Noah, City of Von, 2067
Noah was standing on a flat surface, water up to his ankles. It looked like the surface could go on forever. The sky was orange, like a sunset. And in front of Noah was a huge floating clock.
Every five minutes, the clock would make a loud ticking sound.
Noah was still in his same clothes: a black raincoat and black pants. The only difference was that there was a hole now in front of his coat on the stomach and a hole corresponding on the back, showing the wound he got from being attacked.
After a few moments, the clock makes a loud tick sound.
Five minutes have passed.
Noah's eyes spring open widely. Sweat begins to form on his face. And he starts to scream while clenching his stomach.
Seconds pass, and finally Noah stops screaming.
He moves his hand from his stomach, where he was covering his wound. He realizes that he is no longer bleeding. His wound is fully stitched up.
After realizing that he's not dying, he starts to walk around in the ankle-deep water slowly. He looks around the vast open realm.
'Where am I?' Noah thought.
Finally, Noah looks ahead of him and sees the giant floating clock.
After examining the clock from a distance, another loud tick sound is made.
Five minutes have passed.
Noah's head tilts to one side.
'Just what the hell is this place?'
Without notice, a voice from the skies speaks.
"Welcome to the realm."
The voice is deep, making them sound ominous.
"Well, actually, this is your realm."
Noah looked into the sky with a confused face. His feet were still ankle deep in the water.
The water to Noah was at the perfect temperature, a balance between hot and cold. The air, on the other hand, was chilly.
Noah answers the weird voice.
"Who are you?"
After a few seconds, the voice answers.
"I…I am a figment of your imagination."
Noah's face remains confused.
'A figment of my imagination?'
"Yes." The clock answered ominously.
This scared Noah; it felt like the voice could read his thoughts.
Noah points to himself.
"Can you read my thoughts?"
A few seconds pass, and the ominous voice answers.
"Yes. My voice, the clock, the ground with ankle-deep water, the orange sky, everything is a figment of your imagination."
Noah looks up, scared.
The ominous voice continued.
"You are essentially trapped in your own mind."
Noah, not knowing what to do, begins to run around with a frightened look on his face.
But no matter how far Noah ran through the vast open space, the clock was always still in front of him—ticking away. It was as if Noah were just running in place.
Noah falls to his knees in the ankle-deep water. His hands rested at his side. His face looks up towards the sky. The orange sky illuminates Noah.
The clock ticks again.
Another five minutes.
The ominous voice speaks again.
"It's futile. You can't run out of the realm. You must have your mind leave the realm."
Noah talks in a tired voice.
"And how do I get my mind to leave the realm?"
The ominous voice is silent for a bit, but then it finally answers.
"I don't have the answer to that. Only you have the answer."
Suddenly, the sky fell silent. Only the water swaying around Noah made any sound. And of course, the giant ticking clock.
Time passes, and Noah remains sitting there staring into nothing. Suddenly, Noah starts to hear voices…
"Sir! Doctor! He's waking up!"
Slowly, Noah's eyes begin to close.
Before Noah entirely falls asleep, he manages to hear the final words from the sky.
"Goodbye."
***
Noah, waking up from his coma, jumps up in the hospital bed. His eyes were wide. He breathes heavily.
An oxygen mask covers Noah's face. The hospital room is small, with a couch against the wall to the left of Noah and a chair to the right. Monitors are close to his hospital bed, monitoring his vitals.
Noah looks down at his wound and sees that it is stitched up.
'It looks exactly how it did in the realm.' Thinks Noah.
Then Noah begins to think about something good: the fact that he survived. Noah leans back in his bed, putting his two arms back, keeping himself up.
Noah sighs, then he smirks.
"I survived."
Suddenly, Lucas runs through the hospital room's door, scaring Noah. The doctor followed behind Lucas.
The doctor is an old guy. He has bald spots going down the middle of his head. He wears a white doctor's uniform.
The doctor smiles.
"We weren't expecting you to wake up so early."
Lucas grabs a hold of Noah's bed rails.
"No, seriously! You woke up way sooner than you were supposed to."
Noah, not knowing what to say, just rubs the back of his head and forces a smile.
"Ah, I see."
Noah then watches as the doctor walks up to the monitor.
The doctor speaks in a low, rough voice.
"Yes, everything looks fine."
The doctor then stands to the side of Noah's bed.
"I'll leave you be for now. I wouldn't want to strain you too much."
Noah nods his head and waves to the doctor as he leaves the room. Then Noah shoots his eyes at Lucas.
And Noah begins to speak in a serious tone.
"Just. What happened to me?"
Lucas looks at him, surprised.
"You were attacked by someone or something unknown."
Noah leans back against the wall and closes his eyes.
"I see."
Lucas starts to walk around the room.
"It's weird, though. The day after you were attacked. Rudolph and A-3 went missing."
Lucas stops walking.
"They haven't been seen for a couple of days now."
The room fell silent, and Lucas just looked over at Noah, whose eyes were still closed.
Finally, after some time in silence, Noah speaks.
"I think you know what that means we have to do, right?"
Lucas moves his head side to side, telling Noah no.
"We're getting ready to get a search party out for them. So I just want you to stay here and rest."
Noah sighs.
"I don't think my conscience would allow that."
Lucas just stares at Noah like he's a crazy person.
It finally dims on Lucas. Lucas begins to think of the short time he spent with Noah. The investigation into finding Amelia Ashford and how desperate Noah was to help find her, for a reason Lucas won't be able to comprehend anytime soon.
Was it for a sense of duty? Maybe his own personal reasons…
After some thought, Lucas licks his lips.
"Look, if you want to go find them, you need to recover a little more. Alright?"
Noah opens his eyes and gives a small smile.
"How about we talk to a person who can speed this whole process up?"
Lucas's eyebrows raise.
"Who is this person?"
Noah thinks before answering.
"It's the Shark."
Lucas sighs, and then he goes over to Noah's right side of the bed.
"You're saying he can make you better?"
Noah nods his head.
Lucas frowns slightly.
"Well, then we are going to have to get you out of this hospital."
Noah wraps his arm around Lucas's shoulder, and Lucas begins to walk slowly. Noah barely manages to keep hanging onto Lucas's shoulder as he grits his teeth through the pain.
Lucas points ahead of him.
"We just need to make it to that elevator."
Lucas, being quick on his feet, throws a gown on Noah, then sits Noah in a wheelchair that had just been sitting nearby.
Lucas whispers into Noah's ear.
"Okay, listen. We are going to dart to that elevator as fast as we can."
And in sudden acceleration of speed, Lucas darts to the elevator.
"We made it!" Lucas says under his breath.
Noah smiles.
As they're going to close the door to the elevator, they see someone exit a hospital room, screaming:
"Where's my wheelchair!"
All Noah and Lucas can do is laugh.