Ashton Mayflower

"That's... the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me..."
- Ashton's final words to Paris before his death in Book 6.
Ashton Mayflower is the protagonist of Book 1, and the main overarching antagonist of the Tales of Raiverin series. Ashton was born as the youngest son in the third generation of Mayflowers. Ashton has Renfield's Syndrome, a condition only relieved after his death and subsequent revival from the Gods, however, he still enjoys the taste of blood and drinks it when he can. Ashton currently resides within Eterna, his soul lost to time and matter itself.
Ashton is very soft-spoken when talking to a stranger or somebody he wishes to control. However, when speaking to family or enemies, he is much more unstable and erratic with his words. He is manipulative, and rather blunt with how he feels towards people, especially Leon. He is quite similar to Leon in many ways, both will do anything and use anyone to get what they want, and hate when anyone gets in their way. The two of them despise each other, but for different reasons. Ashton will never stop at anything to get what he wants, complete control of the world.
== Background ==
Ashton was born as the child that Anthony had always wanted. He grew up in a small forest, his parents fought constantly. Anthony had manipulated Aries into having a child and now both were stuck with him. He had an older adopted brother, Hayseed, the two never got along, but Ashton never knew why. Ashton was a happy kitten growing up, he loved and adored his family, but never had any friends. He would often talk to bugs and befriend things that could not speak, he was often lonely. Ashton's family found an abandoned barn near the forest one day, and the Mayflowers moved in to live there.
== Book 1 ==
Ashton's life was full of pain and abuse His father, Anthony, never respecting him as an individual and the rest of his family being too afraid to fight it. Out of anger, Ashton runs away. He runs into a large dog which chases him back home, after he hides under the stairs, he comes back out to find his parents violently mauled to death and barely recognizable. He ran out, running into Hayseed who was returning home at the time. Ashton looked at Hayseed, hardly able to speak due to his shock and fear. Hayseed instead, strangles Ashton half to death, leaving him out in the field as he left to find a new home. Ashton, in his state of unconsciousness, dreams of Raiverin. He instructs him to go and find the Tribes in the mountains, as they do not believe in the gods, thus the gods cannot supervise them. Ashton, having nowhere else to go, heads out to the mountains. He arrives at the Ariean Tribe's entrance, losing his balance and falling off of the bridge, he lands within the water, being dragged out by the young ruler-to-be, Faron Burke. He refuses to be kind towards Faron, upset with being forced to arrive here. He is introduced to Deston Burke, the tribe leader, he is led to the Sklave Cave with two other inhabitants. Nova Kerumi and Avery Akatsuki, the former of which he quickly befriends. Ashton struggles to adjust and let his guard down, having visions of his parents whenever he tries to relax. Ashton begins to lose his mind, somehow believing Deston to be the murderer of his parents, plotting to kill Deston, Ashton sneaks in the middle of the night. As he is about to kill Deston, Faron tackles him, the one person who trusted him will no longer defend him. The next morning, everyone in the tribe is gathered around the Meeting Rock, everybody is focused on Deston until Avery shouted and pointed. At that point, it was too late, Faron's lifeless body fell upon the ground to everyone's horror, even Ashton was scared. Deston comes to the conclusion that Ashton was the perpetrator and attacks him, but is stopped by Nova. Ashton is taken to the Healer's Den and allowed to rest, where he has another dream, Raiverin telling him to ignore his emotions and explore. Ashton, infuriated and insane, chooses instead to do what he wants and refuse to listen. He takes Nova to the open area, explaining his strong desire for blood. He asks Nova for some of his own, Nova refuses. Ashton is confused by someone refusing him, instead taking what he wants by force, he bites down on Nova's neck and leaves him to die slowly. Ashton is left alone, broken and lost, he prepares his final plan before him and Deston begin fighting. Ashton drags Deston to the edge of the Tribe bounds, nearing knocking him over the cliff. Deston quickly shifts and gets Ashton down, throwing him off. Upon impact, Ashton is killed instantly.
== Book 2 ==
Book 2 follows Faron's perspective, so Ashton's story is still the same.
== Book 3 ==
Ashton resides within Caterpillar's mind, causing his hateful and rude actions. Ashton can affect small things in the world, such as the tree impaling Caterpillar. Once the Tiven is able to communicate with the two voices in his head, Ashton grows extremely spiteful. Despite this, Ashton leaves Caterpillar with the demand that he look after Rice with the reasoning of "he reminds [him] of someone [he] used to know". With those words, Ashton is erased from Caterpillar's mind.
== The Impulse ==
Ashton Mayflower is dead, he's been dead for a long time. The last time the true Ashton is seen is at the end of Book 3, seeing Caterpillar's urge to be an individual, he wanted another chance at life to redeem himself and prove that he could be someone that deserved to be alive, Ashton truly felt remorse for his actions and wanted to change for the better. However, the Gods saw this as a golden opportunity to play a cruel joke on the mortals and brought him back to life, infected with a mind-altering disease. This disease was merely meant to drive him insane until he died in despair, however, the disease corrupted Ashton’s brain, it unleashed his inner rage, hatred, and need for power, turning him into what he became. This new being is not Ashton, the young, remorseful, and "innocent" cat is dead, locked somewhere within his mind. What controls him is the virus, acting upon his caged fantasies and going mad with its new body. He is only cured of this virus at the end of Book 6, discussing life with Paris briefly before succumbing to his wounds. The true Ashton is never seen again, but his body is used again in Book 7's epilogue.
== Book 5 ==
Ashton is a smaller character in Book 5, taking possession of Lana Mayflower and using her body to kill the remainder of the Mayflower family. He tortures Leon Sainoa, believing him to be the one who would outlive him. Ashton does not leave this body until the final chapter, where he allows Leon to see him for once as the two fight. Ashton barely wins the fight, only surviving due to Leon's realization that the Impulse must leave it's host for that person to be laid to rest. Ashton escapes, retreating and finding a new hiding place. 
== Book 6 ==
Ashton is released onto the world again after a failed banishment by Leon Sainoa and Paris Viceroy. Ashton mocks the latter for being unsure of himself and quickly murders him with a glass shard to the throat. He then begins to taunt Leon about his family whom Ashton, possessing Lana's body, had murdered years before. Leon could do nothing but fear as his Uncle got closer to victory. Paris is revived, and the two realize they would sacrifice anything to rid the world of the evil. They both perform the banishment on Ashton, releasing his soul into Eterna.
== Book 7 ==
Ashton only appears in Book 7's epilogue, one of the four spirits arriving with Leon in the crumbled and destroyed Earth 770. Ashton instigates the others' hatred by claiming that they had all died because of Leon, and they could not return to their resting place because of his selfishness. Ashton watches as the three spirits taunt and scream at Leon, only saying, "You're just like me, and you always knew it."
== Trivia ==
* The original last name for Ashton was Versus.
* Ashton was the first ever character conceived for the ToR series.
* He was not intended to be the antagonist initially, but it became apparent that there was more to tell with his story.
* Ashton's name comes from the Warriors character, Ashfur, his original name being Ashblaze, a name from a fan-made Warriors story.
* His two middle names come from different sources. Maxwell originates from a character by a friend of the author, and the internet meme "Maxwell the Cat". Renfield comes from the "Dracula" character, Robert Montague Renfield.