One-Eyed Monster

"Igor!" Kadi fervently shook Igor, who lay unconscious on the ground. He was trying to wake his fallen companion, his helplessness evident in the worry etched on his face.

Quicker than an eye could blink, after Lord Soron, in his Spirit Power State, hastily posed the final question, Igor—who had been struggling to guess the answer—suddenly collapsed, convulsing as if possessed or driven mad.

Kadi was stunned. He had never encountered such a situation and had no idea what to do.

Just then, the clouds above Guru Mountain's Ghost Wind Valley parted, and the scenery changed dramatically in an instant.

This change further disoriented Kadi, throwing him into a panic. He didn't know whether to pull Igor up or continue shaking him. He anxiously glanced back and forth between Igor and the slowly setting sun.

The convulsions racking Igor gradually ceased, and he lay still. Calm now, he looked no different from a sleeping child.

The Spirit Book, too, gradually regained consciousness, its intermittent groans of "OUCH! OUCH!" echoing from atop the extinguished bonfire.

Only then did Kadi seem to figure out what to do. He began to shake Igor insistently. Surely, this persistent shaking would awaken his unconscious companion.

Sure enough, the shaking worked. Igor slowly opened his eyes. He looked like a patient recovering from a severe illness, observing the changes around him. He also resembled a newborn baby, opening its eyes to the world for the first time, full of fascination for everything.

However, reality was quite different from imagination. The first thing Igor saw was Kadi's large, one-eyed face peering down at him. This wasn't what Igor had seen in his dreams, and he immediately frowned. Of course, his dream hadn't been pleasant either; he'd been endlessly bartering with faces both familiar and strange. Yet, try as they might, neither party in these exchanges ever got what they wanted. Just as the other party was about to present the final item for the very last trade, Kadi's face had appeared, right on cue.

The jarring shift was significant. If Kadi hadn't appeared when he did, Igor's dream would at least have been complete. Now, it was an incomplete dream, which made Igor very uncomfortable.

What made him even more uncomfortable was that he had no idea how he'd fainted. His mind had been racing, yet he couldn't recall how or why he had passed out, or even when. It was as if that period was a complete blank. On further reflection, that blank was filled by the fragmented dream about the trade...

This created an interesting paradox. In Igor's own consciousness, he had been awake the entire time. Yet, Kadi had witnessed him convulsing and then fainting. During this period, which others perceived as unconsciousness, Igor felt he had been dreaming. Or perhaps it wasn't a dream. Regardless, during the time he was thought to be unconscious, he himself felt he had done many, many things...

"Igor, you're awake!" Seeing his companion's eyes slowly open, Kadi not only stopped his frantic movements but also calmed his frayed nerves. "Look, the sky has changed, and the path is different too."

Only then did Igor notice the significant changes in his surroundings. It was completely different from what he had seen before, as if the previous illusions had been dispelled, revealing the true landscape of Ghost Wind Valley.

"So, after all this time, we've just been walking in circles?" Igor couldn't help but exclaim.

"That's right. We were just going in circles, getting nowhere. Even I, a native of this place, didn't realize it, but you did. You're really something," Kadi praised Igor, whether he meant it or not.

"But I still don't understand. Who's obstructing us?" Igor scratched his head, puzzled by the many obstacles in Ghost Wind Valley. Could it be hiding a secret it doesn't want discovered?

If it is a secret, I certainly have the time to investigate…

Igor's thoughts drifted further and further, becoming boundless. He had overlooked the most critical problem: he had no idea how to get out of Ghost Wind Valley.

There appeared to be countless paths ahead, but he didn't have the faintest idea which one to choose.

The old saying is true: the road is wide, and everyone chooses their own side. But Igor didn't know which side to choose.

"Now it's my turn to shine as the guide!" Kadi exclaimed, quite excited now that Igor was awake.

Igor didn't understand Kadi's excitement, but hearing him say "guide" made the stone in his heart feel much lighter.

Kadi knowing which of these broad paths to take was indeed good news.

"Where are we going?" Igor asked. He seemed to have forgotten some things, but they felt unimportant now. Best to let them stay forgotten.

"We're going to Grey Eagle Peak. I need to find Kevin, and you can meet some other creatures," Kadi said with a wide grin.

"Don't worry, I'm incredibly familiar with this Ghost Wind Valley now. It won't even take us half a day to reach Grey Eagle Peak. If we're lucky, we might even make it to Moonflow Stream," Kadi added, his spirits high.

Igor silently gazed at the mountain paths, which felt both familiar and foreign. What was my original purpose for coming to Guru Mountain? he wondered. It seemed he had completely forgotten. It wasn't entirely his fault, though. So many things had happened one after another on Guru Mountain recently. While these events didn't seem directly related to him, upon deeper reflection, they all seemed to have some subtle connection to him. As for what that connection was, Igor had no idea.

"OUCH! OUCH!" The Spirit Book's intermittent groans were the only discordant sound.

"What are you crying about? If you knew it would be this painful, why did you have to be disobedient and provoke your master in the first place?" Kadi, in an excellent mood, actually found the time to chat with the Spirit Book.

However, since waking up, Igor had been lost in thought, so Kadi had done all the tidying up, even straightening out the Spirit Book.

"You'll scare people like that!" Igor blurted out, seemingly out of nowhere.

"What are you talking about? Actually, I've been wondering how you fainted…" Kadi replied, just as inexplicably.

What exactly happened during the time Igor was unconscious—or, more accurately, when his consciousness was wandering—was indeed a question worth asking.

"My fainting was due to Equivalent Exchange," Igor stated, surprising even himself.

It's like I'm possessed again, spouting nonsense without realizing it... as if my whole body is out of my control once more...