Chapter Text
Once upon a time, there was a gallant young man, known throughout his lands for his white hair, blue eyes, and astonishing power. He had everything he could desire: money, servants, and an endless retinue of admirers, men and women. Life had always come easily to him, and it seemed it would continue that way for the rest of his days.
One night, when the red moon Hecate was full, his work took him to a cold continent, where the snow is merciless and the wind has no pity, with the purpose of defeating a feared luciphage. The place tried to drive him away, but the young man, ingenious and perceptive as he was, managed to overcome all its obstacles and, upon encountering the entity, had no trouble defeating it.
When he was ready to collect the Lux remaining in the luciphage’s body, his eyes caught sight of something shining in the distance. It was also a light, but it was purple, as purple as the leaves of a jacaranda. Hypnotized by the color, the young man abandoned his task and headed toward the source of the glow. There, he found a chain from which a curious stone hung. The light, almost blinding, emanated from it.
The young man, absorbed by its beauty, forgot the Lux, which it was his job to collect, and it, with a powerful glow, entered the stone. Before he could do anything, a giant Being emerged from it, with hands and feet like those of humans, but possessing four eyes and bearing a solemn yet kind expression.
Thinking he was facing another curse, the young man’s first instinct was to attack, but the Being evaded every one of his assaults.
“What are you?!” he exclaimed, frustrated by an unfamiliar powerlessness.
“What are you doing here?” the Being asked.
“What am I doing here?! My fucking job!”
“Is it your job to end lives? Do you enjoy such a thing?”
“Do I enjoy it?! It’s what I was born for!” the young man shouted, while conjuring a red flash in his fingers. “And you have no life, only shit!”
The Being received the blow, but it did him no harm.
“No one is born to destroy,” he stated.
The young man stopped at such an assertion. Not only was it a speech he did not like, but he found it unheard of to hear it from one of those unpleasant creatures. He observed the Being for a moment. He had never seen one like it, one that emanated Lux from the outside; it was almost beautiful. But he immediately thought that was impossible. Luciphages were the opposite of beauty. They were death, destruction, loneliness, sorrow, and darkness.
What was standing before him?
The Being noticed the young man’s curiosity and began to feed on it, causing his size to increase. Eager to learn more, the young man approached him, but as he did, his curiosity transformed into fear.
And the young man hated feeling fear.
“Do not be afraid,” said the Being.
Upon hearing him, the young man stopped feeling it; it became anger. A red, crimson anger; a color the Being felt was adverse to his essence.
“I am not afraid!” he exclaimed, closing both fists and concentrating his energy in them. “Fear is for the weak!”
The Being began to perceive the young man’s anger as painful, but he did not leave. He came closer.
“Then you are not weak?”
Before he could answer, the Being touched the young man’s forehead. He tried to move away, but could not. The Being’s strength was anchoring him to the frozen ground. Intuitively, he closed his eyes. Something told him he should not look at him.
“No! I am not weak! I am strong! The strongest of all!”
The Being then understood who stood before him.
“Yes, you are. But what is wrong with being weak?”
The young man burst out laughing.
What was wrong with being weak? It always seemed like a joke to him that the question even existed.
“Everything! There is nothing they can do alone! This world was not made for them, and they would all be dead if it were not for people like me!”
“Then do you think the world would be better without them?”
“Yes! I wouldn’t be in this fucking situation, for example!”
“Then do you think the world should be only for people like you?”
“Yes!”
“Then do you think only strong people have value?”
“What part of this is unclear to you?! Yes!”
“And what of the love the weak might give?”
“I don’t give a shit!”
“Could you never love someone weaker than you?”
“Never!”
Upon hearing him, the Being knew why he had manifested in that place, at that moment. He gripped the young man more tightly and forced him to open his eyes. He tried to close them, but could not. The Being’s four stars were fixed on his, and he shuddered upon noticing that he saw nothing but a deep, infinite purple within them.
“You carry the Six Eyes,” said the Being.
The young man wanted to answer that he did, but realized he could no longer speak. His mouth had been sealed.
“Thanks to them, you are so strong. But they are not active.”
The young man grew even more uneasy. He did not understand what the Being meant, but his intuition told him it was not something good.
“If I activate them, you will become much stronger. You will have no rival. Ever. Do you want me to do it?”
Yes, he thought immediately, but he could not answer.
“But it will become almost impossible for you to form bonds with humans. Your eyes will reflect all their fears, and the others will not be able to bear it. No one will be able to look at you without falling into the deepest abyss of madness, even death.”
Deal, he thought. The Being then frowned and tightened his grip around his throat. He felt emotions he did not like at all.
“This is not a deal. This is what you get for being arrogant,” he said, in a tone that revealed a mixture of anger and disappointment. “Whether you will be able to save yourself from this, even I do not know. I carry only the certainty that the life awaiting you will not be as pleasant as you believe.”
Having said this, the Being transferred a halo of purple light into the young man’s eyes. In his mind, he saw the beginning, the present, and the end of the world. Every situation, person, and creature, turning every color, intertwining in a spiral that seemed infinite, passing through his pupils again and again, until the pain became unbearable and he collapsed unconscious in the snow.
For three nights and three days, he lay unconscious, until he awoke in a small village, wearing clothes that did not belong to him and with the stone hanging from his neck. He remembered nothing, and fear took hold of him when he opened his eyes; the world no longer looked the same. Things took shape in perfect geometry, revealing the balance nature carries within it. However, seeing it without respite terrified him. He called for help, and a woman came at his screams. By holding his gaze for more than three seconds, he drove her to take her own life. Fear then transformed into panic. And when he noticed that he could feel the anguish of every person simply by looking them in the eyes, panic transformed into pain.
The news of what was happening with the prodigious young man’s gaze traveled across the continent until it reached his Lineage, who decided to go for him. The Priesthood, the Vigilance, and the Cátedra debated what to do with him. There was talk of exile, of impossible compensatory payments, of the death penalty. But the Lineage to which the young man belonged was powerful and, with the help of the arguments of a renowned alchemist, they managed to turn him into something he despised with his entire soul: a mere object, unable to use his strength.
The gallant young man lives confined in the highest tower of a distant island, isolated from the rest of the world. The brilliance of his ethereal blue eyes remains hidden.
And, barring a miracle of fate, so it shall remain.