Love & Deceit

Chapter 10: Acheron

"You're...supposed to be dead."

He came forward gently raising his hands in front of him to show that he won't hurt me.

"I'll tell you everything Raven, I promise, just please let me save you."

Acheron is one of the reasons I joined the Plight, one of the reasons I help people. He's one of the main 3 founders of the Plight. He's what most of us Agents aspire to be like. He's the reason we do what we do. I don't really have any other choice but to trust him.

"Okay. Do it..."

"This will hurt...brace yourself."

He touched each of his hands to my temples and closed his eyes, I could feel the warmth emanating from them at first, and then a surging blinding pain spread itself through my entire core. It was so intense that I felt like I was going to black out. I kept pushing and opting myself not to give in to the pain, not to fall unconscious, and after what felt like an eternity, the pain stopped abruptly. I felt immediately back to 100%. Acheron let go of my temples and helped me up, brow furrowing in concern. I sat down on the bed and looked at him in disbelief. Oh my god...it's really him.

"I know you probably have a lot of questions, Raven."

He was damn right about that, I was in absolute awe. He's like our version of a celebrity, a...hall of famer. He's the reason the Plight exists.

"And I will gladly answer any question you desire, but let me check on your colleague first. He got hit pretty hard."

"He's actually my brother."

Oh my god...I almost forgot about my unconscious brother. He walked over to Ash and placed a hand on his forehead and closed his eyes. When he opened them he looked relaxed.

"He hit himself with a minor sleeping spell; he'll wake up in a few hours."

"Thanks...umm."

I paused, unsure where to start.

"Why did you break in last week?"

"I hadn't intended for that to happen. I entered the agency normally, but for some reason alarms started blaring. Something about me being an intruder, most probably because I was presumed to be dead."

"Oh...on that note, how are you still alive? I thought The Darkness killed you Jasper and Moira."

His face darkened considerably.

"The Darkness stole Jasper and Moira right before my very eyes. I was powerless to save them. By the time I found them...they were dead."

He sighed, most probably revisiting the memory in his mind.

"...Where were you all these years?"

"I was stuck...in The Darkness."

"What?"

"Well, after I found Moira and Jasper dead, I faced The Darkness head on, on my own. Which resulted in me being stuck in its eternal limbo of despair for all of these years. So in a sense...I was dead, but still very much alive."

"How did you get out?"

"I don't know, one day I woke up and I was back on earth. As if nothing had happened, and at first I couldn't remember, like the memory had been wiped. Then I started getting these...visions or...images? They were very painful and ended up in me blacking out a lot. Then I discovered that I was poisoned by The Darkness, it just took a long time to manifest."

"Oh my god...is that what happened to me?"

"Yeah, it was. I found a way to cure it way back when, which is the reason I was able to help you."