Fate Of The Blind

We followed Dux through the dark around the twisting paths of this cityscape. He murmured incoherently to himself as he guided us, as if chanting something. We trailed him from a bit of a distance so that me and Fesha could converse with out him hearing.

"You think it's really safe to follow him?" I leaned in to ask Fesha.

"We haven't got another choice, we've been lost in here for far too long. It matters not, the monsters here have been pathetically weak, I doubt Dux is any stronger." Fesha whispered back.

As we weaved further through this maze, I glanced down the passing alleys, the same unsettling feeling churning in my stomach. The darkness was still swirling at the very ends of each hall. I looked toward Dux.

"Hey Dux, are their more people around here by any chance?" I asked.

He was a little startled at the sound of my voice. "Wh-why yes! There are others just like me around these parts. They may not come out, they can be quite shy, but worry not, for they're just like me! Harmless as a button!" His voiced cracked at the end of his rambling.

I began to trust him a little more. He seemed far too afraid of anything to even think about betraying us. Still, it was creepy knowing that their are more people watching us from afar. I decided to interrogate him a little more, just to understand what he is like.

"So how do you know where you're going?" I asked.

"Well, whe-when thou hast been blind for as long as I have, it becomes quite easy traveling in the dark. Especially in these familiar parts!" His voice went up in pitch. "A-actually, we might meet some of the residence! There is a town block that we use as a camp and we'll have to pass through to get out of here." He said.

As he finished his sentence, I saw a faint orange glow swaying at the end of the road. With all the darkness that surrounded us, my relief was through the roof. We continued forward until everything came into vision. This town block was decently large, but still encased by the tall buildings that surrounded it. Some walls of the buildings have been broken down, adding more space to the block. Large torch fires danced across the cracked walls, illuminating the space in an orange hue, showing off the residence that lived here. Each of them took different forms, but all of them were as gray, rotted, and as blind as the last. Some of the residence had similar builds to Dux, being humanoid but frail, but others had it much worse. Many of them had the twisted black growth meshed with their gray and decaying skin, the growth taking many forms on different individuals. Some had long, spiraling horn-like growths, while others had more bubbles, or web-like ones. They all had some kind of eye deformity, whether it was there vision being obscured by the black growth, white cataracts, or the upper half of their faces just being completely carved out. The scent here was putrid, like a rotted corpse that has been in the sun for days, and everyone was softly groaning, though I was unsure if it was in pain. The sight was unpleasant to all my senses.

"Aha! Here is the settlement I mentioned. We'll just be passing through, no need to be alarmed. Everyone here is friendly after all!" Dux said as we made our way across to the next branching off hall.

We stepped over the rubble and bodies of the residences who were lying down on the crumbled bricks. As we were about to enter into the darkness of the next hall, someone with a weak and childish voice called to me.

"Excuse me sir?" I turned to the residence who called out to me. It was a child, at least what I thought was one. He dragged himself along the crumbled road toward me with his one arm being the only limb he had left. His body from the chest down could only be described as a slug. He was covered in black threads and boils. His ears were barely exposed, the growth covering his helices, as if trying to crawl into the canals. He looked up at me, his one eye missing from its socket with scars that looked like it had been clawed out. His other eye was completely whited out. He barely had any hair and the little teeth he had left were discolored to a dark gray.

The boy spoke to me. "Does thou knoweth of the bad man? Please he keeps bothering me, it's so dark and I'm scared." His voice quivered.

I flinched at what he said, and it seemed Fesha had done the same. I asked him about it further.

"Uhh, no... Who is the bad man?" I said like I had no idea what he was talking about.

"He... he started showing up e-ever since I lost more and more of my sight. Please help me, h-he's always watching me, but he wont show his face. I'm scared." The boy said.

I wanted to cry for this poor boy who had been reduced to whatever he was now. No child should have to live in fear like this. I thought of the words he had said to me, then looked at Dux for some answers.

"Hey Dux, do you maybe, also see this man." I asked.

He turned his head away from me, giving me the answer immediately. "Tis the fate of us affected by this mysterious plague I suppose. I can't see his eyes in this dreaded darkness, but, I feel him always watching and waiting." Dux spoke.

I knew if Dux still had his eyes, they would be watering up. I looked back at the boy.

"I'm sorry kid, I don't know how I can help. Just stay strong." I said trying to comfort him.

"Ahah, no worries. Maybe the next passerby will know what to do, though who knows how long that'll be." The boy spoke with a hint of anguish.