"You need to wake up. It is way past 10; you are going to be late to the dojo again!", Kaya hears a loving voice from across the house.
He grumbles, "I am so tired. Maybe I should take the day off."
The voice is closer now. "How are they going to learn discipline from you? You won the tournament but you still need to train the others. Hurry! Get some breakfast."
Kaya seems to think the voice has a point. He hesitantly gets off the bed. He has won a couple of tournaments in his life as a professional martial artist but this is the first time he has been this tired from it.
In the dining room, Irene, his wife, is preparing a healthy breakfast for three.
"Is the little guy not up yet?" Kaya asks, taking a seat.
"Unlike someone, he got up and went to take a shower first." Irene giggles.
"His dad taught him well" he smirks.
The couple joke with each other over breakfast, waiting for their son to join them. Although it seems to be a usual morning for the family, Kaya cannot shake this ill feeling from his heart, like he is missing something.
"On one hand, this is as normal as it gets, but on the other, it feels very out of the norm," Kaya thinks to himself.
Seeing Kaya lost in thought, Irene flinches and tries to engage him, asking him about the tournament yesterday.
"You know, easy as usual, your husband did not even break a sweat." Kaya smiles.
She replies, "I know you are strong but I did see you sweat, I was there too! I meant, how do you feel about the internationals being held in a few weeks?".
Kaya replies with a mouthful of food, "They are all very well trained but I seem to have an edge over them."
"That's good. It is a shame I won't be there to see it," Irene says.
Kaya stops eating and looks up. His heart feels heavy. "What do you mean? Both of you are going to be there."
"You know what I mean, Kaya. It was good seeing you again. Take better care of yourself." She replies with tears in her eyes.
Kaya snaps out of it. His body feels lighter than a feather. It almost seems like his soul is leaving his body.
Everything goes quiet. Kaya's joking mood turns solemn. "I will make them regret this." He promises.
Color drains from the house. The roof rips apart showing cloudy skies. In some places, the sky has been ripped; dark purple plasma oozes out like the world has been torn to shreds.
Kaya's Warrior physique along with his Wizard-ly wisdom allows him to recover more quickly than others around, especially from a mental attack like this.
"Now is not the time to dwell on it, the coward has probably run far away," he estimates. Instinctively, he starts hacking at the frozen bodies around him without any regard for who they are.
Friend or foe, it is pretty hard to tell, so he does not bother.
Slaying either gives him a feeling of elation. Reinvigorating him, making him stronger.
This is the new reality.