Before Ash left Angela's Lab

Ash was internally badmouthing Evitagen for only giving him the exact amount of powerhe needed. He wanted more...

'God damn slimy, mask wearing bastard. Give me more power!'.

Suddenly, Ash found himself in the 'Space'.

"More you say?"

It was Evitagen. Ash would've never thought Evitagen could forcefully pull him into his world.

"Mr. Tsuga, you still need to pay for my services" Evitagen said, imitating the voice of a parent lecturing their child.

Ash found that supremely annoying.

"You still need to tell me how to pay! I don't even know how to practice Dark Magic, without getting caught. If you'd like your god damn payment, tell me how to pay you!" Ash was shouting at this point.

Evitagen's featureless mask had a crudely drawn smiley on it. Ash could've sworn the smiley wasn't there before.

"If you want to pay that badly, I'll be borrowing something of yours for a while. You can wait here, while I run my errand" As Evitagen finished his sentence, he merged with the shadows, leaving Ash in the darkness that made up the space around them.

Ash wasn't sure if the concept of time applied here, so he didn't know how long he was screaming for help. To no-one's surprise, no-one heard him. He sat on the floor, only to stand up again.

He had gotten an idea.

Since he couldn't leave, Ash might as well harness his Negative Energy.

"Let's see..." Ash was talking to himself, as he pulled out the parchment with his stats printed onto it.

Name: Ash Tsuga - Level 10 No Class

Strength:50

Agility: 40

Intelligence: 84

Magic Affinity: 154

Skills: Negative EnergyLvl 2, Martial ArtsLvl 2

Spells: Negative Burst, Negative Surge.

"Negative Burst and Negative Surge. Not that impressive. I wonder what they do?" Ash said. He was excited about trying out his magic powers, though slightly dissapointed with the quantity of spells at his disposal. It was the kind of power he had striven to achieve, ever since he came to the church.

"Negative Burst!" Ash shouted.

Before him, memories started to unfold. Bad memories. But were they his memories? Ash could not seem to remember the events as his own.

A burning village in a massive forest. An elven child being picked up by people Ashcould only assume were slave hunters. People were being slaughtered left and right. It was unsightly. Disgusting.

The memories faded, and turned to darkness.

"What the hell was that?" Ash asked, only half expecting an answer.

"Memories, I thought you knew?"

Evitagen was back. He was once again wearing his plain mask with the crude smiley face.

"The nature of Negative Energy are the regrets, fears, dark thoughts and desire, left behind by the deceased. I assumed you were interested, seeing as you were practicing".

Ash was surprised to say the least. It felt like a little less than half an hour, since Evitagen left. But there he was. In the 'flesh'.

"Why did you come back?" Ash asked.

"I said I had to run an errand. Hopefully you trust me not to steal your body? I thought I explained that I have no interest in your soul, Mr. Tsuga".

Actually, Ash did not trust Evitagen in the least. The man was wearing a mask, and knew of forbidden magic. On top of that, he resided inside of Ash's head.

"It's hard to trust people you don't know" Ash said.

"But Ash, you'll be seeing me a lot now. You're a customers, and as a salesman, I likekeeping my customersclose by. There will be plenty of time, to get to know each other".

Ash didn't find Evitagen's little sales pitch very informative, but decided to save the prying for later.

"I left quite a mess for you to deal with, Mr. Tsuga. If you manage to clean up after my 'errand' we can talk about business we might have in the future".

As Evitagen said that, the space shattered like glass.

Ash found himself, sitting on the bench under the apple tree. He didn't have to think twice about what to do.

"What have you been up to, Evitagen?" Ash murmured.

Then he noticed the blood on his hands, and the bloody knife in his belt. He turned his gaze towards Pig's office and noticed the open door.

A scream echoed across the courtyard. It came from Pig's quarters.

"Crap".