Welcome

Aaron's eyes opened. "Where the fuck am i?" He looked around the room he didn't recognise the room at all. He throws the covers on the floor to look in the mirror that was on the wall by the door. "And who's stripey pyjamas and these" Aaron looked back at his head. "My hair… where's my luscious hair" he couldn't believe any of this. "I look like a holocaust survivor" Aaron joked.

The door opened slightly before the person knocked. A women comes walking in and it seemed to put him at ease.

"Good to see your up" she looked Aaron up and down as if she was examining the pyjamas. "They fit fine don't they" her voice sounded familiar.

"Yeah…" Aaron stepped away from the brown-haired women. "I don't mean to be rude but who are you miss?" She looked confused.

"I'm your mother Aaron"

"My mother died after I was born" Aaron saw her expression change. "she hung herself." Her eyes turned red.

"I thought that I'd choose a form that you found welcoming, would you like me to change?"

A Menu appears in front of Aaron's eyes and it makes him jump.

"What the fucks this?" he asks. The entity that resembled his late mother stepped towards him.

"This is how we will communicate when we are apart" It put his mother's hand on his shoulder. "Would you like me to change my form?" The options on the menu for forms were either some guy called Richard Struthers or Naimh Welling.

"Don't change it" Aaron answers. The menu disappears as it confirmed his choice. "Why would I need to feel welcomed anyway?" he asked. In the past Aaron had always pretended to be tough as nails in the face of a threat and it had kept him in good stead when it came to avoiding a scrap or two. He didn't think that pretending would get him out of a bind now though. The sphere was silent. "What are you going to do to me?"

"I'm not going to hurt you" The sphere said in its Irish accent. "I need your help"

"My help?"

"See I've chosen you to help me with a task that could very well save your world from certain destruction"  Aaron didn't see why it would choose him.

"You choose a teenager that can barely workout his part of a cheque, what could I possibly help you with? Aaron protested.

The sphere using his mothers eyes glowed red. It put out her hand to him to touch it. Aaron did as he was instructed. The Menu appeared in front of his eyes. A video begins to play.

"Around three hundred years ago, I was sort out by a young explorer. He had travelled from this place to countless other nations" It showed two men scaling glaciers in Antarctica then it showed something he'd not seen since before he was pulled from public school. "They found me within a great pyramid" The clip showed a temple that was similar to where he had found himself when he got out of the lift. "Both men craved power beyond all comprehension, and one of them had sacrificed the other for this power" Aaron grimaced at the sight of the man still dangling from the axe that failed to cleave him in two. "The mans name was Thomas Smith, he was granted my powers and had began to use them in ways that did not aid me in my mission to avert the incoming danger" The sphere continued.

"What sort of powers did you grant him?" Aaron who was as puzzled as ever asked the mystical sphere.

"Place your hand upon me once again" The Sphere shed the appearance of his mother to take its original form. A hand print appears on it. Aaron places his hand. The Menu appears yet again.

"Do you agree to the terms?" It read.

"What terms?" Aaron asks. The Message appeared again.

"Do you agree to the terms?"

"How am I supposed to agree to something when I don't know what I'm agreeing to?" He commented. The sphere was growing impatient.

"Do as I request and I will grant you powers that you could only dream of"

"I need to know what you want me to do first, how would I know if I can even fulfil whatever it is your task is for me?" Aaron didn't trust this object as much as he could throw it and it looked heavy.

"Find and eliminate the false prophet" It replied.

"False prophet?" He thought. "Is that the terms?"

"You must eliminate the false prophet, do you agree to my terms" It was no longer "The" terms not it was now "my" terms. Aaron needed to think about this.

"They make it sound like I'd be making a deal with the devil" He thought.

"I don't think of myself as that biblical creature" The sphere responded. Taken aback, Aaron took his hand off the hand print.

"You can hear my thoughts?" The sphere went silent. "And if I refuse this "Deal" Then what?"

"I will stop your heart" Those words shook Aaron to the core. "Then I will find another" It was still speaking with his mother's voice.

"It's so important that you'd kill me to get it done?" Aaron didn't need a response. "Can I not find another way, do I have to kill him?"

"Yes and time is of the essence" The sphere replies. "Hunt down and eliminate Thomas Smith"

"Am I going to get a photo or something through on that screen to help me find him?" Aaron asked.

"Thomas Smith has been around for over three hundred years, there are sure to be clues on their whereabouts within the records of humanity" It explained. Aaron had understood that asking for any more information would be a fool errand.

"What about these powers?" Aaron requested. "What sort of powers will I get?" He asked thinking that he could choose what he would get. The menu popped up again.

"Do you agree to the terms? Yes or No" The two words floated in front of him. He looked at them both intently.

"It's either yes or I die" He pondered. He wasn't sure but did he want to die? "Yes" the menu disappears from his view. "Now what? is there some sort of drink or pill that I take?"

"When you wake up, focus on one voice at a time"

"Wake up?" Aaron fell to the ground…he opened his eyes once more. Looking around the room as he picked himself back up to confirm his surroundings. Aaron walked back over to the life he previously used.

Sirens begin to blare and another voice could be heard. "INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT LEVEL B8" It sounded like one of the security guards upstairs.

"But there was no cameras down here?" Aaron asked himself calmly as if he was still talking to the sphere. "Why didn't I trip anything when I entered?" Aaron checked his watch, he'd been in there for less than five minutes but it felt like hours. To his surprise he wasn't panicking like he once did. "Now, how do I get out of here" Aaron could only see one exit…the lift. The hand that he placed on the sphere started glowing the same red that he saw it emanating. It spread to his whole body. It gave him a tingly sensation, it had engulfed him.

"Huff huff huff" Aaron tried to stabilise his breathing as he arrived at the destination. "What the fuck was that all about?" he said aloud. "A beach" he thought as he looked around. "How did I manage to get here" Aaron had found himself asking that a lot in the last few hours. Aaron examined his surrounding for anyone lurking about. Luckily though at this time of night no one would be around. As he picked himself up and dusted his trousers he caught a glimpse of a camera flash.

"HEY KID!" Someone did see him. "HOW DID YOU GET HERE?" they walked closer, their American accent more recognisable as they got closer as well as they messy appearance.

"I'm a practising magician detective" Aaron was thankful that he was quick with his speech under pressure. "I'm not really in the mood to play twenty questions" Detective Weston halted in tracks.

"Look kid, its late and you're a child" Weston saw on Aarons face that he'd offended them. "But I got a duty of care, more like a code. You want a ride near to your apartment?" The American seemed genuine.

Aaron looked at his watch. "It's one in the morning" He thought. "I'll take you up on that mate, I'll take forever to get back if I walk." The detective was driving a beaten-up Brown ford transit courier van. Aaron could see in the back was a bunch of surveillance equipment but didn't ask who it was for.

"You managed to get to Ruislip Lido pretty quickly didn't you" Detective Weston said with a cheeky grin on his face. "I'm not buying the whole magician thing though kid, did you take the tube or something?"

"I said no twenty questions detective, I agreed to the life nothing more than that" Aaron had successfully avoided the question.

"Caught a glimpse at that teacher of yours as I was outside having a tab" Detective momentarily pulled his eyes away from the road to look at Aaron. "You piping that? Age of consents sixteen right?" Aaron didn't want to respond to the question.

"No" he sounded like a sulking child.

"So she's available?" Dustin joked. "She wouldn't go for me, anyway, drinking problems a little too severe"

"Aw so that's what the smell is" Aaron joked. "I thought it was your new aftershave Detective"

The Detectives sense of humour only seemed to work when he was the one cracking the jokes.

"Hardy fuck ha" Detective Weston was coming up to the underground garage of Aarons apartment block. "Your welcome" he seemed eager to get Aaron out of the car.

"Why'd you give me a lift anyway?"

"London's the knife crime capital of the world of the world little buddy" He smirked at Aaron a he opened his door. "Can't have a bright young man like you getting left for dead in the streets now can I?"

Aaron slammed the car door shut and walked towards the lift that would take him to the penthouse. "shouldn't I take the stairs?" Aaron thought as he didn't fancy another surprise but the only way to get up there other than the lift was to trail back outside to climb the fire escape. Aaron was already exhausted so stepped inside and pressed the top floor.

"And where exactly have you been you little shit?" the lifts doors weren't even open yet and he could already hear his dads disapproval. Aaron did as he ways did when he got back late. Head down, go to the toilet then head straight to bed. For some reason Arnold wasn't with them in the penthouse so Aaron tried to speak with the intimidating figure he saw as a parent.

"Where did Arnold get himself?" His dad was silently staring out of one of his favourite window and sat in his favourite chair whilst drinking his best whisky.

"I gave him the evening off after someone set off the arms" Mr Welling spoke in a dismissive tone. "You don't happen to know anything do you?" Aaron shook his head.

"Could have been a lot of people?"

"True" After finishing his glass Mr Welling got up to pour another. "Want one?"

The main reason that Aaron wasn't a teenager drinker was the fact that his dad would give him a beer with most meals aside from breakfast. Aaron found the smell of this particular brand of whiskey to be revolting.

Aaron waved his hand to indicate his answer. "Good on old Arnold, he slaves away for us quite abit"

"What do you mean us?" Mr Welling had found this funny. "He doesn't pick up after me does he but yes he does deserve it" Mr Welling got sat back down with is glass of whisky.

From the moment Aaron was in his father's presents he had felt different, it was like he wasn't afraid of him anymore. Was this an effect of being given these powers that have yet to reveal themselves.

Aaron returned to his room and like most teenage boys rooms, it was a mess. Aaron got into the covers of his queen-sized bed, closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep.

"Oh why am I always getting dumped for someone prettier than me?" Aaron awoke to these words.

"Hello?" no one replied to him. "God knows what that was" Aaron closed his eyes to try and sleep again.

"That was a good night, but I must get back upstairs to master welling" Aaron recognised this voice.

"Was that Arnold?" Aaron could hear him as clear as day like the other voice but moments ago. The Lift dinged, Aaron moved to his bedroom door which had a decent view of the life.

"You have a good time Arni?" Aaron said without seeing Arnold steps out.