“Why is it so dark?” I thought to nobody in particular. As much as I like the idea of not being dead, I can’t really confirm it at the moment with this pitch-black void engulfing me so I’m all on my own here... “Alright, list time. What do I know? One, I may or may not be dead. Not completely sure, but given that I can’t feel anything, I’m leaning towards a ghost theory. Two, I can’t feel anything. If I am a ghost, good to know what that feels like. Three, I’m not in pain… At least that damn clone wasn’t a liar. Four, no Narrator. YES! Final-fucking-ly! God he was the worst and now that useless free loader is gone.”

“Oi! At least I’m not a ghost.” I heard myself say.

“True.” I thought. “Eh, could be worse. Could be a ghost with Narrator around… wait… When did my inner monologue start throwing shade at me?”

“I’m not your inner monologue you dolt.” The voice responded, clearly trying to imitate me. “It’s your favorite omnipotent and omniscient friend who can easily go back to repeating your every thought and action!”

“OH GOD NO! Please do not go back to narrating my life again! I’ll even stop calling you narrator if you want.” I pleaded with him, desperately wanting to avoid that nightmare a second time.

“Okay fine… Why don’t you ruin all of my fun now? Although, that was pretty funny. Imagine it, a small child walking into a forest suddenly starts hearing this voice that sounds exactly like him narrate every action he takes for two whole days before even questioning it.”

“Don’t remind me. I bet if you had a mouth, you’d be laughing for two more days after that… Oh wait. Okay, now to get back on track, you have any idea what happened Narrator?”

I wanted to explore this expansive void that I seemed to be trapped in, but I couldn’t even more my body, if I still had one that is.

“Yeah, so about that…” Narrator replied in a drawn-out tone, “So I think I know what’s going on with you and I don’t think you’re going to like what it is and how I know it.”

“Oh god…”

“So first off, you’re not trapped inside a void that doppelganger made, your eyes are closed… Classic. Now before you start slapping yourself on the head for being that much of an idiot, I have a bit more news for you, which brings me to the second point. I can see you. Not actually, but it’s more of like an image I can manipulate at will. It only extends a little bit from your skin, but it’s a start. Not only can I see the outside of your body, I can see the inside as well and here's where it gets weirder.”

Okay Narrator, wait to drop that bomb right now… I took a few seconds to think about that, as it brings up several question, but I have a feeling Narrator will get to those later.

“Right you are Damion. Oh, by the way, don’t even try hiding secrets anymore. I can hear you crystal clear after your ‘surgery’, and I don’t know how to turn it off. Now onto the changes that you aren’t going to like.”

“Wait, hold on.” I said interrupting him, “Why can you see me, and I can’t? I feel like that’s just wrong since we share the same brain…”

“Okay, valid point.” He responded. “I have no idea. Maybe if we find that guy who messed you up, we can ask. As for you, the changes are a lot more physical. The most impactful one is in your eyes. I honestly don’t know how to say this without sounding weird, but they’re black.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve had black eyes since I was born.” I replied, not really understanding the significance.

“No Damion. Not black irises, black eyes. I think the doppelganger ripped out your old ones and replaced them with this black... mineral? Rock? I have no idea what it is, but it’s not natural.”

Okay, that’s not what I was expecting. How does that even work? Why me?! Seriously, people have been trying to figure out how eyes work for centuries and this fucker figures it out? I have the worst luck…

“That you do Damion, that you do. Also, watch your language. Now, onto the second change. Probably not as important, but you have some blue crystals embedded in your body. One in each ankle, one in each wrist, one in the center of your sternum, and one at each end of your spine. I have no idea what they do other than glow a bit. Oh, also one embedded in your skull. The glow probably isn’t visible to others, but that might change. Not completely sure on that part though. So on that note, I’ll leave you be. Holler if you need!”

After dumping all of that information, of course he would just leave. Yeah, that sounds about right. Okay. I can work through this. Alright. Step one, open my eyes. I feel like I should have done that a while ago…

“Yup.” I heard from what seemed to be pretty far away.

“Always helpful Narrator.” I shot back. It took a few seconds of waiting for my eyelids to unglue themselves from each other, since they’d apparently been sealed shut since the forest thing, but I finally got them open! Only to be met with more darkness… Why do I even try to get my hopes up anymore… Maybe somebody will come find me eventually. The guy did say that he’d leave me on the edge of the forest, but I’m not sure how much I trust him.

“You know, as funny as this might sound, I think I hear some people nearby.” Narrator said, unusually helpful for once.

Now that he mentioned it though, he has a point. It was very faint, but I think I could hear a couple of people talking. Suddenly, I heard a very loud creaking sound and my whole body tensed up. Given the lack of sight, I thought I might die… again… but I couldn’t be sure.

“Did you see that?” A voice I couldn’t recognize said. They sounded like a young boy, but I couldn’t be sure. Though I didn’t feel the need to find out right now.

“I did Log. It seems like our guest has awoken.” Another voice spoke out. This one sounded like a really old dude. Like the kind that have wrinkles literally everywhere possible and hold a massive cane just to walk.

“I’m sorry, are we just going to gloss over the fact that the boy’s name could be Log?” Narrator decided to interject at that point.

I decided to ignore him for the moment, though it took a lot of willpower to do so and tried to say something. However this task, just like opening my eyes, proved challenging. It felt as if my mouth was actually glued together and I couldn’t really wet my lips considering I still couldn’t move my limbs.

“It looks like he’s having a hard time there.” The old voice proclaimed, “Log, could you go fetch a cup of water from the well? One of the good cups please.”

“Yes Elder!” The kid replied. I could hear their footsteps rapidly fading out.

“Now, what to do about you…” The old-man voice continued. “I must say, I am not sure whether it was stupidity or courage, but I am impressed that you managed to cross the entire forest by yourself. I’ll assume you knew the dangers going in, but you managed to come out without even a single scratch. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that you couldn’t see, with that cloth covering your eyes. Not even I could remove it… And that backpack! It must be filled with bricks! I’ll have you explain properly once you would like to, but I fear our alone time is drawing to a close.”

Almost as if he could see the future, I heard a few heavy footsteps before another loud creaking sound rang through my eardrums.

“I’m back Elder!” The young voice proclaimed. “I brought one of the nice cups like you asked too!”

“Thank you Log,” The old voice said as I felt water gently flow over my lips. It didn’t immediately un-fuse my lips, but it helped. “I know you must have some questions, so I’ll get some of the easier ones out of the way. My name is Groutt, the elder of the village of Aldir. The young gentleman who is accompanying me is Log, one of the children I watch over. I imagine you can fill us in on your identity now that you can talk.”

Since Groutt had been pouring water on my mouth throughout his mini speech, my lips had finally parted, and I could actually breath in. Wow forgot how much I missed that.

“Oh that feels nice,” I said, though I doubt anybody could understand with how raspy my voice was.

“Take your time child,” Elder Groutt gently told me, “We are in no rush to be up and about. How about we leave you to recollect yourself for a few minutes and then we can talk business.”

Upon this declaration, the Elder and Log left the room and I was alone with my thoughts.

“And Narrator.”

“And Narrator,” I sighed. “So what do you think of them?”

“Could be worse. I’m predisposed to liking them considering the whole ‘we’d be dead if they didn’t help us’”.

“Valid point… I think I’m going to try and get their help with the whole magic thing. Also, I’m probably going to need their help until I can move my limbs.”

Narrator decided to fall silent at this point, so I wasn’t really sure what to do aside from wait for Groutt and Log to come back. True to their word, after what felt like a few more minutes, I heard footsteps drawing near.

“We’re back!” Log shouted out, accompanying a loud creak from what I can only assume is the door to the room I’m in.

“Have you collected your thoughts young man?” Groutt asked me with a patient tone.

“Yes I have.” I replied slowly, not being used to talking out loud since entering the forest. With Narrator being in my head, I only had to think in his general direction to get my point across. “Sorry for not being able to move… at all… but I would be emphatically shaking your hand if I could.”

“Wow… Smooth.” Narrator commented.

“No worries child, I am glad that you are recovering well. Speaking of which, I might be able to help you with your movement problem. If you are willing to trust me, I have a medicine that should be able to help you in that regard.”

“Don’t do it Damion…” Narrator said.

“I would like that very much.” I replied, internally grinning at Narrator just to spite him.

“Very well then,” Groutt replied, “It is a small pill that you only have to let dissolve in your mouth for a moment. Just make sure not to swallow.”

After his explanation, I could feel a small pearl on my lips, so I opened my mouth to let it in.

“The only way that description could have been better is if the pearl knocked.” Narrator said.

“When I get use of my hands again, I’m going to slap you. Even if I have to slap myself, I will.”

Before Narrator could reply, I felt a cold wave flow through my body presumably from the medicine Groutt had given me. It took a minute for the effects to really kick in, but once they did… Nothing really happened.

“Well that was anticlimactic…” Narrator commented.

Yeah… It really just felt like the rest of my body was waking up after a long nap, which by the way, great feeling. Ten out of ten, would recommend.

“Out of curiosity,” Log said, “What’s with the bandages?”

“That is a very good question…” I replied. I took a second to take off the bandages that somebody – I think I can guess who though – put over my eyes and I immediately regretted it. The only thing I could see was a blinding yellow light everywhere in my field of view. It was almost like looking into the sun at point blank range.

“AHHHH” I shouted, throwing the bandages back over my face as I tried to withstand the agony that was the new-found lighting. “Can somebody please turn off the sun?”

“I’m sorry, what?” I heard Groutt say. I don’t know how those two are immune to the blinding radiance that was destroying my rock-eye-things presently.

“What’s wrong?” Log asked. Not gonna blame him, I’d like to know as well.

After taking a few seconds to regain my vision I took off the bandages, hoping the yellow light would be a little dimmer so I could see for a change.

“So?” Narrator questioned, “What’s it look like? I can’t see through your eyes since they got replaced so I have to resort to asking…”

“Useful information.” I replied as I took in the view before me. While the yellow light was toned down significantly, it still permeated the room and coated everything in a dull yellow hue. What was really odd was the fact that it seemed to be coming from Groutt. I don’t even know how he could see through it but that’s a question for another time. Looking at the two people sitting in front of me, I immediately picked out Groutt as the older of the two. He had a face that reminded me of the southern country with sharp features, grey hair and sunken eyes that seemed to look past me. He was wearing a simple grey robe with black trim and he had a short cane propped up against the side of his chair; Both of the objects looked heavily used, but I think that would make sense considering how old Groutt appeared.

In complete contrast, Log looked nothing like I expected. He was shorter than Groutt by at least a full head and I almost thought he was a girl from the first glance. His long black hair reached down to his shoulders and neatly framed his narrow face and black eyes, similar to the ones I used to have. He seemed kind of delicate with how small everything he looked, but my attention was quickly drawn to the rest of the room as I was presented with a slightly worrying scene.

“Hey Narrator?” I asked out loud, not even bothering to hide my shock. “When did the color get turned off?”