Day 1

Red. Ethans whole vision was red. For what felt like forever, heat blinded him. The red inferno. He couldn't tell if his eyes were open or closed as he screamed. The smell of burning hair filled his nostrils as his skin felt the heat, bubbling around his body. Increasing and increasing, until it suddenly stopped. His pained breath filled the room. Sam was standing several meters away, a scared look on his face.

Sam took several steps forwards. “Hey man...do you need help?” he asked, scared. He could see the lack of hair on Ethan's head. Grimacing as he looked more and saw the red, burnt skin covering Ethan’s body, it cracked and a pain gasp escaped from his lips. Sam flicked his wand at Ethan’s pained body and cast Heal.

A light green energy escaped from the tip of Sam’s wand, it enveloped Ethans prone body. His cracked and burnt skin healed slowly. The red slowly faded to a pale white. The healing magic worked, and Ethans skin was healed, hair grew again. With less pain Ethan stood once more and turned to look at Sam. When he opened his eyes it was to a painfully bright world. His eyes had been damaged as well.

The green light stopped as Ethan squinted. “Thanks for healing me, I guess I barely know how these powers work” He groaned in pain. “Fuck my eyes hurt like hell” He said and touched his chest with his hands. “No burns! Fuck man, I might need your help when I get back.” He grinned.

“My help? You think you’re going anywhere after that?” Sam asked. Damn this kid was crazy.

“Yeah, I think I know how it works.” Ethan said. “I have this...reservoir of Solar mana in my chest. Exactly like a heart. I’m not sure how to draw it out correctly but I can make some nice explosions. Next time I’ll keep my eyes closed.” He said with a grin as his skin began to feel pins and needles all over. He shivered uncontrollably, twitching and falling to the ground again. He simply couldn’t move. This went on for several seconds, with his body unable to move he couldn’t even tell Sam what was going on. So he just glared as Sam stood over his prone body.

“Eh, must be from healing or something. I’m going to take a nap.” Sam said and walked back over to the rooms “Room 242 if you need me!” He shouted cheerfully and walked back to his room. Hopefully he knew to kill an invader today.

Ethan was on the floor for a long time. The room was always lit well, and the only way one could tell time was from the outside. Luckily his head was turned towards the door, and it looked to be close to noon based on how the light seemed to be coming into the room. When he could finally stand, it was hard. Everything felt like it was just a half second slower than normal, he felt...heavier. The light in his mind flickered on. Iron Skin! His protective organic, this was the effects? He shrugged, he’d get used to it. The upside far outweighed the downside. Besides he didn’t even know if it could be removed.

With that, Ethan slowly walked up to the doors. There had been a monster here...a rock dragon. His Sun’s Heart was full of mana. He could feel it, burning in his chest. Its warmth filling his entire body. With that fiery support, he opened the doors and took a step outside. Nothing attacked him, no growls or snarling dragon filled his vision as he cautiously took another step. Now fully outside.

Standing again in the world Ethan wanted to laugh, but he was still afraid of the dragon. He slowly made his way down the street. Past abandoned cars, and silent buildings hiding many secrets. Every now and then a building would be loud. Filled with invaders most likely. He avoided those, going down side streets and alleys until he finally found it. His old apartment building. Now this one was loud. Every five seconds a gurgling cry was heard from inside, it sounded horribly inhuman. A cry of rage, and anger. Small green things could be seen running around through windows on various floors. This was going to get nasty.

Ethan could try walking in quietly...but as soon as he started fighting more would come running. He didn’t know enough about his new powers and that wasn’t ideal. However, three thousand five hundred contribution points weren’t worth nothing. With that though he opened the door and simply took a step inside.

There were four goblins in the lobby, two were rummaging through file cabinets and the other two were fighting over a set of keys. When he opened the door, four pairs of beady eyes locked onto his significantly taller form. As one they rushed forwards, anything that wasn’t goblin was an enemy!

He grinned as they ran towards him. What scared him last time would not scare him again. His new and tougher body would power him through this. The first one leapt through the air towards his face, aiming to scare him and claw out his eyes. Although Ethan had never been in a fight in his life, his body reacted instinctively. Batting the goblin out og the air with his forearm, the much smaller goblin slammed into the ground with a crack. As if it was hit by a crowbar.

The other running goblins didn’t even hesitate, hot on the heels of the now prone goblin. They jumped for his heels. He laughed as their bites and scratches ripped his clothes but not his skin. At worst it felt as if they were puppies teething at him. He laughed out loud and raised a foot up high, bringing it down on one goblins head. A sickening crunch echoed in the room as he felt bone and skin crumple underneath his stomp.

He nearly vomited as he looked at the green sticky blood seeping onto the floor, the small bits of what appeared to be shattered teeth and bone splattering onto the floor. However he was brought back to reality as one of the goblins managed to get through his now ironlike skin. With a howl of pain his new heart reacted instinctively, fire ballooned out of his body in a wave of superheated air, frying the goblins skin and burning their eyes. Ethan was surprisingly resistant this time, his eyes stung and leaked tears but he was mostly fine.

When the ball of fire cleared it was easy to kick the goblins a few times, the crunch of bone made him wince each time. They were invaders. He told himself, they tried to kill him. This was the new way of the world. He wouldn’t let it swallow him. With that thought running through his head, he finished off the final goblin and hurried. It was time to clear out his old home.