Epics of Noche 1, Anchor

EON CH 09

THAT DESERT.

1774, JULY 10th.

A few hours later frigid waves carried Noche up and down. Her head may as well have split into a million pieces. The pain was so great her eyes refused to open. All she was aware of was the smell of brine – something soft touched her skin; it was squishy, yet crumbly. Like a piece of driftwood, Noche was washed onto the shores of a beach. 

A horrendous ache assailed Noche's skull as she struggled to stand. Successfully escaping DeathTech and landing in the ocean caused her to be washed up here. The pain made it impossible to open her eyes; every time she did it overwhelmed her brain. Her head throbbed for eternity.

Thinking caused her mind to fill with static. Opening her eyes filled her vision with static. Even trying to recall her memories led only to static. Everything was fading away. Cradling her head to ease the pain Noche began to walk. She wasn't sure how long she walked, but eventually the pain died down. Noche was able to open her eyes and look around.

Nothing. That's all she saw. An infinite expanse of nothingness... Which took the form of that desert around her. A desert void of color and life. Empty of everything, but sand and sky. There were no cacti, no hills, and no clouds. Even the sun was hidden. It was almost as if her consciousness couldn't process true nothingness and made that desert as a substitute.

Noche's body went numb and cold. Her limbs shook. She took a step back, but something was wrong. It hadn't occurred to her until now. There were no waves crashing. No sounds of the water. Goosebumps pricked her skin and her blood became ice as she slowly turned around. The ocean was gone.

The ocean was gone... The ocean was gone... The ocean was gone, the ocean was gone, the ocean was gone. Noche started to breath rapidly. This couldn't be real. This had to be a trick. It was fake. She was in denial. Her eyes desperately scanned the environment. She snapped her head left and right. There wasn't anything here. No plants, no animals, no ocean, no sun... Nothing. There was only nothing.

The nothingness was absolutely overwhelming. Noche was unable to bear the sight of that desert. She closed her eyes and tried to escape into her mind. All that was waiting for her was static. She tried to search her mind for a memory. Something. Anything! Yet the harder she tried the more it felt someone hit her head with a sledgehammer.

It was all gone. Every single memory. Even the faint memories from a moment ago were fading. Soon she couldn't even remember the ocean washing her up here. Noche had complete amnesia. The only thing that remained in her mind was nothing.

Noche felt her heart stop. She opened her eyes. Outside her nothingness. Inside her nothingness. She was in purgatory. This was her own personal hell, for that desert mimicked her perfectly. There was no escape. Then she heard a faint, crumbling, sound. She looked down at her left arm and watched it crumble into sand.

Noche screamed.

Her heart could explode from the fright. She had never been so wide eyed. Noche ran. She ran and desperately searched around for something. Anything to break the nothingness. The sand was creeping up her arm. It reached her shoulder. She ran harder! Faster! Then she fell. That desert had taken her legs.

Noche squirmed like a worm under a magnifying glass. Her wails echoed as she flailed about with her last remaining limb. Soon it too was taken by the sand. Only her torso and head remained. Noche began to hyperventilate between screams. Her chest felt like fire as her throat was ripped to shreds by the shouting. Then it was silent. That desert had taken her voice.

She wanted to keep screaming, keep shouting for help, that little hope that someone would hear and then come save her. The sand crept towards her head. Slowly it ate her ears, her tongue, her nose. One by one Noche lost her senses. Soon the sand had crept into her right eye and the world became darker.