[Distorted World - Ashley’s Perspective - A 30 minutes before Ashley’s Question]

Grishika tried to entice me with money, fame, power, recognition; basically everything I desired but right now everything that he offered me was practically useless if I couldn’t get out of here alive. That’s the priority right now and just like the devil said, information is power. To escape this fucking crisis I would need to understand each of his actions.

To begin with, the Devil’s motives are unclear. He shows the capability to kill me and rob everything I have but refuses to do so, which means that he holds value in keeping me alive. That’s good for now, but I don’t know if I’m disposable. To prevent myself from being “disposed”, my priority is to be as amicable and easy to work with as possible which seems to be the right move. He has kept me in this silent and colourless world but has yet to kill me, threatening him would be an unwise idea. I wish to keep my life after this ordeal. Which brings me to another interesting data point, he is unlike any devil written in the history book, and that brings the question, “Why aren’t there any records of him?”. If any other human has gotten in contact with such a devil then there must be historical records of him. I doubt this was his first deal judging by his experienced tone, but in an age of information why hasn't anyone heard of a devil which warped space and robbed the world of colour? Which brings three likely possibilities, he has a power to keep people from spreading about his existence, everyone that he meets dies or he rarely shows himself. If it’s the first then there must be a reason why he doesn’t want his existence to be spread, either it doesn’t align with his real motivations or spreading proof of his existence is dangerous to him. If it’s the second then all I could do was pray.

To test my theory when the world started to turn into a grey distorted mess I stealthily took out my phone from my pocket and silently recorded the conversation under the hospital sheets. My phone seemed to work as it vibrated as I turned it on. I didn’t want to turn the camera to his face in case it enraged him, instead I silently slid the camera so that it pointed to the window away from the devil to later confirm whether or not his powers interacted with actual space and time or if it was my senses. To my knowledge the bending of space like what I’m seeing would cause catastrophic damage to the universe.

Another hypothesis is that this is a separate space. If this was actually a separate space then that would mean bending space is a trivial matter for him or I am worth such an amount of resources. As of right now what mattered was whether or not I survived. If it was the second reason that begs the question, why did he keep me alive for so long?

Before he revealed his true identity as the devil all we did was talk about my sister’s book. If all he wanted was my opinion then, Why did he reveal himself to me? What made me so special that he would require my cooperation? I doubt I have anything that he couldn’t simply rob from my corpse. By offering riches, fame and power by logic he should have an endless access to riches, fame and power. If he isn’t here for any kind of material gain, then it’s probably a service that I can offer. The problem here is that I have absolutely no idea what I could offer him. Another problem is that likely that once I finish my task I will be eliminated to tie up loose ends.

To survive, I need to continuously stall and not do anything for him yet seem amiable and easy to work with. The only value I can have is when I’m alive, so to survive I can’t finish what he wants from me but directly threatening him with suicide is a no-brainer. Right now I need to stall for time, and slowly decrypt slight pieces of information that he reveals.

What doesn’t make sense though is that the devil also understands the value of information which means that those questions he asked before he revealed that he was a devil was key information that he needs. He would withhold the info that he’s a devil to gain more information from me, but why go so far? What were in those questions from my sister’s book that was important to him. My sisters….book. My sister was also the one who introduced Grishika to me. My sister also trusted him enough to leave him with me. What doesn’t add up though is that she introduced Grishika….as a friend.

I don’t think sis was trying to kill me which either means that my sis was manipulated, didn’t know that Grishika was the devil or the devil possessed Grishika’s body in the middle of the interview. If it was either of the first two possibilities then it begs the question of why such a person of his caliber wanted to talk for so long about the book my sis was writing. I need to learn more about his relationship with my sister.

If my sister did know that Grishika was the devil then it meant that Grishika wouldn’t hurt me or that my sister didn’t know Grishika would hurt me, my answers to his questions might prompt this course of actions.

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If my sister was manipulated or didn’t know that Grishika was the devil then it meant that he had the ability to manipulate memories which was a big relief on my end as it meant I probably wouldn’t die.

If my sister was also a devil like Grishika, I really wouldn’t mind it that much. I know she loves me and I love her too. It would just mean that Grishika would have to get through my sister before he can hurt me.

If my value was as a hostage for my sister this question might give me that answer and I know where my value lies with Grishika, might not be that good but it’s better to know.

Best case scenario is that my sister is not involved in anything and it’s a mere coincidence that a devil suddenly possessed Grishika in the middle of our conversation for a whimsical laugh. God I hope this is the case, that he’ll just leave me after this is over and I can keep going on with my life. I’m not too worried about the cancer since we found it during stage 2 which is highly treatable. If my sister isn’t involved in this then I’ll ask for world peace which would bore the devil before he leaves. That’s, at least what I hope for.

To summarize it, I knew that he wanted me to do something for him. I didn’t know what it was but I also knew that if I did that thing I would probably die right afterwards. Thus to survive I needed to know what he wanted me to do and prove that I have the capability to do it. If it’s something perpetual like a job then I would need to prove my capability but if it was a one-off thing like a single task then I needed to keep myself from completely finishing that task.

“I-I want to consult with my sister first” I acted weary so that the devil feels like he has control over the situation.

“You can have money, fame or power, you could even be cured of your disease, yet you choose to know about your sister? Are you really sure about that?” he replied in disgust

If he responded in disgust then that meant that the money, fame and power was probably a trap.

“Yes. I want to know the truth about my sister”

A bright smile appeared on his face.

“Of course that’s possible”

He then snapped his fingers in the silent world creating the first instant of noise. The noise rippled out from him like a wave before slowly collapsing the distorted world. Everything the wave passed was painted in colour and the world was slowly unwrapping itself. His devilish tail and horns retracted into his body and as he blinked his golden pupils were replaced with the European green colour instead. I looked down, I touched my arms, I touched my thighs, stomach and head as I realized that I survived the ordeal. I let out a sigh of relief knowing that I lived another day. I began to observe the world once more.

I heard the rhythmic beeping sound of the heart rate monitor and the voices of the doctors in the hallway. Outside the window I heard the engines of the cars and people walking on the sidewalk. I knew I was home, I knew I was back on Earth. I turned and looked at Grishika, hoping that the devil would leave. Hoping that the devil was bored and left, but he kept his devilish smile. I stared, waiting, hoping that he would forget but the words that came out of his mouth betrayed my trust.

“Shall we meet your sister” he guffawed

“I can’t move out of my bed” I protested as I pointed at my legs, “If I try to walk my legs will break”

“Says who?” he teased with a smile. “Let’s leave this place and meet your sister”

He snapped his fingers and once more I felt strength return to my legs. I couldn’t believe this. The pain in my bones finally stopped hurting! I slowly pressed down on my legs and holy fuck they don’t hurt anymore! They really don’t hurt anymore! I quickly forgot about this devil in my room and tried to put weight on my legs once again. Shifting my body to the side of the bed I took my left leg and slowly placed it on the cold concrete floor. I shifted part of my weight to my left foot and to my surprise there was no pain! Fuck yes! I said to myself I quickly placed my right foot on the cold concrete floor as well and I tried to stand up straight and to my gleaming joy my feet didn’t break and my pain was gone.

With my hands still holding the edge of the bed I place my right foot in front of my left foot, steadily trying to regain my balance. I let go of my bed and I used my hands to balance my body weight before falling straight into the cold floor. In the corner of my eye I saw him approaching me with a hand.

“Do you need help?” he asked with an outstretched hand

“No thanks, I’m good,”

I responded with my hand reaching for my wheelchair. It seems that after laying in a hospital bed for over a year I had forgotten how to walk. I plop myself in my wheelchair before wheeling myself to the exit. Right before I wheeled outside I paused and looked at the European boy standing in the middle of my room.

“How exactly will we meet my sister?”

I asked. I realized that he came to the hospital with my sister’s car, how are we going to get out of here?

He chuckled then took a golden coin from his pocket and broke it then threw it on the ground. The coin soon dissipated and formed a golden haze right above the broken golden coin.

“Let’s not keep her waiting now shall we”

Grishika walked into the mist and suddenly disappeared. Shocked by what just happened I also began to roll my wheelchair into the golden mist. As I did I realized that I was in the Revivo skyscraper directly inside Katarina’s office. The white walls decorated with pictures of her co-workers and of her family decorated her office. On the wall one can see the picture of the first office that they bought, in another picture frame was a number of pictures that Ashley and Katarina took together. There was her office desk which was filed with paperwork and diagrams. In front of the desk were two high back chairs and Grishika was inside one.

“Let’s meet your sister shall we”

Right after he said that I heard the door open and behind it was the face I was all too familiar with. My beautiful sister’s face.