Miko:

I awake, and even the world does not greet me. Brighter objects reach through my eyelids, but they do not open even at my command. I reach out with my voice, and not even a sound escapes my throat, my sounds trapped underneath my lips. They refuse to part, even at the behest of my screams. Signaling Maleki was like calling the void and hoping for a reply. I did not know the time, nor could I ask for it. The crackling of the fire was not there, so it must be daytime, or we were in a different place. Even when I oversleep, I do not break past the first hour, so hopefully, we are still at the campsite. I know the surroundings near my bag, as it was in my peripheral as I read yesterday. Thankless Nomen cycled my pages for me, and in between my asking, I got a good enough look at where Maleki’s bag previously was. My arms and legs were numb at first, but they moved like anyone else’s, so I crawled like a child, grasping out in front of me in the direction I believed Maleki to be. I could feel the sun on my skin, so it was daytime. Pushing past the ashen campfire, my surroundings were confirmed, and I should only be a few steps from my brother at this point. The softness of his pallet and the depth of his breaths were the final confirmations that I was near Maleki. I was stunned I had woken before him, although I couldn’t imagine how tired he was after yesterday’s assault at the mountain.

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The first thing I grabbed was his shoulder, squeezing and shaking him awake. After a few }, he jumped forward in a jolt, which immediately released some of my nerves. I could hear his voice but could not respond. If this is my future, and I cannot even speak to my brother, who else will I have? To be robbed of my sight, how much of a stretch is it that I will be without hearing soon? I nodded or shook my head in response before he woke Nomen and cleaned up the campsite.

There was still something bugging me about last night. I couldn’t sleep, so I focused on my breathing as my mother taught me. I overheard Maleki and Nomen talking last night. My illness or curse, whatever you want to call it, is some sort of catastrophic level of bad luck that converged on me. Great! I don’t even have majik; why must I pay for my parent’s debts?

I’m worried about Maleki, though; he isn’t acting normal. I’m usually included in everything he does, and even when his thoughts are trapped in his head, they still feel readable. Now is different; everything feels clouded in his head. Especially now since I am blind. I can’t read his emotions through his face. Then he oversleeps, which is probably nothing, but how long can he keep this up? He plans to climb, pulling me as dead weight the whole way. Who in their right mind would even attempt something like that? That’s like climbing in a full suit of armour.