History of a Mystery
-Introductions-
"Welcome, young man." Neah's first experience aboard the ark was that of the bubbly attitude the Earl released when he was excited, "I've been waiting for you, Neah. Come with me and you can meet all of your brothers and sisters."
He followed the Earl through the streets of a city in the shadow of a large tower. The streets were relatively straight and all seemed to lead towards said tower as if it were truly the center of the world. The Earl, Neah figured this had to be him, led him inside and the two made their way up to a large hall where a group of people all sat in waiting. He counted thirteen men and women all sitting at a large table in the center of the circular room, which was surrounded by windows. Everyone, with the exception of the Earl, seemed to look at him in awe. The uneasy feeling this produced was only kept in check by the fact that Neah knew that they weren't doing anything BUT staring.
The Earl gingerly pulled a chair out for him as they approached the table. He sat reluctantly in the middle, surrounded by his fellow clan members. A young girl with dark spiky hair approached him, much to his surprise, "My name is Rhode, the Noah of Dreams. Who might you be?"
Neah hesitated slightly before opening his mouth to answer, "Neah. My name is Neah Walker."
"No need to be shy, Neah," said the Earl. "We aren't here to hurt you. You are completely unprecedented. Never before have we had a fourteenth disciple and we are all curious about you."
"So what do you do?" Rhode asked enthusiastically.
Neah was surprised at this question, "E-excuse me?"
"Well, I control dreams, Matteo can telekinetically control people, and we each have a special power. What's yours?" Rhode said as she pointed to herself and Matteo before looking anxiously at Neah.
"Um…I don't know. I've never really done anything special and nothing's changed since I awakened. I have no idea what my 'special power' is," he thought as he rummaged through his memory for the answer. Nothing particularly outstanding came to mind.
Rhode was being thoughtful, too. She sat in silence for a moment before releasing her idea, "Well how about a talent? Anything you can do well? Maybe something your brother is jealous of?"
These people were full of odd questions, "Nothing he was jealous of, but I did have a talent before we moved to the village."
"What might that be, pray tell," another Noah chimed in.
"I can play the piano pretty well. I'm self taught and that surprised my brother because I excelled without a teacher."
It was only after he saw the shocked faces of the other Noah that Neah realized he'd been looking down at the table. Each one seemed terrified for some reason, and Neah found out why as soon as he looked back to the Earl. They were not shocked by any means. Both looked, with the exception of the Earl's ever grinning face, extremely angry for just a moment before the Earl decided to feed his opinion, "Unfortunately that talent won't do you any good here. There isn't a piano here to be played for you."
Neah knew he was lying. Cross knew things that an eighteen year old shouldn't know. He'd told him all about the Ark and how supposedly it was controlled by a central piano called the Heart. He didn't know if it was true, though. The only people who could control the Ark were the Earl and Rhode, the 'freaky little girl,' as Cross had described her. That explained the looks on their faces then. Neah wanted to investigate these claims of a central piano. Maybe he could use that to give the Exorcists access to the Noah.
"What're you thinking over there, boy?" The question startled Neah. The speaker, a thin man at the end of the table, started at him intently, "Your thoughts are a jumbled mess. Mind telling us what the negativity is for?"
"I'm not sure I know what you mean." Neah was confused.
"I can read your mind, boy, and I see a whole mass of negative thoughts. Any particular reason?" The Noah drilled him.
Neah just shook his head, "I'm just a little weary. I've heard of the Noah clan before and it just makes me a little nervous to be in the presence of all thirteen."
"Yes, but you are one of us. We won't hurt you at all unless you give us a reason to. You are our brother and a close friend. Don't fear your family, Neah," the Earl stated lovingly.
Note: I know this chapter is really short, but I have this section split up to get my idea across. There's more to come!
