The Eye

Cicadas, the whining sounds of many bugs slammed into the ears of Ageis, making his eyes fly open. Heaving he took looks around himself, to only see- red.

It wasn't just a shade nor a simple filter of red. It was a deep Crimson that covered his sight. Blood red, a red that held his eyes hostage leaving him to only feel the sensation of the ground. Red was everywhere, so much red that not a single shape could be seen. His eyes tried to look to the left, then the right, to above himself, to the ground but all he could feel was his head turning about.

"Ah- Ahhh!"Ageis screamed in terror, trying his best to rub the red from his sight, however nothing changed.

Terrified, Ageis began to thrash about. Rubbing his eyes, spitting in his hands and rubbing them but nothing changed it. He couldn't stand it, his breathing was erratic, heaving in and out like a madman.

He tried to control his breathing, remembering the exercises his father taught him during their morning routine.

"In...out...in...out.." He spoke to himself, trying to soothe his nerves.

His gaze was still red, he needed to remember why.

"I remember playing hide n seek with everyone- and then we found that cart!" He rocked himself, still breathing deeply and exhaling.

Ageis tried to do his best to remain still unsure of what was going on. His heart pounding like a wild drum , leaving him with the panicked notion that perhaps he would always stay like this. The sound of cicadas wouldn't die down, keeping him on edge as the sound grew louder the longer he panicked.

"Th-then, Lodulf found that box. That's right and then, and then that light!" He muttered.

Sting!

Like a whip cracking along his eyes the red suddenly ripped away from his eyes. Leaving black outlines of his environment, slowly the red color that saturated his sight lessened from the thick red to now a fried vision of his environment. Now being able to make out his environment, he noticed that he was no longer in the forest.

Looming tall structures surrounded Ageis, as the many different buildings in his sight seemed to slant dangerously around him. Almost ready to cave in on him- he acted on pure instinct, rolling out of the enclosed slant of buildings.

Crash!

His instincts saved him, the buildings that surrounded him all collapsed in a powerful rumble. With his sight gradually coming back, Ageis knew he had to get out of wherever he was.

Stumbling to his feet, Aegis fumbled over what he could barely make out to be stairs. Tripping as he could hear consecutive crashing from behind. One after another a rumble would echo from behind, all while the deep Crimson in his eyes faded to reveal the looming night town he was in.

"Wh-what is going on? Where am i?" Ageis exclaimed as he saw it.

Looking up into the sky, he saw a large agape hole above. Almost like a black hole, it emitted a single ring of red that illuminated the town with a ghostly white light. Nothing made sense, the buildings around him had unrealistic shapes and curves. Not even during his trip to Futris- did the buildings ever look like this. Spinning around on the single stair he stood on, he watched as the many collapsed buildings began to fade into black particles of nothingness.

Slowly that fading caught up to him. Not taking any risks he leapt from his stair to the next, running down the narrow street ahead. More buildings fell apart like dominos, fading into nothingness. Ageis was being chased. Terrified beyond belief, he ran as fast as he could. Wanting nothing more than to escape this horrible nightmare.

Thud!

Slamming into two towering wooden doors, Ageis felt pure dread. He was boxed in now, with nowhere to escape. Turning his eyes upwards he found the doors to be built with a strange metallic black color on what seemed like a wooden surface. It shined under the strange light from above, almost like the door was special in some way.Turning back to look at the fading town, he had no choice but to proceed. However the moment he did, a booming voice rocked his mind.

[As..me...s...rt..]

Words that barely made any sense shook his head, much to his own pain. He's heard it before, that's right just moments before he was consumed by the red light of that box! The same mechanical voice spoke to him. This time, the shock was harsh making him stumble back into the wall nearby.

"Gah!" He shouted in pain, until finally it lessened enough to let him proceed.

The fading was catching up, he had no time to waste. Clutching his head with his right hand, Ageis threw open the door with a twist.

Click!

The double doors swung open like a wild storm was happening. Revealing an empty and poorly lit room. Glancing behind himself, the faded red filter in his sight gave him enough to see that the vanishing town was right on his heels. With yet another leap, Ageis crashed into the room. Just barely making it.

"AGH!"Ageis tumbled onto the ground, rolling until he slammed into a shelf.

Crash!

Books scattered onto the ground as scrolls and other random trinkets fell. Ageis barely began to get up when he suddenly felt a haunting presence.

"Oh my, and here I thought you wouldn't make it Ageis." A dark, dreadful voice resounded from all sides of the room.

Standing immediately, his pounding head would reject any efforts he had. Being driven by his adrenaline, he forced what energy he had left to stay standing. Though, he wobbled, having run his hardest to get out of the vanishing town.

Ageis darted his eyes over the entire area, unable to see where the voice came from. It chuckled, in its deep raspy voice.

"Don't be afraid Ageis, you're safe now that you've made it here." The voice assured him.

However, this didn't convince him, making his eyes continue to search, pushing up against the rather dusty shelf, he trembled in fear.

"Hmm, that's fine Ageis. I don't necessarily need you to be relaxed to hear me anyway. After all, you did find me first." These words confused Ageis.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh? Don't you remember? You called for me, you came to me first. I simply answered your call." It spoke strangely, which gave Ageis a horrible feeling.

"I didn't call you! What are you talking about? Just who are you?"

"Oh, but you do know who I am Ageis and I know who you are as well." It spoke wickedly, only to further terrify the boy.

He grabbed his head, feeling the intense ringing. The sound of thousands of Cicadas would begin to pour into the room, rocking his mind into a jumble of thoughts.

"Who are you! Show yourself!"

"If you wish, but don't blame me for what happens boy." He cackled as a sudden rumbling began to shake the very foundation of the entire room.

Like an earthquake, shelves fell to the ground, books flung from their places and more parts of the strangely vast yet small room began to tear apart. Almost as though reality began to forcefully make room for what was coming. A single scaly tendril from above, shining like a red gem, began to move over to the collapsed Ageis, like his world was coming to an end. After one tendril, several others burst through the ceiling descending upon the young boy who watched helplessly. The shaking was endless, the ceiling tore apart, a massive force crept into the room and made its way towards Ageis. Finally, a single massive eye broke through the center of the ceiling revealing a set of yellow fangs around its edges. Crimson gem-like skin, long tendrils that reached within the room like roots, and finally a large dilated pupil peered into Ageis.

"Ah….ah….Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" Ageis screamed.

"Agii! AGII!" A motherly voice pleaded with the thrashing, screaming Ageis.

Breathing rapidly, Ageis was met with the look of concern from his mother. Her eyes horrified by the look of pure terror on his face, Ageis immediately teared up seeing his mother.

"M-momma!" Ageis hugged her immediately, bawling his eyes out.

She hugged him, looking back to his father who watched from the doorway with his arms crossed. His gaze was concerned, the pair watched their son endure 4 nights of sleep only waking up now after so long.

Ageis cried for what felt like forever, unable to calm down until his mom hummed him a lullaby and cuddled him close to her chest. Ageis' father kneeled over to his son, eyeing him as he reached to brush his hair off to the side.

"Agii, what were you doing in the Black forest? What happened to those men?" He questioned, giving him a stern yet concerned look.

His mother immediately glared at him.

"Jonas! Our son has been passed out for days! Can't your questions wait?" She rocked Ageis like he was a baby.

Ageis turned his eyes towards his father before casting them down to the ground. He knew he had to answer him.

"I...we were playing." Ageis spoke in fear knowing well he was in trouble.

A long sigh escaped the lips of his father, looking at his wife and then his son. Jonas knew that he had to give his son more time, especially after seeing him scream in terror a few minutes ago. It made it impossible for him to scold Ageis.

"I told you many times to not go in there," he rubbed Ageis' forehead with his thumb, only feeling love for him and glad that he was safe. "If we hadn't gone out to look for you and your friends, Lord knows what could have happened to you four."

Removing his hand from Ageis, who was covered in sweat, he rubbed his own nose bridge before swiping at his beard. Eloise looked at Jonas with worried eyes.

"As long as you're safe Ageis, but this doesn't mean you're not going to be punished. For now, rest up." He looked over to his wife, "Eloise, I will head out and put the animals in the barn." He grabbed his leather vest and stepped without another word.

Ageis knew his father was upset, looking at his mother who spoke before he could even ask.

"Your father was very worried about you, Agii. He stayed here by your side every night," Eloise stopped rocking him and cupped his cheeks into her hands.

Ageis turned his gaze to the ground, feeling extremely guilty for not listening to his father. However, his mother simply smiled and kissing his forehead gently.

"Don't do that ever again okay Agii? Now let's eat, I'm sure you're very hungry." Eloise laid him down gently.

Leaving the room, she began to prepare goat stew.

Ageis was finally calm, and began to think about the dream. Unable to remember anything past the creature descending towards him, Ageis shuddered, remembering the eye that pierced through his soul.

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