For the first time in a while I was genuinely excited.

My buddy managed to snatch up tickets for Elvis's last stop on his tour, though driving all the way from Detroit made me sick, I couldn't thank him enough.

Edward, my old friend from way back in grade school. He hated rock n' roll, but even he knew of Elvis, in all fairness, everyone knew of Elvis. I tried to get him to go to one of his concerts before, but he always refused. So when he offered to go watch the King live I was surprised.

"A sign up ahead, 'Welcome to Charlotte'."

"About time, I'm about to throw up in here"

And thank god for the radio, me humming to the king always helps with these things.

Still, It's a damn shame that Edward never got to listen to Elvis in his prime, I'm certain he would've loved him.

.

—

.

I could feel the car slow down, pick up speed, and slow down again.

"We stuck in traffic?"

"Yup" was his straightforward response.

"If I didn't know any better then I would've thought this city was the center of the world with how busy it is."

"Everyone here is probably a tourist to watch Presley too, you know"

That's true.

"I gotta say, it's unbelievably nice of your parents to let us stay in their homes till the concert."

The tickets, a free taxi, and a place to stay in a pact city; Eddy was a blessing to me.

"My parents are out of town anyway, so they don't know."

That came as a surprise.

"You never told your parents?"

"No."

"Why?

"Fuck'em, that's why."

Edward never did like his parents, especially his father.

"Fuck'em. They don't need to know."

I could never understand how someone could simply disrespect their father.

A sort-of-tense atmosphere filled the car, if I didn't feel sick from the ride then this was definitely enough.

"Alright man, it's all good. Let's just get there and settle down."

"Ya I know, I know. I mean, why even bother telling them? We are gonna be in and out."

"Don't need to convince me."

And we continued to drive

.

—

.

"Are you ready to leave?"

Night had begun to fall.

"Ya, help me out."

That annoying sunlight was gone from my eyes.

"I know my parents' front steps are annoying, I have no idea why they are so unbalanced."

We were at the bottom quick.

"Alright, I got the rest of the way."

I took out my walking cane and strode forward.

I didn't truly need it, I was one of those "blessed" folk who could map their surroundings with sound, something to do with the visual cortex. It wasn't perfect however, so that long-ol-stick was still useful.

I could feel the car door, but when I shuffled for the handle it wasn't there.

"The door handle is lower."

My good friend's voice came from my left.

"I always forgot with your damn car."

I was in the door and on the seat quickly.

"Here, I got your hat."

He called it a hat, but it was more of an eye-covering.

You see, I wasn't always blind. I lost it when my optic nerve was damaged, it left a brutal looking scar that didn't look at all appealing.

So I got a little custom scarf made for it. It goes on your face the same way you would put on glasses, then you would type in from the back and it would cover your eyes.

I thought it was dumb at first, but Eddy told me it looked cool, so I decided to keep it.

"We're almost to the concert."

"Finally, it feels like years since we started driving."

It did to be honest, being unable to see makes the hold world seem slower.

"I don't get what's all the hype of Presley."

"He is the best singer of our era that's what."

"He isn't as good as people give him credit for."

"Damn, your parents raised a real dumbass didn't they."

That was just a dumbass thing for me to say.

"Ok, now I'm certain, Elvis is fucking terrible. You know what? Everyone who listens to him is a fucking idiot to-"

And time seemed to slow down.

My friend was raising his voice, so I could tell he was getting angry, but anything he was about to say was cut short.

The world seemed to spin.

I could feel wind from his open window blowing through the entire car, it was so fast that it almost caused my eye-covers to go loose.

There was a loud screeching of metal.

I knew what that sound meant, how could I ever forget it's deafening screech.

We were hit by another car.

Or perhaps we hit a car? My friend did seem distracted.

There was a massive slam.

We must have finally hit something, and by nothing but sheer coincidence, I finally remember that I didn't have my seat-belt.

I went flying.

I can be quite the dumbass, I know. All I could do now was brace.

I continued to fly.

I expected to collide with the front window, for glass to pierce my skin, and for my eventual collision with a hard surface.

But nothing happened

And nothing continued to happen, and I realised that I couldn't hear anything happening, I couldn't feel the wind blowing on my face, and I couldn't see the darkness spinning.

It felt as if I were in an empty void, like a baby in a womb.

I died, this was it. I would continue to float like this forever in the ever-expansive nothingness, the ever expanding darkness.

I would never feel anything again.

And then I hit the ground.

"Fuck!"

All the "greater than life" shit I was just feeling disappeared, and I was brought back to reality from the pain. Though in all fairness, it felt more like walking into a door then flying from a car crash.

I tried to use my hand to stand, but then the damndest thing happened. The spot I put my hand on broke, like paper when stabbed with a pencil.

The same happened with my other hand.

And then I kicked the floor, and got the same results.

"Someone help me out here!"

Air was flowing through the holes.

"I have no clue what's going on."

Soon enough, the entire floor broke, and gravity pulled a complete 180 and turned the wall into the ground and the ground into the wall.

Or at least, that's what it felt like.

"Ah sh~it. The hell happened."

I stood, and the air was hot.

That didn't make sense, it was still February after all. But what really confused me was my voice. It seemed to echo in every direction, as if I were in a cave of some sort.

I didn't feel any pain either, not something to be expected.

But before I could continue my thoughts.

"Um~."

A high pitched, confused, and feminine voice sounded from behind me, and I turned.

"Hello… Ms? Could you ah~" I was just as confused as her in this situation. "Describe what happened?"

…

"You see, I'm… blind yes? So..."

It's not the easiest thing to tell someone you are blind, most of the time they just assume thanks to the eye-rapping, but if you do have to tell them it is just brutally awkward.

…

No response again.

So I stepped forward.

"Are you still ther-"

"Stay back!"

Another voice, a much lower pitch, clearly that of a man; It came from the previous voice's left.

He didn't need to tell me to stop however, as I tripped over something.

I quickly stood back up, but what I fell over on definitely felt like a large rock, or perhaps a stone. I'm not sure the difference.

"Bete, Tiona, what happened!"

A third voice now. It was feint, far behind the first two. It was high, but not in the way a woman's voice would be, but that of a young boy.

"Captain! This guy…"

The feminine voice called out, still with confusinsion and alarm.

I was completely confused too, did they not just see the accident?

"I think I understand the situation."

The younger voice resonates, this time much closer.

"You do? Well thank god for that. Now if you could just tell me just what the hell happene-"

I was interrupted by the sound stone break breaking behind me.

"I would love to talk, but not here, follow me."

The young voice came up once more.

Well I'm inclined to agree with him, an accident scene is not the safest, but the way he talks doesn't sit right. It's like how a first-responder would talk to a criminal.

"Sure, just, I might need some help for some-" I waved by hand in front of my face. "-obvious reasons."

I had lost my walking stick, and the constant echos made it hard to pinpoint locations.

"Right, Bete if you'd please."

"Why do I gotta carry him."

"Just do it"

First the child, then the man, and finally the women.

"Hold on, the fuck-do-you mean carry m-"

And again I was interrupted.

I felt weightless, like a bird in the air. A familiar feeling of air rushing onto my face overcame me, and I thought that I was somehow fabricating this all in my mind, like how one would see their life flash before their eyes before death.

But air continued to flow to my face, preventing me from formulating a single word of protest to my abduction.

.

—

.

I was finally let down.

"Never do that again."

"Shut it ya dead weight."

This son-of-a-bit-

"If you'd mind, have a couple questions to ask you."

And the kid finally speaks up again, as is apparently trying to ask me questions.

So I spoke first.

"Who are you, the police? Where the hell am I?"

I began raising my voice.

"I'm Finn, captain of the Loki Familia, you are in the dungeon, and I can assure you that if you'll answer our questions then we will answer yours."

Captain of the Loki familia.

What? Hot damn, he didn't waste a single second in his 'What the fuck are you talking about response'. Almost as if what he said was common sense, like your nurse introducing herself.

"Finn, is this the guy you told us about?"

And now the deepest voice I've ever heard in quite awhile booms into my ear.

"Ya Gareth, this is him."

Finn and Gareth aye?

"He seems relatively normal, but if Tiona's testament are to be believed, he is quite the character."

Now there is a deep feminine voice.

"Indeed Riveria."

The boy, Finn, responds to older women, Riveria.

"Bete, go tell everyone we will only be a minute before we ascend again."

I can only infer that the asshole who carried me is Bete.

Finally some names to get started off.

I turned to the right, where I heard the so-called Gareth.

"Alright, I have a lot of questions. For on-"

"Ay, if you answer our questions we will answer yours."

I swear if I'm interrupted aga-

"Firstly." Said the proclaimed captain "and I'm just gonna put this bluntly, are you a monster?"

Ok.

"What, are you gonna guy any blind guy you come across a monster? Did my mask fall off or something?"

"Are you?"

"Of course fucking not! The hell are you even asking?"

"Now secon-"

"Na-an-na, now you are gonna answer one of my questions.

"Alright."

"Where the hell am I."

"You are on the 17th floor of the dungeon. We, the Loki familia, were just making an ascension to the surface.

I didn't ask that last question, or did I? More importantly.

"The hell you mean, "Loki Familia", the hell is that?

"You don't know what Familia is?"

"Nope." I responded in a crude 'matter-of-fact' way, which resulted in the headache that I just realized I had to tensify.

"I see. This is going to be difficult."

"I can tell."

"Have you ever heard of Orario? The dungeon? The Goddess Loki?"

"No, no, and certainly fucking not."

That wasn't true, I know my fair share of Norse mythology.

"Alright, it would probably be best if we stop our questioning till we get back to the surface, it would help in explaining everything."

I'm inclined to agree. Not sure what 'Back to the surface means' though.

"Alright, but one last thing, what happened in the car accident? Did you see my friend Edward? He has brown hair and blue eyes."

"Car accident? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. And no, I didn't see anyone by that description.

And by coincidence and nothing else, I finally realized the unprecedented situation I'm really in, and I'm dire for some answers.

"I have one last question for you too then"

The young boy says.

"Yes"

"What is your name."

I think.

"Elvis Presley."

It's a ridiculous test, but everyone knows about the king.

And so I listen extremely closely to his response.

"Ok."

Nothing, no surprise, no hint of disbelief. I have a genuine answer. There is no indication from the two other participants in the room that hints that they know I'm lying. No groan of question or anything of the sorts.

"I'm joking."

"Hmm?"

"Ya, my name is actually, Vincent.

"Alright, that's good to know."

And for the first time today, something went off without issue.

.

—

.

I was told to stand at the back.

We are supposedly making our way out of the 'Dungeon'. They asked if I needed someone to carry me, and I gotta say, these people got a lot of gaul asking such questions. I refused of course, so they instead had their "first class" stay close behind me to watch.

This cave is still difficult to navigate, but I wasn't totally helpless as my condition may imply, I'm "gifted" so to say. A couple clicks and sounds and I got a general idea of the situation.

Like now

-*Click* *Click *Click*

"What are you doing?"

"Look, I know it seems dumb, but is actual works. Optic nerve sensory bullshit that I couldn't teach you here."

"Optic nerve sensory?"

"My point stands."

They actually left more than 1 person to guard me. Two sisters apparently, and a young teen girl.

"You know strange dood, at first you scared me, but now you've caught my interest."

"Stop bothering him Tiona."

"But Tione, he came out of the dungeon walls, isn't that super cool?

Really, just the most annoying bunch.

"Can you all quit bickering if you'd kindly, you're ruining my echo location."

"Echo location?"

"And can you stop that!"

"I-I'm sorry."

Then there's the young girl, who can't be older than 15. If I remember correctly, Lefiya is her name. Damn these kids are annoying, why the hell were they put in charge of watching me, and why the hell do they think I need watching?

…

A silence filled the air.

"I'm surprised no monsters have attacked us as all, we are gathered in a large group."

A voice, that of Tione spoke out.

Monsters, almost as foolish as gods. What are they worried about, the boogeyman?

"Monsters you say? What do you mean?"

"You know, monsters? They pop out of the walls like you did. Monsters, like goblins and Almiraj and Minotaurs."

I've heard of goblins before, I've read about Minatours before, and I don't know what an Almiraj is, but I know for certain that those aren't real things.

Actually, was there a Minotaur in the Odyssey? I prowled my mind for the answer, but couldn't find one, so I dropped the thought there.

…

And so another silence falls between the 3 of us. I really don't know what to say right, so I start humming.

Return to sender.

A classic.

It helps me with locating myself too believe or not, it works just as well as humming.

O~ my favorite part is coming up right no-

"What are you humming?"

"Elvis Presley's "Return to Sender, ever hear of it?"

The young girl seemed surprised by my response, as if I was going to yell at her again. Which I would have, but she asked a good question.

"N-no, I don't think I've ever heard of this 'Elvis'"

Another person who never heard of the King, one person is a fluke, two is something serious.

No doubt about it, you'd have to be in a whole other world to find two English-speakers who don't know of him.

.

—

.

Just as I'm about to start humming again.

"Somethings going on up there."

The older of the two sisters spoke.

"An ambush of Minotaurs!"

I heard Finn shout from the head of the group.

And low and behold, I could hear the sound of many new breaths from every direction. They were too heavy to be that of a normal human, but I mean, there is no way in hell it's an actual monster.

Before I could think rationally, all I could hear was the sound of countless voices talking, making me lose my only sense of direction.

In this position, without my walking stick, all I could do was stand still and wait patiently.

Completely and totally helpless.

And then the voice of that boy named Finn boomed out.

"Quickly, Chase them down!"

And just as I was about to step forward into total blindness. I heard breathing behind me.

I turned.

The breathing was close to me, and it was very high up, to high to be any normal sized human.

I stepped forward.

I was right in front of whatever it was, and I couldn't help myself.

I reached out.

I could feel it's face, the eyes were large and bulging, the nose was long and protruding, the head was hairy and thick, and the horns, honest to god horns, they felt like mental, and were sharp at the tip.

Could it truly be?

Nothing in my memory surfaced of what it was, I saw a lot of the world before my blindness, so I could still get a good idea of what something was with a simple feel or description. But this?

Only one thing came to mind.

A Minotaur.

That couldn't be, could it?

I continued to feel the beast, but then out of nowhere it started shifting. With every passing moment growing more impassive.

Just as it began moving violently, a grand wave of heat bursted right from behind it, greatly warming my hands, and recoiling them.

But as quickly as I pulled back my arms, I brought them forward once more, only to find the creature had a much more sandy feel to it.

The once hard skin began disintegrating into sand in my very hands.

It was completely gone now.

I fell to the ground and felt the remains of the beast. I shuffled for whatever I could find until I came across a hard and smooth feeling object, It felt like a rock, or perhaps a crystal?

I picked it up and shoved it into the pocket of the sweater I just so happened to remember I was wearing, stood, and turned.

"Are you alright there?"

An old mature voice, Riveria spoke.

"Did you see all of that?"

"Regrettably."

It must have been the strangest thing to see me feeling up to just a Minotaur, but forgive me, ok, i was really curious.

"Come, we don't want to fall behind."

"Of course."

And as we walked forward, my brain tried to rap around the idea of monsters and Minotaurs.

.

—

.

We finally reached the surface.

"Here we are!"

I could hear the excitement in the people's voices.

"Two long weeks, finally some fresh air!"

I could see the burning light through the eye-coverings and through my eye-lids.

"So, Finn, what are we gonna do with Vincent?"

A deep voice spoke.

"We ought to take him to Loki, we can't let someone as suspicious as him go"

They probably didn't think I could hear them.

"Vincent!"

The captain called out to me.

"We are going to take you to our goddess, she will be able answer your questions"

Blind and defenseless, I truly didn't want to go with these people. They talked of gods and monsters as if they were fact, they might be a cult. But I couldn't decline, I had nowhere else to go.

"Alright then, lead the way."

And so we made our way to speak to their "goddess".

.

—

.

We walked through a bustling city, but I had to drown out all the noise, I needed to collect my thoughts.

"We are almost there."

Someone spoke, but I couldn't identify it.

Soon enough I would get answers to my questions.

I'm gonna clear up all this nonsense about these dungeons and gods an-

"WEL-"

Who the hell.

"COME-"

Is this disturbance to the peace.

"HOME-"

The sound of two people colliding followed.

"Hello Goddess Loki."

Hmm? That voice was Loki?. I just realized now but, Isn't Loki a dood? So why have they begun calling him goddess?

I stood back and waited for when the question of myself would be introduced.

"Goddess, we have someone of interest here."

A deep voice spoke.

Guess he was really a chick.

"Ya I can see that, tell me about him and bring him to our meeting room. Bring Finn and the rest with ya."

Compared to her previous display, she shifted into a calm and collected tone, and she did so with unsettling swiftness.

"Alright Vin."

Already shorting my name as if we were pals.

"I'll lead you to our goddess, just stay close behind."

It was really easy to follow the big fella, his sound echo was quite huge.

We walked onward.

And then I got a little sheepishly.

"H-hold on."

"What?"

"I'm… gonna need help on these stairs."

"Oh, sure thing."

It's hard to explain to people that you are so incapable as to need help climbing stairs. Really, it's simply the most pathetic display to ask of that from a stranger.

And so he helped me up one at a time, at the expense of my pride.

When we were at the top I went back on my own. And we finally reach the room.

He walked through, then I did was I always do when entering such important sitatuoins.

-*Click* *Click* *Click*

I could tell many people were in this room.

"Hello there."

So spoke the goddess.

"S~o how are we doing this? You ask then I ask?"

"Sure."

"Go ahead"

I was not going to waste a minute.

"What are you?"

"A god"

"Liar"

"What makes you say that?"

"I know there isn't, never was a god never will be."

"Ok."

Ok?

"Here is my question for you."

"Yes?"

"Join my familia."

I could hear different reactions in the room.

I couldn't care less.

"What is a familia?"

"A group of people who take my falna and fight for me in the dungeon. A falna is a contract between a human and a god to allow them to grow stronger."

Never in my life.

"Bullshit"

"It's not."

"Prove it then."

"Prove what?"

"Prove all this shit about your falna and it's mythical properties, prove that these monsters are real, prove that I'm not being tricked. Because I have never once heard of, or more importantly, seen any of this in my entire life."

There is a slight pause, but she gives a straight answer.

"What if I healed your eyes."

And I'm left speechless.

I wasn't always blind, I lost my sight due to head trauma during my time in service. It was the dumbest thing I ever did, a testament to how much of a dumbass I can really be.

I was left a pathetic excuse of a man, needing help to walk on stairs, being unable to drive, basic things.

So when I'm offered a 2nd chance, am I supposed to say no?

But I'm no deaf, and I sure as hell ain't dumb, I know how the world looks. Their ain't such thing as monsters, ain't such things as heroes, and their sure as hell ain't no such things as gods.

But even still, another chance.

I ain't naive, I ain't no fool, but for the first time in a long time, I feel a tinge of excitement.

And so.

"A-alright then, heal them."

My voice shook and cracked

"On one condition, when I do, you join my famil-"

"That's fine!" I shouted. "Whatever conditions you want, just do it."

"Alright, Riveria do your magic."

"What should I do?"

"You just stand still."

The room fell silent, with a tense atmosphere, it was almost sickening.

I could hear the footsteps of who I could only assume to be Riveria coming towards me.

"Van Alheim."

A simple phrase, but it did something.

I could feel something cool come over my eyes, I never felt anything like it. For a single moment, with all my heart, I believed it was magic.

The feeling lasted only a second or two.

"It's done."

I didn't bother to hear who who spoke those words, and I removed my eye-rap.

I heard some audible gasps.

I used my hands to rub my eyes.

I opened them.

And.

…

"Funny joke."

I was raising my voice.

"What?" The false idol spoke.

"Real fucking funny."

I was almost shouting.

"Did it not work?"

"Playing tricks on me, think you're really funny don't you?"

Countless times have I been discriminated against and play a fool as for my blindness. People who walk into me, people would constantly grab my cane, and of course, countless attempts at robbing from my person.

But even still, never have I been tricked so terrible before in my life. Anger overcame me like nothing before. I wanted out of this damn building.

"Someone show me the exit, I'm tired of these damn jokes."

"Now hold o-"

"Fuck off."

I could feel everyone standing on edge at my rage.

"Someone get me out of here."

There was a slight pause where no one said a word, and the only thing I could hear was the beating my of heart.

"Alright alright, I'll lead you out."

The voice of Finn broke the atmosphere, just one more second of silence and I would've lost it.

And before we knew I was out of there and on the streets.

It was cold and dark, but I couldn't care less, the sun was always irritating anyway.

I genuinely thought, for even a single moment that everything I heard was the truth. That was my mistake.

So I walked forward, returning my eye-covers, and wondering blindly into the darkness.