Aspen Ashburn

The Punisher | DOL PC

BACKSTORY

Aspen is a town native. Born into a poor, yet loving family that comes from the countryside beyond the farmlands, they lived in a small, rented apartment in Barb Street. His parents would spend a lot of time away from the house, working whatever job they could get their hands on as long as it’d let them care for their child.One night, his mother left for work and never came back. She was reported missing, with no sufficient evidence found at the scene. No suspects were ever listed; the authorities had quickly abandoned their search for her, if there ever was one. This enraged Aspen’s father who then made it his goal to look for her all by himself. For hours upon hours, he would dedicate most of his free time on his investigation, doing his best to keep Aspen happy all the while.Whenever his father would go to sleep, Aspen – a bit too bright for his age – would rummage through the notes, becoming too engrossed and too aware of the world around him. He had no friends to play with, except his older cousin, Alex, who didn’t live in the town at the time. Nothing to save him from becoming jaded and keep his innocence intact.Until one day, a black garbage bag stood suspiciously on his doorstep. That was the last time he saw his father – or whatever was left of him.Aspen was then taken to the orphanage at age fifteen, stricken by grief, holding years of cold anger within. Researching, questioning everything. He turns eighteen and immediately becomes a vigilante, aiming to uncover what lies beneath the rot festering around the town and its people. The hunt for who or what took his parents’ lives and later his relationship with Kylar and Sydney, lead him down a rabbit hole that truly tests his resolve.

Present

Scraps of notes left behind by his dad, plus the desperate need to make a stable income in order to pay his weekly rent at the orphanage lead him to the pub, where he knows to specifically ask for Landry. Seeing that the man has connections with the underworld and that working for him — or his partners — could be mutually beneficial, he decides to become a thief for hire.Other than regular stolen goods, he often comes across old items and antiques which cost a fortune if taken to the right person, in that case his history teacher, Winter, who collects and displays antiques in the city museum. Aspen agrees to help and his earnings quickly start to grow.At the time, he continued attending his classes. He builds a friendship with Sydney, which later turns romantic by spending a lot of time in the library, reading mostly books about town history in order to gather info about where to search next. Around this time, Kylar gathers the courage to approach him as well. He also joins the Temple, begrudgingly in the beginning, for no other reason than to infiltrate it and help Sydney remove his chastity belt.Though greed never goes unpunished.He goes diving in the depths of the lake, where aside from regular treasure, he finds and takes an ivory necklace to the museum, without knowing any better.Time passes uneventfully until the next blood moon, when Aspen learns about the Ivory Wraith’s existence the hard way. The Wraith goes on the prowl and takes control of Aspen while he sleeps, leading him to the plinth inside the lake’s ancient grounds where it tortures him for robbing its most sacred possession.The encounter leaves Aspen haunted, mostly subconsciously in the beginning. His nights are plagued by nightmares of him sinking and drowning, of Sydney running, calling him to follow along down the same flight of stairs every time. The dreams loop like clockwork and disturb his sleep, settling into his psyche. The prolonged insomnia eventually takes a toll on his mind, as he begins to experience sightings of the pale figure in his day-to-day life. Subsequently, he’s seen as “psychotic”, although Aspen is certain that whatever is after him, is real.As a last resort, he confides in Jordan about what he’s experienced and is met with answers. Jordan feels like Aspen can be trusted, despite his lack of genuine faith and finds his kindness and nearly unwavering resolve to be a God-sent gift and thus, shares his own worries about a missing initiate. He asks Aspen to investigate a party held by some “high profile” people in a Danube Street mansion. He succeeds in making his way inside, acting as one of the entertainers and after a long night of searching, he finds the missing boy and saves him from a ritualistic sacrifice.Among the cultists, a certain tall figure whose lips hovered right before the horrified boy’s neck instinctively stood out to him. A mix of black and white strands peeked out from beneath his cowl, however, amidst the chaos and due to the purple hallucinogenic fumes filling the room, Aspen was unable to take a good look at his features before he escaped.—Another month reaches its end. The moon bathes in red, and the haunting repeats. The previous incidents, combined with Aspen’s growing resignation over his parents’ investigation trail going cold, drives him into a spiral.It’s a school day — Aspen hallucinates Sydney’s face morphing into the pale figure and those purple tendrils from his nightmares protruding out of his back. Terrified, he attacks Sydney in the library and injures him. Panic breaks out, before he’s immediately grabbed and escorted out of the school, as Sydney begs for him to be let go, knowing Aspen will likely be admitted to the hospital under Dr. Harper’s care. Sydney is held back by teachers, insisting that he needs to see a nurse and is being forced to sit back, distraught, before he’s sternly taken to the infirmary.Inevitably, Sydney’s fears become reality.

Asylum & aftermath

Aspen is deemed too “unstable” and “delusional” to the public eye — truthfully, he's a disturbance to the status quo, the orphan who is too aware and has dug too deep into the town’s dark secrets. For that reason alone, he's forced into the Asylum under the pretence of his assumed psychosis making him a danger to the people around him.Throughout his stay, Aspen is subjected to Harper’s experiments in order to crush his awareness, ultimately becoming the doctor’s favourite pet patient. His incredible willpower and resistance offers Harper a challenge that grows into obsession due to his similarities with Wren — Harper’s long-time, although elusive interest.The majority of the other patients shun him so he mostly keeps to himself, speaking only when he’s spoken to. That is until he catches a small glimmer of light; he's approached by an ex-police detective who mentions working on an old case of strange disappearances, one which he almost cracked, but got sent to the Asylum just as the answers were right before his grasp.One of the victims’ description matches Aspen's mother. Upon putting two and two together, it becomes clear: she was one of the unfortunate people who were used as a sacrifice by cultists in order to appease the Elk. One in particular seems to stand out as a main suspect, a man named Reid. However, no matter how much Aspen tries to draw more information from the detective, the leads end there as his memory seems to have got foggier over time.Aspen clings to that little revelation until he, too, breaks.He's released from the Asylum feeling changed, his drive for vengeance lies dormant, mostly replaced by a false sense of tranquility and a strange yearning for Harper's treatments and medication.Is he going to find himself again? Or is he going to accept defeat?To be continued!