Chapter 34 – The Eye That Watches
Scene One: The Whispering Core
The core chamber lay in silence.
Damaged, cracked, and dim, the once-pulsing heart of Aflety Academy was barely holding on. Mages worked tirelessly to stabilize its energies, but Evan lingered beside it, his hand hovering above the wounded crystal.
Something was still there.
Something ancient.
It had spoken to him—not in words, but in a raw, primal whisper that slithered into his thoughts during the battle.
"The Watcher sees you."
He didn't know what it meant, but he couldn't forget the feeling: something older than the Beast Gods, something outside the realms of beasts and bonds. Not divine. Not mortal.
Lilith approached, her robes torn, her phoenix resting beside her, feathers dull with exhaustion.
"You heard it too, didn't you?" she asked quietly.
Evan nodded.
"It wasn't from this world."
Scene Two: Council of Truth
Later that night, in the highest tower of the Academy, Evan, Lilith, Tessa, and several other top-ranking students were summoned by the High Council of Aflety.
Among the council sat beasts in humanoid forms—Ancient Ones, long bonded to the Academy's founding.
Chancellor Aeris, an elf of silver skin and golden eyes, stepped forward.
"This was not just an attack by the Black Nest," she said gravely. "This was a declaration."
"They took the Archmage," growled a dwarven elder, his beard flickering with flame.
"Worse," added another. "They awakened it."
Everyone turned to Evan.
He didn't flinch. "The core isn't just a source of power, is it?"
"No," Aeris confirmed. "The core was placed atop a seal. An ancient one, predating Aflety. A prison for something that should never awaken."
Lilith shivered. "The Watcher."
"Exactly."
Scene Three: Dreams of the Forgotten
That night, Evan didn't sleep. Or rather—his body slept, but his mind drifted.
He stood in a realm without sky. A barren, endless plain. At the center was a throne made of bones and broken beast stones. Upon it sat a figure.
Not a god. Not a man.
A Watcher.
It had no face. Just infinite eyes.
When it turned toward Evan, reality bent. His skin crawled. Nex growled inside his bondspace, terrified. Even divine-ranked beasts bowed before this being.
"You are… new," the Watcher said in a voice made of breaking stars.
"Why are you here?" Evan demanded.
The Watcher's many eyes blinked slowly.
"To remember."
"To judge."
"To awaken what slumbers."
Then Evan saw glimpses—visions flashing before him:
—A war between beasts and celestial beings.
—A god beast chained in the center of the world, screaming.
—A young man holding a dying Basilisk, tears burning holes in the world.
And then darkness.
Scene Four: The Morning After
Evan awoke covered in cold sweat. His palm ached—sigils burning across it. Not from Nex. From something else.
The Watcher had marked him.
He didn't speak of it to the others, not yet. But as he looked at the Academy's broken spires and the rebuilding effort under way, he knew one thing:
The trials, the tournaments, the rivalries—those were no longer the true threat.
Something deeper stirred beneath this world.
And now it had seen him.
And remembered his name.
[End of Chapter 34]