(000) Introduction One - Day 38 (Noe's Unfinished Symphony)
Noe Uzun was a name no one here cared to ask. Another nameless victim in this nocturnal forest. His age, his identity—none of it mattered.
'...Damn.' He hung in the husk of a grand tree. His gasping breaths echoed through the forest. Vines coiled tightly around his wrist like serpents, their coarse surface biting into his golden-brown skin. Blood trickled down his wrist and into his eyes. He thrashed around, but each desperate movement made the vines twist and burrow deeper into his flesh.
A month ago, he had left to grab a soda for his sister from the nearby vending machine. There used to be a woman he found interesting who frequented the area. She had captivating blue eyes and long white hair that glistened under the street light. She leaned against the wall, drinking her third soda. He always timed his visits to coincide with her third soda.
That night, she noticed him. They had conversed before, but that night, she tore the end of her ticket and wrote her number on it. Noe ran all the way home with a net of butterflies in his stomach. Until he realized he had forgotten his sister's soda and hurried back out. The last thing he remembered was a bright orange light blinding him as soon as he left their flat.
Four creatures hovered over him with curious eyes. Thin, with ribs protruding from their flesh and skin as white as parchment. Sickly thin cheeks with nails that seemed to curl into bone. They watched him with dark—hollow eyes.
The tree's rough edges held him hostage as the vines plunged into his muscles. Air escaped his lungs at a rate his brain could not process. How much longer? A dense fog clung to his nose. It cloaked the trees and carried the scent of medicine and decayed leaves. Rotten flesh hung from his chest, stinging like a thousand invisible bees.
Leaves whispered under the mist, mocking him. Twigs snapped under unseen footsteps and his chest drummed. The wind rustled through the branches as three large asteroids floated above the forest. He tasted the damp earth, it slid off his tongue like vomit and choked him like a madman.
His ears strained to locate the source. They turned sour and rang in frustration. Noise came from everywhere, the forest had a language of its own, and he was beginning to understand it. The footsteps grew heavier, more deliberate. He could feel its vibrations in his skin.
He swallowed the taste of fear in his mouth. His fear was bitter and unyielding. It lingered, and it merged with the air. His eyes darted around the forest, trying to pierce through the fog. The darkness was oppressive—each shadow seeming to move, taunting him. His body trembled, but not from the cold.
A low growl rumbled. The creature emerged from the bush, its silhouette indiscernible in the darkness. The chill threatened to freeze him. His body ached and his muscles screamed in retaliation. Noe's breathing hitched as he watched it creep closer.
The creature sniffed the air around him. It circled the tree, and with each rotation, seemed to get larger. Canines stuck out from the bottom of the beast's blood-stained mouth. A snake exited from above the beast's ass. A rough surface that scratched and pulled at Noe's skin. It hissed at him and glared with double-slit eyes.
It came to a silent halt in front of Noe. It was... observing him.
The beast coughed. Then it growled at him. It lifted its maggot-infested head and pursed its long, torn lips. Something cold escaped from his ears and slid down his face. The noise hadn't reached him. Was the beast howling? The forest shifted in front of him, the trees combined into a singular point.
His muscle had been torn away by now, the vines sawed at the bone. His chest expanded, air flowed in, and ribs cracked. His wound opened further like his body had been attacked by an endless supply of needles. He screamed out, but could not hear his yells.
Bones twisted and snapped. His arm was free but he could not move it. A large malformed hand swung at him. Noe lifted his head to find no one... nothing there. Another hand swung a thin crimson-colored arm with green spots. He turned, and nothing was there. A creature, much more massive than the others, opened its enormous mouth, seized him by his hair, and plunged it deep into his skull.
Noe gritted his teeth, shoving his head further into the behemoth's mouth, and clawed at its throat until it spat him out. He glanced over and behind and found nothing there. Noe closed his eyes for the last time and thought back on his last night home.
Noelle sat on the couch with her legs crossed reading a magazine. He didn't bother to figure out which one, all he could recall was seeing a blond woman sit with her cleavage exposed and a cold drink in her hand. He sat next to her with his legs spread open and a steaming cup of coffee. He couldn't remember much about their conversation—she was leaving soon, for a couple of weeks of paid internship overseas.
A dozen creatures covered in dense black fur and long, ebony claws, surrounded him. They grinned at him, and the last thing he remembered was having his head tossed around while the creatures forced him to watch his body be torn apart.
Soon after, when nothing remained, his vision grew dark. His consciousness floated around the nocturnal abyss. Is it better... than that forest? He thought. A heat seared at his back. A deafening silence gnawed at his eardrums like a brain-eating parasite. He felt nothing. He had no body to feel, no ears to hear, and no eyes to see. Yet, he sensed the emptiness. He heard nothing. And he saw nothing. Was this the afterlife?
Then—there was light...
The tang of bitter wax mingled with the pungent odor of latex. A soft beep echoed at his side. Noe's eyes fluttered open, greeted by the blinding light of a sterile white room. Noe turned his head, landing on a familiar woman with a pretty face—though he'd never admit that to her.
She had golden-brown skin and hair of the same color. It was so long she could sit on it if she wanted to. Her nails were painted pink and she sat next to him with her legs crossed, reading a magazine. She lifted her head and noticed him from the corner of her eye. Noe lifted his arm without noticing, extending in front of him as if reaching for something.
Noelle shot up, her eyes glimmering at the sight of him. She ran out of the room, opening the door just enough for him to catch a glimpse of the hallway beyond. A woman in blue scrubs met his gaze from behind the door. Noe lowered his arm and Noe returned as quickly as she left, with a middle-aged man standing next to her.
The man had dark skin, a low cut, and thick brown glasses. The man took his hand from his pocket and, with a nervous smile, extended it for Noe to shake. "Glad to see you're awake," he said. "We have a lot of questions for you, Mr. Uzun."