Her eyes were still folded but he can imagine them to be made like gold coins, it would have glowed and banished the darkness.
This imagination soothed his mind. She knelt before him and caressed him and kissed his forehead. She immediately fused more power into the palm print and it became oval leaves.
"You can go now."
"You should open your eyes. Without doing that, you won't attain human form!"
A hollow voice echoed that somewhat filled with agony and pain that Eugene can taste.
It was strange and he wondered what they were being subjected to?
Was there any more imaginary task still going on?
"Speak again and I will banish you from my castle!" Zeera's voice said.
He bowed fast before he ran outside but turned stared at Eugene.
"I, Blind Sanctity Maiden, Zeera in my name, have set you free!"
Eugene immediately felt things that bound him were leaving him and his body began to fade.
Before he vanished he sent her a sentence, "You have a beautiful name!"
Eugene's beast vanished, leaving Zeera kneeling there.
In all her knowledge and what she had learned in the last three days was the thing that the hollow eyes were saying was true.
To gain a body, one has to sacrifice their eyes to a degree.
But because Eugene from the beginning said to her he felt dread when opening his eyes and subsequently his help and intuition aided them in avoiding death countless times, she trusted him.
"I hope you have a successful return." She muttered, her voice was tinged with loneliness.
She might now be the only human as the hollow eyes are different, they are more mannequin than human.
They also see things and hear things that even she can't. She sometimes here sounds like flogging or cries of agony.
When she asked them they said it was nothing.
There are those that under the night sky they kept their eyes shut and underground they opened them.
That means they aren't hollow eyes yet but they too have long lost their luster and we're changing. Some among them were even desiring to stare at the darkness above.
She shook her head and remembered the Silent Beasts that were more human than the now human.
"I wish I knew your name!" she muttered silently.
***
Gateways and the Realm they sent Challengers are as mysterious as the depth of the cosmos.
A First Challenger that enters into a Realm and spends possible years but if they truly didn't die they will truly come back the next day in their own world.
Yes, First Challengers only spent 24 hours in the realm and came out. If he or she doesn't come back within 24 hours they are dead.
Eugene surely knew they might have spent at least 4 days in that realm but to Ar Land it was only 24 hours.
Even if he had spent 100 years in Blind Sanctity, in Ar Land, it would always be 24 hours.
But the rule changed at Second Challengers and above.
Eugene felt the mysterious water and he didn't have to swim but would be brought by current.
However, he was still in the Silent Treader but the moment he was about to come out he felt he was out and the beast vanished.
He walked out with the same body suit he went on with.
There were people waiting but he didn't see all that as what assaulted him was the extreme sound and light that disoriented him and he fell to the ground.
Someone from his family ran to him and asked, "Are you alright? What are you feeling."
But that served to aggravate Eugene more.
He was immediately encased in a scanning glass device and began to be scanned about his condition.
"Open your eyes and see the moon!"
This was the standard procedure. One look at the moon and synchronization will happen with the realm they have been to and the person will return back to normal even if they were suffering with bad trauma.
Unfortunately, Eugene wasn't having all that.
After he came out for a few minutes, a group of four kids came out and they all had no eyes.
Like him they fell down and trembled. Unlike him, they weren't in pain but there was extreme fear as if they were remembering the torture they had been to.
Eugene's aunt panicked and looked at Eugene in the encased bed. Some of his reactions were the same as them but he had his eyes closed unlike the others that have only holes there.
She panicked, her eyes shifted and asked shocked, "Do you have eyes? Show me your eyes!"
The sound was too much for Eugene as he almost fainted if the Gatekeeper hadn't appeared and used diyam to pu6sh her away. Before he encased Eugene with his own bubble which turned off all sound and light and every form of sensations on Eugene.
Immediately, the young 18 boy calmed down and he seemed to have peace.
"You idiot, you call yourselves Miracle Lion but can't even understand his problem." His deep manly voice bareted the bunch of Miracle Lions around with questioning gaze.
"His senses have been pushed beyond his limits, if he had gone like this he would have snapped and died on the spot!"
He said before he walked away and the bubble settled on the bed with Eugene still being protected.
Aunt Jemima, Eugene's mother's older sister calmed down before she gently walked and stood beside the bubble.
She can see there was a ball underneath the eyelid moving around and as if he had sensed her, his face turned toward her and his hand rose and tapped the bubble.
"Everything felt too much. Sound, light, sensation, taste and even things I can't describe!"
The tapping was in a pattern that only Miracle Lions can interpret, it's encoded in their genetic code.
Scion from the family was first taught this since infancy to master it.
That means with tap they can converse in public without losing the content of the conversation to the outsider.
"My name is Eugene from Miracle Lions 125 and I came out of what seems to be my First Challenge."
This is another standard procedure. First Challengers are usually delirious, and have lapses in memory due to experience they weren't accustomed to.
Saying one name and the family they came from will show they are right in the head.
"Yes, I have eyes but it's too bright to see. No, I didn't lose any of my organs. But I'm just too confused!"
Eugene placed his hand down and appeared to try to sleep. The Lions there smiled and sighed as they sent his record to high ups.
The Hollowed Eyes were taken into a special foundation where they will be studied and observed.
Eugene on the other hand was taken toward his family home. Miracle Lion 12.
While they left many more successful challengers returned and as it was 24 hours dot, many parents and siblings began to mourn.
They know those that didn't return are gone forever.
Miracle Lion was one of the oldest founding families in Ar Land, they are rich in culture and ethic unique to them but unfortunately they didn't become Aristocrat Family like others until only 14 years ago when they managed to nurture a Tier 6: Dominator.
The Tier 6 individual now was the head of the family and also Eugene's grand uncle.
As a head, he now is impartial among the family, he will only recognise talent, dedication and contribution when allocating resources.
Miracle Lion family members have no surname, just like every Aristocrats and other lower family, so they gave numbers to themselves.
Miracle Lion 12 means that Eugene's father and mother as a family were coded 12 in this generation.
The 5 in 125 means that he was the 5th child of the family.
However, children 1 and 2 have passed away.
Marium is child 3, Aaron child 4 and Eugene child 5.
The family was relatively young compared to others.
There is other coding that signifies the grandparents lineage and ancestry. But will be used if in-depth analysis were required.
Not to mention there is this Generation Tag on everyone. His family is 7th generation, which means he will be called Eugene Miracle Lion 7th G 125.
If he gains his family in the future he will be tagged as 8th G and then assigned Family code.
The naming is pretty simple and complex in a way. However, all this numbering will go away if one of them becomes Ascendent.
The Ascendent's Name will be the Family name but with some changes. Only direct children of the Ascendent will take his actual name with no prefix.
Eugene settled in his room. Even though the bubble has made everything mute, including light, he felt danger when he wanted to open his eyes.
As if he will be discovered, as if someone will sense him and he doesn't want that to happen.
The feeling was strange as the thing that will sense him didn't know about him but he will know about him the moment he opened his eyes.
Eugene swallowed hard, 'Was it the sky again?' He wondered.
'Am i not allowed to see the sky again,'
Suddenly for a fleeting moment he felt the danger was gone before it came back.
'Are the things that prevent sight in that godforsaken place come here!'
Remembering that there are more like him, possibly, he realized, maybe they are the sources of the danger.