Odyssey Of Survival-Chapter 45 The Eyeless Keepers

Nate’s eyes shot open as he gasped for air, his chest heaving. His breaths came short and frantic, like a drowning man breaking through the surface of water. It took several long seconds for his breathing to steady, and when it finally did, he reached up instinctively, feeling a foreign weight around his neck. His fingers brushed against cold metal—a collar.

He tugged at it with all his strength, hoping to break it free, but the collar didn’t budge.

"Don’t waste your strength," came Alice’s voice, soft and measured, from somewhere to his right.

Nate froze, squinting into the darkness. "Alice?" he called out. The space around them was pitch-black, oppressive in its void. His instinct kicked in, and he tried summoning his fire to illuminate the room. Nothing happened.

"It’s no use," Alice said again, her voice tinged with exhaustion. "The collar isn’t just for show. It blocks our powers… and our vision. We’re completely blind here."

Nate slumped back against the rough wall behind him, his mind racing. His powers were gone. The oppressive darkness was absolute. He swallowed hard, forcing himself to focus.

"What the hell happened? Who did this to us?" His voice came out strained. "Where’s Axel?"

"I don’t know," Alice admitted quietly. "I woke up while they were dragging me into this room. I pretended to still be unconscious, but I managed to catch a glimpse of our captors."

Nate turned his head toward her voice. "Did you see their faces?"

A long pause hung in the air before Alice answered. "Yes," she said finally, her voice trembling slightly. "They… they don’t have eyes, Nate. Their eye sockets are empty, gouged out, but they still move and act like they can see perfectly fine. Other than that, they look human. Too human."

Nate felt a chill run down his spine. "No eyes?" he repeated, struggling to comprehend what she was saying. "How…? What are they?"

"I don’t know," Alice whispered. "But they’ve been here a long time. They move like they’ve been doing this forever."

Nate’s thoughts raced as he tried to piece things together. "Did you get a look at where we are? Anything that might give us an idea?"

Alice shifted slightly in the darkness, the sound of her movement faint but distinct. "We’re in some kind of mine. There are tunnels everywhere, and I saw people—lots of people—working. Breaking rocks, dragging carts. And I saw others… people from the upper half of the plane."

Nate’s breath hitched. "You mean survivors? They’re alive?"

Alice hesitated. "Barely. They’re being forced to work. They’re blinded by the collar too, probably so they can’t see their surroundings. If they don’t work fast enough or make a mistake, they’re flogged."

Nate clenched his fists. "What are they mining?"

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"I don’t know," Alice replied. "But they’re desperate, Nate. Whoever these people are, they’ve been here for a very long time. They’re searching for something."

Nate’s mind raced. Whoever their captors were, they weren’t ordinary. And if they’d been here for so long, it meant everything they thought about this place might be wrong.

A metallic clink echoed through the darkness, followed by the unmistakable groan of a cage door being unlocked. Nate’s head shot up as footsteps approached. He felt a firm, cold grip wrap around his arm, yanking him to his feet with force. A second set of hands reached out for Alice, dragging her up roughly beside him.

"Hey!" Nate shouted, his voice filled with anger and defiance, but no response came. His captors didn’t speak, didn’t acknowledge him at all.

He and Alice were pushed forward, stumbling as they were led out of the cell and shoved into what felt like a cart. The hard, uneven wooden planks beneath them creaked as they were tossed in like sacks of grain. Nate tried to gauge his surroundings, straining his senses to pick up on any details—the scent of the air, the rhythm of the ground, the sound of their captors—but there was nothing.

The world around him felt unnervingly empty, even though the rumble of cart wheels and the incessant clinking of hammers against stone roared in his ears. It was a disorienting cacophony that drowned out every other sense.

Nate clenched his fists, frustration bubbling inside him. He leaned close to Alice, his voice barely audible over the din. "Do you feel that? Or… not feel it?"

Alice nodded grimly. "It’s like everything’s muted. Even the ground doesn’t feel real."

The cart came to a jarring halt, nearly sending them tumbling. Without warning, they were pulled out and shoved onto the hard, uneven ground. Nate barely had time to regain his footing before a large, crude hammer was thrust into his hands.

Alice grabbed Nate’s shoulder instinctively, keeping close to him in the chaos. Around them, the clanging of tools and the rhythmic smashing of rocks reverberated through the cavernous space. The oppressive darkness was faintly illuminated by dim, flickering lights hanging from jagged walls, casting eerie shadows on everything.

Nate studied their surroundings as best he could, whispering to Alice. "Have you noticed? They don’t talk. And I don’t think they understand us either."

Alice tilted her head slightly, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I called one of them a dickhead earlier," Nate muttered under his breath. "No reaction. Nothing. It’s like they’re… empty. They don’t feel anger or anything. Just hollow shells."

Alice shivered, her grip tightening on his arm. "That’s disturbing." She glanced around nervously. "Stay close. With all these hammers swinging, it’s easy to get caught in the crossfire."

They were led to a cluster of large, jagged rocks. The captors gestured for them to begin working. Alice immediately picked up her hammer and started smashing at the rock, her movements cautious but steady.

Nate, however, stood still, gripping his hammer but making no move to strike.

"Nate," Alice hissed, glancing at him through the corner of her eye. "What are you doing? Start working! They’ll flog you if you don’t!"

Still, Nate didn’t respond. His face was fixed somewhere distant, his expression unreadable.

"Nate?" Alice whispered again, panic rising in her voice. She reached out, her hand brushing against the empty space where he should have been.

Her heart sank. Nate was gone.

"Nate!" she whispered urgently, her voice trembling. She didn’t dare raise it too loud for fear of drawing attention. But no reply came.

Confused and scared, Alice clenched her teeth and gripped her hammer tighter. She couldn’t afford to stop working, not when the threat of punishment loomed so close. She forced herself to focus on the task before her, smashing at the rock with all her might, but her mind raced with questions.

Where had Nate gone? What was he planning?

And most importantly, would he come back?