One-Eyed Monster

Stan Sol’s cold voice was like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing Igor and the others’ enthusiasm and snapping them back to reality.

Indeed, you can’t put a fish in a forest and expect it to breathe freely. It’s illogical and would only harm the creature. Fish can’t breathe freely in a forest; if you want to help a fish, you don’t put it in a forest.

Stan Sol’s analogy was apt, prompting everyone to ponder its meaning.

”That’s true. If you keep hiding in the shadows, we have no way of knowing your situation...” Kadi mused. He considered it a serious problem. They absolutely had to figure out what was going on with these Spirits. If they didn’t have any information, how could they possibly help them?

Igor actually knew a little, but he wasn’t sure if he could help these beings. After all, he had no experience with such matters.

”You have to trust us. You can’t just keep hiding somewhere and refuse to come out, can you?” Igor said after some thought. He felt that if these Spirits still refused to appear, it clearly meant they didn’t trust them.

Without trust, how could they help? It would be impossible to offer assistance.

The Little Black Hands were quite anxious. They understood the boys’ doubts, but if you asked them to answer these questions one by one, they wouldn’t be able to.

They couldn’t say how many of them there were. They had never been sensitive to numbers and had always been in a muddled state.

”We... we...” the Little Black Hands stammered. They simply couldn’t explain clearly.

”Are these questions that hard to answer?” Stan Sol found it strange. How could a simple question like ’how many of you are there’ require so much thought?

”Difficult. Truly difficult,” the Little Black Hands replied. Their answer astonished everyone; they found such a response incredible.

”This...” Kadi was unsure how to react.

”What’s so difficult about it? What’s hard about counting? Look, one, two, three... there are three of us...” For once, Stan Sol began to show patience. He felt he absolutely had to teach these beings.

”Even if you do that, we don’t understand. We’ve always been vague about ’one, two, three, four’,” the Little Black Hands replied earnestly.

”Well, now you’re showing sincerity. I didn’t expect that,” Igor remarked, having sensed something unusual in the Little Black Hands’ words.

His instinct told him that these Little Black Hands—these Spirits—were now being sincere with them and had completely reverted to their true selves. But why was communication still so difficult? He had to keep searching for the reason.

”Then what are you clear about?” Stan Sol asked, showing surprising patience as he began to discuss it with the Little Black Hands.

”It seems we aren’t clear about much. We’ve always just acted on the Summoner’s orders. It’s a bit strange, now that we say it, but we’ve managed like this. Looking back, many things seem incredible.” During this period, the Little Black Hands had gained a clearer sense of themselves, though they didn’t know why; it was as if they had found their original selves.

”So, what form are you actually in? Aren’t you tired of constantly hiding in the dark?” Kadi pressed. He suspected they were concealed nearby, unwilling to show themselves for some unknown reason.

”We, uh... are in the form you see.”

???

The Little Black Hands’ answer left Igor and the others feeling quite negative. What on earth were they talking about? Something felt off.

They didn’t understand what ”form” the Little Black Hands were referring to, but at least they now knew that these Little Black Hands weren’t formless.

”But we haven’t seen you at all, from beginning to end!” Igor retorted, a little indignant. What was this nonsense? They hadn’t even seen their true appearance, yet the Little Black Hands claimed they’d seen their form. Weren’t they just spouting lies?

”How is that possible? Haven’t you been seeing us all along? Some of you even tried to touch us.”

When Kadi heard the Little Black Hands say someone had tried to touch them, he froze. Weren’t they talking about him? He had indeed wanted to touch these Little Black Hands. But unfortunately, all he’d touched was air—air he felt *through* these Little Black Hands.

”Don’t tell me your form is really these Little Black Hands? That’s a bit too convenient,” Kadi said, skeptical.

Then, a chorus of agreement was heard from the Little Black Hands. Clearly, Kadi was right again.

”Alright, I thought your form would be something more,” Igor said, a little disappointed. He hadn’t expected the true form of these Little Black Hands to be... just Little Black Hands.

”That’s right. We didn’t want to make things too complicated, so we took the form of hands. It was a unanimous decision...”

???

This explanation from the Little Black Hands sent Igor and the others into deep thought again. They understood even less what these Little Black Hands meant. One moment they said they only had one form, the next they said they chose this form because they didn’t want to make things complicated. Weren’t these two statements completely contradictory?

However, the Little Black Hands didn’t sense the strong dissatisfaction Igor and the others were feeling.

This was unbelievable!

Igor didn’t want to dwell on it. He had already resigned himself to the idea that these Little Black Hands were the true current form of these Spirits.

It couldn’t be helped; communicating with these Spirits was proving difficult. It was somewhat like the Stan Sol outside, who stammered and struggled to express his true intentions, resulting in communication barriers.

The Little Black Hands, however, expressed things that were overly profound. Their expressions seemed rich, yet not entirely so, especially since they claimed their form was simply that of Little Black Hands.

”If that’s the case, why don’t you show us the form you display outside, right here?” Stan Sol found it rather ridiculous. They had admitted their form but were still hiding here. What was the point?

”This is a special intersecting space. We can’t manifest our form here. We can only communicate with you like this, truly.”

...

Igor and the others were speechless again. It seemed some things were better left unasked; the more questions they posed, the more complicated the situation became!

”Then how can we see your true state? This question is equally important,” Stan Sol persisted. For him, any opportunity to enhance his strength was not to be missed.

”Once you leave this place, you’ll be able to see us. However, whether you’ll still be able to communicate with us like this after you leave, that we don’t know.”

This answer from the Little Black Hands once again sent Igor and the others into deep thought.