Epics of Noche 3, Limbo

EON CH 28 - ACT 39, DARK HALLWAY

OUTRUN THE FLOOD.

1774, NOVEMBER 28th, MONDAY6:50 pm.

Noche stood before Creeps and it loomed over her. Its appearance was different, more akin to a tall, slender person than a monstrous amalgamation. The hallway barely contained the things gigantic size – it lurched forward.

The being of light emerged, but this time it was weaker; less luminous. It held Creeps back, but as it did so pins and needles ran up Noche's left arm. It flickered and faded until it vanished with a pop. The pain was replaced by a thousand fire ants biting at her stump.

She stifled a scream and kept her eyes locked on the entities before her. Darkness was swelling around the duo as the light grew dimmer – something was wrong. She took a step back and a second later, the being of light shattered into an explosion of golden dust.

Noche staggered back as her savior was destroyed. She had no way of defending herself now, no fighting back. There was a loud boom that followed the lightning bolt that struck somewhere outside the hall's windows. Rain fell onto the glass in a monsoon as the blonde stood unguarded before the monster.

She turned and ran. Ahead the little girl ran with her, but something was different. The child was covered in injuries – she bled from her arms, neck, and left hand. When baby Noche looked back her left eye was missing; it was now a socket that streamed blood.

The sight stunned Noche, but a dagger of ice to her ankles snapped her out of it. A flood of water rushed past her feet – she snapped back to look. Creeps inched towards her; lightbulbs flickered and exploded as the thing approached. However, even with the lack of light, it was clear the ceiling was caving in behind the monster.

Every step it took towards the blonde left a curtain of rain in its wake. A flash flood would occur soon – if Noche didn't hurry. Yet no matter how much she moved her legs, she was stuck at a snail's pace. It was like a nightmare. One where she couldn't move as the monster's lifeless breath grazed the hairs on her neck.

Noche didn't notice that she was naked – completely defenseless. Her mind was racing, too focused on the fact that if Creeps caught her, she'd be stuck in that desert forever. The hallway stretched into something supernaturally long. Yet there was a glimmer of hope. A door hung ajar ahead and yellow light slipped through the cracks.

The girl ran with all her might as a torrent of water threatened to catch up with her — as creeps threatened to devour her. Her face drenched in a mix of cold brine and swear. Fear stuck to her skin like the droplets running down her face.

"You killed them!" A thousand voices screamed.

"You killed your parents!"

"You killed that mother and daughter!"

"You killed your teammate Rowan!"

"Cherries, Varen, Jack! All dead because of you!"

Noche wanted to cover her ears, the voices were too overwhelming, but she had to focus on running. The flood, the monster, both were inches away from catching her. She could feel it breathing down her neck — a cold gust that made her hackles rise. Noche had to keep running.

"It's all your fault! You stupid fuck!"

"You stupid, weak fuck!"

"How dare you keep living!"

"Murderer!"

"Failure!"

"FAILURE!"

The world trembled and shook as the screams transitioned into Noche's own voice.

"Nobody loves you because you're a failure!"

"Weak!"

"Pathetic!"

"Insignificant!"

"All you do is lose! Again and again!"

"You fail!"

Noche shut her eyes and screamed.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! Get out of my head!" Tears streamed down her face. "I'm not a failure! I'm not!"

Cold sank into her bones as she ran. All she could think about was failure, failure, failure. The hallway grew so dark that she could only see the door in the distance. Sand fell around the edges of her vision — the hallway became an hourglass that was ticking away with each second.

One by one her senses shut down as her mind panicked. The world went mute and the hall became a black void. Her fear reached its apex when she stood before nothingness. True and pure nothingness.

Noche couldn't feel her legs, couldn't see where she was going, couldn't hear her own footsteps — yet she ran. She couldn't stop, she had to keep moving, even when she was a floating consciousness in the endless void. In the depths of her fear, anger became her shield.

She raged — raged at everything. Noche forced herself to keep running forward, like a beast willing to destroy any obstacle before her. She couldn't stop, couldn't let up, otherwise that desert would consume her. Her wrath boiled her blood and before long she was willing to do anything, go to any length, to escape this fear.

She had to get stronger.

She had to get stronger!

There was a flash of light as Noche's fingers grazed the door — it flew open as she leapt forward. She spun, slammed it shut, and jets of water shot out between the cracks. The blonde stood there for a moment, as her heart threatened to burst out of her chest between breaths.

Cold, drenched, and pale as a ghost, Noche took a moment to scan her new surroundings; it seemed familiar. Her legs trembled as she took step after step, splashing in the puddle growing under her feet.

"This place. I know this place," she paused. "This is where I spent my coma."

As she spoke, baby Noche appeared before her. Before the blonde could speak, her small doppelganger pointed to the TV. The one that rested in front of a red couch. The same one Noche sat on for two years after her head was cut off and reattached.

"This is the place I went when I kicked the bucket. The place I went when I died," she muttered. "I'm back in the yellow room."