Chapter 13....Eye Beyond.
BOOM !
A sound that did not come from the sky but came from everywhere.
RUMBLE!!!
The wall and the air trembled. Even Echo's bones trembled. For a single terrifying instant, every warrior on the Outer Wall forgot the Crawlers.
Even the wind itself seemed unwilling to move.
His heart started pounding violently....THUMP!! THUMP!! THUMP!!
Echo dropped to one knee. Because something worse had appeared. The fractures above the horizon open wide silently.
No explosion. No roar. Nothing. That was what made it terrifying.
Beyond the fractures...Something was there
Watching not a creature or shape. It was just...
Presence, ancient , patient and aware.
Darkness leaked through them not blackness ,something deeper that made blackness seem bright.
Echo couldn't look away nor could breathe ,his eyes were locked on the opening forcefully as if his eyes cant look away.
Suddenly, a heavy and ancient pressure settled over the battlefield. And as if the pressure is watching.
The Fractured Crawlers immediately reacted.
Hundreds of them lowered themselves. They where not attacking nor screaming.
They where submitting!!, Elsa's face changed upon realization.
For the first time since Echo met her... She looked afraid.
"Impossible..." Echo heard her whisper.
"What?" he asked, She didn't answer.
Far above the wall, inside the fractured sky, a presence moved, not a full body, but the more you stare the more you realize is a silhouette that is too large to comprehend.
Those who have low cores cant withstand their eyes but some few could stare but not long.
Echo tried to focus on it but his vision blurred. The thing seemed both near and impossibly distant.
Like it existed somewhere else while still staring directly at him.
Then all of a sudden his core pulsed....
Once. The pressure intensified. The silhouette stopped moving and turned its attention .....
Echo felt it. The thing had noticed him not the wall, not the warriors ,not even elsa but him.
A chill crawled through his body. "No..." The word escaped before he even realized it.
His core contracted violently and pain
exploded through his chest.The pain made echo dropped to both knees.
Cracks of pale light spread beneath his skin that was not frequency light , not even red or blue but something else and unfamiliar.
Around echo warriors start to turn one after the other . Several stared at him and one pointed.
"What is that?" Another took a step back.
"His core..."
Then....His core pulsed.
The sensation hit him like lightning.
"Agh!"
Elsa noticed and immediately moved in front of him. "Nobody should move." Her voice cut through the chaos.
The warriors hesitated trying to do what is needed but they where confused.
Another pulse erupted from Echo. This one was stronger than before. And the fractures in the sky responded.
They expanded and the giant the presence shifted.
And then....It smiled not with a mouth or with lips. But It was as if reality itself bent into the shape of a smile.
RUMBLE!!!.
The entire wall shook and several warriors screamed in fear.
One barrier shattered instantly and a distant tower collapsed.
Then the crawlers began screeching again but this time not in attack but in worship.
Then suddenly thier approached changed because every Fractured crawler on the wall suddenly shrieked.
SCREEEEEEEEE....
The scream was so powerful that the stone beneath their feet cracked. Several initiates collapsed instantly.Blood flowed from their ears.
"Defensive formations!"
"NOW!"
Golden barriers erupted across the wall and
warriors raised their shields in defense.
Archers suddenly unleashed their glowing arrows without hesitation.Making thier first move.
The battle exploded into motion. The Crawlers charged forward with full force as if rejuvenated.
Hundreds of them in unition. Their limbs tore across space itself.
Reality bent wherever they stepped.
A vanguard warrior leaped forward with swift motion.
His sword erupted with blue frequency....
One swing, then ..... Three Crawlers died instantly.
Another took their place. Then another.
Then ten more.
Echo stared.
The swarm wasn't ending.
It was growing.
The cracks above were still opening
Sigh!!!
Elsa's blood ran cold because she suddenly remembered something...
A story...an ancient warning recorded only in the Night archives.
A warning most believed was a myth. "It started:"...
"When the Fracture recognizes one below...
The Swarm will kneel.
The Wall will tremble.
And the Forgotten will begin to awaken."
Her eyes widened. "No..." The words escaped her lips.
Echo looked up and felt pain filled his chest. His mind was filled with confusion. Fear filled his heart.
But one thought drowned out all others.
But as for echo ...Why is it looking at me?
And beyond the fractures...
Something began pushing its way through .