Through the seeing glass, part three

A/N NOTICE:

Greetings readers! Is anyone actually caught up to the current chapter? If so then please leave a comment! if there are some of you that are current then I'll release some more chapters with frequency.

Chapter twenty-nine

The sight was… strange, to say the least. So much of the woman's expression showed this… maternal instinct? That's the first thing that comes to mind so I guess I'll go with that. Kinda like the gaze of a mother. Such kindness and joy… But also, Sadness? Now that I look at her face closer I can see that she has tears in her eyes.

Why?

Why is this person crying? I opened my mouth, calling out to this strange woman, but only the incoherent noises of an infant came out, and only after a few attempts.

The woman's tears grew in volume, as if that noise I made had caused her even more pain. Without even attempting anything, I saw my arms, the arms of an infant child, rise up and make grabbing motions towards the woman. Of course, It was not I that made my arms move. No, I was hardly even aware of my situation, let alone coherent enough to reach out to this strange someone. That of course means that this body is moving on it's own.

Could I still be dreaming? That… That is possible.

The woman lowered her hand to mine, holding it with a gentle firmness. She closed her eyes and released my hand, instead, bringing her other down. She picked me up from out of the wooden crib and held me in her arms. The blinding light of the world around me came and went in moments, revealing a world entirely unknown to me.

In the distance a sprawling valley of pink and green descended into a small rustic city. Closer to me though was a stone slab adorned with dozens of breathtakingly beautiful flowers that contrasted harshly with the metal poles that stuck up out of the slab at its corners. And in the center of the slab lay bones. Bones of a… child.

Is that a sacrificial altar?

Fear crept down from my mind and into my heart at the sight. I wanted to scream in terror, but again, my body acted on it's own. My eyes and head turned away from the world in front of me and once again looked up at the face of the woman. The features of her face shared an eerie similarity to my own, so much so that I couldn't help but imagine that this woman could easily be my "lost" mother.

"Ma-Eeem-Meeee."

The infantile utterance accompanied by the likely inquisitive assault from these small hands caused the woman to slow in her pained movements down the path. Her eyes made like a waterfall as she buried her face into "my" stomach. The crowd seemingly took no notice of this woman's grief, instead relishing in the insanity of the ceremony. Taking advantage of this lapse in pace, one of the worshiping men jumped up in front of us.

"Divine priestess! You must listen to my prayers and send them up to the heavens with the blessed child! Plea-"

Mid sentence, a pillar of hellfire consumed the worshiper's form whole. The surrounding followers all screamed out, not in terror, but rather in jubulent celebration. The followers practically rose from their respective spots, throwing Sakura petals out over the spot of molten brick on the path. The supreme violence of it all sent this body of mine into a crying fit, which finally matched the trembling emotions that writhed inside my heart over the developing situation.

"It's going to be alright, my love. It's going to be alright." The woman holding me said, her voice quivering all the while.

If I were less scared about all of what's going on I'd probably crack a joke, but that's just too far out of my mind right now to attempt.

Aaah. We're getting closer to the altar. If I am dreaming I'd really like to wake up, like, now!

The next few moments were a hazy stream of lucid images that sprinted down the pathway. Likely due to the failings of the infant brain If I had to guess. Before I even realized it, I had been placed on the altar with my limbs bound to the iron stakes. The crowd watched with zealous eyes. Two priest-looking elders came up to me with oval wooden bowls in hand. The body I was seeing through didnt ever look at what was particularly in the bowls, but I know from the following moments that they held some type of viscous black liquid. They used the said viscous black liquid to paint tribal patterns on this body that pulsated at the rate of my heartbeat, which was strangely calm.

Three day cycles of continuous celebration passed like eons. Trapped inside this body left me with only my thoughts, and the occasional spoilage that I imagine was pretty common with babies, not that I remember If I was anything like that at this age or anything. Anyways! I've come to the conclusion that I'm having a sort of out of body experience. Like the kind where you can see and feel things but aren't in control. Some would call it a nightmare, and uh, to be very clear, I am amongst that group. The chasm of fanaticism that I continue to bear witness to is honestly dumbfounding.

I mean sure, I knew people could be like this from the memories I've assimilated but watching tens of thousands of people stop their lives (sometimes literally, referencing the few that get flame pillared) commute up to a massive mountain top shrine to fervently prey to a small child bound to a sacrificial altar really drives home that point.

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*scribble* *scribble*

*scribble* *scribble*

"Suzuka has been asleep for two whole days." Gydion said. He was doodling on a piece of paper whilst sitting bedside.

"And here I am! Watching over her…"

His eyes drifted away from his doodle of what would be commonly known as a lion over to the sleeping girl. His furrowed brow showed ample amounts of frustration, but with only a few facial massage techniques Isaea had shown him, he was able to return his face to normalcy.

"This is just something I need to get used to." He told himself. His hand continued without his eyes on the previous focus of his idleness, moving in swift and precise movements. It was all he could do to not once again allow himself to become needlessly angry. Within minutes, he had finished doodling his piece. He held it up in front of him and stared at it for just as long as it had taken to make it.

"This is okay, I guess."

What Gydion did not know was that his work was far from okay. It was, in fact, a masterpiece by all contemporary standards. Not a single detail was missed. One could even mistake the piece for being a photocopy. He placed his palm on the work, gently dragging it over the paper. In his mind a vivid scene played before him. A pack of Lions basking in the sun after a fresh kill. Of course, Gydion had never seen such creatures before and so his scale was off, but sure enough the scene was still something distilled from a fairytale. A small smile crept onto the corner of his mouth as he placed the piece back in his lap.

"Now let's try to add a background."

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"It was like… I was completely aware of everything that was happening, but had no control of anything."

Tryamon intertwined her fingers as she peered down at the bedridden child. Her eyes shifted into that dazzling purple of her true form as she scanned over Suzuka's body, and as she looked over, her face grew visibly sour.

"I'm not sure so don't get too frightened, but I think you're experiencing the first signs of the forceful imprinting process."

One could visibly see Suzuka's whole body tense at the thought. Though likely not for the reasons her onlookers probably were thinking.

Tryamon flicked Su's ear, causing her to jump up a whole foot off her bed with all the tension she had rung herself with.

"I said don't get frightened. I don't know if that is the case since you're an anomaly amongst anomalies."

Suzuka rubbed her ear, replying "What do you mean by that?"

Tryamon's eyes returned to normal as she began to explain.

"Your eyes are not normal. This I'm sure you know, but what you likely don't know is that your eyes are far rarer than any mutation I've seen in the ocular region amongst you flesh based beings. As far as my studies have shown, your eyes are tools whose function is to give manifestation to entities without corporeal forms. You're still young so you may be just starting to encounter the recoil associated with such capability."

Though something that'd be nearly imperceptible to the majority of all the residents of the Abyss, scuffling could be heard from the far side of the room where Gydion had made his home. Tryamon's movements halted for a fraction of a second as her eyes peeked in the direction of the sound, but returned to normal shortly afterwards. She pressed the palm of her right hand over Suzuka's eyes, withdrawing the veritable ocean of mana, ponds at a time.

"If it is what I said, I can stave it off for a time by withdrawing the excess amount of mana. Thing is, as you continue to mature the amount of mana that your eyes will be drawing to you will become too much for even me to handle."

Tryamon withdrew her hand and made her way to the staircase leading out of the room

"Once that point comes we'll need to find a different solution. Don't worry too much about it till then, okay?"

Suzuka covered her eyes with both hands once Tryamon had finished, turning over onto her side.

"Alright." She said in an uncharacteristically somber tone.

Tryamons shadow filled the room as she lingered in the doorway looking down at Suzuka. Had she made the right choice? She couldn't tell. She was never good with relationships of any kind. Her history with the fairy king as evidence. Still, she held out hope that her choice was not the wrong one.

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"What am I supposed to do after that…?"

Oh. I spoke out loud. I guess I'm a little frazzled so it can't be helped.

"Afterall, my life is basically a timer."

A frightened chuckle escaped my lips as I curled myself into the fetal position underneath my bed sheets. Was this some sort of cosmic joke? Why do I have to suffer through something like this?

…

"Hey you, inside my head. If you can hear me right now, respond."

Silence followed.

"What am I expecting…"

I shook my head and turned over to my otherside.

"This pillow is super comfy at le- Aaaak!"

Suddenly the other me's voice boomed inside my thoughts, jumbling them.

"Yo."

My hands reflexively shot up to my ears due to just how loud his voice was.

"Why are you so loud?!?" I shouted out loud, drawing a peaking head from Gydion who was minding his own business on his side of the room.

"Am I? I thought I was actually rather quiet. Guess I should mess with the internal tuning a bit more."

"Why are you messing with things inside MY head!"

He let out a very clear *Ahem* before continuing.

"This is not your head, but rather our head, yes?"

"That's it!"

*BOOOOOM*

In a fit of anger I forced my way into that part of myself he had cordoned off so long ago, destroying the wooden door with a violent kick.

The debris flew into all parts of the room like wooden shrapnel, rending asunder the peaceful abode he had created for himself inside my head. I could hear him scramble out of his chair and onto the floor shortly afterwards. He crawled behind his desk and peaked out above it.

"Hey! Don't be so violent! You could break something in here!"

I picked up some of the debris off the floor and threw it at him. The large chunks impacted his desk with more force than I had intended, causing the whole thing to tip over on top of him. He scurried out from underneath just in time though. I could see his face clearly as it filled with confusion and annoyance.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?!?" He asked in an elevated voice.

"Maybe I should start trying! Grandma told me what these eyes of mine really do as I'm sure you're aware. You need to be straight with me right now otherwise I'll rat you out and have her get you out of me for good!"

This other "me" cautiously walked towards me with his hands held up in front of him.

"Listen," he said. "What you experienced is normal as far as the symptoms of these eyes are concerned and with the help from the Magus we'll be fine!"

"But how do you know that? Have you always known that I'd have to deal with things like this and you've just chosen to hide it?"

He sheepishly chuckled.

"Look. I get that you're frustrated, but you've got to understand that I was just respecting your right to autonomy as best as I could. You've already been tainted with so much of what makes me me that you're hardly as you as you think you are."

"I'm sorry, what?" I said. I walked straight up to him and kicked him in the shin, causing him to kneel down and clutch the impact site. He yelped in pain, but did not make any overt moves as I gripped his face and forced him to look me in the eyes. We're in my head! There is no way I'd just let him continue to go about doing whatever he does without asking!

"You know I can hear everything you're thinking even if your manifestation doesn't actually say the thing. Mental space and all."

Suddenly, his body disappeared completely. No, not just his body. The entire room vanished into a black void before I even noticed. The sensation of falling tempted my senses as I floated in place. His form appeared in front of me once again, this time sitting in his usual chair which was happily stable in this abyssal black.

"Since you've never come around like that before I've never had a reason to change the scenery, but it's nice to know that I can do that so thanks for the limit test."

He smiled his nicest as I continued to float about not unlike those… What are they called? Nautilidae? Astronomers? Argh…! The ones that go around in space and stuff! Like them! I flailed my arms in his general direction, hoping that by some miracle I'd actually hit him. In his usual bizarre fashion, he managed to dodge all my swipes at him and head pat me. Literally any other time I would have found this funny, but y'know. I'm kinda malding right now.

"What did you do! Let me down from here!" I yelled out in frustration. The feeling of blood rushing to my head as I flipped upside down was nauseating.

"Well I mean, I could, but you'd need to be calm and nice to me if I did."

…

"Don't tell me to be calm! I should one-hundred percent be angry right now! You've been withholding information that is directly relevant to the wellbeing of OUR LIFE!"

The other me brought both hands to his chin and mulled over what I had said for a few moments.

"Sure. That is a Salient point."

And just like that, his room returned and I crashed down onto the floor with a loud

*THUD*

"Owww…"

I rubbed my back as I got up off the ground and walked towards him.

"Easy now. I'll explain a bit since you're so concerned."

"Hmph."

I gave him the cold shoulder and stink eye combo, allowing him to take however long he needed to begin beggin-. Well not begging, but at least explaining thoroughly enough as to the threat that my own eyes pose to me.

"It's really simple. Those eyes of ours are an added bonus from the Goddess that gave us this incarnation. Among many things, they have the ability to create containers. Of course, when I say containers I'm referring to unique vessels that could potentially serve as a replacement body for yours truly!"

He spins around in his chair multiple times, making goofy faces each time coming around. He is clearly taking this far more calmly than I. Makes my blood boil.

"So one day you'll be able to get out of my head? What, for free? You expect me to believe that?"

"True, it isn't free, but that's something you need not know now."

I could feel in real time as the blood in my body grew hot from the intensity of my frustration. He really has no intentions of being forward or honest with me!

"It's not that I don't wanna be honest with you okay? You just really don't wanna know. I promise you whatever you're speculating is probably better than the reality of the situation. For now just continue your life and enjoy being with your friends and family!"

And with that my next moments of cognizance were once again back in reality.

"He really kicked me out. Again!" I shouted out. Gydions curious head once again peeked out from the drapes that separated the parts of our room. His face denoted his concern, though I wonder how much of that concern was for me. I contained my fowl attitude as best as I could and just threw up my hands in response to his staring. His eyes grew beady before he returned to whatever he was doing, leaving me once again to my own devices.

"Guess I'll just go to sleep then. I've got to see where everyones at with their learning since I was out for a few days."