Chapter 9 – The Last Watcher
Updated: Aug 20
The portal did not open cleanly.
Its emerald light flickered, unstable, as if space itself resisted holding it together. The mystery man stepped through—
—and nearly fell.
His right arm was gone.
His body bore wounds that should have ended him long ago. Light leaked from cracks across his chest—dim, unstable. Each breath looked forced, dragged from lungs that no longer belonged to this world.
He staggered forward, leaving faint trails of green behind him—
—and collapsed to one knee.
Another figure emerged immediately from the portal.
He moved without panic.
He caught the falling body before it struck the ground and lowered him carefully.
This second mystery man looked almost identical—
Yet not.
His presence was steadier. Slower. Heavier with something unspoken.
“You’ve done well, brother,” he said quietly.
The injured one let out a weak breath. Something close to a laugh escaped him.
“So… this is it,” he murmured.
His mismatched eyes searched the other’s face.
“Tell me… how many of us are left?”
The second mystery man did not answer immediately.
Then he spoke, without hiding the truth.
“I think… I am the last one.”
Silence stretched between them.
The weight of those words settled like stone.
The injured man closed his eyes briefly. When he spoke again, his voice was barely air.
“I’m sorry… to leave you alone, brother.”
The last watcher tightened his grip—not in desperation, but in acknowledgement.
“You completed your mission,” he said. “That is enough.”
A faint smile touched the dying man’s lips.
That was all.
The tension left his body.
The light around him dimmed.
And then—
He was gone.
Not violently.
Not dramatically.
Simply gone.
The portal collapsed inward with a quiet fracture of green light.
Only one remained.
Comments