10th November 2019

NOAH

"A Portal Bubble? That's it?!"

I gaped in disbelief at my one-way ticket out of the Pit, wondering how on earth it would help us escape the ISA. It was too simple of a solution, something that didn't line up with Johannes's flamboyant style.

"Yes, Noah Stark. Did you expect us to be riding an elephant out of the Pit of Darkness? Perhaps a magic carpet?" Johannes snapped, waving his hands gently to let the bubble expand.

"But, there's no Shield," I told him uncertainly.

"Bah, you and your useless Shield," He scowled in distaste. "I've performed a spell on this that will render us invisible...so that no one can track us or the bubble. It's much more convenient."

I didn't reply, carefully observing the spell he used, so that I could replicate it later. The ISA had refrained from teaching us the intricate bits of magic, only limiting our knowledge to what was appropriate to reach the White Realm.

I had to say, Johannes had several tricks up his sleeve, including this neat little spell. It had many more advantages than the Shield, including being easier to use and requiring lesser energy. I was slowly beginning to see why people called him a criminal mastermind.

Once the bubble looked large enough to carry the both of us, Johannes turned to Fergus, who was ready with an ocean of tears.

"Sir, I'm going to miss you so much," He sobbed rather noisily, dabbing his wet face with a rag. Being Johannes's scapegoat, he'd vowed to hide our escapade from the ISA.

"I will miss you too, Fergus," Johannes pulled him into a comforting hug. "But we'll be back whenever dear Augustus decides to pay a visit..."

"What?" I interrupted. "I thought we were leaving forever."

Johannes rolled his eyes at me.

"Do you want the ISA to find out that we've escaped?" He demanded. "We need to come back here occasionally and pretend to be pitiful prisoners so that Augustus doesn't suspect us!"

"Yeah right, I knew that," I nodded knowingly, not wanting Johannes to scream further.

Soon we drifted off in the iridescent bubble, sailing past the deep bowels of the Spirit Prison, over to the lower security areas. Shay would've been in one of these areas, and I knew that she had to be out by now.

If so, why hadn't she rescued me yet?

Was Isaac stopping her?

We left the Spirit Prison, floating back into the external world of the Spirit Realm. The hyper-realistic trees and identical neighbourhoods brought out unexpected nostalgia in me, before reminding me that I didn't live here anymore.

I didn't have a home or a family now.

I was all alone-

"Boy, are you still wearing those disgusting grey robes?" Johannes questioned, dusting his new set of velvety purple robes with delicate silver embroidery. "You're free now, you can wear what you want!"

I nodded, before switching over to my dark blue hoodie and black jeans. It made me feel better, much more comfortable than the rough robes I'd donned earlier.

"That's what you like to wear?" He questioned, sounding annoyed. "Spirits these days, your sense of fashion is abysmal!"

"Yeah, well, people don't dress like warlocks anymore," I spat back, eyeing his ridiculous outfit.

What a weirdo.

Our Portal Bubble drifted out of the Spirit Realm, into the fifth Astral Plane. I could see hundreds of glowing, orb-like Realms lying across the surface, pulsating gently as if they all housed a gentle flame inside dancing in the dark.

Renee's Realm was probably here somewhere. I smiled at the thought, thinking about the beautiful place, with serene sunsets and peaceful meadows, and the stream with little silver fish. As far as I remembered, the ISA hadn't destroyed it.

Maybe I could visit it one day.

"You know, boy, I once loved someone too," Johannes sighed, gazing wistfully at the glowing Realms.

"You were in love?" I raised an eyebrow.

Honestly, I wasn't in the mood to listen to Johannes's sob stories. But when the old guy rambled, he often tended to reveal important things that I could use against him.

"Yes, a long time ago," His face deepened into a frown. "We were forced to part ways, by the ISA."

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"Much like your situation with Renee Durvont," He told me bitterly, stroking his goatee. "Our love was deemed illegal."

"Is that why you're helping me now?" I inquired, connecting the dots.

"Yes," He answered, not willing to elaborate.

Throughout the rest of our journey, a usually talkative Johannes now barely opened his mouth. He seemed to be thinking about his lover, things that made him look wistfully at the Realms and brought pain onto his otherwise malicious face.

The Portal entered the Earthly Realm and drifted through the cottony white clouds gently as if it were a dream. The sky was grey, and the afternoon sun exuded bare minimum warmth, all indications of the recently arrived winter.

Johannes still hadn't said anything. It made me feel uneasy as if all his buffoonish chattering were just a mere act to make me trust him.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"Home," He told me with a small smile, not wanting to elaborate.

We drifted to a house in the suburbs, a neighbourhood painfully similar to the one I'd grown up in, as a human. Of course, things had changed, trees had been cut, roads had been laid, and more houses had been built, and yet it still seemed familiar.

The bubble popped gently in front of a multi-storeyed building. It looked quaint, yet modern, and Johannes drifted into the building, gesturing me to follow him inside.

I soon realised that it was a small apartment. A place that looked well maintained and clean, with cosy armchairs and a furry carpet. It looked like the perfect place for an old lady to live in, and I wondered what we were doing here.

"This is our home. And that's where it's going to be," Johannes told me, pointing to a closed door.

Walking through the closed door, I realised that it was nothing but a broom cupboard, completely empty except for a dusty, crooked broom.

"Here?" I asked him in disbelief.

"It's virtually undetectable, why would anyone expect to find a Realm in here?" Johannes challenged me.

My shoulders drooped, but I knew he was right.

Johannes was a lot more practical and realistic than he flaunted to be. I noted this point in my mind and proceeded to carry out my task.

Yes, this was the next part of our plan.

Creating the Realm of Noah.

*****

10th November 2019

Spirits created Realms daily. Almost all the Realms were formed in the fifth-dimensional plane and existed around the Spirit Realm.

According to Johannes, this was the second time in history that we would be creating a Realm in the Earthly Realm.

This Realm was a three-dimensional realm. It meant that it would mimic the Earthly Realm in terms of its properties.

Remember how Renee had to imagine the things in her Realm, and they simply popped into existence? Like the meadow, the sunsets and the stream?

All those things were real in the Spiritual reality.

In my three dimensional Realm, everything that I imagined would be a part of the Earthly or physical reality.

For example, if I imagined an ice cream in my Realm, it would exist as real ice cream in the Earthly Realm. One that was cold, would melt in the sun and can be consumed safely by humans.

Using this principle was the core of the second part of Johannes plan.

"Yes, a minimalistic Realm is enough," Johannes nodded in approval as I created the Realm of Noah. It was a small, bare room, with a single light bulb.

Yeah, we're running on a low budget here.

"Okay, Noah. Let's see your skills," Johannes told me, crossing his hands as if he were my mentor. In a way he was one, he did teach me a lot of things in the past few hours.

I closed my eyes, thinking about the one thing that would bridge the gap between Renee and me. The lack of which troubled me deeply, and I was almost exhilarated that this was finally happening.

I opened my eyes and saw a human body lying in front of me. The human body of seventeen-year-old Noah Stark.

I swallowed, observing what I'd just created.

His hair was pitch black and straight, just the perfect length that I'd wanted it to be. His eyes were closed, but I knew that they were blue too, but not as unusually bright as mine. His cheekbones could be mine, my jaw could be his, and I smiled at the small dimple that grew prominent whenever we smiled.

His build was lean but strong and like me, his height was six foot two. I had made him slightly less pale than what I was, just so that he appeared more human. I did a little bit of an adjustment here and there, smirking to myself and allowing my creativity to run wild.

Well, I wasn't going to be a Spirit anymore, was I?

"What are you waiting for?"Johannes asked me, but I could see his suppressed smile. He seemed to look proud of what I'd created.

"He looks fine, doesn't he?" I questioned. "No organ defects or something on the inside?"

"None that I could sense," Johannes closed his eyes, scanning the internal surface of the body, before giving me a curt nod.

I took a deep breath.

Then I aligned my Spirit self to the confines of my new human body. All that was left was to fill a void, and Johannes would attach my Spirit to my Earthly body.

I closed my eyes, visualising my voids and wondering which one I could fill. The obvious answer was to fill my monstrous void of pain, but I didn't want to suffer any longer.

I looked at my void of desire, thinking about Renee and her very own void. I thought about the day we'd kissed in her mind's view, influencing her past self to realise the crush she had on me.

I could feel her presence as I sank deeper into the memory, her chocolate brown hair, her breath on my lips. Her sparkling grey eyes darted in confusion as the orange light approached us when I closed my mouth over hers.

Her sweet pink lips widened in shock before she began to kiss me too, with full force this time. I could feel her smiling, and my fingers played into her hair, while the other hand rested on her waist. She soon pulled back, observing every inch of my face, her very gaze causing my brain to short circuit.

I exhaled, completely flustered from the memory.

My void of desire was full.

"I'm done, boy," Johannes announced, bringing me back to reality. "You can enter whenever you want to."

"Okay," I opened my eyes and saw Johannes standing beside me. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it, boy," He snapped. "Hurry up, we still need to make a body for me..."

I groaned mentally. Of course, Johannes would be a human too, we'd agreed to that.

I closed my eyes, letting the hunk of human flesh truly absorb every part of my soul. Golden light emanated from the body, almost blinding the room, and obscuring Johannes from my view.

And then I opened my eyes, to see a wispy Spirit Johannes before me. He drifted to and fro, asking me to get up and try out my limbs.

It took a while for me to get up, and take a few steps with my bulky human body. However, Noah Stark is always a fast learner, and I stood straight, looking powerful and human in front of Johannes, who looked like he could be blown away if I exhaled.

"Good. Now create a new body for me," He told me, exasperated.

He wanted me to make him look younger since he was going to pose as my fake dad in his late forties. Naturally, I gave him dark hair streaked with grey, reduced his wrinkles, and made him slightly taller and gave him a beer belly like a typical dad. Thankfully, he was satisfied with my craftsmanship.

Soon we walked out of the broom cupboard as humans, exchanging grins at the new life we were going to lead.

I smiled. Even I couldn't have come up with a plan this perfect.

*****

(A/N: NOAH IS A HUMAN!!! :D

On a less exciting note, the next update will take at least a week to be out. I'm taking a few days off Wattpad, so I'm really sorry if I miss your updates and messages. I'll definitely try to catch up once I'm back.

Thank you so much for all your support this far. It really means a lot! )