"ARGGGGGGGGH!!"
Veins rose along Noah's neck in crimson webs as his heart hammered against his ribs. His breath came in ragged gasps as he doubled over on the stairs, one hand reaching for the handrails while the other clutched at his chest.
His left knee struck the hardwood first.
Then his right.
His body pitched forward, nearly sending him tumbling down the remaining steps, but his fingers caught the handrail at the last second. He clung to it, his knuckles darkening as another wave of agony tore through him.
Though he prevented what could've been a terrible fall, pain continued to engulf his entire body, arriving in relentless tidal waves whose only purpose seemed to be dragging him beneath them. Every muscle seized. Every nerve screamed. There was nowhere for him to escape it—not even inside his own head.
His heart continued to slam against his chest, pumping blood through his body as though desperately trying to keep pace with whatever was happening to him.
He tried to breathe, but his lungs refused to cooperate. He sucked in another ragged breath, but it barely reached its destination before another surge of pain ripped through him. His vision blurred. The edges of the stairwell began to darken.
Are all awaken—
He couldn't think; the thought barely formed before the next wave hit. Noah's fingers slipped against the handrail. He tightened his grip, opting to lie on the stairs.
Stay awake...
He didn't know why that thought came to him; maybe because some instinct deep inside him understood that losing consciousness would mean giving up.
Another wave struck; both arms instinctively wrapped around his stomach as he curled in on himself, another muffled scream clawing from his throat.
"Shit, shit, shit!"
Footsteps thundered up the stairs. Levy appeared beside Noah in just a moment, his eyes widening at the sight of Noah lying on the steps.
"HOLY FUCK, that looks insane!!"
Veins crept higher and higher along his neck, branching toward the outline of his face. His eyes were already turning bloodshot, yet beneath the spreading, his amber irises still burned through the red.
Levy dropped to his knees beside him. "Fuck, are you okay?"
The words barely registered. Noah could see Levy's mouth moving, but his voice sounded impossibly distant, buried beneath the crashing in his ears. Everything around him had become distorted. The walls seemed to bend at the edges of his vision, while the pounding of his own heart drowned out nearly every other sound.
Levy's expression tightened. "Shit, okay."
He glanced toward the bottom of the staircase, then back at Noah.
I gotta get him somewhere before they find a way inside.
Levy grabbed Noah beneath the arms and pulled him upright. Noah's body immediately went limp against him.
"Come on. Come on..."
Levy hooked one of Noah's arms over his shoulder and struggled to get him moving. Noah's spear had been knocked loose during the collapse, its shaft caught against the body of the walker he killed moments earlier.
"Can't leave that."
Levy reached down, grabbed the spear, and pulled it free from the corpse before securing it in his other hand. Then he looked up the remaining stairs; two hallways. Levy tightened his grip around Noah.
"We're getting you upstairs."
Noah tried to answer, but nothing came out of it. Nothing but another wave of pain that shot through his body. His fingers clenched around Levy's shirt as a disgruntled groan escaped his lips.
Levy staggered but held on. "I've got you. Just hold on."
He hauled Noah up another step. Each movement felt—and was—painfully slow. Noah could barely remain conscious. His head lolled against Levy's shoulder as the world blurred around him, the staircase becoming nothing more than indistinct shapes and shadows.
Somewhere beneath the agony, he could still hear Levy. Faint. Distant. But there.
"Stay with me, man."
Levy pulled him higher, shifting his weight for a better hold.
"Whatever this is..." he took another step, "...you gotta push through."
Noah's eyes fluttered. For a moment, the pain receded just enough for him to breathe until his body seized again. Levy nearly lost his grip.
"Shit!"
He tightened his arms around Noah and forced himself onto the last stair to the hallway. For a moment, he stood there, trying to catch his breath while keeping Noah upright.
Fuck. You're heavier than I thought.
Two hallways stretched out before him, one to the left and the other to the right. He glanced down each one before turning away from the right and heading left. He shifted Noah's weight against his shoulder and tried the first door.
Locked.
The second.
Locked.
The third opened, but because the lock was broken.
He moved to the next, continuing his mission. His breathing grew heavier as he continued down the hall, Noah's weight becoming increasingly difficult to manage.
"Come on..."
He tried another handle.
Nothing.
Another.
Click.
The door opened. He paused.
"Hope there's no walkers in here..."
The door creaked open just enough for him to peer inside. Darkness swallowed the room. Despite the sun still hanging outside, what he could only assume were blackout curtains had reduced it to something resembling night.
He muttered something under his breath, but Noah's pained groans urged him forward. Levy nudged the door fully open with his knee and stepped inside. He quickly scanned the room. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he gently lowered Noah against the foyer wall. He then turned and shut the door behind them, locking it.
Levy looked ahead, then at Noah. "Stay here."
Noah didn't answer. He wasn't even sure if he could understand him anymore.
Levy's footsteps moved away, growing fainter as he presumably checked the rest of the room. A door opened somewhere nearby. Then another. Noah barely noticed. His attention had already collapsed inward.
Pain no longer came in waves. The waves had become one continuous tide, an unbridled force that consumed everything between one heartbeat and the next. Noah's fingers curled against the floor. His muscles tightened without his permission.
Every nerve in his body seemed to fire at once, sending burning sensations through his arms, legs, chest, and spine. It felt as though something had reached inside him and grabbed hold of every muscle at once, pulling them tighter and tighter until he thought they might tear themselves apart.
His teeth clenched hard enough to ache, his jaw trembling. It felt as though ants were crawling across his face—not ordinary black ants, but a legion of fire ants.
Another surge ripped through his body; his back snapped against the wall. His mouth opened, but no words came out. His throat had stopped cooperating the moment they left the stairwell.
He could feel his heart hammering inside his chest, each beat harder than the last. Blood rushed through his body with such force that his veins stood out beneath his skin, branching across his body, leaving no surface unturned.
His vision flickered. The already dark room had slowly begun to disappear. The walls faded first, then the floor, then the ceiling. Noah blinked, and the room was gone.
He was standing somewhere else; his feet were submerged in a thin layer of water—or at least, what looked like it.
The surface beneath his feet was completely still, reflecting everything above it with impossible clarity. There was no distortion from his movements, no ripples spreading outward from his footsteps. It was as though the entire floor had been transformed into a flawless mirror.
Stars.
Noah slowly lifted his head; his breath caught in his throat.
Stars stretched across the sky in every direction, countless points of light scattered across an endless darkness. Some were brighter than others, while others seemed so distant that they were little more than pinpricks[1].
Noah had seen the night sky countless times, but never like this. There were no buildings, no streetlights, no clouds, not even a moon—nothing obstructing his view as the stars stretched endlessly in every direction. He slowly turned, trying to understand where he was. There was nothing. Nothing except the water beneath his feet...
And the tree.
Noah's eyes settled on it. It stood several dozen feet ahead of him, completely alone in the endless expanse.
Its trunk was dark brown, almost black in places, its bark rough and deeply ridged. Thick branches twisted upward and outward before splitting into much smaller limbs, while dark green leaves covered the branches. Yet something else intertwined among them.
A faint purple aura seemed to flow through the tree like a current. Thin strands of violet light curled around the branches and disappeared between the leaves, illuminating portions of the trunk before fading back into the darkness.
Noah stared.
He couldn't explain why, but something about the tree drew his attention more strongly than the endless stars surrounding it. His brows furrowed.
What is this place?
Noah took a cautious step forward when something pulled him backward. His eyes widened as his body lurched violently, his foot sliding across the mirror-like surface as an invisible force seized him from behind.
"What—?"
He stumbled as the tree suddenly seemed to drift farther away. Noah reached toward it, fingers stretching desperately toward the purple glow, but whatever had hold of him pulled harder. His body continued to slide backward, the stars above blurring as the reflection beneath his feet shattered into countless ripples. His hand closed around nothing.
Noah's eyes shot open as he gasped for air. Levy jerked backward, smacking the back of his head against the opposite wall.
"Shit, dude! I thought you died!" He rubbed the back of his head, wincing.
Noah barely acknowledged him.
〔Awakening Complete!〕
Then another line appeared.
〔Apocalust System Live〕
[1] Basically a tiny puncture made by a pin.