The moment the curse dispersed, it wasn't with some grand flash of light or divine chorus.
It was subtle and insidious.
Like waking up from a nightmare you didn't know you were having.
And in that fleeting instant of clarity, Noah remembered.
Not a memory like the ones he could catalog and analyze.
This one was deeper.
A vision that didn't feel like a dream, yet couldn't possibly be reality.
It began in snow.
A quiet, pristine white field that stretched endlessly in all directions.
No horizon.
No sky.
No wind.
Just silence and cold.
The snow beneath his boots was soft, powdery, undisturbed.
But as Noah took a step forward, the place responded.
The ground directly beneath him darkened, the snow around his feet turning a sickly crimson.
Even the flakes drifting down from above shifted from white to blood-red the closer they fell toward him.
With each step, the decay followed.
What was once an untouched field of white became tainted.
