***~°~***
"Why are they taking so long to come back?" Ashton eventually asked the others as soon as he had noticed both William and Marcus had been out for long. He was feeling uncomfortable with Marcus' long drawn absence.
"Maybe they are having a little get back together talk." Alden teased and they all laughed except Ashton.
He abruptly stood up and told them he would go out and check up on them as he couldn't contain himself by staying there without Marcus being with them anymore.
"Right…go find him. I'm hoping the love story you told us is really about Aurelia and not Marcus." Ulysses teased and they all laughed again.
"Go fuck yourself, idiot!" Aston fired with a sneer on his lips.
He hissed at Ulysses and walked out of the store. The night's breeze was really cool but chilly and it hit him hard in the face the moment he stepped out of the store making his hair flutter.
Ashton looked around for a bit but he couldn't find both William and Marcus around. He let out a sigh exasperatedly as he wondered where they both had gone.
He decided to take a quick walk round the store in search of them and he took the alley which led to the grave of William's friends first.
The moment he had turned fully into the alley, the first thing that caught his eyes was someone lying on the ground almost lifeless. But he had failed to notice their exact state.
"Is he sleeping on the ground? Out here? Oh fuck! This is stupid!" Ashton mumbled to himself and he slowly walked towards them while scratching his hair sporadically.
As he got closer to the person lying on the ground, his heart began to pound heavily as he felt the position in which they were sleeping was a little bit weird and he hoped it wasn't what he was thinking.
Unable to keep up with the pace his legs were driving at, he decided to run to the scene and to his surprise, it was who he had hoped would not be lying there.
It was Marcus!
"Oh shit!"
Ashton rushed towards him in haste and scrambled on the ground gently lifting Marcus' head into his arms. Luckily for him, Marcus was still breathing slowly but it seems like he had just been dragged out from a battle with a million demons and he seems really beat and tired.
"Marcus are you okay? What happened to you? How did you become this wreck?"
"Ashton…" Marcus called slowly, his breathing haggard and a bit forced.
"How did this happen?" Ashton asked again with lines of worry etching on his forehead. "Where is William?"
"Ashton!" Callista who had been silent for a long while suddenly called at him.
"Look, it's not the time for this!" Ashton fired back at her, not ready to hear whatever she had to say which might be concerning a mission or quest.
"Marcus' mind has been poisoned." Callista eventually dropped notwithstanding Ashton's churn.
"What? What do you mean by that?"
"The lines on his hands."
Ashton's eyes darted at Marcus' hand and Callista was right. Some strange lines were forming in his hands already and it felt really strange to him as he had never seen something like that in his entire life.
"What is happening? Callista what is happening to Marcus?" Ashton asked, his voice urgent and fearful.
"I do not know." Callista shrugged. "But one thing is sure…an evolved Arkillian had poisoned his mind."
"But how?"
Alden and Ulysses suddenly appeared in the alley too as they had come out to check on them too as it was taking longer outside that they couldn't just sit around and watch till they return.
"What the fuck!" Ulysses yelped the moment he saw Marcus laying almost lifeless in Ashton's arms.
They both scrambled to the ground as they checked what the situation with Marcus was like.
"What happened to him? Why is he suddenly like this?" Alden asked as he began to examine Marcus' body for any signs of what might have happened to him.
"Good thing you're here, Alden. Can you heal him?" Ashton rushed his breathing changing every minute like he had been running for an hour straight. "What am I saying? Alden, you have to heal him, now!" He shouted.
"Shut up, Ashton! I'm trying to do something too can you not see that?" Alden snapped his brows suddenly furrowing in anger.
"I will go get the others." Ulysses volunteered and without hesitation or waiting on for their replies, he dashed off back into the store to call both Aurelia and Jamil.
For another minute that passed by, Alden was not making any procedures to heal Marcus of whatever had happened to him and as Ashton watched him impatiently, he felt Alden was as helpless as he was.
"Can you not do it? What the fuck are your damned powers for then? What's the essence of possessing a healing ability when you can not use it on Marcus right now?" Ashton fired almost tearing up as he felt every tickling minute drew up the closure between Marcus and death.
"Ashton, I-I cannot use my magic on Marcus. This is more than I can do…I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what? Being a weak prick?!"
"Prick? Are you insane? What exactly have you done to make him feel better other than yapping with that stupid mouth of yours?" Alden fired back as he was already teased to his toes by Ashton's remark about his healing ability.
"You have to get him back to the academy really fast, hence he dies!" Callista warned.
"Fuck!" Ashton screamed into the air as he totally felt helpless at that moment. There was no way they could make it to the academy that night even if they ran full speed with Marcus groped on their backs.
"What do we do, Alden? Is Marcus going to die?" Ashton said to Alden his voice now calm but the pressure fear had mounted into him was still evident in his tone.
"Just shut up and pray he doesn't die! I am not God! My powers are limited!"
Ulysses finally came back with Aurelia and Jamil after he had successfully delivered the news about Marcus' sudden collapse to them.
Aurelia scrambled on her knees and grabbed Marcus' hand to feel his pulse. She listened to his heart beat for a minute and finally announced the result of her findings to them.
"His breathing is still normal but if he remains in this state for another hour, he might die."
"We have to get back to the academy tonight!" Ulysses chimed in, his breathing also ragged due to the two faced sprint he had done while going to inform the other two and coming back with them.
"We cannot make it there by feet!" Jamil finally said, making their high hopes crumble like a wall again.
"Are we going to watch him die in our hands?!" Ashton fired at them like they were responsible for Marcus' predicament.
The moment Ashton had dropped his resolve, a bright light suddenly shone at them out of nowhere sending them all blind momentarily. Their eyes flinched as they tried to adjust their vision to the bright blinding lights.
"Hey fuckers! Need a ride back home?" Were the first words the driver of the vehicle that had shone the blinding lights yapped at them as he peered his head out from the wound down window.
A big smile ensued on Ashton's lips as he finally saw the image of the one who had called out at them. His heart throbbed hard with joy as he had found a savior in shining blinding armor that had come to redeem Marcus from death.
"Damien!"