Chapter Text
Curiosity was something Aster didn’t handle well. Despite his sophisticated attitude and fancy speech patterns, he became.. impulsive whenever something caught his eye. So when he’d learnt about the astral anomaly outside his apartment complex, that terrible feeling began to claw at him once more.
Aster couldn’t sleep. He’d been crashing at Sam’s place for a day or two now, about five days into this whole mess. Sam’s couch was less than comfortable, not to mention the loud ticking of a clock constantly in his ears. It all kept him awake at night, but this night felt different. He couldn’t tell why.
He pushed the blanket off himself, sitting up and exhaling. He wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight, was he? He’d been trying for a few hours, so at this rate, it was hopeless. He reached over to grab his glasses, putting them on and blinking to let his eyes adjust. There were other people in the apartment, ones he wasn’t that familiar with except for one of the witnesses, Lyle. But he wasn’t anywhere to be seen, the door to Sam’s room slightly cracked open. Aster didn’t give that much thought, standing up and throwing his cloak and amulet over himself before making his way to the door, stepping out into the hallway shrouded in shadow.
He carried himself slowly, hands in his pockets as he travelled to the double doors to the stairway. He was about to push them open, until he paused, a faint light glimmering through the window blinds, catching his amulet in its glare.
The outdoors.. what was truly going on out there? Aster moved his blue-eyed gaze to glance at the window, curiosity filling his mind once more. Of course, Aster knew the results of looking out there. He’d seen them one too many times, in the form of aggressive monsters to docile and friendly people. You could either completely lose your mind, or simply never feel the same while looking into a mirror ever again.
Yet something practically dragged him to the window, standing in front of it and holding his hands close to himself. Would it be so terrible if he just took a little glance? Maybe if he didn’t look for too long, nothing would happen.. he stood still, tapping his foot on the ground in thought. He knew the idea was extremely foolish, but it called to him. The way the faint light reflected off of his amulet, lighting up the dark hallway with a barely visible red glare.
He turned back to look down the hallway, not able to shake the feeling of being watched. Yet, there was no one else in the hallway with him. No one to judge him…. no one to stop him.
He let out a shaky exhale, looking back to the curtains. A small glance couldn’t hurt him. Just for a few seconds, and nothing more. Nothing bad would happen and he’d go back to the apartment satisfied. He put his hands on the curtains, pausing for a moment to prepare himself before pulling them open.
Instantly, bright colorful lights hit his eyes, refracting off the hallway walls and dancing against his robe. It was.. beautiful, more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen. He couldn’t believe he held himself back from seeing this, eyes fixated on the light as if he couldn’t take them off of it. The colors swirled in his gaze, only enticing him to look longer..
But he stopped himself, abruptly shutting the curtains as a sharp jolt of pain went through his eyes. Oh no— had he looked too long? He was brought back to his senses as the curtains were shut, blinking away the pain and taking a step back. No, he only looked for a few moments.. and look, he was fine! Nothing felt strange, nor could he see anything happening to himself, so he had to be fine. His hands trembled with excitement, heart beating hard. Imagine what the others would think if they’d heard he looked at The Visitor and came out unscathed. That would surely contribute to how successful the ritual would be.
Yet despite his excitement, something felt wrong. Terribly wrong. An impending sense of doom washed over him like he’d been dumped into a pool of freezing water. What if… no, he didn’t look out for too long. He was ok. Everything was fine.
He swallowed hard, smoothing out his robe before carefully starting to walk back to the apartment door. All around him, he felt someone glaring at him. A judgmental, but also pitiful gaze. Like someone he knew was worrying for him. Yet there was still no one out in the hall with him, the area quiet and devoid of any life but his own. He tugged himself to the door, almost hesitant to go back inside.
Aster felt wrong. Sick, like he had some kind of head cold. He wanted to shake it off, go back inside, and fall asleep.. but he just couldn’t. He took a step back from the door, almost feeling guilty. He’d left without telling anyone his plans. What if something had happened to him? If he’d gone insane, he could’ve hurt someone. What he did wasn’t right.
He glanced away, crossing his arms and wrapping them around himself in a comforting manner.
But.. how could he cross them and wrap them around himself at the same time? He stopped, cold terror hitting him. What he was feeling wasn’t just guilt or anxiety, it was—
No. No no no, this wasn’t how this was supposed to go. He was such an idiot, the biggest idiot ever probably. He’d looked outside, directly into The Visitor’s glare, the only one awake in the apartment. He’d brought attention to himself. What was he THINKING? Did he really think his stupid idea would have worked?
He backed away from the door, putting his hands over his face as galaxy-colored bubbles rose into the air, their direct source coming from his face. He wrapped his hands around a new, foreign extremity that had replaced his nose, possibly in some poor attempt at stopping whatever was happening to him.
“No, no, no.. you ludicrous fool—“ He muttered to himself, breathing heavily. His entire body ached, the bones of his spine tugging at themselves and duplicating the vertebrae to allow it to elongate. Shockingly, this made it quite difficult to stand, the end of his lengthening body curling in on itself like a crude chameleon tail. He held himself up against the wall, glancing down the hallway in fear of any prying eyes watching him.
This wasn’t how this was meant to go. He truly was an idiot, wasn’t he? Aster stumbled, catching himself with his hands against the hallway carpet. His head hurt, a fuzzy feeling spreading throughout his brain. Not pure insanity, no memories were leaving him, but he felt extremely overwhelmed. Sick. Like a diseased animal looking for a place to slink off and die. He put his hands over his head, letting himself crumple to the ground. He could feel so many things, new limbs, his organs rearranging themselves to match his lengthy body- he didn’t want to think about that part.
He lifted his head at noise coming from Apartment 33. In his anguish, he probably made a bit of a racket, hitting against the wall and collapsing like that. They couldn’t see him like this, what if he hurt them. Bubbles rose from his trunk as he panicked, looking around. Where could he go? What was the closest place— Apartment 35- no, he couldn’t go there..
The closet. It was unlocked, Sam having gotten the keys off of that janitor not too long ago. He whimpered in pain as he lifted himself off the ground, quickly scuttling towards the closet. He paused before entering, eyes moving to the door of Apartment 35. Through the keyhole, he could see an eye gazing at him. Simply observing with what looked to be pity.
He yelped, pushing himself into the closet before shutting the door harshly with a loud slam, collapsing onto a pile of boxes and letting his body curl around itself, trying to get rid of the overwhelming feeling of so many new limbs. Outside of the closet, a voice rang out. Sam’s, calling for him. He must’ve woken from the racket and noticed he was missing.
He swiftly reached over and locked the closet, breath quick and panicked. They couldn’t see him like this. He didn’t even want to see himself. What would they think if they knew he did such a foolish thing? He knew how he felt.
Full of regret. Like the biggest idiot on the planet.