Eyes Of Ember

Kane put a dull red jacket on over a dark grey shirt and some black jeans. He had no clue if it looked good or not.

There was braille stitched onto all of his clothing spelling out their color, all he had to do was hope he'd somehow developed a fashion sense.

Wrapping a black cloth strip over his eyes, he grabbed his white cane and headed out.

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It was a peaceful morning, if not a little chilly.

Kane's school was currently on winter break, though he knew it'd be back to bother him soon enough.

He had half a mind to try studying inside the game, because of the time dilation, but Kane had no clue how he'd bring anything with him.

"Ah, the joys of youth," he mumbled with a yawn.

After a few years of living here, Kane began feeling very comfortable trotting up and down the stairs.

The only time climbing them had ever gone poorly during a blizzard that happened when he was in middle school.

He decided he'd rather not think about how he accidentally, and embarrassingly, fell down three entire flights of stairs one by one.

Kane picked up the pace as he hit solid ground, breaking into a mild jog as he made his way over to a park.

The feeling of the frosty morning dew brushing against his ankles certainly kept him alert.

'Should've worn higher socks.' Kane mused.

Stopping by the park, he could hear some kids playing tag despite it being first thing in the morning. He'd just jogged half a mile though, so he couldn't really talk.

Kane began going through his morning stretches, which he admittedly should've done before he started jogging rather than after.

He enjoyed working out quite a bit. Since there was always a higher risk of an accident occurring due to his blindness, he needed his body stable enough to endure whatever unfortunate things may happen.

Shortly after finishing his exercises, Kane hopped up on the play structure, trying his best to convince himself that he absolutely wasn't suspicious-looking.

Wanting to test the limits of his currently heightened senses, he began dodging and weaving through the play structure while clicking his tongue.

He could hear every little echo reverberate off of the metal bars, he could acutely feel an aura of cold radiating from them, he could feel gaps in the breeze.

The kids at the park were amazed by the blindfolded man casually bolting through the playground while avoiding all obstacles.

Kane himself was even more amazed at the transformation he'd seemed to have gone through.

Even with all of the effort he put into raising his senses before, he was still far more sluggish and careful in his movements than a normal person.

But right now? The difference was minimal, he could sense everything around him with precision rather than ambiguity.

He began getting cocky, deciding to move like a normal person while dashing through a field of metal beams and plastic coverings, testing his limits.

His limits were sadly still not that of your normal, sighted person, as he drove his head into one of the bars and fell backward.

He didn't hear the echo come back in time to react.

"Are you okay, mister?" A little kid could be heard standing over him.

"Nope! That hurt like a bitc- basta- bee sting?" Kane faced the kid, his flashy grin turning to a look of confusion as he struggled not to cuss at the child on accident.

The kid's giggling quickly turned into a fearful yell as Kane looked at him.

Grasping at his face Kane figured out why, "Ah crap, blindfold fell off. Yeah yeah kid, scream in terror at the big bad blind, I'm gonna steal your eyes and eat you!" Kane cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled after him.

After deciding to leave before the kid's parents scolded him, he picked up his white cane and began walking home.

The fresh winter air was amazing, though there was always still a hint of smog around the city.

He could hear birds chirping from sparse trees, and could feel the crisp wind rolling through the field.

Hearing something bolt through the grass, and a very belated "Watch out," Kane rolled to his side, avoiding the leap of a large dog.

Pivoting on his heel while bringing his cane around to strike, he quickly remembered this was somebody's pet, not a killer crystal wolf after his blood, and stopped himself.

He chuckled embarrassingly, but thankfully the owner was more fixated on him dodging out of the way than she was about him almost killing her dog.

"I'm so sorry about that, oh wow, are you blind by any chance?"

"I'd like to think of it as having infinite insight," Kane smirked at her.

Taking a second to catch the joke, she burst into laughter, "You're so weird!" She said enthusiastically, probably not meaning it as an insult.

"Some elaboration would be nice..." Kane said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, sorry! I meant that in a good way, you dodged Cody like a ninja and then started cracking jokes like nothing happened, and you're blind too! It's really cool."

"It's fine, just keep a tighter hold on your dog's leash next time." Kane smiled as he walked away, laughing at being called weird so openly.

"Wait! I hope you don't mind me asking, this is more of a 'just in case thing' really, do you live in the apartments over there by any chance?"

"I'm guessing you're pointing at the one's directly ahead? And not some random ones who knows where?"

She nodded in response instead of speaking, seeming to forget he was blind. Luckily for her, he could tell anyway.

"Yep, I do live over there. You?" Kane was petting Cody in apology while speaking.

"Mhm, we got here yesterday, our moving truck should arrive pretty soon."

Kane stuck his hand out, thankfully not receiving a high five. "Welcome to the neighborhood, I'll give you a tour some time! I know where all the great views are." He tried his best to imitate a wink with just his eyebrows.

"Sounds like fun," She chuckled. "My name's Cassandra, just call me Cassy though, and Cody over here is the one that tried running you over."

"As he should've, I could have been in great peril had I been allowed to peacefully finish my walk."

She seemed to quite like my sense of humor, thankfully, when I meet cute-sounding girls in the real world I can be mostly sure it's not a dude pretending to be a chick.

"Are you gonna tell me your name, or..."

Kane sighed, "I was trying to be cool and mysterious, but if you insist, it's Kane."

He could feel her glancing down at his white cane.

"That seems a little... ironic?"

"Welp, my parents didn't exactly think I'd be blind, I quite like the name though so it doesn't really matter."

"I guess not!" She beamed. "Do you mind me asking about the blind thing, were you born that way, did something happen? What's with the blindfold?

"My father made a pact with a Demon Emporer to grant him eternal wealth, taking my mother's life in childbirth and leaving his newborn son without eyes!" Kane said grandiosely, being met with Cassy's bemused stare.

He was hoping her stare was out of shock at how stupid his answer was, and not because she actually believed him.

"... So I'll just assume you aren't comfortable with telling me then."

Thankfully it was the former.

"No, it's okay. I was just born without eyes, got an unlucky genetic defect."

Cassandra had a look of surprise plastered all over her face, "Wow, so that's why you have a blindfold on?"

Kane smiled in response. "Oh, looks like we're here!"

The look of surprise grew even wider, "How can you tell?"

"Never underestimate a blind person," Kane said while walking towards the stairs.

He suddenly turned to talk to her, "Do you plan on playing 'Ember' by any chance?"

"Yeah! I was going to save up for the system once it got a bit cheaper."

Kane hurt a little remembering how much he'd spent on it, "Smart. I go by Kane in the game too, just send me a request once you get it, or ask about the 'Silver Demon,' it'll probably be a famous name by then."

"I'm confused, is it Cain or Cane?" Cassy spelled out the names, letter by letter.

"Second one but with a 'K'."

"At least your parents didn't completely ruin it! Oh wait, sorry, that's a little insensitive."

"Trust me, I'm the last person you could possibly offend with blind-related jokes. I also love sight puns to death by the way."

"I'll keep it in mind." Cassy didn't particularly want to make sight puns, but even she couldn't hold out against the allure.

"... 'See' you later, Kane!" She yelled while running off with her dog.

'Well, this was an interesting morning.'

Kane entered the apartment, catching a snippet of the news before his dad shut the TV off.

"Damned councilmen say the same thing every time."

"Something fun happen, dad?"

"Oh the usual, 'we care about helping the continent,' stuff from the people with a million scandals."

"It's always been like that, I've found the best way to deal with it is to stop caring entirely."

"That's how they win, by making you stop caring."

Kane smiled annoyedly, "No, they win with their massive army of drones, dad."

If there's one thing they'd never completely agree on, it's politics, though neither of them cared about having different opinions enough to ruin their relationship over it.

He found the people who molded their entire life and relationships around which corrupt liar they liked most ridiculous.

"Did you have a nice walk?"

"Aside from sprinting head-first into a metal bar and almost getting tackled by a large dog, it was pretty nice. Met the new neighbor, she seems... interesting."

"Was she cute?" His dad grinned.

Kane sighed, "You know I can't answer that, sounded cute though."

"Ata-boy, I've got work in half an hour, I'll need you to 'watch' the house for me."

Kane chuckled, he could never get enough of those stupid puns.

"Alright, I guess I can manage that. I'll try not to burn the place down."

His dad snorted, "You better not, the owner would make me pay up the ass for that."

While his dad got ready to leave, Kane decided he'd take a nap in the meanwhile, slowly drifting off into the void, he thought he saw something, actually saw something.

It was something he'd never felt before, a searing pain erupting from his head, yet he was still asleep and couldn't yell out for help.

Two red circular marks of ember began forming in the back of his hollow eye-sockets, melting into his skin before disappearing.

Kane could feel something flowing throughout his body as he fell deeper into the clutches of sleep.