'I feel like there is a battle between hell and heavens inside my heart. There is something wrong with me. My mind is floating like I am flying above the clouds, ecstatic by the beautiful scenario surrounding me. My heart, however, is sinking inside my chest, burning in the tartar of hell, burning in the flames of anguish.
'While one of these feelings seem to be good and the other, really bad, that's not the case. They seem to switch. My torture changes every time. At times, my mind feels so dizzy that I think that I am about to pass out or vomit. On the other hand, my heart and body burn so hard, the heat is so intense, that I feel like I am dying slowly, getting consumed by the flames.'
He could describe it very well in his mind. Maybe that kind of comparison came from the strange dream that he had the previous day, maybe he was watching too many movies but, anyway, the fact was that everything was real. He wasn't imagining that pain nor that confusion. Something was changing in his body... no, in his soul.
Tobey didn't have a religion, he never thought deeply about God or any deity. He couldn't believe all that talk, though. For him, it was... unreasonable. Why did all that cruelty was allowed to happen when we had such a mighty being watching over us? Was he busy with more obedient servants in another world? Were they the only world in which God reigned, or there were others spread in the universe?
Anyhow, those questions weren't important anymore because, more than never, he doubted his own intelligence and thought about the possibility of being ignorant.
'Why is this feeling bringing so many things to my mind? What the heck is happening with me!?'
While the world seemed to be falling apart in his point of view, inside his mind, outside he was having a great time. He didn't stop kissing and caressing Han, and the latter wasn't willing to stop so soon as well.
Tobey was feeling overwhelmed by sensations, to the point of getting sick, but he didn't want to act out of the usual. Not when they were seeing each other after so long separated.
The investigator endured until his very limit. In an impulse of agony and desperation, he pulled his body backward, sinking into the mattress. With his hands, he pushed Han away gently.
She didn't take that act like something strange. Maybe he was just trying to breathe for a while, they could continue after a few... seconds...
'What?' that word came across her mind, though she was sure that she said it out loud.
Han covered her mouth and gave a step back, then another.
"I-Is it some kind of idiot prank of yours?" she asked, widening her eyes. She was so scared that she teared up. "It isn't funny, Tobey!"
Tobey got startled, he got up from the bed exasperated.
"What are you talking about, I just stopped to kiss you for a while. Is it such a big deal? We, human beings, need oxygen as well, you know?"
She denied with her head, taking another step back as he approached her.
"Stop where you are! Until you don't cease with this prank I won't let you get near me!"
Tobey was getting more and more dumbfounded.
'Is it something in my face?' he thought, turning to the full-length mirror that was fixed on the wall in his left side.
Once Tobey's eyes laid upon the mirror, he nearly jumped to the side.
"What the hell... is that? No, what the hell happened to ME?" he muttered, his eyes glazed on his reflex.
Tobey had hazel eyes, pale skin, and average-length brown hair that was smooth and well-cared. Due to stress, he had some white hair here and there. His nails were always trimmed. Also, his height didn't go beyond 175 centimeters.
However, at that moment, the man couldn't recognize himself. His brown hair acquired a pure white color, with some grizzly strands here and there. His hazel iris was now completely black, outlined with a thin line of red, looking like a ring of flames. His skin got grayish like he was an undead. Thin and straight black horns, slightly curved in the extremes, suddenly appeared in his head. His nails were bigger and darker than they used to be as well.
'What in the world happened to me...? What!?' he thought another time as if the response would just appear in the mirror.
"H-Han..." he turned to her, which got the woman startled. "P-Please, listen to me!" he stretched out his hand to her as if trying to reach his childhood friend.
"I don't know what's happening to me, Han! So, listen to me, and let's solve it. I am just as confused as you are," his voice was a bit agonized due to his despair, but he was trying to keep his cool.
Han was a bit hesitant. She didn't know whether she should allow him to get closer. She was quite worried about him deep inside, but more worried about her own well-being too.
She wanted to shout at him, saying to Tobey back away, but no sound came out of her mouth.
"Han," he called her name again.
At that moment, the door of Han's room exploded, sending pieces of wood and dust forward that blinded them for a moment.
"If I was you, I would stay away from my granddaughter, filthy demon," a voice filled with hatred invaded the room.
From the dust, Han's grandaughter appeared. Her eyes were shining in a golden color that was both frightening and beautiful. Its brightness was an otherworldly thing. She was surrounded by an aura of the same color and holding...
'A sword? Are you kidding me? What's up with her!?'
Tobey got up from the ground, giving several steps backward until his back touched the wall of that room.
"G-Grandma!? What's happening here? Is it some kind of prank?" Han still couldn't accept what was happening in front of her.
"I will explain everything to you later, Han. However, right now, I need to focus on killing evil by its root. I must exterminate types like him from this world," the old woman had a resolute voice. Her eyes and expression were different from anything that Han had seen her display before.
Although her grandmother didn't change much physically as Tobey did, she looked just as different as he was. She was another person entirely.
"G-Grandma, I need your help. I really don't know what is happening here. It is a misunderstanding or something...", Tobey tried to explain himself as he raised both hands, showing that he wasn't going to do anything.
"I know you won't, Tobey..." she said as a clap of thunder sounded out there. "because I will ensure that you can't do anything bad to anyone!"
She opened her free hand, showing its palm to Tobey. A ball of light began to form there, one so intense that it was capable to blind someone. Tobey could feel the heat of that ball from far away, and not only that, he felt that that kind of energy was utterly harmful to him. His hair stood on end and he knew that he would die if he stayed in the same place.
Han's grandma threw that ball of light towards him, which traveled nearly as fast as a bullet. However, regardless of its speed, Tobey could somehow follow it with his eyes and dodge that strange ball.
'Were my reflexes always that good?' he thought as he fell to the ground and watched in astonishment the ball of light striking the wall and exploding it in millions of fragments.
The old woman didn't waste time and raised her sword, posing it in an offensive position. Nonetheless, before she could do anything else, Tobey jumped from the ground and took his gun, pointing it at her.
'I love her, and love her daughter, but I am not in the mood to take one of these balls of divine light right on my face!'
"If I was you, I would stay back and keep your hands closed not to make anything else appear in your palm, grandma. I am a reasonable person when it comes to the integrity of my body."
The old woman looked at her sword, then her left free hand, turning to Han lastly.
"Really? Do you think so? But, in my opinion, I would be very dumb if I leave you to escape just because you are pointing a gun at me. I don't need to be afraid at all. Not when your hands are trembling so much. Not when your heart races like it will explode. Not when you are pointing at your precious grandma, the person that saw you aging throughout all your childhood, then adolescence, and finally adulthood."
She narrowed her eyes, which seemed a malicious gesture that made Tobey tremble from his core.
"Wanna shot, little Tobey?" she said, taking a step forward. "Then shoot me. I won't even defend myself. Show to the world the demon that you were born to be!"