In the supernatural world, there is a legend about a wizard with unique eyes. They say that he could discern the structure and flow of magic, see through illusions, even the true essence of a creature was clear to him, regardless of disguise or assumed form. Many consider this a simple myth due to the fact that only one case involving this magician occurred, and after that no one ever heard of this person. Although some claim to have seen a similar man, often visiting another famous magician Merlin.
Whether this is true or fiction is not known for certain, but a group of magicians-researchers "Eyes of Truth" believed everything to be real. They had been collecting information for many decades, bit by bit choosing real facts from a pile of tales and exaggerations. Several times they came across the supposed descendants of the magician, but after checking all family members, they were disappointed. Two years after the next candidate, the magicians found a man who could be their target. He was an ordinary person with high magical potential, but in no way connected with the mystical side of the world. He had a wife and a child who inherited the talent of his parent.
After the kidnapping of the family, the "Eyes of Truth" were able to see a glimmer of hope for the first time in their long-awaited search. Not only did the ten-year-old boy have a sacred mechanism of the blocking type in his hands, but his eyes seemed to have an unknown anomaly. On a wave of joy from the shift in the search, the magicians focused all their attention on the boy. Research and numerous experiments in attempts to awaken the legendary eyes continued for three years.
The group's patience slowly began to give out. The scientists subjected their subject to increasingly dangerous experiments to get a result. Only the fear of losing their only chance stopped the mages from deadly experiments, but safer options were gradually coming to an end.
"What is the condition of the subject?" the group leader asked his subordinate.
"After the previous experiment, magical bursts were detected in the area of his eyes," the mage said with a smile. "A short activation of the "eyes of all things" was confirmed. Magic runes of unknown meaning appeared around the pupil for a couple of seconds.
"Excellent! Simply magnificent!" the leader jumped up from his chair in delight. Every mage shared his feelings. "How is the subject's condition?"
"Worse than I would like," the man's face twisted slightly. "Before this, there were already problems with the subject's personality, but after the last experiment, signs of a mental disorder were noticed. The boy complains of sounds and hallucinations, even in a barrier that completely blocks sounds. If the visual manifestations can be attributed to the awakening of the eyes, then nothing is known about the noise. All the equipment does not record any anomalies affecting the sample.
- I see. This is unpleasant, - the leader complained. - It's a pity that he is an only child, but we took all the necessary materials and will be able to clone him in case of death. Of course, it is better to wait until the eyes are fully awakened and then try to recreate them. Otherwise, we will start a clone factory.
- Then, what are your orders?
- Increase the load on the test subject. We no longer have reasons to worry about the sanity of the subject, the main thing is to achieve the result. Comrades, - he addressed his subordinates, - many did not believe and mocked us, but now we have almost reached the end of our dream. The legendary eyes will soon fall into our hands! - everyone happily supported their leader with applause and words of encouragement. — Soon we will show the whole world that they were wrong, and we were right! And we will reach the pinnacle of magic, shutting up all other magical organizations, with the help of our eyes of all things!
— Yes! Hurray! For us, for the "Eyes of Truth"! — the room filled with jubilant cries.
From the moment this decision was made, the boy's life was filled with even more pain. The quiet squeak at the very beginning was replaced by a complete cacophony of sounds, constantly attacking his thoughts. Endless headaches, multi-colored streams in his field of vision, even with his eyes closed, had a detrimental effect on his already broken consciousness.
His thoughts were confused, memories faded and depersonalized or even erased. He remembered that he had a family, they lived together and they were good, but that was all. Neither faces, nor names, even the number of members of his family was unknown to the boy. The name he was given at birth also disappeared from his memories, because during his entire time in prison no one had bothered to call the child anything other than "test subject", "guinea pig" or "specimen".
At the moment of the final experiment, which was supposed to give the final push to awaken the legendary eyes, the boy's consciousness could not stand it any longer. With the last remnants of sanity, he sincerely and with all the burning desire he had, wished to stop it all. The endless noise, the kaleidoscope of colors in his eyes, the painful sensations from the strange circles on the walls, everything that was causing him pain - just block it all!
"What's going on?!" the leader screamed hysterically at the scientists. "Why is the sample behaving like this?!"
"I don't know, sir!
Prevent it, destroy it!
"Activity of the subject's sacred mechanism detected," shouted one of the mages, frantically trying to find the cause of the anomaly.
"Impossible!!! His garbage mechanism shouldn't have such power. All it can do is block a couple of minor attacks. It shouldn't affect reality like that.
Leave him alone!
"Stop this immediately!" A misty aura covered the boy's body. An almost transparent shell with black particles in it. "He is awakening his balance breaker, do not let him finish!"
In silence!
"Kill him!" A magic circle lit up in the leader's hands, aimed at the boy. The others followed suit, attacking the threat, but they were too late. The aura from the body gushed in all directions, forming a sphere ten meters in diameter with the child in the center.
In his "Void Realm".
The magical attacks suddenly froze and disappeared. Ritual circles and any artifact crumbled into particles. The mages watched in horror at the deadly pantomime, when their colleagues, who had unsuccessfully gotten inside, writhed in agony, but not a single sound was heard.
Suddenly, a little girl appeared in front of them, at the very edge of the unknown sphere. She looked completely unnatural for such a place. Long black hair, from under which the tips of pointed ears peeked out, an exquisite Gothic-style dress and a doll-like, expressionless face. Not paying attention to those around her, the uninvited guest took a step forward, entering the anomaly that interested her.
As soon as Ophis was inside, the mask of indifference disappeared, replacing it with shock, disbelief and joy. For the first time since leaving the Spatial Rift, she felt a familiar feeling of silence. Turning her gaze to the source of this phenomenon, Ouroboros discovered the pitiful state of the boy. The dragon turned towards the shocked mages. She did not want to take any risks, so she waved her hand, destroying any living creature within a radius of one kilometer.
After studying the source of the silence, Ophis realized - he was dying. Normally, she would create a snake, making the person stronger, but in this case, it will not help. The snake multiplies the existing strength of the host, but there is nothing outstanding about the person in front of her. A small amount of magical energy, not enough to support the activated sacred gear, so instead of mana, the life energy of the host is spent.
The boy himself did not react in any way and did not try to turn off the balance breaker. Once again, in a short time, Ouroboros experienced a flood of new emotions: anxiety, irritation and fear. Ophis did not want to lose her newfound silence. She did what, in her opinion, should solve the current problem - she began the process of dragonization of the boy.