In the barren lands of roxinbey , only the bloody footprints of the Masked person could be seen.
Lava rivers flowed with time and amidst all this stood a tower . A tower that was long abandoned and ruined .
The maskedperson brushed off the spiderwebs which piled up the entrance of the tower.
He removed his hood. Long strands of silver hair danced in the hot wind. He threw his mask onto a corner where snakes skin had piled up .
His ocean blue eyes observed the books that had filled the study .
He took the twenty miniature humans from his pocket in pairs and placed them on a table
Each of them were colored in crimson. Each unconscious in their own world.
Amidst the closed eyes , one man opened his eyes.
Azure eyes that had seen the world brightly where now filled with despair.
Keizam Yogers stood up. His body was rather light. His gaze shifted onto the man who stood in front of him . A man who seemed to be taller than mountains or maybe..Zam thought to himself " I might just be smaller than an ant ."
Zam whose body was covered in blood could feel immense pain flowing through his body.
Then he remembered..
The fight he had with a person who he couldn't even see the face of. And how that person had made him one eyed.
Tears flowed down from that one eyed man.
He looked at the tall figure in front of him and asked " Who..Who did this to me..?"
The tall man opened his mouth " Some things are better unknown."
"But its my eyes! I wanna know who did this to me!". Zan who was overwhelmed with anger ended up crying .
" So please...Can you please tell me who took my eyes away from me..?"
The tall man sighed.
"Okay, I will tell you but I don't think you will be able to handle the truth."
The man dispelled the miniature magic used on Zam.
Zam who stood face to face with the tall man thought to himself " If that person who took my eye is a stranger then I had be okay..but if it's my friend..".
Zam observed the table where the nineteen miniature humans slept on.
Among the faces that felt unfamiliar to him was a face that was familiar to only him. He looked at the now Brian Alhemat who was clearly hating himself even in his unconscious state.
Zam clenched his fists." If its Brian..I don't know what I would do ."
The silver haired man looked at Zam.
"Brian Alhemaht..That's the name of the man who took your eyes."
Zam trembled. The words of the man were not unexpected. He couldn't understand whether it was hatred towards Brian or pity towards himself that he felt.
Zam asked him with his trembling voice " I wasn't able to see the person who I fought..And when I tried talking to them there was no response..It was the same for Brian too..right?.."
Zam place this hands on the empty spot where once his right eye existed.
" Brian also must have asked me who I was and he must have apologized to me as well and.."
Zam's eyes fell on the still unconscious Brian and he completed " He must be loathing himself for what he did to me even in that state."
The silver haired man asked Zam " So , are you gonna forgive him ? ."
" Why would I ? How could I ever forgive someone who made me one eyed ? ."
Zam looked at his hands which were full of scars and wounds.
" Still , I can't let Brian see me in this state. I don't want to be seen as a one eyed man."
Zam smiled whether if it was fake or not.
" So , what are you gonna do now ? ."
" I want to make a potion. A potion that can make it seem as though I have my both eyes."
" Too much lying can lead to you being under the curse of deception."The man in front of Zam stated.
" I know .But I'm not lying , I just don't wanna be a one-eyed man." He smiled again. But was he really smiling ?
The tall man introduced himself as a teacher at TIA .
" My name is Erik Vinson ".
" I'm Keizam Yogers ".
Zam followed Sir Erik. They stood in a room filled with herbs , potions and poisons .
" How's your eye sight ? ." Sir Erik searched through the countless potions.
" I won't say its okay cause its not. But my sight is pretty okay"
Even though Zam answered like that only he knew how unclear the world around him seemed through that one eye.
" So ,What exactly do you need from here? "
"The blood of Elen Vinson."
Sir Eric was taken aback by Zam's request.
He searched through the numerous bottles.
Sir Eric extended his hands towards Zam.
He was holding a transparent glass bottle filled with blood.
Zam took it.
" The blood of a control element user ."
Sir Eric sat on one of the chairs.
Zam sat across him.
" A blood which is considered as an element."
"You are quite the genius."
Zam chuckled even in his current situation.
"Thank you!Thank you!"
"As you have already realized , I'm indeed connected to Elen Vinson , the former control element user who died twenty years ago."
"Yeah,I realized cause I'm smart."
" You're really adaptive."
"If the situation calls for it , I have to adapt."
" True. The fact that the blood of control users can create magical potions is rarely known to the mankind."
Zam got up " And I knew of this cause I have read all the countless books in my fathers study."
He poured the crimson blood into a bottle containing healing potion.
Two elements, Control and Healing, Reacted with each other in order to form a yellow potion.
Zam poured the potion into his empty eye spot.
"You have the potential to be an apothecary."
Zam laughed " Sadly, I'm still living in the moment. Right now, I wanna accompany Brian and become an Imperial knight."
"That's admirable."
"Maybe it is. As we continue our journey , I might discover my own ambitions."
"You remind me of uncle."
"Your uncle is Elen Vinson, right?"
Sir Eric nodded.
" He was a admirable man. He lived among the people and for the people. When the curse affected him, he told me to keep his blood safe from royals and nobles. He told me to give his blood to the rightful person."
Zam bowed " And I, Keizam Yogers will be that rightful person."
" Yeah , right."
Sir Eric smiled as he looked at Zam's eyes.
His azure blue eyes were forming slowly in that empty spot again. It was still an illusion.
"It has been already twenty three years since uncle died. The current control user is still a mystery."
"I haven't heard anything about them either.
I wonder who it is.No matter who they are they must have been born. After all when a control user dies another control user will be born within five years. And only one control user exists at a time. These are facts known to everyone in the kingdom of Travelina."
After listening to Zam , Sir Eric got up and they went back to the hall where Brian and the other eighteen miniature humans slept.
Sir Eric looked at Zam. Two azure irises shined brightly in the sun light that entered through the broken window.
" Will this fool your friend ?"
" That's what scares me. Brian is a trustworthy human but he don't trust anyone easily and he is very sharp."
Zam bandaged Brian's wounds.
" Why are you doing this much for him ?"
Zam simply smiled " I have done a lot of bad things to him in the past. I was forgiven for my actions in the past and so I would like to forgive him for his actions as well. Mine is not a lie that attracts the curse after all."
" It's a lie that might heal the hollow abyss in the heart of a icey swordsman."
Zam bandaged himself. His pale hands which were burned and scarred.
" Sir Eric, I failed the first stage of the exam. Didn't I ?"
" Technically speaking , you did. But I feel bad giving up on a student who is as knowledgeable as you."
Sir Eric transformed the miniature humans back into their human form.
Each were burned, tanned and scarred and among them nine didn't breath. They were the ones who failed the exam including Zam.
But Zam was still breathing and conscious, While even the winner's of the exam couldn't wake up.
Sir Eric disregarded the corpses.
He continued on with treating the winners.
But , he couldn't feel any pulse on one of them.
He turned towards Zam.
" Something unexpected happened."
He paused then continued " One of the winners died."
" Now what are you gonna do ?" Zam walked towards him.
"Keizam Yogers , Do you want to become one of the winners ?"
" What? You're gonna just let me pass this easily! When this people sacrificed their lives!..."
" I undersand. But think about it , if you passed this exam then Brian won't suspect you, as this exam had twenty participants , maybe it was a coincidence but each of them came in pairs and so the higher ups decided to make those pairs fight among themselves. Brian will just think you fought someone else."
Zam knew if he chose this path , he could never be forgiven. But he had no choice and so Keizam Yogers who was trembling decided to open his mouth " Then want about the person who Brian fought ?"
" I will just remove one of the corpses eye and just show it to Brian."
Zam clenched his fists " Why are you doing all this for me ?"
" I think you have potential."
" Just because of that?."
" Maybe. You're like a flower that could turn into a fruit if looked after carefully and these corpses are stones that turned into sands."
" It's up to you. What do you want?"
Sir Eric walked towards Zam.
"Do you want Brian to suspect you and hate himself ? Or do you want to continue your journey with him ?"
Zam whose eyes usually shone brightly like the stars in the sky,was now just like the barren lands of Roxinbey.
"Okay,I will take you up on your offer."
Sir Eric patted him on the shoulder.
" That's the way to go."
Zam sat beside the Brian Alhemaht who was still fighting himself , somewhere within his subconsciousness.
Trembling feeling spread throughout Brian's body. His eyes were trembling the most.
Slowly enough, he opened his eyes.
Piercing Brown eyes observed the room before his body could even get up.
Where am I?