‘B-Blind?’ Arthur almost thought he was hallucinating or he was seeing something wrong. But it was clear as day, the way their eyes were completely white, including the irises, and the way they were unfocused, almost as if they were dead… There was no doubt in his mind that those were blind eyes that couldn’t see anything.
Even when they were clearly staring at the shard, they weren’t truly seeing it and were merely feeling it. Silence took over the entire place for a good few seconds. The boy kept staring at the men with a wary look.
‘Did they feel the shard? Or did their code break?’ He mused. ‘I can’t escape since they’re surrounding me. But, they seem to be very curious about it.’
All the hostile aura the men had vanished as if it was never there to begin with. Then, under Arthur’s fascinated gaze, the men looked up at one another.
“BAGH GAH FAGHEU.”
They started spouting things akin to gibberish. But the way they spoke with their ever-changing tone made Arthur realize that they were speaking to one another in a different language.
‘…’
The conversation seemed to be very confused and tense between them. It was as if they were discussing a very important decision. Arthur didn’t understand a single word of what they said, but he could easily read human expressions anywhere he went.
The conversation continued on for a good minute and went back and forth between them until they seemed to finally settle on something. The moment they did that, their eyes shifted to look at Arthur.
“… I-I’m sure you were discussing your favorite movie, right?” Arthur asked as he grabbed the shard to make sure nobody steals it. “Come on guys, I’m really not here to harm you. I just want to get out of-“
Before he could even speak, the men suddenly lunged at him again. But, instead of attacking him, they tied his arms in the blink of an eye using ropes they got from somewhere.
“What the hell?! Hey, stop!! I will kill- Mmmmf…” They quickly put a piece of cloth around Arthur’s mouth.
The boy struggled to cut the rope, but for some reason, the rope was so thick and sturdy that no amount of force he exerted did anything. At the same time, for some reason, this weird rope was slowly sucking his mana on its own.
‘It’s eating my mana!’
“MMMMF!!! MMMMF!!” Arthur yelled and tried to roll around to escape. He was using all his power, but he felt so weak that he couldn’t even move his arms properly. The men then picked him up over their shoulders as if he were a sack of potatoes.
‘What the hell are they doing?! Are they abducting me?!’ Arthur looked down at the ground with wide eyes. This was the last thing he expected to experience. He thought they were going to kill him, but out of nowhere, all of that changed when they saw the crystal.
‘That thing had done something to them! I don’t know if it’s good or not, but I’m still alive for no- WOAAAAAH!!!’
In a split second, Arthur felt his entire body get yanked in a fell sweep. His vision twisted and blurred as an ungodly force of wind slapped his face.
“MMMMMMF!!!” The man carrying him had started running, and his speed had shattered Arthur’s expectations completely. He wasn’t simply running, he was almost gliding on the ground with how fast he was.
No wreckage seemed to be an obstacle in his path, and neither was it an obstacle in the others’ paths.
They jumped from one spot to another, crossing a large distance in mere seconds. Arthur stopped struggling against the man and instead focused on keeping his brain from turning into mush.
He was not familiar with this level of speed, and it was very damaging to his senses as they couldn’t register everything properly around him.
Minutes passed in that state for Arthur. He didn’t know where they were bringing him, but it didn’t make him any less anxious. Even if they didn’t kill him now, they could be preparing a way worse fate for him.
‘I need to figure out a way to escape before I get completely screwed over.’ He mused. ‘They are clearly curious about me now, I might be able to use that to my advantage. If I can somehow communicate with them, that is.’
A while later, the group started decelerating noticeably as if they had reached their destination. From his angle, Arthur couldn’t see anything but the ground, so he didn’t know where they were exactly.
He kept track through his map and other small indications but nothing else. Eventually, the men completely stopped. Two of them started speaking to one another before they stepped forward, and then Arthur heard a knock on an iron door of sorts.
A few seconds passed, and then Arthur heard a very loud screech as the clearly large door started opening slowly. After that, another person emerged from the door and spoke to the group of men.
The conversation was naturally a bunch of gibberish, but Arthur figured out that this person was asking them about this kidnapped kid they had. He couldn’t figure out if they were hostile toward him or not from the tone of the conversation.
“*Gulp*…”
Then, the men started walking again as they entered the place, and the door closed behind them. Immediately, darkness grasped Arthur again, but this time, it was way brighter than before, with faint hints of flickering flames on the shadows of the walls.
He couldn’t see the interior, not the walls, but he could see the wooden floor and its old, worn-out colors.
They walked through the echoing corridor and ended up inside a different room. The moment they did, Arthur’s ears were assaulted by an immense noise coming from every direction.
It was as if he had just entered a popular diner during dinner time. The place was warm, and the sounds of people talking and food being eaten filled the place.
But the moment he appeared inside, everyone went completely silent.
A//N: Thank you all for the gifts, golden tickets, and PS. Let’s keep it up!