[h1][b][center]Plot Point[/center][/b][/h1] [h2]Meanwhile...[/h2] [hr] Year 4256 73rd and final night of the month Auddium Mid-Summer Nation of Sight City of Irissia - The Shining Palace "LET ME OUT OF HERE!" Al'likar cried at the top of his lungs. "RELEASE ME AT ONCE!" The young prince, to the Nation of Sight, had been shouting like this, on and off, for hours on end. He had been confined to his room by order of his father, or so claimed Vetius. The Sightless had wormed his way into becoming the King's closest adviser. But having only spoken with Vetius since his confinement Al'likar was unclear as to whether this was due to a coup or if his father had actually ordered this confinement. [i]It couldn't have been Father.[/i] The little prince thought to himself. [i]Why? Why would he have ordered this? It can't be true! It can't![/i] "LET ME OUT!" He shouted again, while banging on the door. "LET ME OUT OF HERE!" Nobody answered. Nobody listened. Everything sounded normal outside Al'likar's room. There were no screams. No sounds of fighting. No clear sounds which Al'likar would expect to hear from a coup. He had nothing. Nothing save the darkness. The darkness to which he was born. Al'likar greatly feared this darkness. Despite having been born blind, he was not used to living in darkness. He was a Sight Adept after all. A blind sight adept. People had always thought this an odd pairing. To Al'likar, however, he was born into his ability. It only seemed natural to him. Adepts tended to run through bloodlines, but nobody really knew what allowed a person to be an adept of one type or another. So then, why shouldn't a blind boy be capable of being a Sight Adept? Al'likar certainly saw no reason for this not to be possible. The fact that Al'likar was an adept only proved that it was possible! "Let me out..." Al'likar cried again, more weakly this time. "Please... somebody... anybody..." Darkness... all he got was darkness. "Please..." Al'likar whispered, dropping to his knees helplessly. "I don't want to be alone any longer..." Al'likar wrapped his arms around himself and shivered. As an Sight Adept, Al'likar had the ability to view what those around him could see. Despite being born blind, to Al'likar, the darkness was foreign. To Al'likar, the darkness was frightening. To Al'likar, the darkness meant he was all alone. "Where did everyone go? Why did they leave me?" Al'likar muttered, huddled in to a ball, rocking back and forth. "Mother? Father? El’lysael, my sister? Where did you all go? Why? Why am I all alone?" "Your sister ran away, young prince." Came the dry voice of Vetius within the Prince's room. Al'likar jumped at the sound of his voice, for he had not realized the Sightless was here. "As for your mother, young prince... I'm sad to say she is dead." "Wha-" Al'likar gasped. "Your father labeled her a traitor for conspiring with the enemy. For that, my young prince, he had her executed." "LIER!" Al'likar shouted in rage. Tears streaming down his cheeks. "You're lying to me!" "Am I now?" Vetius replied sounding half amusing. "No child... I fear that which I speak is not a lie." "Father would never-" Al'likar began. "Would he not?" Vetius interrupted. "HE WOULD NEVER!" the prince shouted back. "He would and he has." "HE WOULDN'T!" "You're not hearing me, little one. He already has." Al'likar slumped back to the ground feeling lost and alone. The tears wouldn't stop. He felt a pain, never-ending. "Why?" He asked more to himself than to Vetius. There was a long silence before Vetius responded. "I fear, my prince, that your father has not long for this world." Vetius said at long last. "His mind has been taken by the Insight. I've warned him of the dangers of accessing the Insight at an excessive rate, but I fear he has not listened." "You. You did this..." Al'likar spat at the Sightless. "Indeed." Vetius agreed, surprising Al'likar. "I had not expected the Insight to take a hold of him the way it has. When used responsibly the Insight is a tool that can be harnessed and used to help those in need. In time it grants power. Power beyond knowledge. It will transform the user. Make them into a better being. This is what us Sightless are. Better beings. Knowledgeable beings. "However, if used in excess... The Insight will break the body, mind and soul. In the end all that's left is nothing. Nothing but a husk of a person. That is where your father is heading." "Why are you telling me this?" Al'likar asked, suddenly fearful for his own life. "Because my dear prince. I see a great future for you. A future only a special few have received." Vetius answered. Al'likar was taken aback. This was not the answer he had been expecting. "Future?" He repeated aloud. "Yes, my prince. A future where you no longer need to fear the darkness. Instead, you will embrace it." Vetius said. It suddenly dawned on Al'likar what Vetius wanted from this encounter. "After all this, you want me to join you?" Vetius didn't respond. "I won't do it!" Al'likar exclaimed firmly. Al'likar felt Vetius's hand gently grab his shoulder. "I doubt that, little prince." Vetius replied. Something changed in the moment Vetius's hand touch Al'likar's shoulder. The darkness it swam and transformed. Al'likar felt a connection form. A connection to Vetius's own vision, or lack there of. But the Sightless wasn't blind, or at least he wasn't blind in the typical sense. Visions, formed of a hazy darkness, swam before him. Visions of the past, present and future. Visions of Al'likar. Visions of his father. Visions of his mother's beheaded body. The Visions warped and changed. So many things to see... So much to process... The past, the present, the future. The past, the present, the future. The past, the present, the future. "So much..." Al'likar said in awe. The past, the present, the future. A being of great power. The past, the present, the future. Darkness five-fold. The past, the present, the future. An eye that sees all. "Too much..." The past, the present, the future. Death and destruction. The past, the present, the future. Items that imprison. "Stop..." The past, the present, the future. Beings unheard. A Vessel born anew. Pain, suffering, salvation! "Stop!" The sand of rot. Crazed unleashed. Secrets revealed. Histories untold. Heroes forgotten. "MAKE IT STOP!" The visions stopped. The connection lost. Al'likar collapsed on his hands and knees breathing heavily. "You..." he said at long last. "Do... do you see everything?" "No." Vetius replied softly. "Not everything." "I..." Al'likar hesitated. "I won't do it." "Yes." Vetius said and a calm and knowing tone. "Yes... you will..."