Blind Phoenix

Eye for an eye, eyes for a life

“Well, no shame in assisted suicide, I’d be glad to end you, little one.”

            Byur felt an anger he had never experienced. It swelled up inside of him and altered his personality. The duration of this effect was impossible to tell, all that remained was to sit back and watch.

            “You will not talk a single word to me! Fight me, right now,” said Byur.

            “Then I will show you my final techni-“

            Before the creature could finish his sentence his face was met with Byur’s fist. He lost consciousness for a split second. After waking up from his brief nap, Yuig opened his eyes to find yet another punch awaiting him. Byur was no longer focusing on balanced strikes. He merely sensed a point on his adversary’s body and punched it with full strength and impeccable accuracy. Each hit that connected made the sound of a gunshot. They left Yuig breathless and unable to defend, the fight would have been stopped if it had been in official rules, but it was no longer an official fight.

            Yuig was hit yet again and backed up, falling to his knees. He spit out more of his clear blood. “You will not land another punch, I swear it!”

            Yuig encased himself in energy. He gradually grew in size and his veins became easily visible. The rising energy levels caused the arena’s shields to become distorted. The ground under them cracked even more than first and the outer layer of it broke apart. A large barrier formed around the monster, shaking the earth around him.

            “Try damaging me through this.”

            Yuig’s voice was unrecognizable. It was truly the voice of a demon at this point, fitting, for a man of his disposition. Beings such as him loathed nothing more than the thought of being inferior. The most ironic part of it all was these types of people had little to offer to the rest of the world, only existing to experience whatever pleasures they desired and abuse what power they could achieve. A victory for Yuig here meant nothing but a relief on his already spat on pride. He was at the mercy of a young man who he had feared from the first punch.

            Byur lifted a finger and sent towards Yuig a miniscule beam. It was fairly quick and half of the crowd had missed it. Piercing through the shield, the beam shot through Yuig’s left eyes, reverting him back to his original form as a plethora of steam escaped him body.

            “Why you…is that what you consider getting even? Pathetic.”

            The young man continued beating his opponent to a pulp. The people of Zine had tens of thousands of strands of bone-like material, every hit broke a few. The s*******r went on for another two minutes until Yuig was covered in blue from swelling and cuts.

            Yuig opened his blood stained lips, saying, “No. I was supposed to rise to glory. I was the stronger fighter. I am superior to you, such injustice cannot be tolerated. Do you hear me?! It was my destiny and you took it away, demon. You have denied this universe’s new master the right to rule, so I will obliterate this planet with a blast so large it will shine brighter than your Sun!”

            “You lived your life exactly the way you wanted to, look what it brought. You make me vomit, Yuig. Your personality is nothing more than that of a common children’s book villain. Lecturing me when you were the one who dared to take away my eyesight, just like him. Farewell, you will not be missed.”

            Yuig raised his arms and said “A king never dies at the hands of a peasant.” He prepared to explode his entire body to obliterate Earth. The young man darted to Yuig’s position and pulled back his left hand. Byur hit his opponent in the stomach and his fist entered Yuig’s insides. Blood ran freely onto the ground.

            Byur did not even bother looking at Yuig’s face when he spoke. “Your fireproof skin won’t help you this time.” Rays of orange light slowly shined through the cavities of Yuig’s body. A flash was the final thing to be seen before energy burst out in all directions. Few individuals managed to keep their eyes on the blast. The light slowly dissipated and the entire area calmed, standing in the middle of a now wrecked arena was Byur, reshaped again into a blind man. Small patches of the creature’s skin drifted onto the ground around him, Yuig was no more.

            “He’s dead. I wish to go home now.”

            The announcer ran towards Byur, “Wait, sir! We have to treat your wounds and you just killed a contestant. You have to stay.”

            Byur stopped walking towards the exit. Before he turned around he heard Liam. “Let him go for now, Mora. I will speak to him, in time.”

            Mora sighed and agreed to let Byur leave.

            “Thank you,” said Byur. In a matter of seconds Byur was gone, he had teleported home. Lynn and Maria quickly pursued him with great worry, the earlier they spoke with him, the better.

“Byur…you have to let us take a look at your eyes,” said Lynn.

            He fainted and fell onto the ground. She called out his name and received no reaction. Some hours passed and Byur awoke to find the bandages removed from him face. His eyes were still causing excruciating pain. 

            “Bruv, you awake?”

            Byur grunted, saying a hushed voice “Nico. Why did this have to happen so early on?”

            “I’m-I’m not sure, don’t worry eh, we’ll find a way to bring your eyesight back like we did last time.”

            “Thanks for the comforting words, although I’ve read up on the recent technology OWL has. Eyes as damaged as mine can’t be fixed.”

            Nico slammed his hand onto the table beside him. “Don’t talk like that, damn it! We will find a way even if it leaves us homeless.”

            Byur did not respond, his anger had passed and now, now it was his sadness that overtook him. Who would have thought, an individual having so much bad luck as he did. Twice now traumatic turns of events rendered him blind to the real world around him, all was not lost at the very least. Though he had lost most of his vision he would be able to continue fighting if he so desired. What was left now was to wait for the sorrow to pass.

            “Look, I’m sorry bruv. I didn’t mean to get angry. It’s just that I feel like I’m to blame.  I was the one who signed you up, knowing well you might get your arse beat. I swear I never thought it would be this bad.”

            “It’s fine, Nico. I was the one who chose to enter the tournament. I knew just how strong my opponents would be, in the end, I won. Let me wallow in my sadness, alone, for just a day. I’ll come back stronger.” He tried to sense the other two. They were nowhere to be found.

            “Where are Maria and Lynn?”

            “They’re sorting everything out, all the legal bullshit. In my opinion the bastard deserved it. It’s even compensation.”

            Byur gave a faint chuckle and said, “Not everyone will look at it like that.”

            “Don’t worry, bruv, we’ve got Liam on our side. He’d never let anything happen to us.”

            After conversing for a while Byur learned that his eyes could be restored immediately, yet his eyesight would remain disabled. Nothing much could be done, the damage was too severe.

            “You know, I’m surprised you’re taking this so well. I’d expect more emotion out of you” said Nico.

            “I’m not that strong…The only reason I’m not crying is because it would hurt if I did.”

            “I would laugh, but I know better. You’ve gone through worse, bruv, eleven years the way you were. We’ll find a way to fix this. Are you, uh, going to participate in the last fight?”

            Byur thought for a moment and nodded. His stubbornness was incomparable to anyone around him. This stubbornness of his was just what he needed. For him, rest could wait, if anything the injury only caused him to grow in tenacity. Byur had already seen two acts of great evil towards him in his life. He swore to himself this would be the last.

            Nico began talking again, saying, “For your next fight you’ve got someone a little more level headed than Yuig. He’s a very calm man from what I can tell, be careful though. I hear he’s famous for getting up after taking a hit, you might be familiar with the concept.”

            “I see, another alien, right?”

            “Yeah, he’s got a weird head that extends backwards and he only has one giant yellow eye that frankly looks like a plastic sphere. His skin reminds me of a lizard.”

            “Birds eat lizards.”

            “They do? Hell, you’ve won the fight already, Mr. fire bird. Are you sure you’ll be alright here by yourself?”

            “Yea, but one more thing. I want to gauge my strength. Give me a hand will you?”

            Byur handed him the scaler next to him, Nico refused.

            “I’m strong enough to tell you your strength without that thing. 2,400, you’re one heck of a fast learner, that’s for sure.”

            “Thanks, Nico. I appreciate your visit…I haven’t had good friends for a while.”

            “Same here, bruv, same here.”