Noboki's Offer

"Why do you want to join us? You think we'd fall for that, are you serious?" Tavian asked Noboki.

"You and I both know I could've killed your White Stone Pawn before you even noticed I was here. If I wanted to, you all would be dead already. Not to mention, all I would have to do is ignite those explosives you've been planting for a bit." She said. Noboki was nonchalant and monotone while speaking, yet there was a certain way she spoke that radiated an overconfident attitude. Her stance was even cocky, leaving one of her hands on her hip when she spoke. She didn't even have a weapon on her, I think we could trust her.

"So, just like that, I'm supposed to accept you?" Tavian asked her. I had never seen him too upset, but his history with Noboki mattered a lot more than anybody else.

"Mhm. I don't see why you wouldn't. If you can fight for the good side, then why can't I? We're all tired, you know." Noboki explained.

"You're all tired? What do you mean?" I asked her. Noboki turned to me and looked me up and down, before turning back to Tavian and Ellie.

"We've been doing the same thing for a long time. When I woke up on this Isle at the same time as Talion, the city's morale was already falling. People were losing hope in our leader as all cities were successfully wiped out by then. Now, everybody has lost hope because of the Isle's extinction. They know they're all going to die here now, some of them haven't left their homes in days now." Noboki admitted.

"Days? Won't they get a spot on the boat? Why aren't they fighting for that?" I asked her.

"Oh, so you do know about our boat? Have you ever considered how big that boat really is?" She responded to my question. I froze up... no, I hadn't thought about that. I thought it was big enough to hold all of Orion's people. Close enough to carry ten thousand people, I would've hoped.

"It's about the size of a pirate ship, from the books we used to have in the library, Tavian. Do you remember?" Noboki asked him. Tavian's look turned grim, almost too dreadful to fit his character.

"With a boat that small... Orion couldn't possibly mean to ditch all of those civilians. Not after he declared his plan to take down Nova. Why is that boat so small?!" Tavian started to raise his voice.

Nova?

Nova...

I was instantly struck with nostalgia of some kind. That name seemed too familiar to just be a coincidence, but I couldn't remember where it was from at all. Until I thought about Red once more.

Nova was Red's sister! Orion wanted to take down Nova?! What the hell did he have against Red's family?!

That couldn't be... was that why he watched her die? No, that isn't likely at all. If anybody died there, he wouldn't have reacted. I was losing my train of thought again, I was just angry with no legitimate reason to feel that way.

"You know why. There are more people on Scorched, it's more civilized. Estimation of a million people are on that Isle, it would be stupid to not try to take them over. Orion would need the total population of all three Isles to take on Nova and her army. Cutting a loss of ten thousand left here would amount to nothing." Noboki explained.

Nova must've hurt Orion in some way. I wonder if Nova was just like me and Orion didn't like her just because she thought differently. The world was rapidly expanding now, learning about Nova and her army on Earth amounting to over a million people. On this Isle, we were mere ants. It was almost hard to remember what we were fighting for.

"Orion is going to kill all women and children in nine days, right before the Isle collapses on itself and everything finally dies. While his men are emotionally damaged and driven by rage, he will escape on his boat to restart on Scorched." Noboki explained. It felt as if my head rattled.

"He's going to kill... that many people?" Tavian asked her. Noboki nodded.

"He is. He's going to corrupt his system that night." Noboki added. Like another strike straight to my head, I was dazed in confusion. Our last resort would be ruined if we waited that long.

"Then we need to attack sooner." I promptly said, but Noboki shook her head.

"That would be ignorant. The boat won't be done until the day before. The best thing you can do is prepare accordingly." Noboki commented. She sat down on the floor from where she was standing and I finally let up from blocking the explosives with my back. I forgot where I was standing and dozed off, so I joined her in sitting down.

"That System Corruption isn't something we should prepare for. We need to take the boat out in its current conditions regardless of how put-together it is. Killing that many innocent people is ignorant and selfish, and will not do anything good for Orion." Tavian commented.

"I guess not... if Orion took the blame for killing that many people. It just so happens that there's another evil figure on this Isle. The public knows nothing about him, except that he's a sinner who deserves to die." Noboki explained. Another enemy? Great, now who was going to get in our way?

I looked at everybody, watching all of their stares fixate on me before I finally caught on. "He'll blame me... because I'm the White Stone Demon?" I asked Noboki. She nodded in response, turning to look at Ellie and Tavian.

"Why are you telling all of us this? This sounds like a warning and much less of a plea to join us." Tavian stated.

"Because, I'll be the one to kill all of the elderly, women, and children. If you don't accept me, I'll go through with it." Noboki threatened. What kind of argument was this? I turned to Tavian. She couldn't be serious, could she? Once I turned to him, his look turned grim. Again, he seemed unsure, so it was best to assume she was being fully serious.

"That's an odd statement. Why would you do that if we didn't take you?" Tavian asked Noboki. I leaned the back of my head against the glacier. It didn't even feel cold.

"Because I know you want to save the majority, but I would kill the majority if you don't listen to me. Then, who knows if I'll stop there. I know where you sleep now, I can see it in the trees." Noboki pointed in the trees, almost exactly where my room was. Creepy.

"Okay, fine. We'll let you join, but you know we can't trust you, right? You'll sleep in jail for the time being until I can trust you." Tavian told her. Noboki seemed to agree, then turned to me.

"You're the one that Orion wants to kill the most. Sky... The Corrupt Stone. Why does he want to kill you? What did you do?" She asked me.

"To hell if I know. He sent all those people to kill me first, I'm just returning the favor." I responded, but Noboki didn't seem satisfied with that answer.

"Whatever you think is right. So, you'll let me join, Tavian?" Tavian responded with a slight nod. Afterward, Tavian searched Noboki for any weaponry or items that could sabotage us. We planted the rest of the explosives with Noboki's help, then headed back to base.

Tavian and Ellie took the lead walking back, but Noboki walked next to me on the way back. She walked strangely: With confidence like she didn't care about anything in the world. She carried herself strangely in other regards as well. Not a care in the world, but she was alert like she cared about everything in the world all at once. She turned to look at me.

"What's up with those tattoos? Do they mean anything?" She asked me. I shook my head. I should tell somebody about what happened to me, but was she the right person to tell?

"Nothing in particular," I told her, looking away from her as we approached the elevator. The ride of silence was upon us.