I woke up to the sounds of beeping and, for the second time since coming to this world, I woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. As I came to, I noticed the familiar smell of antiseptic permeating throughout the room and, I assumed, the rest of the building. It brought back memories from my old life, but I didn't want to think about those, especially after what I had just been through. I turned my head to the side and caught sight of a holographic screen hovering over the IV drip standing near my bed. On the screen, I could see the heart-rate monitor moving up and down as well as my pulse and other information that I didn't really understand. In the chairs next to the IV drip, I spotted both my father and mother, who were speaking to each other in low tones. Their hushed voices were too low to hear, so I didn't know what they were talking about, but every now and again they would glance in my direction with worry on their faces. Eventually, my mother glanced over and noticed that I was awake, causing her to hit my dad to get him to notice as well.
She got up and walked over to me, grabbing my hand in hers, encasing it in a familiar warmth. "Loki, why didn't you tell us what you were doing? Are we that unreliable?" Her question broke my heart. I didn't even think about letting them know what I was doing; I was so caught up in the idea that I could change my fate that it didn't even cross my mind.
"I'm sorry, Mum… I was just so excited about the fact that I might be able to stop myself from going blind that-" She stopped me from continuing as she pulled me into a tight hug. Tears started welling up in my eyes as I realised how stupid I had been. They knew all about my power, and they must've been doing everything in their power to help me, to stop my fate from coming to fruition. I really should've told them.
"Starlight, you know we would've helped had you just asked." Tears started falling from my eyes when I heard her say this. I could hear her voice cracking as she was overwhelmed by her emotions. What I had been through genuinely had terrified her beyond belief. I felt another pair of large hands slide around both me and my mother. It was my father, and for the first time in my life I saw tears streaking down his usually composed face. Suddenly, I felt a sob make its way up my throat and escape from my mouth, and I fully broke down.
After what seemed like hours, we finally broke up and stopped crying, and my father turned to me and tried to swiftly change the subject to something lighter to hide his embarrassment. "So kiddo, you ready for school now?" The question caught me off guard. That's right; I was starting school this week. I couldn't remember the exact date, but I assumed I had some more time to prepare for everything.
"Uhhh… Yeah, I think so, Dad. Why? When is it starting?" I replied, with confusion etched on my face.
"It starts tomorrow; you knew that, right?"
"Huh? Tomorrow? Are you sure?" Panic flashed through me as I realised that while I had the blindfold, I still wasn't fully prepared to deal with the year ahead of me.
"Yeah, Starlight, we've even moved the money over to your account so you won't have to worry about living expenses and that while you're gone." My mother jumped in, cutting my dad off from what he was gonna say.
"… Fuck" was all I could say, earning me a flick on my forehead from my mother, who was looking at me, evidently disapproving of my word choice. I was so not ready to go to Eos.
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We had left the hospital, and now I was back in my room. Hastily packed suitcases surrounded me as I prepared for tomorrow. As I was packing, it actually hit me that Loki had never actually gone clothes shopping. He had no nice clothes at all, which was a slight issue as at school there were a few formal events that I was required to go to. For example, in our first year there was a first-year dance, which was somewhat like the American's homecoming. After the dance we had the end of term dance, which, while it was generally considered optional, was almost a sin to miss.
Both Loki and I hated formal events. They were a drag, so we would miss them only going when we couldn't turn down the invitation. Outside of the dances and tests the first year of school was relatively uneventful; there weren't any crazy Mirror Demon attacks that happened, nor were there any major incidents that I could remember. So, I should be okay to use this first year to finish preparing for the insanity that will be the end of the novel. The only thing I had to watch out for was any changes to the story. It was inevitable really. I wasn't fully Loki, so I wouldn't be able to do everything he did in the novel without error. Things would change because of me, so I had to be ready for it.
Finally, as I placed the last thing into the suitcase and closed everything, I was ready. All my things had been packed. I didn't have to prepare for an entrance exam since we had done those the year before. So I was… mostly ready to face this world that I had created. However, it was just as I was going to bed that I remembered I hadn't even looked at the blindfold I had literally risked my life to get. I reached over and flipped on my lamp so I could examine it in greater detail. I looked at it hanging limply in my palms and saw that it still had the same charcoal grey fabric, albeit bloodstained now. Then I pulled its window up to confirm that it was the same as it was in my novel.
Equipment:
Blindfold of the Cursed Seer - Grade 5 - Sacred
This blindfold once belonged to a follower of a long-dead god. As the god died, they cursed their forever loyal servant with the knowledge of the future and the inability to change it. Thus, the seer gouged out her eyes and placed this blindfold over the forever-bleeding sockets so that she would never see the future again.
{Curse of Blindness:}
Once this blindfold has been placed over the eyes, it can no longer be removed, permanently blinding its wearer. This blindfold bears a deep hatred towards eyes and will dissolve the wearer's eyes slowly until they no longer exist.
{Astral Eyes:}
The wearer of this blindfold will be able to sense the surrounding space in near-perfect detail(50m)
Well, it was certainly a grim piece of equipment, but it was the same as it was in the novel. The only downside of this sort of vision was that I couldn't see the future anymore, which was inevitable once I went blind, anyway. If I remember correctly though, the user can feel this blindfold eating their eyes away, which doesn't sound pleasant, so I'll be putting off the need to wear this as much as possible. Finally, with everything ready for school tomorrow, I turned off my light and fell asleep.