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Chapter 44: New Light

Seeing two different things is giving me a headache...also...jesus that looks weird!

In the reflection, my right glows a fierce yellow as if there's molten lava inside. Gradually, after some time, I manage to calm down and it begins to recede until it looks almost normal. However, my left eye is like a pit. It's just...completely black, this black hole which sucks in everything. Like there's nothing there. When I blink, it goes away, but as soon as I open it again, the hole is back. And it's freezing.

Goddamit. I can't go around like this! I'll fall off the World Tree!

Stumbling around and doing my best not to let seeing half the world as a black and white x-ray bother me, I look around for anything which I could cover my eye with. However, on the lake, there's nothing. Putting a hand over my left eye, I resolve to just get off the tree. Even still, I can vaguely almost see through my hand to the bones beneath. Faint pulses of something which might be my lifeforce ripple through the fingers as I walk.

This is the worst!

Eventually, I manage to get to the other side of the lake, away from the pounding falls. As the ever-constant noise of rushing water finally leaves me for the first time in hundreds of loops, I feel a great weight leave my shoulders. Until I remember that I'm alone down here. The others...they really didn't make it...

My heart heavy, I disembark from the great trunk of the tree and alight on the dirt of the Underworld. Up above, high in the sky, false stars twinkle and upon closer inspection, I think they are possibly glowing veins of ore, or maybe some form of luminous mushroom. It's a bizarre world down here. I can't even begin to imagine how to go back up. Maybe I can find a tunnel...or something? Damnit, I really wish I could just get an eyepatch or something. I'm freaking seeing way too much!

Taking my first step into the strange new landscape, I don't look back as I leave the falls behind. But the world tree has one last gift for me. Right when I stumble, a single black leaf the size of my palm falls from the sky and lands over my left eye. Looking up, I see something strange. A pair of human skeletons are suspended in the World Tree. They must have fallen a long time ago. Now their hands remain locked in a lover's embrace, clinging to a vine hanging from the tree.

Huh?

Pulling the leaf off my face and glancing behind me, I notice that the World Tree doesn't have any other leaves. Just thick boughs, roots, and fruits, now rotting. It seems this leaf is unique. However, something's bothering me. Wait a minute...!

I place the leaf back in front of my left eye. A black patch appears in my vision which I cannot see through, and as I maneuver the leaf closer, I realize what the tree's skeletons have given me.

Thank you!

Reaching up, I tug at the vine in their grasp. It stretches out as if it wants to go with me before a chunk of it snaps off. I have to work with the sharpest part of my cleaver to separate a thin strand from the rest of the vine. Trying to poke two holes in the leaf is tough, it's like iron. However, when I tap on it with a nail, holes open all on their own and I thank Yggdrasil as I thread the strand from the vine through the leaf. Bringing the completed gift to my left eye, I tie it around. Instantly, half my world goes completely dark and all that remains is the normal vision from my right eye. Imagining what I must look like, I let out a sad little grin.

This has got to be the world's craziest eyepatch.

#

*Crunch*

*Crunch*

*Thud*

The pain of all my broken bones and bruised insides catches up to me sometime after I leave the remains of the World Tree. I have no idea how long I walked or how far. But eventually, the darkness rushes over to claim me and I keel over into the dirt. My nose slams into the loamy earth of the Underworld and I can't bring myself to keep my eyes open. Even if the Midgard Serpent were to be right behind me right now, I wouldn't be able to muster the energy to move.

It's cold.

I miss Yin.

Even that damn cat would be nice and warm right now.

This place sucks.

#

When I go to sleep, I fully don't expect to wake up again. Perhaps something will eat me, I don't care. After the fall and climbing the World Tree, I have nothing left. Just bone-aching tiredness which invades my body with the chilly wind. My dreams are haunted, I see Rita, Sierra, and Tepis at times. They accuse me of letting them down, and I cannot disagree. Their anguished faces haunt me, more sins added to the list. I scream at them.

I avenged you!

I killed him for you!

Isn't that enough?

However, the painful grimaces never change to smiles. In the background, I see the others I let down. Sasha, James, my old party. How long has it been since I thought about them? I don't know. But my subconscious remembers. It subtly reminds me of everything I've been trying to ignore while I'm awake. I see them walking before a stream in the Underworld. After drinking from it, they all forget me. I should be happy that they no longer have to hold onto the bad memories, but it makes me feel so goddamn lonely. The dream ends when Yin appears at the riverside. Her back is turned to me, but I'd know that long black hair anywhere. I try to scream at her, to tell her that if she drinks, it will be the end of us. But she never turns around. Liquid drops spill from her fingertips as she picks up a handful of cold water. I can't tell if tears are mixed in.

Don't do it!

Don't forget me!

Why won't you answer me?!

"WHY?!" I bolt upright with all the force of a shooting star. For a moment, I'm reminded of the first loop, and I wonder if I've gone all the way back. But no beautiful girl clashes against my forehead. Instead, I find myself in a dark-lit room full of dusty crates. A small lamp burns merrily at my bedside. My eyes wander the plain room, looking at the strange ebony bricks which make up the walls and floor. Where is this?

*Tap Tap Tap*

Hurried footsteps rush over at the sound of my voice. The wooden door on the other side busts open and the flame in the lamp flickers wildly. Shadows dance as someone stands in the entrance and surveys me with concern. I catch sight of wavy hair and the strangest eyes which almost seem to glow in the reflected light. Sitting up, I instinctively reach for my cleaver, only to realize my arm is in a sling and my cleaver is missing. Instead of my coat, I'm covered in bandages from the waist up.

"Don't move!" The figure in the door orders. When she steps into the light, I almost jerk back in shock. "You have no idea how long I spent doing your stitches!"