Chapter 11 The Eye in the Sky
The crimson eye stared down from the heavens; watching, searching, judging.
Vincent couldn't breathe. The moment its gaze locked onto him, every instinct inside him screamed.
Run, hide, survive.
The giant wolf standing before him had said the same thing, run.
Yet nobody moved. The clearing remained frozen.
Even the battle between the Executioner and the chained guardian had stopped.
Far beyond the shattered forest, silver and golden energy faded.
Both ancient warriors had turned toward the sky, toward the eye.
The giant wolf growled. The sound carried something Vincent hadn't heard before. Fear, real fear.
The heartbeat inside the Shadowlands echoed again.
BOOM!
The crimson eye narrowed. The sky itself seemed to darken. Clouds twisted unnaturally around it.
Lightning flashed through crimson mist. The entire world felt wrong.
The lead silver wolf dropped to one knee. Not in submission, in terror.
Several younger wolves began trembling uncontrollably.
The corrupted alpha stared upward with naked hatred. The giant guardian emerged from the broken forest. Its silver fur was stained with blood.
The Executioner followed moments later.
Neither looked at one another. Both stared at the sky. The guardian whispered a single word.
"No."
The silver-eyed being inside the temple spoke for the first time since the crimson eye appeared.
Its voice had lost all amusement.
"How did it find him so quickly?"
The question sent a chill through Vincent. It, not he. Not they, it. The thing in the sky wasn't a person.
The Executioner slowly lowered his sword. For the first time since arriving, he looked genuinely alarmed.
"We're out of time." The guardian snarled.
"You think I don't know that?"
The crimson eye blinked. The effect was immediate.
A pulse of red energy swept across the Shadowlands. Every wolf cried out, pain exploded through the clearing.
Silver wolves collapsed, corrupted wolves screamed, even the giant wolf staggered.
Vincent grabbed his chest. The pressure felt unbearable. As though something invisible was crushing his soul. Then it vanished.
The crimson eye continued watching, waiting.
The silver-eyed being inside the temple suddenly laughed. A bitter laugh.
"After a thousand years."
Nobody responded, the voice continued.
"It finally woke up."
The giant guardian turned toward the temple.
"What exactly is it?"
The question shocked Vincent. The guardian didn't know, neither did the Executioner.
The realization unsettled him. These creatures knew things nobody else did.
Yet even they were missing pieces. The silver-eyed being remained silent for several moments. Then it answered.
"Death."
The single word echoed through the clearing. The wolves froze. The guardian's face hardened, the Executioner's jaw clenched.
The voice continued.
"The first death."
The heartbeat thundered.
BOOM!
The crimson eye immediately shifted, Its attention sharpened.
Vincent felt it.
The thing wasn't merely watching anymore, It was listening.
The giant wolf moved instantly. Its massive body stepped between Vincent and the sky. Shielding him, protecting him.
The crimson eye brightened. The atmosphere became suffocating.
The giant wolf growled. The sound shook the ruins. The eye didn't care.
It continued staring directly through the giant wolf, directly at Vincent.
The heartbeat echoed again.
BOOM!
This time, Vincent saw another vision. A city; ancient, magnificent. Silver towers stretching into the clouds, countless wolves filled the streets; Laughter, music, life.
Then darkness descended. A crimson eye appeared in the sky, the same eye, the exact same eye. People screamed, buildings collapsed, blood covered the streets. The vision shattered.
Vincent staggered backward. His breathing became ragged. The city, the eye, the destruction.
It had happened before, long ago.
The giant guardian noticed his reaction immediately.
"What did you see?"
Vincent opened his mouth. Before he could answer, the crimson eye moved. The sky split apart, a crack appeared beneath it, red lightning exploded from the heavens. The bolt slammed into the distant mountains, the entire range vanished, just vanished. Reduced to dust. The clearing fell silent.
Nobody moved, nobody spoke.
A mountain range had disappeared. One attack, one casual attack.
Vincent felt his blood run cold. The giant wolf's expression darkened, the Executioner cursed, the silver wolves looked broken, the corrupted alpha whispered softly.
"It remembers."
The guardian immediately turned. "What?"
The corrupted alpha didn't answer immediately. Its eyes remained fixed on the sky.
"It remembers the throne."
The heartbeat echoed.
BOOM!
The crimson eye brightened. The throne behind Vincent erupted with silver flames, the response was immediate.
The eye focused entirely on it. On the throne, on Vincent.
The silver-eyed being inside the temple sighed.
"That's unfortunate."
The Executioner rounded on the temple. "Unfortunate?"
The voice sounded genuinely annoyed. "I was hoping for more time."
The giant guardian growled. "There is no time."
The silver wolves suddenly began howling. One after another, a warning howl. The sound spread through the forest.
Miles away, other wolves answered. Then more, then hundreds. The Shadowlands had become alive. Every creature was running, fleeing, escaping.
Everything except them. The giant wolf lowered itself slightly.
Its glowing silver eye fixed on Vincent.
"You must leave." Vincent clenched his fists. "I'm tired of being told to run."
The giant wolf blinked. Then something almost like pride appeared in its gaze. The guardian sighed heavily.
"He's definitely related to him." The Executioner actually laughed.
The sound surprised everyone, even himself.
The moment passed quickly. His expression hardened once more.
"You don't understand."
His gray eyes locked onto Vincent.
"For once, they're telling the truth." The sincerity in his voice caught Vincent off guard. The man who had supposedly killed the king, the man hunting his bloodline, the man everyone feared.
Actually sounded concerned. The contradiction made Vincent uneasy.
The crimson eye blinked again. A second pulse erupted, this one stronger. The giant wolf roared, the throne answered. Silver fire exploded skyward.
The heartbeat thundered.
BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!!!
The pulses came faster now. The throne was awakening, fully awakening.
The silver-eyed being went silent. The guardian looked horrified, the Executioner looked desperate.
And Vincent felt something changing inside him. The golden runes spread further across his neck, across his face, across his hands.
Ancient symbols burned beneath his skin. The giant wolf saw them. So did everyone else.
The lead silver wolf immediately bowed. Then every other silver wolf followed. The corrupted wolves hesitated, then lowered themselves too. Submission.
The entire clearing submitted, not because they wanted to but because they had to.
The pressure pouring from Vincent had become impossible to ignore. The crimson eye noticed, its pupil narrowed.
For the first time, it reacted.
The giant guardian saw it happen and went pale.
"Run."
The warning came again. This time from everyone; the giant wolf, the guardian, the Executioner, the silver wolves, even the corrupted alpha, all of them.
Run!
Vincent looked around. Confused, then he felt it. Something descending, something vast, something impossible.
The crimson eye wasn't just watching anymore, it was coming.
The crack in the sky widened, red light flooded the heavens, a gigantic shadow began emerging from the opening.
At first Vincent thought it was a mountain. Then he realized mountains didn't move.
The shape continued descending, larger, larger, larger.
The giant wolf's body tensed, the guardian looked horrified, the Executioner's sword trembled.
The silver-eyed being whispered softly.
"No..."
The shadow finally emerged far enough for Vincent to understand what he was seeing.
A hand, a colossal crimson hand.
Large enough to crush entire cities. Reaching down from the sky, reaching directly toward the Shadowlands.
Directly toward him, the giant wolf roared, the guardian exploded into silver light, the Executioner raised his blade.
The throne erupted, the heartbeat thundered.
BOOM!
And the gigantic hand closed around the Shadowlands.
