Chapter 14: Blindness and Madness

Cassandra tossed and turned, whimpering in her sleep as she unconsciously battled for control of her own mind.

Come with Us, Cassandra Zevulon. We will show you true power and control, and We will show you true happiness in the end of all things. Do you not want to be happy, Cassandra?

Leave me alone. Get out of my head. Get off my planet!

Face it, Cassandra. We will never leave. We are eternal. We are the eternity. We are the great nothingness of the reaches of the universe. We are Time and Space itself, and Our devices are far beyond your pitiful human comprehension. If We were to show you Our intent, your fragile mind would surely be utterly destroyed.

Then why do you want me, of all people?

We do not just want you to join Us, Cassandra Zevulon. We are gathering power as We speak to you. Every one of your pitiful human seconds, another one of your pitiful human companions sees Our light, stares at Our suns, and is permanently blinded by Our divine and burning wrath. We show all those who look upon Our pillars the far reaches of the universe, the realm they can rule with Us once the damned things are destroyed. This is where you come in, Miss Zevulon.

If you believe I'll actually help you rise and take over the universe, you can take that belief and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. Where none of the... onetwothreefourFIVE suns up there ever shine. Why are there even five suns up there?!

Oh, but what are you to do, Miss Zevulon? Leave the pillars be, and every human in Terraria is driven blind and insane. Destroy them, and We rise. Join Us to create Our new and perfect world, and you will be handsomely rewarded.

By which you mean I'll be reduced to a little pile of ash.

Must We argue semantics, you insolent whelp of a girl?

Leave... my... headspace... ALONE!

In her sleep, Cassandra clenched her fists and snarled, evolving into a roar. Behind the bandages, her eyes flicked open. She tore the IV out of her arm and ripped the bandages off her head, shielding her eyes at the bright purple sunshine as she sat up and leaped out of the cot.

She strode into the conference room to everyone's disbelief, planted her hands on the table, and stated very matter-of-factly: "We have a problem, guys."

Calythé was the first to recover, and grinned as she replied with "Ya think?"

Meanwhile...

Near the Archers' Guild, two new recruits were doing some field work gathering herbs. Unbeknownst to them, a second sun had appeared in the sky, one that was a pale emerald green.

One of them wiped his forehead, panting. "Hey, Nik, why is it so hot out here?"

"Beats me," snapped Nik. "Would you shut up and focus?"

"Okay, but I swear to you it's like a hundred degrees out here. I thought Terrarian spring was supposed to be warm and mild."

Nik sighed in exasperation. "They are. Okay, sure, it's hot. Now would you PLEASE shut up and get back to work?"

The second one straightened up and looked at the sky, and his jaw dropped. "Nik," he gasped, "look at the sky."

Nik looked up irritably. "My gods, do you EVER stop talking? There's nothing wrong with the - sky..." He stopped the second he saw the sky and the two suns. They both stopped, mesmerized, staring at the green sun, the irises, pupils, and sclera of their eyes rapidly turning pale green.

Their screams started simultaneously as the rivulets of thick emerald liquid began coursing down their faces...

Meanwhile, in another location...

The assistant headmaster of the Warriors' Guild had been standing in the courtyard for several hours when some of the recruits decided to bring him inside. At the urging of her friends, a very young trainee timidly walked outside into the harsh sunlight and tapped the assistant headmaster on the shoulder with a polite "Excuse me, sir?"

He did not respond, and her finger came away with an unbearable burning sensation, wet and sticky from an orange substance that had soaked into his tunic. She yelped in pain and alarm, then took a close look at the man's face.

His tunic and pants were dripping, as they were completely soaked through with a viscous yellow-orange fluid that pooled on the cobblestones at his feet. The trainee's eyes traveled up his body until they saw the fluid's source. It ran continuously from his eyes, which had been turned completely orange and were fixed, staring, on a single point in the sky.

When she followed his gaze, she saw the second sun, easily ten times as bright as the normal sun of Terraria, and she could feel the pressure behind her eyes and what she hoped were just burning tears beginning to trickle down her face...