I am the amazing kid. At least, that’s what everyone around me says. They say I have extraordinary vision, though I never really understood what they mean. On the contrary, I just think everyone is blind.

People say I can see the unseeable; only a handful of people know that Enuma’s aura is actually a special blessing from the High Goddess above. Everyone says that this kid’s aura is frightening, too big, malicious, or whatever such nonsense. I scold them whenever I see them treating him badly because of that.

Enuma’s aura is shining, emanating a power with no equal. Well, there is that kid with the white hair that could probably rival him. But I prefer Enuma’s aura. And personality.

That kid is not very talkative, but that’s not very surprising if people always avoid you because of something you are born with. And can’t change. He was shy, but he did warm up after I started trying to talk to him. He’s been helping me with magic stuff, though it did take me a week of prodding at him with little to no words in response. I was always too impatient with that kind of stuff, I like it better to just heat and hit. Like how my father does it. He’s the most popular blacksmith in Invastya.

But everyone says that I’m too good for smithing, since I have this extraordinary vision. And my teachers also said that I actually have great talent for magic, though I was always too lazy to work on my potential. Heck, who wants to sit all day reading abstract stuff that is only useful in battle? I don’t want to encourage a world full of wars and battles. If magic disappeared people would have a harder time killing each other, so I want to contribute to that future instead.

Whatever, I can’t think too much about the future if my homework is eating me up like this. Enuma is very kind and helps me out doing all the magic things. You know, those professors always speak an obscure language that I just can’t understand. Enuma understands them, and understands me, so now he’s being a translator between me and my teachers. They don’t understand me either, by the way. 

“Carle, can you please stop thinking out loud? You also don’t have to mention every second that you’re the amazing kid!”

Ah, damn Sil, she’s always so sensitive to noise. No wonder she always hangs out with Enuma, because he hardly ever speaks. She doesn’t get along with the other girls too because they are “too loud”, so she claimed. I just think she’s a nerd. Girls hate nerds more than fellow girls. 

“Yea, yea. I’m tired Sil, let’s go out and play something!” Going out and getting on my feet always refreshes me. But apparently not Sil.

Sil only sighs. Enuma understands my speech that deviates so much from all the magic people, Sil only got used to it. She’s very tolerant. “Playing ball with you is tiring you know, you always run so fast and hit the ball so hard. Go play with the others, I’ll sit on the bench if you still want my company.” 

Which means she wants to keep reading this thick book she is reading right now. Well, I can’t blame her. That is what you get when you grow up in a village where books determine your social status. And in that regard are her parents amazingly rich.

“Alright, let’s go!” I packed my stuff and went. Enuma never wants to hang out with the other kids – for obvious reasons – so I usually leave my stuff to him. He doesn’t mind. We have an understanding. That deep is our friendship. Sil is really a third wheel but acts like I’m the odd one out. Pfft.

“Who wants to play with the amazing Carle!” I screamed my lungs out at the playing ground near the boys’ dormitory. This of course violates the rule because we’re supposed to be quiet. Dumb adults. How should you then communicate when you’re far-away or want things to be heard by several people? 

Swisssh  – I suddenly hear a thump and my vision went black. There’s distant screaming and some uproar. Is that Sil screaming? I can’t feel anything, but things don’t feel right. Is Sil really screaming? She sounds really agitated. What happened?

---

I passed out for some months. When I woke up, everything changed so much. No one avoids Enuma anymore, and he became more… powerful? He also talks a lot more now. As for Sil, she’s now the silent one – not like she was very talkative to begin with. She also turned kind of gloomy.

“What exactly happened back then? I can’t remember anything.” I asked them when we three were sitting near my hospital bed.

Sil and Enuma looked at me with wide eyes. “The school got attacked. When you called the others to play, they shot your eyes and proceeded to attack the dorms and other buildings. Enuma ran out to check out the commotion and got really angry when he saw you lying on the ground. He ended up chasing every single one of them away. I was in too much shock to do anything at all and only tried to treat you.” Sil stopped as if expecting an answer from me. “You – you…”

“So I’m supposed to be blind?” It was the dumbest question that I ever asked in my life since then. I always ask dumb questions, but nothing rivals that one until this day. 

I reached out to my eyes, but what I felt was bandages. “Ah,” now I understand. “No wonder things look so different.” The dumbfounded faces of the two made things clearer for me. “You’re not supposed to see at all when you’re blind, are you? Nothing?” 

They shook their heads.

“Interesting.” That needed to sink in. It took a long time to understand everything.

They called me Amazing Kid; they said I could see what others could not. But I never understood what they meant until I lost my real eyes. Colors are distorted for me now, and I see even more things others can’t see. It is sometimes satisfying but more often disturbing. I understood even more why people said I had a high magical affinity because the only thing that allows me to see now is the magic inside me. 

It is funny that you have to lose things forever to understand something that you never understood. And if you begin to understand, the loss suddenly becomes a gain. I then started to take magic seriously and managed to better my vision. After some years I managed to use them to help Enuma save the world. Isn’t that amazing? 

Only now I really acknowledge my title, Amazing Carle. Isn’t it funny that you sometimes must lose something in order to cherish what you already have?