THE FUTURE CHAPTERS I, II, III, VI, V, : STARRING @ichormyth & @sunskissed
I. THE DEATH OF A SOULMATE .
by twenty years old , ash is his best self . he hasn’t suffered major symptoms of his depression in months , he’s in a better shape physically , and his job as chb diplomat was fulfilling and rewarding to him. however , with gwen’s death , ash began to spiral .
ash no longer wished to be part of a world that took away his brother and soulmate , and without so much of a goodbye ( aside from chiron ) , left camp half blood with a rucksack of belongings and his dog , daffy , vowing never to return .
his first stop was to visit gwen’s family , whom he had grown close with over the years to essentially offer his support and grieve with them . before the funeral , however , ash flew to england to visit his father who he hadn’t seen in years .
despite the love and support phillipe offered , ash felt nothing . leaving daffy behind , he returned to france two weeks later to attend gwen’s funeral - it was a strangely grand event . ash made a speech , but the event was so surreal and the grief so deep ash didn’t realise when he finished he stood there for two minutes saying nothing before someone had the heart to coax him off the podium .
numbly , ash got very drunk and began to walk . where exactly he didn’t know nor care . just somewhere , anywhere . he didn’t stop until he stumbled upon an abandoned mansion , covered in greenery and unoccupied .
now when i say the mansion was in the middle of nowhere , i mean the middle of nowhere . it was behind a thick wall of forestry , in which ash , even in his numb state was able to navigate relatively easily thanks to his chlorokinesis . the building once belonged to french aristocrats before the occupants deserted the grounds in an attempt to save their necks during french revolution of 1848 . the building now remains empty , the marks of angry 19th century crowds still lingered : walls kicked in , curtains burnt , floors stained by a curious dark brown colour - it was enough to put off even the most desperate of potential buyers . until now .
ash anchors himself within the strange building , finding the surrounding nature a comfort rather than disgusting or threatening . he sits , drinks , and sleeps , essentially finding peace within the surrounding plants . he is alone until a friend decides to find him . and that friend is kali .
kali , being a witch , and being … kali , decided one day that she hadn’t seen ash in a while and went to find him . at first , ash orders her to leave him alone , but kali is not an idiot and can see the state ash is in and decides to stay .
it takes a while but ash , in true defeatist fashion , relents and lets kali take care of him . admittedly she wasn’t amazing at it at first , but eventually she stopped trying to spoon feed him dirt and managed to find actual human food :) she also realised that the juice he kept drinking was funny and he should stop .
III. THE LANDMARK IN MOTION .
ash celebrates his 21st birthday in the mansion . then his 22nd and his 23rd and 24th . as the years went by ash became less and less in touch with his ‘human’ side , spending hours using his chlorokinesis which had a strange effect on him . his eyes and fingertips were now permanently green , and his sanity was , well , deteriorating .
kali’s magick lingered on the building . it slowed down ash’s aging process and the building’s disappeared and reappeared close to locations that were connected to ash or kali .
the mansion became a landmark for several demigod quests , seeking either knowledge or assistance . ash was playful , to say the least . he enjoyed enacting tricks and pranks on those who entered . though he meant no harm , his name and reputation was usually sided with a warning .
months pass without any visitors ( aside from kali ) , until a girl stumbles into his greenhouse where he sat meditating . ready to play his usual tricks , he waits , only to be met with something completely unexpected .
IV. THE QUEST FOR MEMORIES
she claims her name is phoebe dayton , but after explaining her visions , ash , for the first time in a long time , took an interest . though she didn’t look like gwen , he couldn’t help but assume that she had to have some connection to her , and that was enough of a motivation to help .
leaving the mansion behind , he and phoebe went on a quest to regain her memories . despite the initial flare of hope , every step ash took was painful . he had spent every day for the past decade burying his grief , and now he was forced to face it properly for the first time .
the journey was tough and ash smelled strong to monsters , so it didn’t take long for the pair to be found . seeing phoebe fight despite her inexperience only added more weight to ash’s theory that gwen had to be in there somewhere .
they reach morpheus’s cave and ask for his assistance . when he refuses , ash starts to argue , imploring , and doesn’t realise that phoebe pulled out pandora’s jar .
by this point the ghosts that consumed phoebe begins to take its toll , and she collapses . but she starts begging ash to open the jar . hesitant at first , knowing from classic myth that opening pandora’s jar has never been a good idea , it’s not until he sees phoebe’s eyes and voice start to morph into gwen’s that he does as she says .
with the opening of the jar phoebe disappears and gwen returns . ash , overwhelmed , collapses into her arms and sobs .
the opening of the jar not only manifested itself within gwen , essentially turning her into the goddess of hope , but had an effect on ash too . opening the jar could not be done without paying a hefty price , and so ash sacrificed his mortality , his humanity , just so he could see gwen again . in turn it left him as an entity , guardian of the forest and god of rebirth .
the loss of his mortality would have been a curse if it weren’t for gwen . the pair fell for each other and vowed never to leave each other’s side again .
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