The last thing he remembered was praying to a deity whose name he did not know. Perhaps, in his entire life of choosing to be righteous, he could somehow receive a sliver of a chance to protect his brother.
He opened his eyes in a dark place, still aware of losing consciousness. Scanning his surroundings, he wondered if he was dead.
He released a deep breath and noticed he was standing before a cloud... a mist, a smoke-like vapor in the shape of a person similar to his own form.
It was sleeping in a fetal position, glowing, and he stared at it, mesmerized. Before he realized it, he was already trying to touch the glowing mist.
But before his hand could make any contact, a voice resounded from behind.
"At last, we meet..."
Alley abruptly turned and tried to squint his eyes to see clearly in the shadows. "Who's there?"
"It's not my name that you want." A clang of chains set off from the shadowed figure's single step.
"Asher. I need to get to Asher. I need to—" Alley quickly looked for an exit.
"You can't find a way out here, nor win against a demon." The figure moved forward, the chains echoing even louder. Alley looked back and could finally see him.
The entity was purely bones, thinly wrapped in decaying skin. Overgrown matted hair obscured its face—mask-like with flesh hanging in ragged strips, revealing patches of skull beneath. Its mouth was a twisted, lipless grin of jagged, broken, discolored teeth. Void-like eyes stared back at Alley, and he shivered. With every step, the invisible chains clattered, and he instinctively stepped back.
"A handshake," it tried to reach for Alley in a futile attempt, "...is all it takes."
"And I can surely help you save your brother," it stepped back into the shadows. "After all, it takes a demon to defeat one."
Alley was confused. No words got through to him as he focused on getting out. "Asher... I need to get to him now."
Then a call resounded, "Brother!"
"That's— That's him. Asher? Asher! Where are you?" He looked around, but the place only looked like an endless stretch of darkness.
"You don't listen very well. He's not here. We're at the gates of your soul."
He faced the entity. "What..."
"Tick tock."
"What— What do I need to do to get out?"
"Strike a deal."
His eyebrows narrowed, "Why... why would I do that? You're a demon."
It grunted. "Your choice."
Alley looked around, finding a place to go, to exit, anything. But in the place shrouded in darkness, there was only the glowing figure, the shadowed figure, and him in between.
He began to step away from the chained entity and turned. Once again, he was mesmerized by the glowing mist, and this time, he reached for it.
"In time..." were the last words he heard from the voice behind him.
Alley touched the mist, feeling a warm wave enter from his fingertips and course through his body. Light filled his vision, and his mind was overtaken by the warm glow, permeating even his imagination.
The sensation was like stepping into the sun—slowly warming, then enveloping him all at once. But then the warmth intensified into burning pain, and Alley writhed, tears welling up in his eyes.
An image of a bright being crossed his mind, causing another jolt of pain. It felt as if his mind was being fed something, but Alley couldn't focus on it through the agony. The pain only amplified, spreading through his entire body, pressure building in his head until it felt on the verge of cracking.
A call shifted his attention. "Brother!" The voice echoed in his mind, repeatedly, repeatedly, bringing another wave of excruciating pain—prompting him to open his eyes.
"Brother!"
Not a second passed, and Alley knew he was still in the clutches of the demon. Something was pushing itself out of his mouth, driving him mad and making him severely nauseated. He pushed the demon's arms away, desperately needing to vomit.
A touch from Alley caused the demon's skin to burn and sizzle. It pulled its hands off him, releasing him, and he crashed to the floor, gagging and coughing, gasping for air while vomiting and clutching his searing gut.
He scooted away and got himself together, puzzled as he looked at the demon. It flailed its arms as if trying to extinguish an invisible fire, its movements becoming more desperate—an expression Alley never expected from it. Its menacing presence was gone, replaced by vulnerability.
Alley breathed deeply, confused about what was happening to the demon. They were known to never break their threatening demeanor, so what was happening?
It was experiencing something it had no control over, like a force beyond its rule that it could not defy.
As the inferno spread, the demon's face contorted in agony. It endlessly cursed, "SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!" screaming in pain. The demon now writhed on the floor, rolling and clawing in the air as if trying to grasp something causing its torment.
From a safe distance, Alley watched as white flames enveloped the demon. Strangely, he felt the pain in his body easing, and a sense of hope washed over him, despite the persistent burning in his stomach.
He dismissed everything as side effects of adrenaline and crawled to Asher, supporting his stomach.
When he got to him, he only saw absolute terror in his younger brother's eyes.
"Asher… What's wrong?" Alley asked, his throat dry, reaching out for Asher's trembling hands.
"You're… not my brother…" Tears streamed down Asher's cheeks as he recoiled, grabbing his phone and bolting towards the door.
"Asher!" Alley called out, watching him disappear toward the door just as sirens wailed outside.
Left in confusion, he looked at his hands and what he could see of himself, yet there was nothing different about them. He reached for his face, neck, and the form of his shoulders, still finding nothing peculiar.
He pushed the strange thoughts aside and turned his attention back to the demon, now lying motionless on the floor, breathing heavily. As Alley slowly rose to get a better view, his reflection stared back at him from the television screen.
Alley could only stare at himself.
He touched his hair, feeling its long, white strands almost luminescent. Not just his hair, but his eyes as well were emitting light. Even the wounds on his face faintly glowed. Stepping back baffled, Alley struggled to make sense of the startling image before him.
Finding a rational explanation seemed impossible. Every attempt to comprehend the phenomenon fell short, leaving him with more questions than answers. Yet, before he could get lost in his thoughts, Alley's attention shifted to the demon, now motionless on the floor.
Relieved that the threat had subsided, Alley sank to the ground, the rush of adrenaline gradually fading away.
"What's happening to me..." he muttered, absently touching the tips of his glowing hair, too exhausted to dwell on it further.
The sound of footsteps caught his attention as two men entered through the door. But from deep within him, a voice resonated—gentle and comforting. Though he couldn't quite grasp the exact words it uttered, they were kind.
Then a quick surge of pain shot through Alley's body like thousands of needles, overwhelming him as he lay on his back. The pain that had been momentarily suppressed now rushed back within a snap, sharp and intense.
Everything became clearer. He could discern where it hurt—the sprains and throbbing muscles.
In his slow, deep breaths, he shifted his gaze sideways and saw the approaching figures. One of the men was pale, with shoulder-length hair, while the other sported short, spiky hair and sunglasses, both clad in black attire. Alley wondered if they were the priests who responded to the call.
"My brother… He's seven, no, eight... Asher… is his name… please…" He succeeded in telling them despite his weakened abdomen and dry throat.
"He's safe. You can rest," the spiky-haired man told him.
Alley could only nod weakly. The two men approached the demons, now coiling on the floor. The pale man whispered something, and before Alley's eyes, the man's hair transformed into a luminescent white. He gently placed his hand on the demon's forehead, and a brief beam of light emanated, leaving a symbol marked upon it.
The spiky-haired man did the same with his mother's body, and the same thing happened, causing Alley to close his eyes.
When he reopened them, both demons lay motionless, and Alley sighed in relief.
A group of people rushed into the room. Though Alley couldn't discern their uniforms clearly, he was sure they were there to help.
"Thank… goodness…" Alley managed to say, his voice barely above a whisper. Gradually, every muscle in his body began to relax, and before he knew it, he drifted off to sleep.