Iris slowly moved backward, paying close attention to the eye, trying not to alarm it or lose focus on where it was. At the same time, Iris began creating a shield, a shield strong enough to break a tree while being as translucent as possible.
The creature continued looking at Iris, narrowing its eyes and simultaneously making its iris appear that of a goat, its pupils becoming a darker shade of yellow while the sense of bloodlust remained.
Iris crawled backward far enough to have time to create a shield without the worry of a sudden attack. She felt sweat rolling down her forehead, her arms shaking as she began; she was now more desperate, as Apaturas's cocoon was in the open without any sort of protection.
Iris finally succeeded in creating the shield; however, it isn't as translucent as she wanted it to be, having a light, eye-catching green light. Iris, looking at her shield, felt it stronger and the gaze lower for a second, then back at her.
I noticed, why did my shield have a light? Why can't I do anything right? Is this my end? Why was I given another chance?
The eye blinked, then finally revealed its body. Illuminated solely with the specter moonlight, Iris could see its body. A massive floating ball, at the center of an eye, its body appearing to be covered by a thick layer of skin.
It stared blankly at Iris; the goat's eyes terrified Iris; she had never seen such a terrifying creature. A creature to instill fear by just looking at her.
Swoosh
The creature opened its wings, revealing the terrifying image of many eyes with many different shapes and colors inside its wings, all staring at Iris.
Iris trembled to see all the eyes staring at her. She thought she was accustomed to having many eyes looking at her with many conflicting emotions being shown in their gazes; however, nothing could have prepared her forever seeing many eyes all looking at her with the same bone-chilling gaze.
The eyes in the middle began to open one by one, having a total of six eyes in its body. All of the eyes are staring at Iris with the same gaze. No one-eyed repeatedly; they all had different pupils and corneas, shapes and colors she never thought were genetically possible.
Then a large eye opened where Iris expected its mouth to be; she felt petrified and confused after seeing how it had no color and shape; it was a blank canvas waiting to be painted.
The creature floated to where Apatura was located, leading Iris to involuntarily get up and charge towards the creature, preparing to launch her shield directly at the creature's back to try to kill it before it does anything to Apatura.
Iris saw the creature get uncomfortably close to Apatura. "Get away from Apatura," Iris screamed at the top of her lungs, running and flinging her shield at the creature.
Slash
The creature looked back at Iris, its blank eye having the shield inserted; a light blue liquid slowly came out the longer Iris stared at the creature.
The creature took out the shield, the eye healing immediately. Iris's eyes widened seeing the once blank eye transform into that of the color of her shield and the cornea becoming the shape of her shield.
The creature turned around, grabbing a piece of the unicorn's meat. Suddenly it opened its piranha-like mouth, transforming into a disturbing smile. Without moving a muscle, it began talking, "Who are you? You weren't invited?" The distorted voice echoed.
"..." Iris, too stunned to talk, began to walk backward.
"Don't you know I am the guardian? I keep the peace inside this forest." The voice deepened, becoming very hard to understand. Looking up and down at Iris, it said, "How are you still alive? You look too fragile to be here… It doesn't matter anyways."
"W-w-who—a-are–y-you?" Iris, stumbling on her words, whispered.
"If you attack me once again, I will kill you. I am only here for the unicorn's eyes. I am here for an unknown being. I am here to achieve balance." Its tone changes every sentence from deeper to higher.
Iris stared at Apaturas cocoon; she was scared that anything would happen to it. However, the creature is just looking at it without any emotions towards it.
Slurp
The newly formed eye began consuming the unicorn meat. Iris tried to speak but felt too afraid to speak up; she had a terrible feeling that if she tried to complain, she would not see another day. She decides to see all of her hard-earned meat be consumed, feeling powerless and confused.
After devouring all the meat, only leaving crumbs of the meat, it floated towards Apatura's cocoon, forcing Iris between defense and waiting for Apatura wouldn't be eaten.
The creature looked back at Iris, tightly closing its eyes with tears rolling down.
"I won't eat her. So be quiet"
Iris looked up and saw the creature leaving behind a bean-sized, seed-like object. Apatura's cocoon appeared intact; however, her freshly cut meat was not spared, leaving her again with nothing.
"What happened? My heart hurts; my legs are glued to the floor." Iris' heart tightened. Taking deep breaths, she tries to calm herself, but the scare is too much, leading her to smash her head to the floor.
Eventually stopping after seeing blood coming out. She falls on her back, seeing the moon now on top of her. Then, Grabbing her burning chest
"How long do I have to do this? Why am I always so scared!!" Iris screamed, grabbing the dirt and squeezing it in between her hands with all her strength. " I try and try!! Yet I always fail!! All due to me being scared!! I try to not be, but I can't!! I can't!! I can't! I can't." Iris' voice gradually decreased as she continued saying, "I can't," until it only became a second thought to her.