Darkness.
When Noah opened his eyes, all he could see was the pitch black darkness surrounding him. For some reason he felt as if he was underwater but found no difficulty in breathing. He was confused. But at the same time, he couldn't shake off the feeling of familiarity with this place.
"I see... Looks like it isn't the time, yet."
Noah was startled when a deep voice suddenly rang inside his head. He reflexively took a step back, looking around to see who it was.
"Do not bother, little one. The fact that you are unable to see me implies you are not ready. For now, that is." The voice spoke out again.
Noah tried to ask the voice who it was, only to realize that he couldn't speak at all. It felt as if his voice was being suppressed by some kind of force.
"Now, it is time for you to wake up. Good luck, little one. For only time can heal your wounds."
Noah was forced to shut his eyes, as he was enveloped by a brilliant light. When he opened them again, he found himself in a different location - He was lying on a bed, covered with white bandages across his forehead, stomach and both his arms, while dressed in a blue patient gown. The room he was in was covered in white tiles, giving the appearance of a typical room in a hospital with an open window on the right side of his bed.
"Finally awake, sleepyhead?" His attention was brought towards the second occupant of the room - A young woman in a doctor's attire. She had waist-length blonde hair, jade-green eyes and sported a gentle smile on her face.
"... Are you the one who saved me, miss?" Noah spoke after a few seconds of silence, in an impassive voice.
"Oh my, how polite..." She lightly giggled. "But no. That would be Sir Walther. I am merely the doctor who is in charge of nursing you back to full health, you see. You can call me Sylfriede. So, what's your name, boy?"
"Noah. Noah Alberich." He stated.
"So, Noah. How do you feel right now?"
"I...don't know. I feel much better than before. But at the same time, I also feel... empty."
"What do you mean?" She frowned.
"Like... I know I should feel happy about being alive. But right now, I feel nothing. I don't feel happy about it. I don't feel sad about it. I-I don't feel anything about it."
'This... I see.' She could guess what had happened to him. 'He's broken.'
*KNOCK* *KNOCK*
They were interrupted when someone knocked on the door. "Is the boy awake, Sylfriede?" A voice was heard from outside the room.
"Now you can meet the person who saved you, Noah." She told him and got up to open the door. Noah looked on as an elderly man who appeared to be of similar age to his grandpa entered the room. He had neatly combed gray hair and sported a medium-length mustache. Noah saw Sylfriede whisper something into his ears, to which the man nodded.
"It's nice to see you awake, Noah." He sat on a chair right next to him. "As she may have told you, my name is Walther. I am the one who found you out there in the open."
"Thank you, I guess..." Noah replied in a plane tone. Walther raised an eyebrow at the unusual reply, but chose to ignore it for now.
"Noah, if you don't mind, are you willing to answer some of my questions?" Walther asked him, to which he simply nodded. "So tell me. How did you end up in the middle of that forest, in such harsh weather no less?"
However Walther was not prepared for the gruesome information that would come out of the boy's mouth, and the ripples it would create in the supernatural world once revealed.
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Walther stood on the balcony of a tall building, staring at the horizon. The island they were in was located in the tropics and served as one of the sanctuaries across the world for the quincy. Even among his companions, he was one of the senior members having lived for over a thousand years. He was actually part of the sternritters - The elite soldiers under their late King, and one of the few members who are alive today.
Having lived through centuries of human history, he knew about the despicable things humanity and the rest of the supernatural world was capable of. This obviously included some of the actions taken by his fellow quincy, but even then there was a bottom line. A line which was usually not crossed. Usually.
From what he heard, the village Noah lived in was raided by a group of exorcists from the church who claimed they were housing a devil. They butchered every adult in the village and took all the children captive. But it was what they did next that resulted in Noah's current plight - Human experimentation.
The captured children were used as lab rats for artificially creating a human capable of wielding holy swords. According to Noah, the main culprit behind this experimentation was a short, fat, elderly priest who always kept preaching to them about holy swords and their legends.
After two years of experiencing hell itself, Noah himself was deemed as a failure. One of the exorcists took him and several other kids to a secluded location, killed all of them and tossed them down a cliff to be eaten by wild animals. Noah, however, miraculously survived the stab wound in his gut and managed to escape from the place. According to Sylfreide, the discoloration of his hair and his heterochromia was most likely a side-effect of prolonged experimentation. The rest of the story was already known to Walther.
"..."
"Sir Walther?"
He was shaken out of his thoughts when he was called out by Sylfriede. He turned around to look at the young female quincy who approached him.
"Shouldn't you be by his side as his doctor?" He questioned her.
"All of his physical injuries have been treated already. What he requires now is a good amount of rest. Besides..." She gave a short pause.
"Please reign in your anger. Your reiatsu is suffocating many of the weaker patients."
"Oh." Taking a deep breath, Walther calmed himself down. "My apologies."
"Have you thought of how you are going to break this news to the world?" She asked him. "If what Noah said is true..."
"Then there are several more like him." He completed the sentence. "It's likely that atleast some key members of the Vatican are involved in this. Especially some of the extremists. Plus, this is guaranteed to be done without the knowledge of the Seraphs."
"True. But this would mean we shouldn't make any hasty decisions. If the culprits catch wind of this, there's no telling what they'll do to the children." She said in a worried tone.
"Don't worry too much, Friede." He told her with a light smile. "I already contacted a trustworthy guy regarding this development. He has already began looking into the matter. Tomorrow, I'll be leaving to look deeper into this matter, starting from the place where I found him."
"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me by that nickname, grandpa?" She heaved a sigh of exasperation. "Also, are you sure about
Noah? What you said about him earlier..."
Walther went silent, thinking back on the time when he found Noah in the forest. Just like Noah said, there was a stab wound in his gut. But what the boy didn't notice was that there was a faint blue pattern tracing his veins around the region of the wound - Something which Walther noticed and recognised in a glance. And for Noah to be able to use it without any prior knowledge or training could only mean one thing.
"Yes." Walther finally spoke.
"He must be an Echt Quincy (Pure-Blood) "
____________________
Noah couldn't bring himself to sleep.
Everytime he closed his eyes, the same images appeared in front of him. His village burning down, his parents being murdered in front of his eyes, his little sister being separated from him while he could only watch helplessly...
Sitting up on his bed, he pulled out the pendant that was lying around his neck. It contained a photo of both him and his sister from a few years back.
'Luna...' He grasped the pendant firmly, unable to forgive himself for not being able to save her. Tears started rolling down his cheeks as he cursed himself for his powerlessness during that situation.
'No more.'
He wiped his tears, and swore to himself that day.
'Never again.'
That it would be the first and last time he would be weak.
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