He sees us in his head, he says, "No, it's not the end." Then his eyes exploded, and he vomited blood again and again. He fainted, his body broken. But a few hours later, he got up, as if nothing had happened. His eyes had regenerated, and his power or curse seemed to have increased tenfold.
In the year of training he had spent in the forest, he had noticed that he couldn't close his eyes for more than twenty-four hours at a time. Then he would open them automatically, as if something was forcing him to stay awake.
Joël was nine years old, but he had already lived more than most people. He knew he couldn't stay alone in the forest anymore, he had to go to the city, face the outside world.
He took a deep breath, and set off. He was going to discover what the world had to offer, but he knew he would never be like others. He was different, and he had to learn to live with it.
Joël went to the city, closing his eyes to avoid seeing the outside world. He could feel people moving, body temperatures, but he really wanted to open his eyes and look at the city.
He entered the tavern, wearing black clothes, and ordered a beer. The innkeeper looked at him with surprise, but Joël just said, "I want to drink."
The innkeeper shrugged and gave him a glass of beer. Joël drank it in one gulp, and the tavern customers started to take notice of him.
A burly man approached him and said, "How can this kid drink a beer like that?" He proposed a challenge: the last one who didn't drink the most bottles would pay the rest.
Joël accepted, and the two started drinking, glass after glass. The tavern customers cheered them on, and Joël drank with disconcerting ease.
The burly man was on his eighteenth glass, and he was starting to stumble. Joël, on the other hand, was on his nineteenth, and he didn't seem to be affected.
Finally, the burly man collapsed, and Joël said, "I won. Are you going to pay for the beer?"
The burly man groaned, and the tavern customers burst out laughing. Joël had won, and he had proven he was a real drinking monster.
Joël walked out of the tavern and headed towards a building. He entered and was drawn to the place. Everyone looked at him attentively and some said, "What's a kid doing here?"
He approached the secretary and asked, "Ma'am, what is this place?"
The secretary replied, "This is the Adventurers' Guild."
Joël: "I'm going to become an adventurer."
The secretary: "You're still young, and being an adventurer is very dangerous."
Joël: "Ma'am, what is an adventurer?"
The secretary smiled and said, "An adventurer is someone who completes quests given to them and hunts monsters."
Joël: "I must be an adventurer."
The people stared at him and started laughing. "This kid really wants to become an adventurer!" one of them mocked.
But there was one person in the room, a woman dressed in yellow and black, with long silver hair, who smiled...
A large man with a scar over his left eye, silver armor, and a long sword on his back approached them slowly and surely. "Kid, being an adventurer is dangerous. You have your whole life ahead of you, I don't want to see someone so young die."
But the woman with the long hair and yellow-black clothes intervened: "What is your goal, child?"
Joël replied, "I want to find a witch who can help me remove a curse I have."
Some people in the room murmured "a curse..."
The woman approached them. "Enroll him," she said.
This woman, they call her Eliane, the "mad fury", a genius strategist using magic who has made contracts with many demons.
Then Joël was enrolled, and he thanked the lady. She smiled and said to herself, "Interesting, that curse..."
Joël left the Adventurers' Guild with his adventurer card in hand, which bore the inscription "E" (large E), the lowest level.
Joël was so happy! He returned to the Guild and some said, "That kid again!"
Madame Eliane asked him, "Yes?"
Joël: "Please, give me a quest!"
She gave him a quest: "Gather some medicinal herbs in a forest near the city."
He listened attentively, then he went...
He left the city, into the forest, with the map in hand. He waited until he was far enough away to open it. Once out of sight, he opened his eyes and looked at the map. Then, he looked at the grass and said, "But I know this grass!"
He ran through the forest, determined to find the medicinal herbs. But suddenly, his gaze met that of a bird. And the bird fell to the ground, dead. He looked at the bird with sadness, then closed his eyes in silence.
He walked through the forest, lost in his thoughts... He went into the dead forest, found the herbs, pulled them out, and put them in a bag. Then, he returned to the Adventurers' Guild.
In the Guild, he approached the secretary. She said, "What's that smell?"
Joël: "Ma'am, I found them."
The secretary: "Where did you find these herbs?"
Joël: "In a forest, not far from here."
The secretary thought to herself, "But it stinks." She said to Joël, "Please, go wash up. Take your reward."
She gave him four silver coins. Joël smiled, proud of himself. He thought he would continue like this.
Then the secretary asked him, "Are you blind?"
Joël replied, "Yes."
And he left the Adventurers' Guild...