Chapter 113 - The True Power of the Special Eyes

  Wherever I looked, I saw the monstrous gray panthers. All of them stared at me without making a single sound, not even the sound of their breathing. Even in broad daylight, and right in front of me, the way they stood so still, like statues, made me question if they were real. I looked at the shadows near me and saw only eyes in them. At that moment, I uood better the power these panthers possess.

  They bee invisible in the shadows...

  "Okay... I'm a friend of ellian. He's a bit shy, not sure if you know him..." I tried saying to them. I khe Moon Panthers were intelligent, but even so, I felt a tightness in my chest, being pletely surrounded and defenseless, without my magic.

  Even with magic, I wouldn't stand a ce against them.

  Something touched my back, and when I looked behind me, I saw a giant Moon Panther, much rger than ellian, standing there.

  How? She made no sound!

  The panther was enormous, passing by me silently, without the leaves under her paws making any noise. She had two tails and three eyes, distinguishing her from the others. As she walked, the pahat had been so still, like statues, began to move, making way. I realized that this must be the leader of the Moon Panthers.

  The leader paopped and then turned her face to look at me, as if waiting. She made a gesture with her head, pointing in a dire, and began to follow it. I followed her, taking light steps, unsure of how to behave around these creatures. I realized I was pletely surrounded; wherever I looked, there were panthers hidden, watg me. Even from the tops of the trees, they spied on me, pletely motionless.

  I followed the leader Moon Panther along the path, and she made no sound, not even the sound of her breathing or her steps. The other panthers moved in silence as well, and when I looked back, I saw that small army of panthers gliding through the forest without making a single noise as they followed me.

  I am pletely defenseless... a single Moon Panther is capable of fighting off a troop of mages, ahere’s an army of them...

  The leader Moon Paopped again and stared at me. She pointed in another dire with her head and started walking that way.

  She’s really guiding me.

  I and that army of Moon Panthers walked through the forest for quite some time, and at no point did they make any noise. When we crossed a river, they walked over the stones and through the water without making a sound. As I walked, I began to feel my mana flowing through my body, but I didn’t dare use magic against them, sihey were treating me well. I khat my species, humans, didn’t have a good retionship with Moon Panthers due to attempts to hunt them, so I kept quiet and followed the path.

  Did my aor really befriend these creatures?

  I watched that army of killer panthers as I recalled my family’s history. An a Evenhart king befriehe panthers and pced them in a protected region of our territory. They aren’t very numerous, and humans try to hunt them when they discover where they live. To avoid the extin of the species, my family made a pact, allowing them to live in the forbidden areas of our territory. There, they could live freely, tending to the wild nature and monsters without w about human prese was through this agreement that the friendship with ellian was born, as he offered to look after the desdants of my aor and began living in the castle.

  I touched my stomach, feeling the warmth of my Gem as it began to fill again as mana flowed through it. Then, I touched my face. Inside my eyes, I felt the same warmth, but something was different.

  They’re asleep...

  My Celestial Eyes, which were a Mana Gem, were resting. Somehow, I had an instinctual uanding of how they worked.

  The giant Moon Paopped walking and turo me. In the silence of the forest, I began to hear human voices in the distance.

  "We’ve arrived?" I asked, running to get a better view.

  "The vilge!" I excimed, spotting the people in the distance.

  Mom! Cyl!

  As soon as I saw the people, a lump formed in my throat; I o see them. I o firm that they were real. Ever since I dreamed of my former life as Icarus, I had been anxious, longing to see them again. Then, I approached Sisika, only to watch her die in my arms as a little girl, disc that she was my Cyl.

  "Th-thank you," I said, emotional, turning around.

  But when I looked, no one was there. The Moon Panthers had disappeared, leaving without a sound.

  I ran bato the forest and stopped.

  "Thank you," I murmured. "Yht me bay family... I’ll never fet this."

  My words echoed in the surroundings, but I khat, even from afar, they would hear me.

  I sat on the ground, nervous and overwhelmed with my feelings.

  "My family..."

  I don’t want to lose what I love again.

  Images of Helen in my arms flooded my mind. The day I lost my sun was the moment I felt the greatest pain of my life. No sword or spear wound pared to that. My world had died along with Helen, and my reason for existing vanished with her. In this new world, I had regained what I had lost, but the fear of losing it again ed me. I feared losing this hell, just as Charon had warned me.

  I stood up from the ground, having made my decision.

  "Icarus... I don’t know what we are anymore. My time here, in this world, has taught me so much that, for the first time in a long time, I’m starting to feel fear again. I’m not afraid of dying; I’m afraid of being alive and witnessing these people die. I fear that this is my hell, repeating my former life as a twisted refle of fate. I fear that death will once again e for those I love."

  I trated my magito my fist.

  Sisika’s words came bae. She had told me that she dreamed of the future and saw a war ing.

  "I don’t know what the future holds, but whoever es for me and my family had better be prepared. Because I will bee General Nathan Evenhart!"

  As soon as I said that, the mana I had gathered in my fist went out of trol, and something gray shot into the sky, exploding.

  'KABOOM!' A blinding white light and a deafening soued.

  Above me, a bck cloud grew as it exploded, and the rain began to fall, dreng me.

  "Storm!" I excimed, realizing what I had done. "Impossible! A storm only be born from the bination of Wind, Thunder, and Water elements."

  Something was flowing inside me, and I immediately knew what it was.

  "My Special Eyes!" I touched my face, and the information came to me instinctively, as if I simply k, the same way a child is born knowing how to breathe.

  I focused, feeling the mana flowing from my eyes, passing through my Mana Gem and cirg through my entire body.

  I looked at my hand and geed a small dark gray ball, uo believe what I was seeing.

  "A storm cloud..."

  At that moment, I realized I possessed all the elements, and they respoo me, ready to be used and bined.

  Suddenly, the dark cloud ball formed a monstrous face.

  "What is that?" The dark cloud ball lost the shape of the face.

  It was a golem!

  "Summoner... your Mana Category is Summoner..." I said, toug my eye.

  I had to stop fog mana into the cloud ball because it was being bcker and more dangerous.

  I felt that if I tinued, I might create something powerful and unstable.

  "Elemental servants... like the Titans..." I murmured. "I’m the Lord of Titans even in this world..."

  I heard the sounds of people nearby.

  I ran back toward civilization; I o see those people I loved again.

  "Nathan!" A familiar voice called out to me.

  As soon as I heard those words, my heart tightened, and the memory of losing Cyl overwhelmed me. I felt my eyes fill with tears. That voice... it was the reason I ged, the reason I began to feel fully human again since I arrived in this world.

  "Mom!" I shouted, running toward her, and as soon as I saw her, I embraced her.

  "What happened, Nathan!? Where have you been?" she asked me.

  "I’m never going to lose anyone again."