Chapter 8 - The Denier (2)

Harmon opened his eyes, only to find himself again surrounded by darkness.

"Why even bother opening my eyes in the first place?" he sighed. "Might as well keep them closed altogether. Darn, I should just turn on the fluorescent light on my palms."

"Do not make this mistake, young Illuminator," echoed the voice of the Shadow Advisor. "Some of your pursuers are in the area and might notice the light. Besides, the longer you keep yourself in the dark, your eyes will see more of the things the light would hide."

"How could the light hide anything?" argued Harmon.

"This may not make sense if you think of it in a literal way," replied the Advisor. "But you may agree that some of the most important entities of this world cannot be seen. The air is invisible, yet one can take a deep breath to tell its presence and quality. The same goes for sounds and electricity. Humans have at least five senses they use to understand the world, and yet light only assists one of them."

The Advisor paused for a second, as if giving Harmon time to process, and then followed:

"Even more invisible to the eye are the elements of the spiritual world, such as the human soul, with manifestations, emotions, and intentions. Or the meaning and the significance behind the existence itself, from the tiniest atom to the universe itself. Such things are only perceived by our spiritual and rational senses. These are the things you ought to look for."

"Wait, what does that have to do with the light then?" interrupted Harmon. "There certainly are things that cannot be seen, but seeing as much of the world as possible with our eyes helps us comprehend more of the unseen things."

"I am afraid that is not the case, young Harmon," replied the voice. "The light that you search for will only deceive you. Only by accepting darkness will you really start to see."

"This makes no sense," argued Harmon, annoyed.

"The truth does not stand out as much as we'd love to," continued the Advisor. "In any case, I shall be back soon. I advise you not to use any light for now. Your pursuers will leave soon, and when that happens, I will be back to let you know, so you may resume your journey east. Farewell!"

Harmon felt so confused that he didn't even wish farewell to his new companion.

"Are you still there?" asked Harmon, but nobody answered. "Well, I guess you're gone now. Anyway, this theory makes no sense. It is true, about senses, that if someone lacks one particular sense, such as eyesight, the other four senses will become stronger to the point where they would partially compensate for the missing one. But then he was talking about the spiritual side of the world, which has no connection to the senses whatsoever. It would imply that people lacking eyesight have a better spiritual understanding, which is untrue."

Harmon paused, scratching his neck. He felt a bit more lively and less tired.

"I wonder how much I slept; it's been some time because I feel refreshed. This cave is strange; I didn't give it that much thought at first, but the ground is warm. It could be close to a hot spring or a volcano. I've never thought such a thing existed on this planet, but I've read in a book that when magma is close to the surface, the natural water reservoirs become very hot."

He placed his hands on the ground, trying to feel the unusual texture of where he was sitting.

"Also, I seem to be standing in the middle of some spongy, mushroom-like plants that feel cozy. Maybe even more comfortable than my bed in the Tower."

His body did not ache anymore, so he allowed his body to feel once again. It did feel good not to have a numb body anymore, so he spent the next minute rolling on the spongy surface and enjoying the touch of the cuddly sponges on his body.

"In a weird sense, sleeping and doing nothing feels nice. I thought I would go crazy if I'd take even a one-minute break, but apparently, it's not that bad."

He paused and frowned.

"No, it's not true," he continued. "I have mixed feelings about this. I am still not comfortable with this situation. My goal stands unchanged. This world needs to be covered in light. Even if I spend years in the darkness, I will not give up my dream. It is merely a matter of time."

He rose to his feet but felt his legs tense and shake. Perhaps he overestimated his recovery. He couldn't tell how much he had been running, but falling unconscious multiple times was clearly a sign of some body damage.

"Darkness has no benefits," continued Harmon. "In any case, darkness is not evil in itself. After all, it is only a natural manifestation of the absence of light. But it is dangerous and useless. Well, unless you want to hide from an enemy. Let's imagine this situation: one person lives a life in the dark, unable to see anything. What will he understand of the world? His senses are limited, and thus his capacity to comprehend the world gets throttled. In the Bible, we even have Jesus healing a blind person, so at least one religious leader thinks the ability to see is a gift and a benefit, something worth performing a miracle for. Then from a medical standpoint, if one doctor claimed to have a treatment for blindness, everyone would want it. On the other hand, nobody would want permanent damage to their eyes, so people start wearing glasses when their eyesight gets suboptimal or cover their eyes when the sun risks damaging them."

Harmon rolled his eyes, fidgeting with some pebbles he had collected from the ground. He stood up and stretched his body left and right.

"Every book I've read would praise the light as the greatest good," concluded the young man. "One must be insane to deny it. Perhaps the Shadow Advisor is either not very smart or not very well-intended. Or maybe he is a vampire, haha. They say vampires cannot live under the sunlight. What if this planet is run by vampires, and they need to keep the eternal darkness going? That means the Advisor is either one of them or working for them. That would be a pretty insane explanation."

He lay on the ground once more, and after rolling a bit more, he fell asleep like he didn't have a care in the world.