Jason froze as the dragon's fiery eyes bore into him from the bathroom mirror. The sight sent a chill down his spine. His breath got stuck in his throat as he couldn't even exhale with he amount of fear and shock that he was currently feeling.
Its form and appearance were just as it had been in his nightmare, its glowing yellow eyes locking onto him as if it could see through the glass with its jagged teeth that looked like knives ready to strike.
"This isn't real. This isn't real," Jason whispered to himself, stumbling back against the wall. His mind screamed for an explanation, but none came. He shut his eyes tightly, forcing himself to believe that this was all just a lingering remnant of his nightmare.
"Wake up. Wake up!" he muttered, squeezing his fists until his nails dug into his palms.
After a few seconds, he hesitantly opened his eyes. The dragon was gone. Only his pale, frightened reflection stared back at him, trembling slightly. Jason let out a shaky breath, his heart racing as though it might burst from his chest.
"Just a nightmare," he told himself, trying to convince his nerves to settle. He looked down at the red metal deck still in his hand, its intricate flame designs gleaming faintly in the light. "What... what is this thing?"
Jason cautiously stumbled back into his bedroom, still visibly shaken from the strange encounter. He had absolutely no idea what was going on and thought that maybe he would have to get a doctor's appointment to see what was wrong with him and why was he experiencing such realistic nightmares.
However, he didn't have time to linger on the thought. Shoving the mysterious deck into his jacket pocket, Jason decided to focus on the more immediate problem: his dwindling bank account and the urgent need to find another job. He adorned his jacket and headed out into the city to look for another workplace.
******************
{Elsewhere in the City}
On the rooftop of a towering high-rise, a man stood motionless, bathed in the soft golden light of the morning sun.
He was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing a black leather jacket adorned with faint purple designs. He had a chiseled fair face with a great athletic physique, and a faint scar ran diagonally across his cheek, adding an edge to his already intense appearance. His dark hair was short and curly, and his beautiful green eyes were fixed on the horizon.
Despite the calm demeanor he exuded, the man was anything but at ease. He closed his eyes and steadied his breath, tuning into the strange ringing that resonated deep in his mind; a sound he had grown accustomed to now.
This wasn't just noise; it was a signal, a disturbance in the balance between dimensions.
"There," he muttered under his breath, snapping his eyes open.
The ringing pulled his senses toward a nearby park below, where a jogger's screams faintly echoed. He saw her stumbling and thrashing against something invisible, her body being dragged slowly toward a reflective surface on a nearby fountain.
Without hesitation, the man reached into his jacket and pulled out a dark purple deck, its edges etched with designs of lighting arcs and it had an emblem of a three-headed beast in geometric shapes at the center. He extended the deck outwards and activated it causing an arc of purple lightning to erupt from the deck and manifest a belt around the man's waist.
The belt was silver in color and simply wrapped around the man with an empty slot the size of his deck where the buckle would be.
With practiced precision, he inserted the deck into the slot on his belt, placing it with a sharp click.
A deep, resonating voice echoed from the belt: "Legend Hydra, Manifest!"
A swirling vortex of purple light erupted from the deck that launched upwards, and a massive avatar of a translucent purple three-headed hydra burst forth with purple lightning crackling all around, its necks twisting and coiling together. Each head let out a deafening roar as the hydra avatar descended, enveloping the man in its aura. The light grew brighter until his entire body was obscured.
When the glow subsided, the man stood transformed. He wore a suit of sleek, purple armor that gleamed like obsidian, with the hydra motif etched into its chestplate. His helmet was sharp and angular, the three heads of the hydra curling into a crest that framed the visor. On his left thigh was a dagger that was placed inside a special sheath that was attached permanently to the armor itself
Without hesitation, he leaped from the rooftop. The force of his jump cracked the concrete beneath him, propelling him forward at a speed that blurred the world around him. As he neared another building, he didn't slow down. Instead, he phased seamlessly into its mirrored glass, disappearing into reflection.
The jogger's screams intensified as the invisible force pulled her closer to the mirror's surface. Her feet skidded on the pavement, her arms flailing as she tried to break free from the grip she couldn't see.
Suddenly, the surface of the fountain rippled, and the Legend emerged, his purple armor glinting in the sunlight. With a sharp motion, he pulled out his dagger from the sheath and attacked the invisible entity, breaking it away from the woman.
The jogger gasped as the force dragging her let go, her unseen assailant turning its attention toward the Legend who could see it clearly. The monster had a shimmering, blocky figure which was an amalgamation of jagged shapes and glowing blue lines running deep in between.
The Legend quickly moved toward the woman and helped her back on her feet.
"Are you alright?" He asked the woman but the woman instantly began to shriek after seeing the Legend in his full body armor that looked quite menacing.
"LET ME GO!" The woman screamed as she punched and kicked the man, trying desperately to break free.
Even though the attacks did nothing, the man quickly complied and let go of her hand after which she quickly sprinted away while shrieking like a crazy person.
"Huh..." The man sighed as he was tired of the same reaction that he would receive every time, but he quickly shifted his focus back onto the monster as destroying it would bring him far more satisfaction than a random woman's appreciation for saving her life.
The Legend placed his dagger back into his sheath and grabbed onto the hilt of the dagger, pulling it outwards, causing the whole sheath to move forward slightly. The sheath's shift revealed a small opening that looked like a card slot and that was exactly what it was.
The monster quickly began to rush with anger toward the Legend as he had just allowed its prey to escape.
The Legend reached toward the deck on his belt and pulled a single card. He quickly placed the card inside the card slot revealed by its sheath and moved the hilt back to close the gap, activating the power of the card.
[Sword Vent]
The belt announced the card that was activated in a high pitch heavy robotic voice.
Ripples appeared on a window of one of the high-rise buildings surrounding the park as a portal accompanied by the terrifying shriek of the Hydra. A sleek staff with curved sharp blades on each end similar to a dual-bladed naginata was launched from the portal, spinning through the air which the Legend caught effortlessly, its blades glinting with a dangerous and ultra-sharp edge.
The monster either didn't understand what was happening or simply didn't care as it continued to charge mindlessly toward the Legend.
The Legend wasted no time. He spun his weapon with practiced skill, each movement precise and fluid. The monster lunged, but he sidestepped with ease, delivering a sweeping strike that sent it staggering forward.
Another roar echoed from the mirror, and two more creatures emerged, their distorted forms bristling with jagged edges similar to the monster before but with different colored lines that ran between the edges that made up its body. The Legend smirked underneath his helmet, shifting his stance.
Wasting no time, with a swift movement, he adopted a defensive stance, ready for their charge.
The blue monster lunged first, its jagged limbs slicing through the air. The Legend sidestepped with precision, the sound of its claws ripping through the grass echoing in the clearing.
Before the creature could recover, he spun his sword in an arc, the weapon's dual blades cutting cleanly through the monster's exposed side. Sparks erupted where the blade struck, and the creature staggered backward, bellowing an unnatural, guttural screech.
Before he could follow through, the red monster took the opportunity and charged. The Legend braced himself, planting his feet firmly on the ground. At the last second, he twisted his body and just barely dodged the red monster's blind charge.
As soon as the Legend dodged the second monster, he gripped the staff portion of his sword and twisted it in opposite directions which caused the staff to split in two leaving him with two small-sized naginatas.
The red monster quickly stopped itself and turned around to attack once again and the green monster also took the opportunity to attack, creating a pincer attack.
However, the Legend seized the perfect moment and with a smooth, sweeping motion, he jumped in the air and unleashed a flurry of strikes, with the two smaller swords spinning like a cyclone. Each blade struck with precision, chipping away at the creatures' health and creating lots of sparks with every hit until a critical hit sent both of them reeling backward.
All of sudden, the blue monster lunged into the air behind the Legend hoping to take him by surprise, but the Legend was already aware and quickly twisted his body while extending his sword straight into the blue monster's abdomen creating a gaping hole.
With a critical injury, the monster quickly disintegrated into shards of light, dissolving back into the mirror dimension.
But the battle was far from over. The red and green monsters quickly got back up and were now rushing together to try and defeat him by coordinating their attacks.
The colored lines that ran all over their body began to glow as they were charging up an attack to destroy the Legend.
The man remained calm as he quickly rejoined his swords back into their original form before drawing another card from his deck and inserting it into his dagger sheath.
[Spark Vent]
Purple arcs of lightning enveloped the blades of his sword and this time the Legend rushed in to land the first strike.
The monsters were still charging up their attack and couldn't move well in this state so all they could was wobble and squeal as the Legend rushed towards them with his sword covered in lightning. With a single, fluid motion, he delivered a powerful, cross-shaped slash that cut through both monsters instantly, their pieces scattering into fading motes of light.
As the monsters dissolved into shards of light, the Legend stood still, catching his breath.
His armor began to glow before fading away, leaving him in his leather jacket once more. He looked toward the fountain, where the mirror's surface had returned to normal, and then turned to leave.
As the man walked through the park, a young man ran past him in a hurry with sweat dripping down his face.
This young man was Jason who had started hearing that weird piercing sound in his head once again and he didn't know why but he felt like he needed to go to the source of the sound at once.
The sound eventually led Jason to the park; however, before he could reach the place where an intense battle had just taken place, the ringing in his head had stopped.
Jason looked around in confusion as he didn't understand why he had run so far to this place and why the sound suddenly stopped before he reached the source.
Exhausted from all that running, Jason took a seat on a bench that was next to him, to try and catch his breath.
"What the hell is going on?!" Jason shouted at himself in frustration while grabbing his head as he couldn't make sense of anything that was happening to him all of a sudden.
Just then, the red deck in his pocket began to glow again. Jason froze, pulling it out as it glowed in his hands.
In the reflection of the nearby high-rise windows, the dragon reappeared, its glowing eyes watching him intently.
Jason's heart sank. "Not again..."