hell-bound ; my inner demons

5 ; stealth

"I don't know how you've managed to succeed in your stealth mission into my heart."

Asch ran through the woods, pushing past shrubbery, making his way to the castle. It was tiring. He hadn't taken a long walk in quite a while, spending a month cooped up in Ava's apartment on Earth.

He was worn out after half an hour.

His strength wasn't really at it's fullest, with his magic being slightly depleted. He soon reached a clearing, and from there, he saw it. The castle. It's high stone walls and the spiralling towers. For him, home.

He was determined to get closer, and find Lady Grandma. She surely had information.

He trudged across the forest, soon reaching the back entrance. And by back entrance, he meant climbing up the high castle walls into his bedroom window.

He didn't really have an exact plan on how to do it, but he was sure he'd do it. His room was the only safe way to get into the castle without being spotted, and the easiest way to infiltrate without interference.

He sighed, the thought of using his powers at a time like this. But no, it would be too risky to fire loud blasts just to get up to his bedroom window. It was just a mountain climb. Just a damned mountain climb.

And oh was Asch so so wrong.

The climb was treacherous, with many loose rocks and uneven ground. The cliffs were steep and there wasn't a good path to take. He just continued climbing up the mountainside. Once he'd reached a vantage point, he spied his window about 30 metres away. But it's not like he was going to jump off the mountain, fly 30 metres and get to his room. So instead, he decided to use some magic.

He didn't like using it, but it wasn't like he had any other choice. A shadow bridge appeared at his feet, and he walked across it, his brows creasing, sweat dripping down his features.

It was quite physically exhausting to exert strong power in a situation of such importance. It took a toll on him. He collapsed to the ground the moment he jumped through the window, the shadow bridge disappearing behind him. Afterwards, he got up. Slowly, walking over to the door. He knew the position he was in. His room was above the library, which was next to Lady Grandma's spell casting hall. One of those two places. He had to check both.

But he had to get down the hallway to the flight of stairs to reach it. And down that hallway? Lady Bish and Rhal's room. If either one of them spotted him, he would likely be done for. He looked around his room for any way to get through the hallway without being seen. He spied a suit of armour on a stand.

He sighed, a scowl sitting upon his face.

"Damn it."

The hunk of metal clanked down the hallway, the noise echoing along the stone. Asch sweared silently to himself at the sound made. It was too loud. Someone was going to discover him soon enough. Hopefully, they'd ignore him and continue on their way.

Asch wasn't sure if it was just a stroke of luck, but no one came down the hallway as he was walking down. Maybe they were all patrolling other areas. Or maybe the guards were all sent to search the kingdom for Asch. Who knows?

He wobbled down the stairs, carefully taking steps to avoid falling down them in such a heavy suit. If he did roll down the staircase, the impacts and the weight of the suit would crush his bones. He made it safely to the lower floor, and turned a right to Lady Grandma's spell casting chambers. He gasped.

Lady Grandma was just standing there. But she was frozen. Likely by the use of ice magic, and her face was in a panicked and pained state. It was like a stab to the heart for Asch, although he claimed to not enjoy the company of his grandmother. They were still family, after all. He still loved her loads.

He grabbed her and tossed her over his shoulder, making a run back up the stairs. He had to go out the way he came. There was no other method of getting out. He quickly threw his armour to the ground and dashed up the steps, taking large leaps as fast as he could. And running down a hallway stealthily while holding a frozen old woman wasn't easy. And then, bad luck struck him like a lightning bolt.

A scarred face turned round the corner, looking at him curiously, smirking.

Zex.

Asch ran into his room and locked the door behind him, quickly setting down Lady Grandma and using his shadow magic. He needed the bridge again. Then, in the corner of his eye, he spotted something. A piece of paper, on his desk. He grabbed it quickly, shoving it in his coat before hefting Lady Grandma onto his back.

He could hear the banging against the door as he ran across the shadow bridge and descending the mountain. (as I was typing mountain, I must've typed something wrong and it autocorrected to the Noi train)

Asch knew Zex was right on his tail. But he also knew that he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't do anything right now.

Except run.

Sorry for the extremely late update TwT I've been watching too much anime and playing too much Mystic Messenger recently 😂 I'll continue to update, im not discontinuing this book ever, because I love this series and I love aph, so sorry if my updates are inconsistent and long in between. And I just finished Bungo Stray Dogs sjdkdjjxdj Akutagawa is hot—