Alex jerked awake, unsure of how long he had passed out for. Hot water continued to rain down on him from above. He squinted at his surroundings, his eyes tingling and felt sensitive to the light. A Network window had popped up while he was unconscious, but his vision exploded into disjointed waves of color when he tried to read it. his brain and eyes felt like they were rolling in his skull, and he almost fell over, despite already being seated.

   Alex thought, not trusting himself to speak.

   Vi said.

  Hesitantly, Alex cracked an eye open, and his vision immediately began to swim with swirling colors.

  

  Alex roughly rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palms.

  Slowly, he opened his eyes again and tried to fight past the nausea and vertigo. He was staring at his hands, but his vision was a kaleidoscope of skin and blurry streams of every color imaginable. Alex slumped against the wall, forcing his eyes to stay open even though he felt like he was being sucked down a whirlpool.

  Stubbornly, he stared at his hands unblinkingly. He ignored the wave of colors that shimmered off everything as well as the tears leaking from his dried-out eyes. Finally, his vision stopped revolving, and the extra colors faded away until he had to concentrate to even notice them. Alex breathed a deep sigh of relief and blinked his eyes rapidly, scared that everything would start spinning again. Carefully, he raised his head. His vision wobbled, blue and orange swirled above him like burning ribbons before coalescing into a shower head.

  Curiosity overcame his nausea, and he stumbled to his feet. He touched the waterspout with shaky fingers, the coppery metal was smooth and hot underneath his fingers and he pulled his hand back before it could burn him. Alex relaxed his eyes and colored steam began to rise from the showerhead again, but this time his vision did not completely break down into swirling ribbons of different colors. Using his periphery, he looked around and noticed that streams of various colors were rising from every single surface like heat, vanishing as soon as he concentrated on a specific thing.

   Alex began slowly as he peered around the room.

  The screen he had dismissed earlier came back up but as soon as he looked at it his vision began to break down into prismatic light.

  “Nope, nope!” Alex said and closing his eyes as he reeled, barely keeping his feet.

  

  Alex rubbed his watering eyes, blinking rapidly until his vision came back into focus.

   he said stubbornly.

  He braced himself against the wall, spreading his legs to give himself a sturdier base and opened one eye tentatively.

  A twisting tornado of color filled his vision, but he fought through the vertigo, focusing on the display screen and willing all else to fade away. Slowly, as before, his vision returned to normal until there were barely visible whisps of color surrounding the screen, though it was denser, deeper than what was coming off the shower head.

  *****

  Ability: Asseverating Sight.

  Rank: Iron 0

  Progress: 0.0%

  Category: Perception, Dimension.

  Cost: None

  Cooldown: None

  Description: Eyes that pierce through illusions and darkness with revealing light, capable of seeing the truth of reality itself.

  Effect: You have gained the ability to sense and see magic.

  Effect: Your pupils have become much more malleable and improving your overall eyesight, spatial awareness, and night vision.

  *****

  Alex took in his surroundings with literally new eyes. Now that his visual senses weren't overwhelmed by the act of opening his eyes, he felt an instinctual knowledge of his new ability. It wasn't the kind of complete and comprehensive knowledge one could acquire through diligent research, but rather an inherent, instinctual knowledge one possesses when standing up and walking across the room. You don't consciously think about activating and tensing each individual muscle in your body as you rise to your feet. You aren't consciously thinking about maintaining your balance as you stand, or the precise adjustments required to avoid falling over as you take a step. You just did it.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Alex had a general understanding of the mechanics of his new ability, but he was unsure about its limits and the exact specifics. He understood that the colors emanating from every surface of the room represented the magic that permeated within. The air itself was thick with a pale, translucent violet shimmer. Each color seemed to represent a different type of magic – or perhaps a different aspect.

  Lost in his thoughts, Alex mechanically finished washing himself and turned off the water.

   Vi asked.

  Surprised, a guilty look flashed across his face as he dried himself off.

   Alex lied.

   Vi said. Her voice was more curious than accusing.

   Alex struggled to find the words that didn’t make him sound like a sulking child.

  A fresh set of clothes sat neatly folded on a small wicker table beside the bathroom door and he pulled them on. The clothes were soft, stretchy, and comfortable – though a little too small for him. The pants barely reached down to the bottom of his calves, and the shirt was tight across his chest and shoulders, the sleeves barely making it past his forearms. Alex shucked off the shirt, not wanting to risk tearing the fabric and shuffled over to the mirror.

  

   Vi said.

  Alex stopped, stunned.

  Then he remembered that his Army of One ability not only increased his strength, but boosted all his attributes, though he did not know what that meant exactly. How strong was he now? Alex debated on dropping down and doing pushups to see how many he could do before he got tired, but he pushed the thought away instead, not wanting to get sweaty right after showering.

   Vi asked.

  Alex wiped the fog from the mirror with his hand, but his response died on his lips when he saw his eyes. At first, he thought that it was just his vision going wonky again, but the swirling colors didn't go away. He practically headbutted the mirror as he got closer, thinking that it was just a trick of the light.

  It wasn’t.

  His previously light brown eyes were now awash with swirling colors of various shades and saturation. His prismatic eyes even gave off light, illuminating the mirror and the wall it rested on with a soft glow. At first, he thought that his pupils were completely gone, but as he leaned in his pupils dilated slightly, exposing a tiny, jagged vertical slash of black surrounded by a maelstrom of raging colors. Movement caught his attention in the mirror when a towel he had hung on the shower curtain rod fell to the ground. Before he knew what he was doing, the pupils of his eyes began to stretch out horizontally. The pupils changed from feline to bovine in less than a second, and another wave of vertigo set the room spinning as his field of vision widened to the point that he could see almost 360 degrees around him without moving his head.

  “Okay, that is pretty cool.” Alex said, smiling broadly.

  He focused on his reflection in the mirror again, and his pupils slowly changed back to normal – well, the new normal anyways – as his field of view constricted.

  Alex reached out and touched the small panel on the wall that controlled the overhead lights, plunging the room into what was supposed to be complete darkness. There were no windows in this room to let in outside light, but when he turned off the lights, he barely noticed the change. His eyes embraced the darkness like an old friend. He could perceive the shadows, but it like looking at the room through a subtly tinted window. He knew it was there, but it didn't hinder his vision. As he continued to scan the room, he noticed the light emanating from his eyes like a flashlight, with colors shimmering and bouncing off the walls of the small room, reminiscent of being underwater.

   The mere thought nearly left him dumbstruck.

  My new eyes. Cause apparently, People can casually pick up a new set of eyes now.

  

  It's a neat party trick, but he could see it drawing a lot of unwanted attention.

  

  Alex frowned and flipped on the lights; the eerie tint that filtered his vision disappearing instantly. So, his eyes didn’t need time to adjust to different levels of light, good to know.

  He finished up in the bathroom, cleaning up after himself so as not to leave a mess. Despite his initial disappointment, he was still in awe of his new ability. Even when he disregarded the transformation of his eyes, and the ability to see in the dark, he was shocked at how well his mundane vision had improved. Everything seemed so much more vibrant and pronounced. When he had first woken up here, he had marveled at his improved sight. But his vision had improved so much with this ability, that comparatively it was like lighting a candle after living in a dark room all his life. But as he stood there marveling at the light of the flame, a door bursts open and floods the room with brilliant, blinding, blistering sunlight.

  Even so, his vision randomly erupted with vibrant colors when he experienced sensory overload. Vi said that he would eventually grow accustomed to his new perception power, but he could get seriously injured if it happened at the wrong time. Belatedly, as he reached for the door, he had an obvious thought.