Hellstinger

6. Hellstingers.

"Hellstinger!"

Marcus snapped his eyes open in shock and the first thing he saw was two of himself standing in two different mirrors in the same posture as him - bent over the basin.

The water was running; he splashed his face a couple of times and checked again. There is only one of himself looking right back at him.

He sighed. Just thirty minutes ago Tasha had informed him that the rest of his shows had been canceled and he was free for the rest of the day before they departed from Arizona at nightfall. He had immediately called a party and the drinking commenced. Maybe he blacked out - drunk or otherwise - maybe Alexander had busted the party, maybe he had busted the party. He couldn't remember. But he remembers clearly the night he shot all those demons down.

"I'm going insane." He said to himself in the mirror, "I should probably tell Alexander what's going on, she would know what to do."

"That's right she would." His mirror self replied him.

Marcus jerked away from the basin wide-eyed and heart-thumping. He watched himself walk out of the mirror like it was nothing but a doorway.

"Surprised?" His mirror self said.

Marcus found himself hyperventilating. Unlike the past seventeen hours, he is partially sober now and there is nothing to tell him that he is just going crazy.

"No." He said, backing all the way to plaster himself on the wall as his mirror self took two steps forward. "This...an illusion... hallucinating... I'm just drunk."

"But you are sober." His mirror self said, "Fine, let's get this over with."

Marcus watched in horror as his skin expanded and tore like paper in a spray of blood and guts and brain. He whimpered in fear and horror, falling to the ground, as he watched a ragged old man emerge from his torn-up mirror self.

"Marcus Junior Hellstinger the second!" The man said sharply in a booming voice that was enough to tear Marcus down to submission. But the voice is the least of his dread.

The entire bathroom shook to its foundations, the lightning sparked and blinked inconsistently, then the ground gave out. Marcus let out a horrified scream as he flared around, tumbling head over heels, into the depth of pitch blackness.

The moment his back hit hard ground, the blackness gave way to everything he wanted to know, everything he needed to know, everything he thought he knew, and everything that could happen.

He found that the world he knew wasn't a beautiful scape of water and vegetation, it was a desolate dumpster filled with lost souls, demons, ghouls, shrouds, and spirits. And above it all sat the demon god who controls everything with a simple thought.

But of everything he saw flashed around him at the speed of thought in the bleak place he had fallen, the only thing he didn't get to realize is how weak his mind power is to handle all that revelation in one go.

"ARGHH!!!" Marcus let out a wide-eyed mindless scream, calling for help with everything but his voice and words. He screamed loud as everything flashed all around him until his mind snapped.

"Welcome home, Hellstinger."

***

Alexander heard the screams first. Hell, she was the only one to hear the screams over the blaring of Shake's beats and the cheering of the partygoers.

She quickly rushed out of the living space and busted into the bedroom to find it untouched. The only thing disturbing the cleanliness of the room is a single black tee shirt on the floor.

The screams came again, raw, deep, and mindless;

"Marcus!" She ran to the bathroom but the door wouldn't open.

"MARCUS!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, already sweating as adrenaline poured through her. She put her shoulder to the door with all the force her body could muster but it was to no avail.

"Hang on Marcus!" She yelled, dashing back out of the room to the living area where the party was going in full swing. She found Big Joe at the doorway and pulled his tee shirt at the neckline. He turned to her;

"Come with me, now!" She yelled over the loud music, and turned to Bobby; "you, shut off systems, the party is over."

When the two mammoths of men didn't bulge fast enough she yelled even louder and with a ferocity that demanded respect;

"NOW!"

Big Joe picked himself up and jogged after Alexander as Bobby pushed his way toward Shake's sound systems.

Alexander got to the bathroom door in no time with Big Joe a couple of steps behind; she could still hear Marcus' screams.

"Take down this door! Take it down!" Big Joe could hear Marcus' scream as well. He rushed forward with his big frame and slammed into and through the poor door.

"Marc C!" He yelled, slapping wooden debris out of his way in search of his boss. "Marc C!"

"Marcus! Marcus, where are you?" Alexander entered the bathroom to see the basin tap running, its mirror smashed, and one floor tile was broken. She could still hear a faint echo of Marcus' screams as the pair looked around the bathroom in vain.

"Where the fuck did he go?" Big Joe asked, looking stupidly confused. They had heard his screams just before he smashed the door in. But now there is no sign of him.

"Where did he go?"

Alexander stood still in front of the mirror as Big Joe frantically searched the bathroom over and over.

"Where did he go!?"

Alexander isn't sure, but she has an idea of what happened. She had dreaded this day from the day Marcus' parents entrusted him to her, and she had made sure Marcus never set foot in Phoenix until it was necessary. It was necessary, he has come of age and his destiny is beaconing. And there is only one thing she could do.

"Big Joe." She called with a collected calm, "BIG JOE!" She yelled when the giant wouldn't listen.

"Ehn!"

"Get everyone together, I have got an announcement."

***

A tree. Of course, it is a tree, what else would it be when he is inside deep forestry?

He laughed at himself as he trudged up a small knoll of uneven grounds, thorny shrubs, and trees with massive roots. He must have walked a while because his feet were beginning to hurt as he breached the knoll peak and pressed forward into the forest.

'Probably walked for an hour already, or maybe it just thirty minutes; who cares?'

He jumped over a rotting truck on his path and landed awkwardly, tripped on an outcrop, and fell on his face into a bush of shrubs. He let out a tired grunt and lay there on the dirt floor in total oblivion of the world around him. The burning sun above looked like an orb of lava, the forest canopies looked like standing souls in the middle of a dead wilderness, and even the soil felt like worms to his touch. And yet, he couldn't register any of it.

"Got to get going." He groaned in fatigue as he pushed himself up. "Almost. There." He exhaled heavily.

Thirsty, hungry, unsteady, and fatigued; he pushed himself up and looked around in search of his path. A phantom worm slithered in his pupils and his path appeared before him. He took one step and went tumbling down a knoll.

By the time he settled at the base of the knoll, he was bruised and winded, covered in dirt and mud, riddled with thorns and lint; at the end of it, he landed right in front of an ancient-looking cave hidden beneath layers of shrubs and foliage, and between the cave and him is running water.

Subconsciously, He shuffled impatiently towards the stream, crawling and grunting until he had his head in the water.

He swallowed gulps of fresh water without a care about the forest dirt riddling its surface or the insects hopping around. He drank like never before.