Reality shifts around him.
He's back at the house.
"Ugh, my head, it hurts."
"Ah, I forgot I was even here."
Suddenly.
DING
The system appears in front of him.
[System]
Congratulations, You Have Unlocked Aura.
[ AURA SYSTEM ]
◆ Red Aura - Lv.1 (Faint)
Type: External (Faint → Empowered) Source: External Notes: Can be upgraded with the use of Crystals.
◆ ??? Aura - Lv.0 (Dormant)
Type: Innate (Sealed) Source: Innate Notes: Cannot be used. Awakens under specific emotional or situational triggers.
"Aura? Well that's new. And why do I have two of them? I guess I've gotten blessed by the gods above!"
But then
The door behind him gets slammed.
Aiden flinches.
He turns back, finding the door closed.
He tried opening it, but it wouldn't budge.
"Why won't this stupid door open!" He says, while pulling the door with all what he got.
"Hey, how about I test out my new"Aura "." Aiden smirked.
The view cut to just outside the door.
Boom.
The thick door burst apart. Aiden laughs while his hand is envelopped with a red flame like aura.
"Oh wow, this aura thing is actually good, i've never felt being this str–"
But what was in front of him, made him freeze in his tracks.
It's no longer the burned broken down village, but a lively one.
Villagers walking around, without any care in the world.
Kids playing tag.
Venders selling fruits.
Aiden was shocked. He walked up to one of them.
"Hey, wasn't this village just ash seconds ago?"
But the villager didn't even pay attention to him.
Not even feeling a presence beside him.
He tried striking up a conversation.
Again and again.
But no luck.
"Is it that they're ignoring me? Or do they just not see me at all?"
He decides to try one more time.
He puts his hand on one villager's shoulder.
But it flew just past him.
"What? Why can't I touch him?"
He tries touching him again. But it just flew past him.
Suddenly.
Screams come from the gates.
The guards are burned to crisp.
Nothing left of them.
A guy steps out of the fog.
Red eyes, black haired.
He starts burning the house to dust.
Even the kids aren't spared.
Aiden watches in horror.
"Stop!" He yelled.
But it didn't reach anyone's ears.
He goes to shield some kid sprawled on the ground.
But the man walks straight past him.
And sets the kid on fire.
Screams all around him.
He can't do anything to stop him.
The mysterious man walks toward the house in the middle, where Aiden gained his aura.
He breaks down the door. "There you are, grandma."
The skeleton is no longer there, replaced by an old grandma.
"I knew this day would come." The grandma mumbles.
"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way." The man says.
"Oh, this grandma still has a lot in her, and would like to choose the hard way!"
Red aura envelops her hands.
Forming crimson claws.
The man does the same.
A darker red colored aura envelops his entire right arm.
"Give up grandma, you're too old for th–"
He gets struck straight in the chest.
He got slammed to the wall.
The elderly woman prepares for another blow.
But the man predicted it, and countered it.
He held her arm with his left hand.
And delivered a powerful uppercut with his right.
She creates distance.
Preparing for another barrage.
She charges, holding her hands to her face.
"Haaaaaaa, take this!"
The man manages to block it.
But he didn't expect the elderly woman to continue her assault.
She strikes powerfully, despite her frail appearance.
She slashes his arms.
Leaving a wide gash.
But the man retaliated with a front kick.
He released a flame like aura from his arm.
Heading straight towards grandma.
She managed to step out of harm's way.
And delivered a powerful roundhouse to the liver.
"Ugh, you cheeky old woman!" The man grumbled in pain.
With his right arm.
He materialized a fiery red aura.
He throws it at the woman.
But he didn't stop there.
He throws another, and another.
When the dust settles.
The elderly woman was sprawled on the ground.
Clinging to life with what little time she has.
The man approaches.
He held her neck with his hand.
"You should have chosen the easy choice."
Red flames start burning the woman alive.
"Ryker, you forgot one important thing about this old woman! It's that I never give up! No matter who my opponent is!"
She wraps around his right arm.
Crimson aura starts spewing out of her body.
BOOM.
A deafening explosion tore apart the house.
For a moment.
Aiden thought they were both dead.
Until the man walks out.
Almost stumbling on his way out.
His right arm is limp, broken and burned to a crisp.
"Ugh, that woman, so she had a trick up her sleeve, I should've expected it from a cheeky grandma like her!" The man grumbled.
"I'll have to take it from what's left of her after I recover, after all, no one else knows this place except me."
Then
He vanishes into the thin air.
"What did I just watch?" Aiden mumbled in disbelief.
"There's no way this actually happened right before my eyes, is this a past event?"
"This world has just gotten way more strange now, I gotta get stronger."
And with that, he leaves the village.
Going to where his gut tells him.
The desert is massive.
No one in sight.
But he doesn't give up.
Even after hours of walking.
He hasn't lost hope.
Suddenly.
The ground rumbles.
It shook beneath his feet.
Holes start appearing in the distant sand.
The sound only comes closer and closer.
Until.
A large sandworm appears in front of him.
Thousands of times bigger than him.
Body stretching from 100 meters to a 1000.
There's no way he could defeat something like this.
So he does the only reasonable thing any other man would do.
RUN.