Extra's Perfect Ending

Chapter 111: Voice of old

Reeva hesitated for a moment, trying to make sense of the situation. The voice calling out to him seemed so real, yet there was no visible source. He scanned the area again, his eyes moving cautiously over the crumbled bones, the strange liquid, and the scattered debris. Then he heard the voice a third time—clearer now, more insistent.

"In the water! Look down, you fool!"

Reeva finally looked down at the shimmering liquid beneath him, and there, partially submerged among the broken bones and debris, he saw it—a severed head with a single eye, similar to the monster outside.

However, what was different was that the head was similar in size to his own.

"You can see me?"

"You think I’m blind? Get me out of here already."

Reeva couldn’t help but feel curious. In this place full of black rocks and gray stones, among the monsters living inside the tableware, there was a human-like being.

He reached out and grabbed the head submerged in the liquid, pulling it up. He was surprised to find that he could actually hold onto it. With a slight tug, he managed to lift the head out of the liquid.

The liquid was dense, making it hard to see the being clearly before, but now he saw it more closely. It looked uncannily human, except for the fact that it had only one eye.

"Thank god..." the head said with relief after being lifted from the water, but upon seeing Reeva, its face went pale. "Oh, great being! Forgive my insolence. I deserve a death sentence for my disrespectful words!"

The head pleaded with great worry in its voice, and Reeva couldn’t help but feel confused.

"Why?"

"Oh, being with two eyes, please don’t test my loyalty! This Hammock doesn’t know his place and deserves death by a thousand cuts."

"I’m not from this place. What are you talking about?"

"You’re not from this place?" Its eyebrow raised higher than before, its worry turning into shock. "Impossible! Oh, great being, please don’t jest with me. I have lived here for a long time, one can’t just enter this place at will."

"What is this place?" Reeva asked.

"Oh, great being, is this a test of my intellect? This is Heaven! The place where our god resides," the head replied, pride showing on its face at the mention of the god.

"Why am I a ’great being’?" Reeva asked, more intrigued by what Hammock had said.

"The great being has two eyes, that alone is reason enough for respect. One-eyed beings like us could never be on the same level as a two-eyed being like yourself."

"What makes us so different?" Reeva pressed.

"G-great being, I don’t dare to compare myself to you. This lowly one couldn’t possibly—"

"Answer me."

"One-eyed beings like us weren’t graced by the gods, we can’t generate power like a two-eyed overlord such as yourself," the head said with utter respect in its voice.

"Then why can I touch you?"

Reeva hesitated, still processing everything the severed head was saying. The idea that having two eyes could make him a "great being" was baffling. He looked down at the head he held, which was trembling slightly, its single eye filled with a mix of fear and confusion.

The one-eyed man’s eye widens than before. He looks at Reeva’s arm situated above himself and grasps

"Great being I’m truly sorry for yourself to be lower into such a state please unhand me so I can be in the water like I belong. You need not lower yourself to being hollow like I am."

"I keep telling you that I’m not from this place. What is heaven anyway?"

Reeva’s eyes squint hard, this I the only lead to knowing what kind of place this is. After being here for a long time Reeva had some guesses, the best of them being that this place was connected to the sun god.

The one-eyed man stared at Reeva for a bit before deciding that he could believe Reeva.

"You’re not really from this place? Oh great one where did you come from?"

"Somewhere far away... Anyways what is this place?"

The one-eyed man looks around rolling his eyes over the place.

"This is the east dining hall of the Heavenly Palace, used to serve two eyes being like the great one." The eye man explains half believing what Reeva said. "You could go find Sir Raphael to register as one of the god’s creations."

"There is no one in this place," Reeva said looking around casually, they were still inside the bone cave.

"What?" Hammock sounded surprised, Reeva tried to convince him but he couldn’t believe what he heard. "There’s no one?"

Reeva nod.

"..." The one-eyed man looks shocked to his core. "Then that day.... it’s true....."

"What happened?"

"Oh, great one.... to my lowly knowledge.... The god has..." The one-eyed man seems really hesitant to say this "The god might have vanished... "

Hammock closes his eyes awaiting his punishment which never came. The idea that the god might have disappeared is a sin in itself.

"Why?" Reeva asked intrigued by the head’s story.

"The great one.... are you not afraid of his majesty?" The head could believe the reaction Reeva is displaying here.

"As I said, I’m not from here and there is no one in this place, other than a giant skeleton and some creature living on the table meal. As far as I could see, there’s no one else other than you and I"

"...." Hammock close his eyes in contemplation before opening it again. "I didn’t believe myself either... I am but a lowly one my knowledge is limited... Could I ask the esteemed one to bring me outside this... cave?"

"Sure" Reeva could benefit from having this head along his journey "By the way what’s that blue gem?"

"Great one, are you testing..."

"Just answer me like I’m a newborn toddler here, OK?"

The one-eyed man shuts his mouth and looks at the blue gem carefully. Finally, he opened his mouth to answer.