Chapter 7: When Life and Death Curve

Sleep, rest, death.

Are they the same?

"Noah."

Who's that?

My eyes open and I'm surrounded by lights, by silence, by the emptiness of nothing and everything.

"Noah."

It's that voice again. But it feels like it's coming from inside my head. It's almost like I'm saying it but my mouth isn't moving. Where am I?

What happened?

There was the battle, those Xyscons, Julius and Jayden. There was so much going on. We were trying to fight them off, but one of their attacks hit me, and I think I remember something about poison.

Did that kill me?

Is this what it's like to die?

It just seems, so pointless. If I was really brought through time to help them fight off whatever the evil was what purpose did it serve for me to just die? And what about Patrick and the rest of my family back during my time? Do they know what happened to me? Will they hear about this? What's going to happen to them?

"Calm down Noah, you aren't dead yet?"

I'm not dead. He can read my thoughts?

"No, I can't read your thoughts. I just know what I'd be thinking if I was in your place."

"Who are you?" I ask the nothingness around.

"My name is Noah."

Wait…he is…I am…

I hate time travel.

Why can't my life make sense for once? Is that too much to ask?

"You were pulled through time shortly after I died. If I know Jayden, he was able to use what was left of my spirit to guild you here."

Well, that explains a few things. Though I still don't quite get how I'm not dead if I'm talking to dead people. Maybe I should just stop trying to make sense of things for a little bit. That always seems to work for Patrick.

"Right now though, I need you to lend me your body."

Um….that's not something anyone has asked me before.

"How do I do that?"

"Just don't resist."

Huh?

I do as he says, and this place starts to fade. The light is slowly replaced by the earthy ground I was laying upon before. I can now more clearly feel the pain in the back, but my arms are legs start to move again. At least they aren't numb. I can hear the sounds clear now too, everything is coming back.

However, upon this I see how bad things truly are here. Julius and Jayden are both cut in several places and bledding badly. Nevertheless they are trying as hard as they can to fend off these Xyscons. Hundreds of the creatures lie dead around us. But even then, the skies are still filled with what appears to be thousands more of them.

How long was I out for?

"Noah, let me handle this,"Noah says.

This is going to get really confusing…

Even so, I just relax and feel my limbs moving of their own accord. I feel the older Noah inside me, guiding this body. It's like I'm watching a movie, letting the scene unfold in front of me, not willing nor able to do anything to stop it. I just let it flow.

"Jayden, Julius!" he says using my mouth.

Yep, really confusing.

The two of them look up at me/him/us. "How are you standing?" Julius asks beating away one of the Xyscons with a blast of lighting.

"I was able to take over his body," Noah answers using my mouth. "I don't have much time, but if we combine our powers we can fend them off."

"Let's do it then. For one last time," Julius says with a peace around him that would seem make me believe that all the world was living in harmony. His smile always had a way of chasing away my fears

All around me the wind blows, the velocity picking up so much that it nearly lifts me off the ground. This is my power, or what it will be. I can feel the pure exhilaration like when I use it. Only this time it's stronger, more in control. The terrible ferocity of the wind is ready to be let loose, making me want to cower in fear if it wasn't my body controlling it. But it stays within, awaiting the call of its master.

"I'll trap them in a cyclone, channel your fire and lightning into that."

With strength like nothing I had felt before, Noah sends up a massive tornado at them, the sound nearly enough to deafen me. The Xyscons are trapped in it, some try to escape, but the force of the wind is just so strong that instead of blowing them away it sucks them into it. Jayden shoots up the strongest force of fire I had seen from him which seems to light the sky with red. Zack is the only one I'd seen who could channel that much energy at once. It engulfs the tornado, setting every particle in it ablaze. Julius then fires a massive array of lightning up into it, obviously taking advantage of the Xyscons' metal like armor. The electricity crackles as it travels from creature to creature, the sound like a thousand thunderbolts pouring from the mighty cyclone.

It stays in there air for minutes, the Xyscons powerless to resist it's incredible power. Pieces of their body fall all around us, legs, wings, stingers, but never a full Xyscon.

"It's over," Noah says as we take heavy breaths. He sets his hands down and the cyclone fades. I feel his power and presence fading. For such a short time, that was an incredible display of power. The likes of which I had never seen before. Apparently that was everything he still had left to fight with.

"Thanks for saving us," Jayden says.

"It's not over quite yet," he says. I notice he's right. Despite the fact that the enemy had been torn apart, there is still another hovering overhead, watching us. The lady I saw earlier, cloaked in darkness. Whoever she is.

She leaps from whatever she was sitting on and descends rapidly. She slams into the ground, but manages to stay standing as she lands.

"Impressive. I would have never thought you'd be able to destroy my army like that," she says with a voice that seems familiar, though far distorted from whatever it was in the past.

"Who is this?" Jayden asks.

"She was the one who was commanding those things," I say, this time without influence from the older version of me.

"I'm impressed that you could see me then Noah. But I guess your attunement to darkness makes it easier for you to see me."

"Who are you anyway?" Julius yells.

"You can call me the envoy of the dark. I could destroy you all right now, so don't try attacking me. I just wanted to talk to Noah."

"Why me?"

"Because, you still have a chance to join me. Noah, in the future you couldn't see the beauty of the darkness, the serenity that it brings. That is what caused you to fall. You couldn't see that it was who you were meant to be. None of you could. It's too late for them, but not for you Noah."

Be who we were meant to be?

No, I'd never be like that. I'd never be meant to cause all this death and destruction.

"It is you who can't see," the other Noah says through my voice once again.

"Ah, you're actually still here," she says, seemingly genuinely excited. If she is the envoy of darkness that has to be bad, but maybe she isn't pure evil. Maybe….but we know so little about her.

"Sadly not for much longer. But these elementals, and the younger version of myself are strong enough to not be broken by your darkness. Their light will pierce even the hopeless darkness you have brought."

"Awfully confident for someone who's already been killed by my forces."

"Noah, Julius, Jayden," he says through me one again. "Never give up. You guys can still win." I think feel his presence fade from me, his power along with it. The wound from earlier makes itself made known again, but it's not nearly as bad as before. It's hurting, but I can still stand despite it.

"Hope. Sure, have your hope. I'll leave you alone for today. But Noah, think about what I said."

She then fades into the shadows as if she was never there. Why is she so fascinated with me? Am I more susceptible to the darkness then them? Or is there something more?

…

A/N: You'd think with me writing this the same time as the previous chapter it would be up sooner. Oh well…This past month I've written the first 10 chapters of an original fantasy story. If you're interested in learning more about it, I'd be happy to share it with you.