Asher made his way to the hideout Five and Ivan would be waiting for him at once, abandoning the academy ground, Llyord and Orion as he cycled away.
Finally arriving at the place, he packed his bike in the front lawn of the blacksmith's abandoned shop and he noticed his friends bikes lying aimlessly on the ground.
The door to the old shop was slightly opened and he sensed something was off. Asher rushed into the worn-out, cranky blacksmith shop and was welcomed almost immediately with a heavy object jammed against his head which knocked him out cold.
***
Asher finally woke up, groaning as the pain began to set into his head, reminding him of the sparks he had seen the moment someone hit him.
The thin light at the center of the room was blinding at first, but he finally got used to the light. He wondered what had happened and why it was happening until he caught sight of a figure lying unconscious on the ground a couple of feet away from him.
Asher squinted his eyes to make a picture of the figure and it wasn't long that he realized what it was.
"Five!" He called, making an attempt to rush towards her, but he soon realized he had been tied up all along.
Asher tried to wriggle free, calling Five to wake up, but all he got in return was applause from nowhere.
Five men emerged from the shadows. They all had masks which covered their noses and mouths except the one Asher had quickly dissipated as their leader.
As they continued to walk into the light, Asher noticed two of the men who were dragging something in chains. It was Ivan.
"Ivan!"
Asher could have snapped out of the chains he was tied in when he saw this and the fury that was brewing in him only peaked when he noticed the sixth figure amongst them.
His brows furrowed in disgust as he said, "You did this, Rylan?"
Rylan, looking like a doodle, gave a slight smirk, acknowledging Asher's claim with his mindless act.
Asher raged at Rylan, making an attempt to dash at him, but one of the men behind that mask kicked him back to his knee, making him fall on his face.
A chair was quickly brought to the center and the leader took his seat.
"Asher Ravenswood, a boy with a philosophy to guide the princess into the astral realm but yet he can't do anything to protect his mindless-midget friends. How ironic." The leader said, his voice husky.
Asher shot Rylan a look of disgust again, wondering how much Rylan had spat out about him again.
He was blazing with fury that he hoped would be unleashed, just like it always happened when he was in chaos or about to be the very cause of chaos.
"Guess who played dirty and stabbed us all in the back while we weren't watching. Bringing a sword into a knife fight? How pathetic!" Asher said, his tone stern and full of mock hurt.
The leader grimaced, reclining back into the chair while crossing his long leg over the other. The look in his eyes had changed and Rylan had noticed this.
He took a step backwards, the hate in his eyes for Asher brewing a murderous intent. He wanted to kill Asher that very moment if he could, but the Ravenswood's blood cannot be shed by a Darkstar, that was what he had secretly read in the book of prophecy— the Codex Mortious.
But there was more to it and that was infuriating. So, Rylan came to a conclusion; if he couldn't kill Asher Ravenswood because of his bloodline, he might as well hire mercenaries to get the job done.
Rylan was soon caught in Asher's death stare and his grounds were trembling. It was of truth that he was always mortified when Asher became grim, but showing an emotion as fear dissipates him as weak and that alone would give Asher the upper hand, so he buckled up.
"Get rid of him now, Patio, I'll triple the pay." Rylan said to the leader.
The other men glanced at themselves and Asher could sense their tongues drooling behind their masks at the sound of the rounded up bounty.
"And his little friends?" Patio asked, raising an eyebrow, expressing his satisfaction at Rylan's new offer.
"The boy is a weakling, go easy on him,'' Rylan said, referring to Ivan. "Leave a scar on the girl, a permanent one." He grinned before walking out of the old shop into the night.
"Wake her up." Patio commanded with a sadistic smile laced on his dry lips.
His fingers were unbuckling his belt as he stood up and Asher could only imagine what that bastard was about to go to a fourteen years old girl despite how old his wretched self looked.
"Don't, please!" Asher begged as they dragged Five towards the center. "She's still young— you can't take her first time like this."
He pleaded, struggling against the chains he was bound in, trying to set himself free by all means possible.
"And when will the right time be?" Patio asked like an insufferable moron, forcing a wild laughter out of his underlyings.
"Asher?" Ivan, who had been woken up by their laugh, called. He was really weak and pale as he struggled to stay up.
A bucket of water was brought forward and it was doused on Five.
"She's just a child, please!" Asher screamed, buckling with the chains which had started to leave heavy marks on his body.
Five woke up, realizing what was going on within mere seconds. Two men were holding her down, another had his hand laced over her mouth to prevent her from screaming while one monster was looming over her with its tongue wetting his crusty lips.
"Five!" Ivan shouted and someone kicked his mouth out of nowhere, making him fall unconscious again while Asher watched Five as she tried to wriggle free.
"You monsters! Leave her alone!" He cried, his knees boring holes into the wooden floor already.
"You don't get to tell me what to do, little one. I only follow orders from the one with the pay bag and we both know you can't afford my service, so we have to break you before we finally kill you in the most excruciating way possible." Patio said with a big grin on his face.
"Trying to break me by defiling a girl? Have you no shame? Just kill me instead. It's me Rylan wants, leave them alone."
Patio laughed, grabbing Five's shirt as he began to rip it apart, allowing the buttons to explode.
"I SAID STOP!"