Hot!! It felt like I was being burned alive on top of a fire pit.
Then, as sudden as the heat appeared, it vanished and I felt my consciousness being pulled away like I was having an out of body experience.
In that state, it felt like I was suddenly flying through a void where nothing was around me.
Then, without warning, something split the void into two and light burst out from the place that had been cut.
Stars exploded into existence and I flew amongst them before settling straight down on what appeared to be a planet in its infancy.
I then felt my body move against my will and the sky seemed to rise even higher and the ground moved even lower, despite neither of these occurrences making any sense.
Mountains then sprouted up before rain, lightning and thunder fell from overhead, only to let trees and animals sprout out from the ground.
As though things couldn't get any weirder, the image of a black koi fish chasing after the tail of a white koi fish suddenly appeared in the air, both of them swimming in a circle before they suddenly merged together in the centre to let loose another burst of light.
My consciousness suddenly flew back and I found myself standing in a rather familiar park back in my own world.
This should be a park that was near my house so… Does that mean I'm back?
When I looked down at my hands however, I quickly realised that I was still not myself, which was evident in the fact that my hands were translucent and giving off a faint glow.
I'm guessing this was still some kind of vision I was witnessing in the last moments of my life?
Before I could wonder what all this was about, there was a sudden explosion beside me, the explosion sending a shockwave that resulted in a small crater forming at the point of impact.
What was interesting was the fact that I was not affected by it and remained where I was.
When I turned to look at the cause though, I realised that it was a portal which surprised me quite a bit.
The appearance of a portal was not weird in and of itself, but it was the fact that the formation of a portal should not have caused such an explosion but yet this one did.
Then the weirdness intensified when a head poked out from the portal, revealing itself to be one of those wolf Anomalies that I had been fighting against earlier.
The only time when Anomalies can cross over is when the portal has been stabilised by the Gatekeeper on the other side which would at least take several days to weeks after a portal first appears. We would call this a Rift Breakout as Anomalies would then start flooding out from the portal and wreaking havoc on our side of the portal.
And seeing that this portal only just formed itself and yet an Anomaly was already crossing over… This was definitely abnormal.
I took a look around me and I realised that I wasn't alone, there were people that had been walking through the park and they were staring in shock at the appearance of the Anomaly stepping out of the newly formed portal.
Judging by the looks of them, none of these people were Vanguards and they most likely have never fought an Anomaly before.
In other words, these people are going to get slaughtered.
As though to make things worse, more of those creatures stepped through the portal and there was no doubt even more were behind them.
Shit… Is there even anything I can do?
One of the Anomalies spotted a mother and her daughter that were obviously on their way back from school and immediately started charging towards them with its teeth bared.
The little girl let out a scream and the mother quickly hugged her daughter to cover her from the monster that was showing no hesitation in wanting to devour them.
I tried to stop it but my hand simply passed through the Anomaly, the creature not even showing any signs of registering my presence.
Did I really die and turn into a ghost to haunt people in our world? That can't be it, right?
The Anomaly was getting even closer to the mother and daughter pair and all I could do was watch.
…
No… I don't accept that!!
There must be something I can do right?! I couldn't have been put here just to watch, could I?
I stepped in front of the Anomaly, trying to stop it again with my hands.
The world seemed to slow down and I could do nothing but watch as the Anomaly started passing through my hands without any resistance.
If I can't stop it here, then the two people behind me will definitely be killed.
I gritted my teeth and let out a roar of defiance, if they were going to put me here to witness this then give me something to stop these things damnit! Not make me watch as some helpless ghost! I refuse to be powerless!!
As though that triggered something, my vision changed and the image of the two koi chasing each other came into view once more.
Instinctively, my hands moved in the same circular motion in front of me, as though I was spinning a wheel.
Upon making three revolutions, the world suddenly snapped back into focus and I felt a burst of heat and power emanate from within me.
The next thing I knew, the Anomaly in front of me had been sent flying backwards to crash into the others that were still standing in front of the portal.
The projection of the two koi then materialised in front of me in the classic image of a taijitu where a white and black spiral were interlocked with each other, each with a dot of its counterpart colour at the end of their own spiral.
I didn't have time to wonder why the Yin and Yang symbol was floating in front of me as my attention was grabbed by an even bigger Anomaly coming through the portal, which was basically a bigger version of these wolf monsters that was at least three times in size.
At this point, my body seemed to be moving on its own as I flew straight towards the giant monster, my body illuminated by blinding light.
The monster tried to swipe at me with its claws but I dove below it before striking my palm against the creature's chest.
It didn't even feel like I used that much force on it and it was akin to a gentle push with my palm.
The creature ended up being flung all the way back, its body burning with what appeared to be white flames before it disappeared into nothingness.
I was not done yet as I flew towards the other Anomalies that were gathered in front of the portal, I put my palms together as though in prayer before thrusting my right palm towards the group of Anomalies.
There was a pause and everyone seemed to look above me for some reason.
The reason became clear when a bolt of lightning came down to strike the Anomalies, the thundering boom of the lightning reverberating around the park.
The place where the lightning had struck had turned white, creating a circular zone around the portal of dead grass that looked like they had been painted white.
I'm pretty sure everyone within several kilometres heard that boom…
Another Anomaly tried to cross through the portal but I dove straight into it, using myself to push the creature back into the portal.
I then found an entire army of Anomalies on the other side and a bulbous Anomaly that was clearly the gatekeeper standing amongst them.
All of them looked up and started snarling and growling at me, clearly wanting to tear me to pieces.
Normally, I would feel intimidated by the sheer number of Anomalies but right now, I felt nothing but serenity, as though I knew that none of them posed a threat to me.
Still being moved by an unknown force, I waved my hand in front of me and I caught the glimpse of a golden stick that looked like it had a gold, bulbous, flower-like carving at the top floated across my vision for a brief moment.
The ground underneath me then lit up and I suddenly knew that some reality changing thing was happening underneath me, right before the entire field of Anomalies were consumed by white flames, the flames completely incinerating them and not even leaving ashes behind.
The entire army had been incinerated by the white flames that appeared out of nowhere in just a single second and just as sudden as it had appeared, the white flames also disappeared.
Everything then settled into silence before my body started flying in a certain direction as though I was drawn by something.
That something turned out to be my body that was laying broken on top of a pile of dead Anomalies.
So… Am I actually dead and this is my spirit that's just floating around in its last act of defiance against the world?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, I dove straight into my body and everything exploded into whiteness.