Chapter 16: When The Eye Opens
The moment Chris whispered "Yes", the world blinked.
Time, for a breath, forgot how to move. The sound, color, and feeling of reality warped — like a song played in reverse while drowning underwater.
And then…
Darkness.
Not the absence of light, but a presence in and of itself. A conscious darkness, breathing, watching, curling through every crack of existence like ink in shattered glass.
It began slow — like twilight seeping in when the sun dips beneath the horizon.
Then it devoured everything.
The Sky Bled Black
"What is—?!"
"Deploy a barrier!! NOW!!"
"Chris, stop this—!"
The command center panicked. Mages screamed incantations, technomancers tapped frantically at runescreens, drones tried to ascend — only to fall, their frames twisted by unseen hands.
A dark tide rose from Chris's feet, licking the plains like lazy waves. But each inch it touched turned silent. No wind. No sound. No resistance.
Torrick threw a vial toward Chris — glowing azure, the essence of concentrated nullfire.
Crash!
The explosion bloomed blue fire across the field.
But when the smoke cleared, the fire simply... stood still. Suspended in air, unmoving — like a paused video, disconnected from time.
Chris turned his head slowly toward him.
Eyes glowing faintly now — no longer just human.
"You shouldn't have come here."
Ravenna raised her rifle, locking onto him, eyes narrowed. She fired nine times. Each bullet screamed with compressed mana meant to pierce dragons.
But the moment they neared Chris — they vanished, as if they never existed.
"Impossible..."
Madness Breaks Loose
The Eye pulsed — and with it, the earth trembled.
A shockwave rippled out, but not of pressure — it was emotion. Raw, unchecked, and ancient.
Those nearest fell to their knees, their minds unraveling from the inside.
Some screamed. Some laughed. Some curled into fetal positions whispering forgotten prayers. One soldier stared into the sky and gouged out his own eyes, claiming he saw "the mirror of himself" looking back.
And in the center of it all — Chris stood, unmoving, as if untouched by the maelstrom.
"This world has always been broken," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
"You burn children in laboratories. Starve cities for coin. Smile while lying through bloodied teeth. And call me the anomaly?"
He stepped forward.
With every step, the darkness expanded. Reality strained. Magical formations crumbled without ever being touched.
Enderson charged with his blade infused in Solar Art, roaring with battle fury.
"You think you're righteous?! I'll put you down!"
Their clash never happened.
As he neared, a black tendril emerged from the Eye, almost lazily — and simply stopped him mid-air.
Time paused around Enderson. Then — the space he occupied collapsed, folding inward like crushed paper.
Gone.
Not dead.
Not erased.
Unmade.
The Eye Awakens
The sky cracked.
Not metaphorically — it literally cracked, like glass fracturing under heat. Thin white fractures laced across the clouds, revealing a void behind it. Something older than the stars... something watching.
The Eye above Chris had grown — not in size, but in depth. Looking into it now was like gazing into an abyss that blinked back.
And it was no longer alone.
Dozens of them formed — floating in concentric orbits behind him, each varying in design.
Some shaped like animal irises. Others spiraled infinitely. One looked like a kaleidoscope of memories. Another showed someone's childhood. Another showed a funeral.
They were not just eyes.
They were truths.
Each eye was a memory, a world, a law, a truth that had been denied or buried.
Chris finally looked up, for the first time since the chaos began. He turned his gaze behind him, to the constellation of floating eyes.
"So this is what you've hidden from the world..." he whispered.
One of the eyes blinked.
A voice, deep and layered with thousands of tones, echoed not through the air — but through the soul.
"Bearer of Desire.
Child of Dual Realities.
Do you reach for Dominion?"
Chris stared, hand trembling slightly.
"...I reach for answers."
"Then you shall have all of them.
But know — the price is that there will be no turning back."
He hesitated.
Then slowly, he raised his hand to the skies.
His fingers reached toward the largest eye — a massive, spinning black iris surrounded by white flame-like lashes. It loomed like a second moon.
"I've walked two lives, and I've seen every color of the human soul."
"If this world wishes to call me a monster..."
"Then let them build a god to stop me."
His hand touched the void.
The eyes opened. All of them.
And the world—
Screamed.