The Darkness in Your Mind

Episode 2-The Man in the Black Hat

(For my readers: this episode is in AK's perspective, its gonna stay in his for this episode)

"No," Hoshoku answers.

"Then what brings you here?" I ask.

"A continuum of bad choices."

"Well, no sh** sherlock"—Hey, hey, hey pause real quick, GameMaster here to tell you Alan will receive no dinner tonight after saying that naughty word!

My gaze drifts and I feel something, a dark presence in the room. I can't quite comprehend what it is. I'm assuming it's just the fact that I'm talking to Hoshoku again after all these years. A few seconds pass by then my eyes return back to him. I notice an evident red substance on Haru's jacket and Hoshoku's side.

"You're staining her carpet," I point out.

He looks at me in a displeasing manner, like he's one to judge, showing up here with Haru Takahashi of all people.

I think she notices the tension between us because she manages to awkwardly blurt out, "Hey guys, why don't we just sit down and eat the food before it gets cold? I'll grab some bandages and clean up the carpet."

We both ignore her and continue our conversation.

"Why are you suddenly acting so high and mighty? Like you haven't caused just as much chaos as I have AK," Hoshoku says with a sigh of irritation.

"Unlike you, Hoshoku, I don't lack loyalty and dignity."

"What are you even talking about? I've held much loyalty to you."

"So you can't recall the time you left me in the Nile, to die?!"

He looks as if he has no remorse for what happened that day and how it has haunted me ever since.

I can sense the memory I'm so attached to summoning back to me. The first time I met Hoshoku, I was a new bounty hunter. He was a hotshot leader, supposedly the best. I was enobled for being put into his group since he usually went on the S-ranked missions. I should have assumed there was anything but sympathy in him, especially with his past. We went on many endeavors together, stealing treasures and claiming artifacts, nothing that really benefited anyone but us. We slowly grew to become close friends and great bounty hunters. We learnt new tactics, it was all going great, I genuinely enjoyed it until that one mission. Unlike all our other missions, this one would actually benefit other people. Our job was to take out Anubis, the ruler of the Nile. He was terrorizing the people of Classis and was equipped for a full waged war. We made it to the Nile successfully and were on track to complete the mission on time. Abruptly, the sand started to shake and a python emerged from it. No matter how much I had trained I would have never been quick enough to dodge its lethal bite. I felt the poison slowly make its way through my bloodstream as several parts of my body were becoming limp. I didn't black out completely but there was a mild fuzziness to this part of the story. I can recollect Hoshoku tying my limbs and bringing me to Anubis's pyramid. He had made a trade of some sorts, telling them they can keep me if they call off the war for a period of time. As they were trading me off, with all my vigor I susurrated, "you coward, I should have known you'd betray me if you had the chance."

"That's what I do AK, I hurt people. It's the reason I never get close to anyone," he stated.

" So I guess this is a lesson in not trusting people, right?" I mumbled as the poison took its last effects and my eyes fastened shut.

For a few hundred years I was tortured, beaten, and treated as a slave until Anubis decided that he was bored of me. He gave me back to the Land of the Beasts in the worst condition I had ever been in. The leaders informed me that Hoshoku had become an intergalactic bounty hunter. They also informed me that I would be getting a promotion due to my severe circumstances. From that experience I learnt two things: Don't let your guard down and don't trust anybody, especially Hoshoku.