Chapter 146: Eye For An Eye_The Strongest Among the Heavens

As the world crumbled, as the earth shattered shook and the skies split above him, he remembered this wasn’t his present, it was his past. All that remained was darkness.

Darkness reigned supreme.

Darkness was his world.

In that darkness came life. Greenery. Plants and trees suddenly grew and a glimmer of light appeared. Then He appeared. He who went to the well, spoke to it, and offered His eye. He who gained wisdom of all words through sacrifice.

That very same well was offered to him. Kazi Hossain stood on a blood-red lake, staring into the face of a man he did not recognize. A handsome man of strength, youth, and one-eye, his black hair as dark as the ravens on his shoulder.

“You're bored. Oh-so bored of this game,” He said.

Kazi remained steadfast. What stood in his way was a manifestation of Mímisbrunnr—a young Odin, or so he assumed.

“The game of life. The Heavenly Games. All of it bores you,” He continued. “You are lazy. Capable of doing so much more, capable of reverse engineering magic itself, yet not willing to do so. You spend time on weaklings. Why?” Silence. “Why did you not bring William with you to fight Jack?”

“Jack would have killed him.”

“And not you as well? You have gone from a saviour to a man. You will never defeat Jack with such reservations. In the beginning, you nearly let yourself die to a slime. In your prime—nay, as a boy, the mere notion of death to a creature of that level would have been ludicrous.”

A voice screeched into his head. A voice that, up until now, had been sealed in the confines of his mind and now screaming at him.

Try.

Try!

“Why aren't you trying!?”

“Because I did try once!” Kazi yelled, clenching his fist, eyes turning red. “And it led to nothing but misery and regrets! I wasn’t able to change a damn thing! I’m…not afraid. I don't feel afraid. There's just no point in it. You can see my memories, so look. Look into the future. Look at what happened.”

Desolation. Flooding. His home did not exist anymore. What remained of his old village, friends and family was absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing remained. It was all gone.

“I couldn't change my world. I couldn't save anyone. So many times I wanted to put a bullet in my head. So many times I wanted to meet someone who understood me. But it never happened. I never accomplished anything. My life meant nothing.”

“All great people pay a heavy toll, Kazi Hossain. If you wish to kill Jack, you will be unable to do so, because like you he is truly great. Is that not why you are here? To seek power to kill him? Unless…” The ravens tilted their heads. “...you wish to die even now?”

“....you ask me what I’m seeking, but allow me to ask that question in turn. Why is the well that is supposed to be beneath the world tree here? Why are you here? What are you protecting?”

“That is a question that you will not understand. Only those that are able to see the void that the Supreme Gods placed will know.” He outstretched a hand. “You are worthy to see it, Kazi Hossain, but only if you live in this world with the entirety of your being.”

Kazi scoffed. “What, is it my destiny or something?”

“Destiny? No, destiny, prophecies, fate—all fluid and in flux. Heroes aren’t created because of prophecies, heroes create themselves. The words that are etched into dreams and water are merely…potential. Every human in existence has potential; only the worthy ones can achieve that potential. You are here because of your own actions. I did not guide you here, you and Noor guided yourselves.”

The beady eyes of the ravens on His shoulders had been locked on Kazi. Staring, staring, staring, till they finally blinked.

“It is time,” He said. “Why do you desire power? Why do you protect?”

"Why?” Kazi drew in a breath. “I remember the names of every person I have ever met. Every face, every smile, and every gift I’ve received, and I consider that a great privilege. If I die, all that disappears. For many of them, it will be like they never existed. There's no record of them and whatever corpse they leave behind is taken away by the floods. Being forgotten to history, to the world, as if their suffering didn't matter…I don't want that to happen.”

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In his distance, he heard a roar. He turned his head to see a harrowing battle.

“William…”

The teen was going crazy. Darkness lashed out from his body, slapping aside Templars and Holy Knights alike. This was—

“This isn’t a memory,” Kazi muttered. “The background, that’s Clontarf…!”

“You protect because you owe it to those that came before you. You care for those in the present but not as you do the past.” His voice echoed and the vision of William disappeared. The man with the long black hair gestured to the well. “So tell me, does this conviction give you the strength to sacrifice that which makes you whole?”

His right eye suddenly ached. Immediately, he understood.

“You want me to sacrifice my right eye.”

“An eye for an eye.” The crystal blue water of the well began to bubble. “Power for power. The past, the present, all of it will be within your grasp.”

An echo of a scream lingered.

William. Dadi. Everyone.

The man disappeared, leaving behind his ravens who flew over and mounted on his shoulders. In a flash, Kazi was standing a step away from the well, his reflection staring back at him. His hazel eyes. His Dadi’s eyes. The eyes that granted him the vision to see and comprehend the world itself.

He gripped the edges of the well, his expression grim. “How will I know if this will really change anything? How will I know it won’t be different from before?”

No one answered him. The ravens simply waited.

Kazi swallowed. “So I won’t know. That’s why it’s a sacrifice. An eye for an eye. Pain in search of the unknown.”

His past and his present. Ever since he was a boy, he wasn't not sure if he genuinely loved anything. Did he protect and love out of obligation? Because he was superior to everyone else? He just wanted to live in a world where no one was hurt. He was so sick of people feeling pain and sorrow and death. He hated how common it was and he hated his indifference to it. Death was ugly, so why didn't he flinch at that ugliness? Why was he born like this?

He wasn’t sure of the answer—of his true nature—and he wasn’t sure he ever would know. All he could do was gain power and knowledge just as he always had. For everyone before him, for everyone with him right now, he had to keep moving towards the future.

He had to try.

Deliberating any longer would lead to hesitation. Kazi didn’t think, he just did. He plucked his own eye from its socket, a gasp escaping his lips as pain coursed through him. Holding the sacrifice for all but two seconds, he dropped his eye into the well, watching as it descended into the depths with a splash that echoed through the darkness.

His empty eye socket stared into the well, begging for power, yet nothing came.

A drop of blood fell onto its surface. As the crimson liquid merged with the enchanted waters, a subtle ripple spread across the surface.

In that moment of sacrifice, Kazi's world shifted. The pain in his eye transformed into a profound awareness, a connection to knowledge and visions beyond the scope of mortal understanding. The Well of Mimir had accepted his sacrifice, granting him the power he sought.

It was…

“Haah…haah….nnngh!”

…too much.

[ Congratulations on the flux of divine energy! Receive the ‘Wizard’ class! ]

[ Congratulations on the flux of divine energy! Receive the ‘Sorcerer’ class! ]

[ Congratulations on receiving Odin’s Eye! Receive the ‘Oracle’ class! ]

[ Mana has reached sufficient quality! ]

[ Loading…]

[ Receive:

35,591,292 XP ]

[ Receive:

73,512,124 XP ]

[ Error! ]

[ Error! Error! Error! ]

[ WARNING! WARNING! ASCENSION ACHIEVED! ]

His head was burning, his missing eye glowing in abject pain, and he backed away from the well. The searing sensation would not leave nor would his eyes open. A thousand cuts gnawed at his eye socket as if something was climbing inside it.

[ Forcible level up! ]

He heard voices. He felt power. He appeared almighty as his eyes opened and he stared at himself.

What was the System? A temporary power up? A simple outline for non-fighters? A path towards divinity?

The answer lay beyond the darkness. It was in reach. It was almost there. By touching the abyss, by touching the well, he would get his answers—

No.

No, that was not what he sought.

What Kazi sought were not answers but power. He needed to stay. He needed to breathe. He needed to contain this divine energy.

Slowly, bitterly, but with his whole mind and soul, he controlled it. This was a manifestation of godhood, the stars within the human body aligning with the System.

In the history of the Heavenly Games, throughout its near thousand year reign and hundreds of thousands of players, only five had achieved Ascension. On the advent of the Battle of Clontarf, Kazi Hossain became the sixth.

Chapter 146: Eye For An Eye

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