Heat.
Unbearable, painful heat.
It scorched him on all sides.
Cold.
Unbridled, piercing cold.
Every part of his body was cut with frozen edges.
Light.
Insufferable, blinding light.
It obscured all else with its violent glow.
Darkness.
Endless, powerful darkness.
The void had consumed him.
--
Noah's eyes slowly opened, but it hadn't made any real difference. However, the darkness behind his eyelids was nothing compared to the void all around him. Black expanded infinitely in all directions. Darkness wasn't the right word to describe Noah's new environment. He raised his hands in front of his face, and there they were clear as day. He patted all along his body, making sure that he was all there. Not only was he in this strange place either. All his possessions had come with him. His clothes, his accessories, and his weapon were still on his person.
Being in this void was, for lack of a better description, quite strange. With nothing around him in the sea of black, Noah had no reference point for the state he was in. He wasn't on anything solid, for nothing provided resistance on any side. Noah assumed a couple of ridiculous poses just to assure himself that he was in fact floating. Was he floating upright? Was he floating while laying down? There really was no way to tell. It wasn't hot in the void, neither was it cold. It was nothing at all.
"I'm here just in time," a voice said behind him.
Turning on the spot, Noah drew his blade and slashed at the mysterious entity behind him. The blade simply phased right through it. Whatever it was, it was shrouded in a white robe that practically glowed within the void. No features were visible on this cloaked figure as far as Noah could tell. The cloak covered its entire body, with sleeves reaching far past where his hands should be. Its face was obscured by the only shadow on the creature, a pitch-black shadow that creeped down from its cowl.
"Do you always pull your sword on strangers?" the figure asked. Noah continued staring it down the best he could, his sword still drawn and pointed at where he assumed its midriff was. In more normal circumstances, he would've liked to backstep away from the figure. However, Noah had no control of how he floated in this void.
"Put that thing away please."
The fae obeyed, for no reason other than continued posturing was a waste of time and energy.
"Who are you?" Noah asked. "And what is this place?"
"How rare of someone who has met me before to ask who I am," the figure replied. Its voice had grown more lighthearted and it had adopted an almost playful tone. "Firstly, I'm your Apostle of Nemo. And you died."
"I what?"
"You. Died."
"Bullshit."
"I'm afraid it's very true. You did in fact die in a grove in Dalton's Copse, to a Hunter named Shanaroo."
While having no reason to disbelieve what this Apostle of Nemo character was telling him, Noah was still having a great deal of processing the fact he was dead. Of course, it wasn't an easy matter to wrap one's brain around. He definitely remembered encountering Shanaroo in that grove. He recalled the terrifying presence that the creature (for something like that couldn't be a man) exuded. Noah also remembered taking a stand against the monster.
And then pain.
Horrible, horrible pain.
"Death is a hard thing to accept, though usually most people get over it after the first time," the Apostle explained.
"First time?" Noah asked. His responses were on autopilot. The whole concept of having been murdered was still trying to register fully in his mind.
"Oh right. You can't remember me, can you?" The Apostle had swum around in the ether that surrounded them, putting one of its long, sleeved arms around Noah's shoulders. "I forgot all about your little amnesia."
"How do you know-"
"An Apostle of Nemo lives inside every being in the world of Tera de Fantastique," the bizarre entity explained, floating back to the empty space in front of Noah. "Meaning I know every little detail about you. Including your loss of memories, and everything that happens to you."
"Oh," Noah replied. "That's kinda cool I guess."
"I take by your tone that you have come to accept what has happened to you."
"Not exactly."
Noah had died. That was a fact. He was currently in a void with a strange being known as an Apostle of Nemo. That was also a fact. The Apostle was something that existed inside everything in the world. As far as Noah knew, this was the next fact. There was still something unclear to Noah though.
"So, I died?" Noah asked.
"Yes, you did," The Apostle answered, its voice still soft and cheerful.
"Like. Died died?"
"You are indeed dead dead."
"Then if I'm dead, why am I in this place?"
The Apostle let out a hearty giggle, one that shifted back and forth between one belonging to a boy and that of a girl's.
"Death isn't the end, little one," the Apostle said, its voice instantly shifting to a deeper, older, more wizened voice.
"It's not?" While unwise to all the nuances of living in the world of Tera de Fantastique, Noah did possess some general, innate knowledge. And as far as he knew, death was the end. Once your life was over, there was nothing left. If death wasn't the end, why did everyone fear it so much?
"What kind of world would it be if you could just die and it would all be over?" the Apostle proposed. "That wouldn't be any kind of fun."
"So does that mean I'm not staying dead?" Noah asked. Though his mind was running at roughly a mile a second, that was the most logical conclusion that he could reach. Especially since the Apostle had said that it wasn't their first-time meeting. Had he died before he lost his memories?
"Once I take my payment, yes."
"I'll give anything," Noah said. The prospect of coming back to life would appeal to anyone at all. There was much left to do in his life to let something as trivial as death slow him down. There were more journeys to go on with Teague, Isdiel, Rapide, and everyone else in the party. There were his memories that he needed to have restored.
There was Raelynn, who was waiting patiently in Remnant for him to return.
"That's the spirit Noah," the Apostle said. Its cloaked arm reached out and returned in a flash. There was an audible snap in the void, and Noah could see the broken mole claw necklace hanging out of the Apostle's sleeve.
"That's the price for going back?" Noah asked.
"I need to discourage you from going and dying over and over somehow," the Apostle answered. "Sometimes the horrendous discomfort of dying itself is not nearly enough to deter people."
Noah shuddered. It wasn't hard to recall the horrendous discomfort of having been murdered. He wasn't sure how Shanaroo had done it, but the terrible pain was not a feeling he was eager to relive anytime soon.
"In exchange for the most valuable material possession on your personage, I give you life back," The Apostle continued. Noah watched as the necklace that he had just acquired turned to dust in front of him, floating eerily out into the void before it vanished into the darkness. "Small price to pay if you ask me."
"Considering what you're doing for me," Noah replied.
"Wake up now little one. There's still much to do."
--
The world was a blurry mess as Noah opened his eyes again. He didn't need clear eyesight though to realize he was no longer in the void.
Was anything he had just experienced even real? It had to be, or so Noah thought. The matter of having died or not seemed to be a distant worry. He needed to know if the void was real. He wasn't sure why. He just needed to know that the void existed.
Slowly things started coming into proper focus. Noah was in a bedroom, and a pretty good one at that. The double bed he laid upon was just as soft as the one he had back in The Risen Moon. He could feel himself melting into the cool feeling of the pillow behind him. Daylight creeped in through the window beside him, warming his bare chest. Already this place was a vast upgrade to his time in the void. The only thing that was interrupting his peaceful awakening was a constant humming sound. The volume fluctuated up and down, going from a gentle buzz to a harsh whirring before going back. Noah turned his head, and the first thing that he saw was a head of blonde hair with pointed ears jutting out in the sea of gold.
"Izzy?" Noah found himself muttering softly. He was wondering why the high elf had made her way to wherever he currently was. When the last of his fuzzy vision faded, Noah realized it couldn't have been Isdiel. The woman who was kneeling at his bedside was too tall. Isdiel also didn't keep a green cloth across her eyes.
"My mistake," Noah apologized. He started to sit up, but suddenly his entire body felt very heavy. Not wanting to fight against his own body's will, Noah let the extra weight drag him back down to the bed.
"You're awake," Teague called from somewhere in the bedroom. Noah turned his head to see that Teague was sitting up in a bed of his own to the left of Noah's. "How you feeling?"
"Alive," Noah answered. It was the best analysis that he had. However, he had realized something. It wasn't that his body was any heavier. Noah was simply far weaker than he was used to. It was taking all of Noah's strength just to turn his head from looking at Teague to looking at the people kneeling at his bedside.
"Is this the first time you died?" Sooth asked.
"I guess it was real then." Noah sighed softly. His most pressing question was answered without him even needing to ask. Noah had indeed died. Noah then indeed returned.
"It was real alright," a new voice said. Noah strained himself a bit, so he could see more clearly who else was beside the bed. It was the blue-haired, cat-eared girl that he had seen with the young elf Jesse before. Her and Sooth were wearing similar cotton dresses. The blonde elf's dress was a mint green that matched the cloth over her eyes, while Katrine's was a simpler white.
"Kyla, by the way," the new girl added. "Kyla the Fawn."
"Noah the Slate," he replied before plopping his head back down. Noah got a strange feeling from looking at Kyla for too long. It was an uneasy, sickly feeling in his throat. It was probably a normal feeling that a person has when they see somebody they thought dead talking.
Kyla was also apparently the source of the humming that kept echoing through their bedroom. Her hands were held out over Noah's stomach, and waves of mint green magic were passing from her palms onto Noah's belly. Whatever she was doing didn't give off any immediate reactions to Noah. If Noah hadn't seen the waves of the spell hitting him, he wouldn't have even known it was happening. His body was slowly starting to feel less heavy though. He didn't see himself getting up to walk around in less than a few hours, but it would be nice not to risk hurting himself by sitting up.
Gentle Hands of Relief-A prayer that restores reduced Max HP. Works very,VERY slowly.
"How are you two doing so well right now?" Teague asked. "I don't know about Noah, but I feel like absolute shit."
"Unfortunate circumstances," Sooth answered. "When we arrived in the infirmary, they apparently were very low on rejuvenation serums."
"Infirmiwhat?" Noah asked instinctively. Even when in a state of horrendous discomfort, the draw of curiosity of the unknown (no matter how mundane) was too strong.
"It's where your body reforms after you die," Kyla explained. "I imagine you have a list of questions, but it's more pertinent that you relax as best you can. I promise that someone will explain it all to you later."
"Anyway," Sooth said, a little smile forming as she watched Kyla give her explanation while focusing so strongly on her healing spell. "I convinced the healers that Kyla and myself would be the most productive to give the remaining doses of serum."
"They finished with me just a few seconds ago," Teague explained, turning over to face away and pulling his covers up. There was a soft yawn from his bed before the weakened Brawler continued. "They aren't as good as Izzy, but they ain't gonna hurt ya."
Noah sighed softly, content with the little knowledge that he had gained. He laid there, doing his best to relax as Kyla continued her spell. It didn't take long in the near silence for the humming to get on his nerves yet again. The drive to continue conversation overtook Noah, making him ask, "How's the little guy doing?"
"Master Jesse was the first one we treated," Sooth answered quickly. "He's asleep in our room now."
"Good. That's real good." The kid may have been a total jackass to him, but if he had gone through anything similar to what Noah had experienced, Jesse had earned a long, peaceful rest.
"There," Kyla said. The humming finally came to a close, and Noah mentally rejoiced as Kyla pulled her hands back. "I'm all done with you, Mister Noah. Now just be sure to get plenty of rest. I'll come back and check on you soon."
"And thank you," Sooth said. The two ladies stood up in unison, and the elf gave Noah a warm smile. "It was very foolish of you to step in like that, but it was also very brave. Master Jesse needs examples like that to grow properly."
"I don't think I was much of a good example," Noah replied. "I got destroyed like everybody else did."
"You faced Death himself with no fear in your eyes," Kyla said.
If only these girls knew the truth, they wouldn't be saying all those things to him about bravery and courage. Noah was far more terrified of Shanaroo than any of them had been. He wasn't sure why none of them had been as scared of the monster as he was.
"Rest, young fae," Sooth said. She leaned down and kissed his forehead. Kyla followed with a kiss of her own immediately after. With that, the two healers and maids left the bedroom of the young men, closing the door quietly behind them.
Noah's eyes were slowly getting heavier. It seemed all the weariness from the rest of his body had shifted into his eyelids. With a yawn of his own, Noah pulled up his blankets. He wrapped himself comfortably in the warm covers, the sound of Teague's soft snores acting as a lullaby to ease Noah into a deep rest.
Elsewhere in Tera de Fantastique
A Noble and his Royal Knight travel along the roads of the Lowlands. A rumor has reached the Lord's ear, and he wishes to confirm it with his own eyes.
A gang of Hunters gather and plan in a bar far off the beaten path, hidden deep within some dark corner of the world. The image of the blonde Forager is burned in their mind, as is the hefty price atop his head.
Deep within the tunnels, Father and his children are stirring. They are ready for their war.
Volume 2- Within the Eastern Forests END