The First Elder's Gaze.
Chapter 22
"Varkhûn. That's enough."
The voice did not shout.
It did not need to.
The moment it echoed through the coliseum, reality itself seemed to bow.
Every enforcer dropped to their knees.
Every adult followed.
Even the children-confused, trembling-knelt instinctively, as if their bodies remembered a law older than thought.
Eidolon didn't.
His eyes widened as his gaze was dragged upward-forced-toward a section of the coliseum he hadn't noticed before.
There, seated apart from the rest...
Four more old men.
They sat like monuments carved from calamity itself. Each presence was different-one cold like an endless grave, another heavy like a collapsing star-but all of them shared one thing in common:
They were monsters.
The voice echoed again, calm and absolute.
"It is time we begin."
Eidolon's breath hitched.
Then something else caught his attention.
Wait...
His eyes drifted back to the one who had spoken.
A black cloak.
And stitched clearly upon it-
The number 1.
Eidolon's heart skipped.
I was so terrified... I didn't even notice.
His mind raced.
If Varkhûn is Number Five...
His throat went dry.
Then that means-
Before the thought could finish-
An eye opened.
Not physically.
Not visibly.
Yet it was there.
Vast.
Ancient.
Endless.
It felt as if a colossal beast had turned its gaze upon him, peeling back layer after layer of his soul. Eidolon's body locked up, every instinct screaming as that gaze studied him-not with anger, not with curiosity-
But with understanding.
Like it already knew what he would do...
Before he ever thought of doing it.
Eidolon couldn't breathe.
"Tsk."
Varkhûn clicked his tongue.
"Be thankful, boy," he said coldly.
Then-
He vanished.
No distortion.
No flash.
No sound.
One heartbeat he stood before Eidolon.
The next, he was seated-perfectly composed-among the others.
The Fifth Elder.
Five monstrous old men now sat together, each one radiating an authority that crushed the air itself.
The First Elder spoke again.
"Rise."
At once, everyone stood.
Then, as if pulled by invisible strings, they sat back down.
Everyone-
Except the children.
And Eidolon.
They remained standing.
Frozen.
Dumbfounded.
Eidolon's legs trembled, his mind blank, his heart pounding so loud he was certain the elders could hear it.
The First Elder's gaze lingered on him just a moment longer.
Unreadable.
Then-
"So this is the boy."
The words were quiet.
But they felt like a verdict.
And Eidolon knew-
Whatever was about to "begin"...
There was no escaping it.
...