Epics of Noche 3, Limbo

EON CH 03

MADAM GRASSHOPPER.

1774, NOVEMBER 28th, MONDAY 7:50 am.

Noche was frozen in time. The creature before her seemed so familiar. It even knew her name. She stared at the thing as tingles went up her left arm. Her glance fell to the limb as it glitched in and out of sight. There was no pain when it vanished completely. She blinked and the arm returned, but she couldn't feel it.

Somehow, it seemed fake.

The fingers of her right hand brushed against the numb limb – a wave of pins and needles shot across every inch of skin. Her gaze shot back up to the entity before her.

"What are you? A monster?"

"Perhaps," The grasshopper smiled. "I would be to anyone who threatened my girl."

There was a pregnant pause between the two of them.

"Are you scared?"

"No. I feel fuzzy," Noche said. "My mind feels so distant... Foggy and clouded."

"Well that's to be expected," the insect lady said. "Not every day you have your arm ripped off. I bet you're still recovering from the blood loss."

"Blood loss?" Noche slurred.

The grasshopper walked over and gently took Noche's hand like a child's. The insectoid was a full head taller than the blonde.

"It's ok, I'm right here," Grasshopper said.

Noche snapped her hand out of the lady's grip and shook her head.

"No... No, I just met you," Noche said. "I don't know why you seem so familiar, but I know we've just met."

"I'm familiar because you want me to be," Grasshopper said. "You want to be comforted."

Noche's eyes widened and she scowled at the thing. The world darkened a tad and a howling gale picked up. A bit of thunder crackled in the distance in tandem with her boiling anger.

"The world is reacting to you again," Grasshopper smiled. "You need to calm down. I understand you've had a pretty bad day, but don't let it define you."

"W-Why is your dress riddled with bullet holes?" The blonde stuttered.

"You know why," she said. "Deep down, you know why."

The landscape became fluid. It changed like a mixture of oil and water. Swirling into a typhoon filled with thunder and lightning. Noche clamped her eyes shut and, for some reason she couldn't explain, tears streamed down her face.

Overwhelming sadness slammed into her like a truck and she didn't know why. On cue, as if reacting to this mysterious sorrow, the world exploded into a torrent of rain. She screamed and the howl of the gale drowned out her wails.

"What is going on!" Noche shouted. "Why am I so overwhelmed!"

"You know why!" Grasshopper said. "You need to calm down!"

Noche wrapped both arms around her torso, but the left one glitched and vanished. Her legs buckled and she fell to her knees. Gravity seemed all over the place, as if she was being tugged in various random directions; it was dizzying.

It was almost like a feedback loop. Similar to placing two phones next to each other when both are on the same call. Noche's emotions feed into the chaos of the world around her. In return, her environment stressed her out further. A never-ending cycle of things getting worse.