"Why did his death date suddenly appear on his death tablet now?" Ashton asked as both he and Ulysses bagan to run to Master Chen's pavilion.
"That's the most stupid question you've asked in a while." Ulysses grunted as he ran.
"Was he not getting any better last night too?" Ashton asked again, slightly looking at Ulysses to get an answer from him.
"Just shut up! We have to make it there in time before he finally gives up on fighting for his life." Ulysses snapped. "The exact hour of his death is yet to appear…we still have a chance to see him before he passes on."
"Fuck!" Ashton yelped. "Don't you dare mention death in Marcus' matter!" He warned, his eyes narrowing in anger.
Both boys eventually got to the pavilion in time and they were allowed to go in by the guards on duty without checking for their identity.
They both rushed towards the room where Marcus was being treated and standing by the front door were Alden, Aurelia, Damien and Jamil. They were standing gloomy by the door and the moment Ashton noticed their expressions, he stopped in his running tracks abruptly, his heart suddenly falling into a bottomless pit.
"What happened?" Ashton asked, his voice suddenly becoming low and calm as if the sprint he had raced down there had had no effect on him. "What is going on here?" He asked again but no one was willing to talk to him as they all shrugged away casting their heads downward.
Ashton slowly walked towards them like a drunkard. Tears were welling up in his eyes as his thoughts about them not giving answers to his question was only because the inevitable might have happened to Marcus.
'Am I too late?' Ashton asked himself in his thoughts as he walked staggeringly towards the door. 'Did I come too late to you, Marcus?'
He finally reached out to the door to open it but Alden abruptly stopped him by standing in the way. Alden nervously stuck his tongue out to wet his lower lip as he prepared himself to break the news to Ashton.
Ashton, seeing Alden wouldn't let him in, slowly raised his gaze up at Alden expecting him to spill whatever was making him stand in his way at that crucial moment.
"Ashton…" Alden slowly called his voice trailing off the very moment he tried to spill what was happening to him.
"Tell me," Ashton began, sniffing back his tears. "Did something happen to Marcus? Is he dead? Did I come here too late? Did he run away into the underworlds like a scaredy cat? Did he forfeit our inconcludent fight?" Ashton asked, holding the tip of Alden's cloth as he laid down his words with the tears in his eyes threatening to spill.
Alden remained silent as he tried to find his voice. He tried his possible best to feign a strong demeanor but his efforts were not enough and he slowly walked out of Ashton's way.
Ashton watched him slip away from the door and his heart ached in pain as Alden's subtle resolve meant only one thing but he wasn't going to accept that. He turned at the others and the look in their eyes betrayed his made up resolve.
Damien couldn't even look him in the eye as he quickly lowered his gaze the moment Ashton turned at him. Jamil had his back rested against a wall while his head hung low dejectedly. Same as Aurelia.
Ashton let out a long breath, his eyes changing from that of someone who was wallowing in pain to one with a strong defiance. He turned back at the door and without hesitation, he opened it ready to see the situation by himself.
The moment he opened the door, he could see Master Chen slightly tilt his head to see who had come into the room abruptly without notice. Ashton's eyes darted about in search of Marcus.
The once handsome, tender and gentle boy was now a little too lean and almost unrecognizable. The strange lines Callista had warned him about had covered the whole of his body and they were slowly seeping into his upper body.
Ashton slowly walked towards where Marcus was laid and he immediately scrambled on his knees. Marcus was still breathing but every inch of his breath was shallow and it seemed he was kissing death at that moment.
Ashton let out a shaky sigh of relief as he had just confirmed Marcus was still merely alive but at the brink of death.
"You said he would be fine by morning." Ashton began to say to Whelki who was also sitting in a lotus position beside Master Chen. "Why is he still like this? Why does it seem like his condition is worsening every minute?"
"Ashton, the cause of Marcus' predicament is really fatal." Whelki finally admitted, his voice containing the exact emotions he was feeling at that moment.
"What is it?"
"We have looked through his memory and all we could see was his mind being poisoned while he tried to read someone's mind who we couldn't see."
"Will he make it?" Ashton dropped his voice, quivering.
"Mages!" Master Chen suddenly called, referring to the disciple mages who were also in the room with them. He stood up from the lotus position his legs had curled in and continued, "Prepare a grand funeral for Marcus." He announced his tone devoid of any emotion.
"What?!" Ashtin exclaimed as he heard those words. "What funeral? Marcus is still alive and all you will do is wait till he dies?" Ashton charged with great rage.
"There is nothing that can be done to bring him back to life, Ashton. Marcus is dead already." Master Chen said again his gazing, swerving fat away from Ashton's.
"Can you not see him breathing? Did you even try to keep him alive? Did you just watch him slowly lose himself all night? Why do you think letting him die is the best we can do to him?" Ashton hollered and his throat went sore with pain as he lashed his anger out through his words.
Whelki also stood up and turned to Master Chen ready to support Ashton on his quest to stop the damn funeral that will soon be planned for Marcus while he was still alive.
"You know there's a way to heal Marcus why are you not saying anything about it?" Whelki questioned folding his hands properly with respect. "You know there's an antidote to heal him do you not?!"
Master Chen turned at him abruptly, a mild surprise anger flashing in his eyes. "You do not speak of that! Marcus is not the first mage to get his mind poisoned; neither will he be the last. His funeral shall stand and that is final!"
"What antidote?" Ashton asked them both his brows furrowed in confusion. "Do you mean there's an antidote that can cure Marcus of his predicament?" He asked again turning at Whelki for and answer.
"I cannot let any mage risk their life just to get that antidote. It is formidable." Master Chen said, his voice low and condescending. He turned to two disciple Mages and said to them, "Take Ashton away from here and start preparing him for a new mission."
The two Mages aggwd with the task to take Ashton out of that room lunged forward and grabbed his arms but Ashton shrugged away from them advancing towards Master Chen.
"Give me the antidote to save Marcus now!" He shouted angrily.
"You do not speak to me in such a manner. Your days on the slum streets are over. I am now your master, not some old douchebag you once talked down on in the past."
"You must be out of your mind to think about your damn position at this moment!" Ashton shouted again, charging aggressively towards Master Chen.
With a single flick of a finger pointed at Ashton, a wide gust of drowning magic ensued out of nowhere and it raged in the direction of Ashton sweeping him off his feets in an instant and sending him out of the room through the window.
"Know your place." Master Chen mumbeled. "Drag him back to training and start the preparation for Marcus' funeral." He said to them all and made his way out of the room promptly.
As Ashton tried to get up from the ground he had fallen to, he coughed so much as the arcane magic Master Chen had sent to him suddenly began to fill itself in through his nostrils and the small gap between his lips.
"Give…me…the…antidote." He managed to say before falling to the ground blatantly and the last thing he saw before his eyes shut were a pair of fine laced shoes running towards him.
"Marcus…" Ashton called slowly and his voice trailed off.