Soul and Matter

"Beep, Beep," the sound of an alarm clock startled Aiden who stood up on the first ring.

"Today's different," Aiden thought as he stretched his arms feeling refreshed and satisfied, he had never felt this light in a long time.

Looking around Aiden could see the empty bottle of desert rose wine on the floor, he remembered drinking it all and then going to sleep, "why do I feel so light," Aiden thought.

Surly one bottle of high-quality wine was enough to give him a hangover, or did his tolerance increase?

Aiden wasn't sure how hangovers worked so after thinking about it for a while Aiden didn't pursue the matter anymore after all, who would complain about being healthy?

Getting up from his sofa Aiden walked towards his bedroom, using his phone to check the time Aiden discovered that it was already 8:49 a.m "Huh I have a message," Aiden thought as he looked at his phone.

The message was from Mary.

[good morning babe, I didn't want to wake you up so I sent a message instead, my boss has to leave the city for a while so I have to babysit, sorry I didn't tell you earlier.]

Seeing this message Aiden sighed "There goes today's plans," he muttered, this was the fifth time this month.

Sometimes he dreaded his inability to speak up to her, or to anyone for that matter, in most cases, Aiden was what you would call a people pleaser.

Walking towards his bathroom Aiden brushed his teeth and took a cold shower, cleaning his wet body with a towel Aiden looked up at the mist-covered mirror in front of him, and upon noticing something he frowned.

"What's this?" Aiden muttered he was referring to the unclear scribbles on the mirror.

"From what you are MATTER and from what you do SOUL, matter, and soul are interconnected, matter and soul are one," He read.

He didn't notice it when he first walked in, but he figured it was written by Mary, whipping it off with his towel Aiden figured he'd ask her the meaning when she got back, "What voodoo shit is this girl watching?" He thought to himself.

After a while, he walked out of the bathroom.

He felt a little on edge today, walking towards his bedroom Aiden found out that the whole room was in a mess, he felt his eyes twitch feeling that this was something only Mary could do.

Picking up an old picture on the ground Aiden looked at it for a while before dropping it on the reading table.

In the picture there were four people, a middle-aged man who resembled Aiden quite a bit if Aiden had a robust figure and brown hair then it would be quite difficult to differentiate, there was also a woman in the picture; in front of that woman where two children, a boy and a girl.

It was easy to tell who was older as the girl was a head taller than the boy.

Aiden smiled bitterly, this was once his family lost to one of the shelter's many mysteries.

Many strange events happened in the shelters honestly they still are, one of the most noticeable was the disappearance of children below the age of ten.

Children across the Shelters started going missing, and investigations were launched but the culprits were never found There were no strings to pull no patterns to follow, it was almost as if these children vanished into thin air.

A mysterious event that affected all ten shelters, and naturally the consequences were massive, protests, riots, and political whatnots, the government was forced to triple security, and only then did the cases drastically reduce though children still go missing from time to time.

Many families were affected by this and even to date the mystery has never been solved, unfortunately, Aiden's six-year-old sister was one of the missing children.

Aiden was four years old at that time and he could still remember the grief his parents had to endure, and even though it had been so long he could still remember his mother trying to force a smile on her pain-filled face when asked about his sister's whereabouts.

In that same year, Aiden's mother and father were caught up in the middle of a rift opening on their way to work, the demon was a threat level 32 demon, as normal humans it was impossible for them to endure the fight between demons, and Contractors and so their fates where sealed.

Aiden's mother was one of eighteen people to survive but experienced a shock of hell energy.

Aiden's father on the other hand wasn't so lucky, his body was never found and he was recorded as part of the one hundred and forty-six casualties, the worst part of it all was that the demon that caused all of this the Mist demon escaped.

Grabbing a bag of chips from the shelf Aiden sat down and turned on the TV, it was a news channel talking about yesterday's incident.

[Even though the Silence tried to keep civilians as far back as possible there were still some casualties, sixteen people died and two journalists went into what seems like a permanent coma after experiencing a shock of hell energy. In other news the selections for new talents will begin in three months.]

Munching on the snacks Aiden changed the channel as he Mused, "I'll have to try my luck again, I wonder if I can pass this time," the selection where for the unfortunate people who didn't have the resources and powerful backing to become Contractors.

Your aptitude with hell energy would be tested and you would be given a chance to join the Silence, that was if you could contract a demon that was at least threat level ten.

The selections were held once a year and both Bruce and Aiden had tried and failed twice.

"Finally," Aiden muttered, he had found something suitable to watch.

It was a movie from before the war, even though the language was a little weird it was still fun to watch as the effects were much better than the movies made today.

Suddenly something strange happened, [w-w-what a-a-ahh-are] the TV seemed to have developed some kind of fault, the image became cracked and scattered and the audio was unintelligible.

"Hmm is it a signal problem," Aiden thought as he changed the channel but the results were the same, after trying for a while he gave up.

"Sniff, sniff," Aiden smelled something odd, something like a mixture of ash and burning flesh.

"Something's burning, I don't remember cooking anything," Aiden muttered but he figured that maybe Mary cooked something and forgot to properly turn off the stove.

Sighing at how irresponsible his girl was Aiden dropped the remote and walked towards the kitchen, but upon reaching the stove he found out that it was cold, and by the looks of things it hadn't been used since yesterday.

But Aiden still felt unsettled as the uneasy feeling in his heart increased, the smell of burning flesh was getting stronger "Zizz," the lights in the kitchen flickered before turning off with a buzzing sound.

Aiden let out a breath, "that's where the smell is coming from," he laughed.

Maybe a bug or a pest of some kind had found its way into the light, "I'll get it changed later," he thought, trying to reduce the uncanny feeling that plagued him.

But the same sound was heard from the living room "Zizz," followed by his bathroom and soon enough the buzzing sound could be heard from every electrical appliance in his house.

Soon enough Aiden was left alone in his dark kitchen with the only source of light being the faint sunlight from the kitchen window.

Aiden valued his privacy so his curtains were quite thick, but Aiden was beginning to regret buying such thick curtains.

He was on edge today and to him the dimly lit house was terrifying, "why would the power go out at a time like this," Aiden thought.

[*****]

Aiden suddenly heard something, he couldn't make out what it was but it was coming from the living room, Aiden felt his heartbeat increase, and slowly he walked towards the living room counting his steps along the way.

As he approached a bright light was revealed in front of him, "Ah o my gosh," Aiden breathed out, "that gave me quite a fright," he thought, as he muttered, "Bruce would be laughing at me right now if he saw this, man up Aiden."

Aiden was a bit confused about how the TV was still on when the power was out, he could distinctly remember Mary telling him something about the TV having an external battery.

"Well I better turn it off," Aiden thought as he stretched his hands towards the off button, but as he was about to turn it off he listened in on the scrambled sound he heard from the kitchen, the words quickly became clear to him.

[matter and soul are one]

Aiden's mind quickly flashed back to the writing on the mirror and he stood up abruptly.

The feeling of unease returned like a wave, crushing the feeling of serenity he had built for himself, it was too much of a coincidence, or was he hearing things?

"M-Maybe Mary is playing a prank on me," Aiden thought but his body was unconsciously walking towards the door.

Quickly he turned around unlocking the door as fast as he could, he turned the doorknob and let out a sigh he needed to get out for a bit to cool off, seeing other humans usually helped when he felt scared.

But the door didn't budge, Aiden tried again but the results were the same, his unease grew quickly turning to fright, he used as much force as he could but the door didn't move. Suddenly Aiden stopped.

Not that he wanted to give up no but- "whooooo, Ahhhhh, whooooo, Ahhhhh."

Aiden felt a chill run down his spin so much so that he shuddered, the slow and feint breathing sound of another living being could vividly be heard behind him Aiden felt the warm breath of a living thing on his ear, he felt the cold touch of a living thing on his shoulder and his sensitive skin could feel the heat that radiated from this living beings body.

He couldn't speak he just froze overcome by fright, the smell of burning flesh slowly invaded his nostrils and it was stronger than ever, but there was something more, it smelled like iron no not that it smelt like blood, fresh blood, a vast contrast to the smell of burning flesh.

"Where----are----you-----going?" a voice asked, in a gender-neutral tone that sounded more like a whisper, a minute passed, and two minutes passed but Aiden didn't reply, he was frozen and overcome by fear.

"ANSWER ME!"

The voice behind him yelled abruptly, making Aiden jerk in shock, the room seemed to tremble at the sound of that inhuman voice, and with an audible gulp Aiden replied, "n-nowhere."

"Hehehehe," the voice behind him giggled abruptly in a female voice that sounded similar to Mary's voice, "Mary this Mary that, I've never met a human so dumb, since you can't read between the lines let me spell it out for you," the voice said before pausing.

"Argh," Aiden groaned through his clenched teeth, he felt something moving on his shoulder before it suddenly pierced his skin, his eyeballs moved towards his shoulders and his eyes widened.

He could vaguely make out a grotesquely disfigured hand, it had two long bloody fingers that had large pieces of flesh missing from them; the edges of the fingers were razor sharp, and were currently digging into his flesh.

"Ahhhhhhhhh, sob, ah-ha, please, please," Aiden cried, in between sobs and hurried breaths he begged for his life.

The finger that was pricing his shoulder was confirmation; the being behind him was some kind of demon, "ha ha," the inhumane voice crackled "please? Please what? Ha-ha, it took you long enough."

"Ahh, Ah-ha please, please stop," Aiden cried, he felt something sharp slash his back, the pain was deep, and a sharp tingling sensation jolted him, the shirt he was wearing was ripped as well.

The being behind him laughed madly as it spoke with the sound of a voice akin to a mentally deranged person, "From what you are MATTER, from what you do SOUL, matter, and soul are interconnected, matter and soul shall become one," The being yelled as if enforcing some kind of law on Aiden.

"I-I hurt you," it suddenly said with a shaky voice full of regret, "do you want me to stop?" It asked.

"Yes please,"

"Sob,"

"please stop" Aiden begged.

But the demon just leaned in, "Hahaha In the realm where matter entwines with the soul's dread, I sense your journey, as whispers from the undead." The demon began.

"Your feeble murmurs echo, a ghostly wail in the night, I shudder at your potential, a force devoid of light. To ascend, oh haunted one, you'll weather the banshee's cry, through trials and terrors, you'll rise, though demons pry. Through an endless abyss, you'll carve your doomed fate. Weaving shadows, through every cursed state. Does this rendition send shivers down your spine?"

"Yes, yes It dose," Aiden replied, by now he would say anything to make this demon go away, or at least keep it from harming him.

Suddenly the whole room turned silent "BANG!" all Aiden felt was a powerful force slam into his side then his body was flung to the side, "your answer is not genuine," the voice said.

Aiden felt his head buzzing, he looked up but couldn't find the being that hit him; he noticed his living room was filled with a thick mass of black mist so much so that it hindered his vision.

Suddenly "Knock, Knock!" the sound of a firm knock was heard from the front door.

"I can't promise you anything except power Aiden, in time you shall have control over fate, don't you want to avenge your family?" The demon asked.

"The power to crush all your enemies lay beneath your feet waiting for you to grab it, you can crush enemies like the Horatio family, Hehe it's quite early all thanks to the wine you drank, but still you have a long way to go candidate, I advise you to keep your mouth shut if not other humans might get involved."

With that, the black mist in his room cleared up, and Aiden's light bulbs started working again "Knock, Knock," the sound of knocking could be heard again, "who is it?" Aiden yelled with a slightly cracked voice.

"It's me Mr. Turner, the truck will be ready by the evening, I'm just reminding you to prepare," with a sigh Aiden said, "OK."

The house was silent, Aiden just sat down in a corner of the room still in a daze, he wanted to believe that what just happened was his imagination but it was impossible to fool himself.

The smell of blood and burning flesh still lingered in the room and Aiden could still feel the stinging pain from the wound on his back and shoulders.

The open wound made contact with the cold air of the room through his ripped shirt, causing Aiden to wince in pain, it was a very unpleasant and painful feeling.

After a while, Aiden slowly got up from his original position and he staggered around the room looking for his phone.

He found it on top of the kitchen table, and Aiden didn't waste time, during the conversation he had found out something from the demon, whatever was happening to him now had something to do with the desert rose wine he drank, maybe there was something in it that made him nuts.

Opening the internet Aiden typed in the words.

[Desert rose wine]

but the search came out empty, this topic hadn't been brought up in any of the pages Aiden had access to before, thinking for a bit Aiden left an anonymous message on the shelter's main page.

[what is desert rose wine?]

"Knock, Knock" The sound of a knock suddenly came from his door once more, "who is it?"Aiden yelled.

"It's me, Bruce," a voice replied immediately before darting in, "Open the door I gotta pee you, bastard."

Looking at the injury on his shoulders and his torn clothes Aiden let out a breath as he wondered how to explain this to Bruce.