Otto opened his eyes wide, his chest rapidly rising.
He looked around and saw sights of smoke rising, modern buildings falling and trampling all over the city. Fire burning all around and monsters rampaging everywhere in sight.
"What!? What is this..." Otto is utterly speechless by the scene.
His steps quickened, seeing cars flipped over, broken glasses, mutilated bodies lying on the floor in a pool of blood, and a skinny green-skinned monster with pointy ears, yellow eyes, and reddish pupils.
Its mouth is salivating, waving a wooden spiked club. Then, it glances at Otto.
A grin appeared on its face, before turning into a wide smile reaching between his ears.
A blood-curling scream echoed as it lunges toward Otto.
Otto felt his body locked in place, bounded by an invisible chain as he can only watch helplessly.
With a wide swing of its club, a crushing sound echoed across the street.
.
.
.
Otto immediately straightened up, drenched in sweat.
His hand trembles while Mina, sitting by his side, jolted alert seeing Otto's state.
"Otto? What happened? Did you have a nightmare?" Mina asked worriedly, her tone lace with concern.
Otto could only look at Mina while his breathing erratically.
Putting his hand to his chest, Otto felt his whole body and mind giving up.
The pain... It was all too real. The bone-crushing sound coming from the club hitting his head... It was all too real to feel it to be a dream.
"I... I am fine... Just a nightmare." Otto slowly regulates his breath and gripped Mina's hand tightly.
"Are you sure? You are drenched in sweat." Mina reconfirmed. Otto nodded as he tightened his grip on Mina's hand, as if afraid to lose her.
'What was that? A premonition?' Otto can't help but think of the absurdity of his dream.
A dream where he felt the pain like it was a real thing.
'Is this why I was given a system? But why? Why me of all people?' Otto frowned, his thought in shambles.
His dream felt like a premonition... Like the world is going to end.
'This is just a dream... That shouldn't be real... Right?' Otto affirmed himself but deep inside... His heart already has an answer.
Like a gnawing terror slowly eating you apart. A terror where you do not have any control off.
Otto kept thinking about the nightmare he had over and over again till they finally arrived at Althea's house.
Walking out of the taxi after paying out. Otto saw the house, it is a modern house built for comfort.
Not too fancy but enough to be at ease with a fence to keep an eye out for any stray dogs.
The front yard is filled with grass and flowers that reflect getting well taken care of.
Pots of different kinds of plants lined up outside the window.
One could only think how the household could birth a murderer.
They walked toward the door and Althea opened it when hurried footsteps echoed the living room.
"Mama!" A running snotty 6-year old kid with missing front teeth shouted with excitement, blitzing straight toward Althea's embrace.
Althea didn't even flinch at the impact, bracing her legs as she scooped him up.
A kind of contagious laughter echoed across the room as another voice called out.
"Finn, stop that! You are too messy. Mama is getting dirty." A 10-year old girl followed with her brother's trial but her steps couldn't hide the excitement with the way she walked as it quickened.
"Hehehe, it's fine, Sheila. Mama wouldn't mind. Right, Mama." Finn expectantly gazed at Althea with innocence and a bit of mischief.
"Yes, yes. But, you know, Uncle Otto and Aunty Mina are here. While, I wouldn't mind, you wouldn't want them to see you like that, right?" Being a mother comes with a perk.
She immediately knew what was with her son's mind at all and glanced at Sheila, winking at her.
A soft giggle reached their ears as Mina chuckled softly.
Then, Finn immediately blushes as he covered his face in her mother's embrace, attempting to hide his embarrassed face.
"Aahhh, Mama you bully!" Finn shouted, his hand covering his face and head, trying to make himself smaller in an attempt to lower his presence.
Otto could only chuckle and grab his collar like a kitten.
"You still haven't changed, Finn. How was school?" Otto asked, putting him down and saving him from his embarrassment.
"Fufufu, My teacher awarded me a medal! She said I am so smart and then, she gave me a medal." Finn enthusiastically shared the news with everyone.
Pulling the medal in his pocket and proudly showing off.
"Wow! I am so proud of you, Finn." Althea cheered and gave him a big hug.
"That's good, Finn. Keep up the good work." Otto gave him a high-five.
"How about you, Sheila?" Mina softly asked.
"I can't lose to my brother. I also got a medal for being the best at class, for all subjects." Like a magical pocket.
She pulled out numerous medals out of her pocket like it was nothing and gave her brother a glance, her chin tilted up and giving an infuriating smirk to Finn.
Finn huffed and looked away, not in the mood to bicker at all.
"That's awesome! Sheila. Maybe, I should get you a present. What do you say?" Mina said, her hand patting Sheila's head.
Sheila smiled sweetly as she requested what she wanted.
Of course, Finn couldn't slip the chance of getting a gift as well and gave Otto a poppy eye, a weakness to many people.
"Now, now. Don't spoil them too much. Because of you two, they became like this at all." Althea sighed in defeat as they walked towards the couch to sit.
However, Althea thought of the news and couldn't help but not tell the kids right now.
It is a happy moment and she doesn't want to ruin it.
They noticed the shift of mood on Althea almost immediately but didn't say anything, knowing fully well how it will affect the kids if they say it right now, ruining a joyous day for them.
They could only stay in silence about the news as they make an excuse where Sen is.
They had an unspoken tactful agreement by just their eyes and decided to hold it off for another day.
On that day, they decided to completely forget about every bad thing that has happened and focus on the joyous moment of the kids and take them out to an amusement park to celebrate.