by Adam Sklar
CHAPTER: WANTON WARMONGER
Noah and The Nomad slowly regain consciousness after being knocked out by the devastating collapse. The Nomad is sitting with his back against the wall and one arm resting on his wounded knee.
“How long was I out?” Noah groans in pain, struggling to move as his wounds begin to heal.
“I only came to about two minutes ago. I just waited for you to wake up.” The Nomad coughs up blood as Noah realises that he has been heavily injured by the collapse.
“I’ll stop you.” Noah huffs.
“You can’t. You won’t. You’ve tried stopping me despite knowing that my powers allow me to reflect the damage of your attacks against yourself, which obviously resulted in you being where you are right now. Crippled. Far be it from me to tell you who to trust or not, Noah.” He smirks whilst holding the Godsend Device in his hands, protected from the collapse by its outer casing. A bloody Noah struggles to get back onto his feet, trying to run through all the possible choices he can make in his mind.
“You’re hurt. Just like the clones, you can be hurt by environmental damage. I know your weakness now, Dad.” Noah shakes his head in disappointment.
“Even though I cannot read your mind, both you and I know that there are only two choices you can make… Save the world, or destroy it. It’s really as simple as that.” The Nomad shakes his head, still reeling from his injuries. “I’m not the bad person here, Noah. Of course, I have my own intentions, who doesn’t? I’m probably what people would call an anti-hero more than anything.” He continues defending himself, whilst inspecting the Godsend Device to make sure it hasn’t been damaged by the collapse.
“You’re trying to play God… I don’t believe you just want the power to change humanity. No, actually, I think you want every single power there is available from this, you want to become God.” Noah groans whilst he slowly picks himself back up.
“When you put it like that… it’s insulting, Noah. Really insulting. You make it sound like I have a religious agenda.” The Nomad stares fearfully. “If you do this, I’ll take you home. You have my word. Or at the very least I’ll show you the way home. Wouldn’t you like that? Somewhere to actually belong, somewhere to live in peace.” He attempts to persuade Noah. Water drips from the broken pipes and the red emergency lights flicker onto their faces as Noah begins to stare angrily into The Nomad’s eyes.
“What home is there? You killed my parents when you snatched me from them. I… I, I’ve already been through this. Why does the Godsend Device supposedly only work with me? Why didn’t it work with Wildcard?” Noah represses his shout, his words escaping through his closed teeth.
“Because you’re pure. You’re you. No clone is ever a full recreation, an important element is always missing. I wouldn’t say it’s the soul, but that’s the closest word we have that could possibly explain it.” The Nomad explains whilst gazing into the tranquil, serendipitous lights glowing from the Godsend Device. “You have the power that’s inside this Godsend Device, pure and total omnipotence, you’re the only one who can truly control it.” He continues to explain, stroking his finger over a slight crack in the casing.
“I’ve never been able to use powers just by imagining it, I’ve only been able to get powers when I needed them. You know that.” Noah argues. The Nomad shakes his head angrily, staring at Noah.
“But you have used powers by imagining it, that’s exactly what you’ve done up until this point. Before I put Riley inside your mind, you were on the verge of allowing yourself to go through the process that would grant you total control of your abilities, you did things I thought impossible. Yes, I definitely set you back after I put Riley inside you, but… but I did it to save your life. One step back, two steps forward.” He growls. Noah continues staring at the Nomad with a hateful gaze. He breathes a deep sigh, hesitant to entertain the Nomad any further.
“I raised you from a baby, you might not be my son, but you are my son. Do you think I’d want to see any harm come to you?” The Nomad attempts to appeal to Noah’s soft spot, but it backfires as he begins to burst out laughing in disbelief, hurting himself in the process.
“You killed your son, you cloned yourself and then cloned me in order to try and fulfil your own desires, Lily was killed just to try and bring me into control. Of course you’ve never tried to hurt me directly because you need me in order to do this. And do you know what? I’m never going to. You can’t hurt me. I can’t hurt you.” Noah grimaced.
“Noah, I’ve readied myself for this for longer than you’ve been living. Do you really think I wouldn’t prepare as many contingencies as possible for the final hurdle?” The Nomad lectured as he clicks his fingers, causing five people on their knees to appear beside him. “Now, I could have just rebuilt the machine and put these two back inside, but I figured that you might hold some emotional value for them… you might be omnipotent, but I am omniscient. Nothing you do can change the course we’re on, Noah. Nothing. Everything I did was to prepare for this very moment to work, no matter what happened along the way. A contingency was made for everything, absolutely everything! Even Riley was born to be part of a contingency plan that came into effect!” The Nomad chided as he gently rolls over the Godsend Device towards Noah.
“How did you… Quinton? Dillon? Oh, Jesus… I don’t know the others, let them go, let them go.” Noah shakes.
“You don’t know them? Oh that’s right. You never met them. Meet dear Lily’s parents, and her sister.” The Nomad murmurs slyly whilst Noah glares at them despondently. “I saved Mr. Bennet, I want to bring him back to see that my plan will truly be the best thing that can be done for mankind and then he will trust me. You will trust me too. But these people, they’re expendable to me. I have a feeling that they’re not so expendable to you.” He stares with a tiny hint of sympathy in his eyes.
“I’m not going to listen to you. I’m not going to do this.” Noah protest whilst shaking his head.
“I will kill them, Noah.” The Nomad warned.
“No… No you won’t. I know you won’t. You need them for your future.” Noah surmised.
“Wrong.” The Nomad spoke as he raised his hand towards Dillon, gently shutting down her brain as her head twitches and her body falls to the ground.
“Dillon!” Quinton yells as Noah’s heart sinks whilst he stares at her lifeless body in utter disbelief. Lily’s family shout in terror, trying not to stare at Dillon’s corpse.
“I warned you, Noah. The coldness of my heart isn’t just a sign of psychopathic behaviour, but also of complete honesty.” The Nomad enunciates his words. “I only shut her brain down, I didn’t damage it. You know that Quinton can bring her back. If you do this for me, I will keep him alive in order to do so.” He mutters carefully whilst Noah stares at Dillon dolefully. “Noah? Would you like for me to make Lily’s family feel what the sensation of death is like too?” He persists as he continues to enunciate his words, ensuring Noah understands him entirely. Lily’s family begin shouting in terror and fear, not understanding why they’re here.
“No.” Noah spoke in a brittle tone, as he looks inside the Godsend Device and stares at the Stone.
“Perhaps you need one final nudge.” The Nomad smirks and reveals Riley and Lily’s corpses, dropping Lily in front of her family members as they scream in anguish.
“What are you doing?! How did you know where we buried her?!” Noah shouts angrily, averting his gaze from Lily’s body whilst noticing in his peripheral vision that she is wearing different clothes. Her family wail in agony as they see Lily’s dead body.
“You buried her clone, Noah. Surely you could’ve worked that one out yourself when you realised powers didn’t work on her body.” The Nomad revealed with a grin. “I shut down her brain without injuring her too, your dear friend can bring her back to life also. But know this, she won’t have any memories of you two together, or of the things you went through with Owen. This’ll be a selfless act on your part to save the most important thing t
o Riley, the most important thing to my son, who you can also save using the Godsend Device.” He nods slowly, revealing an almost sympathetic smile. Noah remembers that Wildcard was responsible for killing Lily’s clone, he theorises that clones can use powers on each other.
“You can’t save Riley. He’s gone completely.” Noah reveals.
“Lies.” The Nomad growls as he immediately inflicts severe migraines on Quinton and Lily’s family members. “Last chance.” He mutters through his teeth.
“What do I do? Tell me what to do.” He whispers.
“Noah, no!” Quinton shouts. “Don’t let Dillon or Lily come back to the dystopia he’ll unleash upon us. There must be another way.” Quinton murmurs quietly.
“Quiet.” The Nomad barks. “Open the casing by pressing down gently on the top. Mind the crack.” He instructs Noah, who follows his guidelines and presses down on the top of the enclosure, causing it to open up and expose the luminescent stone from within. “All you have to do is touch the stone with one hand and touch me with another. The stone will do the rest of the job for us.” He continues to inform Noah whilst trying to repress his uncomfortable mixture of fear and excitement. Noah worries as he looks around and panics. He takes the Godsend Device out of the enclosure and holds it tightly in his right hand, the power surges through him, making his orange irises glow stupendously. The Nomad extends his hand, his eyebrows raised as the excitement of a child lies behind his eyes. Noah reaches out and holds The Nomad with his left hand. The Godsend Device lights up and begins vibrating through Noah and The Nomad, trembling the environment around them. As Noah panics, the effects of the Godsend Stone suddenly stop working.
“Hope?” Quinton mutters.
“It’s not Hope.” Noah shakes his head worryingly.
“No.” The Nomad grunts. “No!” He yells as Noah looks towards him, alarmed by his behaviour. He opens his hand, and sees the Godsend Device is slowly beginning to form cracks on its surface.
“It’s happening. Noah. It’s happening. It’s going to result in the Epinova I warned you about! Right now the last thing I want is this world to die. This shouldn’t have happened. Please, take me to my office.” The Nomad implores.
“What happened? Why—” Noah stutters.
“There’s no time for this!” The Nomad interrupts and yells fearfully. “Noah, don’t you see? My plan has failed, I can’t have the blood of the entire world on my hands too. We have to go!” The Nomad clamours whilst Noah rushes towards Quinton, untying the rope behind his hands.
“Quinton, can you bring Dillon and Lily back?” Noah asks hastily. “I’m so sorry you had to see this. Your daughter will be fine.” He nods towards Lily’s family.
“Yes, I can. I can bring them back. You go, I’ll take care of these guys.” Quinton answers.
“Thank you, for everything. Tell Dillon and Lily that too.” Noah expresses breathlessly whilst Quinton grabs him on his arm.
“No. Thank you.” Quinton nods with admiration in his eyes whilst Noah rushes towards The Nomad and teleports them both to his office upstairs.
The Nomad rushes to his computer and checks through Noah’s DNA sample.
“It’s all my fault. Of all the things I prepared contingencies for, I overlooked this one. When I… when I killed Riley and merged his conscience with yours, everything seemed fine. But now that his conscience has merged with yours entirely, it seems to have altered your DNA by a fraction. That was enough for the Godsend Stone to… malfunction. It didn’t recognise you fully, but it recognised you enough to start incorrectly. You’re right, there’s nothing of Riley to save anymore.” The Nomad begins to cry as the Godsend Stone begins to form more cracks. “I didn’t mean to kill Riley, I planned for it, but trust me when I say I didn’t want it. I definitely didn’t want the effects to be permanent. It was for the greater good. I wanted to use the Godsend Device to grant myself a power that could change the structure of our species, to alter our genetic makeup and make our species a peaceful one. No more wars against our own kind. No more wars between us and them, just peace. I strived for that, no matter what I had to sacrifice in order to get it.” He explains with great defeat in his voice.
“You still wanted to play God. You wanted to alter our kind. That is not something you’re allowed to do.” Noah expresses his beliefs angrily.
“No, no, no. It’s artificial selection at most, Noah! We’ve been doing it for hundreds of thousands of years! I’m sorry, but we don’t have time to discuss this. There’s no time to undo this. You need to try and contain the stone. You’re ready.” The Nomad insists.
Noah sits down and tries to concentrate on the Godsend Device, he places it on the floor and focuses his hands around it, desperately trying to create a containment field around the stone. Immediately after trying to contain it, an immense blast of heat radiates from the Godsend Device and incinerates parts of Noah’s skin and clothing. He gasps in fear and shock whilst his wounds heal.
“We need to get that Stone as far away from this planet as we can and I physically can’t do that.” The Nomad shouts agitatedly and steps backwards in fear.
“You want me to potentially sacrifice myself to save the world? Again?” Noah mutters.
“I want to see my son save the world again.” The Nomad’s teeth chitter whilst he tries to ignore the overwhelming loss he feels.
“Just like that, you want to trick me into thinking that you’re good? You could have been good if only you’d gone about all this in the right way!” Noah represses his shout.
“What’s done is done.” The Nomad stares in defeat.
“Every single thing that has happened to me is a direct consequence of your actions. My entire life has revolved around the choices you made for me. I was your prisoner, whether I liked it or not!” Noah shouts and uses his telekinesis to push the Nomad against the wall with incredible force.
“Noah.” Valeria calls out.
“Mum?” Noah mumbles and drops the Nomad. He walks up to Valeria slowly and she raises her hand to stroke Noah’s cheek. “I’m so sorry.” He struggles to speak.
“No, my darling. I’m the one who is sorry for letting you live this life for this long.” Valeria apologises whilst The Nomad stares at them breathlessly.
“You showed me how things truly were.” Noah exclaims with appreciation.
“I only wish I’d done so earlier, sweetheart, so that you wouldn’t have to have this overwhelming burden of guilt resting on your shoulders. I lived in fear like you did for so long. You and I both know you were not responsible for any of your actions.” Valeria expresses reassuringly. “Now go, darling. I love you.” She whispers. Noah stares at The Nomad one last time, analysing his distraught expressions and recognising that this man is responsible for his own downfall. He realises that in choosing not to kill The Nomad, he has finally regained total control of his own destiny. Noah looks back towards Valeria and smiles, teleporting away.
“All this time, you planned for Riley to die?” Valeria weeps.
“How long were you standing there for, Valeria?” The Nomad questions as he struggles to stand up.
“Isn’t that obvious? Answer… you answer my question right now.” Valeria cries.
“No, darling. I didn’t.” He responds monotonously.
“But you were prepared for such a thing?” Valeria responds immediately as the Nomad refuses to answer. He stares at the ground and notices Valeria is hiding a gun behind her back.
“Let’s not make any rash decisions here, Valeria.” The Nomad spoke calmly.
“Did you intend for me to die too? Was that… was that part of your plan?” She asks mournfully.
“You know it wasn’t. You’re my saving grace, Valeria. Your death allowed me to find two very special people who would pave the way to understanding how to use abilities on such a grand scale. I saved you. I brought you back. In spite of everything, I couldn’t lose you.” He responds with a vacant and stolid look.
“You
did everything for yourself, you selfish bastard. I don’t even know if I’m me anymore. Do you understand how heart and soul shattering it feels to learn that I’m just a clone? That I’m dead? I can’t even tell if the life I led is still the life I’m leading now. The life I had before is probably in the eternal blackness of death. What kind of life is this? A life without a soul?” Valeria ponders in desperation.
“Darling, you mustn’t concern yourself with such philosophical questions such as those. You are here and you are alive.” The Nomad advises.
“The only life that matters is gone. Our son. Because you killed him, just like the hundreds of others you have killed as I turned a blind eye, scared of ever confronting you.” Valeria scolds the Nomad.
“Everything I did, I did for—” He mutters under his breath before being interrupted.
“The good of humanity? You tell me that so many times, but the one thing you’ve failed to explain is just how your actions would truly benefit mankind. Would you just explain that to me for once?” She requests in an erratic tone.
“We are on the verge of evolution. Millions of us are born with abilities every year, it’ll be tens of millions soon. Sooner or later, war would break out between those who have abilities and those who don’t. I wanted to skip that process entirely.” The Nomad explains.
“By turning everybody into almost emotionless beings?” Valeria cries.
“No. War would happen regardless. Before abilities become commonplace, wars were had for every single reason, whether justified or unjustified. We are a vengeful species, a species capable of such slaughter. I wanted to bring about a utopia. With all the abilities I could amass from the Godsend Device, I’d want to change the very structure of our species, to make us a peaceful one, a happy one, to save the world once and for all.”
“Even if those were truly your intentions, you went about it all the wrong way.” Valeria mutters disapprovingly.
Noah begins his ascent and soars as high as he can into the sky, strongly trying to ignore the drastic cold he feels tearing his skin. As he begins to leave Earth, he looks behind him to gaze upon the very planet he lives on, admiring the rich blue tones that radiate a sense of peace, despite the chaos that occurs every second on the surface.
“That’s a planet I saved once.” Noah thinks to himself. “This is a planet I’ll save again.” He looks as far away as he can and flies at the fastest speed he can achieve, whilst simultaneously teleporting to the furthest distance he can. The Earth becomes nothing but a miniscule blue dot in a vast and overpowering sea of blackness. Without knowing where to teleport to, Noah thinks of a nearby planet and sees it in his mind. Soon, the thoughts of planets turn to thoughts of comets, thoughts of star systems and thoughts of galaxies. His skin begins to freeze and disintegrate. Noah panics as the very hazardous environment causes him to constantly drop in and out of conscience. The overwhelming speed and lack of air begins to make him hallucinate.
“Remember me?” Lily fades in beside Noah, blood dripping down her face. Noah refuses to acknowledge his hallucinations whilst trying to take control of his greatest power.
“You know I’ve always believed in you, don’t you? You have the capability to save the world. I believe your own ideology overthrew the darkness within you. That mixed in with Riley’s personality really paved the way to you becoming a better human being. You being here is proof of that.” She continues to praise Noah.
“There was no darkness inside of me, just The Nomad’s brainwashing tactics. I gave into him, Lil. I was going to do it.” Noah struggles to speak.
“Karma hit him back, Noah. Of all the things he saw, he didn’t foresee that your very biological structure would have eventually been altered when he merged Riley’s conscience with yours. He prepared a contingency for every possible scenario, but he didn’t realise you would have changed after the... entanglement of personas.” Lily explained.
“Why would somebody design that for me?” Noah groans, as his voice breaks.
“Not for you, remember? But for another you, elsewhere. He altered the destiny of multiple universes and forged your own destiny, one you overcame.” Lily clarified. “I always told Riley we’d go stargazing again, I never imagined I’d be among the stars.” She stares onwards.
“You’re a hallucination… So I’m basically talking to myself.” Noah grasped. “How would I even know you told Riley that?” He stammered.
“You have his memories too.” Lily answered. “Go. Save the world.” She gently touches Noah on the shoulder and disappears.
With a clear goal in mind, Noah focuses heavily, taking control of his true abilities and begins regenerating instantaneously. His very essence begins to heal faster than it is being destroyed, allowing him to continue on with ease.
The Nomad continues to defend himself to Valeria, who tearfully tries to withstand his silver tongue. She slowly paces towards The Nomad as she truly begins to mourn the loss of her son, accepting that he is gone forever.
“I only wanted to save the world.” The Nomad’s voice cracks.
"Violence begets violence. You’re nothing more than a vainglorious dictator that wants to assuage his fear of humanity.” Valeria grumbles.
“I don’t fear humanity, my dear. I fear what humanity is capable of.” The Nomad murmurs.
“All your choices led to this. What's left of our son is flying out there right now, trying to get as far away from this planet as he possibly can. What's left of our son made Noah a better person. You killed our son. You killed my only child. You did all of this, Spencer." Valeria’s broken voice reaches a powerful crescendo as she utters The Nomad’s name.
“Forgive me, Valeria.” Spencer shakes his head in defeat whilst Valeria immediately raises the handgun and shoots him in the head. For The Nomad, it feels as if time has slowed to a standstill as the bullet begins its inevitable approach to his brain. He realises the consequences of all his actions, that saving his wife was ultimately his undoing. “That’s when I saw it.” Spencer thinks to himself as the bullet begins to shred through the skin of his forehead. “That’s when I saw the eyes of my dead wife… and the reflection of my soon-to-be-dead eyes in hers. You never truly realise how much an idea can consume who you are until all hope is lost. I see it, the bullet... I feel it, her broken heart. My eyes struggle to focus on the tiny object that will bring about my end. It is not the bringer of death I want to see, but the remnants of my wife. Knowing that I will never be able to earn her forgiveness is the final suffering I shall endure. Through all the darkness, I still can’t see the light, all I know is that it isn’t my wife who is about to kill me, it’s The Nomad.” He concludes his thoughts and closes his eyes, accepting the fate that he has brought upon himself. The bullet strikes through and through as The Nomad’s dying body collapses to the ground. Valeria kneels down beside him as an amassment of blood pools from his head. She waits for that final breath to take place, for him to be gone forever, no longer tarnishing this world. The two stare at one another as his perishing eyes rapidly shift to the left and right as he gazes into Valeria’s eyes, his breathing slows until it reaches a sudden halt. Valeria raises the gun towards her own head with clear intent to shoot, her finger slowly pressing down on the trigger, unsure of whether or not she wants to end her own life too.
Noah continues flying and teleporting as far as he can go until he reaches a vast spot of darkness. Desolate planets and dying stars surround the lost hero. His sacrifice will cause him to never to be known or remembered by a single stranger on Earth. Noah looks down to the Godsend Device as the iridescent light from within slowly stops flickering. Noah closes his eyes, hoping to see a hand reach out to him one last time to offer him the sweet salvation of death. The stone stops flickering entirely and collapses on itself, emitting a dreadful and frenzied explosion that instantly destroys Noah’s body and any nearby planets and stars. The very formidable shockwaves stops time in its wake. In mere hours, the effects reach Earth, harmlessly
stopping time for a short moment. Onlookers with abilities remain unaffected as they notice the rest of the world has reached a halt. They apprehensively meet others with powers whilst they all gaze into the dimly lit sky as auroras blanket the Earth. They wonder who, or what could have stopped time in such an alarming and beautiful way.
“It is suspected through various surveillance and civilian footage that somebody with a great deal of abilities has just helped prevent the deaths of countless lives. The remnants of a faraway explosion being dubbed by the Preservation of Eden as an Epinova are visible from Earth even at daytime. The sheer colossal scale of the otherworldly disaster has baffled scientists as the light cannot have physically reached our planet in such a short amount of time, suggesting that whatever was taken away from our planet had an unnatural origin. Also, the tragic discovery of an unidentified body of a twenty-one year old girl has been found in a river, police—” Hours have passed as a newsreader covers the recent explosion that has since become visible to Earth, despite being astronomically far away.
“You’re making a remarkable recovery.” Dr. Laidlaw smiles confidently. “Looks like someone has enough karma to redeem themselves of all their sins.” He chuckles whilst interrupting the news.
“Not all of them.” Owen grunts as the room around him begins to tremble, the television screen smashes and various equipment begins to fall over. Dr. Laidlaw screams in pain as he is slowly lifted up into the air, his face begins to bleed from every pore whilst he continues yelling in a way no human should ever have to. His body falls to the ground whilst Owen begins levitating from the bed, still paralysed from the neck down. He hovers in a ghostly manner as the wires and tubes are forcibly and violently ripped from his body whilst he leaves the room.
Piece by piece, Noah’s body begins to reassemble. His clothes disintegrated in the inexplicably massive explosion along with the distant stars, planets and moons nearby. Planetary fragments surround Noah as he drifts through the vastness of desolate space, surrounded by celestial death.
“Noah.” A figure whispers inside his mind. Noah is still unconscious, his brain healing from the extensive damage caused to him a few hours ago. “Noah.” The figure calls out inside his mind once again as his eyes open. He blinks rapidly, attempting to wake himself up as quickly as possible, witnessing the godforsaken space around him.
“It felt like—” Noah thinks to himself.
“Being born again?” The figure responds.
“Worse.” Noah struggles to swallow and his skin slowly begins to freeze, the very calamitous explosion still radiates warmth in the infinite emptiness. He looks around to see who he’s speaking to in his mind, but there’s nobody in sight.
“I tried to reach you before all this happened. I tried to bring you home. Do you remember? But something stopped me. Once I realised I was able to come and get you, I came as soon as I could.” A female figure reveals herself to Noah, slowly approaching him.
“When I fell onto the meadow not far from Petrelli Manor? That was you I saw and not a hallucination?” Noah remembers.
“That was me you saw. I tried to reach you when you were inside a void before you teleported onto the field. It was our only opportunity to get you and I missed it. Then something happened and I was able to cross over now.” She answers.
“There was a machine blocking anybody from crossing over into this universe. We stopped it. Am I dead?” Noah answers whilst the female figure slowly approaches Noah.
“No. You came close. Very close to dying. I sense something is different within you.” She answers Noah.
“I need to see Lily. I have to see Dillon and Quinton too. They might need me, they might be able to help me save somebody that needs saving.” Noah ponders endlessly.
“You’re needed back at home, Noah. I need you, my people need you. Your mother needs you. She’s been waiting for you for a long time.” She opined.
“My real mother? But… this is my home. It might not be where I’m from, but it’s all I’ve ever known. I… I don’t even know your name. How are you even able to read my mind? My tinnitus blocked others from reading or controlling my mind.” Noah responds as they continue to bridge their minds together in order to communicate.
“Firstly, my name is Ione. I’m known as the Nephilim, my father had no abilities, but my mother did. I believe they call you the Godsend. Do you still hear your tinnitus?” Ione calmly asks Noah.
“I… I don’t hear it anymore, no. Perhaps it had something to do with what happened. The Nomad was the only one that called me a Godsend. I’m not. I was stolen, led to believe I had a greater purpose, when my path was already laid out before.” Noah explains. “Wait… I can’t use my powers. They’re not working. What’s keeping me alive?” He replies with a bleak tone.
“Believe me when I say you truly are a Godsend. We need you, Noah. We’re so far away from home, so far away from any source of life. This is a barren and empty pit in space, reeking with horrendous energy from what just happened. Being in the centre of all that probably affected your powers.” Ione makes her observations known. “I need you to come home.” She utters.
“Home, as in where I came from? Where I was born?” Noah peers.
“Yes. Where you were born, your real home.” Ione responds blithely.
“After that, can you bring me back?” Noah requests.
“If you truly want to, then yes I shall.” Ione promises.
“I need to save Noah Bennet, I have to bring him back here. After all he did for me, I have to save him and get him home to his daughter. I need to save Hisoka too.” Noah exclaimed with a sanguine temperament.
“You can do that. We can save them together.” Ione nods. “I can’t stay here for long, Noah. A friend of mine is helping me from the other side, that’s how I’m able to withstand these conditions, but not forever.” She warns.
“I’m coming back. I’m not done here yet… Let’s go.” Noah accepts that whilst his current quest has come to an end, the unforeseen consequences that follow will inevitably lead him to further ones. Ione reaches out towards Noah, gesturing for him to take her hand. He reaches his arm out with pain, his skin slowly healing from the Epinova as he clutches onto Ione’s hand.
“I’ve got you. Let’s go home.” Ione whispers. “You were meant to do something extraordinary.” She murmurs gently with finality in her voice. The two fade away from the very fabric of this universe in order to return to the home that Noah has never known.
“Help me.” Hope whispers from within Noah, crying for freedom from the vessel in which she is trapped in.
“A child is born to innocence. A child is drawn towards good. Why then do so many among us go so horribly wrong? What makes some walk the path of darkness while others choose the light? Is it will? Is it destiny? Can we ever hope to understand the force that shapes the soul? To fight evil, one must know evil; one must journey back through time and find that fork in the road, where heroes turn one way and villains turn another.” – Mohinder Suresh
