Then—something moved.
His breath caught in his throat.
A massive eye, the size of his entire body, snapped open within the void.
It was not human. Not beast. Not anything he could name.
It was watching him.
A guttural scream tore from his lips as he flung the crystal away, stumbling backward, his hands shaking violently. His panicked retreat sent a ripple of fear through the others, and instinctively, they all stepped back from the shard, as if it carried some lingering malice.
The crystal landed with a soft thud against the dirt, but no one moved to retrieve it.
For several moments, only the sound of ragged breathing filled the space.
Something had stared back.
And it knew they had seen it.
