Corpses.
Lots and lots of Eclipsed corpses as far as the eye could see, or at least that’s what’s they looked like, judging by their appearance.
"The hell is this?" Nox said, or rather tried to, but he quickly realized that talking wasn’t part of his repertoire anymore, so he opted to look around him.
The sky above him was cracked open like glass, allowing him a view of the endless space beyond..
Which might’ve been a beautiful sight, if not for what was beneath it.
It looked like some type of Eclipsed battlefield because for as far as Nox could see, only their corpses could be seen.
These ones looked a lot more grotesque than what he was ’accustomed’ to, but he could feel it, they definitely were Eclipsed.
The floor beneath him had been filled with so much blood that the ground refused to absorb any more.
But what really caught his attention was the being before him. It was made entirely of golden light and was in a humanoid form, almost like the one in his dreams.
The being looked tired, its light a bit dimmer than the one in Nox’s dreams. It sat atop a pile of Eclipsed with what looked like a sword made entirely of light stabbed into the corpse of a primal.
It suddenly raised its head and turned towards him, its ’eyes’ resting on him.
If it had a face, Nox would’ve sworn it wore an expression somewhere between exhaustion and relief...or maybe it was even smiling.
The being quietly stared at him for a long while, before it spoke.
[Not now.]
Rather than a sound being made, its vice was heard directly in his head. But he didn’t get enough time to question what the being meant before the ground opened, swallowing him in what seemed like an endless abyss.
***
"Nox?" Ayla hesitantly asked.
While Nox was stuck in, whatever dream world he was in, endlessly falling, his body was running on autopilot.
His hair had changed from black to a glowing golden which floated as if gravity wasn’t acting on them.
The whites in his eyes had also completely disappeared, replaced entirely by a bright golden glow.
On his upper body was a couple of glowing texts which pulsed in sync with his heart beat.
The texts were written in a script neither Astra nor Ayla recognized. But if anyone versed in the Old Tongue looked closely, one word, just below his necklace would stand out:
Unfortunately, the two were only worried about what had happened to him in that Eclipsed’s stomach, rather than some text they couldn’t understand.
Nox gave no response as he turned towards the approaching Eclipsed wave, made entirely of tier 3 Eclipsed.
Faster than the two could react he suddenly moved, leaving behind what sounded like a sonic boom and a trail of burning ground.
The first Eclipsed barely had time to raise its claws as he approached.
A blade of solid light formed in Nox’s hand, shaped in the same style as the one wielded by the being in his dream.
He sped past the Eclipsed, seemingly ignoring the creature, but a second later a clean line of golden energy carved through its chest.
The Eclipsed paused for a second, as if confused, before its entire upper torso disintegrated into pixelated particles.
The second Eclipsed soon closed the distance and lunged above him.
Nox didn’t even look up.
Three floating constructs as spears of condensed golden light materialized behind him and shot upward, impaling the creature mid-air. Its scream was only heard for a second before it exploded into golden light.
Nox stopped and looked at the pixilating corpses of the two Eclipsed before what seemed to be a smile graced his lips for only a second before it quickly disappeared.
He took a battle stance, this time a proper one... almost as if he has been holding the sword all his life.
The rest of the Eclipsed froze, reassessing the being before them. They immediately felt some kind of instinctive fear towards it and they immediately started taking cautious steps back, even though they were nothing but simulated Eclipsed.
But Nox wasn’t going to let them retreat. Time seemed to slow to a stop as he became a literal beam of light.
One second he was standing before a group of Eclipsed, the next, he was right behind them.
Time resumed its normal flow and all the Eclipsed immediately froze while retreating.
Blinding golden lines appeared across their bodies, thin as razor marks. They staggered, confused, looking down at wounds they hadn’t even felt happen.
A second later, every single Tier 3 erupted into pixelated bursts of light.
Astra watched all this happen with wide eyes. Unlike Ayla, who was barely able to follow his movements, she had clearly seen every step Nox took.
She watched him crouch low as the Eclipsed froze in place before moving so fast that she would’ve had a hard time following if she was even a step below Ascended rank.
When he got close enough to the creatures, he swung his sword with so much preciseness that one would think he was some kind of battle veteran, which was far from the truth.
No movement was wasted as he quickly cut the Eclipsed, making sure a single strike would finish them off.
It all flowed screamed mastery that should have taken centuries to learn.
Light still covered Nox’s form as he slowly straightened from his finishing stance. The golden sword of condensed Solar Energy dissolved into countless motes that circled him like fireflies before fading away.
Slowly, he turned around, looked at the two before his hair rested and they started regaining their normal black color, so did his eyes.
"Lab rat?" Astra was the one to call out this time, but Nox didn’t reply.
Instead, he looked down at himself before looking back at the two and saying, "why am I nak—"
Before his words could be completed, his golden pupils rolled back into his lids and he passed out completely.
Before his head could touch the ground, Astra teleported to him and caught him. She looked down at the unconscious kid and muttered,
"What the hell are you?"