Joel jerked up, his heart beating erratically as he opened his eyes and yelled, "Where is it? It killed them!" The man who had been sitting next to him got up and pressed his hand firmly on Joel's head. Strange symbols seemed to appear in the air before Joel as he felt his heartbeat slow down.
"It's okay. Calm down, boy. Your family is safe," the man whispered. "Let's talk, and I will take you to them."
Joel turned to look at him. The man appeared to be in his early 60s, with a crown of silver hair that framed his face and hinted at a once-vibrant brown. His deep-set eyes, a piercing shade of blue, exuded a calm authority.
"What do you mean they are fine? I saw it kill them," Joel said, confusion clouding his mind as he tried to understand what was going on.
"What you saw, boy, was an Ego's Torment, the most dreadful type," the man replied, looking him in the eyes. "Nothing you saw really happened. But you say you saw 'It'—what exactly did you see?"
Joel took a deep breath, his mind reeling as he tried to steady his voice. "I… I remember seeing a being—like it was made from pure darkness. Its eyes, though… they were green. Almost glowing. Like they could pierce right through me."
Cyrus's expression shifted, a tightness settling around his eyes as he processed Joel's words. He inhaled deeply, a faint tremor in his voice. "It struck again," he murmured, more to himself than to Joel. He looked up, his gaze hardening with something between resolve and wariness.
For a moment, the room felt colder, and the weight of the air seemed to press in on Joel. His heart raced again, but this time not from fear—he could see something in Cyrus's eyes that told him more was at stake than he'd realized.
Cyrus's voice dropped to a whisper, low and urgent. "Come with me. I'll take you to your family… but you need to understand, what you saw isn't over."