The familiar sounds of the city filled my ears, the familiar smell of running cars filling my nose, and what was obviously concrete pressed against my face and body. However, when I opened my eyes to discern exactly where I was returned to, all I could see was the miserable nothingness I was already so used to. “Oh yeah, I’ve returned all right!” I resentfully said to myself, painfully slamming my fist against the hard ground—unknowingly breaking the concrete.

Though suddenly the noise of automatic doors opened up and a familiar voice called to me, “Jude! There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you, you know?”

“Nurse Kate?” Instantly recognizing her voice.

“Where have you been, mister? And why are you lying on the ground in front of the hospital’s front entrance?” She questioned in concern, immediately helping me up to my feet.

“Uhh, I guess you could say I went to another world.” I answered honestly, reactively brushing off her assistance as I always did.

“Huh? Did you leave the hospital? I know you’re finally getting discharged tomorrow, but you know you’re still not allowed to do that, right? I’m still responsible for you until then, you got that?” She then firmly grabbed my arm and guided me inside, and it made me realize I never really appreciated her genuine kindness towards me while I was hospitalized here.

Nurse Kate was the main nurse assigned to take care of me while I was in a coma for 3 years, as well as the nurse who assisted me while I was rehabilitating for a year. And although I could never truly see her, I knew Nurse Kate was always a beautiful, bright, and kind person by the way she always treated me; even after I wrongly lashed out and blamed her, the other nurses, and the doctors for Uncle Thal’s death. But no matter how poorly I treated her or anyone else at the hospital, she never asked to be assigned to another patient, even though I’ve overheard dozens of nurses and doctors on multiple occasions encouraging her to.

She always told them the same thing, “I’m a person with an unwavering heart, who must assist those who ask, and care for those who don’t. And I’ve been asked.” Though it wasn’t until a week before I was finally getting discharged when I learned the truth behind her words…

“Here we are!” Nurse Kate said, opening the door and escorting me back inside my own private room.

“Hey, Nurse Kate, I know I haven’t ever told you this, but—”

“Jude, I don’t know what you’ve been doing or where you’ve been, but wow do you reek!” She teasingly mentioned, “Were you secretly working out or something?”

“No, but do I really smell that—” I instantly plugged my nose after smelling the odor from all the sweating I did while merging with Annihilation. “Oof, I guess I do smell pretty bad right now.”

“Well if you know that, then hurry up and go take a shower already!” Gently pushing me through the washroom door and closing it behind me. She then shouted from the other side, “I’ll prepare you some new clothes and leave them on the bed! You can tell me what you wanted to say after you get cleaned-up and changed!”

“I really do need to thank her for taking care of me all this time, ‘cause this will probably be the last time I get the chance to if I never come back here again.” I reminded myself, removing my sweaty clothes and hopping into the shower.

Cooling down my body and relaxing in a freezing cold shower, I thoroughly cleaned and rinsed off all the dirt and sweat that had accumulated during the Siege Event and the merger with Annihilation. But all of a sudden, a voice spoke in my head again, asking “My cute little baby vessel, what are you doing right now?”

I jumped in absolute fright, slipping on the wet shower floor and landing hard on my ass. “Oww!” I cried out, intensely rubbing my tailbone to try to soothe the pain.

“Seriously, what are you doing?” Annihilation wondered, as I could sense her curious judgement of me.

“Oww...oww…oww…” Aching as I helplessly struggled to find the handle to turn off the shower.

“Let me get that for you.” Annihilation offered, with shower turning off shortly after.

“Annihilation, what the hell are you doing here?” I questioned, carefully standing myself back up, “I thought I returned back into my old body, so how are you here on Earth with me right now?”

“First off, just address me as Anni from now on, alright? I’ve started to loathe the name Annihilation.” She openly expressed. “And second, from everything I’ve already gathered from your memories, Nulla never mentioned he would revert you Players back to your original states, only that you would all be returning for 24 hours.”

“Sure, but I’ve already tried opening the Menus while I was being escorted up here and nothing happened.” I tried one more time, but still nothing happened.

Annihilation let out a little chuckle, “Oh, you’re so adorably naive, my little vessel. Of course you can’t use the System here, it obviously hasn’t been applied to this world. Why else do you think it’s so ordinary?”

“Wanna explain how you’re here then?” Getting out of the shower and drying myself off.

“Well, the simple answer is, you and I have a shared existence now, much like that life-bond you have with that measly little crown from before—though in our very, very special case, not even death or the System can truly separate us; but instead only through the result of erasing your much lesser existence...” She sensuously whispered in my ear.

My body shivered with the creeps, thinking “So she’s saying I’m stuck with her?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” She responded, consciously speaking in my mind, “But don’t take that as a bad thing, my cute baby vessel.”

“Urgh, I can’t even have my own thoughts anymore?” I shook my head and said, “Hey, Anni or whatever, can you stop talking to me in that weird way like that?”

“Weird way? Whatever you could you mean, my baby vessel?” Whispering directly beside my ear.

“That. Exactly that. My name’s Eyes, got it? Not baby vessel, or whatever other variation you want to use, okay?” Leaving the washroom and making my way to the bed.

“Aww, and here I thought you might’ve wanted a…Mommy.” Annihilation whispered again.

“Eww, stop!” Swatting her away from my ears, “What the hell’s wrong with you? Why would I ever want that?”

“Well some people are quite into it, you know? But maybe I was being a bit presumptuous to assume all my vessels were going to have such… perverted desires...” Laughing sensuously up and down my body.

Ignoring her attempts to be provocative, I keenly pointed out “So you and Salvation did have other vessels, correct? Does that mean there were other Players in Novus before my group arrived?” And I could sense Annihilation purposefully silencing herself from answering. Finally putting on the unfitting sweatpants left on the bed, I recalled “According to Nulla, roughly 350 years have passed since Annihilation and Salvation have been asleep, so does that mean there’s been Players on Novus from that long ago? And what if it goes back longer than that? Just what do these beings want from us?”

A knock suddenly came from the door, and Nurse Kate asked “Jude, are you decent yet? I brought you some late dinner! May I come in?”

“Uhh, yeah. You can come in. I got some pants on.” I replied, still pondering some questions while sitting on the side of the bed.

“Woah, Jude! What happened to you!?” Nurse Kate exclaimed, rushing over to me.

“Huh?”

“I mean all these scars, they weren’t here a few days ago!” Nurse Kate immediately examined my body, yelling in shock as she moved to my back, “Ahh…! Y-You have a tattoo?! Where the heck did you get a tattoo from?! And how have I not seen it before?!”

“Uhh…”

“And wait, hold on! When did your body get this amazingly lean and muscular? And have you always been this tall? Don’t tell you’ve actually been secretly working out, have you? Did Mr.Cyrus finally convince you to take your physical therapy seriously?” Berating me with a whole bunch of questions.

“Oh right, Mr.Cyrus!” Knowing him as the annoyingly strict physical therapist who helped me build-up my strength to properly walk again after being bedridden in a coma for so long. “I should really thank him too, but I guess I also shouldn’t forget about Dr.Abe either.” I noted to myself, putting on the unfitting shirt to stop Nurse Kate from continuing to examine me so much.

While I ate my probable last meal at the hospital, I could hear Nurse Kate loudly tapping her foot in nervous concern as she carefully watched from the chair beside my bed. “She probably thinks I caused these scars myself.” I figured, knowing Nurse Kate was well aware of how obviously depressed I was before I did kill myself. “I’ll have to reassure her that I don’t feel like that anymore…”

“Oh my little Voa, I ask again, what are you doing?” Annihilation strangely asked the same question yet again.

“Hey, I thought I told you to call me Eyes?” I replied, trying not to look strange while having a conversation in my head.

“Don’t be absurd, why would I address you by such a ridiculous name as Eyes?” Adding, “And since I particularly dislike the name, Thalion, and particularly feel indifferent towards your original name, Jude Bryce; I think addressing you as Voa shall suffice from now on.” Deciding that on her own.

“Fine. Voa’s good too.” I conceded. Then I asked, “But what do you, what am I doing? Wasn’t it obvious? Before I was showering, and now I’m eating?”

“Hahaha… Obviously not that, my adorably clueless Voa.” Annihilation laughed in amusement, “I was referring to why you’re continuing this pointless charade of being blind. Or is there maybe an unknown reason that I’m somehow not aware of?”

“Are you saying I’m pretending to be blind? Anni, I thought you said you looked through my memories already?”

“I did.”

“Then you should already know, I really am blind—well at least in this world I mean.”

“Oh, my poor little Voa…” Sensing Annihilation’s sympathy for me.

“Yeah, yeah, boo-hoo. I don’t need more people pitying me.” Spitefully eating my food.

“You’re sorely mistaken if you think that feeling of sympathy is because you wrongly believe you are blind, Voa.” Informing me, “When in actuality it’s sympathy for how little they’ve decided to reveal to you Players, which of course includes the truth about you and your friend's… unique Subclasses.”

“Huh!? What do you mean!? What truth about our Subclasses!?” I questioned, excitedly intrigued and curious.

I could sense Annihilation heavily contemplating on telling me the truth, but eventually she said “Oh, no, no, no. I couldn’t possibly reveal anything that major about your other chosen Path. And who knows, maybe not knowing will force you not to limit yourself to such a singular—but admittedly very alluring desire.”

“Anni, I have no clue what you’re talking about, but are you really not gonna tell me anything?” I asked, feeling totally clueless to Annihilation’s vague ramblings.

“Oh, hush, hush, my clueless little Voa. I was finally getting to that.” As she then explained, “Although the System may not be currently affecting this world, like I mentioned earlier, Nulla never reverted you Players back to your original states, and only casted additional magic during the mass teleportation so others in this world would recognize who you all are now. This of course means you Player cannot use things such as the Menu or your Skills, but it also means your bodies are still physically changed on a fundamental level; proven by that nurse acknowledging those changes.” reasoning, “I can only assume this was done to allow those Players who died weak and helpless to have a chance to make-up for their surely tragic deaths.”

“Sure, makes sense. But if that’s all the case, why am I blind then?” I still questioned.

“That’s what I’ve been asking you!” Annihilation loudly voiced in my head, stating in a rant “A Seer can never be truly blinded, so how can your mind continue to believe that you are indeed blind, when you’re the one who has chosen to see above all else! I mean maybe you so strongly thought returning to Earth would mean returning back to being blind, but for you to have unconsciously willed the Ethos of the Seer into actually blinding you is a whole other absurdity!”

“I-I blinded myself?”

Annihilation sighed, “As plain as it is to see—or in your case, not to see.”

I let out a little laugh at my own idiocy, “So not only have I blinded myself once, but now twice? How stupidly hilarious...”

“Oh stop being so overly disheartened and depressed, my poor little Voa; our feelings are already so intertwined as it is without either of us helplessly being impassioned by things we'll surely experience in the future.” Telling me, “Now just hurry up and will yourself to see again—I grow tired of your pitiful state.”

“Huh? I can do that? But you just said the System—”

“Regardless of what I said, you already possessed something beyond the System prior to myself, you just haven’t had the chance to realize it yet.” Annihilation chuckled, knowingly instructing “Simply wield your Seer abilities as if you were in Novus, and this world which has once wrongfully and cruelly stripped you of your sight...will finally be unveiled to you again like you have always desperately desired it to be.”

Something about Annihilation’s words filled me with such great assurance, as if I knew in my very soul every word she spoke was indeed the honest truth. And with that simple belief, an incredibly familiar power began to surge within my eyes, and in a moment of nervous hesitance, I slowly opened them to see the room around me for the very first time.

“Jude, what’s wrong?” Nurse Kate asked in sincerity, noticing the single tear fall down the side of my face.

“No, nothing’s wrong.” I smilingly told her, wiping the tear off with a finger. “It’s just...you really are beautiful inside and out, aren’t you?” First seeing her as a naturally beautiful woman in her late 20s, dressed in purple scrubs with her hair up in a ponytail.

“Aww, thank you. But what makes you say that? I could be an awful and hideous person, you know?” She said jokingly.

“I mean I could say it’s because I can actually see you now, but obviously you're not gonna believe that, so let’s just say Dr.Abe shares a lot of things with me whenever he tries to get me to open up to him; specifically about a certain coworker he secretly admires and has a crush on.” Purposely staring at her.

Nurse Kate immediately became flushed, shyly tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear and asking, “D-Dr.Abe said he had a crush? Y-You’re sure he said that?” I laughed at her cute reaction and just quietly finished the rest of my dinner, “Jude, you can’t just tell me something like that and not tell me the details! What else did he say? Hey!”

A few minutes passed of teasing Nurse Kate about Dr.Abe, but as the night became late and I remembered it was about time for her to get off work, I just finally said “Thank you.”

“What was that? Did you just say thank you to me?” Nurse Kate looked genuinely surprised.

“I did.” Reiterating to her, “Thank you for taking care of me while I was in a coma for 3 years, and thank you even more for putting up with my horrible attitude while I was rehabilitating this last year.”

“Aww…stop. Where’s this coming from, Jude? You’re gonna make me cry.” Her lip whimpered and her eyes teared up.

“I just thought I never told you how much I deeply appreciated all the kind things you’ve done for me, and thought this might be my only other chance to before I finally leave this place for good. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you Kate.” Openly expressing my gratitude.

“Wait, what do you mean your only other chance to? You're not thinking about ending your life when you get out of here, are you?” She worryingly questioned, firmly grabbing me by my shoulders.

I let out a little saddened laugh and told her the truth, “I honestly thought about it earlier—jumping off the roof tonight and dying I mean.”

“Jude…”

“Yeah, I know. You're gonna tell me again that there’s more to life than archery and the Olympics. That being blind doesn’t have to define me. That I shouldn’t keep blaming myself for Uncle’s, or her death. And that I was always bound to find out…” I sulked for a moment, and then admitted to Nurse Kate “And you know what, you’re absolutely right.”

“I am? I mean of course I am!” She excitedly claimed. Though she quickly inquired, “But what exactly changed your mind? Not that I’m glad you didn’t, but you never listen to me, or anyone else for that matter. So what was it?”

“Oh... Well... I guess I just gained a new perspective in another world is all.” Laughing to myself.

Nurse Kate stared in confusion and said, “I have no clue what that means, but you do seem different than you were a few days ago—a good different. However, if this means you’ve changed your mind about all that stuff, then does that mean you’ve changed your mind about attending her memorial service tomorrow?”

“Ahhh… The memorial service… I completely forgot that was tomorrow.” Though in truth I never forgot at all, I just felt too ashamed and remorseful to think about attending.

“Yeah, tomorrow morning in church down on the 1st floor, remember?" She reminded me. “And I’m more than sure everyone else attending would want the person she was closest with to be there too.” Though I only hummed in response, “Well, if you really do change your mind, I already prepared a suit for you in the closet.” Nurse Kate and I then said our goodbyes for the night, and I was left lost in thought until I eventually passed out from unexpected exhaustion.