The Tales of Miriela: Shadowborn

Chapter 26: Odwin

Odwin's eyes opened as the sound of ringing bells reached his ears. He had only slept two, maybe three hours. His curiosity would not allow him to fall back to sleep. He sat up from his small bed, and leaned over towards the window. The bells grew louder. Through the window curtain he could see sunlight, a sight he had not seen for some time now. Days? Weeks? He was unsure. The nights all seemed to mesh together.

What little sunlight came through the curtain was enough to sting Odwin's eyes. They had forgotten everything but blackness. Odwin had forgotten the sight of the day, and he wished to remember. Slowly, he grasped the large red curtain that covered the window. The soft wool settled between his fingers as Odwin clenched his fist. With his eyes squinted, he pulled back the curtain and the bright light of day poured into the room. It felt like fire had burned his eyes out of his skull.

Odwin violently turned his head and let out a shriek. He lay on his bed, with his eyes closed, surrounded by a pool of light. As his eyes tried to tolerate the light, shapes started to appear in sight, like the strokes of a paintbrush. Strokes of light against a dark canvas.

Even in the absence of sight, the darkness served Odwin, somehow leading him to see that which was hidden to his closed eyes. Giddeyal had called it darksight. He told Odwin that his eyes were learning an ancient magic, the ability to see in the dark. And although Odwin had doubted him at first, he came to find that he now saw perfectly in the darkness. The things Giddeyal had said of the Shadowshift had proven true thus far, and Odwin's visions from the God of Sight still haunted his mind day and night.

Odwin reached down and tore a piece of his blanket. He wrapped it around his head and it covered his eyes. The brush strokes still continued. Even with the light of day around him, Odwin's darksight had not failed. With his eyes closed, it seemed he was able to use the light to paint that which was before him. It was different than his darksight in the blackness of night. But it did not take Odwin long before he began to move about his room.

He looked out his window, and watched as the strokes of light painted the vineyard. Odwin's curiosity heightened as he leaned closer to the window. His time at Tasilmire had been so strange. Whatever Giddeyal's reasons, Odwin had grown accustomed to the night. The day seemed so foreign to him now, but he preferred it that way.

Suddenly, there was a noise from within the house. It was Giddeyal, it had to be. Odwin heard him slowly moving down the hall, drawing closer. Quickly, Odwin closed the curtain over the window, and shut out the light from his room. He unraveled the torn piece of cloth from around his head and lay back down to his pillow, the dancing sunlight now gone, and the darkness returned.

The door slowly crept open. Odwin did his best to make it seem that he was deep asleep, as he lay in bed. He hoped for the brush strokes to return, but without any sunlight in his room, his closed eyes were lost in darkness.

The wooden floor cracked, as footsteps brought Giddeyal closer. Odwin could feel his eyes gaze settled down over him. But as soon as he'd entered, he left. The door closed shut and Giddeyal walked down the hall towards the kitchen.

Odwin opened an eye and checked to make sure. The room was empty. The front door opened down the hall. Odwin heard Giddeyal step outside to the vineyard. Odwin sat up once more, tied the cloth around his eyes again, and peered out his window. He lifted the curtain just enough for the sunlight to pour in.

The brush strokes of light worked quickly across the dark. Giddeyal waited near the entrance of the house. Another figure appeared, a large cloaked man with a beard. The two met, with a handshake.

Odwin focused, and became in tune with the sounds around him. With the dark, Odwin's senses heightened. He was just barely able to hear the words spoken by the two as they conversed.