"Oh damn, I don't feel so good."
Dave muttered, clutching his head while he staggered through the alley, leaning against the wall for support.
His vision spun and every step felt heavier than the last, but somehow, even in his broken state, he had made it this far, close to home.
His head pounded violently, each throb like a hammer striking his skull.
"Why does my head hurt so much… what happened?"
~ You still don't remember? ~
The voice came sudden, clear, sharp.
Dave froze, spinning around, eyes darting left and right down the cold misty alley.
No one. Nothing. But the voice still lingered inside his skull, mocking him.
"Who's there?"
he barked, but the alley only swallowed his words.
Then it hit him. Memories, violent, jagged slammed into his mind. He screamed, clutching his skull as flashes tore through him: his mom's face, the abduction, the dark place, the voice… Lord Dan.
Then nothing. Just a blank wall where memory should have been.
He collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air, sweat dripping.
"What the hell…?"
"Lord Dan?"
he whispered, testing the name, desperate to know if it was real or just madness.
No reply. Silence. He exhaled deeply and tried to steady his breathing.
"So it wasn't real…"
~ I'm real, Dave. Your memory is just broken.~
Dave jolted upright, heart hammering. The voice wasn't around him, it was inside him. Not an echo, not a hallucination. Inside.
"L-Lord Dan… it's really you?"
~ Of course. You survived. Stronger than I expected. ~
Dave pressed a hand to his chest, unsure if it was comfort or terror he felt.
"Stronger? I don't understand. What… what actually happened back there?"
~ Forcing memory will only break you further. Let time restore it. Move forward. ~
Something itched on his arm. He scratched at it absentmindedly until the glow caught his eye lines, burning faintly under his skin.
Izigan markings. His tattoos pulsed, alive, lighting across his arm in red trails. His breath caught, and for the first time in years, joy warmed his chest.
"My powers… they finally came," he whispered, almost smiling.
~ Your cosmic energy has awakened. With time, control will come. Patience, Dave. ~
Dave rose slowly, steadier now, the dizziness fading.
"Doesn't matter. First thing, I get home, change, then straight to the hospital."
~ Understood. ~
The voice inside him… it wasn't cold anymore. Lord Dan was adapting, learning, drawing from Dave's thoughts, his memories, his pain.
And for Dave, who had lived so long in loneliness, it felt almost… healing. Like he wasn't alone anymore.
He turned the corner. His street. Home was just ahead. But then,
His whole body stiffened. Something unnatural washed over him, crawling across his skin like fire.
His breath caught. He didn't know the word for it yet, but his soul did.
Aura Domain.
Another presence. Another cosmic entity. Close. Watching.
"What… what is this feeling?"
~ Danger. Not friendly. Listen to your body, Dave. Don't go further. ~
"No." Dave shook his head, heart racing but jaw clenched. "I have to get home."
Inside his home, destruction reigned. Broken pictures. Shattered plates. Furniture ripped apart. The stench of chaos lingered in the air.
And upstairs, Rita—Dave's mother—wasn't Rita anymore.
Scales rippled across her arms. Claws extended like obsidian blades. Her face still hers, but her eyes… black void with burning yellow slits. The Tranamite had taken hold.
She tore apart Dave's room, ripping fabric, smashing wood, until a small object tumbled free and rolled across the floor. She froze.
A strange orb. The one given to Dave from a creature years ago. Its alien surface glowed faintly with unreadable markings.
Rita crouched, clawed fingers brushing across it. Her voice, no longer hers but something darker, deeper, slithered out:
"This object… not of this planet. How does the boy have it…?"
The orb slipped from her grip at the sound of footsteps downstairs.
Dave stood frozen at the threshold. His house, wrecked, destroyed. His breath quickened as his eyes traced the long claw marks raked across the walls.
"What the hell happened here…"
Glass cracked under his boot. He looked down. A broken frame.
The photo of him and his mom, the day he left for Saudi Arabia. He bent down, lifting it, holding it close. Despite everything, a small, broken smile touched his lips.
Then, footsteps.
Heavy. Coming down the stairs.
Dave tensed, sliding into a stance Hina had once taught him. His heart pounded. He braced for anything.
and froze.
"Mom?…"
Rita stood there, holding her stomach, clothes torn, hair wild. Barefoot, trembling, hurt. Dave's eyes widened as tears welled. He rushed forward, dropping to his knees, catching her before she fell.
"Mom? What happened? Are you okay? Talk to me!"
She smiled weakly, touching his face. "Dave… I'm happy you're safe."
His heart cracked at her words. "Mom, who did this? Who hurt you? Tell me!"
"It's nothing, Dave. It's nothing…"
"What do you mean nothing? Look around you!"
He shook his head, eyes burning, but he couldn't stop staring at her face. Her eyes. That smile.
Then her voice shifted, the smile still frozen but wrong.
"How pitiable… such weakness. I'll help you end it quickly. Your vessel will serve well."
The air froze.
Dave blinked. "Wait… what?"
~ Dave! Back away! That's not your mother~
Too late.
Pain exploded in his stomach. His breath caught. His eyes dropped. Her arm wasn't an arm anymore.
It was a jagged black-and-yellow spike, piercing through him, bursting out his back.
Blood filled his mouth. He coughed, spat, stared at her in disbelief.
"Why…?"
he whispered, eyes full of tears, his voice cracking.
His vision blurred. His last sight, his mother's face, smiling as if nothing had happened.
Then darkness.
Dave fell, lifeless, in a pool of his own blood.