The Eye

3|The Fortress

It was little things like the colorful canvas of the sky at dawn, the coolness of the breeze as it came crashing on his skin bringing along stories of the ruins it had crossed and the steady chime of the remnants of the animal kingdom that is when he listened close enough to their diligent rhythms that kept Brandon holding on to life. If it weren't for the things that people had long forgotten and abandoned, he would have been long forgotten and abandoned, another comrade fallen among thousands in the war they fought.

Brandon gave a sad smile as he watched nature unfurl in the procession of a new day. It gave him hope to know that despite the chaos in the world Yahweh was still up there watching over his creations in the never ending cycle of time. The hope that he used to continue in this existence that he so much loathed.

The chiming of the alarms was his cue to leave his room and fully accept the responsibility that came with being a survivor. He stayed by his window for a minute longer trying to soak in enough of the beauty of nature into his ugly soul. The sirens of the alarm system continued to ring a sonorous tune in his ear and left an incessant echo in his wake. He looked around wondering if one of those darned amplifiers was placed specifically in his room to drag him out.

When he was satisfied with his appearance even though there was barely any other choice aside the garbs and rationed water they were given to freshen up, he headed to the common room where they normally gathered for the Day of Assignment.

The corridors lined with many rooms similar his own were hollow and empty as their residents gathered downstairs awaiting their assignment. He meandered through the corridors trailing his hand along the crystal white glass. It shimmered briefly under his fingers and he wondered if the rumores were true about the ethereality of the crystals.Some said the crystals were forged under the earth from the ruins of the war, others concluded that the crystals have been under the earth the whole time and the war was what it needed to reveal itself. This discrepancy was unavoidable especially among people like Outcasts but as he trailed his hand on the walls, studying the subtle glow of it's power and the tingles it elicited at his fingertips, he couldn't be more certain of it's origin.

He took a left turn at the first intersection then the stairs that ran all the way to the ground floor.

The common room was a large structure on the ground floor that reminded him too many times of a throne room. Although, there was no throne, the room had a dias at the front where The Guardians addressed the people from, aside that there was little to no furniture just a wide space enclosed in what looked like glittering silver rocks and a gallery that ran round the middle of the wall and housed those that couldn't stay on the lower level.

Brandon squeezed himself through the mass of bodies muttering halfhearted apologies to the people he stepped on and bumped into and headed for the dias where The Guardians were already standing.

The Guardians were the group of people entrusted by Yahweh to watch over the Outcasts - his people. They consisted of Gerald and his sister, Lillian, an aged man called Cassano and himself.

"You're almost late".

"Again".

Lillian always managed to spot him when he snuck, no matter how stealthy and discreet he was. He knew it was those dark eyes of hers.

"You mean I'm right on time. It's always about perspective Lillian..."

Lillian knocked the explanation right out of his brain. He held the back of his head where it stung with the aftermath of her hard palm, a protest already forming on his tongue.

"You're lucky you're not late. I would have personally sent you to the mines". Gerald said coolly.

The protest instantly died down on his tongue and a shudder crept down his spine. Despite the beauty that came from the within the mines, he avoided them like a plague. It may have been the ominous darkness beneath the earth or the visions that he normally had whenever he came in contact with a raw crystal or maybe it was that the crystals reminded him of everything he was and would never be.