Moonlight draped itself faintly over the desolate farm, trembling as dawn approached. Everything about the place felt like the mirror-opposite of the shining Central City—a forgotten echo of a world erased by history.
Inside the barn, Nathan's massive body was tied securely to a support beam, still unconscious. Noor moved from one collapsed homeless victim to the next, giving what little aid she could. Meanwhile, Tiflos carefully lowered the ones bound to cross-shaped devices, detaching the wires embedded in their skin.
But what unsettled Tiflos the most…
was the grotesque way those wires entered their bodies—
through their empty eye sockets, into their sinuses, and for some… down their throats all the way to the lungs.
The two spent nearly half an hour carrying the survivors out of the barn. A few were conscious—barely—but most hovered on the edge of death. Some had already crossed it.
In the end, only two remained inside:
Nathan—broken but breathing.
And Saeed—leaning lifelessly against the door, the one person they hoped could speak.
Tiflos and Noor had only just stepped into the world of the Sighted, where eye color determined your worth, and strength defined whether you survived another day. They still hadn't grasped how cruel this world could be.
A blinded person was considered… a stray.
Not respected, but at least alive.
And unlike those who lost their eyes entirely, the blind retained some physical affinity—
for example, a Fire-user who became blind gained a body more resistant to heat than others.
But those who had their eyes removed?
They were the lowest of the low.
Their bodies could barely fight off simple illnesses.
Their survival rate was less than four percent.
Only a miracle could save them.
Tiflos finished contacting Cain and approached Noor.
"He said he's coming personally," Tiflos muttered darkly.
Noor's jaw clenched.
"Good. Let's hear what he has to say."
A sudden, heavy cough echoed from the barn's doorway—wet, ragged, as if coming from someone halfway between life and death.
Saeed.
Noor stood up immediately as Tiflos sprinted toward him.
Tiflos knelt, supporting Saeed's head with one hand and taking his trembling fingers in the other.
"Saeed, are you okay? Do you remember me? It's me—Tiflos."
Saeed's voice seeped out like someone speaking from the bottom of a deep well.
"Who… are you…?"
"It's me!" Tiflos insisted, grief thickening his voice.
"We met under the bridge… when I was homeless."
Saeed shivered violently.
"I… I couldn't recognize you…"
Tiflos's expression darkened.
"We met the night you were kidnapped. Wait—"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace—the Dragon Blood Tree pendant.
"This fell from you when they took you."
Saeed's hand, weak and skeletal, reached out, brushing the pendant with his fingertips.
Suddenly, his expression twisted with horror.
"Where did you get this!?" he shrieked, despite his failing body.
"And you dare call yourself homeless?! You're one of them! One of the Devil's Blood! I don't know this pendant, and I don't know YOU!"
He broke into a violent fit of coughing.
"I don't want to know you! Let go of me!"
Tiflos froze.
Noor too was shocked.
She approached gently, holding Saeed's hand with both of hers.
"Mr. Saeed… please. There's been a misunderstanding. This pendant isn't ours—we took it from you months ago to return it."
Saeed's head trembled as he strained to lift it.
"From… me? What… are you saying?"
Tiflos looked at Noor, confused and unsettled.
"What's happening? Devil's Blood? Did he lose his memory?"
Noor shrugged helplessly.
"It's possible… the shock of losing his eyes might have damaged parts of his memory."
Tiflos leaned forward again.
"Saeed… listen. We met eight months ago. Don't you remember…?"
Saeed's expression hardened into fear.
"I don't know either of you! I was admitted to Central Hospital when I went blind… cough cough… The Organization took me from there almost three years ago. Kidnapped… under a bridge? Homeless? Eight months? Who told you—"
His coughing grew frantic—almost panicked.
"No… no… that… monster… that… sh—"
His voice broke.
Then silence.
Saeed's head dropped.
Tiflos stared… eyes wide.
Noor covered her mouth.
Saeed had died—with truths that twisted everything they believed.
They stood there for a long moment, exchanging silent looks, both realizing something terrifying:
They were no longer hunting monsters.
They were hunting the hunters of monsters.
Tiflos slowly lowered his gaze to the pendant—the strange tree emblem carved into its surface.
"This necklace… I feel like it holds answers. But the questions are multiplying."
Noor took his hand gently.
"Whatever comes next… we face it together."
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