Distortion Trip

Purba, still gazing at Gema, grasped and lifted him effortlessly like a mere kitten.

"Hey, hey! Let me down!" Gema sputtered, kicking his legs in the air. "I'm no longer your trainee!"

He tried to read Purba's expression, but the mask was an impenetrable barrier, revealing nothing of the man beneath.

"Been living on Earth for so long, and you're no longer a Kshatriya," Purba's voice resounded, deep and resonant. "What brings you back here?!"

Gema, realizing the futility of struggling, forced himself to calm down.

"I'm… meeting Ria," he explained, his voice shaky. "You know, all my benefits were revoked when I stepped down. I need some SAGA to survive on Earth. I'm here to ask for some."

Purba lifted Gema higher, bringing him uncomfortably close.

"The first person you MUST meet when you're in Aurea is ME!" he thundered. 

In that instant, the world around Gema fractured. Purba was no longer in front of him. Time twisted and contorted, the flow of life around him becoming a chaotic dance of slow-motion stretches and jarringly fast bursts. Clouds warped and swirled into a grotesque snail shape, crawling across the sky.

The river's current reversed, water churning against itself in a frothy chaos. King Prawn birds hung frozen in mid-air, their wings a blur of motion, while Morpho Butterflies flickered in and out of existence like faulty holograms.

The ground beneath him buckled and heaved like an angry sea. Trees and flowers folded and unfolded, their forms distorting into bizarre, abstract shapes. Gema's senses overloaded, his mind reeling from the assault of disjointed images and sensations.

Suddenly, he was plunged into the Cydro waterway. The aquatic creatures within, usually a source of wonder, now appeared as monstrous, distorted shapes, their forms shifting and swirling as they swarmed around him, passing through his body like ghostly apparitions.

Gema choked, the water pressing down on him with an unnatural weight, the altered gravity pulling at his limbs. He struggled to breathe, panic rising in his throat.

Fighting for control, Gema unleashed a torrent of lightning, the powerful bolts tearing through the water, illuminating the distorted depths with flashes of blinding light.

Then, in a blur of motion, he saw Purba.

Engulfed in a roaring inferno, Purba launched a supersonic punch, a vortex of fire and water churning around it. Gema watched in horror as the attack, a force of nature unleashed, bore down on him, defying the laws of physics and threatening to consume him whole.

The searing aura surrounding the punch slammed into him, igniting an internal explosion that ripped through his body like a supernova. The world dissolved into a blinding white light, then plunged into absolute darkness.

Gema awoke with a gasp, sprawled on the ground outside the Cydro station. The distorted world had vanished, replaced by the familiar sights and sounds of Aurea. But Purba still loomed over him, an imposing silhouette against the vibrant sky, his posture eerily still.

Gema pinched himself hard, the sting confirming he wasn't trapped in some lingering nightmare. His mind struggled to grasp the reality of what he had just endured. He looked up at Purba, a single Morpho butterfly fluttering down to land gracefully on the imposing figure's shoulder, its iridescent wings a striking juxtaposition to the fearsome, unyielding mask.

"Listen, if there is anything contrary to what you've just said..." Purba's voice rumbled, low and resonant, each word hanging heavy in the air, "You will have a problem with me, and it will not be a pleasant one." He walked past Gema, each step deliberate and measured, an aura of simmering power crackling around him.

Purba strode towards a waiting Tycart and disappeared in the direction of the royal officers' settlement.

The guards at the entrance exchanged worried glances.

"Did you see that? Sir Gema... he just... crumpled. Like a puppet with its strings cut. I swear, I thought he was..." One guard whispered, his voice trembling slightly.

"Unbelievable. One moment he was standing there, the next he was on the ground, twitching. It was... unsettling." The other guard exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Unsettling is an understatement. It was like... something... something unnatural. Like an unseen force just... took him. Could it have been… you know… that?"

"Sir Purba's... shakti? Is that what you mean?"

"But what else could explain it? He was perfectly fine one moment, then… that. And the way he... the way he looked afterward..."

"We should report this. To the station commander."

"Yes, we should. But… I don't know, something about it… it feels… wrong. Like something... something truly terrifying."

Gema's heart pounded as he caught his breath, his body trembling from the awe of Purba's power. He had heard whispers of the leader's formidable shakti, tales of reality-bending abilities and devastating force, but experiencing it firsthand was something else entirely. 

"It wasn't about control, about molding the world to his will. It was about breaking it, about shattering the very foundations of reality. The world had contorted around them, and the laws of physics themselves defied. It was terrifying, exhilarating, and utterly terrifying. What kind of man wielded such power? What kind of man could casually shatter the very fabric of existence? What kind of man was Purba?"

Gema pushed himself to his feet, his legs shaky, his hands still trembling as he brushed the dirt from his clothes. With a deep, steadying breath, he adjusted his cloak and entered the station, the encounter leaving an indelible mark on his mind, a chilling reminder of the forces he was entangled with.

"A-are... you alright, Sir Gema?" The confused royal guards at the entrance stammered, their concern evident in their anxious faces. They had witnessed him collapse to the ground, writhing in apparent agony, as if being subjected to some unseen torture.

"Ah, yes, I'm fine," Gema replied, forcing a reassuring smile. "Nothing to worry about."

He walked towards the DVE platform, his gaze fixed on the ground, trying to steady his breathing and regain his composure.

Suddenly, a high-pitched voice called out to him, cutting through the low hum of the station.

"You there! STOP!"

The voice emanated from the SUNYA platform, drawing Gema's attention towards its source. He hesitated, his hand instinctively reaching for the concealed weapon at his hip. The encounter with Purba had left him on edge, his senses hyper-alert to any perceived threat.

He had faced the impossible, confronted the very fabric of reality itself, and now, a simple voice calling out to him sent a jolt of adrenaline coursing through his veins.