NOVGO.NET Chapter 530 - 530: Unfamiliar sensation
“The timing can’t be coincidental,” he muttered, thinking back to his encounter with the divine being just hours earlier. “First that woman reveals herself as something from the Heavens, then dies… and now this. Something’s connecting these events.”
As if responding to his thoughts, the eye’s gaze suddenly shifted, scanning across the scattered huts until it fixed directly on Julian’s window. For one terrifying moment, they both stared at each other in silence and Julian felt as though every secret of his soul was being laid bare.
“It sees me,” he breathed, unable to look away from that hypnotic gaze. “It knows I’m here.”
Just then, the door to his room burst open with such force that it slammed against the wall. Annie, and Kain rushed inside, their faces pale and eyes wide with panic.
“Rael! Rael, thank the Heavens you’re safe!” Annie cried out, her voice cracking with fear as she rushed toward him.
Her usual composure had completely shattered—her hair was disheveled, her simple dress torn at the shoulder, and her hands shook uncontrollably as she reached for her son.
Kain stood in the doorway, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. The normally stoic man’s face was etched with a fear that Julian had never seen before.
“Rael, we need to leave. Now!” he barked, his voice hoarse with urgency. “Something… something impossible is happening out there!”
“The ground is alive!” Annie sobbed, clutching at Julian’s arm. “There’s an eye, Julian! A massive eye looking at all of us! Its the end!”
“Mother, calm down—” Julian began, but Kain cut him off.
“No time for calm!” his father snapped, grabbing Julian’s other arm. “We saw it focus on our house, on this very window! We need to get as far away from here as possible!”
Annie’s voice rose to near scream. “The other villagers are scattering in all directions! Everyone’s fleeing, but where can we go? Every corner is a cage—no matter where we turn, we’ll only find the bars at the end”
“The curse,” Kain muttered, his voice dropping to a terrified whisper. “This is the curse manifesting. After all these generations of quiet suffering, it’s finally showing its true face.”
“But what happened to the curse loosening?” Annie wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Did the head not say that the heavens have shown mercy?”
Both parents began pulling Julian toward the door, their parental instincts overriding everything else in the face of supernatural terror.
“Come, Rael! Whatever that thing is, whatever it wants, we can’t be here when it fully emerges!” Kain shouted as he walked a bit faster than the others.
But before they could even reach the door, all three of them froze simultaneously, as if invisible chains had suddenly bound every muscle in their bodies. They stood locked in place like statues, Annie’s hand still gripping Julian’s arm, Kain’s head slightly turned towards them.
They could not move their eyes, though Julian’s vision remained crystal clear. They could not open their mouths, though he could hear his parents’ muffled attempts to cry out. Not even their hands could twitch.
Julian gritted his teeth, pouring every ounce of his willpower in a desperate attempt to break free from this supernatural paralysis. His mind screamed commands at his body, demanding movement, demanding action, demanding anything other than this helpless immobility.
Sweat beaded on his forehead from the sheer effort, his muscles straining against the invisible cage that felt stronger than steel.
After what felt like an eternity of struggle, he managed to move a single finger—just the smallest twitch of his index finger. Even that tiny victory, however, was immediately overshadowed by something far more alarming.
A sensation began building inside his body.
It started as a faint warmth in his chest before spreading outward. It felt as though something was awakening within him, something that had been dormant but was now stirring to life. The feeling intensified with each passing second, growing from mild discomfort to searing heat that seemed to burn him from the inside out.
His internal temperature soared to impossible levels, yet his skin remained normal to the touch. His vision began to blur at the edges, his heart pounding unevenly.
Through his strained vision, Julian could see the same expression of agony etched on both Annie’s and Kain’s faces. Their eyes, though they couldn’t move them, were wide with terror and pain. He could see the muscles in their necks straining as they fought against both the paralysis and the internal burning sensation that was clearly affecting them as well.
The building sensation inside his body reached a peak, the heat and pressure mounting to unbearable levels. It felt like a dam about to burst, like every cell in his body was being stretched to its absolute breaking point.
Just when Julian was certain that his body would explode from the overwhelming pressure, something extraordinary happened.
An unfamiliar energy suddenly washed over his body, filling every corner of his being with a coolness that was beyond explanation. This new energy was different from the burning force that had been building within him.
The foreign energy flowed through his bloodstream, touching every nerve, every muscle, every cell. It moved with intelligence and purpose, seeking out the burning sensation and quickly extinguishing it.
Within seconds, the overwhelming heat that had threatened to destroy him was completely wiped out, replaced by a sensation of perfect balance and harmony.
But the unfamiliar energy didn’t stop there. After cleansing Julian’s body of the destructive force, it began to extend outward, flowing from his skin like an invisible aura. Julian watched in fascination as the energy reached toward Annie, who was still gripping his arm.
The moment the energy made contact with her, Julian saw the change in her expression. The agony that had been etched across her features began to fade, replaced by the same sense of relief he had experienced. The energy flowed through their physical connection, seeking out and neutralizing whatever destructive force had been building within her.
Whatever this energy was, wherever it had come from, it had saved them both from what felt like certain destruction.
And through it all, the massive eye in the land below continued to watch, its ancient gaze fixed on their frozen forms with what might have been satisfaction or perhaps anticipation.