Epics of Noche 2, DeathTech

EON CH 01 - ACT 14, NEVERAFTER

CURSED FOREST.

1774, NOVEMBER 27th, SUNDAY 8:00 pm.

Noche's left arm was hit with thousands of pins and needles; the limb may have well been missing with the numbing sensation. Her hand balled into a fist, causing the circular scar to pop out — still couldn't feel crap.

Noche sighed. "Leaned on the damned jeep door for too long."

The car bounced up once, Noche turned to see what the driver Rowan hit. Golden eyes locked onto golden eyes as a small wolf cub kept its fading gaze on Noche. Blood gushed out of its crumpled torso and tire-marked guts covered on the road like spilled rope. It died alone; Noche frowned and returned to her seat.

The jeep arrived at a mountain pass where dozens of its kind were already parked. Noche threw herself over the car door and landed on a wildflower. The petals were destroyed under her heel as she formed rank with the other soldiers.

Cold wind blew gray clouds under the night sky — the only light was a rusting lamp post near the path ahead. The blonde adjusted her gauntlets, the only piece of a Cross uniform she was assigned on such short noticed. She inspected the DriveMetal lined gloves and sighed.

"Whatever! Who cares if I got drafted — I was strong enough to join on my own anyways!" She spat. "Whatever gets me closer to Edward! Whatever lets me get my revenge."

The memory of Medusa approaching Noche at the party played clear in her mind. How the president herself told Noche she was now a Cross soldier after overhearing the blonde's proclamation to kill Edward. Noche wanted to believe it was because Medusa recognized her strength and willpower... And not because Cross was understaffed.

Ten thousand soldiers – compared to other armies, like the United Government and the Planet Lance Cult, it was a trifling number. After all out of the entire global population, about thirty million were soldiers. Even Create, with all its power, couldn't bridge the gap of quantity with quality. And God only knew how many soldiers DeathTech had.

Noche's gaze turned towards her left hand and the gauntlet that hid the scar underneath. Another memory played in her mind, this time of the tornado of crows; her hand tightened into a fist.

"Create failed me," she muttered. "I don't know why... But Create wasn't working a few hours ago."

The blonde uncurled her hand and a small flicker of rainbow energy appeared in it. Small sparks took the place of the prismatic light and caused electricity to hop from finger to finger.

"Glad to see it's fixed... But what happened? I could feel my Drive moving, just like now, but Create wouldn't activate," she whispered. "Like in a videogame – I had the mana to cast a spell, but the spell failed anyways."

"Hey, quit mumbling to yourself," Rowan said. "You're gonna get in trouble."

Noche eyed the driver. He was a tall, thin man with faint traces of a brown beard growing. The girl who got out of shotgun, Gabby, had short hair that was violet near the roots and ruby towards the ends. Last was the person who sat next to the blonde – his name was Jonathon, and at six foot tall, he was more muscle than man.

They were all friendly enough on the trip up here. Well, as friendly as one can be when a new world war is declared three hours prior. They were the ones who managed to find her some part of the Cross uniform to wear.

That thought made Noche grit her teeth, everyone but her had a uniform. A blue vest with gray wool trench coats, a cobalt helmet themed after a knight's helm, and white scarfs. Steel knee guards, knee-high black boots, brown pants, and of course brown gauntlets.