Asher was taking a long time to piece together what was happening to Orion. He didn't have much powers as part demon himself, he was merely good looking and had his demon eye which helped him mess around with auras. That's all it ever amounted to.

Orion didn't go into work all that often, or it was more that he couldn't. Asher could only assume managing exposure to dimensional radiation was the primary reason he was able to leave the lab at all.

Asher managed to sneak his way inside the building multiple times but ended up nowhere near where the Lab might have been. Being able to redirect Orion home instead of waiting for him to find his way back on his own was already a benefit to it all.

This time Asher found himself in a very eerie looking office. If there ever was a place for Orion’s boss to be it would be here. Unlike most areas of the building, it had a distinct aura that winded around the walls in a chaotic manner.

There was a name placard on the desk that said ‘Mr.’ but nothing else. There was also a notable absence of pens even from the vintage pen holder that still retained the caps from where pens would previously be held.

‘Well now that I’m here there's got to be something worth the trouble.’ Asher thought as he began to take a closer look at the office. It was adorned with expensive looking furniture and trinkets. The most notable thing was a severed head on display atop one of the filing cabinets.   

He wasn’t particularly shocked by it, he’d seen arguably worse ‘trophies’ before, but the head was familiar to him somehow. He couldn't place why that was or who's head he even thought it might be. He definitely couldn’t remember ever meeting a human with silver hair.

Asher continued to look through the room, he managed to find an object with a peculiar aura. It seemed similar to the one he found on Orion but not quite the same.

'Hopefully I can find someone to tell me what this is.’ Asher thought. As Asher pocketed the object he could hear footsteps from down the hallway. He quietly escaped from the building through the window he came in.

He could hear someone open the door as soon as he made it outside.

“Is there something wrong sir?” Someone asked.

“Someone was sneaking around.” They responded.

‘How did they know I was here?’ Asher thought, ‘This place doesn't even have security cameras.’

“Would you like me to take care of it sir?” The other voice responded.

“There's no need for that, they’re not a threat.” They said, “And I’m sure they've figured out this room is off limits.”

‘I’ll just wait out here. I only have half of the building mapped out and I still haven’t found where Orion works.’ He thought to himself. ‘But it’s too active today I can’t risk any more than this.’

Asher waited outside for a number of hours before Orion finally walked out again. Asher started to walk towards him until another man came out, rather it was some sort of creature taking a humanoid form. His human form was unusually tall, nearly a head taller than Orion perhaps seven, no, perhaps even more than seven feet tall.

The bartender was right, he sure did have eyes. A hypnotic swirl accented in blues teals and golds that were completely fixated on Orion. His suit looked far too expensive for him to be in a place like this. He gave off an unnatural aura consistent with the one he saw in that object. This creature was intimidating to say the least.

“Phalaris?” Orion turned back to the man with a strange expression.

"You've been useful lately, so I'll let you have this one thing. I don't really like to mess around with demons." Phalaris sighed looking in Asher’s general direction, "Be grateful, all the things I'm letting you have are a privilege only for one who behaves."

He glared at Orion with his strange eyes, grabbing his head to force their eyes to meet. Orion stared listlessly in silence.

"So well behaved indeed. Little demon, come here." Phalaris finally locked eyes with Asher, it eyed at him with some intensity as Asher carefully walked closer. He laughed then pushed Orion into Asher’s arms. “Why don't you make yourself useful and take this thing home before it gets lost again?”

Asher didn't have a chance to respond before it returned to the building just a bit faster than Asher could fully see.

“Orion?” Asher tried to get his attention, but he didn’t respond. He just stared at him for a while. “Orion?”

“Huh? What are you doing here?” He asked almost surprised to see Asher despite staring at him for the past few minutes.

“Orion, what the hell is that thing?” He motioned towards the building.

“That's my boss.” He replied.

“Your… boss?” Asher raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, but what is it?”

“Yeah. He’s a probably a demon or something. It's whatever.” He said nonchalantly. He was still zoned out and didn't quite seem to understand the severity of the situation.

“That's not a demon. That's some kind of… Well, he’s… something.” Asher scratched his head trying to place the name. He'd seen ones like it before. “…Cognivore! That's it.”

All he could recall was that they tended to live in forests and preyed on lost hikers. On occasion they'd intentionally lure packs of humans out and mess with them. Eating their memories, watching them fight each other, or hunting them for sport. But never this far into human territory and definitely not living among them.

'It's no wonder it knew I was there, that aura must have been some sort of tripwire.’ Asher thought, ‘I’ll have to be more careful to avoid that.’' It's no wonder it knew I was there, that aura on the walls must have been some sort of tripwire.’ Asher thought, ‘I’ll have to be more careful to avoid that.’

His parents warned Asher to stay away from them as a kid. Their powers didn't work on demons, but doesn't stop them from attacking. That speed was probably only a taste of what it could do.

“You need to stop coming here John.” Orion suddenly insisted.

“Really the John thing again. My name is Asher. Di-did that thing eat your memories?” Asher asked concerned.

“Yeah. But they'll come back, they always do.” Orion shrugged it off, it sounded like he was a little too used to this scenario. “What's it to you anyway?”

“That doesn't make any sense.” Asher said, Orion started to walk away again. “You're going the wrong way, Orion.”

“Of course it makes sense. I haven't lost my mind yet, well, not like that anyway.” Orion stated matter-of-factly as he continued to go in the wrong direction.

“Memories don't just regenerate when they’ve been eaten.” Asher said following him.

“Only for creatures with only one brain that is. Phalaris wouldn't bother with me otherwise.” He said shifting his gaze back to Asher with a dejected smile. “I’m the favorite for multiple reasons.”

“Huh?” Asher was taken aback by his sudden lucidity. Something about the way he spoke made him think it was someone he'd not spoken to before now. “Do you have more than one brain, Orion?”

“That’s a common misconception. Shadows don't actually have two brains.” He stated as if he wasn’t the person to bring it up in the first place. “The physical brain is somewhat auxiliary, it acts like a processor mostly. While a shadows core is it's real brain and stores everything. But in order to more readily understand and process that information the physical brain is used. Somewhat similar to Lucidians but not quite.”

“So, what does that mean exactly in the context of your memories being eaten?” Asher asked hoping Orion was still coherent enough to explain it.

“That is… Well… I’m a renewable resource in that regard.” Orion stated flatly.

“Oh.” Asher said in disgust. Orion stopped for a moment.

“You shouldn't come back here.” He said.

“I can't leave you to that creature.” Asher huffed.

“There's nothing you can do about it.” Orion emphasized.

“I’m a demon there has to be something I can do Orion.” Asher assured him. “I'll figure this out.”

After another strenuous round of Orion walking around the same block multiple times, he finally seemed to calm down enough for Asher to lead him back home.

Asher still felt very tense from meeting Phalaris for the first time. That thing couldn't effect his memory but to what extent had it been manipulating Orion up til now? He said he had been useful lately, but for what?

“Did I do something wrong?” Orion asked.

“What?” Asher was caught by surprise.

“You just seem upset.” He said, “Was it something I said?”

“Orion, you haven't even said anything for the past hour.” Asher took a deep breath and pulled out his keys.

“Was it something I didn't say?” Orion asked.

“I’m just thinking about something else right now.” Asher brushed his hand through Orion’s hair.

“Okay.” He mouthed.

It was difficult but Asher tried to ignore the situation for now, he wasn't going to get anything else out of ruminating on it. Continuing to worry about it now would just stress both of them out. He took a deep breath and opened the door to the apartment.

He realized there was something out of place. He was surprised he hadn't noticed it earlier that day, but then again he was awfully focused on making sure Orion would make it home.

“Hey, what’s this?” Asher said grabbing a small gift bag off the counter.

“Oh, that’s for you.” He replied, “Yours was broken so…”

Inside was a black leather collar in a somewhat similar design to his old choker, a simple silver D-ring on the front with a matching buckle in the back. There was a discrete laser engraving that said, ‘Property of Orionis Zeta’. Of all the things for him to remember, the property bit was definitely not one he expected.

“Really?” Asher tried to hold in a laugh. He ran his fingers along the buckle, it had a loop that appeared to be for some sort of locking mechanism. “Do you even know what this is?”

"Is it bad? Do you not like it?" He asked. “I can get you something else.”

If Asher had to guess, Orion was leaning more towards being Katz at the moment. He likely had no idea what it meant. Asher continued to hold back his laughter.

“No, I love it, help me put it on.” Asher lifted his hair in the back so Orion could help him with the buckle. The collar was a bit stiff but otherwise comfortable. He knew it would relax enough given some time regardless. “How does it look?”

Orion kissed Asher’s neck in response, gingerly wrapping his arms around him. And before he knew it, Asher was laying in bed listening to a mourning dove hum outside the window.

“Asher, I love you.” Orion whispered.

“Did you just… remember my name? All on your own? That normally takes you a few days. If I knew it was going to be this helpful, I would have followed you to work ages ago.” Asher teased.

“No, I need you to stop putting yourself in danger.” He hugged Asher tightly.

“Huh? I may be the one wearing a collar, but you belong to me, Orion.” Asher pouted gently smacking his face, “You can’t keep pushing me away especially not now that your condition is improving.”

“I just want you to be safe.” He whispered.

“I can fend for myself Orion, you’re the one I’m worried about.” Asher retorted.

“You don’t need to worry about me.” He insisted.

“You’re not well. You’re underweight and malnourished no matter how much I feed you, you get lost even though your workplace is less than a block away, your memories are being eaten by some sort of creature, you’re constantly sick and you keep coming home with injuries.” Asher ranted. “It’s impossible for me not to worry about you.”

“But-” Orion tried to argue.

“No buts!” Asher nipped his ear playfully.

“Fine, geez.” Orion tried to shake him off.

“I will find a way to help you.” Asher assured him.

Asher knew this wasn't exactly a problem he could manage on his own. But his resources were limited, he had to find out more about those creatures. He thought about it for some time, another demon would probably be the best option to get information.