Solar Eclipse

I went to my window and there I saw it. A solar eclipse.

"I-it's a solar eclipse.." I said under my breath. I walked out my room, flickering on the lights. As I walked through the hallway, I saw a maid on the floor

. "Ms. Irella? Why are you on the floor?" I say. No response. She seems fine though, regular breathing, nothing coming from her mouth, no sudden jerks, and her eyes were rested. I continued down the hall.

~~~~~~~~~~

Noah's POV

I woke up, gasping for breath. Unauthorized module detected.

.... activated. My collar said. "What was that?.." I panted. It didn't feel like the usual heart pain.. I sat up on the bed. And I think I faintly heard another's voice.. "Nevermind that." I said to myself as I got out the bed. "What time is it?"

I fixed my glasses and looked at the digital clock on Neo's nightstand.

1:50 PM

Hold on..it's afternoon already? But why would afternoon be so-

Dark.

"No way.." I quickly got up and went to the window. Sliding the curtains open, I gazed up to see a solar eclipse.

Before I knew it, eclipse was already here..but somehow, I wasn't it's only spectator.

"Don't tell me I slept through the entire morning."

The Armageddon happened on October 29th, 20xx. The entire world fell into deep slumber. Then why am I awake? This didn't happen the last time..What changed? Am I really the only one awake right now?

I turned to the bed, "Neo?" I said, shaking him gently. He's sound asleep. I didn't hear much noise outside for a Monday, aside from some dog barking. It seems the eclipse did put everyone into a deep sleep. Wonder if the reason I'm awake is because I came back from the future.

"Hm?" I noticed small white fur poke out from under the bed. "Care to come out?" I said. The white dog slowly creeped out. It seems the theory that only humans fell asleep is true.

I grabbed Neo's earring and walked out of Neo's room and down the hallway. In the living room, I found Parish knocked out at her desk and Abel asleep on the couch. I walked further, past the living room and saw Lena and Iva asleep and Ian was passed out in front of the TV on news.

Aside from the fact that somehow I'm awake right now, it seems the Armageddon I remember was real. But something's changed. Is it because I came back from the future? But that would only affect my memory, nothing has changed about me physically. At least, not as far as I can tell. Oh well, there's no point in questioning the logic of it all. Not when something as illogical as an Armageddon can happen.

"I'll borrow this for a bit, Neo." I whispered, holding the earring box.

>>>>>

Beep! Beep! I scanned my hand. The garage door opened to reveal many stack of boxes filled with supplies. I rummaged through a few boxes.

I should have ordered more.

"Then again, more than this wouldn't have been easy to deliver in the same day." I muttered. "I guess the only choice left is to stock up on supplies on the road." I began putting on the earring

The Armageddon happened quite suddenly, so it should take people a while before they think to raid for supplies.

"Hopefully this works." I reach my hand out to the crates. Suddenly, a red

mist-like thing came from the earring and the crates began to vanish. "Well,it confirms the special powers from my memories, it works. Even though it's a bit small, the earring is indeed a pocket dimension."

A pocket dimension is the ability to store items into a dimension created within itself. As such, it isn't classified as an offensive ability and wasn't valued in the early days of the Armageddon. The military were the first to realize the true potential of having a personal, portable storage that could hold almost anything.

Soon enough, pocket dimensions became the most sought out in the world.

No wonder the military was willing to sponsor Parish, she really didn't need me anymore.

"Since I cant reveal the earring just yet, the backpack will have to do. All that's left to do is to grab my medicine."

Medicine... a flashback of Li leaving through a door came back to me. "This time will be different, Li."

From what I remember, aside from us, the majority of the people in the mansion turned after the eclipse. There's too much risk to take if I want to help everyone in the mansion. Honestly, I'm not even sure if I can help myself. Let alone the others. The fact that I'm awake right now, means the future is already changing.

I found Li on the floor and carried her upstairs. If they didn't change in the past, they should be fine. I'll just have to come and collect them when the eclipse passes. I thought, looking at everyone in the living room.

I went into a room and sat Li on a beanbag chair. "Here should be fine."

If I remember correctly, the eclipse ended sometime in the morning. The sun was still visible when I woke up. Which means, the morning of the next day.

"If I'm correct, that means I have almost 24 hours to spare."

I could take everyone and drive out the city while everyone's in a deep slumber. But that implies I can carry half the people down to the garage where the car is. Before I managed to do that, I would

have already died from a heart attack.

"Things should be different now, right?" I said as I sat beside Neo. Sighing, I took the earring off and held Neo's hand. Then I pricked his finger and let a drop of blood touch the earring.

Unknown to most people, Artifacts have the power to form a contract. "Contracts" as we called them, were for the exclusive use of an artifact for a single person. Just a single drop of blood and the right activation will make the artifact bind itself to the blood's owner.

I put the earring onto Neo, "That should do it."

I have no use for the artifact. It's better for Neo to have it.

I walked out the room.

>>>>>

My eyes fluttered open. "Did I fall asleep again?" I looked to my side, Neo's gone....

Li is also-! It's morning, the eclipse is over.

It's quiet, the eclipse shouldn't have ended too long ago.

I walked out the room and saw Lena, Iva, Parish, Abel, and Ian all wearing expressions of worry and concern. I also saw them all staring at a large break in a window. "Noah!" Parish sobbed as she ran to me. "I-I was so scared!" She cried.

I stared at her silently before patting her back a few times, "What's wrong? Calm down.." I said. "Master Collins." A voice called from behind. I turned and saw Li, she sat beside another maid, injured, who rested herself on a wall. "Li, there you are." I said.

"S-sir, I can explain this.." the maid began. "T-the others were acting strange. They started to attack me, Brian even but me!" The maid began, "I was scared..I ran up the stairs, Brian followed me. That's when I ran into Madame Parish and Young Master, I-It was self-defense! Master Abel didn't mean to, Brian attacked us first!" She said. Looking out the window, I saw a body sprawled across the floor, bloodied. It twitched.

"I-I'm sorry.. He was scaring me..and he tried to hurt me.. so I just..just.." Abel said, worried as he searched for words. "I'm not sure what happened, but I think we all passed out at some point." Li said, "I woke up when I heard Madame's scream, went out, and that's when I saw Young Master Abel push Brian put the window."

Taking another look out the window, I saw the supposedly 'dead' Brian begin to pull himself across the floor. "It's fine..You did good." I answered. Just as I suspected, it's an undead.

"..Huh?...Did you say..Good?" Parish asked. Shoot, I forgot. People right now aren't desensitized to killing undead right now. "I mean..it was purely self-defense And an unfortunate accident. It can't be helped." I said. At least, not when they aren't even sure what an undead is just yet.

"You're not hurt, right?" I turned to Parish. "..No, I'm fine. Thankfully." She answered. I looked at the bitten maid, we can't take her with us..But we have to get moving. There will be more undead on their way.

"Sir, what's the problem?" Li asked. "Li, have you seen Neo?" I asked. Li looked behind me, "He just came up right behind you." She said. I turned and met eyes with just the person I was looking for. "What do you want?" Neo asked. I looked away Neo and patted his shoulder. "?"-Neo

Then I began to turn him around. "Quit it!" Neo said, slapping my hand away, "What are you doing?!" "Ehe..Sorry, I got a little worried is all." I responded.

"Someone died on your property and that's all you care about? You do know, there is no such thing as 'self-defense' to the medea, right? How are you gonna cover this up?" Ian spoke, "The son of the famous Arc Company pushes an innocent servant to his Doom. Pretty catchy for a headline, huh?"

"Ian?!" Parish and Lena gasped. "Are you implying you'll tell this to the Medea?" I said. "Are you implying you'll sweep this under the rug? That's kinda messed up, Mr. CEO." Ian remarked. Parish spoke, "W-wait! It was just an accident! Maybe he's not dead yet, we can call an ambulance-"

"I don't know about you, Parish. But he looked very dead to me, last time I checked." Ian cut her off, "Don't worry, since we're family, I'll keep my mouth shut just for you. But you know how business works, right?" "Ian!" Parish exclaimed. "Oh? Blackmail?" I said, "You should stop embarrassing yourself, brother. Sure tell the Media, see if they care."

"I know all of your tricks..." Ian rambled. Thud..thud.. "Rika?! Is that you? Are you okay?!" The bitten maid stood up and walked over to a figure that slowly approached us. She began talking to her. I noticed that the figure looked quite...pale..almost like an unde-! "Idiot, Get away from her!" I yelled.

Soon, the figure jumped onto the my maid and but her shoulder. "R-rika?!" The maid yelped. "Someone, do something!" Parish exclaimed. Li stepped forward. I put my hand on Li's shoulder to stop her. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Do you not want me to help her, sir?" She asked.

It's not that I don't want to help her, but she's already a goner.

"What are you waiting for?! Get her off of her!" Parish yelled. "Old Hag, you're too loud. Can you shut up?" Neo said. "W-What?!" Parish responded. "If you want to save her, make sure you can handle those over there too." Neo replied, pointing at incoming dead from around the corner. "Good Luck" he said.

The maid continued yelling for help. There was no saving her, we had to move. I told everyone to head to Neo's room. "Why not Madame's room?" Li asked. "There is a 'meal' in front of that room." I said.

We all started running towards the end of the corridor. We burst into Neo's room, gasping for air.