Shadow slave: In The Eye of The Beholder

Sound, no light, nothing except the overwhelming sense that he was being watched.

Then, it appeared.

The golden eye, immense and unblinking, materialized from the shadows. Its gaze pierced through the emptiness, locking onto him with a force that threatened to pull him apart at the seams.

[THERE YOU ARE CHILD]

The distant voice of the beholder called out, before reverberating louder and louder into his ears like an echo, Silas found himself to shocked to respond as he looked at the divine being, he hadn't expected to see it again, but the beholder found itself in his dreams. 

'Am I dreaming its existence, or did it really visit my dreams? how the hell did it escape the nightmare, and what is it even doing here in the first place!' 

His thoughts being broken as the distant voice reverberated once again

[ARE YOU SUPRISED TO SEE ME?] The colossal gold eyeball squinted as its colossal pupil focused further on Silas. [DID YOU THINK I WAS MERLEY A CONSTRUCTION FROM THE SPELL? THAT I WAS BOUND BY ITS EXISTENCE? NO, I AM NOT, I AM FAR BEYOND ITS WEAVE] 

Silas gave an absent look to the beholder, taking some time to process its appearance, there was many things and questions he wants answered.

'This might be the time' 

"If that's so, why come say hi? I thought you were done with you giving false hope to people, so if your real why don't you just float away in some realm beyond and watch? or better yet could you use your divine powers to help people, instead of sending them to their death with smiles on their faces?

Silas voice powered by dwelling resentment at the watcher, he certainly felt fear in front of the eye that saw all, yet for the moment he supressed it, he would not see his weakness anymore. 

The beholders form began to arch, as if the miles long eye was smiling, the sight was anything but creepy, Silas felt himself reel back at the distortion, his will holding its own against the being that stared through him. 

[CHILD, I HAVE MY REASONS TO EXIST HOW I DO, I HAVE COME TO VISIT YOU FOR THINGS THAT BENIFIT BOTH OF US, ALHOUGH I AM MERLEY A WATCHER, I WILL NOT LET MYSELF GAZE UPON THE CORRUPTION OF THIS REALM. YOU MAY DESPISE ME FOR MY ACTIONS, BUT ITS PLAIN AND SIMPLE.]

The beholders pupil split into multiples as they cascaded across the perfect surface, until the pupils spread around the entirety of the iris, with every single one staring directly at Silas

[YOU LACK PROPER SIGHT; YOU CANNOT SEE THE PICTURE]

Silas found weight under him increase as the pupils gazed, his very soul was being pushed back, as if the mere presence of the stares were supressing his existence, but even under the gaze he gritted his teeth with resilience and answered

"I don't understand, what could I have that could benefit you? and even more so, what did you mean 'corruption of this realm', maybe I could make some sense in your existence if you explained it? I had learned there was only six gods in survial class, "had learned there were only six gods in survival class, yet the terror praised you as such a being. What even are you!?"

The divine eye went silent to the question, but he felt the pressure on his soul lessen as the pupils distanced himself from him, the voice reverberating once again, but in a subdued matter that had never occurred before.

[What an abstract mortal, I haven't chosen wrong it seems]

The pupils returned to him. 

[Where did you learn such arrogance...]

The golden pupils swelled to impossible sizes, blotting out everything around him. Silas's world shrank beneath their gaze, and he could feel the weight of his own insignificance pressing down on him.

[TO SPEAK LIKE THAT TO A GOD!]

The voice boomed out, the beholders eye enlarging as the empty black space was filled with a burst of vibrant colours that burst, the colours soon impacting.

Silas felt himself being flung through the void, his body accelerating at impossible speeds, tearing across the fabric of space. Stars and worlds blurred into streaks of light as he shot past them, distant universes flashing by like dying embers. But then, just as suddenly, it all came crashing down. His body slammed into something solid—yet he couldn't say if it was floor or stone or something else entirely. Pain burst through him, only to be swallowed by an emptiness so profound it gnawed at the edges of his soul.

The crushing pain lasted only a heartbeat before it was stripped away, replaced by something far worse—utter complete hollowness. It was as if the void itself had found its way inside him, carving him out, piece by piece, until he was nothing more than a shadow. His thoughts scattered, his sense of self fraying at the edges. For a moment, Silas wasn't sure if he even existed anymore.

Until the sensation of the ground he had impacted grinding across his skin, the pain bringing him back, overwhelming sickness surging as he held his mouth only to vomit across the surface beneath him, then awareness hit him, he tried to look to the beholder only to see a golden throne that seemed to pierce even the limitless spaces of the void.

'.... what? what's happening' Silas shivered as he began to hear footsteps from the top of the surreal throne, each step coming with pressure that would crush him as soon as he attempted to get up, the distance between each step, shortened, the sounds crashing down upon him until they broke the ground under him.

He franticly reached outwards as he felt gravity pull him, only to find himself standing, reaching out to the figure that had finally arrived down from the endless heights of the throne.

Silas breath sped up, sweat rolling down his eyes as confusion marked his being, his eyes then caught the figure approaching, he attempted to pull them away from the figure, but he found them stuck, staring. 

He could not blink, but only watch as it approached him, it seemed to shape and morph between different people, from a alluring beauty in once second, to an demonic giant, then to a little boy, its figure morphing eversion. 

For a second, he swore he saw himself. 

As he stared the familiar voice of the beholder reverberated. 

[YOU ASK TO WHAT I AM!]

The different forms all gestured out, each one of their faces filled with different expressions, filled with hate, love, confusion, fear, and sadness, he saw them all in a matter of moments repeatedly until he could not differentiate one from another. 

[I AM THE BEHOLDER, GOD OF PERCEPTION,]

Silas felt the world around him melt into uncompressible shapes, they intertwined into nothingness before emerging out from and forming into countless rivers that flowed across time, they all collided and combined to a single droplet, it fell into thirsty boy roaming empty streets.

[REALITY!

Silas now saw himself back on his bed, he was welcome with his alarm, it seemed he really had been dreaming, he rolled over and saw a giant eyeball tucked with him, looking into him, immediately being brought back to the void.

[AND BEING!]

Silas's body twisted—not physically, but it felt as if his very essence was being unravelled. His memories flickered like dying flames, moments from his past colliding and shattering into fragments that danced in the dark. Faces, voices, feelings—all mixed together, becoming one incomprehensible stream of existence. He could no longer tell where he ended and the void began.

A thousand reflections of himself stood before him, their eyes empty, their bodies hollow. As he reached out, the reflections dissolved into dust, scattering like ashes in the wind.

His sense of self snapped back into place as soft fingers brushed his neck.

[AND TO WHY I CAN'T INTERFERE IN YOUR REALM DIRECTLY] 

The hand twisted his neck backward unnaturally, his eyes only biggening to take in what he was seeing, a door bigger than anything he had ever experienced, it seemed the very universe seemed small compared, it opened slightly, the creak having a shrilling noise that brought him to his knees screaming. 

The darkness beginning to flow out and consuming the space, horror that surged took hold of his existence, for from the harrowing infinite darkness a hand reached out. 

it scrapped across the fabric of existence around it, pulling the head of the being out, Silas caught only a glimpse of the being's head, but that fraction of a second was enough. His soul was pulverized, erased from existence... and then, somehow, brought back., the hands of the figure now resting on his cheeks.

[THERE IS WAYS YOU CAN BE OF BENIFIT TO ME, YOU ARE MY BLESSED AFTER ALL, I GAVE YOU THE ABILITY TO PRECIVE THE SLIGHTEST FRACTION OF FATE FROM THE TWISTED DAEMON, AND SPELL GAVE YOU WAYS TO BEND IT]

The figure gently rested the shattered Silas on the ground, it then sat down beside his broken body. 

[THROUGH BEING MY BLESSED I AM ALOWED TO INTERACT WITH YOU. AND 'IT' WONT NOTICE]

the figure then pulled him up and stared into his eyes. 

[I WATCHED AS THE GODS BLED, AS IMMORTALS MET THE COLD EMBRACE OF OBLIVION-CRAFTED BY SHADOW GOD. ONLY BY STAYING HIDDEN, WATCHING SINTEAD OF RULING, DID I SURVIVE]

The beholder then pulled him closer. 

[I DECIDED TO HIDE AWAY IN THE SPELLS NIGHTMARE, ALTERING ONE TO MY PLEASING BEFORE FINDING YOU]

Silas breathed Sharpley in as he started at the shifted form of the beholder holding him.

[TO SEE YOU RIOT AGAINST THE UNBEATABLE AND WIN, ITS MADE ME DECIDE TO USE YOUR EXAMPLE, I WONT SIMPLY WATCH AS 'IT' CORRUPTS ALL OF REALITY WITH ITS MALICE, TOGETHER WE SHALL STOP IT FROM DOING SUCH A THING]

The figure dissipated until Silas was left alone in the void, the warm embrace now cold. 

[TO BE OF VALUE TO ME YOU CAN OBTAIN A SIMPLE LIFE FORM IN THE WAKING WORLD, USE [EMPOWERMENT] TO ALLOW ME TO TRAVEL FROM YOU INTO IT, ONCE THATS DONE ILL BE ABLE TO CONTACT AND INTERACT IN THE REALITY IVE HIDDEN AWAY FROM]

The void then shone, now with shining stars.

[I WONT BE ABLE TO MANIFEST ANY OF MY POWER THERE, BUT IT IS NESSACARY FOR ME TO BE ABLE TO CONTACT YOU IN THE DREALM REALM, WITHOUT IT MY PRESENCE WILL BE NOTICED AS SOON AS I INFLUENCE ANY POWER THERE] 

Silas felt his presence in the space weaken, his consensus was waking up from its slumber, the voice now seeming weaker as it echoed distantly. 

[SILAS, OR AS THE SPELL CALLES YOU 'WEAVER OF REBELLION']

[WEAVE YOUR FATE AND MANIFEST YOUR WILL AND REVENGE AGAISNT THIS WORLD, AND AFTER THAT YOU CAN RISE AND RISE FURTHER, TO HELP ME WEAVE MY REVENGE AGAINST THE SLAUGHTERER OF GODS]

The stars around him flickered and dimmed, their light fading into the far reaches of the void. Silas felt his pulse quicken, the cold eating at his bones as the weight of the Beholder's words settled over him like a shroud.

[I EXPECT WE WILL MEET AGAIN IN THE FUTURE]

He took a shaky breath, staring into the endless black, the silence pressing down harder with every second. But even in the silence, he could still hear it—the faint echo of the Beholder's voice, reverberating through his mind.

"... A simple life form... [Empowerment]... It must not notice..."

The stars blinked out entirely. All that remained was the crushing darkness. Silas's body felt heavy, impossibly so, as if the void itself was dragging him down, pulling him deeper. His limbs grew sluggish, his mind fogging over with exhaustion.

No... I can't... I have to...

His thoughts blurred together, his consciousness slipping away like grains of sand through his fingers. The void wrapped tighter around him, suffocating, cold. He fought to stay awake, to resist its pull.

But then, a flicker of warmth—small, distant—pierced the darkness.

It was faint at first, a barely noticeable shift, but it grew. The warmth spread from his chest, washing over his limbs, pushing back the void. The cold retreated as he became aware of his body once more. The world around him shifted, warped, twisted, and finally began to crumble.

And then—

With a sharp gasp, Silas's eyes snapped open.

He was back.