Aiden Bu shuffled his feet as he watched doom approach.

The Gate grew ever larger, its presence seemingly drowning the surrounding area. A slow, building intensity that threatened to crush all who neared it.

His instincts screamed at him to run, to hide, to flee, yet Aiden couldn’t help but ignore them. What worth was there in preserving his life? He had never accomplished anything worthwhile, he didn’t awaken to a power and was rejected from the Guard. Joining a factory would only mean a slow death producing weapons for some far off battlefield.

Not to mention he was letting his only family, his sister die.

His glasses shattered within their frames, falling like quaint sparkling dust onto the ground. Around him, the glass panes of the evacuated district crumbled in much the same way. Reality Bleed was occurring, glass must not have been a stable material in the invading dimension.

Aiden wondered what other laws of physics or biochemical interactions were different on the other side of the Gate. He’s heard of blood evaporating or turning solid as the blood’s freezing and evaporating temperature was changed, muscles turning rigid or sometimes the person simply… fell down and never woke again.

He hoped he would be of the latter, it would be much more painless.

There was one other option, a faint hope. Should he awaken, he would be able to endure the other reality’s different physics. Should he gain a power, he might be able to pay for his sister’s treatment. Should he survive, everything might become better.

The Gate swelled once more, around him the air turned thick, his shoes sunk into the concrete floor as if it were made of molasses and Aiden saw wondrous colours never seen or imagined by mankind.

He looked up to the sky one last time. The black expanse dotted by a thousand stars and the remnants of a shattered moon.

And he held out his arms, embracing doom.

He either died or awakened.

Either way, he wouldn’t have problems anymore.

And so, Aiden Bu perished.