Tierrados saved me. The game revolved around fifty challenges that a player had to defeat in order to win. Some pay a lot of money to join, and just play for fun. Others, like me, get paid to play. We are advancing medical science by hundreds of years. A Tech had told me everything before bringing me to a submersion tank. We are the beginning of a cure that will fix all earthly disease.

I stood surveying my surroundings still. I could not stop looking. Tucked at the base of a hill was a mellow pond, whose surface was rested upon by delicate pink and white water lilies. Ducks quacked methodically, nipping at the reeds growing by the bank.

In the distance I could see something heading my way. It was too far to say for sure, but it seemed like it could be a herd of animals. In the center of the group was a tall figure; a man. He held a great piece of wood with a curved end. They were closer now, and I saw that the animals were sheep. I began to take my first steps in this new world, giddy to see my first human. In my mind I had an idea of what people looked like, but just as I had been wrong about the world, I assumed that I was very wrong about people. Before, the only way I could try to understand how people looked was by feeling the features of my sisters face.

The man was only twenty feet away now.

He seemed to be a great deal older than me. His shepherds skin was tanned a deep brown, and I felt that if I laid my hand upon his arm I would feel the heat from thousands of days spent under the sun on his skin. Covering his body was a long, scratchy looking robe. Its hem hovered an inch from the ground, making him look like a middle-eastern genie who just ran away from his lamp.

A blue cloth tied around his head made his eyes pop. I could not stop staring at his eyes. Eyes were something I had heard a lot about; how eyes are more than just a body part, they're an uncovered slice of our soul. In audio books, authors had described eyes in many different ways; autumn leaves, swimming pools of sadness, black coffee. I understood what they meant now. Eyes had depth. Eyes had feeling. Staring deeply into this man's eyes, I saw a lifetime of untold stories. There was something his eyes reminded me of that I'd just seen today. Those eyes were like the center of a black-eyed Susan, all darkness and silent knowledge in them.

"Who are you?" I asked, astounded after hearing how confident my voice sounded. The sheep, aware of their master coming to a stop, began to graze the hills. Dandelion stems crunched between their teeth. They wandered only as far as to the lake, sending the ducks flapping away angrily, hooting their discontent all the while. We stood staring at each other, regarding each other warily. It was growing darker all the while. His eyes became more intense along with the darkness.

"Hello Savannah, my name is Kaiti. Minion of Tierrados, greeter of new players, and shepherd of the Baykee Valley. The town of Stonewall is where you want to begin your first quest. Head there tomorrow at first light. I wish you the best of luck. If you ever need me, I will be out here grazing my sheep." His voice was monotone the entire time he spoke. None of his words held any trace of personality. It was as if someone had fed him alphabet soup and this was him regurgitating the alphabet.

"Whats a minion?" I asked.

"A minion is a human created by the Tierrados Game Programmers for a certain purpose, such as a street vendor or blacksmith."

I felt my mouth go dry.

"You aren't a real person?"

"No." He told me blankly. For all the monotonousness of his voice, I thought I saw a grimace light his face.

"Oh, well thank you for greeting me." I said, not quite sure what else to say. The man gave me an artificial smile, which looked quite ridiculous on the face of such a serious man. It was as if someone was controlling his actions, forcing him to smile while he battled unsuccessfully against it. He reached into his cloak, and I found myself involuntarily stepping backwards. This man wasn't real. Someone had programmed his entire existence. Anything could come out of that robe. All that came forth though was a small leather-bound book.

"A guidebook." He explained to me, thrusting his gift forward for me to take. "Read it tonight before going to Stonewall." With this, he bowed and turned away.

"Wait! I don't know where Stonewall is!" But the words had no effect on him. Kaiti kept on walking forward to some mysterious destination. I wondered what he did when programmers didn't force him to do something. Did he stand there silently, virtual sheep walking about him, his brown eyes blazing, silently cursing the control he was put under, waiting for the right moment to have his revenge..

But no. What he thought, and who he was, was whatever the programmers created. A bit sad, but to him there was nothing else but what was fed to him. He would only ever rebel if the programmers told him to rebel. He was a puppet.

I flipped through the pages of the book. There was nothing telling me where to go to be in Stonewall. The first challenge hadn't even started yet, and already I was lost.

The sheep down by the lake finally took notice of their shepherds absence and waddled off to form a circle around him. Kaiti left as quickly as he had come.

I sat on top of the hill, a strange mixture of overwhelming happiness and hopelessness. Everything would be okay, I told myself. As long as I had my sight, everything would be okay. My grumbling stomach didn't seem to agree though.

The sun along with all it's colors was gone now. In its place came the moon, grinning wildly like a rabid racoon. Stars were beginning to blink awake, hustling their way into position for tonight's show. I thought I hated the darkness. After all, for seventeen years my existence had consisted of darkness.  I had been scared for my first night here. My first night away from my family. My first real night in general, really. Now that it was here though, I was not afraid at all.

This was a different kind of darkness. It wasn't scary or empty, as being blind had been. Rather, this darkness was peaceful. Everything had grown quiet, listening to the orchestra of crickets commence their performance. The pond had transformed into a vault of stars and dreams. Whatever existed in the nights sky reflected dreamily on the ponds surface. I found myself brought to its shore.  As the wind set the water rippling, the stars and moon and darkness rippled along with it. I leaned over, and there, just like magic, I was.

At the first sight of my reflection I jumped back. That was me! That girl was me! I crept back like a jaguar drawn to a deer. I stared for a long time. The picture of the shimmering girl printed onto the ponds never-ceasing surface was me. What I saw was a girl with slightly elvish features; short, choppy brunette hair. Large intense eyes made of a deep green, like God had crammed as much green apples and kale into the Human blender as he could before flipping the "create" switch. My mouth was very small and birdlike.

Many minutes passed by where I sat, staring. After only a short time seeing, I made an inference. There are some things that have meaning beyond what they look like. There are some things, like the moon, the pond, and eyes, that have souls of their own. I was one of those things. I was more than just what I looked like.

I wonder what my sister looks like, if we look similar, or what my brothers and parents looked like. It was probable that I'd never know. Sight was only lent to me by the game. It was not a gift; I could not keep it. In eight months, when the trial ended, it would be gone.

Staring at myself in mother-nature's mirror, I made a promise. Eight months from now I would turn down my salary and ask, beg, to stay here instead. There was no way I would leave. If they wanted me to leave they would have to drag me kicking and screaming from the immersion box.

It would be more than enough to simply live out all my days here, wandering about and turning everything over with my eyes.