1 When His Eyes Melted

The wind pressed against his skin like blistering slashes dressed with a cold coat. The sky was darkened as though to reflect his own mental state. His bare feet clenched onto the soft blazing sands of the desert he managed to wander through. With each step he took, he heard the shifting of sand, tasted the dry dust that mixed with the wind, and smelled a harrowing stench of burnt material.

It was not the sand he smelt, but rather an organic material that he could not ascertain where it originated from. However he felt the burning sensation flow down from the side of his face, like a hot knife being placed upon his skin, then dragged down by the very Gods he cursed.

His pain, indescribable, was felt all over from head to toe. His eyes were with God, as they slowly melted off of his face. The man experiencing this was an averagely tall man of low birth. He wore nothing else but a torn tunic and worn-down pants. His face was cleaned-shaved, save for a growing mustache consisting of short hairs that barely reached his lips. His pupils (when they were not a liquid mush) were a distant black. It matched his short messy hair, and thick eyebrows.

His body was slender and lean, his muscles were barely defined, and his skin was riddled with faded bruises all over. With his long thin hands he lifted them up to his face and covered his eyes with them. He stopped his stride and fell to his knees. He paused as he scratched away at the area underneath his eyes. By now the liquid that was once his eyes had now seeped into the blazing sands below. He no longer felt a flow of lava flow down the sides of his face. Rather instead he felt phantom pains from what once was. Throughout all this, he never said a word or uttered a cry of pain. However when he tried to look at his own hands, he saw nothing but small swirls of blue and white streaks on a black backdrop. Upon realizing this, he screamed.

The man's name was Phineas. He was born in an unnamed secluded desert village on the outskirts of Dunerat Kingdom ruled by King Seth. His mother was an educated woman, who spent most of her childhood learning from a sect. His father was a noteworthy soldier who fought in a war. Phineas did not know much about what his father did in the war and why his father went to war, but he did know that he was what his fellow villagers and mother called, "A cultivator."

"What's a cultivator," an 8 year old Phineas asked his beautiful mother one night during dinner.

She placed her bowl of fish and cup of beer down. She had long black hair that was perfectly kept, her eyebrows were thin and shaded a color that matched her hair. Her dark brown eyes were locked onto Phineas', as she stared at him, her eyes became heavy as she tried to think. "They are people who dream big! It's like how you want to see the ocean, but for them they want to live in the ocean."

"Oh, so if I dream about living in the ocean, I'll become a cultivator!"

"Yes, not really, but you won't be a great one. A great cultivator would want to create their own ocean."

"But didn't the Gods create the oceans?"

"Who's to say that we can't make our own oceans? Hell, your father speaks about drinking the ocean sometimes!"

Phineas laughed, "Daddy's stupid you can't drink the ocean. He'll get too fat."

His mother got up from her seat, reached over the table, then slapped Phineas on the hand. "Don't you ever call your father stupid," Phineas immediately put his head down, and softly rubbed on the area where his mother hit him, he bit his tongue as his mother continued screeching, "You never know how hard someone works for something! You can't just make fun of people and think they won't get hurt by that. Do you hear me?"

Phineas nodded his head in silence, a single tear flowed down one eye as his mom sat back down in her seat. She plumped herself into it and grabbed her cup of beer and drank it all. They both sat in silence until Phineas broke it a few minutes later, "Why do you bully me like them," he whispered.

"Bully? Are people bullying you Phineas?" He nodded his head. His mother continued, "I'm not bullying you. Don't blame me for how I decide to parent you. I love you, but this is just how I was taught to parent. Same with those bullies, they do it because that's what they were taught how to operate in this world. If those kids keep bullying you, we'll get your father to go have a talk with them. Whenever he comes back that is..."

Phineas would not see his father for another 4 years. As he waited for his father's return, he declared to his bullies, "My father is going to come home and talk with all of you about your bullying!" They would respond by calling him a "Daddy's boy," then would beat him up. The violence would only grow as time went on. So much so that at some times at night when he closed his eyes to sleep; he would attempt to erase their (in his opinion) ugly image from his mind's eye. However, images of a being with his likeness getting killed by them would take their place.

Soon those night time images would invade even his day to day thoughts. During the 3rd year of waiting for his father to return he pondered and asked his bullies, "Are you going to kill me? Because if you are, without a doubt, you'll fail. I dream a lot bigger than you. You dream of killing a pathetic daddy's boy like me, but I dream about exploring the whole ocean-" That day was his worst beating, his bullies would leave him in a pool of blood, as they went home to collect all their goods to send off to the nobles. For on that same day, taxes were due.

It was an annual event, King Seth would send a noble of his to Phineas' unnamed village to drain it of all of its resources. When taxes were due, everyone would panic and gather all their money and give it to the village leader, an old man who could hardly see his own feet over his gut. Without fail every year for almost 40 years he had never failed once to make a payment, however on Phineas' possible worst day yet, he was 1 gold piece short.

The noble would of course berate the village leader, "You fat fool, how could you be even a tenth of a gold piece short let alone a whole. Perhaps if we cut your stomach up gold will spill out first before any of last month's breakfast."

"No, no, no. I promise we will find that 1 piece of gold! If we fail, may our Grand Great One Hebe lift our beating hearts from our chest and into her dungeons," the village leader would bow his head, and beg while secretly praying to their Goddess Hebe to protect them from this noble's fury.

"I don't buy it old man," the noble would reply.

"Then perhaps our cultivator may bring you some material!"

"A cultivator in your ranks? In this low of a village," the noble laughed.

"Yes, Sir Keith."

"Do you swear to this on the most high?" Sir Keith had asked with a stern voice.

"I swear to it, may the very creators of existence bear witness."

"Have him here with cultivation materials in twelve months. Then another twelve months and another and another. Whatever you do, just make sure he is here with his materials, and we won't have any other problems for the rest of our unfortunate lives."

Phineas would never find out about this event, as his mother went out looking for him after not returning home in time for tax dues. She found him dragging himself home while leaving behind a trail of blood. Almost instinctively, she grabbed her dying son and carried him on her back to rush to one of the knights that rode with the noble. She paid him a single gold piece to give her and her son a ride back to the Dunerat to see an experienced doctor.

It was after he regained consciousness, that Phineas began replacing the bullies with himself in his dark thoughts. He would stay in his house all day long, he wouldn't even leave to learn at his school. He would spend most of his time attempting to read some of the books that were inside his dad's small drawers at his home. Each of them were on the same topic, cultivation. He never fully understood any of it, but he would spend his time at home practicing meditation.

He had grown tired of seeing ugly images of himself with his mind's eye. So he trained to completely empty his thoughts through meditation. A year after he had started practicing, he felt some kind of presence enter his home during his meditation. His mom had gone out to a meeting with the village leader to discuss the whereabouts of her husband. He sprung to action awaiting whatever had entered his home with a clenched fist and wabbling legs.

"Your stance is all wrong," a familiar masculine voice erupted throughout the village. Phineas heard the voice and his heart instantly melted, "F-"

"You started practicing meditation, reading my cultivation diaries, but you haven't trained your body yet. A strong mind and a strong body, will always lead to a more accurate flow. You cannot empty your stomach and claim yourself to be at full strength. So why empty your mind son?"

"Father- I have so much I want to say to you," Phineas said, turning around. "Yet when he turned around his father disappeared. You are not ready to see me yet. When you can allow your mind and stomach to be full at the same time, that is when you will see me," his father said as Phineas looked all over his house to just catch a glimpse of his father.

"He's gone," his mother would tell him one day when he was 18 years old. She played around with a cup of beer and twirled her hair, "He told me that he won't be coming back last year. I was so heartbroken that I didn't tell you."

"He visits me every year though, why would he suddenly stop?"

"Maybe he went to some higher rank of cultivation. Whatever the hell it is, you're old enough to cultivate on your own."

"Wait- But doesn't that mean we won't have any materials to give to Sir Keith?"

"You can go! You've reached the offspring rank correct?"

"I-I mean yeah, but I haven't been in any real combat. All I can do is take a punch."

"You'll be fine Phineas, just go," His mother would jump up from her seat and rush to push her son out of their small hut of a home. He barely resisted his mother, but came to a sort of understanding upon looking at her face. "Phineas. He's going to kill all of us. I love you. Now go."

It was early in the morning. The noble, Sir Keith, had yet to arrive. Most of the village was sound asleep. With nothing but a tunic and pants, Phineas ran as fast as he could out of the village. He ran for an hour or so, his mind's eye showing all of the tragedies that await the villagers he grew up with. All the while he cursed their God Hebe. "Damn you! You taught humans this! I hope you die," he screamed multiple times before hearing an explosion originating from where his village was.

By this time he was nearing the shrine of Hebe. There most of the villagers commuted to give thanks and prayer. It was but a small statue of Hebe herself, perhaps the life-sized version of her. No one ever used human-sized, for she could not be human. Once in front of it, he spat at it, cursing her further. As tears erupted from his eyes at the sheer thought of the devastation his village must be in.

"I never tried to get to know anyone in my village. I never knew most of these people's names. All the ugly people in my life I tried to cut out from my memory. And you watched it all happen didn't you. You Gods sit up there on your thrones, laughing it up when poor people lose. When nobles get to abuse their power, strip the poor of everything they are worth. Well I'm still worth my fucking dream, you ignorant fool! If I just followed my father's words from that time. Just filled my mind and saw him. I would have been able to cultivate for myself, I would be able to go to a real combat situation. I could have helped everyone and anyone in that damn village! They wouldn't need my father, they would have had me! Now they all die without a soul remembering their names! Am I going to die like that? Huh? Is that entertainment for you bitch! Well I'll tell you here," as Phineas ranted to an innocent lifeless statue, from above his head the sky split open.

Rays of light beamed down onto Phineas, "O Grand Terrible One, if my eyes were to lay upon you know that you will be long dead before I could achieve my dreams. You shall only be the first God, I kill once I become a Ra."

There are 10 ranks to cultivation as scribed by the most high. The first is offspring, cultivators who have reached this rank are considered to be able to sense and observe Qi that surrounds them. Phineas felt the presence of a figure that he could not describe. He felt it was there but not at the same time. A cold sensation brushed over him, but a hot sensation washed over him all in one stroke. He was overcome with sadness, but happy. He was fearlessly afraid. Had he talked, nothing would have come out. Had he not talked, everything in his mind's eye would appear before the figure behind him. The only non contradictory feeling he felt was simple and utter powerlessness.

It spoke with an angelic tone that seemed to echo and speak 9 times at once. It reached the inner crevices of Phineas' ears and almost shattered them. His Qi sense was completely haywire, anything he might have felt was instead returning nil. He had become zero in the presence of the One. It said, "I am Hebe. You are Phineas. State thy eulogy."

He remained silent, not because he wanted to nor needed to, but simply because it just happened that no words could be imagined or thought of at the moment. However, despite it all, his own curiosity forced him to turn around and look at the God.

The final rank of cultivation is Ra, at this stage your body cannot be comprehended by a being too low of a rank than the final rank.

As he felt his eyes lay upon Hebe's presence behind him, his eyes melted.