Clarity

We followed Griffin of Blades down what appeared to be some form of a shadowed aqueduct, that stretched from beyond the iron gate that we had entered. Fiore seemed calm and docile now, though the insidiousness of her narrow eyes and tight cheeks told the tale of fear that she could barely contain even in her current state, still, I held her close, reassuring her along the way, while also making notes on what I was, and had seen.

There was little moisture in the air in this descending tunnel, as one might expect from a drainage duct, instead, the scrapping sound of sand dragged by shoes on hard stone echoed below us. Grains of crimson stuck to the walls and fell on occasion from the ceiling.

"A Drain... for sand?" I suspected, and yet it made sense... if the storms were anywhere near as bad as the one we had encountered back at the Great Tree, then keeping the waves of sand swept up violently by the shredding storm from covering the city must have been a task of goliath proportions.

My fascination was cut short, however, as the light from the outside world began to bleed away, leaving me following Griff into the dark.

"Hey, could you settle down a little?" I asked as the Mysterian Warrior marched ahead as if she were strolling in broad daylight.

Her silver body, obscured by the low light turned inquisitively "What's the matter now, don't tell me the Legendary Warwolf is afraid of little darkness?"

"It's not the dark I'm afraid of -- look, I can't save the world if I'm blindly walking through a pitch-black tunnel."

"Good to know. Open your eyes." She called in what felt like a deliberate attempt to throw me off.

"Will you stop being like that for five minutes and help me?" I cried, annoyed with her constant mind games. But she did not show any loss of patience, her movements remained smooth and controlled as she approached me. Her hands, gloved in velvet touched at my neck and collarbone, sliding her fingers to cup Fiore's cheek, the young huntress looked confused as she continued back up to press a thumb to my forehead.

Her skin burned against mine as if fire oozed from her fingertips.

"No, Nero, open your eyes. The sight you never knew you had, every inch of your body possesses a sight, a taste or a smell, a sound..." her thumb traced my eyebrow, it was a soothing motion that caught me by surprise. It was oddly intimate and relaxing although, it was only a microcosm of what I would feel. "My old master once told me, 'Open the eye in your mind, and you'll never fear darkness again."

I paused, and for a good reason, whatever was going on in my head made it clear that wasting this energy would be foolish. More and more I could feel the world slithering around me, my heart thumped, swirling around in a circle; until I realised that the feeling wasn't in my chest, but was in fact whirling around me in an endless, perfect cycle; the orbit of Mars, turning slowly all around us.

The Question of what my instinct actually was, never sang louder in my head at that moment. On Earth it gave me an incredible, even lethal focus... but here on mars, after tasting the bitter blood of the warrior, I could feel the curvature of this entire Red Planet, as one feels the subtle rush of blood in their veins.

That is when my Eye, my mind's eye, sluggishly cracked open.

It all came in waves. First, sounds crept from every corner that it inhabited; the small vibrations from the city below us, a strange crashing whoosh of those strange airborne vehicles in the sky, screaming loud enough to shatter glass. Fiore's thumping chest boomed like a drum, the soft texture of her skin overwhelming every pore of my scarlet skin.

I could feel every grain of dust, dirt and sand wedged between my toes, grinding into the heels that pressed into my Litchen sandals... Even after all of our travels, Griffin of Blades smelt sweet, citrusy like tangerines and lime; her breaths deathly slow and deliberate.

And then, in a rush of colour, taste, touch, and sound, my eyes adjusted not only to the dark, but to everything else as well as an oddly comforting, but ultimately painful scorching sensation tingled on my bicep.

The long tunnel filled my Vison, every minute detail **** into my mind in an explosion of clarity so abrupt and overwhelming that I nearly fell to my knees.

Griff caught me with Fiore still in my arms, her fingers quick enough to prevent me from falling, but gentle enough so as not to overload my now sensitive skin. "Shhh, Shhh relax. Try not to let it overwhelm you." she coaxed, as I peered around at the amplified detail of the tunnel around me. "You don't need all of it... just enough to get through this Arenaduct. that's it, nice and calm, It's always a little painful the first time."

A symbol flashed in the prism of your mind, an image blurred with words that spoke...

"What is--" I paused, my voice screamed so loudly that I had to whisper "I can see... everything?"

Griffin moved away once she saw that we were stable "Come, try and keep up and I'll explain the best I can."

I'm not sure how many times I'd have to say it before the end... but just as always; I was blind but now I see