[-=Nox=-]

I lept at Yul, grabbed her face and kissed her, transferring my consciousness into her as she stood frozen in terror.

Back inside of Yul’s body, I felt an unexpected euphoria, not unlike returning home after being gone for too long. As I relocated into her she faded into slumber relinquishing me full control of her body, I also dragged the newly gathered Void out of June with me and activated the blood magic spell matrix. Time slowed to a crawl, crystal teeth glinting in front of my face. The centipede’s mouth was right over Yul’s head, my head, ready to chomp it like a ripe fruit.

I shoved June away from me, spun down and around the slowly moving head of the beast. I drew small circles on the chains that held me in the middle of the cabin. As they exploded, I moved towards the centipede, drawing a bunch of circles around its head, flinging myself away as they detonated.

My body burned with pleasure as I slammed against the back of the metal cabin. The explosions had taken off the crystalpede’s head, but the body was still alive. Its self-awareness had somehow moved into the lower segment, the crystal shards rearranging themselves into the shape of the new head.

“Why won’t you just die normally?” I complained as I watched it reassemble itself.

“What? What’s going on?! Who are you? Where am I?” June stuttered from her side of the cabin. She looked utterly lost.

I accelerated myself again, leaping towards the crystalpede, weaving circles at every segment that was within my arms’ reach. Explosions followed in my wake, shattering, cracking the centipede’s segments one after another. I ran up along its body, seeding explosions. Crack! Boom! Crack! Boom!

The mech was replicating my motions, flailing about wildly and running in circles severing the bottom half of the crystalpede from the top half inside the cabin. I spun in the air and the section of the crystalpede that clung to the mech’s exterior was flung away from us as the segments of the monstrous bug inside the cabin exploded in a chain reaction. The mech rolled down the white dune. I lept towards June, catching her in my arms, not letting any part of her precious self smash against the metal cabin as it spun around us. I righted myself after the mech arrived at the bottom of the dune and ceased rolling, holding June tightly in my arms.

“What’s happening?” She yelped.

“Shhh. This is fine.” I replied blissfully, completely absorbing the moment.

“This isn’t fine! Who are you?! How did I get here?” Her words hurt, but not as much as when she struggled against me, to free herself from my embrace. She didn’t know me. There was confusion, revulsion, and fear in her golden-yellow eyes.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” I asked as I reluctantly forced myself to release her. “What year is it?”

“Uhhhhh… 5996? I stole a melon from a fruit merchant.”

“Fuck.” I growled and spat out the rest impatiently. “It’s the year 6000 and you’re my Void Apostle. You had an unfortunate accident so you don’t remember the last 4 years of your life.”

“I’m a what?”

“Shhheeet! Would you lay off me, you stupid ass bug?!” I hissed. The remaining part of the centipede was descending down the dune, heading straight for us.

“What the fuck is that thing?!” June yelled in trepidation.

“A crystalline-based life form! Hang onto that pipe! NOW, JUNE!” I yelled, slowing down time. The centipede rushed towards the mech and I spun to the side, letting it fly past the mech. I grabbed at its tail end and the hands of the mech clamped tight and hard on the creature. I spun the mech in wide circles faster and faster. June was a good, obedient girl. She clung to the pipe for dear life, screaming in slow motion.

I let go of the beast, throwing it a great distance from us. It shimmered, vanishing in the desert.

“Gods I’m going to be sick. This is a lot of spinning.” June groaned. “How are you not… sick?”

“I’m a Goddess. I can do lots of fantastic things.” I said, moving towards her. I indeed felt severe motion-sickness, but I was in pretty good control of Yul's body.

“You’re a what?” June blinked.

I groaned. I really did not enjoy repeating myself. I had lost my sweet, caring, understanding June. This was indeed a June, but not my June. I walked towards her, sitting down next to her. I had finally managed to figure out how to stop the mech from replicating my every single motion. It took a bit of mental effort on my part.

“Hi. I’m Nox, the Goddess of Eternal Night.” I said awkwardly, offering June a hand.

“June Rim Maldiver,” she said, shaking my hand. Through our Void connection I felt that June didn’t believe my words. The [Pact] made between us started to crack.

Awkward. Weird. Confusing. Painful. I didn’t like feeling any of these feelings. How was I supposed to make this June appreciate me and be mine without saving her from the abuse of the Rimmers? I put my head between my legs and sighed deeply, teetering on the edge of an inexplicable emotional breakdown.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” June asked.

“Nothing is okay! I lost my only friend, damn it!”

“Who?”

“You.” I said, gritting my teeth.

“Oh. I’m sorry,” she said. “We can be friends again, maybe?” I felt through the Void between us that she didn’t mean it. She was feeling freaked out by me, by the heat, the mech and the white desert around it.

“It won’t be the same.” I said dramatically. “This is what I get for being attached to my Apostle.”

“Attached how? You like me or something?” She asked.

“Yeah.” I rubbed the back of my head. “I like you… a lot.”

“I’m not into girls, just so you know.” she said. This was going very poorly. It definitely wasn’t the same.

“Mech 17. There’s a sto…” A gem lit up on the voice box, as it hissed out words.

“No. Go fuck yourself. I’m busy reconnecting with my Apostle!” I spun towards the box, planting a magic circle on it. The box exploded as I leaped away from it.

“Wow. That’s neat. Are you a fire mage? How are you moving so fast?” June asked, watching the smoking communication box.

“No. I’m Nox. Goddess of the Night. Pay attention, please.”

“Sorry. My head is still sorta spinning from this… uhh… what is this?”

“It’s a test dummy mech that the Sextants are using to dig through my weapon-testing moon.” I sighed. Yul’s sad, level one body was already feeling exhausted, burned out far too quickly. I walked towards the box with the rations and pulled out a few dried slices of meat. I offered some to June.

She chewed the dry meat ponderously.

“Sorry, what’s a test dummy mech?”

“A machine that I had designed to withstand explosions and dust storms."

“Neat… umm... You smell really nice.” June sniffed me.

“I missed you.” I hugged her. There were tears in my eyes. I would just have to settle for this inferior, amnesia-crippled version of June. Damn you human emotions!

“Would love to say the same, but I can’t remember you.” She sighed. “Are you crying? Don’t cry. I’m okay. Yeah, it sucks that I don’t remember you, but I’m okay. Kinda okay? Uhh… was I always this tall and curvy?”

I shook my head. “I’ve meddled with your body a whole lot trying to rebuild you when you died. I remade you more like Yul here, since that’s the only healthy human template I know.” I pointed at myself.

“Hold up... I died?”

“For a while, yes.”

“How long of a while?”

“For an entire day... I wasn’t paying attention, honestly. Even a single second was too long. I’ve brought you back and lost a few bits of your soul. Sorry.” I said.

“That is a long time to stay dead.” June nodded. “It’s amazing that I can still make words and stuff. Wait. You’ve lost bits of my soul?!”

“Yeah. Necromancy isn't absolute. You’ve only lost some bits and say not most of your bits, because our souls are very compatible. It was quite the ordeal to make sure that you had a body to get back into, trust me. I had to make extra organs in you too, rearranged a bunch of your insides. This is why you’re now bigger and taller.” I explained.

“You put… extra organs into me? You’re a Necromancer?! Our souls are compatible?!” June blinked. Her concerns only grew as I continued. I wasn’t calming her. Damn it!

“It’s perfectly fine! I’m a Goddess. I can do anything.” I said, trying to reassure her.

Anything, except getting back my June’s memories. Through the Void connection between us I felt that June was simply trying to be nice. She didn’t believe in my divinity. The Apostle pact between us was cracking further, fading away without her belief in me. I needed a miracle. It was hot and I couldn't think straight for some reason.

“June.” I grabbed her hand. “I need you to believe in me.”

“Okay?”

I stuck my tongue out at her.

Quest:

Hi June. It’s Nox. I don’t know what to say to you, honestly. You died and forgot me. It sucks a lot. It hurts a lot. Human feelings suck.

Reward: 0 points.

“What the shit?!” June blinked, letting go of my hand. “How did you do that? It’s an artifact or something? Right?”

Quest:

No, June. Look at me. What artifact? We’re both naked. I’m Nox, the last Goddess in the world. The last, because I had devoured all of the others. I can give Quests because six thousand years ago I created the System for all humanity and destroyed the world by accident when my Archmages betrayed me.

Reward: 0 points.

“Hum.” June blinked. “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you. You gotta be messing with me. This… All of this... it's totally crazy… like really advanced illusion magic. It has to be. Is this an elaborate way to torture me because I stole your magical melon? Where am I, really?"

"You are on Magraterra, a moon close to the voidstar. Well, a lot closer than Europa is anyway. I'm a Godde…"

"Gods aren’t real! Gods don’t do shit for street urchin foxkin like me!" June interrupted me. "If they were real then my village would still…”

“Fuck.” I said, as the [Pact] between us shattered. This girl wasn’t my June. She didn’t believe in me. This was a betrayal that reminded me of my fall six thousand years ago when my Archmagi had decided to break their Pacts too, while I was preoccupied with eating the sun. I put my head down again, feeling too drained from the blistering heat to argue with her.

June wasn’t paying attention to me. She moved around the cabin, tapping at the walls. She likely thought that I was a crazy human illusion mage that was screwing with her head, trying to trick her somehow. No amount of throwing Quests at her would change her stubborn mind at this point. This wasn't June who was desperate to escape from Rimmer control. This was a street thief June that didn’t trust a single soul, didn’t believe in Gods, didn’t see my miracle of destroying the Convent of the Light.

"There's a Sextant slave collar on me," she suddenly said.

"Yes. The Sextants put it on you," I nodded. "I can disable it. Come here."

June cautiously approached me.

I put my hand on the collar, weaving microscopic circles atop of the runes. They exploded with small flashes, damaging and interrupting the runework.

"Thanks," she said. I couldn't tell what she was feeling anymore. The pact we’ve made was broken. I lamented this painful fact again and again. Not knowing what she was feeling was beyond painful, it was soul-wrenching. Things had gone from bad to worse. I now had to start over, force her into being my acolyte... For some damnable reason I didn’t want to hurt her, didn’t want to forcefully pressure her, didn’t want to manipulate her into being with me. What was wrong with me?

June continued to circle the cabin until she found the door and pushed it open, squinting out into the white desert. There was a glass storm front slowly moving towards us from the distance, an enormous cloud wall a thousand meters tall, that was beginning to blot out the blinding ringlight.

That’s what the Sextant was trying to say when I had destroyed the speaker box. The storm of death was coming. Damnation.