Origins Stories

Ocellus - Cal

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It was an odd feeling.

Cal woke up that morning and felt as though someone was watching him. It continued too. That feeling never went away.

It followed him everywhere.

At first, it wasn't that big of a deal. Just a small feeling of awkwardness or the occasional paranoid mindset.

Maybe that was it. Maybe Cal was just paranoid. After everything that had happened, that would make sense. He has been gone for 5 years too. There's new people that Cal doesn't know. And they don't know him. They're just curious, is all.

But it's not.

It got worse. The feeling was constant. It wasn't like people were looking at Cal. It was more like some sort of stare from nowhere. It wasn't coming from something anyone could see.

It was like there were eyes everywhere. Constantly looking at him without blinking once.

It made Cal nervous.

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"Is something wrong, Cal?"

Inpu was standing near him, holding a plate of french toast Ricarro figured out how to make. Nobody knew how he found a recipe though. He probably stole Mikael's computer again.

"Huh? Oh! No...no it's fine." Cal responded.

It really wasn't. The constant feeling of dread and overwhelming anxiety just because of the possibility you're being watched all the time.

That isn't fine. But Cal isn't one to worry others about his own problems. Not unless they ask.

This vast wooden, lodge-like room was where most people in camp came for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Cal didn't come by often. He cooks for everyone in the Egyptian Pantheon. But they collectively decided it would be a day off from that.

Funny how a day off can turn into a day of dread so easily.

"Are you sure? You're acting a little off." Inpu said.

He wasn't going to let this go. So Cal lied to him. He didn't want anyone to get worried. He didn't want to spread whatever he felt.

"Yeah, I'm ok Inpu. Thanks for your concern though."

The conversation was dropped. But Cal couldn't help but look down at Inpu's plate, and see the blueberries laid on top. It looked like a face, with no mouth. Like eyes.

Like being watched.

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It had gotten even worse. The feeling followed him everywhere. He felt it when he was walking through the camp, in the Greek area, the Asian area, the Egyptian area...Even his own bedroom.

He went to the camp's library in an attempt to drown out the feeling with literature. If anything, the dead silence only amplified it.

He was still being watched.

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There was a meeting held in Atlantis that day. Cal stood near the giant entryway. He had started doing that recently because of Dina. Whenever she did come down to attend the meetings, she would run around a lot. Cal tried his best to keep her from running off to who knows where, but she still manages to evade him.

Everyone was contributing facts to the discussion. Bringing up possible artifacts and such.

Halfway through the meeting, the feeling spiked.

It wasn't just a mostly ignorable thing like usual. This was horrific.

It almost hurt. It was as if Cal was drowning in it. Prying into his life. His memory. Plaguing him.

His hands were shaking. He couldn't focus. Discussion was deafened. It was all blurred out. He couldn't move.

He could only turn his gaze up.

He could only look up and see a singular, giant, eye.

It didn't blink. It didn't move. It just stared down at him. It was just him and this one eye. Everything else was gone. Too blurry to see. Too quiet to hear.

It was destroying him. His heart beat quicker than he could breathe. He couldn't blink. He could only be watched.

It was pulsing in aggravating order. Becoming crazed.

This feeling was not a feeling. It was like a disease. And it was exacerbating.

Everything went dark.

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When Cal awoke. He was lying on the floor. Was it a floor? He couldn't tell.

There was a figure leaning over next to him. A shadow covering their face.

"You shouldn't have to feel like this."

They sounded like him.

"So I got rid of them for you."

What?

"I got rid of them all."

The shadow dispersed. This figure had dark red hair. Cal's necklace tied around their arm. A moon disk hung in their hair. Half a bird mask covering their face. A sadistic smile laid on the half of their visible face.

But they had no eyes. Ichor seeping from the dark sockets.

"I got rid of them all. For you."

They rested a hand on Cal's chest. It was coated in liquid red.

Cal couldn't find it in himself to say something. Not to this figure.

That feeling is still there. It spikes.

"Why are you still...watching...?"

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"Cal...?"

...

Thud.

"Cal!"

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Yeah so, I decided to try writing some weird eldritch horror. I'd say it went disturbingly well.

The title of this story, "Ocellus" actually means "simple eye." So I thought that was a fun thing to write a story off of. This is what happened.

Should I write one of these for Shino too?

Words: 808