Touch of the Infinite Ch. 02

It was the knowledge of why Ash had been shit-faced, why Ash had called him up out of the blue and practically jumped him as soon as he was at the door.

Marilyn had called Mark as soon as Ash had found the book, telling him that his part to play in her grand scheme was coming fast -- that Ash would likely seek out someone to comfort him once he'd made contact with their god, once the Defiling Void had well...Defiled him.

Mark had seen the black stains on the inside of Ash's boxers and seen the way he wobbled -- not just drunk but obviously very sore. It didn't take a genius to put it together...

Mark had been raised within the Church of the Infinite Shadow, hell, most people in Shady Glen were members and always had been. The town had been built as a monument to the Infinite Darkness. He had known his entire life, that Ashley Locke was the key to the machinations of their faith -- that through Ash, Infinite Darkness and Defiling Void would come into the world, to remake it in its holy image...

But that didn't make him feel any better about this. Mark had never meant to develop genuine feelings for Ash, but watching him sleep on the couch, brows knit over the dark, almost bruised shadows around his closed eyes... Mark felt a stab of remorse.

Still, this had to be done. Ash had a destiny and Mark couldn't deny him that -- he knew that the Defiling Void wouldn't ever actually hurt Ash...

And that once it had fully sunk into him, once it had finished priming him for his destiny that Ash wouldn't be afraid anymore. That he would look forward to what he was meant to do and be.

Mark tried to keep that in mind as he rose from the couch and pulled the pocket knife from his pants on the floor.

He made his way quickly and quietly around the apartment -- breaking every one of Ash's wards, scratching away just enough of the paint and blood to render them useless, but not enough that Ash would be able to see that they were broken.

The Defiling Void, of course, could easily get past those wards -- it would barely even need to put effort into it, but Marilyn had found it difficult to properly influence Ash with the seals in place...

There was a cry of pain from the living room and the guilt deepened.

Just...one more thing to do, then he could go back to the couch and hold Ash in his arms, comforting him when he woke from whatever dream Marilyn had sent to him tonight...

It was a good thing that Ash wouldn't wake until the dream was over, Marilyn's magic would see to that, as he still needed to move the bed -- and that would be noisy... But once it had been, Mark took the pocket knife and etched the symbol of the Defiling Void into the wooden floorboards where it had sat and once his work was complete, dug the tip of the knife into the meat of his thumb until a single bead of ruby red blood welled to the surface.

He smeared it over the sigil and watched as a flash of red light burst forth, leaving the sigil glowing ever so faintly like the embers of a dying fire for a few seconds before even that light faded, leaving only the etching behind.

There.

Mark pushed the bed back into place and padded back into the living room, sitting down on the couch next to Ash -- who was coated in sweat now, an expression of pain and terror carved into his features. Mark sighed again, reaching out to brush the hair from Ash's face.

"I'm sorry, Ash..."