...Eh?

Mutate?

- Yes. -

Wadduya mean, like... Ninja powers?...

- No. -

Then... What do you mean by “what sense would I like?”?

- You may choose a sense for the Root to become. -

Uhm...

Well, what are the choices?...

- Sense of:

Sight.

Smell.

Hearing.

Taste. -

Oh

OH

O H Y E S

- I recommend you to do it quickly or it will mutate without your interference. -

OH OH OH VISION PLEASE

- Do you confirm: Sight. As the Roots Mutation? -

Y E S

- The Root will now Mutate. This may take a while. -

I M R E A D Y T O S E E

….

…

..

.

And?...

How's it goin?

- ...Preparations finished. -

oh

well, the-,

ARGH

my leg caught fire. All the energy I had been storing in my roots just... Poofed. Gone. All energy just rushed to the leg as if there really WAS a fire that needed to be put out. I could feel my entire body writhing about in pain, but...

If this was the pain and suffering required to see, I was up for it.

After a few more seconds of agony, I could feel something familiar. Eyes.

Well, a single eye.

I couldn't see anything, but I felt the energy that was previously operating in the leg rush into the eye or whatever.

It felt hot, but, unlike how it was at first, the pain was subsiding, replaced with a warm feeling.

Like having warm saltwater cleaning your eyes. Very strange, but... Somewhat comfortable.

After a few minutes of warmth, I could feel the energy dying off. Well, I'm pretty sure it was more like it was being absorbed by the eye, but... it felt like the energy disappeared.

- Mutation finished. Ability “Optical Root Lv.1” has been gained. -

Oho. Oohohohoho.

F I N N A L Y

Voice!

- Yes? -

A C T I V A T E

- The Ability “Optical Root Lv.1” is already in use. -

Oh.

I see how it is.

Once more, you want me to go through the grueling task of getting used to moving something ive never thought of having??

- You've had an eye before. Regain that feeling and sustain it. -

…

I'll accept your advice with glee.

And thus, ten minutes went by in a painful, straining flash.

Hhhhnnnnngggggggg

ittttt woonnn'tttttt

OPPEENNNNNNNNNNNN

I had regained the feeling of having an eye and I was successfully able to move the root itself. However, the problem lies in opening the eye. It just won't.

The root, as I will now call my legs, was thrashing about in anger and irritation. By itself. Totally. I would never go apeshoot like that. Nope.

Every two minutes, when I was just about to use absorb to cut the root in two, Voice appeared to soothe my anger. I wanted to shout at her end dismiss her, but if it weren’t for her, I'd be dead, so... I trust her.

Well, back to-,

pop

AAAAAAAAAAAAA MY EYYYYEYEYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Rays of light penetrated my retinas and forced me to blindness.

I immediately closed the eye.

Oh... oh god... what... what was that?...

- Sune, The third Moon of Mjaukatt. -

WHY WAS IT SO BRIGHT THOUGH

- It's your first time using the eye. Of course it will be painful. However, do not give up. -

I WILL NOT GIVE UP

NOT EVEN IF MY EYE IS BURNT TO CRISP AND MY BODY IS TURNED TO ASHES WILL I GIVE UP

- Good. -

with newfound determination, I once again tried opening my eye. However, this time, I only slightly opened it, to let in as little light as possible.

B R I G H T

The light was so blinding I really thought it would burn my eye. However, I did not give up. Slowly, slowly, bit by bit, I opened my eye.

As I did so, my eye got used to the surroundings and it gradually turned darker.

...huh... it's night...

The sky was black and an indefinite amount of stars floated about in the sky. The moon mentioned before, Sune, shone brightly in the sky, in a blueish hue. However, if I focused on it, I could see it shimmer in all sorts of colours. Blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, white, black... every single colour almost glittered.

Truly beautiful.

The best part was that this confirmed that I did, indeed, have colour vision.

Delighted, I turned my eye to other places, such as below and around me.

I was in a small clearing. Around me was only dense forest. I was pretty sure I could see a pair of bright eyes glaring at me, but they soon disappeared.

Beneath the eye was the ground, which was covered with lush vegetation.

The vegetation was, in fact, flowers. A multitude of small, white flowers covered the ground.

If I still had my human body, I would have judged them to be maybe a decimetre tall.

They were quite adorable. However, one thing stood out among all these flowers. On top of a small hill in the middle of the clearing was a hole.

The hole wasn't actually a hole, it was more of a place wherein no white flowers grew. There was something wrong about that place.

I let my root inch closer to the hole, my curiosity taking my reason with it.

I saw a small plant, not more than five centimetres high. It had a few small leaves at its base, but these were pale and unused.

From the middle of the leaves, a single stem rose like a bony hand.

On top of that stem, a pair of leaves sat like a dictator on a throne of bones.

On the edges of the leaves grew finger-like teeth.

I saw Myself.