Vol.1.C2 - The Eyes That See Everything

Vol.1C.2. The Eyes That See Everything 

☆THE EYE OF DISGUISE☆

Now that they could see the eye, the room didn’t feel right. Something was wrong. Horrendously wrong.

The atmosphere turned sharp and heavy, vibrating with a faint, sinister hum. 

It was as though those grotesque eyes carried an unseen presence with them.

Ryker got a notification on his phone:

“Isn't it nice being watched by those pretty eyes?”

It was from Noctelure.

His hands shook, and showed it to his friends, who felt a tremble in their souls as they read the notification.

He clicked it.

A chill crept through the room, sharp as a blade, prickling their skin. The vibrations grew louder.The lights flickered sharply, in erratic bursts, like they were warning them in some kind of morse code.

The rotten scent of decay mingled with the jasmine candles on the table.

It reeked—jasmine and rot clashing in the air, making them gag. What was that disgusting stench?

The eyes on the ceiling didn’t move, but they owned the space above.

They were nestled among the painted stars, like parasites feeding on the light. Their unnatural glow cast a dim, sickly hue over the room.

Nobody said a word. The eyes had been staring straight into their souls, sizing them up.

The ceiling fan above, where the eyes rested, turned lazily. Its rhythmic humming filled the silence.As the room darkened, with only flickering, frantic light, the hum grew louder in Ryker’s head, blending with the creaks and murmurs of the house. Every sound—the rustle of leaves, faint footsteps outside, and rhythmic knocking on the window which grew louder—seemed to have its own ghostly echo.

In that noise of nighttime, he got another notification. Yes, from Noctelure. 

“You think you're safe? Think again.” it said this time.

Ryker’s eyes twisted, ready to throw away his phone.

And then, it happened.

Another pair of eyes opened on a plant leaf. The once-beautiful leaf, part of the hanging pot near the wall, now carried mutilated, bloodshot eyes.

Ryker stiffened. These eyes were angrier than the ones above, yet oddly calm.

He grabbed his phone, trying to shake the growing unease. Music. That would help.

Before he could do anything, he got another notification. From Noctelure….

“You can't escape us. You are too down in the rabbit Hole.”

He has no idea what to do with the constant barrage of notifications; it irked him to no end.

He opened his favorite playlist, pressed play. Soft melodies filled the room, easing the tension just a little.

For a moment, it felt like the air lightened. But then—

The music stopped.

The phone’s screen flickered. Once, twice, then—black.

The eyes—both above and on the leaf—turned toward Ryker’s phone.

The knocking on the window grew louder.

Cassandra gripped Ryker’s shoulders; Noemi clutched her necklace tightly. Yvette and Kaelan exchanged uneasy glances. Tobias’s hand shook as he scribbled notes, trying to make sense of the madness.

Then, Ryker’s phone lit up. The usual app icons had gone. Only one app remained: Noctelure.

A chill ran down his spine. His breath hitched.

He tapped on the notification.

“Ready to start the game? Remember, if you fail, you’ll lose all the soul fragments of Sienna Nantell to us forever.” These words are what the notification said. The words hit him like a punch to the gut.

Tobias's voice trembled. “A… g-game....soul fragments?”

“This is crazy!” Kaelan snapped. “What the hell does it even mean by ‘fragments’? What kind of sick joke is this?”

“Ryker’s aunt is already gone,” Cassandra whispered, her voice barely audible. 

Before anyone could respond, the phone buzzed again.

☆GAME START☆

And then the countdown began.

“One… two… three…”

The voice wasn’t human. It was cold, mechanical, and devoid of emotion.

Panic gripped the room.

“What’s happening?!” Ryker stammered.

“Eight… nine… ten. We’ve given you enough time to prepare.”

The words lingered in the air like a curse.

“Goddamn, what's with this app?!” Yvette bursted out, her index finger pointing at Ryker’s phone in annoyance. 

“First it threatens us with Aunt Sienna's essence bullshit and now this? How far does it want to push us?!” She growled, scratching the sofa's cover with her long, manicured nails.

The Eye seemed to twitch at her outburst, clearly annoyed. The blood-red veins were glowing; the aura grew even more ominous.

Noemi shivered, sneaking a quick glance at the Eye, and gave her a bewildered look. “I know, it's maddening, right?”

The room began darkening ominously; the Eyes setting off a rancid smell of decaying corpse, even blaring. The knocking was now getting ear piercing, making everyone cover their ears from the freaky noise.

The shadows that were lurking in the corner of the blurry lights were alive, clearer than before. The light was now entirely cut off; only The pair of Nanocosmic Eyes was seen in the darkness, and a cold stillness, apart from the constant rhythmic knocking and humming.

Then; it was ghostly quiet. Everything stopped, even the knocking and the humming. All everyone could see in the pitch black room was the pair of two Nanocosmic Eyes; and then, if not, another pair of the Nanocosmic Eyes popped. And then another. Then another. And another. And like that, countless Eyes were in front of them.

Ryker shifted uncomfortably towards his friends, and they all stuck together, as if leaving each other would make them consumed by these eyes.

As the countdown had reached zero, the room's ambience went awfully down, as the numerous pairs of Eyes took over.

The Nanocosmic Eyes were blinking rapidly. They floated Closer to them. As they flew closer, Ryker suddenly started to feel itchy. He began Scratching his skin Like a madman, groaning and mumbling incoherent sentences. He had scratched so roughly that red rashes, even drops of blood at some places, were seen.

He felt an unbearable need to relieve something he can't remember. His mind started to slip; as if losing control of himself.

Everyone turned their faces to him, horrified. Kaelan's heartbeat was so loud that even the Eyes could hear.

 The more they stared at him, his skin burned with unbearable itching. He started Scratching his hands, head, hair, legs; feverishly, desperate for any kind of relief, as those oppressive Eyes glared at them, as if they had a personal grudge against them.

Yvette's hands had grown fungus; quite literally. They were crawling on her hand like rotten bread. A look of dread and impending doom flashed before her face. She wanted to scream; but couldn't. The Silence was eating her and the others.

The fungus was greenish, vomit colored, and as repulsive as a dead Body.

 Imagine. You are sitting on a sofa. Suddenly, a fungus grows on your hand. What would you do? 

You start itching. The fungus feels extremely itchy on skin; and Yvette was doing exactly that, scratching crazily as if possessed. It was like those Eyes were getting their revenge for her outburst about ridiculing them earlier.

Tobias and Noemi were absolutely terrified, mentally preparing themselves for the worst.

Those eyeballs; devoid of any emotion, stared at those two. Their gaze was so brutal, it was killing Tobias and Noemi from inside. As the darkness enveloped them, one of those Eyes had moved with time; and rested right in front of Noemi. She was still as a rock, she held her breath; and the scratching of Ryker’s and Kaelan's skins the only sound filling the room, along with the occasional quick breathing.

Noemi tried to turn her head to another direction; but she was unable to. The gaze of the eyes was just too cruel, as they stared deep into the abyss of her soul. Her feet felt strange. Shaking, she pulled her leg up with her hands; only to see a revolting insect eating her skin away.

Tobias opened his mouth, and tried to speak; but his words died as another pair of eyes gave him a black look, frowning on him.

He felt something moving on his back….

And then—

The room imploded.The walls rippled like water. The floor crumbled, gravity twisting as they were pulled into a vortex of impossible colors and shapes.

The fluorescent blue and silver hues were painted in the vortex. Colors dissolved into one another and created stripes and various shapes of new colors.

The vortex tumbled them all down tumultuously; with a blasting sound that they All were sure splitted their eardrums.

Reality shattered.

Ryker tried to hold onto something—anything—but his grip failed. He tumbled through the void, his surroundings a whirlpool of chaos.

When it stopped, they were somewhere else. As they floated across the empty space, each of them wondered one thing : How did it end up here?

Ryker’s vision blurred, as the familiar surroundings melted away in a whirlpool of swirling maelstrom.

His heartbeat increased, each beat sounding like the cacophony of their collective subconscious.

When things had calmed down, they all found themselves in Elysvereth - a world where reality was an imagination and thoughts and emotions ruled along the advanced technology.

The stark contrast between the familiar and the unsettling sent an unnerving chill down their spines.

As Ryker glanced around, his senses were a little too overwhelmed by the vibrant yet unnerving visuals. 

The towering buildings showed no signs of life. They were always glitching like a dying app on the verge of crashing. The windows weren't windows, not anymore. They had words written on them by the unknown people that didn't even exist in the first place - or maybe they did? 

Words like, ‘I found my happiness in the 

emptiness. It makes me feel warm and easy.’ Scrawled in colorful crayons, and as they walked further, they could even see more lines on the walls, drawn with red crayons, in uneven sizes with odd designs, like immature flowers and heart shapes: ‘We landed a good job. It was paying us satisfyingly for pulling out eyeballs.’

The messages paired with colorful crayons and childish designs sent their spine quivering.

The streets were long, empty, and running in an endless loop, and the wide neon signs flashing from the houses across the streets, their geometric patterns pulling the Nanocosmic Eye in Cimmerian ways. 

Roads that were made of compressed sandstones had an earthy feel as the stoney paths were designed in geometrical patterns. The rough textures of the streets evoked a sense of desolation and melancholy. The hard, artificially natural terrain had an odd sense of familiarity.The air was thick, hard and charged, smelling faintly of burnt wood and soda ash.

The sky above Elysvereth was a sickly shade of faded blue, not from the absence of the sun, but because of the sun’s presence itself. A huge shapeless yellow sun hung in the sky, resembling an art piece from the children's drawings and its rays uneven as they spilled across the land. It didn’t shine, not like the actual sun should. 

Instead, this sun glowed with a faint, strange light, casting long, warped shadows that seemed to bend in unnaturally as if the lights itself were wrong. The sky flickered, like an old malfunctioning screen. No warmth, like normal sun would. Just a kind of light that never felt like day or night.

The faint droplets of vapour in the atmosphere seemed to weep for freedom. Visibility was near zero.

 In the distant horizon, strange creatures flitted, all ethereal, born from the collective emotions and cognition of the inhabitants of this surreal world. The creatures were massively otherworldly and as enormous as ancient titans, or even larger. They drifted aimlessly across the horizon. 

They were just mere shadows hanging out. Their forms weren't quite the solid nor quite the shadow. They are harmless - unless you make them mad. They were like a part of the air that the netizens of Elysvereth breathed.

“What - what is even this? Is it real…?” Tobias whispered, his voice strained and shaky. 

There were some oddly behaving figures in the distance; as he got closer, he noticed that they were wearing sunflower masks; that a child would make; faded and warped, with hasty, crooked lines drawn in several angles with different choices of watercolors. It had been forgotten for a long, long time. It waved at him, and he, seeing that the Faces were devoid of normal emotions, had made him step back unconsciously. 

His breath caught in his throat, and his legs faltered as if they forgot their purpose. He screamed and ran back to his friends as quickly as he could.

Kaelan’s eyes scanned the dreamlike environment, trying to figure out everything in front of him.

 “It's real enough; we need to find a way out - and Aunt Sienna's spirit ASAP before it messes with our minds.” He said, his tone firm.

Yvette’s face irked at the sight, as she rubbed her hands to stay warm from the growing cold. “Imagine being unable to escape from this dreadful place. So, let's not lose ourselves here.”

Cassandra nodded, her complexion pale. “We came here to find the soul fragments of Ryker’s aunt, Auntie Sienna. We can't slack off like that.”

Noemi agreed. “Indeed. This place reminds of the eerie liminal space videos I see on YouTube.”

But Suddenly, a loud, booming, robotic voice echoed through the streets. 

The sound makes their skin tingle.

“Welcome, Players. Your journey through Elysvereth begins now. Face your deepest fears, confront your deepest depths and survive the games and puzzles that await you.”

The ground beneath them began shaking like an earthquake, making cracks in the ground, and the earth made a bombing sound.

The parts of the earth Were disintegrated across the place; and so were Ryuugo and his friends.

They All were dispersed on the pieces of the Earth, each one on a different piece. They Tried to reach out for each other's hand; but none Of them could. 

Ryker’s face was drained of color as he realized that the grounds were breaking and they were being separated from each other in a deliberate attempt.

The growing sense of fear And urgency Wasn't helping at all.

Suddenly, the cracked ground was violently shaking, broken.  The vibrations kicked everyone even at a farther distance than they are now. The ground fractured further as Ryker and his friends spiraled into the abyss. All the cries for help were dissolved by the deafening tremors, their desperate stretched hands vanished into the empty void.

As pieces of the earth drift farther apart, alone, each one was plunged into the unknown.

☆RHYTHM START☆

Ryker turned to find his friends, but they were gone. The ground had split beneath them, scattering them across the surreal expanse. 

His heart pounded as he shouted their names, his voice swallowed by the oppressive silence. Alone, he stared into the abyss, knowing this was only the beginning.

The air was filled with a strong stinking scent of cadaverine, the smell making him hold his nose tightly, and almost puke.He suddenly saw a familiar cryptic message, with a notification on his phone, and he got it from his pocket:

‘Ryker Nantell, you are now in the Genesis Grid, where you shall rediscover.’

Ryker, his hands shaky and trembling, as drops of sweat fell from his forehead on his phone screen, clicked on the notification.

 It was a mistake. 

A holographic scroll popped up in front of him. He was confused, his face titled and eyes squinting skeptically at the scroll.

As soon as he touched it, it unraveled with a frightening humming sound, the ominous letters and hieroglyphics displayed on the hologram. The letters were hazy and often glitching. 

With trembling hands, he grabbed the holographic scroll, and saw strange Instructions that looked like a game. And he touched it, he started hearing an elusive, dark voice that was different from the robotic voice earlier.

“Nantell Ryker. Welcome to your first Sepulchre. Are you ready?”

Ryker, holding his breath to avoid the nauseating smell of cadaverine, “What do you think you are? Ordering me. Tch, I won't be your puppet.” He scowled, The putrid stench got deep in his nose.

The voice chuckled, the sound both ethereal and guttural. “Oh dear, it isn't about being a puppet; it is about being born to be one.”

The holographic's glow intensified, the hieroglyphics shifting into words Ryker could understand. 

“Sepulchre 1: The Digital Eclipse.

This is a game where the Player has to ‘survive’ the Eclipse until the blackout.

Objective: Find a single Fragment of Sienna Nantell that is scattered in the darkness and survive the Eclipse without relying on light.

 Failure Penalty: Lose that fragment of Mrs. Sienna forever, and a memory fragment of yourself.

Success Reward: A single soul fragment of Sienna Nantell.”

His eyes drained out; he couldn't move. He Refused to believe all of this.

“Don't fool with me. I know you're just playing with me.” He growled, scratching his phone, his patience wearing thin.

The voice boomed again, sounding surreal:

“You have got quite the guts, I'll admit. But we'll see that as you progress.”

Ryker squinted his eyes Angrily on the abyss.

“As if I'll let you manipulate me and steal my auntie’s fragments.”

Another notification popped up from his smartphone, and as he retrieved it, he saw this message from Noctelure that made his mouth dry:

“Your time starts now. A little tip: Don't use any light. If you do, you will attract ‘them'.”