Chapter 10 - Noah

Noah whirled around hysterically. No matter where he looked, he couldn’t find a trace of another living creature. Or a nonliving creature for that matter. His heart was racing. He knew something was wrong, something was –

“It’s different,” he told himself. He began to worry. He had always stayed in his own little safe zone and, sure enough, as soon as he stepped out, this happened. His heartbeat quickened. A white light shone faintly front under his shirt. In the midst of his fear, Noah found the will to laugh a little.

“I had almost forgotten about this mark,” he thought to himself. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. The glowing subsided. He took another breath and began walking forward, though he wasn’t quite sure where he was going. Should he go home? No, something told him he should go back to the chapel; that maybe the others were still there. Maybe they were immune to whatever Blackheart had done with that paper?

The farther he walked, the more he began to feel that somehow, despite never seeing a soul, he was not alone. He was right.

“Noah, is it?” said a cold, yet somehow soft, voice.

Noah wasn’t sure what had happened. There behind him, where he himself had stood seconds ago, stood Blackheart. He stood a mere few inches from Noah; it felt as if his bright red eyes were burning through Noah’s.

“You are quite the intelligent one, from what I’ve been told. Keeping that in mind, I present you with two options: join me, or die.”

Noah tried to speak, but no words would come.

“An understandable reaction,” Blackheart scoffed. “But I must insist on an answer,” he added menacingly.

Noah was suddenly very aware of the lump forming in his throat, of his heartbeat raising, of his hands shaking. At long last he drew forth the courage to speak.

“I…I c-can’t join you. N-not ever.”

“How sad,” Blackheart said thoughtfully. What’s more, he actually looked like he meant it. He looked at his hand, closing each finger into a fist one at a time and then opening them again. He did this several times and, on the sixth or so time, he flung his fingers open, each one now long and slender, each with a sharp tip. Noah staggered backwards and fell to the ground. Blackheart reach his arm out toward him. Noah was paralyzed with fear; he couldn’t do anything to make his body move as Blackheart placed every one of his needle-like fingers against his face. Blackheart pressed them harder and harder against Noah’s face but nothing happened.

“But of course,” Blackheart said, almost grinning. He reached upward with his other hand. A faint light materialized in his chest and traveled up his arm and into his hand. Blackheart immediately expelled the light, firing a bluish-green orb into the sky, where it vanished.

“Now…” Blackheart continued, turning back to Noah. But there was no one there. Blackheart looked around angrily. There ahead of him, now several feet away, was Noah, running as quickly as he could.

Noah, still running at break-neck pace, looked behind him. Blackheart was gone. He grunted as he hit something hard, knocking him back to the ground. His glasses fell from his face and slid several feet away. Squinting as tightly as he could, Noah could see staring down at him, his face contorted with rage.

“You impudent little Fleshchild,” Blackheart hissed, “You dare insult my abilities with your pathetic efforts to escape?”

He sliced his fingers across Noah’s face. Noah winced in pain as Blackheart’s fingers cut into his skin, leaving a wound stretching diagonally across his face. Noah screamed out in pain, but he was not alone. Blackheart’s hand shot back, smoking. He was screaming even louder than Noah. Blackheart looked in horror at his hand as it continued to sizzle. Noah, covering the majority of his cut with his hand, looked on in astonishment; he wondered what had just happened. He suddenly recalled something Alagor had said to him:

“The most significant difference between demons and humans,” he explained, “is the obvious difference. Demons aren’t alive.”

“And why exactly is that so significant?” Noah asked.

“Well, it all has to do with how demons are created. We aren’t born from flesh like humans. When a person dies, they leave behind tiny fragments of their soul. In some cases, those fragments can be blended with an element of nature. When that happens, a demon is spawned.

“So you and Kaesi, you were blended with shadows?”

“Yeah, and of course, just like with different people, each demon develops a unique trait. Just like my wings or Kaesi’s matter phasing.”

“And Astar, he was blended with fire?”

“I think that’s a story he needs to tell,” Alagor answered evasively. “What I’m trying to explain is that the fact that we have a fraction of a soul is what sets demons apart.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s the reason we can exist but never die. No soul to take. It’s also the reason that demons can hurt other demons, the contact of souls is just enough for us to feel pain. But most important of all,” he said, hesitating, making sure he had Noah’s full attention, “it’s why Blackheart is so much stronger than other demons; he has no soul at all. And that’s you’re biggest advantage over him. Because no part of him was ever alive, his body can’t handle contact with blood.”

Noah removed his hand from his face and looked down on it; it was covered in blood. Both his heart and mind were racing. In fact, he could actually hear his heartbeat. A light burst forth from Noah’s chest; it was as if the sun were right in front of him. His Mark shone so brightly that it was, for the first time, completely visible through his clothing. Blackheart, momentarily distracted from his own pain looked at Noah’s mark and laughed.

“So they’ve marked you. That explains why they’ve invested so much interest in you,” he said. “And the Mark of Sacrifice no less,” he added, looking closer at Noah’s Mark. It was a straight vertical line with two arrows crossing through it.

“Mark of…Sacrifice?...” Noah mumbled to himself. He looked to the ground. When he looked back up, Blackheart’s hand was coming toward him again. Noah grabbed Blackheart’s arm with his blood-soaked hand. There was a bright flash of light; suddenly Noah found himself back at the chapel. Seizing the opportunity, he released Blackheart’s arm and ran inside, leaving a trail of blood behind him. There was an eerie quiet. Noah looked back through the window; Blackheart had made no effort to move toward the chapel, instead he just stood there.

“Where are they?” Noah called out.

“In worlds apart,” Blackheart laughed threateningly.

Something triggered in Noah’s memory. One of the prophecies Noah had been reading mentioned something about “worlds apart”. He closed his eyes and thought back.

Four shall be sent
To worlds apart.
Bodies separate;
United by heart.
But three shall return,
Each hand in hand;
Divided they fall
But together they stand.

“United by heart…” he mumbled, “by heart…no…by blood…” He ran his finger across his cut and began writing on the wall. “Please guys…come to the chapel…please be able to see this somehow, and come to the chapel.” After he finished the “united by heart” line, he paused.

“Three…maybe…hopefully…it’s wrong,” he said as he made one small change to the line. At the end he pressed his blood covered hand against the wall and, after a few moments, felt the familiar sensation that came with being flung across space. All at once, Astar and Kaesi stood beside him. Noah looked from one to the other, then at the ground.

“Three…”

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