Matthew's expression was cold, his voice dripping with menace, "File a murder charge against your husband or report me to the officials and lose the two children you love so much."
Ashley's world came crashing down around her. She couldn't speak, her voice frozen in her throat.
Matthew's parting words were like a death sentence. "And don't try anything funny. Eric must be in the King's Court by noon... or I'll be delivering real juvenile corpses to your doorstep." He turned to leave, his final words hanging in the air like a challenge. "Call me when it's done."
Ashley's voice was barely a whisper. "Why?... What did my husband do that makes you hate him so much?"
Matthew paused, his aura of seriousness sending shivers down Ashley's spine.
Ashley's voice trembled as she continued, "He always spoke about you with nothing but respect. Whenever you were around, no problem was unsolvable. He saw you as the person he'd strive to be, we all did. Everyone in Class E," she clenched her hurt wrist, herchingingally, "Especially the one you so thirst to see punished for no reason."
Matthew's expression remained stern, his eyes fixed on some distant point outside the door. "That's the reason," he cut her off, his voice laced with a hint of bitterness. "All these years I'd built that reputation. Help those in need of it. Never leave a friend behind. Whenever there's a problem, there's a solution. Always be friendly. Hide your negative emotions, others grow positive from being with you... All that crap I learned from reading books on people skills." His voice dripped with sarcasm, "All those years wasted earning the hearts of everyone I came across, and I still couldn't get you to notice me."
Ashley's eyes widened in surprise as Matthew's words spilled out like venom. "And then he came along," Matthew's voice seethed with resentment, "Eric... What I couldn't do in six years, the dang nerd did in weeks."
Ashley awkwardly interrupted, "Wasn't the Academy only four years?" But Matthew's expression didn't change. He turned to her and yelled, "That doesn't matter!"
He turned back to the door, his serious face a mask for his true emotions. "My point is, the nerd took you away from me, and if I can't have you, he definitely won't."
Ashley's skepticism was palpable as she interrupted again, "Weren't you also a nerd, Matthew?" But Matthew's patience had worn thin. He turned back to her, his eyes blazing with anger. "Read the situation, dammit!"
Ashley stood her ground, her voice firm. "I am. You just sound like a fool right now." Matthew's face twisted in rage, but he remained silent, his eyes fixed on the door.
He turned the handle,, turned back to her, his voice laced with disappointment. "Well, rest assured that this idiot has nothing against you," he paused, his eyes glinting with a mixture of emotions. "Even as I got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to, I couldn't lay a finger on you in your drunken state."
Ashley's eyes widened in surprise, her voice barely above a whisper. "Huh?"
Matthew's expression turned serious once more, his voice cold and detached. "Just have Eric Cope in the King's Court by noon, or things won't be pretty. Any thing you want to say to me before I leave, say it now."
Ashley's eyes flashed with anger as she swallowed whatever friendship she had left with Matthew. She forced a sarcastic expression, folding her arms across her chest. "You feel like a powerful villain, don't you?" she spat, her voice dripping with venom.
The air was thick with tension as the silence hung between them. Ashley's expression twisted, her bitterness and hurt simmering just below the surface. She took a deep breath, her voice trembling as she spoke the words that would sever their friendship forever. "If this is what you've longed for all these years, then all I've got to say is..."
Her throat constricted, the words feeling like acid as she forced them out. "I hate you." The phrase hung in the air like a challenge, a declaration of war.
Matthew's face remained impassive, but his eyes seemed to flicker with a hint of emotion. Without a word, he turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him with a resounding crash.
As the door slammed shut in her dream, Ashley jolted awake, her heart racing from the shock. She looked to her side, and the emptiness of the bed was a harsh reminder that the memories she had just relived were all too real. The dreams she had were fragments of her past, memories that she had tried to bury but couldn't shake off.
Ashley sighed, her voice barely above a whisper. "It's been two days already." She opened the locket of the necklace that always stayed on her neck, revealing a picture of her kids and a picture of Eric. Her eyes welled up with tears as she gazed at the photos. "Eric... Please be okay," she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.
Meanwhile, in the Battleground Village, Eric was roaming the streets, scratching his head in confusion. "Battleground Territory is just full of surprises," he thought to himself. "First of all, it's a village. Moreover, it looks like a battlefield in ruins from outside." He chuckled to himself, still trying to wrap his head around the contradictions.
As he walked, Eric's mind wandered back to the events that had led him here. He remembered the girl who had kicked him from behind, sending him crashing to the ground. He recalled the figure of a little girl talking to Mr. Miller, and how it seemed like she was apologizing to him. Eric's hearing had been temporarily gone from the impact of the kick, but he could have sworn that the girl had been trying to make amends.
"When I got up, the old man invited me inside for some bread and beans," Eric thought, a smile spreading across his face. "I was really hungry, but he couldn't have known that. Could it have been the little girl who kicked me?" Eric pondered the question for a moment, but he wasn't one to overthink things. He shrugged it off, "Probably it was just some nice old man who wanted company," Eric thought, his mind already wandering to other things.
Eric's thoughts were interrupted by a polite voice. "Hey," Delilah said, standing in front of him with a stretched-out hand. "I'm new around here."
Eric's eyes wandered from her hand to her eyes, and back to her hand again, before he realized she was talking to him. He smiled, feeling a bit silly. "Oh, what a coincidence, I'm new to—"
But before he could finish his sentence, a strange sensation washed over him. It felt like a rush of electricity had coursed through his veins. Eric's eyes widened in shock as his body began to transform. His biceps doubled in size, his calves bulged, and his chest expanded like a bodybuilder's. He grew a whopping twenty inches taller, and his pupils turned a piercing white. Even his clothing changed, morphing into sleek black spy attire.
Delilah's eyes sparkled with amusement, but her voice remained serious. "I wasn't done talking, handsome. I'm new around here, and you're going to show me the way."
Eric, now a towering figure with chiseled features, replied with a straight face. "As you wish, my queen."
Delilah's gaze swept across the village, her eyes narrowing in distaste. She confidently folded her arms, her voice dripping with disdain. "This mission already feels revolting."