Oboe is watched as Trish, Lori, the city guard, and finally, the City's Master come into view.
While Oborors certainly was a strong demon, what Eli was dealing with currently didn't need strength, it needed knowledge. And the subject was something that Oborors and the others knew little about.
The city's master however, seemed to know more about what was affecting Eli. He even appeared to know more about what Eli had gone through when the boy first met and explained things to him. Though the city's master kept that detail to himself, Oboros still felt like the man knew more than he let on.
"What happened?" The city master, Cain, asked as he arrived next to Eli and Oboros.
His figure was tall and imposing, muscles nearly bulging out of his white and dark blue militaristic uniform. A single scar cut across the bridge off his nose.
"The boy had run into that thing earlier. He said it's here in the city. He's been trying to stay calm," Oboros said without delay.
The large man looked down at Eli with a questioning look, taking in the sight of him still crouched onto the ground.
Looking to the man next to him, Cain said "Put your troops on both ends of this street and the rest form a circle around us. Under no circumstances are any of you to look at me or the boy."
The uniformed Captain saluted, then began to bark orders to his men.
"You can stay Oboros," Cain stated, then looked between Trish and Lori, his gaze finally landing on the tall woman. "Do you think it wise for the young girl to be here?" Cain asked genuinely.
Lori took a second, now turning to Trish. Though an adult now, she still wasn't sure if this was something the girl should be around. She didn't have much of a grasp on what exactly was going on either, but she knew that whatever it was, it was pure evil.
"I want to stay!" Trish said before Lori could decide, "I'm an adult now. I want to be here for Eli."
Lori hestitated, then nodded to Cain, letting him know they too would stay.
"Alright," Cain said, "But I have one rule. When I take off his eyepatch, you are not to look at his eye. Do you understand me?" Cain said the last part with much more seriousness than he had the rest, giving Trish a moment of hesitation. Nodding slowly, she replied "I understand."
"Good, let's begin," Kneeling in front of Eli, Cain began to speak a different language, one nobody around could decipher.
It wasn't the demonic tongue, nor any beast, human, or elven language. To everyone around, it almost sounded like gibberish.
Or Boris had the feeling that the city master was saying a prayer of some sort, one he had never heard.
As Cain kept speaking, Eli's body began to shake as a pained cry escaped his lips.
Reaching for Eli's right eye, Cain began to remove the dark piece of leather, revealing the eye beneath.
Lori and Oboros quickly turned their heads, but Trish, too entranced by the situation, caught the slightest glance of it, before falling to the gound, needing to rest her hand on the stone ground below for support.
Sweat drenched her face as she struggled to find air.
Eli's newly exposed eye was inky black, save for a crimson red circle containing a star. There were more details to it she couldn't make out, but the eye itself wasn't what caused her to drop on her knees.
In that fraction of a second, images flashed through her mind. Images of pure chaos, death, destruction, and beings doing things so vile and disgusting, Trish had to fight herself to not throw up right then and there.
Her arms wobbled as she tried to keep herself upright, tears threatening to spill out.
Cain's voice grew louder as he placed a hand over the eye, covering most of Eli's face.
Eli's pained groans grew louder as the air around them began to shift. Wind, dust, and debris began to swirl around the group, causing a few guards to lose their caps.
"God's almighty what is happening?" One of them whispered, trying to shield his eyes.
"This doesn't feel like any sort of magic I've seen," another commented.
Lori knelt by Trish, hugging her closely, trying to whisper words of comfort to the girl.
She knew by Trish's reaction that she had seen it. That disgustingly evil thing. She had once looked into it as well, for unfortunately much longer. She shivered at the memory, trying to shove it back into the recesses of her mind.
Oboros stood firm, trying desperately to remember every syllable Cain said, though it was much harder to do so while not understanding the language.
Trish tried to grasp onto any thought that wasn't what she had just witnessed.
Why did Eli have such a thing? She had never seen him without his eyepatch, and no one ever talked about it. Was this what they wanted to hide from her? Was there more?
Eventually, the air around began to settle as Cains voice became normal once again.
Eli was face down in the street, not moving but still breathing.
The tension between everyone seemed to settle as Cain gently put the eyepatch back over Eli's head, covering the vile eye once again.
"It's done," he sighed, sweat lining his own brow.
Looking at Oboros, Lori, and the still shivering Trish, he spoke, "Let's all go back to my home. There we can have a long chat while he rests." Lori and Oboros nodded.
Picking up the cat girl, Lori began to follow Cain as the men around were told to head back to their posts.
Oboros grabbed Eli, placing him on his back as he too started to walk along the group.
He would need to write to Aeros and the others, letting them know what had happened, and what might come to be.
What he thought would be somewhat of a leisurely time in Undgarten might turn out to be something much more.