'Such a bright light…'
'Hmm… It's heading toward me?'
'It is morphing into a hand…'
—SLAP
"Arghhhh." Brand jolted awake, hand pressed to his cheek.
He glanced around, looking for the source, but stopped midway.
"Ruby?" He narrowed his eyes. The person in front of him looked like Ruby, but there was something obviously different about her.
"Your hair…"
Ruby's long red hair was now blazing in a bright orangish-red glow, fluttering in the air like a golden mane.
Her eyes glowed with a fiery orange light.
Her tan skin had turned fair and luminous. A fierce, wild flame aura radiated from her, as if it was constantly clawing at the darkness, devouring it.
"I overdid it…" Ruby said while checking his cheek.
'Overdid what…?'
The burning sensation on his face left him puzzled for a moment, but he soon despaired as his senses returned.
'Ughhhh.'
