It's been about half an hour since I've started searching for a river. At first, when Mai told me that I stunk, I was very angry, I swore that if I could I would strangle him, like, who says such things to other people...although once I took a closer smell of myself I had to admit that it was true.
This forest is actually suprisingly peaceful. I had expected to get attacked at least a few times while searching for a river from beasts or monsters but the only things I've seen is vegetation and some small animals. Makes me wonder why I had to encounter 3 wolves right when I came to this place.
While I was running away after the fight with the wolves I could only curse my luck that I was thrown to such a dangerous place like this where such beasts were out to get me, but I have to re-evaluate my opinion of this place. It's actually rather peaceful.
While I was stuck in my own thoughts, thinking about this forest, I had already arrived in front of a river.
'Finally, a river. I was getting annoyed having to smell your stinking ass.'
Will you shut up with your commentary on my smell? In the first place, how are you even smelling me when you don't have a nose?
'That doesn't matter. Just go drink and wash yourself off already'
I was just about to do that before you commente-Huh? What? Who's that?
'Who's who?'
That person. In the water. Don't you see him?
'What do you mean? That's your reflection.'
That's my reflection? That's me? Wow.
I saw a person in the water. That person had a young appearance, somewhere in his late teens. His hair was white, pure white, with no hints of any other color tainting it, other than a bit of dirt and red blood.
His left eye was blue, a pale blue, and the eye itself somehow gave off the impressions of intelligence, wisdom, and I don't know why, but the word "technology" came to my mind when I saw it, even though I have no idea what that word means. The pupil was pure golden, rather than black, which I for some reason found abnormal even though this was the first human eye I was seeing. Looking at it hard and long enough, I swear I could see something like gears turning, even though those gears gave off an...ethereal feeling. They looked illusory. Something else about the eye was that it gave the feeling that it was alive, not that it belonged to an alive person, but that the eye itself was alive.
As for the right eye on the other hand, it was different. The pupil was the same as the left eye, pure golden in color, but the iris was red. The eye gave off the impressions of fire, blood, and something akin to war, but it all felt...wrong, so so wrong. The fire felt cold, and the blood felt dried up, like the blood that stained the hair of the man. As for the impression of war, it was not the same feeling that one got in the middle of a heated fight, where emotions ran free and blood was spilled everywhere, where one felt the most alive, but it felt like the aftermath of a war. It felt like dead bodies, the metallic stench of dried-up blood, it felt like despair felt in the aftermath of a battle. Different from the left eye where I could see illusory gears, there was nothing like that in the right eye. And worst of all, unlike the left eye, this eye looked dead, unnaturally so. While the left eye looked alive on its own, the right eye looked dead on its own. Not that it belonged to a dead man but the eye itself was dead.
When I saw that right eye, I don't know why, but I felt emotions I had never felt before burst inside of me. I felt sadness, I felt guilt, I felt grief, I felt anguish, but the most prominent one was...rage. Not rage directed at the eye, but at something else, something that I could not remember. This was a strange feeling. Even though I could not remember or understand why, I was feeling intense emotions. I felt bad that I could not remember.
'Huh. So that's the real reason why Status said that Left Eye was awakened but Right Eye was dormant.'
I guess so.
I bent down and started drinking water, but I did it absentmindedly. I simply could not get the image of my right eye out of my mind. It felt so wrong, but I don't know why. I also don't know how I could fix it.
'Remove the bandages you made out of the wolf skin now and bathe yourself. I can't wait for that disgusting stench to go away.'
Yeah.Sure.
I bathed myself, enjoying the cold feeling of the water as it helped cool my brain down a bit. After a few minutes of bathing, I left the water and put the bandages back on. Then, I looked back down at my reflection again, specifically staring at my right eye. It was then that both of my eyes started shining with determination.
I would awaken my right eye. I'd do whatever it takes. I'll right this wrong. I promise this to myself.