Epics of Noche 3, Limbo

EON CH 01 - ACT 29, IT KILLED ME

TAR FACTORY

1774, NOVEMBER 28th, MONDAY 7:41 am.

Pine needles trembled as the frigid gale blew past. Above was a surreal night sky more akin to an oil painting with stars in it drawn from crayon. Below was a blonde woman whose left arm glitched in and out of existence. Noche slept as her limb stayed indecisive in its corporeality.

She rested on the outer ring of a forest that surrounded an abandoned factory. Tar leaked from the doors and windows of this rusted facility as her sleep was plagued by nightmares. Memories of her failure, all her failures, flashed before her unconscious eyes.

The fight against the monster, her arm being severed, bleeding to death. How her life flashed before her eyes as the world went cold. Blackness creeping its way into her vision. She was dying. She was going to die.

"Noche. Wake up."

"Jack?" She murmured.

"I thought we were going to see the sun together?"

Eyes snapped open – she jolted up in a gasp. Noche's gaze darted from side to side as she took in her surroundings. No trace of her companion, no trace of anyone. She was alone in unfamiliar woods.

She stretched and stood, wincing from the pins and needles in her left arm. Her glance landed on the limb – It was still there. In the haze of waking everything seemed normal. Still, she traced the fingers of her right hand over the back of her left. The tips lingered on the bullet scar she got when she was four years old.

"A dream? Nightmare?" She muttered. "Was the whole war with DeathTech something I came up with in my sleep?"

Jack's face flashed before her eyes. A smile lit his visage before the vision faded. Noche's hand found its way to her scrunched brow. She waved the headache away.

"No... It had to be a dream," she said. "I still have my left arm."

Her eyes widened as she lowered her hand – it wasn't there. The entire left arm was gone. She blinked in shock; it returned. As if it was there the whole time.

"It... It was a dream. That monster wasn't real. I didn't lose my arm," she whispered. "I didn't fail."

Noche's face went pale. Acid jumped in her stomach, desperate to escape her throat. The world shook from a dawning earthquake. She forced the vomit down into her gullet and stumbled backwards.

"It didn't kill me. I didn't fail."

The blonde buckled and had to use a nearby tree as leverage to stand. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths.

"It was all a dream. I didn't fail."

The world calmed with her; the earthquake stopped. Noche let out one final deep breath and opened her eyes.

"I didn't fail."

"Watch out for crows, hide in the light, or Creeps will get you in the night. It'll eat you up and when you're dead it'll go and eat you once again."

A thousand children laughed from all directions and their voices echoed around the woods as Noche flinched into a defensive stance. However, her eyes shot to her left arm as it glitched in and out of existence. She stared as the limb vanished, reappeared, and was gone again.

She was so transfixed on the sight of her arm that it took her a few seconds to notice her clothes were different. Noche wore black plate mail. Heavy slabs of metal covered every inch of skin below her head. Noche's breathing became rapid – an earthquake threw the world into violence.