The Shapeshifter

When Alex opened his tear-stained eyes, everything was back to normal. No red filled vision, no more red gas; only the pitch black of nothingness.

His clothes were drenched with sweat and he felt hunger like never before.

'It seems like the red gas has sapped me off my strength. I feel feeble and I don't think I would be able to stand for now.' He looked down to see his hands and saw what seemed to be the most horrifying thing he had ever seen.

He became very skinny! Looking at his hands, it's as if the skin became a very thin cover for his fingers.

"W-what have you done!?" with a hint of madness and a tinge of fear, he shouted. He was unable to locate the old man, nonetheless he mustered up his courage and yelled in front of him.

He was not afraid that the old man would become angry. To be exact, he felt nothing. Like complaining to the old man was the natural thing to do, regardless if he was angry or not.

"I granted you a gift. Wasn't that what you wanted? Something good?" the old man asked playfully.

"Well. Yes but, why did you make me into a bag of bones!?" He could not believe that the old man turned him into something akin to a dead man. This was ridiculous!

He swore to himself that if he was powerful enough in the future, this old man would surely get a good prank from him. He didn't care if it was a bit childish.

Upon hearing Alex's reply, the old man still wanted to tease him a bit but decided against it. Even though he was quite old, playful and powerful, the old man was quite sensible and good-natured.

"Hahaha. Calm down, young man. This is not a prank, okay? I just readjusted your appearance from the real world to this dreamscape, so that when you go out, you won't wantonly kill less powerful beings in a fit of anger."

"This is how I look outside? Why? H-how?" his body trembled when he heard the old man's voice.

"You've spent almost three days worth of future. Do you think that was without consequences? Nothing is given free in this world kid."

Alex knew that. In fact he was able to recall a certain anime back on earth about two alchemists. Something about; one cannot gain anything without losing something.

"What was the consequence of staying in the future for almost three days?" Alex asked fearfully. He wasn't sure whether it was merely a few years, decades, or even centuries. He didn't have a mirror to properly guess his age.

'Mirrors don't work with the current me. I'm only a bag of bones, there is nothing to look at. But one thing is for sure. My hair is still black!' He was sulking over his current situation which made him bow and think things.

His hair that was always cut short was now long. He touched his chin if there was a beard, but he found nothing.

'Maybe only a few years have passed. Or maybe I went back in time! No. That's dumb.'

"How many years have passed?" he asked the old man.

"Since you were only there for two and a half days. Hmmmm. Then just change the days into years and that's how many years have passed."

"Two and a half years! So I'm probably 17 now. And all I gained was knowing how to kill?"

"Hmmm. Remember that I gave you a gift and it is called Madness. I noticed that you were afraid to hurt any beings and it would be your downfall in the future. Madness is a bit complicated for you right now. It is a state of being in a frenzy and you will be unpredictable. Sounds good right?"

"It sounds good indeed, but was Madness the thing that makes my vision go red?"

"Yes."

"But it's very hard to control! I can only be a spectator at times." Alex complained. The reason that he didn't complained more about it, was because it helped him kill the Great Imp or rather restrain the it to be exact.

"That is for you to master in the future. The road to godhood is hard. You would never have it easy."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" the old man turned into his mysterious mode again.

'Godhood? I just wanted to live an ordinary life. Why would I even get dragged into something involving the Gods?' he didn't really understand what the old man was saying. So he just shrugged it off as a complete nonsense.

After hearing no reply from the old man, Alex continued to talk. "Anyways, how do I activate this Madness, you speak of?"

"Extreme anger, young man. However you should control your anger most of the times so you could direct it towards your enemies, lest you hurt yourself or your allies."

Alex bowed his head thinking carefully of some things. He wasn't one to be angered easily, so this Madness wouldn't be used most of the time. He also thought of abusing Madness by using it always.

However, it might have side effects that may cause his mind to become twisted and he didn't want that to happen.

Then his mind wandered about the things that he might have missed in these two and a half years.

His mother, along with his brother and little sister should be very worried. He didn't know when he would be able to return to them.

" Uhhhm. Is that so? Then, how can I go out of this dreamscape?"

"You don't want to accompany this old man anymore? Hmmmm?" the old man said in a regretful tone.

"I'm sorry but there's a lot of things I need to do outside."

"Okay then, just tell me when you are ready and I'll send you out right away."

He didn't forget to say his thanks to the old man before saying that he was ready to be sent out.

Even though the old man was quite cryptic with his words and playful at times, he was undoubtedly helpful for him.

"Such a shame that this wasn't my era. If you weren't her champion then we would've made a good team."

When he was being sent out, he heard the old man sighing.

'Champion? What's that?' he didn't have time to ruminate about it as he was being sent out of the dreamscape.

With a whoosh, he finally disappeared in the dark room as if blending in the darkness.