Chapter 8 The Voice

After confirming his choice the lizard's eyes grew lazy and its tensed body eased. He was growing sleepy at an unstoppable rate, every second that passed propelled him deeper and deeper into slumber. Finally, his consciousness faded, and his body slumped.

The lizard's consciousness felt as if he was being sucked out of his body and dragged down through the ground. He sunk at an extreme speed, and he moved directly down as if he was heading to the core of the world.

Finally, he stopped falling, landing nowhere. He couldn't see anything, he was sleeping, yet he was aware that his consciousness wasn't within his dreams.

Suddenly the darkness started to part and give way to something. The blackness stretched and twisted to make way for what was to come. Soon something became visible. It was an eye. A very large eye.

On the upper edges of the eyelid where the eyelashes usually grew, there was none. Instead, the brownish-orange eyelashes grew around the eyeball itself. Within the eye's pupil, there were stars and suns, no- a galaxy, maybe even a universe.

The eye never blinked even once. Instead, it gawked at the lizard's consciousness, giving the reptile a sense of insecurity. He felt like the eye could see everything about him. No. He was sure, this eye was analyzing his very being. After a short while of complete silence, a voice boomed out.

[You seem afraid, does my appearance scare you young one?]

The lizard's mind shook as the voice reverberated in his mind. The eye's appearance had already been confusing enough, looking at the different galaxies and stars within its pupil began to make the reptile's mind hurt.

The booming voice only added to the madness that was already going on in his mind as his consciousness as tried to reconcile something with such an odd appearance.

It began to get hard to think. Where was he again? What was he looking at? He felt his consciousness jerk and suddenly he felt like he had finally woken up, his mental facilities coming back in a sudden tidal wave.

[There, you should feel fine now.]

The voice spoke, this time sounding less chaotic and confusing.

The voice was gruff and powerful, it felt old and ancient. More importantly, it sounded familiar. The lizard was quick to notice this, he had been hearing the same voice since he hatched from his egg.

It was the voice that always talked to him in his head, yet right now the voice sounded much more alive. Usually, it would sound metallic and robotic, but right now the voice seems much more alive and filled with emotion.

The voice reverberated in his mind once again.

[Indeed, the voice you hear time and time again is me, however, those communications are a little more… subconscious.]

The voice continued.

[I usually don't bring individuals here at such a low evolution tier, I'm sure you understand why from what you experienced upon seeing my appearance and hearing my voice. It's taking a considerable amount of control for me to keep you here without injuring your soul.]

His soul? So it was his soul that was brought here to this place and not his consciousness. The lizard began to understand what the voice meant however he still couldn't figure out why he was brought here. Soon the voice responded to the thoughts he was trying to convey.

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[I brought you here despite the repercussions because of your uniqueness. From the moment you were born, I've made sure to keep my eye on you. The potential I've felt from you is something I haven't felt in ages.]

The lizard thought about the voice's words. He was unique apparently and had potential. This sounded good. But what did he have the potential for anyway?

[I only bring individuals here that I deem worthy enough for what's to come. Fortunately, you meet my requirements precisely.]

What was it that he was referring to when he said: "what's to come"? Also, do other monsters come here as well? If that's the case then did all monsters come here once they reach a certain evolution, does that make all strong monsters worthy and unique?

The lizard was gaining more questions than answers each time the eye spoke.

[I bring individuals here based on their soul strength. Of course, if an individual evolves high enough I have no choice but to give them my attention. However, over the eras, I have learned that the soul is more important, otherwise, no matter how strong an individual is, they would succumb to soul decapitation seconds after meeting me. Yet you, now a tier 1 monster, was able to endure such a trial for more than a minute. Do you see how special you are?]

The bomb of information was being digested bite by bite in the lizard's mind. Maybe he was more powerful than he thought. He internally wiggled with delight. However, his other and more important question still hadn't been answered: what did he mean by "What's to come"?

[Alas, you are too weak to learn any more than this. Even your strong and sturdy soul can only take you so far. You need to grow stronger, and smarter and improve your standings within the monster society. Only then will you be capable enough to carry the weight and responsibility that will come after learning that information.]

The reptile's satisfaction that was gained only a few moments began to deflate. He was still weak, he would need to get stronger, much stronger, not only to learn the classified information but also for himself. It was in his monstrous blood, that he would want to strive to become the strongest.

Seeing the new profound motivation in the reptile's soul the giant eye was satisfied.

[It seems that our time here has come to an end. Hopefully, you take my words seriously and strive to become a powerful being. We won't be meeting again, at least until you become strong enough. Until then grow stronger. Ah... I almost forgot, when I meet new candidates I have a habit of giving them names. Hm... yours shall be Ethoss.]

With that being said the voice of the giant eye began to fade and his lingering appearance dissipated.