Epics of Noche 3, Limbo

EON CH 02

SHAYLIN'S REUNION.

1774, NOVEMBER 28th, MONDAY 7:45 am.

Shaylin sat in the frigid, white room that was the doctor's office. The fluorescent lights let out a dead buzz as her hands rested on her knees; she patted them occasionally like bongos. A man walked in with a medical chart and a frown on his face.

"The results were negative. I'm sorry for your loss."

"NO!"

Shaylin's eyes snapped open. Tears welled up and she wiped them away with a trembling arm. For a moment she paused; stared at her shaking hand. The memory lingered and she needed a moment to recover from the cold welling up inside her. It was a freezing shroud that encapsulated every inch of her body.

There was no escaping that intense, crippling fear. No salvation.

Closing her eyes only refreshed the painful memory. Deep breaths wouldn't calm her frantic heart. The nightmare was burned into her mind. It was too fresh. She had to do something to distract herself. Shaking, scared, and haunted by lingering trauma Shaylin searched about.

A train flew overhead – soaring through the clouds like some sort of airship on trackless wind. Beyond it was a night sky that looked like an oil painting with five-pointed stars drawn from crayon.

She sat up and laid her human hand on her stomach. Tears streamed down her face as the memory resurfaced in her mind again and again. She couldn't stop seeing what awaited her at the bottom of that monster's maw. Her worst fear.

"Am I dead?" She shuddered.

A quick scan revealed she sat on a clocktower that floated sideways in space. Its circlet was frozen in time in the midst of an explosion. Gears and smoke stayed locked in place near motionless flames.

Around her were bombs with gears in them – reminiscent of the recent incident with the terrorist Timmy time bomb. Nearby were marble pillars identical to what she saw at the bottom of DeathTech. Chunks of the dark-gray checkered floor were attached to the bottom of those columns.

Next to them were chess pieces. She peered closer and familiar features became evident. Each one looked like a person she knew. Vida and Boots were rooks. Shaylin and Professor Grim were bishops. Noche and Raven were knights.

The ginger chuckled at the fierce expression carved onto Noche's face. Tak and Jack were all the pawns. Medusa and Edward were the kings. However, the queens were Galloway of Cross and... Blades of ice slid down her spine.

"The monster."

"Creeps."

Shaylin turned to Boots, then wiped away her tears.

"That's its name," he said.

The tall man was shaking, pale, drained of all blood. He tried to maintain a calm expression, but the cold sweat dripping down his brow betrayed him. It was evident he hadn't recovered from whatever he had seen. The man was deathly afraid.

"Creeps, like the nursery rhyme?"

Boots nodded.

"I thought that rhyme originated from the green fairy tale book... Which Edward himself wrote centuries ago! Silly me, it all makes sense now."

"Think about what we saw... That's the monster that escaped the POE's seal with its twin Galloway. The one that made the Neverafter forest which inspired DeathTech's birth. The dark god Edward said he fused with in his video logs... That eldritch thing is Creeps."