The purple haze of the nearest Shift shone through the bedroom window as I lay propped up on my bed listening to the latest tale from the translucent man sitting in his translucent arm chair. The fiery glow of Nyx’s feather on my chest glowed a bright yellow-orange as the Phoenix listened and reverberated in my chest. I smiled with love as my best friends kept me company as the girl in the corner of the room dug a hole in a dirt pile on some distant Shift.
She didn’t look around, it was just a dream to her — she saw what she expected to see as she dug for whatever treasures might lay in the hole. She’d dug here before. It wasn’t uncommon for echoes to show up in my house without warning. It was harmless, a side effect of living on the edge of Arcadis. No one wanted to live here — the house was cheap and I didn’t mind. I enjoyed their company — specially Alex Brizo. He’d been my friend as long as Nyx.
His ice-blue eyes were currently down cast as he read through his latest manuscript. He was editing and I was listening. He was dreaming — but not dreaming. Echoes were different when they were dreamers. And I heard him clear as day.
Most echoes were silent actors in an invisible landscape that they never saw. My parents couldn’t hear Alex. They had a theory we were bound. And since I couldn’t form a bond with another anchor no matter how hard we tried — or how much we connected on a physical or mental level the connection failed each and every time. But it was impossible for Alex and I to be bound — he was on Shift #0. And I could never go there. No one could. The only way to Shift #0 was through the Nexus. And their Nexus was deep at the bottom of the ocean — and we couldn’t get the tech needed to survive at that depth into the doorway to Shift #0.
Many had tried and many had died never to return from the trip.
So their theory didn’t really hold water.
Alex cleared his throat in my head and my heart raced as I looked over at him. He smirked knowing fully well I hadn’t been listening. “Did I get that part right?”
“I’m sorry!” I said out loud.
Nyx clicked loudly inside my chest but his words sounded in my head. “You never listen.”
Alex chuckled.
I didn’t get a chance to figure out what the part was as the girl echo in the corner became frantic. I sat up in bed and watched her clutch her heart.
A loud explosion popped off rattling my house and the girl exploded into a radiant purple yellow light.
Nox Luxignis is a Mystical Warrior who Bears the Phoenix Feather and Drifts from Shift #0
Effort: 1
Armor: 0
Recovery:
□ □ □ □
Damage:
□ □
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Speed: (1)
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Intellect:
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
XP:
□
Abilities: premonition, sense magic, hedge magic, manifest phoenix, shroud of flame, drift, determine shift
Weapons: unarmed (caestus) 2 – eased, unarmed (caestus) 4, blaster 4 long range
Setup
Q: Are Nox and Alex at Nox’s house?
(1d20+0: [12]+0 = 12)
Yes, but [“Change”, “Girl”, “Curiosity”]
Q: How is the girl changing?
[“Explosion”, “Heart”, “Infectious”]
Q: Is the girl a manifestation?
(1d20+0: [11]+0 = 11)
Yes, but [“Alarm”, “Faith”, “Disastrous”]
Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2022 Monte Cook Games, LLC.
The Mind of Nox 