Noah sank under the waves, he lost consciousness. His [Battle Instinct] ability activated to bring his mind back to the place he experienced when advancing to grade two. He felt as if he was floating in a Galaxy, except now there was nothing except him and the drifting motes of iridescent lights.

Noah reached towards the floating motes of light with his mind by instinct. One by one, he attracted the lights to him. They would softly shine as they were absorbed into his naked, shrivelled, and lattice-marked skin, returning a small piece of his lifeforce to him.

This surreal, out-of-body experience lasted only briefly. Noah returned to semi-consciousness to find himself floating at the surface of the ocean. It was now calm as the water glowed with white-lifeforce from an ability affecting it. He vaguely realized it was probably Theodore using one of his new idol's abilities.

The cruise ship radiated subtle orange-light as the engines began to power the propeller. It left Noah behind, floating adrift atop the smooth, glowing ocean without the strength to cry for help. His mind quickly faded back into darkness as he returned to his coma.

Noah would awaken at times due to his [Battle Instinct] ability activating to deter predators. He was unaware of how he survived the encounters, as each time, they would completely drain his stamina. Noah would then return to the world of the floating Galaxy to collect one or two motes of light, recovering his lost lifeforce.

Noah didn't know how to return to the world-of-light on his own as it required a trigger which he didn't understand. He could only access it through his [Battle Instinct] ability after exerting himself beyond his limit. Noah was unwilling to waste his stamina unless he was left without a choice. So he continued to fade in and out of consciousness beneath the fiery cloud-covered sky.

Sometimes when he awoke, Noah would find himself looking up at the beautiful multicoloured aurora-filled night sky as he floated peacefully. He had plenty of time to think in between his periods of unconsciousness.

Noah began to hope for a better world in those moments under the shifting spectrum of colour. The chaos caused by the System's arrival offered an opportunity to replace the old world's corruption with a new order. In those quiet moments, Noah dreamt of a world filled with love and laughter, where the horrors of what he had experienced would never be experienced by anyone ever again.

These whimsical dreams only lasted the night under the beautiful aurora borealis. Noah would return to reality with the fiery-sky, which is that only the strong can survive. Hesitation is a luxury Noah couldn't afford any longer as his reluctance to kill almost resulted in his death, and still could at any moment now.

Days passed with the periods Noah was alert for becoming longer and longer. At some stage, Noah found a large piece of driftwood. He was able to slump himself over the wood and cling to it. He shared this log with a small black spider that stayed in its web nest outside of Noah's reach, observing him. Noah lacked the strength to do anything other than enjoy the arachnid's company as he drifted through the ocean currents towards an unknown destination.

More days passed with one unusually large storm washing away his travelling companion, the small black spider who Noah had come to rely on for its company. For some unknown reason, Noah was deeply saddened whenever he looked in the direction of its vacant nest.

"Man overboard!"

Noah was awoken by a shout as he endured the mild ocean water, which had slowly been rising in temperature as he entered into more tropical waters.

Noah could hear the churning of a propeller behind him, but he didn't have the stamina to turn around, so he could only wait to find out if this was luck or more misfortune. Noah felt some unseen force wrap around him as the boat neared and he was lifted naked from the water.

Noah dangled limply in the air as he began to move towards the oncoming boat, the unseen ability-user turned Noah so they could examine him. The latticework fractal-pattern wounds across Noah's back and down his arms caused by the [Electric Touch] ability had become fresh scars. His grade two constitution recovered quickly with the aid of the world-of-lights.

***

The boat was revealed to Noah as he was turned in the air to face it coming towards him. The vessel appeared to be a fishing trawler that had been heavily modified.

The fishing boat was corroded with rust. There was exposed, unpainted epoxy mixed with faded mismatch coloured paint caused by sheets of metal welded onto the fishing boat's hull, to repair damage caused by the environment. It also protected from supernatural predators lurking under the water. On deck, two makeshift huts supported a jury-rigged mast, built from salvaged ocean junk. The sail was made of patchwork cloth, cut roughly and sewn together in an assortment of patterns and colours.

The jury-rigged mast's sail was currently slack as it didn't catch any wind. One of the fishing boat people was an [Air Manipulation] ability-user who now had the exhausted, drooping Noah suspended above the water. People appeared at the bow of the heavily modified fishing boat with their arms outstretched to catch Noah.

Most of the survivors on board were Caucasian except for three Haitian men. Two appeared to be ability-users as lifeforce flowed through their skin to activate whatever their abilities were. The third stood beside a short, muscular Caucasian man. Both ability-users held makeshift spears used to separate the rest of the survivors away from the two ability-users.

Now that Noah hovered in the air above the crowded deck. He could see that the fishing boat was modified with rows of benches, put together from ocean debris, paired with salvaged unmatching oars. The survivors easing Noah's descent onto the deck kept their guard up against the ability-users and their guards. Occasionally casting furtive glances in their direction.

Noah let out a groan, followed by a wet cough as they gently laid him face down on the weathered deck. Noah heard a language he didn't understand, accompanied by the sound of wood hitting flesh. A muffled cry of pain came from the silhouettes casting shadows over Noah's body as the guards forged a path through the group, allowing the ability-users to get through.

Noah felt his [Battle Instinct] ability flutter briefly before it chose to do nothing. His instincts told him the best course of action was to receive what's about to come with his broken body. His body was incapable of reacting without causing unnecessary damage to his withered form.