The Price

Ryan soon noticed something else was wrong.

He realized his body was starting to have issues.

At first, it was just a feverish heat. His forehead grew hotter and hotter, and his eyes began to sting.

Initially, Ryan thought it was just the physical toll of the battle he had just fought.

But after a few minutes, things took a turn for the worse. The surrounding Glory was still actively gathering toward him.

Even if he did nothing, they would drift over on their own.

And his body was being lit up, bit by bit, by these glimmers.

Ryan looked down at the back of his hand. The white light beneath his skin was becoming increasingly visible, even shining through his veins.

He reached out to press it, but the moment his fingertips made contact, a searing burn flared across his skin.

A small patch of skin actually split open.

Inside, there was no blood, only a wisp of faint white Glory.

Ryan's expression changed instantly. He immediately tried to forcefully suppress the Lantern's glow inside his body.

An intense throb of pain shot through his forehead, and a torrent of whispers flooded his mind once more.

But the Glory simply would not stop; they were far too active.

Particularly the Lantern's glow in the Wood—now, it would draw closer to him automatically upon sensing him.

Ryan finally realized he had absorbed far too much just now.

In the next second, a strand of Glory drifted over from the distance.

Just by drawing near, it caused a sharp, stabbing pain in Ryan's left eye.

He let out a cry of pain and clapped his hand over his eye.

A wet warmth immediately pooled in his palm. When he pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood—blood that shimmered with a faint white light.

Ryan's breathing turned ragged. He could clearly feel that his eyes were going into overload.

The essence of the Lantern aspect was knowledge and the Glory.

The more one absorbed, the closer their eyes and consciousness would draw to the Lantern.

But the human body simply could not withstand it. If this continued...

The first to go would be the eyes, then the brain, and finally, the entire body would be burned right through by the Glory.

Ryan immediately began to retreat toward the outskirts of the Wood, but the problem only worsened. He was too bright now.

The glimmers around him flocked to him like moths to a flame.

They kept throwing themselves at him, and his forehead grew hotter and hotter.

Ryan could even smell a burning scent.

He looked down and saw that his cuffs had actually begun to char. His skin temperature was terrifyingly high, and it wasn't just his body.

His mind was starting to unravel too. The Lantern lore in his brain was surfacing on its own.

He couldn't stop it at all; he began to continuously comprehend things.

Comprehending the ash on the ground, comprehending the Glory in the forest.

He even began to comprehend things he had absolutely no desire to know.

Why a certain tree had withered and died.

Why a certain patch of grey fog was denser.

He could even faintly sense what lay buried deep beneath the ground in the distance.

Knowledge was spiraling out of control.

Ryan finally panicked. He realized he could no longer stop thinking; his brain simply would not shut down.

The Lantern aspect was pushing him toward becoming something non-human.

By now, he could barely even feel fear.

That earlier rush of excitement was, in essence, another side effect.

The Lantern's glow would continuously intensify one's desire to know.

Luring them deeper and deeper into obsession.

Making them yearn to absorb more and more.

Until they eventually burned themselves to ashes.

Ryan stumbled and ran outward.

Blood poured continuously from his eyes.

His skin grew hotter and hotter.

Fine cracks were even starting to appear in some places.

White light leaked from the fissures.

He finally understood now.

Why so many extraordinary beings of the Lantern aspect eventually went mad.

Because this was simply not something a human could withstand for long.

The grey fog in the Wood began to churn.

Ryan forcefully pulled himself out.

In the next second, back in the attic, he snapped his eyes open.

He fell directly off the bed.

The floorboards shuddered.

Ryan lay sprawled on the floor, panting heavily.

His forehead was frighteningly hot, and his eyes throbbed with a pain so intense he could barely open them.

Trembling, he crawled over to the basin and plunged his face directly into the cold water.

A wisp of white steam actually rose from the surface of the water.

Ryan jerked his head up.

In the mirror.

A trace of faint white Glory still lingered deep within his left eye.

And it was slowly spinning.

Ryan whipped his head around to look at the window.

The small attic window still let in a bit of the afternoon's fading light.

The greyish-white sky pressed against the glass, and even that tiny bit of natural light filtering in caused another sharp sting in his left eye.

Ryan's expression changed instantly.

He rushed over and grabbed the old cloth hanging nearby.

He yanked the blackout cloth completely shut.

The window was completely blocked.

The attic plunged into shadow, and the burning sensation finally subsided slightly.

Ryan leaned against the wall, his breathing ragged.

Cold sweat drenched his forehead as he looked down at his hands.

Faint white patterns still lingered on the surface of his skin, especially on his fingers.

The cracks were slowly healing, but the process was agonizingly slow and painful, akin to new flesh growing over a burn.

Gritting his teeth, Ryan scooped up some more cold water from the basin and splashed it over his face.

The stinging lessened slightly, but his eyes still ached, particularly the left one.

Now, even the slightest proximity to a bright source would cause the Glory inside him to stir.

Ryan finally realized a severe problem: he was no longer just "touching the Lantern"—there was actual Lantern's glow inside his body now.

Even light in the real world would stimulate it.

The sun.

Gas lamps.

Even highly reflective glass would trigger a reaction.

He had only been exposed to that tiny bit of natural light by the window, and his eye had nearly spiraled out of control again. If he were to stand directly under the sun...

Ryan looked down at his palms. When they had made contact with the cold water earlier, his skin had actually hissed with a faint burning sound. This meant it was no longer just a mental issue.

His physical body was starting to be eroded by the Lantern's glow as well. The Lantern aspect was actively "remodeling" him.

Ryan slowly sat back down on the edge of the bed. The attic was now completely dark, with only a sliver of grey light filtering through the cracks in the walls, yet he could still see the entire room with perfect clarity.

Far too clearly.

The grain of the floorboards.

The dust in the corners.

Even the microscopic particles floating in the air.

He could see it all.

Ryan closed his eyes, but he could still "sense" them. The Glory was beginning to replace a portion of his normal senses.

A chill slowly crept up his spine. He suddenly thought: if this continued, would he eventually be completely unable to look at the sun?

Would he even be unable to live normally among crowds?

He remained silent for a long time, then slowly reached out.

He lit the kerosene lamp by his bed, just a tiny bit.

The flame was minuscule, yet the moment it sparked, Ryan's left eye immediately began to sting again.

A ring of faint white Glory even manifested around the flame. He quickly turned down the wick, and only then did the pain slowly subside.

Ryan cursed under his breath.

Now, he finally understood completely why extraordinary beings of the Lantern aspect became less and less human.

Because in the end, they couldn't even withstand "light" itself.

And the most troublesome part was...

This transformation was irreversible.

At least for now, Ryan had absolutely no idea how to resolve it.

Once the attic fell into absolute darkness, Ryan's condition finally stabilized slightly.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he gradually regulated his breathing.

The burning sensation on his forehead lingered, but it was no longer as intense as before.

After an unknown amount of time, Ryan suddenly noticed something.

The Lantern's glow inside his body was slowly dissipating.

It was very slow at first, but it became increasingly noticeable, especially in the dark.

The Glory would gradually disperse through his skin, cooling down bit by bit like dissipating heat.