Noah's eyes were met with the solid wood ceiling of his home. He laid there for a second too lazy to get up. He took a deep breath in and sat up. As his gaze drifted through the room his hand rose up to rub his face as to try and wipe away the grogginess. His hands moved past his face and through his hair finally finding its place back at his side.
He stood up then walked over to a mirror. He looked at his face in the mirror, noticing that his eye bags had gotten substantially worse, then his gaze lowered to his jaw. His facial hair had grown quite a bit since his arrival. Noah shifted and grabbed a small stool that laid not too far away he then placed it in front of the mirror and sat.
For a second he thought about trimming it a little, but decided against it, reasoning that it wasn't that long and trimming might make it look worse. He then looked to his right and summoned his runes.
His eyes fell to the weapons he had, the (Spear of Astor), the (Farron Dagger), (Orion's Message), and his (ancient wrapping). He had recently gone to the memory market to look for something to replace his (ancient wrappings).
Since he lost his arm about 5 months ago he had realized that sticking with his fists has become very ineffective. Sure it worked as a good secondary action when he had all his weapons broken but now that he is limited to one hand he had to find something new.
His bow (Orion's Message) was almost functionally useless, but the ability given to his eye sight was pretty useful for his work. His spear gave him good range and the (Farron Dagger) gave him a good up close weapon, so the (Ancient Wrappings) were the only thing that did have much of a purpose.
He then removed the (Ancient Wrappings) from his weapon slot and replaced hit with a new "weapon".
The spell whispered into his ear.
( A Weapon has be lost, it shall be remember for eternity)
( A Memory has been destroyed )
(a Weapon has be gained, may it bring glory in the battle to come)
Noah then summoned his new armament. A small circular shield about a foot in diameter appeared in his hand. It was made of a smooth silver material and it had ornate engravings around its parameter . It was called the (gravitas) and it was an awakened memory of the IV tier.
Although the rank of awaken was basically useless because all the weapons he added to his arsenal were moved down to his rank, the tier of IV was very good. It also came with 3 very good attributes.
Noah opened the shield's runes
Name : (Gravitas)
Weapon Tier : IV
Weapon type : Shield
Upgrades : 0/6
Weapon Description: ( Gravity is an immutable rule of the universe, when within gravity all things must be pulled to its source, though one man refused to follow. For his theories and contraptions he was thought to be crazy and although he was never able to overcome the immutable laws of this world he was able to push back. with his dying strike and his last stroke of genius he was able to create his masterpiece)
Weapon enchantments (Defy logic), (metalized), (Gravity well)
Enchantments (Defy Logic)
Enchantment Description: (the unnamed man was never able to beat gravity but he did push back. This armament is very light and anything in direct contact with it also loses a portion of their weight)
Enchantments (Metalized)
Enchantment Description: ( when this item is hit with enough force the item will harden and the gravity with reverse making the shield and the users heavy)
Enchantments (Gravity well)
Enchantment Description: ( this item has it own gravitational pull allowing it to stick to surfaces at will)
A very good trio of enchantments were on this shield, but Noah bought this shield due to its (Gravity well) enchantments as an add on to one of his already existing weapons.
Noah stuck out his hand and recalled his spear which was laying on the other side of the room. Once it had appeared he laid in on his lap then he summoned the shield. He waited a few seconds before it materialized then he stuck the shield where the cross guard was.
The shield stuck to the spear as if it were a magnet. Noah then grabbed the spear and stood up. He shook the spear a bit, testing the weight and to see if the shield would fall. He then did some small practice moves with it switching between an attacking stance and a shielding stance.
Noah had to admit it was a little unwieldy to do this with one hand, but he waved it aside, putting up to the fact that he had never used a spear and shield in this manner. All together he had gotten more than the desired result; the spear and shield combo was actually lighter than just the spear and now he had more defensive options during combat.
He then placed the spear against the wall and exited the room. He made his way to the main room to see that everyone was already up. Effie was sitting at the table gorging herself with a catch that he assumed she had caught this morning while Leandro and Savannah were both sitting on the couch, but Leandro was nose deep in a book.
Noah greeted them with a smile and he walked up to effie. He tapped her on the shoulder and asked " hey so can I take some of that"
She respond quickly" no"
Noah nodded his head slowly " uh-huh…ok" he then swiftly took a piece and immediately licked it.
Effie gave him a glare then continued on with her meal. Noah turned and walked to Leandro who was just relaxing on the couch " any news about any new mission"
He stayed unmoving engrossed in his book " Nothing big has been requested, we do have some quotas to fill by weeks ends though"
"Oh well… ill take care of them"
Leandro turned to him "alright well it's a small area clearing assignment so don't hesitate to call for help" he then got up and walked to his room coming back with a map." you need to clear here" he then pointed to a place that was pretty close to the outskirts." There shouldn't be many nightmare creatures so close to the outskirts so you can probably do this alone."
"Ok then i'll be off, i'll probably be back around night fall so don't worry" Noah turned but was stopped by Leandro
" also congratulations of surviving a year here"
Effie chimed in with food still in her mouth" yeah a lot of people don't last this long"
Noah turned to Savannah and she was nodding to confirm what they had said. Noah rubbed the nape of his neck and with a smile on his face responded" well im only alive because of you guys, but thanks anyways…." he turned around and made his way to the door "alright, well see you guys later"
As soon as he left the house his smile changed to one of guilt, the smile changed to a sour face as he took a deep breath. He then summoned his spear and shield and placed it on his back, then he summoned his dagger and placed it on his hip. Checking that everything was in order Noah set off to the outskirts.
As Noah made his way to the mission objective he observed his surroundings. He did notice a couple of new faces, thereby proving that it was the next winter solstice. Noah felt conflicted, although new faces were nice it would also mean a lot more dead by the end of the month, which was never a good thing.
Eventually he made it to the outskirts of the human controlled zone. As he exited he stopped for a second and let his eye find the ground.
All though the winter solstice had brought out a feeling of melancholy; it had reminded him of the real world and his age. He mused that in about a month his 26th birthday would be coming up. He had missed his 25 in the chaos of the first few months here but now he might be able to celebrate it. A smile once again appeared on his face.
*that will be nice*
He then continued his journey to the mission objective.
As he arrived he decided to get some high ground, he found a dilapidated building and used the rubble to climb, then from his vantage point he jumped to a house that hadn't fallen, allowing him to climb even high.
From his elevated position he was able to see the area around him, and what he saw was nothing out of the ordinary. Noah let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when he saw a couple of small nightmare creatures in the area.
*Good not many*
While looking down at the nightmare creatures he planned his approach, then he jumped down into the alleys of the city.
He cautiously snuck though the back alley till he arrived at his target. He stalks it for a while, waiting for it to be relatively alone. Noah summoned his bow and slowly walked up making sure to not leave the alley.
Noah shifted his grip on his bow so that he was holding it at the top where the string met the wood, he then used the bottom half of the bow as a hook and put it around the nightmare creature's neck.
Before it even knew what was happening it was yanked into the alley. He then let go of the bow and watched the creature fall to the ground. Noah immediately pounced on his enemy quickly silencing it before it had a chance to fight back.
The spell whispered into his ear confirming the kill.
He then swiftly turned to the entrance of the alley, summoning his spear. He stood like that for a few seconds expecting another creature to see his actions, and he expected correctly when another nightmare creature came sprinting through the opening.
Noah took a few steps back into the alley, allowing the creature to get closer. He then lunged at it running his spear through its torso. Noah pulled the impaled enemy towards himself,but what he didn't expect was that the creatures would also still be lunging at him.
He was tackled to the ground,with the monster on top of him. Noah went in for a slash but his hand was caught by the creature. With the creature's other hand he removed the spear, then started beating Noah.
With his only working hand pinned he released the gas from his arm. The creature's beating didn't stop till it took a breath, then it screamed in agony. Noah swiftly knocked it off of him and slashed at the enemy's head killing it.
He quickly got up and turned back to the alley entrance shields ready for another attack.
The Monster's scream had invited another guest who was already charging at him. Noah did the same and using his shield as a ram, his shields (Metalized) attribute activated causing his hit to have much more force than normal. The shield bash knocks the creatures into a wall.
Noah summoned his spear and aimed for the legs, hitting them he knocked it over allow him to claim a swift kill
but none came. Noah let out a sigh of relief as he quickly left before the blood attracted more nightmare creatures.
Later on as Noah was finishing off the last of the nightmare creatures in the area he looked up to see that the sun had begun to fall. It wasn't about to set per say but he could guess that he had a good 2 or 3 hours till the sun set.
He peaked his head out the alley way to see that there were no nightmare creatures still in the area. Deciding that he had probably finished the clearing he made his way back to the human controlled outskirts.
Once there he slowly made his way to the gates, as he approached the steps he felt a little bit of guilt in the back of his mind. He stopped at the first step then looked at his old house. It had seemed that one of the new sleepers had taken his home as their new abode.
Noah smiled as he watched this person fumble about trying to at least make the house look somewhat whole. His gaze linger for a little too long and he ended up grabbing the attention of the new arrival.
The sleeper nervously waved at him, as he stared blankly at them. Noah wondered why they looked nervous, but then he realized that to them a man in full suit and helmet of slightly decrepit looking armor was just staring at them.
Noah gave an apologetic wave of the hand then said " sorry" then turned away and made his way up the stairs.
Making it to the top he asked the guards to let him in, the guards did so with no fee required and he entered the castle not as a member of the outskirts but an Important person of interest.
Noah made his way through the much safer streets of the inner city eventually making it to Blight castle. He asked the guards there to let him and they did so readily. He then followed a familiar route and eventually found himself staring down a long stairwell.
He cracked his knuckle, then his neck, then steadied his breathing. Getting ready for another long hour then made its way down the stairs into the dungeon of blight castle.
In the dungeon he met the ever creepy Horus and his boss the Great King Gunlaug.
He was then informed of what today's task is by Gunlaug.
With is hand behind his back he started" in the past week we have captured 8 rebels one being Issac Drayton, the person that you" he pointed at Noah " go the name for a few months ago, we have found out that Issac Drayton is a high ranking lieutenant in the resistance and under no circumstances should you kill him. We need him alive to get his boss's name."
"Now the other 7 are expendable, use them in any way you see fit to get answers out of the Lieutenant. Am I clear"
Noah and Horus both respond "Yes sir"
Gunlague turned and left right after his instructions were confirmed. Noah turned to Horus and silently followed him into the chambers. The 8 prisoners were all chained to the wall and they all looked as if they had been beaten badly, by who Noah didn't know.
Noah let out a quiet breath as he looked over the prisoners, he didn't really know who the VIP was so he tried to look for any discerning features, only realizing after a thorough analysis that only one of them had cuffs with a small mark etched on it.
*Ah so it must be him*
The man Noah was looking at had a muscular build and a very grown out beard, from the looks of it he was around his age which probably meant he had been in the dark city for at least 4 years. In a sense there was a veteran sitting in this jail cell. Anyhow the man was looking at him with something that he thought was disbelief, then anger.
*shit he knows me*
This was not good. Not only was he a veteran, meaning he would be harder to mentally break, he also knew him from somewhere. Harming him no matter how small would increase the risk of killing him.
But in this type of situation the safer route is the path of most resistance. Noah walked up to the 8 prisoners; he looked each of them up and down looking for the most injured one then cut him loose. He dragged him in front of the other 7 and announced from under his helmet.
"Issac, we only need you alive so the rest of your compatriots are for lack of a better word expendable" Noah then laid the man against his knee as his dagger appeared in his hand. He then placed it cross on the injured man's neck. " So the sooner you tell me the your bosses name the less people have to die"
He then pressed it closer to the man neck " and trust me I want to kill as little people as possible"
Isaacs only softly said one word " Coward" then glared into Noah with a fury that he had seen in many prisoners "all right just chime in whenever you want it to stop"
Noah dropped the dagger and used his left hand to move his right arm close to the man's face, he then unwrapped a small section of his arm allowing a small amount of gas to seep from the opening.
There was a deafening silence then a howling scream, the man in front of Noah violently convulse and screamed so loud that his voice began to break. Then he curled into a ball and with a drool falling from his face and tears in his eye he brokenly pleaded.
Noah faltered for a second, watching a grown human plead for his life would always elicit a small reaction from him, but he had to steel himself for if he failed he might not live to see another day.
He then grabbed the man by the back of his shirt and dragged him Towards Horus. He gave him a small node and Horus without hesitation stabbed the man through the chest.
Noah gaze swiftly towards the Issac to gauge his reaction, sadly for Noah there was non he just keep his vision solely on Noah.
*This is gonna take a while.*
Noah went through every option that he could think of, but couldn't get Issac to break. He even harmed him a bit by spraying gas at him which got a reaction, but not nearly enough to get him to talk.
Both Horus and Noah agree upon the fact that the only way to break him would be with time, which meant sadly for Noah that he would have to come back more frequently in the coming day to try and extract any information he had.
After this conclusion Horus left the room to go tell Gunlaug their plan, while Noah was left alone to clear the bodies.
He Sighed as Horus left him alone then he slowly turned back to the bodies. The eyes of the victims were still wide open displaying the pain and fear they felt in their final moment. Noah averted his eyes but still made his way over to the bodies.
He then laid them flat on their back and gently shut their eyes as a sign of respect, though Noah knew that even if they were alive, they wouldn't want anything from the one who made their last moment a living hell.
Noah gazes linger on them for a second, but his gaze shifted to Isaac when he heard him say "you're a fucking bastard"
Noah eyes twitch a little "O so now you wanna talk"
"Why show them this small courtesy after what you've done"
Noah swiftly turned and snapped back" well I wouldn't have had to do that if you just talked!"
Issac laughed" o so it my fault you tortured them"
Noah stayed silent
"Yeah… We both know that's bullshit. Stop acting like you didn't want to kill them." he gestured towards the door "At least that psychopath is honest with himself, but you. Your a sniveling coward who doesn't want to admit that he wants to do this"
Noah with rage bubbling into his voice shouted back "don't make assumptions about me, I don't enjoy hurting, I don't enjoy killing this is only to survive I don't care what people think of me as long as I make it to the end"
The smile appeared on Isaac's face "O so if you don't care then, what about your squad. What if they knew what you've been up to."
Noah froze *he definitely knows me*
"Leandro, Savannah, Effie… I wonder what they'll think if they knew what you've been up to. And they will find out. When I escape from here, I will do everything in my power to tell them and ruin your life" he gestured towards the corpse "just like how you ruined theirs"
Noah trembles at the realization that the man in front of him could tear away every major relationship he had in this hell hole. Only one thought when through Noah mind
*I cannot let that happen*
His knife materialized in his hand, and he slowly walked towards Issac.
"You can't kill me, I'm too important. With a VIP prisoner like me your Master can't afford to kill me." he chuckled to himself" so what are you gonna do scare me with that knife, their nothing you can do to make me talk, you have not leveraged"
Noah knew this, but he didn't need him to talk. It was actually quite the opposite, he needed to be silenced, permanently. Once in front of him he concentrated then started to channel his umbral energy into the dagger. He then smashed the chains attached to the wall, setting him free.
Issac got up and rubbed his wrist; he looked at Noah confused then a realization hit him. He instantly summoned his weapon, a long sword, but by then it was already too late. Noah had already started spewing gas into the room.
Once Noah started to hear the effects of the gas take hold, he ran in and smashed the prisoner into the ground with his shield. He then threw his shield at him and watched as it was blocked by Issac's long swords. The shield was a distraction though and Noah came out of the gas with a spear at the ready and drove it straight at his chest. At the last second Issac summoned his shield and Noah's spear imbedded itself into is flat surface
he shouted at Noah "you are just like the rest of them, a bastard who hides self-interest in necessity"
Noah grits his teeth in anger and push harder putting all his body weight into it. His spear slipped deeper into the shield, but then his anger vanished and was replaced with cold hard focus. His eye flared blue, its power emanating through the visor of his helmet.
His spear sank ever deeper and finally reached Isaac's skin. It pierced into his chest, through the rib cage, and into the lungs. Issac spat up blood and as the poison of his spear began to take hold Issac said one last thing "you're a coward".
Then the light faded from his eye.
Noah backed away slowly as it sunk in what he had just done. He had killed someone but not just anyone; it was the king's high-ranking prisoners. Noah put his hand on his head
"Shit Shit Shit"
He had to think fast before Gunlaug or Horus returned. His eyes flashed to the shield; Noah ran up and smashed it causing it to sputter into sparks.
Then Noah's heart sank and he heard the door to the room rattle, shake, then open. In the doorway stood Gunlaug with Horus behind him. Gunlaug stood there for a second looking at Noah then at the corpse next to him then he moved.
His golden gauntlet grew and extended, grabbing Noah before he even had time to react. With anger in his voice Gunlaug yelled "you had one Job and you killed him"
The golden hands grip began to tighten around Noah's whole body, causing him to have trouble breathing.
He coughed out "he somehow broke free and tried to attack me. I-I was t-trying to defend my s-self"
"You could have subdued him; he was already injured"
"my spear killed him on the first attack, I-I think he was trying to kill himself"
Gunlaug's gaze shifted to the body. The body had one clean strike on the chest and no other bodily injuries that weren't caused by the people who captured him.
"That doesn't matter you still killed out only source of information, what will you do to atone" his grip got even tighter causing Noah to start to hear popping noises coming from the joints in his body.
Noah trying not to sound to desperate respond "I'll do anything you need, I can still be useful "
A smile appeared on Gunlaug face "anything, alright" his grip loosened and he let go of Noah. Noah fell to the ground as Gunlaug continued "I need you to keep tabs on Leandro, send me weekly reports"
Noah bit the inside of his cheek as he responds "Yes sir"
"Good, this is your last chance" he then tapped Noah helmet with a golden sword "don't fuck this up. ok"
"Yes sir"
Gunlaug left the room with Horus in tow. Noah tried to get up but realized that his arm had been dislocated.
* Fffuuuuuuuuucccckkkkkkk*
Noah used his face and pushed himself up to his knees then stood up from there. He walked over to the wall then adjusted the angle of his arm with the wall. then using his body as leverage smashed his arm back in place. There was a popping noise then a little bit of pain, he then moved his arm and squeezed his fist a few times checking if everything was ok.
Noah sighs in relief as his arm is not damaged at all. Then his gaze shot towards the body of Issac. He walked up to it and kicked it as hard as possible.
* You fucking bastard this is all your fault now I have to snitch on the only people I like*
But after one kick Noah caught himself. He knew even in his infuriated state that kicking a body was the lowest of low. He turned to the corner then summoned his spear. Squeezing the handle in rage he smashed it into the wall over and over again trying to release the rage that was boiling out of him.
By the time his anger subsisted his spear's blade was in tatters.
Once he finally calmed down, he looked at his spear seeing its broken blade then across the room at the shards of black metal. He then dismissed it and allowed all the shards to disappear all at once.
He then put his shield on his back and exited the room in dead silence knowing what he had to do would break his friendships forever.