Ayan remained frozen after the vision ended. The image of the eye refused to leave his thoughts. It wasn't merely large. Size wasn't what made it terrifying. The feeling that accompanied the memory was far worse. The eye hadn't looked hostile. It hadn't looked angry. It had simply looked aware.
That awareness unsettled him more than any monster ever could.
The bridge continued pulsing beneath his skin while the crimson doorway hung above the valley. Around him, nobody spoke. The figure remained staring into the darkness beyond the fracture, while the giant stood nearby with an expression that had become increasingly grim. Even Lucien seemed unusually tense.
The silence lasted several seconds before Aelira finally broke it.
"You've all seen it before."
The statement wasn't a question.
Nobody denied it.
The figure slowly lowered its gaze. "Yes."
A cold wind swept through the valley. The refugees gathered below the fortress walls had no idea what was happening anymore. Earlier, they had been terrified by the giant. Then they had feared the shadows beyond the doorway. Now they were watching ancient beings react with unease to something hidden deeper inside the fracture.
That frightened them far more.
"What is it?" Ayan asked.
The figure remained silent for a moment.
Then it answered.
"We called it the Watcher."
The name immediately felt wrong.
Not because it sounded dangerous.
Because it sounded too simple.
The giant seemed to reach the same conclusion.
"We never found a better name."
Ayan frowned.
"You mean nobody knows what it actually is?"
The figure laughed softly.
There was no humor in the sound.
"We spent entire ages trying to answer that question."
Its gaze drifted toward the crimson doorway.
"We never succeeded."
The bridge reacted.
Another memory surfaced.
Ayan found himself inside a massive chamber filled with researchers. The room looked similar to some of the facilities he had seen before, though considerably older. Countless screens displayed observations while scientists hurried between workstations.
At the center of the room floated a gigantic projection.
An eye.
The same eye.
The researchers appeared exhausted.
Some looked terrified.
Others looked obsessed.
A voice echoed through the chamber.
"Has it moved?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Then someone finally spoke.
"No."
The atmosphere somehow became even worse.
The memory shattered.
Reality returned.
Ayan inhaled slowly.
The bridge continued pulsing.
The figure noticed his reaction immediately.
"You saw one of the observation projects."
Ayan nodded.
The figure's expression darkened.
"Thousands of civilizations participated."
The valley became quiet.
"Thousands?" Aelira repeated.
The giant folded his arms.
"Everyone wanted answers."
The statement made sense.
Ayan would have wanted answers too.
The problem was that the answers apparently never came.
The figure looked toward the mountains.
"At first, people thought the Watcher was responsible for the End."
Its voice remained calm.
"They believed it was destroying worlds."
The king finally spoke.
"And eventually they realized it wasn't."
The conversation immediately captured Ayan's attention.
If the Watcher wasn't causing the End, then why was everyone so afraid of it?
The figure seemed to anticipate the question.
"Because it appears wherever the End reaches."
Silence followed.
The bridge pulsed.
Hard.
Ayan felt another memory rising.
This one emerged more slowly than the others.
He saw a world dying.
Not exploding.
Not burning.
Dying.
Entire cities faded from existence while oceans shrank beneath fractured skies. The atmosphere felt empty. Abandoned. Reality itself seemed to be unraveling.
Then the eye appeared.
Not physically.
Not completely.
Just watching.
The memory ended.
Ayan suddenly understood something important.
The Watcher wasn't attacking.
It was observing.
The realization should have been comforting.
Instead, it made everything worse.
Far beyond the silver fracture, the king stepped forward beneath the great tower. Silver light flowed around him while millions of citizens watched from the city behind.
"Did it notice us?"
The question immediately changed the atmosphere.
The giant looked away.
Lucien frowned.
The figure remained silent.
That silence lasted long enough to become an answer.
Eventually, the ancient being sighed.
"Yes."
The single word echoed through both worlds.
Nobody spoke afterward.
Nobody needed to.
Ayan felt cold spreading through his chest.
The bridge continued pulsing faster and faster.
The figure's gaze settled upon him.
"More specifically..."
Its expression hardened.
"It noticed the bridge."
The realization struck like lightning.
Ayan stared.
The bridge reacted violently.
Another memory surfaced.
A massive silver structure drifting through darkness. Endless pathways connected to it from every direction. Entire civilizations seemed linked through the network.
Then something happened.
The structure illuminated.
A signal.
The memory accelerated.
Far away, within infinite darkness, an enormous eye opened.
The vision shattered.
Reality returned.
Ayan's breathing became uneven.
The bridge trembled beneath his skin.
The figure closed its eyes briefly.
"That's what worries me."
The giant nodded.
The king remained silent.
Nobody looked surprised.
That meant they had already reached the same conclusion.
Ayan hated that feeling.
Everyone seemed to understand more than he did.
"What am I missing?"
Lucien finally answered.
"The bridge wasn't just a network."
His gaze remained fixed on the doorway.
"It was also a beacon."
The valley became silent.
Ayan felt the bridge pulse once.
Then again.
Then a third time.
The sensation suddenly felt different.
Not memory.
Not recognition.
Communication.
The realization terrified him.
Because for the first time—
The bridge wasn't showing him the past.
It was reacting to something happening right now.
The figure noticed immediately.
Its expression changed.
The giant noticed too.
So did the king.
Every ancient being present suddenly focused on Ayan.
The attention alone was enough to make his stomach tighten.
"What is it?" Aelira asked.
Ayan didn't answer immediately.
He couldn't.
The bridge continued vibrating beneath his skin while a strange sensation spread through his thoughts. It felt distant. Faint. Almost impossible to understand.
Yet one thing became painfully clear.
Something was looking for him.
The realization arrived slowly.
Then all at once.
The bridge wasn't broadcasting randomly.
The bridge was responding.
Ayan looked toward the crimson doorway.
Toward the endless darkness beyond.
Toward the place where the Watcher waited.
Then he whispered the only conclusion that made sense.
"It's searching."
Nobody spoke.
The figure's expression darkened.
The giant clenched his fists.
Far beyond the silver fracture, the king closed his eyes.
Because they all knew the question that came next.
Ayan swallowed.
Then asked it anyway.
"For what?"
The bridge pulsed.
And somewhere beyond the crimson doorway—
Something answered.