chapter 8 - The Deal

Ashe woke up with a burning headache. He looked around the room and started remembering what he did.

'I've got to clean this up now.' He groaned.

Ashe felt bad for what he had done, and what a bad influence this could be on Roy if he saw his older brother like this.

Thankfully for him, Roy and mom were going on a small trip until dad came back home. As mom didn't want to make the hard decision of what to tell Roy alone. Right now Ashe will be home alone for around 3 days based on dad's usual mission length.

He sat at the edge of his bed, looking around the trashed room. Ashe felt a lot calmer now and after seeing the aftermath of his anger he felt ashamed.

He felt like he could do better, be the same brother to Roy as Josh was to him. Rising from the ashes of his pain, a new determined will emerged.

Getting off his bed Ashe almost fell off balance because of that raging headache.

'First let's take care of this headache, then the room.'

Ashe entered the bathroom looking through the cabinets looking for something that could help his headache. He found some aspirin in the top cabinet and poured himself a glass of water. While waiting for the aspirin pill to dissolve in the glass, Ashe took a closer look at himself.

He walked in front of the mirror and looked at his head. He moved his black hair from his forehead to reveal a gruesome sight.

A crudely drawn red symbol of an eye was etched into his forehead. Ashe jolted back in shock. He quickly tried touching his forehead but no bumps or dents could be felt nor any pain from touching the symbol.

Ashe moved closer to the mirror, now almost touching its surface. Slowly examining the simple symbol that consisted of an oval with a small vertical line in the middle. It felt more scribbled on than carved Ashe thought. After a closer inspection, the substance used to draw the symbol was still a mystery to him, it was a deep blood red, with an inconsistent texture. At one angle it would look like fresh paint but from another like sand.

Ashe was still a bit out of touch with reality from the last couple of events. If you told him an apocalypse was happening he would believe you without a second doubt. So this weird symbol on his head didn't even phase him much, and Ashe just left the bathroom and began drinking his aspirin.

'Am I getting a stage 2 mutation?! Probably not, it's more likely I developed schizophrenia or got in a coma.' He almost chuckled at the thought.

Ashe finished his aspirin, took the glass to the kitchen, and planned to go back and start cleaning. However, on his way back he stopped in front of the entrance door. His eyes were locked on the steel handle, he felt a strong urge to get a closer look. He slowly walked up to the door, now in hands reach the handle looked like it was slightly glowing.

In the reflection of the handle, the symbol from his head was shining subtly.

'Follow the eyes. Is that what that creature said?'

He looked at his phone and realized that it was already past midnight. 'I must have slept through the whole day, huh.'

He got some new clothes from his room and decided to get some answers. Opening the door felt right to him, which made him worried.

'What is happening to me?'

Walking onto the streets he didn't know what he was looking for so he just started walking in a random direction. This late at night the streets were quiet and almost empty. He was walking in the same direction he goes to school. Ashe got all the way to the train station without seeing any signs.

Standing in front of the station he wondered if he was going crazy. Ashe was begging to head back home when he finally saw it. A person walking into the station with red-tinted sunglasses. He quickly followed them to the train they got on.

'This must be it right?'

Sitting on the train the man took off his sunglasses and Ashe was starting to doubt his previous dedication. He continued to sit on the train long after the first man left. He was sitting alone in a random cart with no destination. 'What the hell am I doing?! I really am going crazy. I'll just get off on the next stop.'

Ashe stood up and waited at the train door. As the doors opened he began feeling furious, out the door he saw a huge advertisement for a new eyeliner with a red case. He felt helpless, was anything even of his own choice? Ashe completely gave up on having free will, or his sanity. He just turned left and started walking. He was no longer concerned about going the wrong way, in fact, he hoped to go the wrong way and be free from the strings of fate.

To his dismay, he stumbled upon the least subtle sign yet, as if he and fate both gave up. Ashe looked at the wall of the building in front of him, on it was a graffiti with the same symbol on his forehead with an arrow pointing towards a shady alleyway.

Ashe went into the alleyway only to see another graffiti, this time pointing towards an open door. Any normal person would probably avoid going anywhere near the door however Ashe was slowly losing his sanity and didn't care about anything anymore, he just wanted to get it over with and go back to normal.

Going down the alleyway, he entered the door. Behind it was a staircase going into a basement. Walking down the stairs he entered a room that was similar to an office. With a single large desk and a big chair standing in the middle of the room.

*Bang*

The metal door he entered through closed behind him with a loud bang.

"Welcome!"

A voice said from behind the desk. The big chair rotated revealing a man. It was the same person that wore the red sunglasses from earlier.

"Please, sit down." The man said pointing at the smaller chair in front of the desk.

"What is happening!" Ashe screamed, completely ignoring the man's request. He was too mad and confused to act calmly.

"Heh… slow down, and take a seat. I'll tell you everything you want to know." The man was smiling as he said those words, exuding confidence.

Ashe calmed down a bit but he was still very jittery. He sat down at the chair and asked again.

"What is happening?" This time sounding like a plea for help.

"It's pretty simple, no? I gave you an invitation and you accepted." The smile on the man's face was brighter than ever.

"What invitation?!" Ashe quickly shouted, infuriated by the vague response.

All the man did was point toward his forehead. Ashe was taken aback but before he could ask more questions the man continued speaking.

"The place you've been visiting in your dreams is real. In fact, I'm from there myself."

Ashe was speechless, he didn't know how to respond to that. The man noticed this and continued talking.

"That place is what you would describe as hell, however, it's quite different. My best guess is that your…. What do you call it? Mutation? Well I'm guessing that's the reason for your visits"

Ashe was still processing all the information and stayed silent. The man noticing this sighed, he was a bit disappointed with the human's cognitive ability. After waiting a couple of minutes in silence he continued talking.

"Now that you're all caught up let's talk business!" The smile reappeared on his face.

"Since you're permanently stuck between 2 worlds, I have a proposition. I will be your personal guide, and you do a little something for me in return." The man said while trying to use all his charisma to persuade the kid.

"What do you even need from me?" Ashe asked.

"Well, you see. You have something I don't, potential. My potential was stolen from me and all I want is to assist you with getting it back."

"Why would I care about you? I don't think I need a guide in hell!" Ashe responded angrily but only to try to get more out of the man.

"Oh but you do. The same people that stole my power will do the same to you, if not something worse. But with my help you will become strong, strong enough to resist their tyranny."

"The deal is simple." The man said calmly.

"I give you power and guidance, and once you're ready you get me my power back."

Ashe was conflicted. He knew that the man in front of him wasn't the most trustworthy. But the deal he proposed didn't sound one-sided. Noticing his indecisiveness the man spoke up again.

"I see you can't quite appreciate this great deal, so let's postpone our finalization. The final decision will be made in "hell" so you will see how much my guidance is worth."

After saying that the man pushed a button on his desk and the metal door opened. Ashe was instructed to get out, so he did. Outside the door were two guards which made Ashe a lot calmer. He realized that it wasn't some act of fate but a clever plan by that man.

Heading back home Ashe finally had some time to rest on the train. He was a lot less confused and felt a lot better.

When he got home he made himself some dinner and cleaned up his room before getting ready to go to sleep.

Lying in bed Ashe felt excited, he would finally get some answers. He closed his eyes until he felt that familiar cold breeze on his face.