Advent Noion

2

she sighs, "he has no spirit."

reclining in a seat, staring up at the tiny ceiling helix, she suddenly shouts, "hey, kampo!"

he pokes his bald head over a desk "what!"

she grins, "where are all the others?"

he shrugs, rests his head, "keep it down, ya? i'm tired."

silence.

she stands up, begins walking toward the stairwell, "i'm going for a walk."

she visits the neets below, but discovers the guy from before is missing.

while checking the work roster displayed on a pegboard wall, she realizes, "oh, i never got his name."

her skin crawls as someone calls out her name, "nisida!"

she turns, facing the beardy man, a forced smile on her face, "hello."

he leans against the roster, posing in his sweat-stained jumpsuit, "nisida, you really need to work on-"

she interrupts, "hey, what's that new guy's name again?

he glares at some sudden imagination beyond her, "him! did jfion harass you? that rascal... i need to-"

she interrupts the man, laughing, "haha, jfion? what kind of name is that?"

she finds jfion's name, his assigned job, and his location on the roster, and begins walking outside, "thanks again... neetman!"

-

she whistles, holding up a bag of noion "heeyyy fijion!"

ignoring her, he continues acting as cordon for the spiritworkers inside the remnant crater to his rear.

she climbs up, flailing the noion around, "jifijoin! got some noiooonn for you!"

which causes her to slip and come tumbling down, "ahhhh!"

she whimpers a while, before giving up, "hey! i fell for real, come help me up."

he grumbles, before climbing down to extend his hand, which she grabs to right herself, "ha! just kidding, i meant to do-"

groaning, he lets go of her hand, "ahhh!"

she falls once more, throwing the noion at him, "ow! fuck you, jifio!"

he resumes his cordon as she retreats.

-

a young girl carrying an armload of calibration equipment suddenly asks, "can you help me survey the drill?"

she looks around the office, completely empty, but still asks, "eh, me?"

the girl sighs, "some friend you are, nisida."

she groans, "ugh. okay."

-

kicking rocks for entertainment, she finally asks the girl, "so, how far is it?"

the girl looks into the air, "can't you see the rays? we just follow them."

she almost laughs, "no, i mean where is it?"

the girl points ahead, "right on the border. i asked jingo for this drill."

she imagines a small elf, "jingo, what a cute name!"

the girl turns around, asking her, "isn't mine also?"

staring at the girl's face through the calibration equipment in her grasp, "clarel?"

she pauses, thinking, "no, it's more of a pretty name."

clarel coughs, "keh! pretty! is that so?"

she nods, "yeah."

the visible radiation just beyond the corner of the next building is near-blinding.

clarel looks back, encouraging her, "i think we're almost there."

squinting, trying to keep her hair in front of her face to block the light, "i hope so... i can't even see where i'm walking!"

they reach the corner, clarel relieves her arms, "here, i'll take those."

clarel neatly arranges everything on canvas, "this is weird, isn't it?"

she slaps down her visor, intent on rounding the corner, "weird?"

clarel calls out, "wait!"

she feels the concern in clarel's voice, "eh?"

clarel stands up, looking around, "why is there no debris?"

clarel continues, worrying, "it's a drill, right? where is all the debris?"

she backs away from the corner, "let just leave? we already reached the quota-"

clicking equipment together, clarel interrupts her, "i haven't, that's why i asked jingo for this."

she grumbles, leaning against the wall, "ughhh. can't you do another drill tomorrow?"

clarel stands up, holding meter in either hand, "no, i'll be on vacation. this one will be fine."

she pats clarel on the back, laughing, "ha! good luck, i came this far, but i'm not doing it."

clarel giggles, "hehe, silly! it's just a drill."

clarel goes beyond the corner, bathing in the light for a moment, patting herself with confidence.

clarel looks back reassuringly, "see, it's fine!"

clarel smiles and turns, facing the light.

and endless stream of brighter-than-white spirits, crying and sobbing between bouts of piercing screams, bombard and pass through clarel.

she backs away, horrified, "clarel! what are you-"

clarel drops to her knees, her body limp, and begins falling backward.

eyes and mouth agape, she screams, "clarel!"

clarel's glowing head detaches as her body hits the ground and begins gently rolling down the lane.

she tries feeling clarel's spirit, but nothing remains. clarel's charred skull comes to a stop as she looks down, just beyond her feet.

-

she stares at the ceiling tiles, motionless, resting in the infirmary.

a man pressures the nurse, "we need to finish questioning her, be sure to contact us as soon-"

the nurse groans, shooing the crowd away, "ugh! yes, yes, now be gone!"

-

jfion peers through the open jalousie, through the door, through a handful of noion which he places on the bedstand to her left. she doesn't react.

he sighs, "she has no spirit."

to continue reading the next section, click here:

http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=20799

aan