

"Your eyes, Mac." Ramon bites his lip, his face contorted with a look of apprehension, "Something's wrong with your eyes."

"Yeah. I noticed." I drily note, wiping some of the blood, staining my face. I had been weeping plenty of the red stuff just a few minutes ago. I wouldn't be surprised if my eyes were completely fucked up from the experience.

"Its not just the blood." Ramon pulls out a handkerchief to help clean my face, "Your eyes don't have any pupils in them. They're completely white."

"WHAT!" I bark out in alarm as another migraine rampages through my head. I brace for another bout of unconsciousness, fearing the worst. But instead of being plunged into darkness, I feel a splitting sensation right at the back of my head, as if my brain had grown too big to fit into my skull. Something within me breaks, and there's a huge rush as the pressure building escapes all at once.

Then I'm standing behind my own body.

No, that can't be. I'm still standing right next to Ramon and the Sage. Its just that I'm no longer seeing through my own eyes. I'm seeing through a hovering, invisible pair of eyes situated behind me, just over my own shoulder. With the movement of my will, I realize that I'm able to move the invisible eyes about, giving me full awareness of the surrounding area. The only limitation being the invisible eyes are locked at a fixed distance from my body.

"Damn, this is really trippy." I mumble, trying to walk. Its tough going, trying to coordinate the eyes and walking at the same time. Its like controlling a puppet, except that in this case, the puppet is my own body.

"The Eyes of Ea." the Sage drones, "Mac Nair has taken the first step on the road to enlightenment. He is no longer bound by the limitations imposed on him by the world."

"You know what this is?" I demand, turning to face the Sage but instead drifting off into a lazy turn.

"Yes. You broke through the perception filter the creator gods have imposed on all of their creations." the Sage explains, gently guiding me back to where he and Ramon are standing, "What you're are experiencing is an expansion of your regular senses. Sight beyond sight in other words."

"Really? I thought it would be something more dramatic." I grumble, slowly getting the hang of manipulating my body this way.

"The greatest powers are usually the most unassuming." the Sage points out, "At any rate, you have just begun your journey of enlightenment."

"I suppose you're right." I reluctantly concede, "Being able to see like this would be a huge advantage in any fight - FUCK!"

"Easy there." Ramon steadies me as I double over in pain, "No need to rush things. One round of flipping out is enough for the day."

"Viewpoint keeps shifting." I gurgle helplessly, assaulted by overwhelming vertigo. One moment I'm seeing through the third person, then I'm back inside my own head again. And it just takes a few seconds for me to be pulled back out to the third person viewpoint. The constant switching back and forth is not only giving me a nasty case of nausea, it makes controlling my body impossible.

The Sage goes back to the wooden chest and pulls out a blindfold made out of red silk, handing it to Ramon. My friend gives the mysterious weirdo a confused look before the Sage deigns to explain.

"Tie that around Mac Nair's eyes." the Sage says without inflection, "The original owner does not need it anymore."

The Logos flashes for a bare second and my attention is forcibly pulled toward the blindfold as Ramon starts tying it around my head. An avalanche of information pours into my mind, giving me barely any time to sort through it. But there's one word that sticks out.

Cursed.

"No stop!" I try to push Ramon off me, "The blindfold's cursed! Its cursed!"

"So you can hear the voice of the world. Very impressive." the Sage intones as he grabs me roughly, "But this is for your own good. Stop struggling."

"Uh." Ramon hesitates and his hands begin to pull away from my head, but the Sage shoots him a glare.

"Please continue, Ramon Dasar." that same bored voice says. No matter how much I struggle, the Sage's grip remains implacable. My muscles strain with the power of my magic, but I might as well be trying to push against a mountain. Bile begins to inch its way up my throat, no thanks to my viewpoint constantly shifting.

"Sorry." Ramon whispers to me and fastens the blindfold over my eyes.

I feel the blindfold tighten around my head and once again my vision is pulled into the third person. The blindfold almost screws itself around my eyes, accompanied by a trace of fire flickering across the surface of the red silk. There's a burst of embers and a blazing insignia of a single crossed out eye burns itself on the blindfold, signifying the curse has taken effect.

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"How do you feel now?" the Sage asks as he releases me.

"I feel ... not too bad actually." I sigh with some relief, "My vision is no longer jumping back and forth like just now."

"Good. Thank the curse on the blindfold for that." the Sage shrugs, "By blinding your eyes, the amount of information you need to process decreases dramatically. It helps your mind cope with its new situation."

"I see ..." I murmur, making a weak pun to myself. I dimly note Ramon shaking his head with an amused frown, but I'm more interested in the information that was previously bombarding my brain non-stop. The torrent had eased to a manageable stream and I begin to focus on the blindfold again, parsing the information that had been bludgeoning away at me earlier.

"I'm not the first person to experience this enlightenment thing then?" I muse, digesting the information.

"No. Of course not." the Sage returns to the chest and begins pulling out fresh sets of clothes for Ramon and I, "The enlightened are rare, but they do exist."

"I've got a question," Ramon pipes up as he begins changing, "You said this world was created for Pahlaver. So what does that make us humans? How do we fit into the divine plan of the gods?"

"As slaves obviously." the Sage doesn't miss a beat as he hands Ramon several bandoliers loaded with pistol ammunition, "All of you were born for a purpose, and Ea expects that purpose to be fulfilled."

"Born into slavery." I mutter unhappily, "Don't we get a choice in the matter?"

"Most humans don't." the Sage grunts as he tosses me a battle jacket, so new that I can smell the clean leather, "Most humans don't even realize that they are slaves of the gods. You could say its their natural state."

"But not ours?" Ramon asks hopefully.

"Maybe not." the Sage says, this time his voice wavering somewhat, "Make no mistake Ramon Dasar, by helping me you might earn your freedom from the creator gods. It will be an uphill battle though. The will of the divine is not easily denied."

"The same way I can save my family." Ramon takes a step forward, heat in his voice, "That's what this is about right? Preventing the ordained fate of my family from actually becoming fact."

As Ramon and the Sage converse, I begin putting on the armor with slow, deliberate movements in order to get used to how my body presently controls. It also gives me time to consider my current situation. That blackout and accompanying vision was clear about one thing. I had failed in the purpose Ea had set for me. Did this mean I was free to pursue my own fate?

Or was I just someone without a destiny?

"Yes." the Sage confirms, "So work hard, Ramon Dasar. A great reward awaits at the end of this perilous endeavor."

"Something has been bugging me." I quickly interrupt their conversation, "You never told us who you really are, Sage." Loaner neighs in approval at my question, still looking annoyed at being branded.

"There would not be any point." the Sage demurs, "Neither of you could comprehend the truth of my existence."

"Come off it." I scoff, "You're just a mage, a powerful one, sure, but -"

"No, not really." the Sage's reply this time comes from behind me and I swing the third person viewpoint about, seeing one of the farmhands standing behind us, talking in the exact same deadpan voice the Sage uses.

"I'm something else." a crow lands on my shoulder and caws out those words.

"Stop that." I shake the crow off, watching it fly away, "That's so creepy."

"You asked." the crow caws back.

"Are you Hackal?" Ramon blurts out, looking ready to prostrate himself on the ground before the Sage.

"What makes you think that?" the Sage answers using the old watchman this time, raising a wrinkled eyebrow.

"I've been watching you take stuff from that chest." Ramon begins to sweat, "And managed to see inside the chest once or twice."

"And?" the same calm response from the Sage, but now there's an edge of menace to it.

"There's nothing in the chest. Its empty." Ramon licks his lips nervously, "You're creating all the stuff that's been given to us. Like a creator god."

The Sage bursts into a hearty laugh, with both the farmhand and crow joining in. It takes a good few seconds before the gales of uproarious mirth die down.

"I wish I was a god." the crow caws out from overhead, "But no, my power may be impressive to you, but its nothing to the true gift of creation."

Before either Ramon or myself can follow up on this topic, the elderly watchman's eyes cloud over and the Sage abruptly falls silent. When the Sage begins speaking again, his voice is filled with urgency.

"Something has occurred in Deshawn City that requires my attention." the Sage mechanically relates, "Our time together is at an end for now."

"Wait!" I object, "You haven't actually told us what we need to do at Ramon's home."

"Make your way to Southmarsh first." the Watchman drones, "I will get in touch again as soon as possible."

"But there's so much more -" I begin to nag. I have plenty of questions to put to the Sage, and there's no guarantee that the Sage would be feeling quite as chatty in the future.

"Mac Nair." the watchman body frowns disapprovingly, "Today's schedule would be more relaxed if I did not have to assist with your condition. Our respective duties call to us now."

"Well ..." I scratch my head, somewhat embarrassed, "I was operating on incomplete information at that time?"

"Fine. One more question." the farmhand eyes me with disapproval, "Then both of us really must get going."

"What am I?" I demand, "And don't say human. I know that already. Am I some kind of reincarnation? A duplicate, the same way golems can be forged multiple times?"

"You tapped into the Logos during your fit just now." the Sage sighs, "Snatches of knowledge from past or alternate lives should be enough to answer your question."

"That's the thing." I insist, "This isn't the first time I've experienced the whole alternate life vision freak out. I've occasionally experienced them in Deshawn City, before I ever got involved in this whole mess."

"Perhaps Hackal touched you during your youth?" the Sage shrugs indifferently, both the Watchman and farmhand miming the motion simultaneously, "You did originally come from Springvale at the end of the day."

"Sure. Maybe." I reluctantly accept that answer. It doesn't explain anything and it feels too glib, too easy. But I don't have a way of challenging or calling out the Sage right now.

"Very good." the Sage as the Watchman reaches into the chest one last time and pulls out the Springvale Sword, offering it to me, "Your weapon, Mac Nair. You will need it for what is to come."

I instinctively reach for the Springvale Sword, before deciding at the last moment to put my hand away.

"No thanks." I shake my head, "Its not my weapon. It never was."

The Sage merely nods and carelessly tosses the Springvale Sword into the mud.

"Aren't you going to offer me another weapon?" I quiz.

"Find a weapon of your own." a thin smile spreads on the Watchman's face, "That's part of making it truly yours."

"Fair enough." I respond, inwardly cursing about how petty the Sage is. Is he still annoyed at me for questioning him?

"Good sir," Ramon eyes the border of the village warily, where the Gendarme is still milling about, "How are we going to leave Springvale?"

"Haven't you all already left?" the crow caws and both Ramon and I are struck by a wave of vertigo. Even Loaner is sent staggering about in a drunken circle.

And when the three of us open our eyes again, we're back on the highway, several miles away from Springvale.

Heading in the direction of Southmarsh.

......

Item Description

Crimson Blindfold.

Special: Cursed. Cannot be removed once equipped. Can be dispelled.

Effect: Wearer is permanently blinded as long as Crimson Blindfold is equipped.

When Richard Novak, Sword Master of the Order of Imparital Justice, awoke to the true nature of the world, he made an oath, swearing that he would never accept his status as a slave of the creator gods. To that end, Novak blinded himself using the Crimson Blindfold so that the eyes of a slave would not deceive him ever again. Novak eventually gave up his slave name, taking a new one for himself. On that day, he had the Blindfold removed with great ceremony, celebrating his rebirth.

The Blindfold then found its way to another Sword Master, blinding his eyes and leading him to his destiny.

Whatever it may be.