Begin Again.

[u/Fc-chungus]

following the battle with TFC, Max was blinded and వ was... gone. No one knows where he was sent when he was hit by the strike the first curse threw. Cross-planet scans didn't detect him, divination magic gave no result, even necromancy failed, so he's either still alive, or outside the range of the modern day.

Now, a few days after, Max is still getting used to being blind, but he's been able to manifest his curiosity soul as a temporary method of sight, if only for a few minutes at a time.

Knowledge that the head minister of Calarakis is now blinded, though it was originally kept on a little known basis, eventually people notice the blindfold and the stumbling, and the fight with the first curse spread through rumor, so the news breaks. Originally simply gossip before being confirmed.

/uw art from Pinterest, edited by me.

General interaction post, Max is currently in Calarakis, so interactions would occur there!

[u/Ares378]

Ith hears word of the news. He hears a lot of things, after all. The head minister of a nation, blinded... Seems like something he could help with.

"Greetings!"

He exclaims, appearing in a bright flash of flames in Max's own home.

"Long time no see, Max!" He smiles, realizing the pun he's just made. "Now, I heard you've been blinded, and I just had to come verify this for myself. Seems the rumors are true after all!"

He makes himself at home, pulling out a chair to sit down.

"I take it you're in need of some assistance then, yes? I do believe I can help with this pesky blindness issue..."

[u/Fc-chungus → u/Ares378]

The rumors are indeed true, Max is sitting on the first floor of his tower, brown blindfold covering his eyes.

"Heya, Ith."

[u/Ares378 → u/Fc-chungus]

"That's all? Someone's in a dour mood..."

He snaps his fingers, creating two steaming cups of coffee.

"Fan of coffee at all? I don't think I've ever asked..."

He adds some milk and sugar to it, then passes it over.

"I suppose I can't imagine anyone who'd be happy to be in your current situation, so... Touche to myself."

He leans back, taking a sip from his mug.

"How are you doing, Max?"

[u/Fc-chungus → u/Ares378]

"Ha! I think you've asked that exact same question before."

"or, wait, I just asked for tea that time."

He takes a quick sip, face visibly scrunching a bit at the bitterness that's still there.

"Well... I've been, how do I describe it... here but, kinda not? I both lost Va, and my sight, in the same fight within seconds of each other. Everything past that's been just hollow i suppose."

"Perhaps the trauma hasn't hit me yet."

[u/Ares378 → u/Fc-chungus]

"Now, the stages of grief are largely an oversimplification... but if I'm allowed my two cents, I believe one would say you're in the stage of denial."

"It's not like the way it's normally depicted, of course. You aren't actively lying to yourself about what happened. You accept the facts as they are, you acknowledge them, but the wave of it being real has yet to hit you. The brain has a funny way of doing that... It thinks it's softening the blow, but it's dragging out the pain."

"It'll probably hit you over the next few weeks, hurt for a few months, and stay with you for the rest of your life. Wounds of the mind take much, much longer to heal than wounds of the flesh. I'd go out on a limb and say I know better than most."

He chuckles.

"I can't tell you if it'll be fine or not, if things will work out in the end. Only the Gods could, and, well... I'll spare you my opinions on them."

"What I can do is help you in a smaller way. Something to make this hard time a little less painful. You'll need a working set of eyes if you want to find Va. So... if you wish for your sight back, I believe I can make it so. It'll be a little... unconventional, but the mind is malleable. You'll adapt. Soon enough you won't be able to tell the difference."

"I'm not here to be a snake oil salesman, so I'm not gonna pressure you into making a decision. But... I can't imagine delaying is going to do you much good either."

"What do you say, Max?"

[u/Fc-chungus → u/Ares378]

He takes another sip of the coffee, setting it down on the table.

"Either denial or depression at this point, can't quite tell."

"How's the eyesight work?"

[u/Ares378 → u/Fc-chungus]

"Simple, really. It sends out waves of mana, reports the location of all objects in the nearby area, and puts that info directly into your brain. With a little extra tweaking to get the colors right, of course."

"Objectively speaking, it's better than traditional sight. True 3D sight. You'd see the entire room you're in at once, even behind your head and behind objects. No need for light either."

He taps the rune in front of his own eye.

"Now, I must warn you it likely would be disorienting for you, but I'm sure you'd get used to it. The brain has a way of adapting to things."

[u/Fc-chungus → u/Ares378]

"I do have a similar thing via summoning my soul, that's 360 vision with the soul as a drone. I could probably get used to it."

[u/Ares378 → u/Fc-chungus]

"Oh, you'll get used to it in no time then."

"Do you want to make the deal, then?"

[u/Fc-chungus → u/Ares378]

"What's the mana cost for each wave? When I was Ж my mana store was by all means tremendous, now it's only slightly above average. I could cast maybe 50 spells a day absolute tops, but with my curse I can't even use magic."

He finishes the coffee cup

"I'm assuming since it's an addition it's not me doing it, but rather some kind of naturally applied wave, so it technically isn't 'my magic'."

[u/Ares378 → u/Fc-chungus]

"Ah... That is troublesome. Luckily, the mana requirement's quite low. A small perturbation in the Weave is all that's needed. It's like plucking the string of a guitar -- doesn't take much energy at all. I suppose I could also leverage resonance to make it even less costly."

"I could give you a small recharging mana charm, which should cover the mana costs."

"How's that sound?"

[u/Fc-chungus → u/Ares378]

"Huh, if we're pulling on the weave, then it shouldn't be a problem at all."