The World without Eyesball

Jane was still sitting in that lightless spot without moving anywhere. It was pitch black around her. She couldn't see anything at all, even though she had poked her own eyes out to make sure they weren't closed. The girl had also walked as far as she could, walking backwards, turning around, going around everywhere, and she still couldn't find anything.

Nothing tried to attack her, nothing hit her. There was no end to stop her, nor was there a bend or chasm that could make her fall suddenly.

She had tried again, pretending to fall, and the region actually tried to swallow it. The substance that tasted like water but was thicker was trying to drag her inside when she pretended to fall, even though it was the same place she had stood before.

Jane was getting more and more confused.

In the end, she chose to sit down in — don't know exactly where— that place was. Her eyes closed. This time, the girl tried to lie down and imagine that what was underneath was a mattress. She hoped she could at least lie down on something soft and think comfortably. Jane's eyes instantly widened when her body really felt like she was falling on a soft mattress.

The girl felt the area around her, rubbing the thing she was sleeping on. Everything feels very soft, complete with sheets and blankets that can cover her body. It felt really like sleeping on a comfortable and soft mattress.

Instead of being able to think and lie down, she was now even more confused because what she had imagined had now become reality without even being able to see it.

Janes still didn't want to believe what she had experienced herself. She then put one hand in the air, trying to imagine as clearly as possible that she was holding a grape, then she put it in her mouth and she bit. The girl immediately sat up as she felt the distinctive taste of the grapes, which was very similar to the real thing. She could even feel the texture of the fruit and the fruit seeds that were left in between.

Unfortunately, she still couldn't see anything. Not a single sound could be heard around her other than her own. It was as if she could only rely on her sense of taste and touch but not on her sense of sight. It was as if her eyes had been completely blinded.

"The fuck?!" annoyed Jane, who still couldn't believe what had just happened to her. "No! This must be a trap!" Her monologue was quick while shaking her head. Jane then got to her feet, assuming that in front of her was a ladder and she had to go downstairs.

The girl swallowed saliva unconsciously as her steps actually dropped downwards. She seemed to be on a never-ending ladder and continued to lead her towards bottomless territory. Also, if she didn't think that there was a ladder rising up behind her, then the back was still an ordinary floor. It was as if every step she had stepped on would automatically turn into an ordinary floor, or something else according to her own imagination.

Jane still couldn't see anything. It was still pitch black around her. She only believed in her own imagination that in front of her was a ladder and that the ladder would take her somewhere. But like things that happened before, if she didn't think about what place she wanted to be, then she wouldn't get to that place.

She was still walking downhill until finally one of the girls' footsteps stopped. "What if..." she mumbled, then held her hands together, lifted them up, and put them to her eyes. It was as if she was putting eyeballs on, as if she already had eyes that had the function of finding all the dimensional portals belonging to all the top-level beings in this world.

Jane took a breath for a moment without daring to let go of her hands that had been covering the pair of senses of sight. Since earlier, everything was still dark because her eyes were still covered by her hands. The girl then slowly pulled her hands down, allowing the new irises to now see what was in front of her.

Still... everything was still pitch black.

But Jane could feel that in front of her was a fairly large wall. She groped the wall, looking for a blemish she could pass, but… to the girl's right and left was still a huge wall that she couldn't pass.

This time she couldn't imagine anything and immediately found her way. She could no longer find the stairs, she could no longer fall and fall asleep on the bed. This time, it felt like she was being flanked by four gigantic walls, which didn't allow her to go anywhere.

Jane sighed softly. The girl tapped lightly on one of the walls to find the most fragile part. She took a deep breath, before finally exhaling quickly and banging her head against the wall, hoping that this was just an illusion, hoping that she would soon wake up and get out of this strange illusion.

But instead of waking up and meeting reality, in fact, this time Jane actually collapsed and was unconscious.

Without even being able to figure out where she is now.

*

*

*

"I placed my portals in several places on L-05," Clarissa mumbled casually, "One of them is in the Rose Garden," the girl continued, showing a snapshot of the Rose Garden's crystal building through her meadow house.

"I didn't know there was such a place in the Rose Garden," murmured Putra, watching the back of the giant building.

"What do you mean?" Clarissa asked, turning to the man. They had been looking for Jane for several days but couldn't find her at all.

"That's the valley behind that giant building. I think, like most entertainment centers on L-05, the back of the park is a ravine."

Clarissa looked at the back of the building. "Ah … yeah, it's called the Black Valley. Not many go there because not all beings can get out of that place once they have entered."

"Why?"

"The Black Valley is like an invisible maze. On the one hand, you can get whatever you are looking for, but on the other hand, there is no way for you to get out of it once you have entered. They trap delusions to remain fantasized in that illusory world."

Putra fell silent upon hearing that explanation. "Is there really no way to get out of there?"

"Yes," Clarissa replied, casually. "You have to give up something commensurate with what you want. If you are human and want to become immortal without changing into wrena, then you have to kill yourself there, and after that, you will make it out of the valley." Clarissa glanced at Putra for a moment before continuing her sentence. "But most of the creatures that come out of there can't even tell the difference between reality and fantasy until, in the end, they go crazy."

"Could an outsider help them to become aware of that imaginary world?"

"No," Clarissa replied, with a shake of her head. "However, outsiders, more specifically the Candrasas or the Senior Workers at L-3.5, were able to find them, though they still couldn't touch these delusions.

"Where? Where is the place?" Putra asked in a hurry. Suddenly, he felt bad. Jane was quite a reckless person. She could have been in such a dangerous place to get what she wanted.

"Why? You want to go there?" Clarissa asked, looking at the man with raised eyebrows.

"I just thought that maybe we should go to some dangerous places first to find Jane, because maybe . . . she's there."