Chapter 7

They resumed their journey the next day with Noah feeling happy that he wasn't limping anymore and that the pain in his leg was gone.

Gemma was telling him about how she had learned how to fight when Nicholas came to join the conversation. He asked Noah how he was able to survive out there without any powers. Noah smiled

"I'm a very lucky guy, i guess" and they all laughed.

"How do the monsters not attack you?" Crane suddenly asked

"I'm also as surprised as you all are, Crane. I also want to know why they don't attack me" He answered

"Hmm...Maybe they're allergic to your blood" Crane replied, trying to think of a good reason why the monsters don't attack him.

"Monsters don't get allergies, Crane" Gemma said, rolling her eyes.

Mathew cleared his throat.

"Maybe he's a vampire and they know they can't mess with him" He said dramatically but they all laughed at him and asked him to keep quiet.

"Or maybe that's his superpower" Nicholas said, pushing Mathew out of the way.

"Not cool, Nick! Not cool" Mathew screamed at him as he came back to walk beside Gemma

"What's the superpower exactly?" Crane asked curiously

"You know, being immune to monster hunger" Mathew replied.

"You're right. I didn't think of that!" Gemma said, shaking Mathew excitedly

"I don't know about that.." Noah said, feeling unsure

"I guess...but I'll still rather stay away from them" he added with a laugh

"Yeah, definitely" They all agreed with him.

They were still talking when they got somewhere and heard Nicholas's voice telling them to halt. Noah looked around.

It was a small village and the whole place was in ruins. Everywhere was quiet and there wasn't a single soul in sight. There were many broken windows and shattered glass on the floor. Many doors were broken and most had fallen off their hinges and were just lying on the floor. 

Some of the doors were stained with dried blood and there were some broken furnitures lying carelessly outside. There were many shredded clothes scattered on the floor and some of them were also stained with blood. A child's shoe was lying on the floor, not too far from where Noah stood and the second leg of the shoe was nowhere to be seen. Noah tried to imagine what must've happened here. 

He felt bad for the people that lived here and wondered if some of them were able to get away. Nicholas looked around to make sure there weren't any monsters around and asked all of them to stop with the noise for now to avoid drawing attention to them. 

They continued their journey wordlessly until they got to a small house with a heavy rusted iron door that looked abandoned. Nicholas tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge because of the rust. They later forced it open and inside was dusty and the room was not scattered like the house in the first village, but it was very dusty and wondered why the owner moved out. 

Nicholas scanned the area and announced that they would be spending the night there since they were all tired and needed to rest and they all agreed with him. He then asked Crane to create and illusion to make it look like there was no house there and make the house appear like a giant wall and she did. They went inside and dusted quietly dusted the room before sleeping in it.

**********************

Noah looked around as he woke up. It was still dark and he had no idea where he was and wondered where the others were. He was in an unfamiliar forest and the light here was dim with very tall trees that looked scary because of the lighting. 

An unknown man was standing in front of him and a monster was standing behind the man. Noah looked at the man cautiously and wondered why a monster was standing behind him and why the monster was not attacking him and concluded the monster was not attacking the man for the same reason the monsters were not attacking him and was determined to find out what that reason was today.

"Who are you?" Noah asked the man as he looked at the mark on the side of the man's neck. It looked exactly like the one on his own neck and even glowed just like his own.

Noah was shocked and asked the man to tell him about the mark, but the man ignored his words.

"I can't believe you're all grown and strong. You didn't have the making, but seeing how the monsters triggered your ability, i must say I'm impressed." The man said with a grin.

"What are you talking about?" Noah asked, confused.

The man ignored his question and asked Noah to come with him but Noah was still confused and unwilling to go anywhere with this strange man.

"Tell me who you are" he said, getting even more confused as his confusion turned into impatience.

"My identity isn't important. My goal is to help you know who you are and what..." The man didn't finish what he was saying before Noah interrupted him.

"No way!" He said and woke up.

Noah looked around as he woke up. This was not the room he and the others had slept in. This was the middle of nowhere. He couldn't hear or see anything. Just darkness. Thick black darkness.

"What just happened? Where am i?" Noah asked himself loudly as he was on the verge of panicking. 

"You're with someone who can help you understand you're not an ordinary human" He heard the strange man's voice again. He looked around but there was nobody in sight. Suddenly, the darkness disappeared the whole place was bright and he saw himself outside. 

This place was overgrown with bushes and there were dry plants everywhere. He looked around and the small house was nowhere in sight.

"How are you, Noah?" The man asked as he appeared in front of him.

Noah was scared by now because he had no idea who this man was and how this man knew his name. He wondered what the man was up to and how he kept disappearing and reappearing again.

Noah couldn't take it anymore and took to his heels, trying to get away from the man.