The woman approached Ikarus, her fingers resting on her chin. Her gaze swept over the broken boy, taking in every aspect of his being.
Then, following his gaze, she turned her head to peer at Rebecca's charred corpse.
"That's unfortunate," She spoke, placing a hand on Ikarus' shoulder and leaning forward, prodding his cheek. "That girl really meant a lot to you, didn't she?"
Ikarus hadn't registered the mysterious woman's presence yet. Time around him had frozen, he also found himself unable to move.
His whole body felt like it was shaking, yet eerily still at the same time. A hushed name escaped his lips. "Recca…"
The woman's face scrunched up with mild annoyance, as she brought up a hand to flick Ikarus' forehead. "Come on, now. A beautiful Goddess is standing right in front of you, but you focus all your attention on some mangled corpse?"
Then, Ikarus finally snapped back to reality. He didn't recognise the woman casually prodding him as if inspecting livestock, nor did her grotesque appearance frighten him in any way.
Without Rebecca, it was as if all the evils of the world had lost their meaning.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" The woman tilted her head.
"Who…"
"I thought you'd never ask!" The woman clasped her hands together and spun around in an ecstatic circle— the white robes of her dress flaring up into the air. "My name is Lie," she beamed, "The Divine Goddess of Comedy."
Ikarus parted his lips as if to speak, but no words escaped his mouth.
"Speechless, huh? I understand…" The woman nodded. "It's only natural to go dead-silent when faced with a radiant beauty such as mine."
"Help her." Ikarus managed to lean forward, sagging his chest as he felt his energy drain from the simple movement. "Save Recca… please."
"Who?" Lie perked up an eyebrow, sparing a quick glance at Rebecca's corpse. "That girl? She's already died. In fact, I'm pretty sure she died of panic before the flames even licked her feet. Talk about a lucky death."
Ikarus went silent. Yes, that's right. Rebecca was dead. She was truly and utterly gone.
"Kill me."
Lie whipped her head around, "Huh? What? Are you insane?" Her fingers locked around Ikarus' cheek and she tugged as hard as she could.
"It would be foolish of me to kill the most interesting person I've ever encountered in many centuries of imprisonment here in this God-forsaken swamp."
Ikarus stared at the goddess with tired eyes. It didn't matter that she was a divine being. Ikarus didn't have the will to live anymore. "What… you want? Just kill me."
"I want to make a deal with you." Lie stepped forward, crossing her arms behind her back. Her exposed heart began to thump faster, causing her exposed organs to gleefully spasm as she smiled. "I will give you my eyes."
"Eyes?" Ikarus asked with a raspy voice.
"Yes, my eyes. I will also help you break free from your bonds. However, since I'm doing so much for you… you must also do something for me. The thing is, Ikarus, for the hundreds of years I've been trapped here, I've never really met anyone interesting."
Lie briskly turned around, sweeping her gaze across the cultists. "They're a bunch of boring sycophants. But you…" She pressed closer, "Are interesting. You truly care about that girl more than the world itself, don't you?"
"Yes." Ikarus answered without the faintest bit of hesitation.
"How intriguing… it makes me wonder just what lengths you'd go through for her. Say, Ikarus… would you kill someone for her?"
"Yes."
"Someone completely innocent?"
"Yes."
"Would you burn everyone in the world alive for her?"
"Yes."
"Would you venture into hell for her?"
"Yes."
"That's wonderful!" Lie squealed, "So amazingly wonderful!" She rushed forward and grabbed Ikarus' hands, pressing them together. "You truly are an interesting person, Ikarus. You can have my eyes, and be my proxy for the world!"
"But…" Ikarus knew it would be blasphemous to deny the offer of a Goddess, but he still didn't care. "Recca is gone."
"I could help you fix that," Lie whispered.
Ikarus' eyes immediately shot wide open. He felt the strength surge back into his body upon hearing Lie's words.
If there was even the faintest chance of bringing Rebecca back, he would have to hear her out.
"Help me?" Ikarus scrambled for words. "Save her?"
"Yes, that's right. I'll be right there with you." Lie giggled, "Hehe. We can both go save her. But only if you accept my deal. If you decline… well, you'll end up meeting a fate similar to hers soon enough."
"I can… save Recca!" Ikarus shook his head, trying to comprehend the thought. He looked back at Rebecca's corpse— this time, without feeling any sense of disgust. A hopeful smile crept across his face.
His body was covered in dust, grime, filth, and blood. But he was willing to be covered in anything for Rebecca.
There was a chance he could save her. And with The Goddess' backing, nobody would dare to get in their way.
They would be free.
"Okay," Ikarus hurriedly agreed, vigorously nodding his head.
Lie cupped the boy's cheek, showing an expression similar to pride as she cocked her head to the side. "Good boy," she spoke softly, "You made the correct choice. But now… we have to swap eyes."
Slowly, her long slender fingers inched across Ikarus' face.
"This will hurt. But then, after a while, it will feel really good."
Then, a wet crunch echoed across the frozen forest. Ikarus bit his lip hard enough to draw blood as chunks of flesh dropped to the ground, covered with a thick coating of crimson-red blood.
The two spherical masses of his eyes plopped down next, falling between the kindling and rolling softly on the damp earth.
Lie let out a pleased hum as she brought her blood-stained arms back toward her own face. "It will only be a moment, now…" she reassured, another crunch echoing out across the forest.
Ikarus felt his body go numb as he lost his vision. The sensation of having his eyes torn out was something incomprehensible.
That was when Ikarus realised— not being able to see is completely different to seeing only darkness.
Without his eyes, he couldn't even see the dark.
Then, he felt Lie's cold hands grasp his face once more. She fiddled around with the bloody ruins of his eye sockets, as she manually inserted her own eyes into the empty holes on Ikarus' face.
She rolled around the pupils with her thumbs, fixing them in place with a final shove. The eyes sat still in their respective sockets for a short moment, before a faint white glow began to emanate from where they contacted the mutilated skin.
Then, Ikarus felt his skin begin to rebuild itself. Cells stretched out in miniscule tendrils, interlocking like woven fabric to fashion perfect eyelids, accompanied by silver eyelashes that glinted off the moonlight.
"Perfect…" She grinned widely, "Oh, come on. Don't worry about me. I can see just perfectly fine, you know?" She pressed a finger against Ikarus' chest, "Through you, of course."
Then, like a mirage, her body began to disperse into the air.
"G-goddess!" Ikarus stammered out, widening his new-found eyes at Lie's disappearing form.
"Don't worry…" her voice spoke out from Ikarus' mind "...I'll be taking the reins for a bit."
Then, time resumed as if nothing had happened. The torch-bearer approaching Ikarus stopped in their tracks as they witnessed the boy's transformation: his hair was growing at an alarming rate.
Once black and nape-length, it now flowed down to his lower back. Even his eyes, which had been the same midnight-black as his hair just moments ago, were now a deep crimson— the colour of blood.
"What?" The head cultist suddenly stood up, his hands hovering awkwardly by his sides. "What is the meaning of this? Burn the boy, damn it!"
"But… Father." The torch-bearer hesitated. There was an ominous air around the boy. It was something that made the flames weaker. Something unsettling— either divine or unnatural.
"Show me your faces." The voice that spoke wasn't Ikarus'. It was a feminine voice, and a mature one at that.
The cultists' formation readily shattered upon hearing the voice speak. It wasn't Ikarus who was talking.
The voice carried divine authority. It spoke from a higher status.
That could only mean one thing.
"Goddess…" The head priest reverently whispered, before throwing his hands high up into the air and shouting. "Our Goddess has arrived!" He quickly knelt to the ground, not minding the muddied state of his robes.
The fire-bearer quickly released the restraints on Ikarus' body, before snuffing out their flame and taking to the ground alongside their comrades.
Ikarus' possessed form softly found footing on the mud.
His calves were torn up and profusely bleeding from his earlier movements, yet he walked around as if the concept of pain itself was non-existent.
"Show me your faces," He spoke again— eying the head priest, who had his head cowered in respect. "Show it to me, you."
The head priest slowly brought up his head, pulling his robe to reveal a pale, balding face ringed by a patch of graying hair.
His nose was short and stubby, and his front two teeth were missing. Tears were already beginning to well around the corners of his eyes.
"Goddess…" He whispered once more. Just in front of him, the being that he had worshipped his whole life - the being that he had devoted his existence to - had taken form in the body of a young boy, destined to be sacrificed.
This had to be fate.
The Goddess had descended to the mortal plane and taken the body of a slave to congratulate them. To thank them. Perhaps, she would even bless them once again. Even when contained in such a lacklustre vessel, she was a sight to behold.
"It is such an honour…" the head cultist fought back his tears, "to see you, My Goddess." His comrades went silent as he spoke. "We have spent countless centuries in your servitude… and never had we thought the day would come where we get to see—"
"Your face is ugly." Ikarus' hand reached out and clamped onto the head priest's face. His fingers dug into the older man's skin, watching as his eyes bulged to the point of bursting between the arched lengths of his fingers.
"Mmf!" The headpriest yelled out, but his voice was muffled against Ikarus' palm.
CRUNCH.
Ikarus pulled back his hand, wiping off the blood on his tattered rags as the head priest's faceless body flopped down onto the ground.
The other cultists watched with their mouths agape. Some even started to run. Lie couldn't help but think it was ironic.
"You offer me sacrifices without batting even a single eye… then you see one of your measly comrades die, only to turn tail and run like cowards?"
Ikarus took a step forward, clenching his fist as a maniacal grin stretched across his youthful lips. "Hehe… I'm just going to kill you all."