❖ Chapter 17: Eyes in the Dark
"Seriously, Jio... do you have to say it like that?"
Havella looked at him, her face caught in a grimace of disbelief and sheer embarrassment. She was in his arms again—carried like a bride—while his Bright Call magic lit a narrow path through a blackness so thick it felt alive.
"You sound like some weird cult kid. A creepy one."
Jio didn't even blink. His face stayed as blank as ever, eyes locked on the shimmering thread of light at their feet.
"It's the only way forward," he said.
"So you just go in? Into a shadow realm built by someone we're literally running from?! Are you insane?"
"You told me to lead."
"I didn't ask you to carry me like a sack of potatoes!" she snapped.
"You couldn't walk through it."
"...Tch."
She tried. Twice. The moment she stepped beyond the glow of his magic, her legs locked up. She couldn't move. It was like the darkness reached up and tried to crush her.
Magic? Nothing. She couldn't even cast a spark.
"...Fine," she muttered, glaring off to the side. "But don't get used to this. I'm not some helpless girl."
"I know."
"Then stop holding me like a princess—"
"You'll fall."
Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
"...You're impossible."
He didn't respond.
> And that made it worse.
It wasn't just being carried by someone younger than her—though that was bad enough.
It was the way he walked through this power, like it wasn't even there. Like it belonged to him.
Or worse... like he belonged to it.
"...Jio," she asked, voice low. "Do you feel anything weird?"
"I do."
"And you're still this calm?!"
"I'm used to it."
"...You are so not normal."
---
Far away, within the obsidian throne halls of the Northern Spire, Veltheris Umbra stood still. The shadows danced around her like ribbons of smoke and whispers.
A single eye—her right—was now pitch black. Not bruised. Not blind. Just... gone, taken by her own magic. A cost willingly paid.
Before her, hovering in the air, floated dozens of ink-black eyes—each shifting, twitching, watching. Eyes formed from her darkness. They were spread across the dimensions she ruled, across the cracks of the Uní-Pixel.
And yet, none of them could find what she searched for.
"Still nothing?" she asked, voice cold, sharp like glass under pressure.
"No, Lady Veltheris," murmured an aide behind her. "They're gone. Like they were never there."
"...That's impossible."
"We're expanding the scan into deeper in-life layers now—"
"Don't bother with excuses. Find them."
Another aide stepped forward, nervous. "Should we close the remaining paths? Force them back?"
Veltheris turned. Her gaze quieted the room. Every shadow froze.
"No. The path is already bending too far," she said. Her tone was calm—controlled—but her left hand clenched tightly.
"I let the woman escape. I won't let the boy follow."
> The floating eyes trembled.
"Search the spaces between frames," she ordered. "Look in the cracks. In the silence. In the pause between cause and effect."
They bowed and disappeared into the dark.
---
Jio stopped walking.
Havella glanced up. "What? What now?"
"Her shadows moved."
"You mean she found us?"
Jio shook his head. "She's still searching. Close. But wrong."
She tensed. "You really have no reaction to any of this, huh?"
"...It's familiar."
Havella frowned. She didn't like that answer.
Didn't like how calmly he said it.
Didn't like how quiet this place was.
"...Jio," she said, quieter this time. "Do you... think you're normal?"
He blinked once. Then looked down at her. "...No."
"...That's not a bad thing," she muttered. "But... weirdly comforting."
He looked ahead again.
The Bright Call pulsed around his feet, humming in soft waves—like footsteps echoing in a dream.
Havella didn't know what it was.
Only that she couldn't step on it. Couldn't even touch it.
> He was walking on a path that shouldn't exist—
through a realm that hated both of them—
and somehow, the realm let him.
---
Back in the Northern Spire…
Veltheris stood before her throne, her hand shaking.
"I created that passage," she whispered. "My own magic. My own logic."
Yet she couldn't see through it now.
Couldn't find them.
Couldn't trace the ripple.
Nothing.
"Who are you?" she said aloud.
No one answered.
Only the shadowed eye remained open.
Watching. Waiting.
And, somewhere deep beneath it all…
> Unsettled.
---
End of Chapter 17
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