Chapter 184: Almighty Eyes

The golden eyes opened.

Hundreds of them.

They stared through the trees surrounding Hrafnviðr, motionless and silent.

Laura pressed her hand against the invisible barrier.

"Noah!"

"I’m here!"

Noah turned toward her.

The white room had changed.

The walls were no longer perfectly clean.

Thin black veins crawled across them, spreading from the six chairs.

The first chair remained illuminated.

The other five began to glow one after another.

Click.

The second restraint opened.

Click.

The third.

Click.

The fourth.

Noah’s eyes narrowed.

"Dead Zone."

I know.

"Are they waking up?"

A pause.

No.

The fifth restraint opened.

They’re being called.

The sixth chair remained occupied by nothing.

Yet its restraints slowly tightened.

Noah stared.

"There’s supposed to be someone there."

There was.

The final restraint snapped shut.

CLACK.

Noah felt something move beneath his skin.

His heart suddenly stopped.

For one terrifying second, everything went silent.

Then another heartbeat answered.

THUMP.

Noah staggered.

THUMP.

His vision blurred.

THUMP.

The white room disappeared.

He was standing somewhere else.

A vast black space.

No floor.

No ceiling.

No walls.

Five figures stood in the distance.

Their faces were hidden.

Each one was connected to a thin golden thread.

The threads disappeared into darkness.

Noah looked down.

A sixth thread was attached to his chest.

It stretched behind him.

He turned.

Nothing.

Then Dead Zone appeared beside him.

Not physically.

Within the same impossible mental space.

His crimson eyes were dim.

"What is this?"

Dead Zone stared at the five figures.

"I don’t know."

Noah looked at him.

"You said you remembered."

"I remembered the chair."

Dead Zone’s expression hardened.

"Not what came after."

One of the five figures moved.

Its head slowly lifted.

Noah couldn’t see its face.

But he heard breathing.

Human breathing.

Then a voice.

"One returned."

Another figure answered.

"The vessel survived."

A third voice followed.

"The inheritance remains incomplete."

Noah stepped forward.

"Who are you?"

All five figures turned toward him.

Silence.

Then the first answered.

"We were supposed to become you."

Noah froze.

Dead Zone’s crimson eye widened.

"What?"

The figure continued.

"Six subjects."

Another spoke.

"Six inheritances."

A third.

"One vessel."

The fourth.

"Five failures."

The fifth figure slowly raised its hand.

"One survivor."

The black space shook.

Noah’s system appeared.

[MEMORY FRAGMENT STABILIZED.]

[RECOVERY: 2.4%]

[SUBJECT COUNT: 6]

[STATUS: CORRUPTED]

Noah stared at the final line.

"Six..."

He looked at Dead Zone.

"You were one of them."

Dead Zone didn’t deny it.

"I think so."

Suddenly, one of the figures began cracking.

Black fractures spread across its body.

Noah instinctively raised Shadowfang.

The figure screamed.

Not in pain.

In warning.

"THEY FOUND US."

The entire black space turned crimson.

Dead Zone grabbed Noah’s shoulder.

"We have to leave."

"What?"

"Now."

"Why?"

Dead Zone looked upward.

Something enormous was descending from above.

Noah couldn’t see its body.

Only two enormous eyes.

One white.

One black.

His blood ran cold.

The White-Eyed Figure.

The Black-Eyed Figure.

But neither moved.

They simply watched.

The five figures immediately dropped to their knees.

The first whispered:

"The observers."

Noah stared.

"What do they want?"

The answer came from behind him.

"You."

Noah turned.

A sixth figure stood there.

Small.

A child.

Black hair.

Black eyes.

The same child from behind the door.

The child looked at Noah.

"You’re not supposed to remember yet."

Noah tightened his grip.

"Who are you?"

The child’s expression changed.

For the first time, fear appeared on his face.

"I told you."

He pointed toward the five figures.

"They’re waking up."

The black space shattered.

Noah’s eyes snapped open.

He was back inside the white room.

The five chairs were empty.

The sixth chair was burning with golden light.

Outside the barrier, Laura was shouting.

"Noah!"

He stumbled toward her.

The barrier disappeared.

Laura immediately grabbed his arm.

"What happened?"

Noah looked at her.

Before he could answer, the ground shook.

A deep rumble rolled beneath the forest.

Eric looked around.

"That wasn’t the Watcher."

Damien tightened his grip on his weapon.

"No."

Sophia stared toward the distant trees.

"The eyes are disappearing."

One by one, the golden eyes vanished.

But something remained.

A single black mark had appeared on every tree.

Noah recognized it.

The same mark from the golden seal.

Dead Zone spoke quietly.

They’re not watching anymore.

Noah looked into the forest.

"Then what are they doing?"

A voice answered from somewhere beneath them.

"Searching."

The ground split.

Laura grabbed Noah.

A gigantic golden chain erupted from beneath Hrafnviðr.

It wrapped around the white room.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then a second chain appeared.

Black.

The two chains crossed over each other.

And somewhere beneath the forest, something pulled.

The white room began sinking into the earth.

Roana suddenly gasped.

Her eyes opened.

She looked directly at Noah.

"Noah..."

He turned.

Roana’s face was pale.

"I remember the sixth chair."

Noah froze.

"What was in it?"

Roana swallowed.

"Nothing."

She stared at the sinking room.

"That’s the problem."

The ground opened wider.

"And I think..."

Her voice broke.

"...you were the one sitting in it."

Roana’s words hung in the air.

"I think you were the one sitting in it."

Noah stared at her.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

The white room continued sinking into the earth behind them, dragged downward by the enormous golden and black chains.

Noah finally broke the silence.

"You think?"

Roana swallowed.

"I don’t remember everything."

"That’s becoming a pattern."

She looked at him sharply.

"I’m serious."

"I know."

Roana lowered her eyes.

"When I was inside that room, there were six chairs. I remember five people being prepared."

Noah glanced toward the disappearing room.

"Five?"

"Five."

"Then who was in the sixth?"

Roana shook her head.

"Nobody."

Noah frowned.

"But you just said I was sitting there."

"I said I think you were."

Roana touched her temple.

"Whenever I try to remember the sixth chair, everything becomes white. No face. No voice. Nothing."

Dead Zone spoke inside Noah’s mind.

That’s not a missing memory.

Noah’s expression changed.

It’s a removed one.

Before Noah could respond, the ground violently shook.

BOOM!

A crack raced beneath their feet.

Laura grabbed Noah’s arm.

"Move!"

Everyone scattered.

The white room disappeared completely beneath the earth.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the forest went silent.

No birds.

No insects.

No wind.

No footsteps.

Noah slowly raised Shadowfang.

"Something’s coming."

Sophia looked toward the trees.

"From where?"

Noah’s golden eye flickered.

"Everywhere."

The black marks on the trees began glowing.

One.

Five.

Ten.

Hundreds.

A web of black symbols spread through Hrafnviðr.

Eric took a step backward.

"That’s not normal."

Damien gave him a dry look.

"Nothing here has been normal."

A deep metallic sound echoed through the forest.

CLANG.

Everyone froze.

Another.

CLANG.

Then another.

CLANG.

Noah recognized the sound.

Chains.

Something was dragging chains beneath the ground.

Roana suddenly grabbed Noah’s sleeve.

"Don’t let it hear your name."

Noah looked at her.

"What?"

"Whatever is down there."

Her eyes were filled with genuine fear.

"It listens for names."

The ground opened.

A black chain shot upward.

Noah sliced it.

SHING!

The chain broke.

But instead of falling, both pieces remained suspended in the air.

The severed ends twisted toward Noah.

A voice emerged from underground.

"Noah Blackwood."

Everyone froze.

The chain moved.

Noah immediately stepped backward.

Dead Zone’s voice became urgent.

Don’t answer.

Another chain erupted.

"Noah Blackwood."

Laura looked at him.

"Don’t say anything."

Noah didn’t.

The forest trembled.

A third voice whispered from beneath the earth.

"Incorrect."

Noah’s eyes narrowed.

The chains stopped.

Then the voice spoke again.

"That is the name you chose."

A cold sensation spread through Noah’s body.

The system appeared.

[WARNING.]

[EXTERNAL ENTITY ATTEMPTING HOST IDENTIFICATION.]

[IDENTIFICATION FAILED.]

[HOST DESIGNATION: NOAH BLACKWOOD.]

The text flickered.

[ORIGINAL DESIGNATION: ████████████]

Noah stared.

Dead Zone whispered:

It’s trying to remember you.

"What happens if it succeeds?"

Dead Zone was silent.

"Dead Zone."

I don’t know.

The voice beneath the forest spoke again.

"Six were prepared."

The black symbols brightened.

"Five were separated."

Noah’s heartbeat accelerated.

"One remained."

Roana suddenly collapsed.

Laura caught her.

"Roana!"

Roana’s eyes were wide.

"No..."

She stared toward Noah.

"I remember."

Noah turned.

"What?"

Roana’s lips trembled.

"The sixth chair."

Everyone waited.

Roana pointed toward Noah.

"It wasn’t empty."

Noah’s expression hardened.

"What was in it?"

Roana’s voice dropped to a whisper.

"You."

Silence.

"Not the Noah standing here."

She shook her head.

"A different Noah."

The forest suddenly went dark.

Every black symbol disappeared.

For one second, there was nothing.

Then a single golden eye opened beneath the ground.

"SUBJECT SIX HAS RETURNED."

The earth exploded.

Noah was thrown backward.

Laura screamed.

Sophia and Eric were separated from the others.

Damien disappeared beneath a cloud of dirt.

Roana was hurled into a tree.

Noah landed hard, Shadowfang still in his hand.

He looked toward the crater.

Something was rising.

Not a monster.

Not a person.

A chair.

The sixth chair.

It emerged from the earth completely intact.

Its restraints were open.

And sitting inside it was a small boy.

Black hair.

Pale skin.

Black eyes.

Noah’s childhood face.

The boy slowly lifted his head.

He smiled.

"You’re finally here."

Noah couldn’t breathe.

Dead Zone whispered:

That’s the part of me they removed.

The child looked directly at Noah.

"No."

His smile disappeared.

"They removed you from me."