(凝望! Stare at the sky - Rond!)
*** ***
A golden word was formed on the back of the head of the man named Rond, with a cloud word next to it dissipating. Without delay, Rond tilted his head back a bit, and faced the sky.
Ron : "... Wha? What?! What's going on? I... I can't turn my eyes!"
Rond desperately tries to turn his head to face down, but even when he did, his eyes are still fixated towards the sky. His body's natural attempt to attain comfort caused his head to look back up after his meaningless struggle.
Katachi slowly walked towards the man, trapped in one of the most ridiculous positions ever.
K : "You are a despicable man, Rond."
Ron : "Wha!?"
Rond's voiced was panicked, but because his face was facing the sky, one would have to be flying to see his expressions.
K : "Did you think that nobody would notice what you did? I've seen you enjoy humiliating your children, your wife, other women, even the officials that visit this village. Since you like humiliation that much, I'll teach you the ultimate humiliation."
Ron : "Ul... Ultimate humiliation...?"
Cold sweat poured down his face to the back of his head. Rond gulped his saliva down. Because the wind passage was shaped awkwardly, when his throat muscles compressed, a loud gulping sound was heard.
Ron : (He, he knows what I did... Crap!)
K : "Yes. The ultimate humiliation."
Katachi's solemn voice only caused the nails securing Rond's sanity to loosen even further.
K : "If you've ever heard of dying face down as a humiliating way to die, then this will be several thousand times worse. You will look up at the sky for the rest of your existence."
Ron : (Look up at the sky...? ... !!! I can't look down!?)
Ron : "What- What sorcery is this!? I... I can't look down! Is this... Is this witchcraft?!"
K : "No, Rond. What you are experiencing is an effect from an absolute power."
Ron : (Absolute power...!)
K : "You can ask a million questions about what happened, but you can't dispel it with normal magic anyway. You might as well give up on trying that."
Rond's nervousness quickly turned to anger.
Ron : "LET ME GO, YOU MANWHORE!!! I'LL KILL YOU AND HANG Y- AGHGACK~!"
Under normal circumstances, that would have been screamed normally. However, Rond's head was still facing the sky, so when he tried to force his breath out the compressed wind passage...
Ron : "BAHUGH, AHUGH, AHUGH!!"
He could only cough with excruciating pain.
K : "It's futile. You should shut up and just listen. Better to fear what is known than fear what is unknown."
Katachi's voice was resolute; It resounded through Rond's head.
Ron : (This... This man... !?)
A string of white cloth, normally used for bandaging, entered his vision, and disappeared.
More appropriately, the white cloth was looped over his head, and forced between his mouth and tied securely at the back of his head to shut him up. Rond had tried to struggle, but for some reason, he could not move his body at all.
K : "You shall look up at the sky forever."
Rond shuddered at that one sentence.
K : "You are not allowed to sleep. The only way for you to rest is by closing one eye, and alternating between the eyes while you stare at the sky. When you wake, your eyes will always look at the sky, so getting up normally or turning your body to get up on your arms will just snap your neck. As a fair warning and an act of mercy, here is my advice - never sleep without facing up."
As Katachi continued speaking, the lucid images were printed into Rond's mind. There was nothing to distract his sight except the moving clouds, which made the imagination that much more vivid and realistic, that he had wished he never imagined it.
K : "When it rains, you are not allowed to take shelter. Because your eyes have to look at the sky, you will not be able to hide under trees, nor enter houses or buildings. Not even walking under a bridge is allowed. Even in your deathbed, you will always look up. If you want to see people, you need to have them look down on you, at you, to speak to you - Just as you have looked down on others."
The images of his wife and children looking down at him to talk to him entered his mind.
Ron : (No... No more...!!!)
Rond tried to move his hands over his ears, but he could not.
Had he been able to look down, he would have been able to see the golden word 定 placed on his clothes, which was responsible for his fixated position.
That was the ultimate inconvenience of not being able to look down.
Rivers and lakes, sharp rocks, tools lying on the floor, and hazards of the like could not be avoided without aid, usually received from the eyes. People often looked at others in the eyes when talking as a form of respect, but it was now not possible unless he's being looked down upon.
Looking at the sky, Rond's mind was cleared, only to have these images burned into his consciousness and consolidating the fear of the unknown within him.
K : "And here is the worst bad news for you - I am leaving in a few hours, Rond. That means that unless you convince me otherwise within these couple of hours, I will leave this place without undoing this effect. It will become permanent - Even if you die."
His fear turned into desperation.
Ron : "No, please... Please!... Let me go..."
Had it been a God like Segus, his prayers would have been answered. But the cries of the sinned are unheard in Katachi's ears, as he walks away from the man with the stolen pouch and sack of food.
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