Chapter 7: Chapter 7- Bad Trip

Jack groaned as he and Ash walked out of the greenhouse. "I hate dealing with those guys. They always make me do extra work. Doesn't the Boss know it's my day off?" 

Ash turned to Jack, eyeing the man as they walked. "What do you do around here?" 

"Hmm, I just help out Otto. He keeps the camp running while I help him with the Tents. You know, setting up tents, cooking dinner from time to time, just whatever he needs me to do."

"So you don't really do much then."

"Who are you? My mother? This is a bandit camp. If I wanted to work all day, I would have stayed in Bramblethorn. Come on. They sell clothes over there."

~R~o~a~O~

'If this place wasn't a bandit camp, they could probably call themselves a town and join the United Front of the North Americas.' Ash thought as he walked around the bandit town built at the bottom of the canyon. 

Ash was alone now. Jack showed Ash where to buy new cheap clothes, some simple jeans, and light-colored long-sleeve shirts to help him deal with the desert sun, but the man left as soon as he took Ash to the public showers. Before leaving, Jack explained only people in the Tents used the public showers since everyone living in the rows and in the town had showers in their own homes.  

Now that Ash was freshly showered with new clothing, he had no other plans for the rest of the day. But as Ash was wandering the streets, a shop caught his eye. 'They have an alchemy store here?' Ash thought in surprise and quickly made his way to the store.

~R~o~a~O~

A chime filled the air as Ash entered the wooden shop. The shop was bare, an empty square room. There was a door in the back, but only two large crates stood in the middle. There was a sign on each crate. [Take only what you need.] Was written on the left crate, while [Leave your empty canisters here.] was written on the right. Moving closer and looking inside the containers, Ash realized they were filled with canisters for inhalers. Ash quickly picked up one of the canisters, turning it over and examining it. "Worthless," He mumbled as he tossed it back.

The canisters inside the crate were not the same as the one inside the inhaler he was carrying. The canisters in the crate were used for healing. That is the original reason the inhaler was created. Long ago, alchemists created the inhaler and filled the canisters with several herbs. Inhaling these herbs in their vaporized form affected the Mist inside the user's body. It would cause the Mist to kick start and enhance the body's natural healing. While it wouldn't regrow limbs or heal fatal wounds, it would heal cuts and bruises in hours instead of days and heal broken bones in days instead of months. A revolutionary creation for the average civilian but useless for anyone trained to use their Mist. A person trained to use their Mist learns early on how to channel and focus on using the Mist to enhance the body's natural healing on their own. 

The inhaler in Ash's pocket was different. It was the creation of a dubious alchemist years after the ordinary inhaler became mass-produced. The dubious alchemist realized that mixing the herbs with chemicals found in cleaning products and the fine shavings of gemstones would cause euphoric feelings in the user. But it also caused hallucinations and blackouts.

"Worthless?" A sudden high-pitched voice broke Ash out of his thoughts. Looking up, Ash locked eyes with a pale naked woman whose long blonde hair reached her knees and covered her modesty. "How dare you call my creations worthless! My babies save lives!" The woman shouted as she walked forward and patted the crate of canisters.

"I'm from the Mayan Nation. We learn Mist healing before we learn how to walk."

"Then what are you doing in here then?" The woman asked while crossing her arms. Taking a closer look, Ash realized the woman, whom he assumed was in her late thirties or early forties, had nearly as much hair on the rest of her body as she did her head. While she did have a pretty face, he wondered if she only took showers when it rained.

"I came for a refill of this." Ash pulled out the inhaler from his pocket and held it up. 

"Oh? Now you're speaking my language." The woman held out her hand, and Ash gave her the inhaler. "But this, this is what's truly worthless, this cheap chemical crap, blah. Come with me. I'll show you the true beauty nature has to offer." There was a wide grin on the woman's face as she turned and skipped back to the door she came out of.

Ash watched as the woman skipped away, his eyes on her round rear as it jiggled. There was only one thought on his mind. 'Eh, I've had worse.'

~R~o~a~O~

'The Boss's greenhouse was like a forest. This is more like a swamp.' Ash thought as he walked through the door and into a dark room lit by several lamps shining onto various herbs and mushrooms. The room was more than twice the size of the shop and filled with rows of racks holding different herbs, mushrooms, and even bugs in glass tanks.   

"Come in, come in, take a seat." The woman led Ash to a pile of pillows and blankets on the floor. He took a seat as the woman tossed his inhaler into a trash can. She then turned and started looking through the racks around the room. "Hmm, oh, this is a good one." A bright smile was on her face as she plucked a small mushroom from a cluster.

"So, what is that?" Ash eyed the mushroom as the woman walked toward him. He had never seen one like it before. The mushroom had a light green stock, while its cap was a mix of deep blue and silver bumps. 

"This is much better than that poison you were inhaling. Do you want to try it?"

"I don't know your name, and you're trying to feed me exotic fungus." 

"Ha, names, such a human creation. But if you must call me anything, everyone calls me Pixie. What do they call you?"

"Ash,"

"Oh, such a nice and natural name. So Ash, are you ready to leave behind those poisonous man-made chemicals and try nature's gift?" The woman held up the mushroom once more. 

'Eh, what's the worse that can happen.' Ash thought. He then gave the woman a simple nod.

"Then open wide." The woman said, then slid the small mushroom into Ash's open mouth. 

Ash's urge to spit the mushroom back out was instant as he chewed the unknown fungus. He forced himself to ignore the rotten flavor and the liquid dripping down his lips. But once he forced himself to swallow the mushroom, Pixie pushed him to lay back. 

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"That's good, just relax and take a deep breath." Pixie slowly rubbed Ash's chest as he closed his eyes and drifted away.

~R~o~a~O~

A chill caused Ash's spine to shiver, and he forced his eyes to open. 'Wha-What's happening?' His vision was a blur as he looked around. But slowly, the fog lifted, and the blurry darkness was replaced with bright sunlight and massive trees. 'Is this? How did I get back here?' Ash forced himself to stand on shaky legs. He took in the view. He knew instantly where he was. Thick trees, hanging vines, overgrown bushes, grass, chirping birds, and rustling leaves surrounded him. A dangerous place to be alone. His hand quickly went to his hip, where his hammer should have been in his belt loop, but the Bonesteel hammer was missing. 'Alright, stay calm. This isn't the first time you've woken up in the middle of nowhere. At least this time, you have clothes on.' Ash told himself as he took a deep breath. Somehow he woke up in his homeland, a jungle in the Mayan Nation.

As Ash looked around, the chirping birds and rustling leaves fell silent. His instincts warned him of danger, and his reflexes forced him to the ground as soon as a mass of teeth and claws leaped out of the jungle. 'SHIT! It's a Jaguar!' Ash panicked as he watched the beast slam into a tree, shattering the bark with the paw that narrowly missed Ash's head. 

Ash wasted no time as he turned and ran. The creature stood nearly five feet tall while standing on all fours. It was a creature of pure muscle and razor blades for teeth and claws. Ash knew he had no chance of killing the spotted beast without a weapon. But as he tried to run, he felt sluggish, as if his body wasn't at full strength, and after a few steps, his legs gave out, and he fell to the ground. 'Oh fuck!' Ash shouted in his mind, and he quickly rolled onto his back. The beast was running at him at full sprint with its teeth bared, so Ash raised his arms to create a Mist shield, but no shield appeared. 

Ash's face went pale once he realized he couldn't use his Mist. With no Mist and the Jaguar barreling toward him, Ash knew he was going to die. But as the Jaguar jumped through the air, ready to bite Ash's neck, a translucent Mist blade slashed through the monster. The Mist blade cut through the beast like paper, severing its head and sending the body tumbling through the air.

"What are you doing, son? You need way more training to take one of those on." A large man suddenly appeared. The man grabbed Ash's arm and pulled him to his feet.

"P-Pops," Ash muttered in shock as he recognized the man. A man dressed for battle with a skull tattooed onto his face. The man held no weapon, only the Mist blade sprouting from his hand.

"What are you waiting for, son? It's almost time for dinner. Go on. Your mom's waiting for you." A door suddenly appeared as the man spoke.

"Dinner?" Ash tried to question what was happening, tried to do anything, but his legs moved on their own. He made his way toward the door and walked through it against his will. "POPS!" Ash called out as the door shut behind him. His world went dark in an instant.  

~R~o~a~O~

Ash's eyes snapped open. His vision was blurry once more. But this time, as his vision cleared, a table full of food appeared, plate after plate, meat, vegetables, fruit, and drinks. As the table expanded, chairs started to appear, and then people. People laughing and eating. Ash instantly recognized these people. Each person, from the oldest adult to the youngest child, wore the skull mark on their face. Some marks were painted, and others were tattooed. This was Ash's family, a clan of warriors. For generations, they lived the warrior life. Every member dreamed of living up to their ancestor's legacy. He was a man deemed to be one of the most powerful warriors ever born in the Mayan Nation, and his bloodline carried on his honor.

"What's wrong, sweetie? Why aren't you eating?" A sudden voice cut through Ash's thoughts, cut through the noise of his family, and caused him to turn.

"M-Mom," The word caught in Ash's throat. He felt pain in his chest when he saw his mother's smiling skull-marked face. 

"What's wrong? Does your stomach hurt? Here, eat some soup." The woman placed a bowl of steaming soup in front of Ash. His stomach started to rumble as soon as the smell hit his nose. 

"I-I don't eat meat." He stuttered without thinking as he saw floating chunks of meat among the chopped vegetables. 

"Since when? You love monster meat soup, here try to eat some." Ash couldn't say no to his mother. So following her orders, Ash brought a spoonful of soup to his lips. Ash's eyes started to water when the broth slid down his throat. It had been years since he tasted his mother's cooking, and he couldn't stop himself from eating spoonful after spoonful.

"See, I told you it was good." She smiled, and he tried to say something back, but the moment he opened his mouth to speak, he started to choke. Slamming his fist into his chest, Ash tried to spit out the food stuck in his throat. One last punch to his chest, and the object flew out of his mouth and landed in his soup. Looking at the object, it was a single eyeball floating in his soup and staring back at him.  

"Wha-" Ash started to say but stopped once he heard a familiar sound. It was the sound of bodies dropping all around him, and in an instant, the room went silent. Looking around, Ash saw all his family members slumped in their chairs or lying across the table, dead. Blood dripped out of their eyes, ears, nose, and mouths. Even his mother and father lay dead with their eyes wide open. Ash reached out and tried to call for his mother, but the moment he opened his mouth, he coughed up a second eyeball. Then he coughed up a finger, a tongue, a piece of flesh. He kept coughing and throwing up until the world went black.

~R~o~a~O~   

"Easy now, there you go, let it allllll out." As Ash opened his eyes for the third time, he found himself bent over a small trash can with Pixie next to him, rubbing his back.

"What… What happened?" Ash asked as his body shook, and he felt sweat covering his aching body.

"You had a bad trip, but it's all over now. You're fine. Just relax, okay." Pixie's voice was soothing as she gently pushed Ash to lie back down on the pillows. Once Ash was settled, Pixie reached over and picked up a small cup of steaming liquid. "Here, drink this."

"What is it?" 

"It's tea made from special leaves. It will relax your body and make pleasure feel way more intense." There was a sly smile on Pixie's face as she spoke.

"Pleasure?"

"You had a bad trip, a painful one. The only way to counter pain is with pleasure." Pixie placed a hand on Ash's thigh as she leaned closer to him with the cup. "What do you say? Do you want to drink?" 

Ash eyed the cup and Pixie's smile. 'Eh, why not.' He thought as he nodded. The smile on Pixie's face grew as she brought the cup to Ash's lips, letting him drink. 

Once the cup was empty, Pixie put it away. "Just relax and let me take care of everything," Pixie said as she crawled onto Ash, kissing his neck and sliding her hand under his shirt.  

As Pixie kissed his neck, Ash forgot about the nightmare he had witnessed, and his mind had only one thought. 'I'm going to need another shower after this.' 

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