Realm Lord-Chapter 181: Disturbance of Night

Arthur made his way to the roof of the vehicle where there was a simple lawn chair and a pair of binoculars waiting for him. The setup was basic but functional – everything he needed for his watch duty laid out with military precision. He looked at the chair and binoculars with weary eyes, the weight of exhaustion still clinging to his shoulders like a heavy cloak.

Arthur rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands, trying to dispel the lingering fatigue that seemed to have settled into his very bones. A deep sigh escaped his lips as he took in his surroundings, the sound barely audible in the vast expanse of night that surrounded them.

He then turned his head to look at the view around him, and despite the dream and lethargy still clinging to him, he couldn’t help but be momentarily struck by the sight. The plains of grass stretched endlessly in all directions, bathed in the luminous glow of moonlight that transformed the landscape into something almost ethereal. The silver light caught the tips of the grass blades, making them shimmer like thousands of tiny stars scattered across the earth.

The moon hung full and bright in the clear night sky, casting long shadows that danced and swayed with each gentle breeze. The air was crisp and clean, carrying with it the fresh scent of growing things and the promise of dew that would come with dawn. Under normal circumstances, it would have been a breathtaking sight – the kind of view that poets wrote about and artists tried desperately to capture on canvas.

But Arthur wasn’t smiling as he looked at the amazing view. Instead, shivers ran down his spine, and not from the cool night air. Something was wrong – fundamentally, deeply wrong – and his body seemed to know it even if his mind couldn’t quite grasp what it was.

The feeling of darkness wrapping around him is usually a source of comfort. It was an integral part of who he was, bringing his powers and body to a different level entirely. The shadows had always been his ally, his strength, his refuge from a world that often felt too bright and too harsh. But for some reason, tonight felt different.

Tonight, he felt disgusted by the sensation. The darkness that usually embraced him like an old friend now felt like it was settling on him like a goopy second skin he couldn’t tear off. It clung to him with an almost physical presence, making his flesh crawl and his stomach turn. The feeling was suffocating, oppressive, as if the very air around him had become thick and poisonous.

And furthermore, the feeling of that pit growing in his head started up again, and now it was notably more intense than it had been back at Port Nova. The sensation was like a dull ache that seemed to pulse in rhythm with his heartbeat, growing stronger with each passing moment. It wasn’t quite painful – not yet – but if it kept growing at this rate, he realized he might prove to be a liability to the team.

The thought sent a chill through him that had nothing to do with the night air. He couldn’t afford to be weak, not now, not when so much was at stake. His teammates were counting on him, and he refused to let them down because of some mysterious ailment he didn’t understand.

He gripped his hands closed tightly, his knuckles turning white with the force of his determination. The physical pain of his fingernails digging into his palms helped ground him, gave him something concrete to focus on as he made his decision.

’That’s it, I’ll see a doctor once we get to the next stronghold,’ he thought with conviction, the words echoing in his mind like a promise he was making to himself. Whatever was happening to him, whatever was causing these strange sensations and disturbing dreams, he would find answers and he would find a way to fix it.

With that resolution firmly in place, Arthur sat down in the lawn chair, the metal frame creaking slightly under his weight. The chair was surprisingly comfortable, its fabric worn soft by countless previous occupants who had sat in this same spot, keeping watch over sleeping companions.

For a while, nothing happened as he stared blankly out into the plains, his eyes scanning the horizon with practiced vigilance. The landscape was peaceful, almost hypnotically so, with nothing but the gentle swaying of grass and the occasional rustle of some small nocturnal creature moving through the undergrowth.

Soon, however, his mind began to wander back to his dream, drawn like a moth to flame to the disturbing images that had plagued his sleep. The memory of that suffocating darkness, of that incomprehensible voice speaking words he couldn’t understand, sent fresh waves of unease through his system.

’What the hell was that? he wondered,’ his brow furrowing as he tried to make sense of the experience. ’It felt less like a dream and more like I literally got taken somewhere... and who was trying to speak to me? And about what?’

The questions swirled in his mind like a whirlpool, each one leading to more confusion rather than answers. Arthur felt chills run down his spine once more at the thought of his dream, the memory of that helpless feeling of being trapped in an endless void still fresh and raw.

’Something tells me that was much more than just a dream,’ he thought grimly, the conviction settling in his stomach like a stone. There had been something too real, too vivid, too purposeful about the experience for it to be merely his subconscious playing tricks on him.

He shook his head vigorously, trying to physically dispel the troubling thoughts so he could focus on the task at hand. He had a job to do, and dwelling on mysteries he couldn’t solve would only make him less effective at protecting his sleeping teammates.

It was at that precise moment that Arthur noticed something in the distance, and his entire body went rigid with alertness. His hair stood up fast and strong as panic set in, every instinct screaming that something was wrong. Without hesitation, he rushed to grab the binoculars, his movements quick and desperate.

He grabbed them with trembling hands and immediately put the cold metal up against his eyes, the familiar weight of the optical device somehow reassuring in its solidity. He started scanning frantically for what he might have seen through the darkness of the field, his heart pounding so hard he could hear it in his ears.

The binoculars brought the distant landscape into sharp focus, transforming the moonlit plains from a soft, impressionistic painting into a detailed photograph. He swept them back and forth across the horizon, searching for whatever had caught his attention, praying that he had been mistaken.

Luckily, it only took a couple of seconds to find what he saw, but when he did, his heart dropped into his stomach like a lead weight. He took the binoculars from his face, his hands shaking as a panicked and confused expression began to set in across his features.

"P-people!?" he whispered, his voice barely audible even to himself.

Through the binoculars, what Arthur saw was what looked to be a large group of ten or more people running extremely fast in the direction of the car. They moved with an urgency that spoke of desperation, their forms barely visible as dark silhouettes against the moonlit grass. Even from this distance, he could see that they were stumbling, falling, picking themselves up again, driven by some force he couldn’t identify.

It was then that he could swear he heard something – a sound carried on the night wind that made his blood run cold. Without a second thought, he began to focus on his enhanced hearing, concentrating all his attention on the distant figures and whatever sounds they might be making.

What started off slightly distorted and blurry to his ear soon became hearable with crystal clarity, and when he finally made out the words, his entire world seemed to tilt on its axis.

"HELP!"

The word echoed across the plains like a gunshot, filled with such raw terror and desperation that it made Arthur’s skin crawl. It was followed by other voices, other cries for assistance, creating a chorus of panic that seemed to grow louder with each passing second.

Arthur’s mind raced as he tried to process what he was seeing and hearing. Who were these people? Why were they running across the plains in the middle of the night? And more importantly, what were they running from? ƒгeewёbnovel.com

The answers to those questions would have to wait. Right now, he had to alert the others and figure out what they were going to do about a group of desperate people heading straight for their temporary camp. Whatever was happening out there in the darkness, Arthur had a sinking feeling that their peaceful night was about to come to an abrupt and violent end.

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