4 A Changed World

Noah was born on October 1st, 1920, in Albany New York. His childhood began within the embrace of suburban life. Days drifted by serenely, marked by the laughter of his friends and the comforting presence of his family.

Such joyous times weren't meant to last, though.

As the ominous clouds of war gathered overseas, Noah's father and elder brother were summoned by their nation's call to duty. They were both drafted into the army. At the tender age of 10, he found himself entrusted with a solemn responsibility: to care for and safeguard his mother and younger sister during their absence.

The weight of this obligation was unlike any he had known before. His carefree days were abruptly exchanged for long hours of toil. Noah ventured into the realm of adulthood prematurely, his youthful aspirations overshadowed by the harsh realities of responsibility. He found employment in the nearby industrial factories, multiple jobs to make ends meet, with each day leaving him drained and yearning for the simple joys his youth should have granted him. The games with friends, once cherished, now felt like distant memories slipping through his grasp.

Yet, at the same time, Noah never once cursed these obligations thrust upon him. He watched as his mother and sister gathered around the dinner table; their faces illuminated by the soft glow of candlelight. The warmth of their smiles, the innocent laughter that filled the room, and the knowledge that his sacrifices provided this comfort forged an unwavering resolve within Noah. He knew that, despite the fatigue, despite the challenges, it was all worth his while.

And so, a year passed, uneventful but for the persistent absence of his father and brother. On the eve of his 11th birthday, an encounter awaited him that would forever change the course of his life.

As he walked the familiar path to the factory, an elderly woman, her age etched into the lines of her face, beckoned to him. She offered a proposition—a day's labor for a sum of money that equaled more than a month's wages at the factory. Doubt flickered within him, but when half the payment was placed in his young hands, he couldn't bring himself to refuse. His sister's 11th birthday lay just two weeks ahead, and he longed to gift her something special.

Reluctance gave way to acceptance, and he climbed into the woman's car, unaware of the journey that lay before him. But as the engine roared to life, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head, before the world faded into darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Cough!*

*Cough! Cough! Cough!*

Noah wheezed, his lungs burning as he began to feel nauseous.

(The air is filled with debris, ash, and dust. Not to mention the extremely high levels of radiation all around us. Breathing it in like that is stupid). Gorm commented as Noah landed at the edge of the pit on his hands and knees, coughing up blood. He'd tried to take a deep breath of what he thought would be fresh air as soon as he reached the surface, and this was the result.

(Keep your human appearance but change the actual make-up of your body into my own. My original form will have an easy time dealing with this environment). Gorm suggested.

'Alright!' Noah thought hurriedly in response, struggling to contain his discomfort. With a concerted effort, he relinquished his human form, allowing his body to take on the more resilient constitution of his cosmic counterpart.

Due to the constant coughing and his skin's erosion under the high radioactivity, it took a while for him to complete the transformation. He'd originally preferred to keep his human body so he wouldn't be labeled as a monster, but it appears that he wouldn't be able to survive if he continued as a human.

His skin took on a papery-white hue, his eyes a deep gray, and his already dark hair became a midnight-black.

As he stood on trembling legs, Noah surveyed his surroundings. A relentless dust storm hung heavy in the air, reducing visibility to a mere arm's length. The world filled with vegetation and life thag he once knew was replaced with nothing but images of swirling ash and dust. It was in this eerie silence that enveloped him that Noah began to walk.

Gorm was a primordial monster capable of flying through space; he didn't need to breath, eat, drink or sleep. Having changed his own body's general make-up into that of Gorm's original form, Noah was also enjoying all the perks that came with it.

"I wish I'd done this sooner. Maybe then I wouldn't have had to eat all that damn moss." He commented as he walked, enjoying the feeling of 'lightness' that had overtaken his body.

(The human body is weak, and it's form impractical for survival outside of the planet it originates from. Why do you think I've been trying to convince you to transform into another species?)

Noah sighed.

"Yes, but this is also the body that I am most comfortable in. I've tried others, but they all feel unnatural and weird."

(That feeling goes away after a while, you just need to get used to it).

"We've been over this. At heart, I'm still a human. I don't want to lose that part of me."

After that, the two went silent, seemingly done with the conversation for now.

(...At least keep the wings). Gorm said out of the blue.

"No!" 

(Fine, stick with your two-dimensional field of movement… no matter how impractical it may be). He grumbled, before retreating into a corner of Noah's head to 'sulk.'

Primordial monsters, as Noah had learned from experience, were extremely chaotic and fickle creatures, often with various odd quirks and behavioral patterns that were hard for the human mind to comprehend. However, much like glass, both sides have their own perspective. Gorm also viewed many human tendencies and traditions as odd or impractical, and usually had a hard to wrapping his head around even the most basic of concepts. The most common one, or the one he complained about the most, was human sentimentality. However, due to his chaotic nature, Gorm also had come to adopt certain human emotions and ways of thinking.

It took hours of walking for the scenery to change and the silence to be interrupted. The sun was setting, and the world began to take on a darker and darker tone. The moon's weak light was unable to penetrate the thick dust cloud, causing Noah's surroundings to be plunged into absolute darkness.

He couldn't even see his hand when he held it right before his face, and even after modifying his eyes to take in the maximum amount of light possible, he still wasn't able to see more than a foot in any direction.

So, instead he began finding his way through his other senses. To start with, he modified his ears to be more akin to a bat, though much more sensitive. His skin grew small, almost invisible hairs that would allow him to keenly sense the vibrations of the world around him, and his sense of smell was upped by a few notches as well, allowing him to smell a wider spectrum of scents.

These were all abilities he developed during his time in the caves, where it was just as dark if not darker than where he was now.

Even after all that though, the eerie silence still remained. It was like he was the only living being here. Until now, he had seen no signs of life anywhere, and it was starting to really freak him out.

Noah, who had expected a world filled with people and life, was extremely disappointed when he instead found the opposite. Where was everyone? Did it have something to do with that massive earthquake earlier that had allowed him to escape, or did something else cause this?

He soon realized that even with his enhanced senses, he still was unable to see anything new. The fog cloud seemed to muffle everything's that happened within it, dampening noise and stifling movement.

With a sigh, he briefly closed his eyes. When they opened again, they were covered in an odd gray film. A pair of antennae grew from his forehead as well, their tips pulsing at fixed intervals and releasing an invisible wave of energy that spread unimpeded into his surroundings.

He had mimicked an alien species known as the Hortha, who possessed infrared vision, and another called the Mosker, who could release powerful psychic waves from their antennae. These psychic waves would act similar to echolocation, impacting various objects and transmitting their distance from the main body. However, they could also transmit things such as color, light levels. And minute details that otherwise would go unnoticed. It was a very unique and practical ability that Noah had grown to appreciate.

(You think these are cool? You may have hundreds of thousands of different species' traits at your disposal, but I have yet to inform you about the more… advanced beings that I had assimilated prior to my imprisonment. Alas, those will have to wait until you're more mentally mature, as your current mind is still that of a child). Gorm gloated from his little corner in Noah's mind, obviously trying to brag in order to impress him, although for what reason he really couldn't tell.

"What do you mean my current mind is still that of a child?! I'm a century old!" Noah retorted, angry.

(…I rest my case).

Noah took a deep breath to continue arguing, but then paused when he realized he didn't really know how to come back from that. He knew he didn't act how an adult was supposed to. That could be seen by simply comparing his own personality and behavior to that of the memories of his father, mother, and the other workers at the factory.

Noah kept walking, occasionally finding the ruins of large buildings or the carcass of a dead animal. It appeared that the dust cloud was suffocating any life that survived the disaster. He didn't know how long he walked, day and night had switched places many times already, but eventually he found himself at a coastline, staring out at a vast blue sea. The dust cloud was blown away somewhat by the ocean winds, thinning yet still stubbornly hanging in the air in a murky haze.

Noah sat down, hugging his knees and staring upward at the sky above.

The water stretched endlessly before him, the rhythm of the restless waves serving as a somber backdrop to his thoughts.

This... Wasn't what he expected. It wasn't what he wanted.

But then he breathed in deeply, feeling an unknown energy surge through his whole body. He had noticed it a few days before, but it appeared that the explosion had led to a resurgence in the world's magic. To most it wouldn't be noticeable, but to him, a being who was no longer human, it couldn't be any more apparent. He felt like his whole body had suddenly become two times lighter.

It appeared that every situation had its upsides and downsides. Magic had returned, but at what cost?

As he sat there, cradled by the jagged remnants of what once might have been a bustling coastal town, Noah contemplated the twisted turn of fate that had brought him to this scene. The world he had known, a memory now veiled in the shroud of disaster, seemed irretrievably distant.

He may be a monster physically, but he liked to think his soul and mind were still those of a human being, a species that, potentially was now extinct. 

'I need to live, to maintain my humanity. That way the world I knew and loved won't disappear, but live on through me...' With that thought, Noah had to ask a question.

"Gorm, why do you insist I relinquish my humanity? Is it not a part of who I am?" 

(Humanity is but a single facet of existence, Noah. To fully navigate this transformed world, one must adapt. Embrace the mosaic of possibilities that awaits. It is not the relinquishment of self or that of your species, but an evolution of it. Change is necessary for survival. Clinging to the old ways stubbornly will do nothing but harm you.)

These words echoed in Noah's mind as he watched the waves crash against the skeletal remains of buildings that once stood proud on this very shore. In the quiet moments of contemplation, he wondered if the old world held the answers to his questions. He yearned to understand what had led to this cataclysmic shift, why he was seemingly alone in a world that had been teeming with life.

But as the hours passed in this quiet reverie, the haze that obscured the world began to thin, revealing faint glimmers of starlight in the night sky. Noah, with his enhanced vision and senses, could perceive the subtle stirrings of life in the distance. Faint movements, distant calls, and the ghostly silhouettes of creatures emerging from the shadows.

The world, it seemed, was not entirely devoid of life, it had merely adapted. 

Noah let out a long, tired sigh.

"Maybe you're right." 

A/N: Next comes the first main plot line: Ruined World.

Also, please comment more! I like seeing involvement from the readers. If you think I could write something better, then tell me! Explain what's wrong and how you would fix it. If you have any ideas, comment them. I may just use them later down the line.