Chapter 19 - Hell...The Dark Side Of Existence

"A memory?? Mom...what the…I don't understand," Ethan mumbled with a slack jaw as he looked at his mother with a baffled expression.

Lena gestured with her hands as she said, "I know this might sound crazy. But the memory you saw is actually originating from a shadow world that hasn't fully formed yet."

"Huh?" Ethan had a blinking expression, making Lena quickly look around her and take a sheet of white paper that was lying on his table.

She then pulled Ethan towards the window and showed him the sheet of paper, "I can tell you a very simplified version of what I am trying to say. Now imagine this sheet as the plane of existence where our universe exists, including our Earth," Lena said as she tapped on the side of the sheet where the light from outside the window was falling on it.

Ethan decided to go along with her explanation as he nodded, "Okay…and?"

"Alright. But just like how this sheet of paper has two sides, one on the front and one behind it, the plane of existence also has two sides. Just like the two sides of a coin. And our side is where life thrives and continues on."

Ethan's brows pulled together as he asked, "So what exists on the dark side?"

Lena's eyes became serious as she said, "Hell. It is a totally separate dimension from our universe. I know the word might sound a bit fancy, but the concept is similar to what we know about hell. Nobody has been to the other side, but as far as we know, that place is the synonym of death and chaos and also the place where hellish creatures or beings known as the Infernal Parasites are born or originate from."

"The Infernal Parasites and an entire dimension known as Hell? Mom…what the heck is all this? I thought you were only just an IT freelancer. How or why do you know all this?"

"It is indeed true that I am a freelancer now, but in the past, I was working for a certain higher authority as a scientist who researched on things like this and collected data to analyze various things. And that is how I got involved in all this mess, and ironically because of my health condition, I was able to leave all that and make sure you lived a normal life while spending all my attention on you. I didn't want to raise you in such an environment where I won't be able to give proper attention to you. It was really hard separating myself from the authorities, but they let me go finally after giving me one last job."

"What job?" Ethan knew that his mother had worked for the government when he was younger, but he never knew she was working on something so secretive and classified.

"To safeguard and hide a very dangerous creature…the one which I was telling you about just now…the Infernal Parasite. They thought it was more prudent to keep it with me…"

"Such a dangerous thing was with you the entire time?" Ethan asked with a look of disbelief. Even though he didn't know what this parasite exactly was, just its name was enough to give him a very bad feeling.

"Not anymore…" Lena corrected him with a disappointed sigh and, with a look of guilt, continued, "Since now…your body must have assimilated it somehow. It is nothing short of a miracle considering what happened to you."

Ethan felt his nerves jitter hearing her words, "That thing is inside me?? Is that how I got powers? Holy shit...Am I going to be alright or—"

"Relax. The worst has passed, considering you are still…you. And yes…that thing is the reason you have powers now. It is, after all, a hellish being coming from a dark dimension that we don't understand yet…a dimension that probably works on different fundamental laws of physics and whatnot compared to ours. Otherwise, why would these parasites be the most dangerous thing in the universe? But your body somehow assimilated the dark energy it carried, and now…you are different than before," Lena mused as she closely looked at him.

Ethan found this all baffling, but he could make some sense from her words. Still, the more he heard, the more questions were flooding into his mind.

"If it entered my body…doesn't it mean it was near me all this time? Or can this thing simply get itself out from a secure facility and go to any place it likes?" Ethan already imagined his mother locking up this parasite in some sort of supermax facility with 24/7 close surveillance. But then why would the parasite enter his body just like that?

Lena slightly grimaced as she said in a low voice, "It was actually in our basement the entire time."

Ethan's eyes widened as he blankly stared at her, "Our...our basement? You can't be serious. Why would you hide such a dangerous thing in a place like that? Is that why you always kept it locked and told me not to open it ever?"

Lena waved her hands as she said, "I know it won't make sense but trust me when I say that I had no other choice, though now it made no difference."

Ethan felt that there was some kind of complicated explanation for why she did it. But he still wanted to know what exactly went inside his body, "This Infernal Parasite…why is it called a parasite? I mean, I know a parasite is something that attaches itself to a host to leech off energy or nutrients from them. But what does this parasite from uh...'Hell' actually do? What was it planning by trying to enter my body?"

"Follow me downstairs. I can show you something while I answer your questions. But I want you to know that I never planned or expected for such unfortunate things to take place, especially what happened to you," Lena said in a guilt-ridden tone.

Ethan didn't understand why his mother was feeling so guilty, especially when he was alright now, "Mom, please don't apologize. Considering what I have just heard, I feel that these things are too mysterious and powerful to be something that people like us can predict. If these things have powers, then I am already impressed that you managed to keep it locked away for so long," Ethan said as he followed her downstairs.

Lena slightly turned her face towards him to give him a tight-lipped smile as she nodded, and before Ethan knew it, the two were already standing before the basement.

He had always wondered why she went to all that trouble of putting on such an advanced lock for a basement, and only now he understood why.

As it opened, Ethan was welcomed by the dusty air and went inside as the bulbs switched on.

All he saw were the same things he had seen before in the past. Old furniture, books, and some junk.

He had to cover his nose to not breathe in the dust by accident, though his mother continued to walk forward amidst the dusty air while covering her nose.

Lena reached the other end of the basement, where one could only see a wall of bricks. She slid one of the bricks to the side as a keypad appeared where she dialed in some numbers.

The moment she entered in the numbers, the wall began to creak as a door-like opening appeared, much to the astonishment of Ethan, who had no idea about there being a secret door inside his basement.

This seemed just like how the superheroes in the comics he read had their own secret basement. Was his mother some kind of superhero? Nah...she has a heart condition, and she herself said she did a desk job.

As the door opened, Ethan saw blue lights lighting up a small room that only had a single table and chair and a large transparent screen on the metallic wall.

"Mom…what kind of secret room is this…" Ethan asked as his eyes curiously looked around the room.

Lena tapped on the table as it lit up with a digital interface and said, "This is actually my research room. I am sorry for keeping this room a secret, but it was for the right reasons, which I hope you will understand."

"Wow…that table is like a computer? All this tech looks advanced…how did you afford it?" Ethan saw his mother using the touch interface on the metal table and these kinds of stuff he had only seen in movies. He stroked the surface of the table with curiosity, and strangely he felt a unique feeling from the metal it was made out of.

"It's actually complicated. All this is not something I built with my money but something the authorities dealing with these sorts of things gave me for safeguarding the Infernal Parasite. And…here it is," Lena said as she opened a digital image on the large screen on the wall for Ethan to see.

Ethan immediately looked at the screen only to be bewildered to see the zoomed image of a dark red colored thing with hundreds of tendrils that looked like some sort of flower.

"It looks like a poisonous flower or something? Still, what exactly makes it dangerous, mom?" Ethan curiously asked though he imagined some kind of ugly creature. But on a second look at the image on the screen, he indeed was feeling goosebumps on his skin just by looking at it. And reading how small it actually measured made him realize how he didn't even know about this thing entering his body.

"That is because it not only has the power to kill the consciousness of a person and take over their body but also to warp reality!"