§*†~¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨~†*§
§§†††.¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨.†††§§
#@@§*††~.¨ ¨.~††*§@@#
@@@§*††~.¨ ¨.~††*§@@@
@*†~.¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨.~†*@
##@§*††~.¨ ¨¨¨†¨¨¨ ¨.~††*§@##
@§§†~~.¨¨¨ NAFTAKIN, THE BLIND ¨¨¨.~~†§§@
##@@§*††.¨ ¨¨¨†¨¨¨ ¨.††*§@@##
@@§§*††~.¨ ¨.~††*§§@@
#@@§*††~.¨ A STUDENT AT THE CHARCOAL GUILD... HIS ¨.~††*§@@#
#@@§*††~.¨ EYES SEWN SHUT FROM BIRTH... THE MOST ¨.~††*§@@#
@@@§*††~.¨ SUCCESSFUL STUDENT ¨.~††*§@@@
#@@§*††~.¨ ¨.~††*§@@#
#@@§*††~.¨ BUT ONE DAY HE FELL DOWN INTO A CRYSTAL ¨.~††*§@@#
##@@§*†~.¨ CAVERN. IT WAS DEEP IN THE MOUNTAIN, A ¨.~†*§@@##
@*††.¨¨¨¨¨ GREAT HALL WITH ONLY A SINGLE TINY ¨¨¨¨¨.††*@
@§†~..¨¨¨¨ INLET FOR BOTH LIGHT AND FALLING ¨¨¨¨..~†§@
#@@§*††~.¨ STUDENTS... ¨.~††*§@@#
#@@§*††~.¨ ¨.~††*§@@#
#@@§*††~.¨ IN THE FALL, THE QUARTZ SLICED OFF THE ¨.~††*§@@#
§**†~..¨¨¨ THREADS IN HIS EYES, OPENING THEM FOR ¨¨¨..~†**§
#@@§*††~.¨ THE FIRST TIME. BEFORE HIM, THE ¨.~††*§@@#
##@@§*†~.¨ CRYSTALS MIRRORED AND REFRACTED THE ONE ¨.~†*§@@##
@@@§*††~.¨ LIGHT SMIDGE INTO A WHOLE NIGHT SKY, ¨.~††*§@@@
@§*†~~.¨¨¨ AND HE WAS STRUCK DOWN WITH AWE ¨¨¨.~~†*§@
@@@§*††~.¨ ¨.~††*§@@@
§§†~¨¨¨¨¨¨ BUT ALSO WITH SHAME, BECAUSE HIS EYES ¨¨¨¨¨¨~†§§
#@@§*††~.¨ HAD SEEN. HURRIEDLY, HE USED THREAD ¨.~††*§@@#
@@**†.¨¨¨¨ FROM HIS ROBE TO SEW THEM BACK ¨¨¨¨.†**@@
§*†††~¨¨¨¨ TOGETHER, AND WHEN HELP CAME HE DID NOT ¨¨¨¨~†††*§
#@@§*††~.¨ TELL OF HIS TRANSGRESSION. ¨.~††*§@@#
§*†††.¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨.†††*§
§†~¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ FOR YEARS HE STUDIED AT THE GUILD. HE ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨~†§
@@*†~~..¨¨ BECAME A MASTER, AND THEN A PILGRIM. ¨¨..~~†*@@
@§§††~~¨¨¨ YET THE IMAGE FROM THE CAVE NEVER LEFT ¨¨¨~~††§§@
##@§*††~.¨ HIM. ¨.~††*§@##
@**††.¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨.††**@
§†††~...¨¨ AT THE END OF HIS LIFE, WHEN AT THE ¨¨...~†††§
@@@§*††~.¨ EDGE OF THE WORLD HE OPENED HIS EYES ¨.~††*§@@@
§****††~.¨ FOR A SECOND TIME, STARS HAD HATCHED IN ¨.~††****§
§†~~.¨¨¨¨¨ THEM... ¨¨¨¨¨.~~†§
#@@§*††~.¨ ¨.~††*§@@#
§*†††.¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨.†††*§
@@@§*††~.¨ ¨.~††*§@@@
@@§††~~¨¨¨ ¨¨¨~~††§@@
@@§*††.¨¨¨ ¨¨¨.††*§@@