A combat medic with a white armband pinned in place with a silver crow walked hastily in circles inside the field-medics' tent. He was sweating buckets and shaking with no control. Before him, three people laid perfectly still.

Two of them were low ranked soldiers, the third one was a very young boy.

“How did this happen?” He muttered, biting his nails.

Another medic, also donning a white armband entered the tent.

“How are they holding out?” He asked the first medic

The first medic stopped in his tracks and threw a nervous look at him.

“I wish I knew, Davies, but the poor fellas are at death's door, I'd be surprised if they last for another hour. The boy is doing fine though” He said

Davies walked towards one of the unconscious soldiers and checked his breathing as well as his heart beat.”

Sighing, he closed his eyes and smashed the bed with his fist.

“We lost him” he said.

Davies wrote some notes and proceeded to check up on the other soldier while he was at it.

Carefully examining the pulse he suddenly felt that something was off, so he raised his head and was shocked.

The soldier was staring at him, with eyes as dark as the night sky.

“Willis, are you seeing this?” he whispered.

Willis walked up to him from behind, but upon rounding Davies shoulder he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“So you are seeing this?” Davies asked.

“I am” Willis let out.

Davies stretched out a hand and waved it in front of the soldier's face.

“No reaction, huh?” Willis sighed.

Davies reached for some herbs and held them above the candle light.

The herbs quickly started burning.

Davies let the soldier breathe in the smokes from the herbs, but they seemed to have no effect.

Willis turned around to look on the boy, this was getting too creepy for him.

“These herbs are having no effect” Davies coldly said.

“The boy seems to be doing fine though, he should be waking up any time soon.” Willis answered

Davies walked to his workbench and began mixing some liquids, gently boiling them above a small flame to just the right temperature. He didn’t really know what to do, but he didn’t give up hope and decided to try a few things and document the reactions in case he would encounter something similar in the future.

Willis was busy massaging the boy's temples. He knew that the boy should be properly taken care of or the generals would give them hell.

The boy seemed to be dreaming, and his condition was not bad at all, apart from not waking up that is.

“Hey Davies, there's not much I can do. The boy will probably wake up soon, so I'll go fetch some soldiers to carry him to his carriage.”

Although it was, in fact, a carriage, calling it a prison wagon would seem more fit. Upon entering they would not be allowed to leave unless a guard allowed them to.

Willis left the tent, while Davies kept on creating concoctions

After a while Willis came back, followed by two soldiers carrying a stretchers. They carefully picked up the boy and carried him outside.

Davies had prepared different concoctions and brought them to the soldier, then he covered the soldier’s eyes with a piece of cloth so he did not have to look into that darkness.

Then, as he brought the medicine towards the soldier's mouth he received the freight of his life.

The soldier grasped for air and sat straight up, the cloth fell off his face and he exclaimed “I can't see, shit, I can't see!”

Willis threw himself at the soldier and pushed him down on the bed again, saying “Calm down! You're in the field medics' tent! I am Willis and this is Davies, we are here to help you!”

Davies grabbed the soldier's hand and said with a calm voice, “We are here, you are not alone. Try to calm your breathing!”

The soldier calmed down, lied down but began sobbing.

“What happened to my eyes?” He cried. Willis and Davies looked at each other and sighed.

“We were hoping that you could answer that question for us, what is the last thing that you remember?” Davies asked.

The soldier tensed his arm muscle and gulped.

“I was afraid there would be a riot, the town's people were getting angrier and angrier. I don't exactly remember what happened before, but suddenly I felt as if the world was ending. I could not breathe and everything turned black, the last thing I remember is hearing my heart beat slow down.” He said, then he whined and let a few more tears fall.

Willis and Davies looked into his eyes, but what they saw only confused them more. The darkness was retracting, slowly swirling into the apple of the eye. Like sharp waves, or flower petals, the blackness retreated until the blue colour of the soldier's iris had emerged.

“I can.. I can see!” he yelled, trying his best to force himself out of the medics' grips.

“Calm yourself! You still need to rest! They told him.

A couple of hours later, Cury woke up from hearing a few knocks on wood. He sat up, only to realize that he was sitting inside of a wooden room, with a bag full of who knows what next to him.

A few more knocks woke him from his daze.

He looked towards where the sound was coming from and saw a light entering through a couple of steel bars.

“Are you okay in there, Cury?” Pete yelled anxiously

Cury stood up from the bed he was lying on and walked towards the window.

“I’m fine, where am I?” He asked as he tried to see the surroundings.

Pete turned his frown into a smile and said “I am glad you are okay. Now you need to listen to what I am about to tell you.”

His voice was unusually serious, considering how happy he seemed to have been just a second ago.

Cury nodded and grabbed Pete's hand.

“I will listen to every word!” Cury said.

Pete stared into Cury's eyes as he continued; “You are inside a carriage lead by the military. I am sorry Cury, but we will not be able to see each other for a long time. You will be sent to a training camp, to prepare you for the battlefront. I will be sent there beforehand. I haven’t been hard on you about training, I thought we would manage to stay out of it, but like this proves, I was too naive.”

Pete slightly shook, but he steeled his mind to control his emotions and continued.

“No matter how tired you become, or how afraid you will be, just remember that I love you. Although I won’t be next to you, I will be with you in here!” he said as he poked Cury on his forehead.

“Your mind, Cury, is a great gift. Use it well, and I am sure that you will make wonders.” Pete encouraged Cury, who struggled not to burst into crying.

Cury nodded, and smiled, slightly shaking his lips from the nervousness he was feeling.

“And Cury, don't worry too much about me, okay? I promise you that we will meet again!” Pete said.

Cury's watery eyes shone as he asked “You promise?”

Pete tried his best to smile as he said, “I promise, and you know what I say about promises.”

And they spoke together; “I always try my best to never break a promise, because a promise made with an honest heart will become the strongest will”

Pete ruffled Cury's hair and said

“I packed a bag for you with some of your clothes, but I wanted to give you this last thing myself”

Then he brought out a piece of red silk. Cury accepted it and removed the top layer.

A silver chain reflected the little light that entered the carriage.

Cury stared at the necklace he was holding, a silver chain connected to a small, silver ring. Inside the ring, the magenta tear was locked in place, welded stuck.

“I don't know what to say” Cury said.

“Isn’t that answer enough?” Pete said with a gentle smile.

A river of red colours poured into Cury's iris and washed away all the blue. He had lost control of his powers, but he did not mind.

Upon seeing this, Pete gave Cury a kiss on his forehead and said “I am glad you like it that much Cury, but I got to leave now. Just remember that I love you, okay?”

Cury nodded and responded “I love you too, please be careful. Don't go back on your promise!”

Pete patted Cury’s head and turned around. After taking a deep breath he began walking.

Cury sat down on the bed hanging from iron chains inside the carriage. He stared at the beautiful necklace and struggled to not cry his heart out.

The carriage started moving and the very bumpy journey began

Cury was scared, but he knew that he had to be brave. After some time, the sun was gone.

Stars painted the night sky as if it was a canvas. Cury lied on the wooden floor and stared at the sky through a big squared, hole on the roof. He tried counting the few stars that he could see. A smile surfaced through his lips as he tried telling himself that all would be fine.

Feeling alone inside the carriage, and from the lack of company, he decided to talk with the moon, and all of its stars. He introduced himself.

“Hello Moon, I am Cury.”

He tried imagining how Moon would answer and figured that the moon should be kind, like an old wise person.

“Hello Cury!” the moon replied.

“Are you doing all right?” Cury asked.

Their conversation kept on for some time, as Cury talked about his day, talked about his mother and about Sun.

The Moon told him that he, too, had a friend called Sun but that they seldom got to see each other.

The night passed quicker this way, but that also meant that the moon had to go. He asked it to wait, but the moon didn’t answer.

The moon wandered off, and he was left with the stars.

Then all of the stars faded away, and Cury wept.

He wept, because not even the moon and the stars stayed with him.

Once again, he was alone.