I see the world.

The world doesn’t see me.

So, this is what power is like.

The stars have granted me their light. It is a hideous nightmare. A perverted mockery of human sight which the System has returned to me in the guise of a reward and pretended to call a fair exchange. I will not pretend that it doesn’t hurt.

These eyes…they burn.

My right eye has ignited, it seeks vengeance against the Hunter. The one calling me a rat will pay for his sins. The picture of the Underworld before me shifts, suddenly I am not just seeing what’s in front of me, but also what’s below me, all at the same time. My eyes have become like split-screen televisions, showing two different viewpoints. Gradually, I realize that I can also feel more than my own body. I can feel the World Tree’s iron branches and their implacable strength. They are not meant to move…but I will it. And it is so.

Move!

It stings.

Each second, I hold onto this forbidden power is like dousing my right eye in kerosene. The left one is not without its own pain. It feels like it’s frozen in ice, an entirely different kind of burn. However, the World Tree answers my call and its all worth it. I know not what I’m doing, only that my rage could pierce the heavens and it need be satisfied. There’s so much anger I’m not even sure all of its mine.

But do I really care?

The Hunter below leaps up the final branch. A gleeful look of satisfaction fills his face as he soars up and contemplates cutting my head off. Then the branch he just used as a springboard whips up and smacks him out of the sky-

*Whump*

“Wha the fu-!”

His flight cut short; he tumbles down with the most shocked expression. Reaching out with inhuman dexterity, he grabs another branch while upside down and tries to swing around the side. However, the World Tree is no longer a safe haven for him.

Wrong move.

I direct every branch I can connect with to contort themselves, swinging down to crush him, or springing out of the way so he can’t stop his fall.

“The hell is this!?” He screams as the entire trunk of the colossal tree contorts. A cruel smile twists my face as I watch him flee ever further down. No longer does he have any thoughts of coming after me. He’s too busy worrying about his own skin. A little bit more! My right eye contracts, and it’s like I can see from the various fruits of the tree. I am one with it, wholly connected to its being. Finally, the Hunter can take no more. He misses a landing, System Assistance is not enough to save him from an attack of this level.

*Crash*

“Arrrrgh!” A thick bough swats him aside and he’s sent down below the World Tree’s roots into the rushing water below. I should let it go. But drowning is not enough for me! He doesn’t deserve an easy death!

I focus all my concentration. Will the tree to move.

Obey me.

However, the roots of Yggdrasil have never moved since the beginning of its existence. They whisper to me to stop, that it is not right. Right now, I’m not the kind of person to listen to such things.

OBEY ME!

I force them to shift. To root through the merry water below and search out the Hunter’s body before he goes over the falls. The right side of my vision goes into the roots, I can see a thousand tendrils searching about in the cold water at once. There! Get him! Ignoring all warnings, I direct every part of the World Tree’s base to hunt him down. Like the tentacles of some giant kraken, we will hook him and rip him apart! Almost there!

*Creaaaak*

Instantly my vision goes dark on one side as the tree shivers. Something has gone horrible wrong. When my connection to its lifeforce severs, all my strength goes with it. The world sways and tilts. Vaguely, I watch the ceiling of the Underworld rush by.

I’m falling.

Wait…no, that’s not right.

We’re falling.

The World Tree is falling.

I pushed Yggdrasil too far. Down below, the very heart of the tree, it’s trunk, has slipped into the waters somehow. The incomparably solid foundation is being swept away. It’s tipping…falling…

*CRAAAACK*

The sound of the World Tree breaking is so loud it cracks like a lightning bolt. Then what’s left goes over the falls and I feel the wind rushing by. In the last moments before we hit the bottom, something wraps around me protectively. One of the branches holds me tight in an iron cradle.

Where is he? Did we get him?!

I call out to the tree, trying to understand if we’ve at the very least exacted retribution on our foe, but the water is the only thing that answers.

*SPLAAAAAAAAAASH*

Our impact shakes the World Tree and me in its cage of branches like a monsoon. It obliterates my thoughts as we roll around and around, tumbling everywhere. As the blood rushes to my head, I struggle to hold onto consciousness, but the light slips away no matter how hard I try to hold onto it.

I’m passing out…

I don’t want to die again…

Am I going back to the darkness?

#

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Something’s falling on my head. I groan, the darkness is slow to let me go this time. Not at all what I’ve come to expect when I come back to life…

Wait.

Rain?

That’s not right!?

I open my eyes and a dim eerie graveyard is revealed to me. It is not one of humans, but that of the World Tree. My mouth opens into a small circle as I take in the extend of the devastation. I…I caused this? Though it was just a tree, the sight before me is still enough to make me sad.

I didn’t mean to…

In my rage, I must have commanded the World Tree to do something it shouldn’t while trying to hunt down that Hunter. Unfortunately, it resulted in this. High up above, I can see the cascading waterfall which I fell over so many times trying to climb Yggdrasil. It seems, after the tree broke, we fell all the way down to the lake below. I notice a broken branch about the width of my body. It’s broken in half now, but a distinct bend shows how it tried its best to protect me. Even the World Tree’s iron strength was not enough to withstand a fall of that magnitude. However, the great tree has done me one last favor in even death. Its endless boughs stretch over the surface of the lake, bridging the serpent infested waters. The waters beneath its branches are so dark that even my new eyes cannot see too deeply into them. But I know there are things in there which hunger for meat at all times.

Jormungandr…the Midgard Serpent. I wonder what level it is?

Carefully, I walk across the tree, using its fallen body to cross the lake. As I walk, the various glowing fruits of the tree begin to lose their luster, rotting instantly and falling into the waters below. Dark jaws eagerly snatch them up before they can sink into the murky depths. My eyes ache horribly, and go to a puddle of still-water captured inside a man-sized hole in the trunk. Staring into the pool, my reflection meets my gaze with a fiery, haunted expression. Though the cold air feels good on my burning right eye, to my left eye, the freezing wind of the Underworld is like sandpaper. Additionally, while I was able to connect to the World Tree through my right, the left is just bizarrely dim, it seems to see through things, almost like I’m looking at x-rays.

Seeing two different things is giving me a headache…also…jesus that looks weird!

In the reflection, my right glows a fierce yellow as if there’s molten lava inside. Gradually, after some time, I manage to calm down and it begins to recede until it looks almost normal. However, my left eye is like a pit. It’s just…completely black, this black hole which sucks in everything. Like there’s nothing there. When I blink, it goes away, but as soon as I open it again, the hole is back. And it’s freezing.

Goddamit. I can’t go around like this! I’ll fall off the World Tree!

Stumbling around and doing my best not to let seeing half the world as a black and white x-ray bother me, I look around for anything which I could cover my eye with. However, on the lake, there’s nothing. Putting a hand over my left eye, I resolve to just get off the tree. Even still, I can vaguely almost see through my hand to the bones beneath. Faint pulses of something which might be my lifeforce ripple through the fingers as I walk.

This is the worst!

Eventually, I manage to get to the other side of the lake, away from the pounding falls. As the ever-constant noise of rushing water finally leaves me for the first time in hundreds of loops, I feel a great weight leave my shoulders. Until I remember that I’m alone down here. The others…they really didn’t make it…

My heart heavy, I disembark from the great trunk of the tree and alight on the dirt of the Underworld. Up above, high in the sky, false stars twinkle and upon closer inspection, I think they are possibly glowing veins of ore, or maybe some form of luminous mushroom. It’s a bizarre world down here. I can’t even begin to imagine how to go back up. Maybe I can find a tunnel…or something? Damnit, I really wish I could just get an eyepatch or something. I’m freaking seeing way too much!

Taking my first step into the strange new landscape, I don’t look back as I leave the falls behind. But the world tree has one last gift for me. Right when I stumble, a single black leaf the size of my palm falls from the sky and lands over my left eye. Looking up, I see something strange. A pair of human skeletons are suspended in the World Tree. They must have fallen a long time ago. Now their hands remain locked in a lover’s embrace, clinging to a vine hanging from the tree.

Huh?

Pulling the leaf off my face and glancing behind me, I notice that the World Tree doesn’t have any other leaves. Just thick boughs, roots, and fruits, now rotting. It seems this leaf is unique. However, something’s bothering me. Wait a minute…!

I place the leaf back in front of my left eye. A black patch appears in my vision which I cannot see through, and as I maneuver the leaf closer, I realize what the tree’s skeletons have given me.

Thank you!

Reaching up, I tug at the vine in their grasp. It stretches out as if it wants to go with me before a chunk of it snaps off. I have to work with the sharpest part of my cleaver to separate a thin strand from the rest of the vine. Trying to poke two holes in the leaf is tough, it’s like iron. However, when I tap on it with a nail, holes open all on their own and I thank Yggdrasil as I thread the strand from the vine through the leaf. Bringing the completed gift to my left eye, I tie it around. Instantly, half my world goes completely dark and all that remains is the normal vision from my right eye. Imagining what I must look like, I let out a sad little grin.

This has got to be the world’s craziest eyepatch.

#

*Crunch*

*Crunch*

*Thud*

The pain of all my broken bones and bruised insides catches up to me sometime after I leave the remains of the World Tree. I have no idea how long I walked or how far. But eventually, the darkness rushes over to claim me and I keel over into the dirt. My nose slams into the loamy earth of the Underworld and I can’t bring myself to keep my eyes open. Even if the Midgard Serpent were to be right behind me right now, I wouldn’t be able to muster the energy to move.

It’s cold.

I miss Yin.

Even that damn cat would be nice and warm right now.

This place sucks.

#

When I go to sleep, I fully don’t expect to wake up again. Perhaps something will eat me, I don’t care. After the fall and climbing the World Tree, I have nothing left. Just bone-aching tiredness which invades my body with the chilly wind. My dreams are haunted, I see Rita, Sierra, and Tepis at times. They accuse me of letting them down, and I cannot disagree. Their anguished faces haunt me, more sins added to the list. I scream at them.

I avenged you!

I killed him for you!

Isn’t that enough?

However, the painful grimaces never change to smiles. In the background, I see the others I let down. Sasha, James, my old party. How long has it been since I thought about them? I don’t know. But my subconscious remembers. It subtly reminds me of everything I’ve been trying to ignore while I’m awake. I see them walking before a stream in the Underworld. After drinking from it, they all forget me. I should be happy that they no longer have to hold onto the bad memories, but it makes me feel so goddamn lonely. The dream ends when Yin appears at the riverside. Her back is turned to me, but I’d know that long black hair anywhere. I try to scream at her, to tell her that if she drinks, it will be the end of us. But she never turns around. Liquid drops spill from her fingertips as she picks up a handful of cold water. I can’t tell if tears are mixed in.

Don’t do it!

Don’t forget me!

Why won’t you answer me?!

“WHY?!” I bolt upright with all the force of a shooting star. For a moment, I’m reminded of the first loop, and I wonder if I’ve gone all the way back. But no beautiful girl clashes against my forehead. Instead, I find myself in a dark-lit room full of dusty crates. A small lamp burns merrily at my bedside. My eyes wander the plain room, looking at the strange ebony bricks which make up the walls and floor. Where is this?

*Tap Tap Tap*

Hurried footsteps rush over at the sound of my voice. The wooden door on the other side busts open and the flame in the lamp flickers wildly. Shadows dance as someone stands in the entrance and surveys me with concern. I catch sight of wavy hair and the strangest eyes which almost seem to glow in the reflected light. Sitting up, I instinctively reach for my cleaver, only to realize my arm is in a sling and my cleaver is missing. Instead of my coat, I’m covered in bandages from the waist up.

“Don’t move!” The figure in the door orders. When she steps into the light, I almost jerk back in shock. “You have no idea how long I spent doing your stitches!”