SEALS
Chapter 10: Sad-Eyed Beasts
Its eyes were consuming the threads that were left of his soul.
Agro's hooves thundered, beating sand into powder as she gulped in breath and stayed just ahead of the serpentine Colossus that was coming straight for her. Wander kept her on as straight a path as he could as he swiveled in the saddle, aiming an arrow for one of the great worm's open eyes. The beast moved through the sand as though it were water, an effortless motion born of incredible strength or an alien nature.
When Wander first saw the creature poke its head above the sands of its lair to see him, he thought that they were full of hunger and murder. Now that he stared back at them, the weight of his horse fluxing beneath him, he could see nothing but an incredible sadness. It was mesmerizing.
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine… All of the Colossi had eyes that appeared sad when he was able to get a good glimpse of their faces, even if that glimpse was for just a moment.
The eye sockets of the stone masks that made up their faces were dull, dark and dead if they failed to catch sight of him. If they knew the invader was around but were far away enough from him not to feel immediate danger, the eyes glowed blue. When they were on the attack, the eyes of the living statues glowed a peculiar sunset-red.
As Wander let an arrow fly nice and straight into the pupil of the Sand Tiger's right eye, he knew that breaking its seals would inevitably take a piece of him – a piece he would not know ahead of time and could not know after. He only felt the shadows replacing the absence of something in his soul and knew he was less himself with the more black blood he got on his hands.
Wander realized, as he spurred his horse out of the way of the blinded worm, that this time, he knew what piece of his soul he'd lost, for he had lost it already.
He no longer had to justify in his heart what he was doing anymore. He could look into the sad eyes of a creature about to be sacrificed and not care.