"Splatter!"
The sound of flesh tearing could be heard as a man was ripped in half by a goat-like demon.
It was a gory sight, a man ripped in half, his exposed organs and intestines dangling from his innards as blood gushed out from his being.
The surroundings were filled with the smell of blood and raw meat, a smell that seemed to please the demon as it let out a delighted growl.
-----
(In the real world)
"Aiden!"
A female voice sounded out prompting Aiden to throw his eyes open, his eyeballs darting around as he frantically observed his surroundings.
Remembering the dream he just had, Aiden quickly sat up.
"Pat!"
He touched his lower body making sure he could still feel it, and when he did, he let out a breath of relief.
Noticing Aiden's strange demeanor, Mai turned to Jonathan, her brows furrowed as she asked, "Is he ok?"
Looking towards Jonathan one would notice that he kept quite a distance, "let's give him some space, we don't know if he's possessed."
Some demons did have the ability to possess people, but that didn't seem to be the case with Aiden.
Looking towards Aiden, one would notice that he seemed a bit anxious, upon noticing this Mai called out, "Aiden?"
Hearing his name being called out, Aiden turned around quickly, his legs slightly lowered as though he was defending himself, but when he realized it was just Mai he tried to calm himself.
"H-hey," Aiden greeted, his voice in an awkward tone as he walked up to her.
Walking towards Mai, Aiden couldn't help but think about the experience he just had, after the Soul Sovereign killed the demon, Aiden suddenly felt his vision blur as he fell into a deep sleep, where he relived some of his worst experiences in the form of haunting nightmares.
Aiden felt confused and shaken, his body twitching from the recovered memory.
Different memories that Aiden didn't remember before suddenly became clear to him, half of which were about him dying horrible deaths.
"Aiden?" Mai's voice suddenly sounded out again, bringing Aiden back to reality.
As Aiden looked up, he noticed that Mai seemed to be on edge. Looking further back, he also noticed that Jonathan was wary of him.
"Jonathan," Aiden suddenly called out his voice returning back to its cold tone.
Feeling startled at how quickly Aiden called his name, Jonathan hurriedly walked up to him, smiling as he asked, "I knew you could do it."
"Do what exactly?" Aiden said narrowing his eyes at Jonathan who felt a shiver run down his spine.
Ignoring Jonathan's frightened expression Aiden said, as he walked away, "Let's get out of here."
"What about Binder?" Mai suddenly interrupted causing Aiden to pause in his tracks.
Looking behind him, he could indeed see some people, slumped on the ground unconscious.
He had been so busy fighting for his life that he ignored them. The group walked up to the unconscious people on the floor, squatting as they observed Binder.
"She doesn't have it on her, and it's not in her truck, where could it be?" Mai's voice sounded out, referring to the bag of hell crystals.
Frowning, Jonathan added, "We don't have all night, we can't possibly wait for her to wake up, what do you think Aiden?"
Shaking a bit due to the surprise of having his name called Aiden quickly replied, as he broke away from his thoughts, "Y-yes let's do that."
Saying this he got up and walked towards the direction of their truck.
Once again noticing Aiden's strange demeanor, Mai and Jonathan glanced at one another feeling deeply confused.
"Are you sure he's not possessed?" Jonathan asked Mai.
Rolling her eyes, Mai replied, "Aren't you the one who's supposed to have the special eyes?"
Nodding at Mai's argument, Jonathan said, "From what I can see there's nothing wrong with Aiden, he just seems agitated for some reason."
Saying this Jonathan, proceeded to observe the other unconscious people on the ground, two men and one woman.
Ignoring the fact that they were candidates, he took two of the three candidates' orange tags and stuffed them in his pocket.
The next thing he did was pick up the unconscious woman named Binder and walk towards the truck with Mai following behind him.
But just when he was about to leave he spotted something from the corner of his eye.
Walking up to it, Jonathan noticed that it was a duffel bag, he recognized it immediately, it was the bag they had used to store the hell crystals.
"Mai can you help me with the bag, my hands are full," Jonathan called out to Mai who smiled at the sight of the hell crystals.
Upon reaching the truck Jonathan noticed that Aiden was sitting in the back seat his hand on his chin seemingly lost in his thoughts.
Seeing this, both Mai and Jonathan decided not to bother Aiden for now as he seemed to be going through a lot.
Quietly they dropped the unconscious masked woman called Binder in the back seat, holding her in place with a seat belt.
"Vroom!"
The sounds of an engine roar could be heard as Jonathan started the car, meanwhile, Aiden was having a discussion with Landon in his head.
With an amused voice, Landon said, "Don't tell me you're folding just because of a few deaths, calm down, you seemed fine with it before."
"That was because I didn't remember, who could remain fine after dyeing so many times?" Aiden refused his mind in a state of unrest.
Jonathan and Mai were right to leave Aiden alone, right now Aiden was so on edge that he could attack duo to a sudden shock, his survival instincts were all over the place warning him of danger from all directions.
After a moment of quiet, Landon sighed, "The brain sure is amazing, who knew it would develop such a coping mechanism? Now that I think about it, you were just a normal person before being sent on that trail, coming out completely unscathed doesn't seem like much of a stretch."
"Jeez, thanks for pointing that out," Aiden said in his head, the sarcasm in his tone evident.
Looking out the window, Aiden tried to get his mind off his newly acquired memories, but the more he tried, the more it got worse.
Looking beside him, Aiden noticed the woman in a frowning mask.
"If I remember correctly her name is Binder right?" Landon suddenly said before darting in, "She had given you quite a bit of trouble back at the cave."
Ignoring Landon Aiden focused on the woman named Binder, now that he was closer to her, he suddenly felt like she looked incredibly familiar.
Curious about her identity, Aiden stretched forth his arm to take off her mask, it wasn't hard and soon, her face was relieved before him.
She had soft features, a contrast to her strict voice, Aiden had expected her to have sharp features like Lotus but she looked fairly innocent.
Ignoring her for now Aiden closed his eyes, trying to calm down his restless mind, the ride ahead was long, and he couldn't afford to be unprepared.