I felt a chill run through my entire mass at her words.
A deal...?
What deal?
It can't be anything good.
But look at me, I'm lesser than a paralyzed person, so I got no choice here, literally.
If I refuse, she will have no further use of me and that would be the end of this second chance before it even started.
So I agreed.
[Alright. I agree, let us make the deal.]
[Hahaha!! You truly are amusing, no? To think you had a say in it, you show quite the potential] the stranger laughed loud and powerfully, and I could feel the ground vibrate as she did, the tremors rolling through my soft mass like waves.
Wait, was she a giant or something?!
[You say you bear no sight, but sight alone should not be the cause of your lacking fear. If you are sentient, you should have been terrified by me].
I didn't know what to do... Laugh awkwardly?
What if she took it the wrong way and decided I was being disrespectful?
My whole body stayed perfectly still against the floor, every part of me tense while I tried to figure out the safest response.
[About our deal] she began, [Since you cannot see or hear, I assume you wish to do so, no?]
[I do! I've been blind for 3 days and it's getting to me, I'm just not saying anything.] I quickly replied, the words rushing out in my mind.
How do I look now? How did she look? How does the place I am in look?
What were those things I was bumping into while rolling around like some lost blob?
The questions piled up fast, making the darkness feel even heavier than before.
[I understand.] She said, [I will help you regain your senses... but you must promise to do my bidding afterwards!]
'Uh, even if I say no, you'll force me to, won't you?' The thought flashed through me but I kept it locked down.
There's no point arguing when I had no leverage.
[I agree. I will do as you ask me] I answered instead, trying to sound as steady as possible.
[Good. You must own up on your vow... Now, about your sight...]
She explained that I was dumb. An idiot for not knowing how to see at all, on my own.
But she reasoned that it must be because I was not eyeless or limbless in my former life, so I didn't instinctively know how to use this new body the way it was meant to be used.
The explanation came with a tone that mixed amusement and mild annoyance, like she was talking to a particularly slow child.
So embarrassing.
Thus, the most stupid thing in the world happened. I "opened" my eyes.
And I kind of wished I hadn't. At least, not so fast.
What I was told some minutes ago was;
[Just feel the environment around you] she began, her voice guiding me step by step. [Try to imagine the air flow, the strange tingling sensation on your body, and then, like you used to have, open your eyes.]
'Hah!' I thought, 'I have been trying to open my eyes for three days but nothing happened!'
But then I actually followed her instructions;
Feeling the area around me, sensing the fresh, chilling substance moving through the air in gentle currents, the way it brushed across my surface with a faint prickling, the subtle shifts in pressure from the space above and below.
And soon, something clicked.
I focused on that old, familiar motion I used to do without thinking back when I had a normal face.
...I opened my eyes. Yes, "eyes."
Somehow, I could see the entirety of the space all at once.
My whole body seemed to flutter open at the command, every section of my mass participating in the act.
I got that subtle feeling you get when your eyelids lift after sleep, like a small tear, but now it spread across my entire form like a thousand tiny curtains pulling back simultaneously.
It was seriously gross.
My whole body began to blink in slow, rolling waves, surfaces parting and revealing what lay beneath, and suddenly I could see everything in sharp, overlapping detail.
If you think that was bad, you're mistaken.
For some unknown reason, I could see from dozens of different perspectives in the room all at once.
Like from high up near the ceiling, from low against the floor, and from sideways angles that made the whole scene feel disorienting and irregular.
And what I saw... It was a horror movie made real, unfolding layer after layer in my mind.
Hundreds of moving, chewed-out fleshes writhed and crawled across the ground like oversized slugs and maggots.
They were wet, glistening with thick jelly, constantly shifting and sliding over one another with grotesque movement.
Eyes dotted their boneless forms in random clusters, blinking at irregular intervals.
Mouths opened in different zones along their bodies, dark long tongues flicking out to taste the air or lick at nearby surfaces, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth that looked more like jagged nails driven into soft meat.
Some of the creatures bumped into each other, their forms merging briefly in wet slaps before separating again, leaving sticky trails behind.
One particularly large one rolled slowly toward me, its multiple mouths opening and closing as it moved, tongue dragging along the floor.
Hahaha!
It's a good thing I was just a humble blob of grey flesh covered in golden, ever-blinking kraken-looking eyes. No gross tongue and mouths on this little freak.
My own body was lumpy and uneven, parts of it slowly oozing and reforming even as I stayed mostly still...
'...Fuck, I literally look like a massive pile of shit with eyes. Is this the Ultimate Lifeform the novel's tite was talking about?! What a joke!'
The thought landed with a vague sense of "this is messed up" as I took in my own form from multiple angles at once.
I knew it was definitely my body from how it responded to my movements.
And was it me, or was the room ultra clear?
Was it these new eyes making every edge sharp and every shadow deep?
And soon, sounds began to flow into... well, my entire body. And it wasn't the most adorable sounds.
These things were squelching and squishing in a low disgusting manner. Wait, this is scary stuff I'm seeing here!
{Success: Mana perception has been learned.}
Gabriel rang inside my head(?) as I continued taking in the room... Well, it wasn't a room per se:
It was very tall, the ceiling lost in shadow far above where jagged rocks pointed down like stony spears ready to drop.
The ground was surprisingly floored and leveled in the central area where I and the other freaks lurked, stone that felt smooth and unyielding against my underside... or just under me.
The walls were split strangely between ornate halves—carved with intricate, swirling patterns that looked ancient yet artificial—and raw cave-like halves where natural rock jutted out unevenly, dripping with moisture in places.
Dim, flickering light came from clusters of glowing crystals embedded high in the walls, casting long, shifting shadows that danced across the writhing mass of creatures.
But seriously, I felt I could see very much without those lights.
There was an intricate throne about four feet from me, a very big throne made of dark stone and what looked like carved bone, far too large for any normal-sized being.
It sat there imposingly on a slightly raised platform, its backrest towering upward.
And on it...
GULP.
I finally saw who was speaking to me in my head.
[What a quick learner... You learned Magic Perception and also how to open your eyes on your first try.] [Stranger]